River Roots: 1863 Bridge Burning

River Roots is Susquehanna NHA’s blog series featuring history from York and Lancaster Counties that showcases the Susquehanna River’s historic, cultural, and natural resource contributions to our nation’s heritage.

RiverRoots Heritage Blog

In the Susquehanna River, between Columbia and Wrightsville, a row of piers stands vacant. For over a century, these piers held bridges that connected Lancaster and York Counties. The most famous of those bridges was the wooden covered bridge that was burned during the Civil War. The fire that consumed that bridge changed the course of history.

The Columbia Bank and Bridge Company financed its first bridge across the Susquehanna River in 1814, but ice lifted it from its piers and destroyed it in 1834. The Company knew that a replacement bridge needed to complement the new commercial growth. They chose a new location: just north of the present-day Route 462 bridge. The bridge design included double railroad tracks inside a covered structure. Two towpaths for moving canal boats across the Susquehanna. Thirty years after its completion, this bridge became a choke point in the Civil War.

In the late spring of 1863, the Confederate Army pushed north through the Shenandoah Valley to invade the Northern states. They reached Pennsylvania with orders to raid for much-needed supplies and then to beat the Army of the Potomac on their turf. General Robert E. Lee wrote:

[The Yankees will be] broken down with hunger and hard marching, strung out on a long line, and much demoralized when they come into Pennsylvania. I shall throw an overwhelming force on their advance, crush it, follow up the success, drive one corps back on another, and by successive repulses and surprises, before they can concentrate, create a panic and virtually destroy the army.[1]

Four Confederate Corps totaling over 70,000 men invaded Pennsylvania and spanned out across Franklin, Cumberland, Adams, and York Counties. Although Pennsylvania had raised an emergency militia, it was far smaller and poorly trained.

In late June, Major General Jubal Early’s Confederate division of nearly 12,000 men captured York city and demanded a ransom of supplies and money to outfit his troops. Early sent a brigade of men east under the leadership of Brigadier General John B. Gordon. After the war, Gordon wrote that his goal was to cross the Susquehanna River into Columbia, seize as many horses as possible, and move toward Harrisburg or Philadelphia. However, a contingent of Pennsylvania militiamen and local volunteers stopped Gordon in his tracks.

The Bottleneck

The bridge at Columbia had long been a bottleneck. It shared all the traffic across the river: rail, canal, wagon, pedestrian, carriage, horse, and livestock. The 40-foot wide and 5,620-foot-long bridge was essential to the commerce and prosperity of York and Lancaster Counties. There were only three bridges crossing the lower Susquehanna during the Civil War: The Camelback Bridge (Market Street) in Harrisburg, the Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge, and the Conowingo Bridge in Maryland. The Susquehanna River also had a significant current and flow in the lower section. With this knowledge, Union General Couch knew that the Susquehanna River would make a formidable defensive line.

Couch sent the 807-man 27^th Pennsylvania Volunteer Militia, led by Colonel Jacob Frick, to defend the Columbia bridge. served as a lieutenant colonel at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. He had been mustered out of the army in May of 1863, but he went to Harrisburg to serve when Confederate Army threatened Pennsylvania. Many of the men that he led were from Frick’s native Schuylkill County in and nearby Northampton, Huntingdon, and Berks counties. They arrived by train to Columbia on June 24^th, 1863, with orders to defend the fords and bridges across the Susquehanna River.

Citizens of York, Adams, Cumberland, and Franklin Counties rushed to move important property across the river to the safety of Lancaster. The turnpike up to the bridge in Wrightsville was lined with wagons, livestock, and horses. After a meeting between with Army and bridge company leaders, the company removed the tolls to allow for quicker movement of materials.[2] Mules and horses had always pulled freight through the bridge. Volunteers worked through the night to get all the wagons, livestock, and horses over to Lancaster County.

All that was left in Wrightsville were canal boats and locomotives. Canal boats in the Susquehanna & Tidewater Canal were pulled across the river and anchored on Columbia’s shore. Moving the locomotives was harder. Their funnel-shaped smokestacks wouldn’t fit through the bridge. Plus, there was always a fear that a spark from the engine would light the wooden bridge on fire. Railroad workers dismantled the locomotives and a team of ten mules slowly hauled the engines through. These were the first engines to ever cross the bridge. It took the better part of the day to move all the locomotives across the river to safety. In Columbia, they were coupled to waiting trains and pulled to Philadelphia.

Many people had also fled through the bridge to Columbia. In the western counties of Franklin, Adams, Cumberland, and York, many African Americans fled from the Confederate army through Columbia. They ran because the Confederates could claim they were fugitive slaves, regardless of whether or not they had ever been enslaved. Just three months earlier in March, the Confederate government issued orders that “fugitive slaves” should be rounded up and shipped south to special depots. The Confederates captured and enslaved hundreds of Black Pennsylvanians during this campaign.

In Columbia, Annie Welsh wrote, “…it was distressing to witness old and young, [B]lack and white, with all that they were able to move, and a great many with nothing but what they have on, come crowding through and into our town.”[3] Some individuals returned after the Gettysburg Campaign, but many others did not. The Confederate invasion of Pennsylvania made an indelible mark on the makeup of South-Central Pennsylvania. Annie simply wrote, “People were leaving in all directions.”

Setting the Explosives

Union General Couch knew that his untested troops might be outnumbered and overpowered, so he developed an alternative defense. From Harrisburg, he directed troops to place combustible materials on the Camelback Bridge and the Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge. Early on Sunday morning Robert Crane, the superintendent for the Reading and Columbia Railroad, received orders to supervise the placement of explosives on the bridge at the first sight of Rebels. The goal was to drop the fourth span from Wrightsville. If the 200-foot tall span fell into the river, it would stop the Confederates cold. They would be forced to retreat to York. Frick and the railroad superintendent felt that the bridge span could have been easily rebuilt after the Confederates retreated.

In Wrightsville, Frick set a defense line on either side of the turnpike just west of town and used a horseshoe troop formation to defend the town and bridge. Four companies from Columbia, three white and one Black, joined his troops and brought the total to 175 men. A force of convalescent Union soldiers also joined Frick.  Columbia’s white companies left by Sunday, leaving only the 53 African American men with Frick’s militiamen. Frick was particularly concerned about the southern flank which had only 238 to cover a 1,200-yard line over the tough territory around Kreutz Creek. Frick believed that they could hold the bridge if the Rebels only sent a small raiding party.

Mid-afternoon, Confederate Brigadier General Gordon marched his mile-long column of men through Hallam. At the general store and post office in town, they seized 200 dozen eggs, 20 pairs of boots, 20 pairs of shoes, 25 yards of calico cloth, and 10 barrels of pickled mackerel. Most of Wrightsville’s horses had been moved across the Susquehanna, but the Confederates still found and grabbed as many as they could find.

Gordon headed up a high ridge to observe the Union position. He was relieved to see that there was no artillery supporting the defenses. Gordon decided to divide the brigade and attack both Union flanks in a classic military tactic called the pincer movement. As Gordon prepared for an attack, a local music instructor left Wrightsville for York after giving a lesson in town. He spotted the long column of Rebels in the distance, reversed course, and sped back to Wrightsville. He was escorted to Colonel Frick and asked to describe the nature and size of the approaching troops.

