TheSusquehanna River (/ˌsʌskwəˈhænə/SUSS-kwə-HAN-ə;Lenape:Siskëwahane[7]) is a majorriver located in theMid-Atlantic region of the United States, crossing three lowerNortheast states (New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland). At 444 miles (715 km) long, it is the longest river on theEast Coast of the United States.[8] Bywatershed area, it is the 16th-largest river in the United States,[9][10] and also the longest river in the early 21st-centurycontinental United States without commercial boat traffic.[11]
The Susquehanna River forms from two main branches: theNorth Branch, which rises inCooperstown, New York, and is regarded by federal mapmakers as the main branch or headwaters,[12] and theWest Branch, which rises in westernPennsylvania and joins the main branch nearNorthumberland in central Pennsylvania.
The river drains 27,500 square miles (71,000 km2), including nearly half of the land area of Pennsylvania. Thedrainage basin includes portions of theAllegheny Plateau region of theAppalachian Mountains, cutting through a succession ofwater gaps in a broadzigzag course to flow across the rural heartland of southeastern Pennsylvania and northeasternMaryland in the lateral near-parallel array of mountain ridges. The river empties into the northern end of theChesapeake Bay atPerryville andHavre de Grace, Maryland, providing half of the Bay's freshwater inflow. The bay lies in the flooded valley, orria, of the Susquehanna.
The Susquehanna River is likely an old river, cutting across the grain of ancient rift basins in the Piedmont as well as faults and folds of the Appalachians. It may have been established during the late Jurassic, Cretaceous or Tertiary Periods, tens to more than one hundred million years ago, when southeasterly drainage to the Atlantic Ocean Basin was established. Thelist of rivers by age gives its age as 270-340 million years.
Both branches and the lower Susquehanna were part of important regional transportation corridors. The river was extensively used formuscle-poweredferries,boats, andcanal boat shipping of bulk goods in the brief decades before thePennsylvania Canal system was eclipsed by the coming of age ofsteam-poweredrailways. While the railroad industry has been less prevalent since the closures and mergers of the 1950s–1960s, a wide-ranging rail transportation infrastructure still operates along the river's shores.
Also called theMain Branch Susquehanna, the longer branch of the river rises at the outlet ofOtsego Lake inCooperstown, New York. From there, the north branch of the river runs west-southwest through rural farmland and dairy country, receiving theUnadilla River atSidney. It dips south intoPennsylvania briefly to turn sharply 90 degrees west atSusquehanna and again 90 degrees north atGreat Bend hooking back intoNew York. It receives theChenango in downtownBinghamton. After meandering westwards, it turns south crossing the line again through the twin towns ofWaverly, New York, andSayre, Pennsylvania, and their largeright bank railyard, once briefly holding the largest structure in the United States devoted to the maintenance and construction of railroad locomotives.[13]
A couple of miles south, inAthens Township, Pennsylvania, it receives theChemung from the northwest. It makes a right-angle curve between Sayre andTowanda to cut through theEndless Mountains in the Allegheny Plateau of Pennsylvania. It receives theLackawanna River southwest ofScranton and turns sharply to the southwest, flowing through the formeranthracite industrial heartland in the mountain ridges of northeastern Pennsylvania, pastPittston City (Greater Pittston),Wilkes-Barre,Nanticoke,Shickshinny,Berwick,Bloomsburg, andDanville, before receiving the West Branch at Northumberland.
The origin of the official West Branch is nearElmora, Pennsylvania, in northernCambria County near the contemporaryjunction of Mitchel Road andUS Route 219[14] (locally Plank Road). It travels northeasterly through the towns ofNorthern Cambria,Cherry Tree,Burnside,Mahaffey andCurwensville (where the river is dammed to form a lake), into and throughClearfield, where it receivesClearfield Creek.
The West Branch turns to the southeast and passesKarthaus (at Mosquito Creek),Keating (at Sinnemahoning Creek),Renovo andLock Haven, where it receivesBald Eagle Creek. At Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania, Pine Creek, the largest tributary of the West Branch Susquehanna River, is received. Pine Creek has the largest watershed of all the West Branch’s tributaries. It passesWilliamsport, where both Lycoming Creek and Loyalsock Creek empty into it, then turns south, passingLewisburg, before joining the North Branch flowing from the northwest at Northumberland.
Downstream from the confluence of its branches inNorthumberland, the river flows south pastSelinsgrove, where it is joined by itsPenns Creek tributary, and cuts through awater gap at the western end ofMahantongo Mountain. It receives theJuniata River from the northwest atDuncannon, then passes through its last water gap, theSusquehanna Gap through theBlue Mountain Ridge, just northwest ofHarrisburg.
