Susquehanna National Heritage Area is working diligently to oppose the proposed hydroelectric facility along the Susquehanna River at Cuffs Run. The Reading-based York Energy Storage, LLC submitted a Preliminary Permit application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). In March of 2023, our organization took official action in opposition to the project. Since then, SNHA worked in collaboration with our partners to stop the project that would flood nearly 600 acres of land along the Susquehanna River rich with natural, cultural, and recreational resources. Now is the time to defend our river, and we ask you to join us in protecting Cuffs Run. Comments and motions to intervene can be filed through March 31, 2024 to FERC and our partners at the Lancaster Conservancy have created an easy guide on how to submit your comments.
This is the fourth attempt to advance this type of project at this location. Previous efforts in 1970s, 1990 and 2011 were withdrawn after local opposition, including by Susquehanna National Heritage Area (SNHA) in 2011. The revived project is as concerning as previous proposals, especially after 20+ years of federal, state, and local investment in land conservation, recreation, and heritage and outdoor tourism along this part of the river. This includes major initiatives by the National Park Service, PA Department of Conservation & Natural Resources (DCNR), SNHA, Lancaster Conservancy, Farm & Natural Lands Trust, Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper, Lancaster and York Counties, local municipalities, and others.
The Susquehanna Riverlands of York and Lancaster counties are a conservation landscape now, not a development landscape. The future for this area is heritage tourism, outdoor recreation, river town revitalization, and small business development, not massive, man-made impoundments that flood woodlands, farms, homes, hiking trails, and historic landscapes to generate power that uses more energy than it produces simply for higher corporate profits, and then sends it out of state with little value to Pennsylvanians.
The project will produce fewer permanent jobs than the local heritage and conservation groups have already created in just a few years. Imagine if the $2.5 billion proposed for this project was instead invested in more land protection, historic preservation, parks, trails, and community revitalization efforts. That would be true sustainable economic development and make our area an even more desirable place to live, work, and play than it already is.
We are asking you now to raise your voice and send your comment to FERC before it’s too late.
THE CONSERVATION FUND TRANSFERS HISTORIC PENNSYLVANIA UNDERGROUND RAILROAD SITE TO SUSQUEHANNA NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA
Permanently preserved 87-acre Mifflin House and farmstead near Wrightsville in York County will be the home of the future Susquehanna Discovery Center & Heritage Park
Wrightsville, PA (December 15, 2023) — The Conservation Fund (TCF), a leading nonprofit in U.S. land and water protection, has transferred ownership of a property that played a key role in the Underground Railroad in Pennsylvania to the Susquehanna National Heritage Area (SNHA). The historic Mifflin House and 87-acre farmstead had been under threat of demolition and development before TCF acquired it in 2022. Now it will serve as the future home of the Susquehanna Discovery Center & Heritage Park, with the Susquehanna National Heritage Area making initial public access improvements to the property in 2024. Susquehanna National Heritage Area will continue to fundraise to support the acquisition and development of the site.
The Mifflin House, located in Hellam Township in York County, was an important stop on the Underground Railroad in the 1800s, serving as a safe haven for freedom seekers passing through central Pennsylvania. With the assistance of the Mifflin family, their fellow Quakers, and other local Black and white residents, those escaping slavery found a safe place to rest and cross the Susquehanna River on their journey north.
“Preserving the Mifflin House is not just about protecting a physical structure; it’s about honoring the stories and contributions of those who came before us,” said Kyle Shenk, Northeast Regional Director at TCF. “We are proud to have played a role in ensuring that this important piece of history remains a source of inspiration and education for generations to come.”
The site’s permanent preservation showcases the power of partnerships in preserving our nation’s history, involving a years-long collaborative effort between The Conservation Fund, Susquehanna National Heritage Area, Preservation Pennsylvania, community stakeholders, local foundations, state agencies, and local, state and federal elected officials.
“We are thrilled to welcome the Mifflin House into the Susquehanna National Heritage Area family,” said Mark Platts, President of Susquehanna National Heritage Area. “This acquisition aligns seamlessly with our mission to connect the people and communities of Lancaster and York Counties to one another and to the nation through stories about this nationally important place. We look forward to working with the community to ensure the Mifflin House continues to be a beacon of cultural significance for generations to come.”