Frick quickly sent word of the advance to two men: General Couch in Harrisburg and Railroad Superintendent Robert Crane in Columbia. Crane had already rounded up a group of carpenters to help him prepare the bridge for demolition. Between 15 and 20 Columbians headed to the fourth span from Wrightsville, nearly 800 feet from land. Once there, Crane and his workers removed planking so that artillery, wagons, and cavalry couldn’t cross the bridge. The men bored holes into the timbers and filled them with gunpowder. They sawed the heavy timbers and removed the roof and sidewalls to weaken the span.

Battle to Burning

Calvary men traveling up the railroad line fired the first shots on the southern flank of Wrightsville. Just as firing intensified throughout the line, Colonel Frick was informed that a scout had reported that the Confederate troops advancing towards them included three brigades of infantry and one regiment of cavalry. Although that message was not true, it meant Frick anticipated his 900 men would be up against nearly 5,000. Fighting continued for nearly an hour and fifteen minutes. It was becoming clear that he could not hold off the Rebels’ consistent thrusts on both flanks. If he waited much longer, they would sweep behind him, gain the bridge, and cut off the retreat. Frick gave the signal for a retreat across the bridge to prevent a senseless slaughter.

On the fourth bridge span from Wrightsville, four men sat ready to light the fuses. Robert Crane signaled to John Denney, Jacob Rich, John Lockard, and an old Black man named Jacob Miller to light the fuses and run across the destructing bridge and back to Columbia. Denney had worked in the Henry Clay Furnace nearby and had considerable experience in blasting. They felt confident the charges would drop the span. However, Denney reported that it “scarcely shook the bridge.”[4] Although the explosion failed to drop the span, it did scare the Confederate company that had just reached the bridge entrance.

Frick again turned to Robert Crane and asked him to set fire to the span. Quickly, men dragged fuel, boards, and wood shavings to the span. They soaked the kindling and bridge floor with coal oil and kerosene. John Denney and his three companions threw torches and ran. By the time they exited the eastern edge of the bridge, a column of flame could be seen in the sky.

Confederate troops tried to extinguish the fire, but the wind from the east intensified the fire and it spread across the whole western end of the bridge. Gordon rode into Wrightsville and demanded buckets and pails from the residents of the town, but none could be found. He was left to sit on his horse at the riverbank and watch the span collapse. Major General Jubal Early arrived to find Gordon on the riverbank. After hearing the account of the day, Early, frustrated that his chance to cross into Lancaster County was thwarted, left the bridge to its fate and returned to York.

The fire raged through the night and sparks landed on Wrightsville homes, spreading the blaze. Gordon’s men stayed in Wrightsville and helped put out the fires. Miraculously, buckets, pails, and tubs came from their hiding places to fight the flames. The bucket brigade worked for hours. Although dozens of buildings suffered damage, most of them were salvageable.

Columbians tried to save the remaining half of the bridge. Men went into the bridge and removed floor planks and pulled support beams, but the effort was in vain. It was only when the span closest to Columbia caught fire that the local fire company was able to stop the flames. Annie Welsh wrote to her husband that it was, “a Magnificent but awful sight.” Each span burned for nearly half an hour before it fell into the river. The flames and smoke were clearly visible from Marietta. General Couch stated that, in Harrisburg, they watched the glowing night sky to the southeast. Some Gettysburg residents thought the red glow in the west was from the Confederates burning York City.

Double Back West

By 11:00 am the next day, nearly all of the Confederates had left Wrightsville. They had contemplated other options to cross the mighty Susquehanna River, but they had all been too dangerous with Union artillery sitting in Columbia. In York, Jubal Early’s plans to invade Harrisburg were officially ended when orders came from Robert E. Lee to join the rest of the army near South Mountain. Gordon’s brigade was exhausted from long marching, battle, and firefighting. They wearily arrived in Adams County on Tuesday night, June 30th. The next day, the Battle of Gettysburg began. Many of the men that sacked Wrightsville did not leave Pennsylvania, as over 500 men from Gordon’s brigade died in the battle.

Years later, Jubal Early complained that, had Gordon been able to take the bridge, his division could have cut off the Pennsylvania Railroad, marched on Lancaster, and then attacked Harrisburg. Early’s plan had been “entirely thwarted by the destruction of the bridge.” Columbians had mixed feelings. Some were proud the Union militia and volunteers had stopped the Confederate. Others were frustrated, saying that they would have rather seen Rebels in the town than the bridge burned. No matter your opinion, the flames over the Susquehanna that night changed the outcome of the Confederate invasion of Pennsylvania.

Learn More

Come to Riverfest! The last weekend in June each year, the river towns commemorate the burning of the bridge in a weekend-long heritage and recreation festival.

Visit Historic Wrightsville at the Burning Bridge Diorama.

Reach the book Flames Beyond Gettysburg: The Confederate Expedition to the Susquehanna River, June 1863 by Scott L. Mingus Sr., which is the most comprehensive account of the event.

Footnotes

[1] https://www.historynet.com/conquer-peace-lees-goals-gettysburg-campaign/

[2] https://collections.lancasterhistory.org/media/library/docs/edit_vol84no3pp135_154.pdf

[3] Flames Beyond Gettysburg, 223.

[4] Mingus, 261.

Sources

Guttman, John, and Scott L. Mingus Sr. “Stopped Cold by Fire.” America’s Civil War. May 2022.

McPherson, James M. “To Conquer A Peace: Lee’s Goals in the Gettysburg Campaign.” HistoryNet, September 3, 2018

McSherry, Patrick M. “Defense of Columbia, June 1863,” Journal of the Lancaster County Historical Society. Vol.84, no. 3 (1980), 135-154.

Nicholas, Rachael. “African Americans during the Gettysburg Campaign.” National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the Interior, June 1, 2020.

Mingus, Scott L. Flames Beyond Gettysburg: The Confederate Expedition to the Susquehanna River, June 1863. El Dorado Hills: Savas Beatie, 2013.

All Weekend:

🔥Riverfest Antique Trail
Explore Riverfest Antique Trail and take a piece of history home! Find glassware, pottery, signs, silver, porcelain, military items, books, art, historical papers, furnishings from the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries and so much more, as you enjoy antique hunting through 300 years of history!
June 24-26 at Participating Stores

Friday:

🔥 Riverstown Fourth Friday!
Across Marietta, Columbia, and Wrightsville, our restaurants and businesses will be open late celebrating kick off to Riverfest weekend. Find flaming hot deals and firey dinner options!

Saturday:

Sunday:

River Roots: Mayflies – The Hatch

River Roots is Susquehanna NHA’s blog series featuring history from York and Lancaster Counties that showcases the Susquehanna River’s historic, cultural, and natural resource contributions to our nation’s heritage.

RiverRoots Heritage Blog

The hatch is not a budget horror film, but rather what we call the emergence of thousands, even millions, of mayflies. Actually, several species of mayflies hatch all along the river at different times. But, when conditions are just right, swarms of mayflies appear without warning, overnight. They disrupt our peaceful summer evenings and leave us with a big mess in the morning. This unexpected event can be the bane of outdoor weddings and events. The swarms can even cause traffic problems. But mayfly hatches are important events, and their growing size is a sign of the river’s improving health. It can be both thrilling and frustrating to witness a large mayfly hatch over the Susquehanna.