Downtown Harrisburg developed on the east side of the river, which is nearly a mile wide here. Harrisburg is the largest city located on the lower river, which flows southeast acrossSouth Central Pennsylvania, forming the border betweenYork andLancaster counties, and receivingSwatara Creek from the northeast. It crosses into northern Maryland approximately 30 miles (48 km) northeast ofBaltimore and is joined byOctoraro Creek from the northeast andDeer Creek from the northwest. The river enters the northern end of theChesapeake Bay atHavre de Grace.Concord Point Light was built here in 1827 to accommodate the increasing navigational traffic.[15]
"Susquehanna" may come from theLenape wordsiskëwahane, meaning "Muddy River".[16] Alternatively, it may come from another Lenape term,Sisa'we'hak'hanna, which means "Oyster River".[17] Oyster beds were widespread in the bay near the mouth of the river, which the Lenape farmed. They left oyster shellmiddens at their villages.[18] A third account translates "Susquehanna" from theSusquehannock language, of the Iroquoian family, as "the stream that falls toward the south" or "long-crooked-river".[19]
The Lenape are anAlgonquian-speaking Native American people who had communities ranging from coastal Connecticut through New York and Long Island, and further south into New Jersey and Delaware in the mid-Atlantic area. Their settlements in Pennsylvania includedCon'esto'ga ("Roof-place" or "town", modernWashington Boro, Lancaster County), also calledKa'ot'sch'ie'ra ("Place-crawfish", modern Chickisalunga, Lancaster County), orGasch'guch'sa ("Great-fall-in-river", modernConewago Falls, Lancaster County). They were calledMinquas ("quite different"), orSisa'we'hak'hanna'lenno'wak ("Oyster-river-people") by others.[20][citation needed] The Lenape also called the areaSisa'we'hak'hanna'unk ("Oyster-river-place").[21]
Peoples of the mid-Atlantic Coast included coastal peoples who spokeAlgonquian languages, such as the Lenape (whose bands spoke three dialects of Lenape), andIroquoian languages-speaking peoples of the interior, such as theEroni and theFive Nations of the Iroquois League, orHaudenosaunee, based largely in present-day New York and upper Pennsylvania around the Great Lakes.[22] The English of Pennsylvania referred to the Eroni people of Conestoga as "Susquehannocks" or "Susquehannock Indians", a name derived from the Lenape term.[22] In addition,John Smith of Jamestown, Virginia, labeled their settlement as"Sasquesahanough" on his 1612 map when he explored the upperChesapeake Bay area.[23]
In Virginia and other southern colonies,Siouan-speaking tribes constituted a third major language family, with their peoples occupying much of the middle areas of the interior. Algongquian-speaking peoples predominated in the coastal areas.Iroquoian speakers, such as theCherokee andTuscarora peoples, generally occupied areas to the interior near the Piedmont and foothills.[24]
In 1615, the river was traversed by the French explorerÉtienne Brûlé. In the 1670s the Conestoga, orSusquehannock people, succumbed toIroquois conquest by the powerfulFive Nations of the Iroquois League based in present-day New York, who wanted to control thefur trade with Europeans. The Susquehannock assimilated with the Iroquois. In the aftermath, the Iroquois resettled some of the semi-tributaryLenape in this area, as it was near the western boundary of the Lenape's former territory, known asLenapehoking.
The Susquehanna River has continued to play an important role throughout thehistory of the United States. In the 18th century,William Penn, the founder of thePennsylvania Colony, negotiated with the Lenape to allow white settlement in the area between theDelaware River and the Susquehanna, which was part of Lenape territory. In late colonial times, the river became an increasingly important transportation corridor, used to shipanthracite coal, discovered byNecho Allen, from its upper reaches in the mountains to the markets downriver.
In 1779 during theAmerican Revolutionary War, GeneralJames Clinton led an expedition down the Susquehanna from its headwaters. His party had made the upper portion navigable by damming the river's source atOtsego Lake, allowing the lake's level to rise, and then destroying the dam and flooding the river in order for hisflotilla to travel for miles downstream.James Fenimore Cooper described this event in the introduction to his historical novelThe Pioneers (1823).
AtAthens, Pennsylvania, then known as Tioga or "Tioga Point", Clinton met with GeneralJohn Sullivan and his forces, who had marched fromEaston, Pennsylvania. Together on August 29, they defeated theTories and warriors of allied Iroquois bands at theBattle of Newtown (near present-dayElmira, New York). This was part of what was known as the "Sullivan-Clinton Campaign" or the "Sullivan Expedition". They swept through western New York, dominated by theSeneca people, destroying more than 40 Seneca villages, as well as the stores of crops the people had set aside for winter. Many of theIroquois left New York and went to Canada as refugees; casualties from exposure and starvation were high that winter.