The Conservation Fund and Susquehanna National Heritage Area extend their gratitude to all partners, supporters, and the local community for their dedication to the preservation of the Mifflin House and farmstead. Preservation Pennsylvania led early efforts to highlight the importance of the Mifflin site and hold off development through public awareness and legal challenges. The late Tim Kinsley, through Kinsley Properties, facilitated the transaction with the Blessing Family to allow time for TCF and SNHA to raise funds and purchase the property at a bargain sale. Funding for the project was made possible by the PA Department of Conservation & Natural Resources C2P2 Program, County of York through its Open Space & Land Preservation Grant Program and other discretionary funds, PA Department of Community & Economic Development through ARPA funding and a state gaming grant to Wrightsville Borough, and generous local foundations, including the Powder Mill Foundation, Arthur J. & Lee R. Glatfelter Foundation and J. Wm. Warehime Foundation.
With acquisition now complete, Susquehanna National Heritage Area will begin a multi-year planning, design, fundraising, and development effort with the community to transform the Mifflin site into The Susquehanna Discovery Center & Heritage Park.
About The Conservation Fund
The Conservation Fund protects the land that sustains us all. We are in the business of conservation, creating innovative solutions that drive nature-based action in all 50 states for climate protection, vibrant communities and sustainable economies. We apply effective strategies, efficient financing approaches, and enduring government, community and private partnerships to protect millions of acres of America’s natural land, cultural sites, recreation areas and working forests and farms. To learn more, visit www.conservationfund.org.
About Susquehanna National Heritage Area
The Susquehanna National Heritage Area is a designated State and National Heritage Area focused on preserving, interpreting, and sharing the natural, cultural, and historic resources of Lancaster and York Counties and their shared landscape along the Susquehanna River. Through collaborative efforts, the National Heritage Area seeks to celebrate the region’s history and foster a deeper appreciation for its unique communities and landscapes.
Get ready for snow filled backgrounds, cozy nights inside, cold weather hikes, and more with SNHA’s Holiday Bucket List! whether you are a local resident or holiday visitor, we are inviting you to come explore Susquehanna National Heritage Area’s winter activities. With 25 ways to celebrate the holidays at local businesses, events, and landmarks, there is something fun for everyone!
Experience our winter wonderland with the Holiday Bucket List this holiday season. Conquer the cold! Let’s make it an outdoor holiday. Imagine taking in the beautiful winter landscape as you frolic and play all winter long on trails in the Susquehanna Riverlands! Go dashing through the snow at one of our local nature preserves!
If the cold weather isn’t for you, the holidays are a perfect opportunity to curl up in your favorite chair next to the fire and go on a literary journey of the Susquehanna River corridor.
East, drink and be merry! This festive period is a time for catching up with family and friends. Enjoy your time off strolling through the Rivertowns and taking in the twinkling light displays with your loved ones.
The Susquehanna NHA Holiday Bucket list is active from November 1, 2023, through January 31, 2024. Complete at least five items to receive a uniquely designed Susquehanna National Heritage Area sticker! Share your bucket list experience by snapping photos, posting them to social media, be sure to tag @SusqNHA in your post. Use the digital version. Download your Bucket List and get started! Pick up a paper copy at Columbia Crossing River Trails Center, 41 Walnut Street, Columbia, PA or Zimmerman Center for Heritage, 1706 Long Level Road, Wrightsville, PA.
RiverRoots: The Black Defenders of 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.
Susquehanna NHA is pleased to introduce guest blog writer, local historian, and author Scott Mingus.
In the late spring of 1863, the Army of Northern Virginia, the Confederacy’s main military force in the Eastern Theater of the Civil War, began moving north through Virginia and Maryland toward south-central Pennsylvania. Its commander, famed General Robert E. Lee, hoped to win a major victory on Northern soil, sever critical Union supply routes, and gather much-needed supplies. A full third of his army, Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell’s Second Corps, had arrived in Franklin County by June 23 and the remainder was well on the way.
Ewell split his powerful corps, leading two divisions northeasterly through lush Cumberland County toward Pennsylvania’s capital city, Harrisburg, while Maj. Gen. Jubal Early’s 6,600-man division headed east through Adams County, capturing fresh horses and supplies along the way. After a brief fight at Gettysburg on a rainy Friday, June 26, Early left the next morning for York, the largest town between Harrisburg and Baltimore. He would ransom York for $100,000 in cash and massive amounts of shoes, boots, food, flour, cattle, and other goods.