Mayflies are aquatic insects that belong to the order Ephemeroptera, which means “short-lived”. They are also known as shadflies, fishflies, or up-winged flies. They are ancient insects that have lived on this planet for over 350 million years. They even lived while dinosaurs were here. There are more than 600 species of mayfly in the United States and over 3,000 worldwide. In Pennsylvania, there are at least 175 different species. Mayflies can vary in size, but they typically grow anywhere from 0.25 to 1.1 inches. The largest species of mayfly in the world is the Tisza Mayfly, found in Eastern Europe. It measures 4.7 inches from head to tail. The Tisza Mayfly hatch has become a tourist attraction known as the “Blooming of the Tisza.”

Mayflies emerge at different times, depending on the species, weather, and water conditions. They could “hatch” from their nymph form in May… but it also happens in June, July, and even August. That’s because different mayflies, caddisflies, stoneflies, and duns hatch from April through September. Some species hatch several times a year if the conditions are right.

One hatch here along this part of the Susquehanna River made international news in 2015. A swarm took to the lights on the Veteran’s Memorial Bridge on June 13, 2015, and created blizzard-like conditions. Several inches of dead mayflies piled up on the bridge, causing slick driving conditions and three motorcycle crashes. The bridge closed, and snowplows were even used in the cleanup. The bridge closed again briefly the next night due to another swarm.

Learn More

June 8, 2022: Follow the Hatch—Aquatic Insects in Lancaster County’s Streams and Rivers  6:00 PM – 7:30 PM at Columbia Crossing. Join Dr. John Jackson of Stroud Water Research Center and Keith Williams of Lancaster Conservancy for a deep dive into the world of mayflies, stoneflies, caddisflies and the many other tiny creatures that call our streams home.

Stroud Water Research https://stroudcenter.org/news/mayfly-eggs-under-one-minute/

Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper https://lowersusquehannariverkeeper.org/

Sources

“Mayfly swarms temporarily close Veterans Memorial Bridge again”. LNP Lancaster Online

Category: Burrowing Mayflies (Ephemeridae). Life in the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed. SusquehannaWildlife.net

Hadden, Jerry. “Upper Delaware River Insects.” delawareriverguide.net

Kaszas, Fanni. “Tisza Mayfly and ‘Tisza Blooming’ Becoming Hungaricums as National Values.” HUNGARY today.

Leonard, Justin W.. “mayfly”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 11 Mar. 2020.

Miller, Adam. “Massive Swarms of Bugs-A Sign of a River on the Mend.” Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay.

http://www.delawareriverguide.net/insects/insects.html

River Roots: History of the Shifter

River Roots is Susquehanna NHA’s blog series featuring history from York and Lancaster Counties that showcases the Susquehanna River’s historic, cultural, and natural resource contributions to our nation’s heritage.

RiverRoots Heritage Blog

What is a shifter, exactly? In the Susquehanna National Heritage Area, it’s a railroad locomotive and a sandwich! But, it’s not just any sandwich. It’s a sandwich with local roots, almost exclusively served along the Susquehanna River in Columbia and Marietta.

Local accounts trace the origins of this sandwich back to the 1910s in Columbia. In that era, the railroad yard by the river was bustling with activity. An army of skilled and unskilled workers labored in the switching yard near the roundhouse. A roundhouse is large circular or semicircular building around turntabled used for servicing locomotives. Mechanics maintained locomotives, workers rushed to clean up after derailments, and conductors used “shifters” to move railroad cars from drop-off to pick-up points.

A “shifter” (also known as a “switcher”) is a small railroad locomotive used for maneuvering railroad cars inside a rail yard. Shifters are not intended for moving trains over long distances. They are for assembling train cars for another locomotive to take over. The typical shifter is low-powered but has a high starting tractive force for getting heavy cars rolling quickly. Switchers produce high torque but move slowly and have small diameter driving wheels. Shifters are to trains are what tugboats are to boats.

Switching was hard work. Shifter engines wore out quickly from constant collisions with cars and frequent starts and stops. Switcher locomotives needed water and coal or wood to operate. Some had a tank for water and others had a car called a “tender” that carried their fuel.

The hustle and bustle of downtown Columbia centered around the river and railroad industry. The low vibrations of trains riding the rails, the loud train whistles, and the smell of heat filled the air. Working in the rail yard was hard work, and the men worked up a mean appetite. Columbia’s restaurants, bars, and hotels all created hearty meals that workers could dig into as soon as they clocked out. One of those meals was the monster of a ham and cheese sandwich that we now call the Shifter.

There are a few stories in Columbia about who started serving the Shifter sandwich first. One story is that it was first started by the Lutz family at their hotel on Front Street in the 1930s. The Olena family also claims that they served Shifters in Columbia Cafe in the 1910s. Later, the Rising Sun Hotel claimed it, since they included the sandwich with an overnight stay. The Rising Sun may have been the first one to put the ingredients in the order we still use today. Although we can’t sort out all the gossip about its origin, we are going to share here the story from descendants of the Columbia Café family.

The “Shifter Club” was made up of a group of engineers and conductors who worked the switching yard. The Shifter Club met daily at the Columbia Café on Locust Street for lunch. Every time a new member joined the team, they had to buy lunch for the rest of the crew. As the economy worsened in the early 1900s, the tradition began to get too expensive to uphold. The owner of Columbia Café, Tuffield Olena, and his friend Benny Potts decided to come up with an affordable meal to keep the Shifter Club coming to the café. Between 1915 and 1920, the Columbia Café’s kitchen created a simple ham and cheese sandwich. They informally called it the “Shifter” after the group of guys for which they created it. However, the Columbia Café didn’t list the Shifter on the café menu because they only made it for the Shifter Club. The Columbia Café didn’t add the now-iconic sandwich to their menu until they moved to 4th & Locust Street in 1920.

Feeding railroad workers was big business in Columbia. Railroad bosses often ordered a gallon of coffee, a gallon of soup, and a pile of sandwiches at three separate hotels. Columbia hotels were the top choice for lodging by railroad workers because the owners often included meals in the price. By the 1930s, many local eateries recreated and offered the Shifter to Columbia’s railroad workers. The Rising Sun Hotel and the Lutz/Lower Hotel both served up Shifter-style sandwiches to their guests. Both hotels wrapped the sandwiches to keep the food clean when workers ate them with one hand as they worked.

The basic Shifter wasn’t exactly nutritious, so restaurants added lettuce, tomatoes, and pickles. Local hotels often served Shifters at company-provided lunches for shift workers, so the name stuck around even after the railroads left Columbia.

The modern Shifter has a very specific construction. It starts with a slice of white bread, then a layer of mayonnaise, lettuce, and tomato slices. Next come two slices of Swiss cheese, two ounces of ham and dill pickles, and then another slice of white bread. If your sandwich isn’t constructed in that order, it is not a Shifter. Some people accept a few variations, like turkey instead of ham or sweet pickles instead of dill. Still, the Shifter remains mostly unchanged over the 100 years since it became a local favorite!

Learn More

Columbia Railroad Day is Saturday, May 7, 2022, from 11 am – 4 pm at the Columbia River Park! This year, it’s all about the Pennsylvania Railroad’s history in Columbia. Enjoy “HO” and “O” gauge model trains at the Columbia Historic Preservation Society. Ride a “speeder” or small gas-powered unit on the spur line that runs through Columbia. Take a historic tour on a vintage trolley or attend lectures at Columbia Crossing. Enjoy the Shifter Showdown, a variety of vendors, and food in the River Park.

Want to try Columbia, Pa’s most famous fare? Stop for lunch during your next visit and order an authentic shifter from Rose’s Deli & More or Hinkle’s Restaurant!