Following the United States gaining independence in the Revolutionary War, in 1790 ColonelTimothy Matlack,Samuel Maclay andJohn Adlum were commissioned by theSupreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to survey the headwaters of the Susquehanna river. They were to explore a route for a passage to connect theWest Branch with the waters of theAllegheny River, which flowed toPittsburgh and theOhio River.[25] In 1792, theUnion Canal was proposed in order to link the Susquehanna and the Delaware rivers in Pennsylvania alongSwatara andTulpehocken creeks. In the 19th century, many industrial centers developed along the Susquehanna, using itswater power to drive mills and coal machinery, to cool machines, and as a waterway for the transport of raw and manufactured goods.
Based on colonial charters, both Pennsylvania andConnecticut claimed land in theWyoming Valley along the Susquehanna. Connecticut foundedWestmoreland County here and defended its claim in thePennamite Wars. Under federal arbitration, eventually the state ceded this territory to Pennsylvania.
In the 1790s, EnglishLake PoetsRobert Southey,Samuel Taylor Coleridge, andRobert Lovell formulated the "Pantisocracy Plan" to marry three sisters and move to the banks of the Susquehanna River to start a socialist experiment. They made the marriages but Southey moved toLisbon, Portugal, to visit an uncle, and they abandoned the plan to move to the United States.
In 1833, John B. Jervis began a canal system to extend theChenango River and connect the waters of the Susquehanna fromChenango Point to theErie Canal, which ran through theMohawk Valley of New York, ultimately connecting withLake Erie through the Wood Canal. In October 1836, water from the Susquehanna was connected to the Erie Canal atUtica, New York. Water travel was the main form of transportation during that era. The Erie Canal dramatically expanded trade between communities around theGreat Lakes and markets in New York and Pennsylvania. With the expansion of construction ofrailroad lines, canal-transport became unprofitable, as it could not compete in speed or flexibility.[26] Boats had to climb a net height of 1,009 feet (308 m) between basins, requiring the use of more than 100water locks, which were too expensive to be maintained under the new competition.[26]
The Susquehanna River figures in the history of theLatter Day Saint movement. It holds thatJoseph Smith andOliver Cowdery received the priesthood from heavenly beings at a site along the Susquehanna and performed their first baptisms of Latter Day Saints in the North Branch of the river. Smith and Cowdery said that they were visited on May 15, 1829, by the resurrectedJohn the Baptist and given theAaronic priesthood. Following his visit, Smith and Cowdery baptized each other in the river. Later that year, they said they were visited near the river by the apostlesPeter,James andJohn. Both events took place in unspecified locations near the river's shore inSusquehanna County, Pennsylvania.
During theCivil War's 1863Gettysburg Campaign,Union Major GeneralDarius N. Couch, commander of theDepartment of the Susquehanna, resolved thatRobert E. Lee's ConfederateArmy of Northern Virginia would not cross the Susquehanna. He positioned militia units under MajorGranville Haller to protect key bridges in Harrisburg andWrightsville, as well as nearby fords. Confederate forces reached the river at several locations inCumberland andYork counties.[27]
In 1972, the remnants ofHurricane Agnes stalled over the New York-Pennsylvania border, dropping as much as 20 inches (510 mm) of rain on the hilly lands. Much of that precipitation was received into the Susquehanna from its western tributaries, and the valley suffered disastrous flooding.Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, was among the hardest-hit communities and the capital Harrisburg was flooded. TheChesapeake Bay received so much fresh water that it altered the ecosystem, killing much of the marine life that depended on saltwater.
In 2006,a flood caused by a stalled jet stream-driven storm system, affected portions of the river system. The worst affected area wasBinghamton, New York, where record-setting flood levels forced the evacuation of thousands of residents.
In September 2011 the Susquehanna River and its communities were hit byTropical Storm Lee, which caused the worst flooding since Agnes in 1972.
The Susquehanna River is important in thetransportation history of the United States. Before thePort Deposit Bridge opened in 1818, the river formed a barrier between the northern and southern states, as it could be crossed only byferry. The earliest dams were constructed to support ferry operations in low water. The presence of many rapids in the river meant that while commercial traffic could navigate down the river in the high waters of the spring thaws, nothing could move up.