Terrified citizens fled as Ewell’s twin columns marched steadily toward the vital Susquehanna River bridges at Bridgeport (now Lemoyne) and Wrightsville, which provided access to strategically important Harrisburg. General Lee had instructed Ewell to “capture Harrisburg, if it comes within your means.” Town after town fell to the approaching Confederates and by, Sunday, June 28, Carlisle and York were firmly under enemy control, as was Chambersburg.
Defending the broad river became a priority to halt or delay the Confederates long enough for the pursuing Union Army of the Potomac to catch up and bring Lee to battle. Those plans included potentially burning sections of the Camelback Bridge at Bridgeport and Columbia Bridge at Wrightsville if necessary to prevent the Confederate soldiers and their artillery and wagons from crossing the Susquehanna.
A motley force of Union troops and civilian home guard companies assembled at Wrightsville. They included a full regiment of hastily organized and barely trained Pennsylvania emergency militia and several companies from other state-authorized units, including detachments of cavalrymen from Philadelphia and Gettysburg. The five home guard units defending the Wrightsville crossing included four companies of white men from Lancaster County and one of Black volunteers, mostly employees of the Maltby & Case Rolling Mill in Columbia. The latter group made an immediate impression on the soldiers. “They presented a motley appearance, attired as they were in every description of citizens’ dress,” an observer later wrote (Pottsville Miner’s Journal, 24 October 1863). None wore uniforms; most carried outdated weapons.
Earlier in the year, abolitionist Frederick Douglass had visited Lancaster County to raise men for the 54th and 55th Massachusetts Infantry, Black soldiers serving under white officers. Forty-one men from the river region signed up for the two regiments at various times and headed for Boston. Now, more than 50 other Black men in Captain William Case’s home guard company shouldered weapons to help defend the mile-and-a-quarter-long Columbia Bridge, the longest covered bridge in the world. They lacked uniforms and military equipment, so the 27th Pennsylvania Volunteer Militia’s quartermaster supplied them with modern rifle muskets and ammunition. Until the enemy arrived, however, these Black home guardsmen toiled side-by-side with the state soldiers to dig trenches and protective rifle pits (much like World War II’s foxholes). Lieutenant Francis Wallace, a newspaper reporter from Pottsville, served in the 27th Militia. “No men on that day worked more faithfully or zealously, than the colored company,” he later wrote. “Their conduct elicited the admiration of all who saw them” (Pottsville Miner’s Journal, 24 October 1863).
York lawyer James W. Latimer and his friend James Kell took a train to Harrisburg to see Governor Curtin, a fellow Republican, to get an update on the Confederate invasion. Peering out the window of his railcar as it approached Wrightsville, Latimer watched the back-breaking construction efforts in the fields to the north. “They are digging rifle-pits and throwing up entrenchments at Wrightsville to protect the Columbia bridge and say they are acting under orders from Gen. Couch. They have a force of men on the bridge night and day to destroy it if necessary.”
Throughout Sunday morning, June 28, a steady stream of refugees passed through the Union position on the turnpike between York and Wrightsville. They shared graphic descriptions of the Confederate advance through Adams and York counties. The excitement that morning was high, despite a persistent drizzle. The fleeing crowds included large numbers of Black men, women, and children, as well as hordes of livestock. Lieutenant Wallace observed, “The negroes are especially anxious to elude the rebels as they fear they would be made slaves if captured” (Pottsville Miner’s Journal, 4 July 1863). Despite the danger, Captain Case’s Black volunteers stayed put, even when the four companies of white home guardsmen returned to Columbia for breakfast but failed to return.
Alongside the 27th Militia, the 53 Black men, including 15-year-old John Aquilla Wilson of Fawn Grove in southeastern York County, continued entrenching. A few must have questioned their fate should they fall into Confederate hands. Free Black people who were captured by Confederate forces throughout the war often received shackles and a trip into slavery. Even uniformed Black soldiers were not treated as prisoners of war in several cases. The Wrightsville volunteers kept their muskets and ammunition stacked nearby.