Sources

Bruce, A. Herr. “Olena Family History involving the Shifter.” Courtesy of the Columbia Historic Preservation Society.

The Shifter: Don’t Ask for one in Lancaster City. (1977, January 12). Susquehanna Times.

Fulton, A. “The Shifter”… plus a showdown and a slice of history.

Ries, J. (2019, December 11). A shifter by any other name… The Marietta Traveler.

River Roots: Power of the River

River Roots is Susquehanna NHA’s blog series featuring history from York and Lancaster Counties that showcases the Susquehanna River’s historic, cultural, and natural resource contributions to our nation’s heritage.

RiverRoots Heritage Blog

The Susquehanna River has never succeeded as a commercial waterway because of its many rocks and waterfalls. Many people tried throughout history, but the Lower Susquehanna remained largely untamed until the early 20th century. The power-producing rapids and the 1,180 feet of elevation change between Cooperstown and the Chesapeake Bay made the Susquehanna ideal for hydroelectricity. Dams harnessed the power of the river. Today, there are four dams in the 55 miles of river between Harrisburg and the Chesapeake Bay.

Hydropower is one of the oldest and most available sources of renewable energy. People all over the world have used rivers to power mills since Ancient Rome. Today, the natural flow of moving water power hydroelectric power plants, which produce electricity. The most common type of hydroelectric power plant is an impoundment facility. An impoundment facility uses a dam to store river water in a reservoir. When the water is released from the reservoir flows through a turbine, spinning it, the turbine activates a generator to produce electricity.

Reservoirs are also used as recreation areas for activities like boating, fishing, and other water sports. During droughts or extended periods when water levels are very low, more water is released from the reservoir so farmers can water their crops and homes and businesses can function normally. They are also used for flood control.

Power of the River: Dams on the Lower Susquehanna River

The Lower Susquehanna River is unique because it has a higher fall rate, or elevation change, than the rest of the river. Most rivers have the greatest flow and fall near their source, but the Susquehanna is so old and meanders so far that its fall is greatest in the last 55 miles. Those miles of the river hug York and Lancaster Counties of Pennsylvania and Hartford and Cecil Counties in Maryland. Here, we’ll take a deeper dive into the Pennsylvania hydroelectric plants.

York Haven Hydro Station

Built in 1904
Built/Owned by York Haven Power Company
Current Owners Eagle Creek Renewable Energy
Produces 135,485 megawatts, with 13 horizontal Francis turbines, 4 vertical Kaplan turbines, and 3 vertical propeller units
Reservoir Lake Frederick

York Haven Dam is a low head, run-of-the river dam. It was the first hydroelectric plant on the lower Susquehanna River. Located about 12 miles south of Harrisburg where the river drops 19 feet in 1⁄4 mile, the dam follows an existing rock ledge causing it to cross the river at an angle. When the station was built by the York Haven Power Company in 1904, it was one of the largest in the world and is recognized as one of the oldest hydroelectric projects in America. The facility produces 135,485 megawatts with 13 horizontal Francis turbines, 4 vertical Kaplan turbines, and 3 vertical propeller units. The plant is listed as a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark for using one of the first Kaplan turbines installed in the United States.

Lake Frederick
Formed by damming the Susquehanna River at York Haven, the 2-1/2-mile Lake Fredrick stretches in the shadow of TMI’s cooling towers providing a unique recreation space. Lake Frederick holds Islands ranging in size from 200ft to 3 miles in length providing spectacular aquatic habitat for native species to thrive and attracts many anglers. Public angling access is located on a walkway along the face of the powerhouse at the York Haven Power Plant Recreation Area below the dam.

Falmouth Potholes & Sculptured Rock
Rivers are a major agent of erosion, shaping landscapes over time with their power. It’s not surprising to find changes in rocks in the riverbed wherever you have a waterfall or otherwise rapid movement in the water. Discovered during extremely low water, this otherworldly landscape is one of the most expansive pothole fields uncovered in the United States. The rocks at the foot of Conewago Falls range in size and display various smooth, curvaceous shapes that captivate visitors.

Safe Harbor Hydroelectric Station

Built in 1931
Built/Owned by Pennsylvania Power & Light Company and Baltimore Gas & Electric Company
Current Owners Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners
Produces 417 megawatts with a 12-unit hydro generator powerhouse
Reservoir Clarke Lake (Lake Clarke)

Safe Harbor Dam was the last of three hydroelectric dams built on the Susquehanna, located just above the confluence of the Conestoga River with the Susquehanna, about 7 miles south of Washington Boro.
The station was built by the Pennsylvania Power & Light Company and Baltimore Gas & Electric Company in 1931 and received a capacity increase in the 1980’s. The concrete gravity dam that is 4,869ft long and 75ft high with a total length of 5,000 ft stretching shore to shore. It outputs 10 million kilowatts of energy with the 12-unit hydro generator powerhouse that generates 265,000 horsepower.

Lake Clarke
Behind the dam is 7,360-acre Lake Clark, a popular boating and recreation area on the Susquehanna River. The Lake Clarke portion of river marks the beginning of the Susquehanna Gorge formation, a deep canyon-like gorge carved into the ancient rocks where the river is squeezed through the quarter mile gorge while dropping sharply, roughly 6 feet per mile.

Within Lake Clarke you will find the Conejohela Flats, an Audubon important bird area. The Conejohela Flats are part of a network of key stopover sites, locations that offer respite for migratory birds, along the Atlantic Flyway that draw large volumes and varieties migrating birds through the Susquehanna River corridor biannually. Because the creation of Lake Clarke shrank the flats, the water levels are controlled and regulated preserve the habitat from April through October. Safe Harbor also manages more than 2,300 acres of land in the area for soil, water, and wildlife habitat preservation.

Holtwood Hydroelectric Plant (McCalls Ferry Dam)

Built in between 1905 and 1910
Built/Owned by Pennsylvania Water & Power Company
Current Owner Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners
Produces 252 megawatts with 14 turbine driven generators
Reservoir Lake Aldred

Holtwood Dam is the second oldest of three dams built across the lower Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania. Located about 5 miles south of Pequea, it’s the southernmost dam on the river before it crosses the Mason-Dixon Line into Maryland.  Spanning the river 2,932 ft, Holtwood was the second longest dam in the U.S. and the third longest in the world when it was built. Originally constructed as the McCalls Ferry Dam in 1905 by the McCall’s Ferry Power Company until it was reorganized as the Pennsylvania Water and Power Company and the plant was renamed Holtwood in honor of two company executives and opened in 1910. The dam consists of a main concrete dam, which is mostly one continuous spillway, with a powerhouse at the eastern end. The water level is raised by wooden flash boards and inflatable dam sections. It produces 252 megawatts of power using 14 turbine driven generators.

Lake Aldred
The 2,400-acre Lake Aldred is popular recreation area for boating but hosts a maze of rocky islands rising abruptly from the water. Weise Island, in the middle of the Susquehanna River just north of Pequea Creek, is the home of the Lake Aldred Wakeboard & Ski Club. The Lake Aldred portion of the river runs through the lower section of the Susquehanna Gorge formation, high wooded hills and rocky outcroppings rising over 200 ft provide habitat for native wildlife.

An area below the dam called, the Holtwood Whitewater Park, utilizes scheduled whitewater releases from the dam when conditions permit. The large, extremely fast wave and subsequent smaller waves are popular with thrill seeking whitewater kayakers of appropriate skill.