The Susquehanna was improved bynavigations throughout the 1820s and 1830s as thePennsylvania Canal. Together with facilities of theAllegheny Portage Railroad, loaded barges were transferred from the canal and hoisted across themountain ridge into thePittsburgh area with access to theMonongahela,Allegheny Rivers and their confluence into theOhio River flowing southwest towards theMississippi River. The 82-mile (132 km)Union Canal was completed in 1828 to connect theSchuylkill River (flowing southeast towards theDelaware River atPhiladelphia) atReading westwards to the Susquehanna River above the state capital ofHarrisburg.[28] Competition from faster transport via therailroad industry by the 1850s resulted in reducing the reliance on the river for transport.[29]
Two canal systems were constructed on the lower Susquehanna to bypass the rapids. The first was theSusquehanna Canal, also called the Conowingo Canal or the Port Deposit Canal, completed in 1802 by a Maryland company known as the Proprietors of the Susquehanna Canal. The second was the much longer and more successfulSusquehanna and Tidewater Canal. The canals required dams to provide canal water and navigation pools.
As the industrial age progressed, bridges replaced ferries, and railroads replaced canals. The railroads were often constructed on top of the canal right-of-way along the river. Many canal remnants can be seen; for example, inHavre de Grace, Maryland, alongUS Route 15 in Pennsylvania, and in upstate New York at various locations. These latter remnants are parts of the upstream divisions of thePennsylvania Canal, of privately funded canals, and of canals in the New York system.
Today 200 bridges cross the Susquehanna. TheRockville Bridge, which crosses the river fromHarrisburg toMarysville, Pennsylvania, is the longeststone masonryarch bridge in the world. It was built by thePennsylvania Railroad in 1902, replacing an earlier iron bridge. Two seasonal ferries operate across the Susquehanna. TheMillersburg Ferry atMillersburg, Pennsylvania, is a practical ferry for up to four vehicles and 50 passengers, while thePride of the Susquehanna,[30] based at Harrisburg, provides a passenger-only pleasure cruise.
Most of the canals have been filled in or are partially preserved as a part of historical parks. Dams generally are used to generate power or to provide lakes for recreation.
The environmental group American Rivers named the Susquehanna "America's Most Endangered River for 2005" because of the excessivepollution it receives. Most of the pollution in the river is caused by excess animalmanure fromfarming, agriculturalrunoff,urban and suburban stormwater runoff, and raw or inadequately treatedsewage. In 2003 the river contributed 50% of the freshwater, 44% of thenitrogen, 21% of thephosphorus, and 21% of thesediment flowing into theChesapeake Bay.[33][34]
It was designated as one of theAmerican Heritage Rivers in 1997.[35] The designation provides for technical assistance from federal agencies to state and local governments working in the Susquehanna watershed.
Another environmental concern is radioactivity released during the 1979Three Mile Island accident.[36] However, extensiveradionuclide studies over a 25-year period from 1979 through 2003, confirm that the Three Mile Island accident has not resulted in any harmful radiation effects.[37] The areas in and along a 262-km length of the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania were monitored for the presence of radioactive materials. This study began two months after the 1979 Three Mile Island (TMI) partial reactor meltdown; it spanned the next 25 years. Monitoring points included stations at the PPL Susquehanna and TMI nuclear power plants. Monthly gamma measurements documented concentrations of radionuclides from natural and anthropogenic sources. During this study, various series of gamma-emitting radionuclide concentration measurements were made in many general categories of animals, plants, and other inorganic matter, both within and near the river. Sampling began in 1979 before the first start-up of the PPL Susquehanna power plant. Although all species were not continuously monitored for the entire period, an extensive database was compiled. In May 1986, ongoing measurements from several monitoring stations along the river near Three Mile Island,Peach Bottom andCalvert Cliffs detectediodine-131beta particles attributable to fallout from theChernobyl nuclear accident.[38] The remaining reactor atThree Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station was shut down in 2019.[39]
In 2015, asmallmouth bass with a rare, cancerous tumor was caught from the river, raising renewed concerns about toxic materials and water pollution.[40][41] TheEnvironmental Protection Agency reported, "we do not have sufficient data at this time to scientifically support listing the main stem of the Susquehanna asimpaired."[40]
The Susquehanna River has attracted boaters who watch or fish for its migratory species. Many tourists and local residents use the Susquehanna in the summer for recreation purposes such as kayaking, canoeing, and motor-boating. Due to the high volume ofsmallmouth bass in the river, it is the host of numerous bass fishing tournaments each year and is regarded by many as one of the premier bass fishing rivers in North America. Canoe races are held annually on various sections of the river, such as the amateur race held inOneonta, New York.
Susquehanna rowing and paddling have a long history. Starting in 1874, rowers fromShamokin Dam, Pennsylvania, raced men fromSunbury. The General Clinton Canoe Regatta, a 70-mile (110 km) flat-water race, takes place each year inBainbridge, New York, onMemorial Day weekend. Binghamton University Crew and Hiawatha Island Boat Club are also located on the river, in theSouthern Tier of New York.
TheAppalachian Trail passes throughDuncannon, Pennsylvania, and crosses the Susquehanna on theClarks Ferry Bridge.
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