At 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, distant Confederate artillery opened fire on the entrenchments. The defenders huddled behind the earthworks as shell fragments rained down, almost decapitating one of the Black guardsmen. A New York Herald reporter wrote, “Our men gave them a volley or two from their rifle-pits, knocking six or eight over and losing two themselves, one of whom belonged to a colored company organized in the town. His head was shattered by a fragment from one of the enemy shells” (New York Herald, 30 June 1863).
Two hours later, as long lines of enemy soldiers began flanking the horseshoe-shaped position, the Union commander ordered a retreat across the bridge into Columbia. Civilian volunteers had previously prepared a 200-foot section of the bridge with charges of explosive gunpowder. Once most of the men were safely across, orders came to light the fuse. An “old colored man,” Jacob Miller, had the honor. He sat calmly smoking his cigar while the artillery shells whizzed overhead. Now, he touched that stogie to the fuse and scampered to safety. However, the explosion failed to destroy the sturdy bridge deck and merely blew out some side walls and pieces of the roofing. The charge “simply splintered the arch. It scarcely shook the bridge” (John Q. Denney deposition, 1863).
The black volunteer company performed well that day, surprising considering their lack of combat experience. A Philadelphia correspondent noted, “Two companies of colored troops remained in the intrenchments [sic] until ordered to retreat. They were volunteers, and behaved very well, except in the retreat, which was accomplished rather hastily.” They reassembled on a hill along Third Street in Columbia. The militia commander detached one group upriver to guard a ford at Bainbridge. They marched out to their new post, “bearing themselves like veteran soldiers” according to a witness. (Philadelphia Inquirer, 29 June 1863)
Having failed to destroy the bridge with explosives, the soldiers hastily doused the partially shattered section with coal oil and set it on fire. The wind shifted and soon the conflagration grew into an unquenchable inferno that engulfed the entire bridge. Six hours later, it was entirely gone as thousands of fascinated soldiers and civilians watched the flames dance into the night sky.
By morning, the Confederates were gone, having withdrawn at dawn toward York. The defenders had successfully accomplished their goal of preventing the enemy soldiers from crossing the Susquehanna River.
The Sunday events at Wrightsville had another favorable outcome—newfound respect for black volunteers. They had shouldered arms alongside the white soldiers and performed courageously. Lancaster’s Examiner and Herald trumpeted, “The only Columbia volunteers in the fight were fifty-three negros, who after making entrenchments with the soldiers, took muskets and fought bravely” (1 July 1863). In his official report, militia commander Col. Jacob Frick praised the excellent conduct of these black civilians. “After working industriously in the rifle pits all day, when the fight commenced they took their guns and stood up to their work bravely. They fell back only when ordered to do so” (War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 27, pt.2, 279). Lieutenant Francis Wallace wrote to his Pottsville paper, “All honor to the colored men of Columbia. They will die in defense of life and liberty, which is more than a majority of the whites here seem disposed to do—the cravens” (Pottsville Miner’s Journal, 4 July 1863).
In Harrisburg, Darius Couch oversaw the Department of the Susquehanna, a military district stretching from the Laurel Highlands east to Philadelphia. He later wrote, “The militia of Pennsylvania raised to resist the invasion was composed of all classes and professions, and was a fine body of men.” Thankful for the hundreds of Harrisburg residents who constructed earthworks, he added, “Some of the patriotic citizens of that city volunteered to work in the trenches; others were paid. The colored population were not far behind their white brethren in giving assistance.”
Unfortunately, the name of the Black volunteer killed by Confederate artillery has been lost to history. Columbia’s black cemeteries and churches did not maintain detailed records during this period. The only existing muster roll for the Columbia Black volunteers is from November, well after the skirmish. Some Black men who shouldered muskets in the earthworks, including young John Aquilla Wilson of York County, later enlisted in three-year United States Colored Troops and fought in other battles against the Confederates. They never forgot their first military experience, defending the Susquehanna.
Meet the Guest Writer Scott Mingus
Scott L. Mingus, Sr., is a retired scientist and executive in the global pulp & paper industry, holds patents in self-adhesive postage stamps and bar code labels. He was part of the research team that developed the first commercially successful self-adhesive U.S. postage stamps. He is a multiple award-winning author, having written or co-written over three dozen books on the American Civil War and Underground Railroad. He also wrote several articles for Gettysburg Magazine and other journals. Scott maintains a blog on the Civil War history of York County PA and received the Heritage Profile Award from the York County History Center for his many contributions to local Civil War history.