Working together to restore the Susquehanna River

Dredging and Pollution

Since their construction, the reservoirs behind these three dams along the lower Susquehanna River have historically trapped a portion of pollution from the Susquehanna River, and the nutrients that are often attached, reducing the amount the Chesapeake Bay. Although, a recent assessment indicates that the reservoirs are reaching their limit to effectively trap the sediment.

The impounded waters of Lake Aldred and Lake Clarke were originally dredged for anthracite coal silt that washed downstream from Pennsylvania’s Coal Region. Mining upstream reduced the availability of coal silt, and environmental laws made the dredging impractical by 1972, so coal was brought in using trains.

Fish Ladder/Lift

A fish lift or fish ladder is a waterway constructed on or around a natural or artificial obstruction to provide a passageway for fish and other aquatic species. The construction allows a seamless migration despite obstructions like dams, culverts, and waterfalls, which otherwise would have affected their migration and survival. Since 2017 York Haven has used a vertical slot fish ladder, which enables fish to pass over the fourth dam by swimming and leaping up a series of short steps and over the dam, along with a channel system at Three Mile Island, while the other dams use fish lifts.

Operation of the Safe Harbor Fish Lift began in 2016. The fish lift has three entrances where fish are captured in the lift are transferred into the trough that allows them to pass into Lake Clarke. The western end of the Holtwood dam has the original and ineffective fish ladder. It was replaced by a fish lift that was damaged by heavy rain and rapid snowmelt in 1996. The new fish lift was completed and has continued lifting American shad and other migratory fish species since 1997. Despite these efforts, the ladders and lifts show only limited success since fish still must find their way through passages and then pass-through multiple dams.

Conclusion

Today, dams block natural movement of aquatic wildlife, hold sediment at each of the four hydroelectric dams on the lower Susquehanna River. They also provide recreational spaces that visitors flock to annually.

Dams are a controversial environmental topic. They store water, provide renewable energy, and prevent floods. Unfortunately, they also cause a wide range of environmental issues. Dams can disrupt sediment flow, causing sediment to accumulate within the reservoir (impairing reservoir operation and decreasing storage) and depriving downstream of sediment essential to maintain channel and support the riparian ecosystem. Upriver from dam you may find a beautiful reservoir. Downstream of a dam, you are likely to find a river starved of its structural materials and cannot provide habitat. Mitigating environmental impacts caused by hydroelectric dams is both a local and worldwide challenge.

Learn More

In 2001, Safe Harbor Water and Power Corporation won the Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence, recognized for removing over 11,000 tons of debris from the river and being able to recycle almost all of it. The Holtwood Dam has received the AGC Build America Award, honoring AGC members who build the nation’s most impressive construction projects.

Visit the hydroelectric dams on the Lower Susquehanna River!

Explore the Lower Susquehanna River Water Trail! Don’t forget to purchase your Lower Susquehanna Water Trail map. It will provide you with all the information needed to experience this scenic and historic landscape to its fullest. For updated portage information visit Susquehanna Riverlands. For your safety, please take advantage of all sources of information before venturing out on the river.

Sources

Bose, K. D. (2021). YHVN 2020 FOP annual report P-1888 – srbc.net. York Haven Hydroelectric Project 2020 Fish Passage Operating Report .

Chesapeake Bay TMDL. (2010). Safe Harbor Dam (lake clarke) and Holtwood Dam (lake … Sediments behind the Susquehanna Dams Technical Documentation .

Lower Susquehanna river. Pennsylvania Game Commission. (n.d.).

Maryland Department of Natural Resources & Exelon Generation Company, LLC. (2017). Lower Susquehanna River Reservoir System Model … The Peculiarities of Perviousness: STAC Workshop.

Matthews, J. (2017). Researchers expect new fish passage will help restore migratory fish populations. Penn State University.

McClure, J. (2014, November 26). Where exactly is the Susquehanna River’s Holtwood Dam? York Town Square.

Normandeau Associates Inc. (2016). Www.srbc.net. Summery of Operations at the Holtwood Fish Passage Facility.

Stahlman, J. (2019, July 5). Holtwood Dam. Pennsylvania Heritage Magazine.

Susquehanna Shad. Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. (n.d.).

York Haven. York Haven | Eagle Creek Renewable Energy. (n.d.).

River Roots: American Eels

River Roots is Susquehanna NHA’s blog series featuring history from York and Lancaster Counties that showcases the Susquehanna River’s historic, cultural, and natural resource contributions to our nation’s heritage.

RiverRoots Heritage Blog

When we think of fish migration, we typically think of salmon. However, the Susquehanna River is home to several migrant fishes–or, at least, it used to be.  Before there were dams on the river, American shad used to run upriver in the millions (I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen a fish run, only swim!). Every spring, adult shad travelled up the Susquehanna River to their spawning grounds. The shad fishery was a major industry here, and our Shad Wars River Roots blog takes a deeper dive into that history here. This blog will, instead focus on another, rather mysterious species that migrated through the Susquehanna: the American eel.

The American eel, at first glance, may cause people to have an immediate fear response, due to the similarities this creature shares with snakes. Maybe I would gasp, too, if I reeled in a 5-foot-long wiggling stick! After the initial startle, I dare you to look at them eye to eye. You may find yourself agreeing that these little critters are quite cute with their pectoral fins that look like Dumbo ears.

American eels do not have the ability to shock like electric eels. In fact, electric eels are not actually true eels at all! They are more closely related to carp and catfish than they are to other eels. The American eel is a true eel, however. They have a thick coat of slime that they use for protection (slightly more subtle than an electrical shock!). A slimy layer of mucus makes it harder for predators to grip them and even protects them from some bacteria.

Lifecycle

American eels have a surprisingly mysterious lifecycle. For a very long time, no one knew where it began, because a pregnant female eel had never been caught. As it turns out, baby eels look drastically different than adult eels! In the larval stage, leptocephalus, they are long, leaf-shaped, flattened sideways, and transparent.

This shape may help them float along with the ocean currents, because as larvae eels drift for thousands of miles along currents for about a year to reach the coastlines where they transform into “glass eels”. As they begin to migrate upstream, they become “elvers”. When the eels reach freshwater, they transform yet again into “yellow eels”. Both the elver and yellow eel life stages closely resemble an adult eel. Researchers discovered this information by retracing the eels’ “footsteps” via boat. Researchers took samples of eels floating towards the east coast of North America, searching for smaller and smaller eels until they could narrow their breeding grounds down to the Sargasso Sea.

The Sargasso Sea is near the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, near Bermuda and east of the Bahamas. It was named after its massive seagrass beds of sargassum seaweed. The Sargasso Sea is an ocean gyre, where currents come together in massive swirls, exactly like the Pacific Ocean’s well known Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Adult American and European eels spawn in the Sargasso Sea for the first and only times in their lives. Sexually mature females can contain more than 2 million eggs! Eel embryos typically hatch within 19 days if the water is near 59^oF.

American eels usually reach sexual maturity between 2 and 6 years of age depending on environmental factors. When eels are ready to begin the journey to spawn, they make their way downstream towards the Sargasso Sea in the fall. It’s quite impressive that they know exactly where they hatched out of an egg after floating thousands of miles as a “leaf” in the middle of an ocean. This journey is so incredibly exhaustive that eels can absorb their digestive tract to provide extra fuel, as if they already know that they will die after spawning.