Susquehanna National Heritage Area has revealed a new exhibition at Columbia Crossing River Trails Center. Black Gold: A Look Back at the Effects of Anthracite Coal on the Susquehanna River Anthracite coal was discovered in massive quantities across the northern branch of the Susquehanna River. It remains the only reserve of anthracite coal in the United States. The region was heavily mined in the 19th century and early 20th century. Canal boats filled with coal jammed the river at Columbia. The anthracite coal was essential to the nearby pig iron furnaces but was also shipped all over the country. The anthracite coal industry changed the Pennsylvania economy and environment.
Lynn Smoker, the collector and historian behind Columbia Crossing’s popular “Ice Harvesting” and “Hunting and Fishing” exhibits, has created a brand-new exhibition that tells the story of anthracite coal on the Susquehanna. Come experience Smoker’s vast collection of tools, art, photographs, and more. The exhibit will be on display at Columbia Crossing River Trails Center from July 2023-March 2024 and is free to the public. Columbia Crossing is open Tuesday-Sunday.
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.
Susquehanna NHA is pleased to introduce guest blog writer, photographer and author of The Conestoga River: A History, Donald Kautz. This is the fourth and final blog post in a four-part series on the Conestoga River by Mr. Kautz.
This is the fourth and final article in the series covering a brief history of the Conestoga River. The first article described the conditions prior to European settlement. The second article covered the colonial period and the importance of the river for transportation. The third article covered the Victorian era and described how the river served the conflicting services of recreation and waste disposal. In this article we will look at the impacts of that use (or misuse) of the river’s resources and what is being done to mitigate those impacts.
Sewage Treatment
As we moved into the 20th century, raw sewage was a major problem. Sewage entered the river at various points along the river, especially near the city of Lancaster. Lancaster City, like many older cities, has a combined sewer system where storm runoff and household sewage are mixed in the same system. This water was all returned to the river in three main sewer outfalls and two smaller ones. The dam at Levan’s Mill, about a mile below the city, prevented the sewage from flowing out of the city area.
Between Water Street and Levan’s Mill on low flow days, the river water contained about one-fifth raw sewage. The bottom of the stream was covered with a heavy deposit of sewage sludge. The river would be covered in foam on wash days. It was claimed that the area below the Rock Hill dam smelled like dirty wash water one hundred yards away from the river.
In the early twentieth century, pleas began to be heard to clean up the river. In 1906, the commissioner of health decreed that a dam be built below the intake of the city water works to prevent contaminated water from backing up into the water supply. WW1 intervened and no action was performed during the war years.
On January 3, 1920, an article in the Lancaster New Era, stated, “The stream with its possibilities for beauty, pleasure, usefulness, and healthfulness is now relatively unused, largely by reason of the discharge of the city’s raw sewage into it. Proper sewage treatment is urgently needed to remedy the present situation and is the first step toward making Conestoga Creek a valuable asset to the community.” The city put forward a plan to sell bonds in the amount of $825,000, approximately half of which was designated to build a sewage disposal system. The city held a special election on the referendum in May. The measure was voted down by a margin of three to one.
During the next decade and a half, there were many pleas and arguments on the urgent need for a solution to the city’s sewage problem. The February 1931 bulletin of the Lancaster Chamber included the headline, “What Shall It Be—Scenic Beauty or Open Sewer?”
Finally, in October 1932, plans for two sewage plants were presented to city council. The North Plant would be built on the Ranck farm east of the city and the South Plant on the site of the old power plant at Engleside. The North Plant began operating at the end of 1934, while the South Plant began operations in early 1935. At last, a major source of pollution in the river was mitigated.
Today, the system has the capacity to fully process the sewage load during normal water flow. But owing to the nature of Lancaster’s combined sewer system, the plants can become overwhelmed during periods of heavy rain, at which times raw sewage would still make its way into the river.