History & Threats

American eels are North America’s only catadromous species. That means that they’re born in saltwater, grow up in freshwater, and then return to saltwater to spawn. This is the opposite of the anadromous American shad, who are born in freshwater, grow up in saltwater, and spawn in freshwater. We humans have not been so kind to eels, maybe because we think they look like slimy alien snakes. Humans are one of the American eels’ biggest threats. We target multiple stages of the eel lifecycle. People catch juvenile eels and sell them as bait or for aquaculture, and we target adult eels as a food source.

Native Americans fished for eels long before Captain John Smith made it to this region. The Susquehanna is full of old eel weirs, underwater landmarks still standing after centuries. Native American constructed ‘V’ shaped eel weirs, built from stacked river rocks. A simple but effective way to funnel and catch American eels during migration each fall. As the eels swam downstream, the walls of the weir funneled them to a narrow point where they could be captured in traps or speared more easily. Native Americans smoked the eel meat to be used all winter. This was likely the most important source of protein and calories for local people for several thousand years.

The Swatara Township crest contains the symbol of an eel on its shield, because Swatara translates to “where we feed on eels”. Eels used to make up over a quarter of the total fish found in the Atlantic coastal streams. Once European settlers started to commercially fish for eels until the early 1900s and built major obstructions, that changed. Considered a delicacy in Asia and Europe, many eels caught in the Chesapeake Bay region today are exported overseas. They are served at your local Japanese restaurants that make sushi here in the United States as well! In Japanese, freshwater eel is known as unagi, and saltwater eel is anago. Maine fisheries averaged $1,500 per pound (over a 10-year period) for live, fresh-caught elvers to supply aquaculture farms in Asia. Overfishing of native eel species in East Asia and Europe, along with strict fishing restrictions, have increased the overseas demand for American eels.

Large migratory obstructions, like dams, are also detrimental to eel populations. Four hydroelectric dams are located on the lower Susquehanna River. The 94-foot-tall Conowingo Dam stands only 10 miles from where the Susquehanna dumps into the Chesapeake Bay. Tens of millions of dollars have been spent building fish ladders to carry shad over the dams, but shad migrate during the day and follow strong midriver flows. Small, juvenile eels migrate at night along slower currents near the rivers’ edge, so the fish ladders don’t help them. Surprisingly, there was quite a cheap solution to this problem (when compared to millions spent on ladders). Conowingo Dam established an “eel-way,” an 18-inch ramp that runs from the base of the river to a holding tank. A pipe pumps 6 gallons of water per minute next to the ramp, mimicking an entrance to a small stream and attracting eels. Since 2008 biologists, have used this sort of system to truck more than 2 million eels upstream. In 2021, more than 620,000 were able to return to their previous habitats this way. But let’s not forget, adult eels travelling back downstream to spawn must pass the hydroelectric dams again, and this time it will most likely be through a turbine.

An Unlikely Friendship

One type of freshwater mussel relies almost exclusively on eels. The Eastern elliptio mussel is the most common freshwater mussel in the Susquehanna River. During the final stages of reproduction, female mussels emit a parasitic larva that attach themselves to the eels’ gills. These larvae drop off after 2-4 weeks and become juvenile mussels. This mussel can live up to 100 years, and adults can filter up to 15 gallons of water a day!

The upper Susquehanna has a good population of mussels, but they are aging. Not enough eels are making it far enough upstream to assist with mussel reproduction. It’s estimated that 280 million elliptio mussels could filter 2-6 billion gallons of water a day, which would remove nearly 78 tons of sediment (a major contributor to negative water health). Since the Susquehanna River provides nearly half of the freshwater flowing into the Chesapeake Bay, eels and mussels are the perfect duo to Save the Bay! More eels = more mussels = cleaner waters.

Sources

Chesapeake Bay Program. (2022). Discover the Bay Field guide – American Eel.  Chesapeake Bay Program.

Cresci, A., Durif, C. M., Paris, C. B., Shema, S. D., Skiftesvik, A. B., & Browman, H. I. (2019). Glass eels (Anguilla anguilla) imprint the magnetic direction of tidal currents from their juvenile estuaries. Communications Biology, 2(1).

Eroh & Liebich. (2021, November). American Eels feat. Holly Richards (Episode 44) [Podcast]. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Spotify.

River Roots: William Whipper

River Roots is Susquehanna NHA’s blog series featuring history from York and Lancaster Counties that showcases the Susquehanna River’s historic, cultural, and natural resource contributions to our nation’s heritage.

RiverRoots Heritage Blog

During the nineteenth century, industrious people and businesses, including many lumberyards, filled the banks of the Susquehanna. For decades, a remarkable and heroic American named William Whipper managed some of those lumberyards. Prominent in national politics, highly successful in business, and a well-known leader in the reform movement, Whipper personally saved hundreds of people seeking freedom from the oppression of slavery. William Whipper was everything nineteenth-century racist propaganda asserted he could not be. Due to the sensitive nature of his work as a Black abolitionist, many of his achievements went unrecognized during his lifetime.

Like many people in the Black community, Whipper faced many obstacles resulting from the racial divide. This did not stop him from being successful in business ventures or in fighting valiantly for the rights of Black people to be treated as full citizens and to be free from bondage. The lumberyards were located close to the entrance of the historic Columbia Bridge. William Whipper’s home was near the bridge entrance, and he often awoke in the night to help people seeking freedom from slavery enter Columbia. He would feed, house, and help them to freedom. In a letter to fellow abolitionist William Still, he wrote:

“I knew it had been asserted far down in the slave region, that Smith and Whipper, the Negro lumber merchants were engaged in secreting fugitive slaves.  And on two occasions attempts had been made to set fire to their yard for the purpose of punishing their illegal acts.”

He continued:

“I know I speak within bounds when I say that directly or indirectly from 1847 to 1860, I have contributed from my earnings one thousand dollars annually, and for the five years during the war a like amount to put down the rebellion…I would prefer to be penniless in the streets than to have withheld a single hour’s labor or a dollar from the sacred cause of liberty, justice, and humanity.”

His Youth

William Whipper was born in 1804 in Drumore Township, Lancaster County. His mother, Nance Whipper, was a servant in Reverend Francis Alison Latta’s household. Sources often obscure information about his childhood, but family genealogical records have recently identified Latta as his father.  Reverend Latta was principal of a Latin school in Drumore.  This highly regarded school was started by William’s grandfather, Reverend James Latta, in 1770.  William’s privately tutored education was said to be equal to the education given to his white half-siblings, and he often referred to the superior education given to him by his father.

As a young man, William moved to Philadelphia and at first made his living as a steam scourer (at the time, a new process for cleaning clothing). Later, he opened a grocery store that supported temperance and sold mercantile goods that were created free of slave labor. The young professional and hard-working entrepreneur soon joined Philadelphia’s intellectual elites. He had connections to organizations and activities associated with the Bishop Richard Allen, founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He became a valued member of new intellectual societies, including the “Reading Room Society for the Men of Colour who are Citizens of the City and Liberties of Philadelphia.”  That society chose Whipper to draft their constitution. He would later become editor of The National Reformer, a magazine from the American Moral Reform Society dedicated to purifying individuals and society at large.

In the aftermath of a rebellion of enslaved Virginians in 1831, prosperous people of color faced turbulent opposition all over the country.  One of the greatest losses was the ratification of a new Pennsylvania state constitution that denied Black men, who previously voted as lawful citizens, of that right.  White-led riots occurred in Philadelphia and Columbia and anonymous death threats were received by Black businesspeople like Columbia’s Stephen Smith.  Indignities were common.  For example, Smith was the largest stakeholder in the Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge Company, but he was not allowed to serve as its president.

William’s role as a national leader was demonstrated in 1833 when he was chosen to write and deliver the Philadelphia eulogy for William Wilberforce. Wilberforce had been the face of the victorious abolition movement in Great Britain. In his address, Whipper not only exalted Wilberforce, he also castigated the American Colonization Society, an organization formed to encourage free African Americans to move to Africa, as “the arch enemy of liberty.”  It was a dangerous time to be so bold.

Making Columbia Home

William Whipper left Philadelphia and settled in Columbia in 1835. In 1836, he married Stephen Smith’s only daughter, Harriet. The following year they welcomed a daughter, who they also named Harriet. Whipper spent three decades in Columbia. He managed lumberyards, investments in the Columbia and Reading Railroad, and other properties by day and operated a crucial Underground Railroad station at night. In Columbia, William had a unique opportunity to offer direct support to freedom seekers. Many freedom seekers found employment in his lumberyards, as it was excellent work for men of color that paid a living wage. The lumberyards also functioned as a clandestine station in a Black Abolitionist network involving transporting freedom seekers in railway cars. Whipper worked with the successful Black businessman William Goodridge, who operated the Reliance Line in York. Goodridge and Whipper built secret compartments in their railcars to aid freedom seekers on their journey. Seekers often moved from York to Columbia and then on to Philadelphia.

He wrote of these activities:

“…the Susquehanna River was the recognized Northern boundary of the slave-holding empire. The borough of Columbia, situated on its eastern bank, in the county of Lancaster, was the great depot where the fugitives from Virginia and Maryland first landed. The long bridge connecting Wrightsville with Columbia was the only safe outlet by which they could successfully escape their pursuers…my house was at the end of the bridge, and as I kept the station, I was frequently called up in the night to take charge of passengers. On their arrival they were generally hungry and penniless. I have received hundreds in this condition; fed and sheltered from one to seventeen at a time in a single night…I passed hundreds to the land of freedom.”

Whipper’s Canadian Haven

Following the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, conditions in Lancaster and Philadelphia became even worse for African Americans. In Columbia, Southerners came to kidnap free black people who had been formerly enslaved.  This prompted Whipper to consider emigrating to Canada. In 1853 he traveled to Ontario, purchased property, and started a business venture in the town of Dresden. A few of his immediate family, including his sister, moved there permanently. William visited Canada annually and recommended Canada as the only haven for freedom seekers.

He later wrote in a letter to William Still, “I always persuaded them to go to Canada, as I had no faith in their being able to elude the grasp of the slave-hunters. Indeed, the merchants had the confidence of their security and desired them to remain; several of my friends told me that I was injuring the trade of the place by persuading the laborers to leave. Indeed, many of the fugitives themselves looked upon me with jealousy and expressed their indignation at my efforts to have them removed from peace and plenty to a land that was cold and barren, to starve to death.” Dresden was a hub for freedom seekers as there was agricultural land and lumber trade under the passionate leadership of Josiah Henson. His memoirs inspired author Harriet Beecher Stowe to write Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

Later Life

Whipper returned to Philadelphia after the Civil War, but still held on to some of his Columbia properties. He continued to advocate for the rights of African Americans through newspaper articles and speeches. These efforts culminated in 1866, when William joined Frederick Douglas in an historic meeting with President Andrew Johnson to advocate for Black suffrage. Although Johnson rejected their proposal, Congress passed the 15th Amendment, that gave Black men the right to vote, four years later. Sadly, in actual practice, state and local laws and threats of violence often kept Black men from doing so.

William Whipper died in Philadelphia on March 9, 1876, as a respected entrepreneur, abolitionist, and thinker. He was born in Lancaster County, and during his time in Columbia he helped hundreds of freedom seekers.  But he was more than just a local hero.  His actions before and after the Civil War contributed significantly to the fight for freedom and equality for Black people throughout the nation.

Learn more

Read William Whipper own words from this letter describing his freedom fighting activities to William Still. Click Transcription or Images to see the letter.  “William Whipper to William Still, December 4, 1871,” House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College.

Learn More about United States History & the Era of Reform from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

Check out York County Author, Scott Mingus, new book Underground Railroad in York County.  The Ground Swallowed Them Up: Slavery and the Underground Railroad in York County, Pa is available for purchase at Columbia Crossing River Trails Center.

Watch John Green explain the 19^th Century Reforms in Crash Course US History #15.

Sources

Census & Ancestry Information was found using FamilySearch.org and Fold3.com which may require creation of a free account to access.

Adeleke, Tunde. “Afro-Americans and Moral Suasion: The Debate in the 1830’s.” The Journal of Negro History 83, no. 2 (1998): 127–42.

Aviles, Lauryn. “The William Whipper Arguments and the Push for Color-Blind Abolitionism in the Antebellum North.” Tulane Undergraduate Research Journal Vol. 3 (2021): 1-15.

Baptist, Edward E. The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism. New York: Basic Books, 2016.

Ellis, Franklin and Samuel Evans. History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches Of Many Of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men. (Philadelphia, Everts & Peck, 1883): 796.

Gallas, Kristin L. and James DeWolf Perry. Interpreting Slavery at Museums and Historic Sites.  Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, 2015.

Hopkins, Dr. Leroy T., “Freedom’s Second Generation: Mrs. Maude Wilson Ball’s Reminiscences of Bethel AME Church” (1897-1935) Journal of Lancaster County Historical Society, Volume 91, no. 4 (1987/88): 173-183.

Hopkins, Dr. Leroy T. “No Balm in Gilead: Lancaster’s African-American Population and the Civil War Era.” Journal of the Lancaster County Historical Society. Vol. 95 no1, (1993): 20-40.

McCormick, Richard P. “William Whipper: Moral Reformer.” Pennsylvania History. Vol 43, No 1. (January 1976): 23-46.

The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story. United Kingdom: Random House Publishing Group, 2021.

Orso, Miranda.  “William Whipper.” Pennsylvania Center for the Book, (2002).

“Pennsylvania, Philadelphia City Death Certificates, 1803-1915,”database with images, FamilySearch (May 2014), 0004008622>image 107 of 511;Philadelphia City Archives and Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

River Roots: Ice Jams on the Susquehanna

River Roots is Susquehanna NHA’s blog series featuring history from York and Lancaster Counties that showcases the Susquehanna River’s historic, cultural, and natural resource contributions to our nation’s heritage.

RiverRoots Heritage Blog

For those who live along the Susquehanna River’s banks, ice is a common winter sight. It has jammed on the Susquehanna since the rocky ridges of our region rose up around the river. Residents harvested ice as a winter crop for use in iceboxes before modern refrigeration. However, when the conditions are right, ice can be terribly destructive on our waterways. Ice jams are responsible for some of the most devastating flooding events on the Lower Susquehanna.

What is an ice Jam?

An ice jam is an obstruction of broken-up ice that clumps together to block the flow of a waterway. There are two types of ice jams: freeze-up, and break-up. Freeze-up ice jams happen in the early to mid winter, when changing water slows or stops floating ice as it reaches an obstruction. Beak-up jams occur during late winter and early spring thaws. They are usually associated with a rapid increase in runoff, because warm temperatures and heavy rain cause snow to rapidly melt. Heavy rainfall or fluctuating temperatures break up the ice cover. Melting snow and ice can swell the river, which breaks the surface layer of ice. Increasing water levels can lift and break ice cover, carrying frozen chunks downstream. As floating ice builds up, it forms thick layers that sometimes reach great heights. Ice jams commonly develop near river bends, mouths of tributaries, and points where the river slope decreases. They also form downstream of dams and upstream of bridges. The accumulation of ice obstructs the flow of water, resulting in increased and unpredictable local flooding.

Ice jams can stay in place for a few minutes or many days. They can stretch a few hundred feet or many miles long. Ice jam floods are less predictable and potentially more destructive than typical open-water flooding. They can produce much deeper and faster flooding that lasts longer.

Historic Ice Jams on the Lower Susquehanna

Ice on the Susquehanna River is both interesting and concerning. Although not every ice jam is dangerous, this natural phenomenon can be catastrophic in the Susquehanna River region. The first Euro-American records of an ice jam flood on the Susquehanna date back to 1784. Ice ruined many bridges, canals, railroads, and communities on the Susquehanna (and its tributaries) throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. We’ll touch on just a few of those notable instances in the region.

1832 First Columbia and Wrightsville Bridge Destroyed

During an extremely cold winter in 1832, thick ice hardened on the Susquehanna and stacked to great heights where the river was shallow. Spring thaw came quickly and created the right conditions for ice jam flooding. When the ice began to break up and flow down the river, the water rose 30 feet! It swept homes, barns, and even cattle along the river. Ice jammed up south of Columbia and created a natural dam. Water and ice rose and lifted the first bridge that spanned the Susquehanna off its piers. The flood destroyed the bridge, the longest covered bridge in the world at the time.

1904 Great Ice Flood

The stage was set for natural disaster in 1904, when an especially frigid winter froze the Susquehanna solid. Merchants crossed horse-drawn freight wagons between Lancaster and York counties on the 2ft thick ice. However, when the ice began to break up, it caused the greatest flood ever on the Susquehanna.

Just as workers were putting the finishing touches on the York Haven Dam (one of the first hydroelectric projects on the Lower Susquehanna River), the ice jammed. Ice and flooding collapsed the superstructure of the building and caused major damage.  The floodwaters rushed downriver, carrying blocks of ice with it, that battered the paper mill at York Haven. The ice almost completely destroyed the village of Collins in Conoy Township; after the ice flood, all that remained of the town was a single railroad control tower.

The flowing flood waters and ice met with an ice gorge in Bainbridge and began to flow downriver. The water dislodged the Bainbridge train station and carried it a mile south on the railroad tracks. The river washed away parts of the newly constructed bridge of the Atglen and Susquehanna (A&S) line, taking the Shocks Mill Railroad Bridge with it. Mud and ice coated river towns like Marietta, Columbia, Wrightsville, and Washington Boro as the river pushed the destruction downriver.

Thousands visited Columbia and Wrightsville to view the immense buildup of water and ice. The tower almost reached the steel railroad bridge and everyone feared that the ice would destroy the great structure, especially after part of the new railroad bridge was carried down against it.

The floodwater and ice combined with and dislodged an ice gorge at Turkey Hill, south of Columbia. This formed an enormous ice gorge below Safe Harbor. At Turkey Hill,  30 feet of water covered the railroad tracks, which are 20 feet above the low water mark. The river had risen to about 50 feet deep. Once the river found its way through the blockage, it destroyed a significant section of Safe Harbor village. The violent rush of floodwater only lasted 15 minutes. Together, the ice and floodwaters crushed, mangled, and lifted buildings from their foundations as it submerged part of the town. The flood tore away the stone Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) bridge that crossed the Conestoga River. In Pequea, the water rose 12ft in 10 minutes and pushed another bridge up Pequea Creek.

The PRR mainline to Columbia and the Columbia & Port Deposit Railroad (C&PD) were both badly damaged.  PRR’s Low-Grade line was in the process of being laid out but had to halt construction. The railroad beds were greatly damaged requiring lengthy repairs. The flood tore away sections and wedged them under huge cakes of ice. For about a week, the tracks were useless, blocked by floods that carried millions of tons of ice downriver. The railroad lines froze; ice was up to 30ft deep in some spots. Wreckage of buildings, masses of rock and earth, trees, and all sorts of debris covered the railroads.

The PRR pulled men off the Low-Grade construction crews to work on opening the line between Columbia and Harrisburg. Equipped with six steam shovels, they attacked the ice that covered the railroads. It took quite a while to resume service on the mainline via Columbia. The standstill congested freight at Harrisburg and forced passenger trains to run lengthy alternative routes.

1920 Interesting Solution

In 1920, the Susquehanna River froze sold for 83-day streak. In early March, a quick thaw caused severe ice jams. They were so severe that an unorthodox solution to prevent the devastating flooding: they decided to drop bombs on the Susquehanna River. Colonel H. W. Scull, who is credited for the idea, received permission to execute the experiment.

The Colonel oversaw several days of aerial bombing, using 250lb TNT bombs to break up the 16-foot-thick-jams. The bombs seemed successful, until the ice jammed up again. The next day, they dropped four 500lb TNT bombs into the ice gorge between Port Deposit and Havre de Grace, successfully allowing the jam to start flowing. Following that success, arrangements were made to bomb the ice-choked sections of Columbia, Safe Harbor, Washington Boro, and Holtwood. It was decided that bombing the river above the Conowingo Dam wasn’t necessary, as weather conditions allowed for a safe thaw.

Today, warmer weather conditions mean less aggressive ice buildup on the Lower Susquehanna River. It’s difficult to imagine the destructive force and sheer heights of the ice responsible for such a destruction.

Learn More

Visiting the Susquehanna River during winter provides a unique and memorable experience! Ice building up along the riverbank creates a stunning winter landscape to enjoy. As ice crunches against ice, ominous creaking and groaning sounds fill the air. Thick slabs of ice let out thunderous booming sounds as they expand over the riverbank. It’s no wonder why the people of York and Lancaster counties flooded to the river to see this great spectacle for centuries.

Read the full article about bombing Susquehanna River ice jams in 1920. You will need a subscription to LancasterOnline to access it.

View a recent ice jam flooding event from Fox43’s video of Long Level and Wrightsville in 2018.

Read about the Frankenstorm! in the YorksPast Blog by Stephen H. Smith.

Sources

Crable, Ad. (2018, April 13). The ice flood that swallowed up a Lancaster County town along the Susquehanna [photos]. LancasterOnline.

Brubaker, J. H. (2002). Down the Susquehanna to the Chesapeake. University Park, Pa: Pennsylvania State Univ. Press.

York Inquirer . (1904, March 12). Safe Harbor Almost Wiped Out. Ice freshet.

Kiner, D. (2021, March 17). ‘tremendous damage’: The St. Patrick’s Day Flood of 1936 devastated pa. Pennlive.

Quesenbery , E. (2014, March 19). The day they bombed the Susquehanna. Cecil Daily.

Smith, S. H. (2014, May 31). End of may, over ten-feet of ice at Lockport along Susquehanna in York County; connection to Apollo Moon Mission. York’s Past.

Smith, S. H. (2018, January 21). York’s past: Aerial bombing breaks susquehanna ice jams. York Daily Record.

Stranahan, S. Q. (1995). Susquehanna, river of dreams. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press.