Dr. Ruth Patrick
In 1948, a team of scientists from the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, headed by botanist Dr. Ruth Patrick, spent the summer wading the Conestoga and its tributaries studying the plants, fish and exceptionally beautiful microscopic creatures with glass-like coatings called diatoms living in the river. Dr. Patrick developed the principle that the best way to determine the effects of man-made pollution in a stream was to study the organisms living in and near the water. The types of diatoms present in the water will identify the type of pollutants that are present. Dr. Patrick’s approach was to employ a team of scientists with expertise in various disciplines in biology, chemistry, and physics. She chose the Conestoga because it suffered from a variety of pollutants including sewage, fertilizer, and toxic substances from industry. Dr. Patrick invented a device called the “diatometer”, a plastic box containing microscope slides that could be placed in the water to collect algae samples. Her survey of the Conestoga was the first comprehensive water quality monitoring effort in North America. In 1949, she published a paper titled “A Proposed Biological Measure of Stream Conditions, Based on a Survey of the Conestoga Basin, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.”
Earl Rebman
Lancaster retailer, Earl F. Rebman, served as president of the Lancaster Salvage Committee during World War II and later became president of the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce. During a public meeting in Lancaster in 1946, Rebman proposed the concept of a public boulevard along the Conestoga with parks, open space, and a convention hall as a “veterans of all wars memorial”. Ira Landis, who owned the old Conestoga Park tract, offered that riverfront property to the city at no cost as a seed to start the Conestoga Boulevard project. Unfortunately, the city did not accept Landis’ generous offer and the property was sold to private developers.
Ten years later, at a meeting of the Millersville Men’s Club, Rebman again pitched the idea of the Conestoga Boulevard and asked if the club would support an association to begin work on such a project. The club approved the idea and on April 12, 1956, the Conestoga Valley Association (CVA) was formed. The CVA planned to build a scenic boulevard along the Conestoga from Brownstown to Safe Harbor. The CVA also planned to eliminate stream pollution, reduce soil erosion along the banks, restore fish and wildlife, preserve historical buildings, and provide recreational areas of great natural beauty.
On June 15, 1958, the CVA dedicated two recreational areas for public use along the Conestoga. The first was located at the confluence of the Little Conestoga Creek and the Conestoga River, and the second area was near Safe Harbor. The CVA was also instrumental in many other projects in the Conestoga watershed. The restoration of President James Buchanan’s tomb, Rock Ford, the Andrew Ellicott House, the Hans Herr House, markers for the Martin Meylin Gun shop and one for Robert Fulton were all projects made possible by the association. So far, the Conestoga Boulevard remains an illusive concept, however efforts to reserve the riverfront for public use continue. For example, the Conestoga Greenway trail opened in 1999 to provide a walking trail along the river on the south side of the city.
Trash and Runoff
All throughout history, people have viewed the river as a place to dispose of trash and unwanted items. The river is assumed to be an endless flow of water that washes away anything that is thrown or dumped into it. The local scuba clubs know that the best places to look for artifacts in the riverbed are under bridges and at the sites of old bridges. People had the habit of disposing of things by throwing them off the bridge as they traveled across. It is not wise to wade the Conestoga in bare feet because in some areas, the bottom is littered with broken glass.
Even today, people will dump piles of trash or building supplies on the banks of the river under the assumption that they will eventually get washed away. One of the most common items seen today in and along the river are tires. Tires do not float, and they do not degrade; they just sit there stuck in the mud, causing a hazard and an eyesore. While dumping is a serious problem, not all the trash found in the river was deliberately dumped there. Much of it comes from littering or garbage spillage on the land that is later swept into the river by runoff.
The Conestoga River Club
The Conestoga River Club formed in 2021 as a nonprofit dedicated to education, conservation and improvement, including litter cleanups, restoration work with volunteers, more river access and better launch and take-out points. Todd Roy is the club’s founder and president. The club seeks to foster a connection with the river by providing public access for fishing and boating and organizing frequent opportunities for the public to become involved in river cleanup events. To date, volunteers have collected almost three tons of trash in and along the Conestoga. The club’s website is at https://conestogariverclub.org/
Conclusion
I hope you have enjoyed this trek through the history of the Conestoga River. What will happen next has not been written yet. The decisions and actions we take today will affect the stories that follow. It is good to look at the past to understand how we got to where we are today and to, hopefully, learn from mistakes that were made in the past. We do not want to be too critical of the people who came before us. They were acting on the knowledge and goals that they had at the time. But we can look at our current practices with a critical eye to ensure that we are making the best use of the resources that we have and with an eye to the future so that our children and grandchildren will be able to enjoy these resources in the same or, perhaps, better condition than we inherited them.
“Not Turner’s noted crook of Lune,
Nor Byron’s wide and winding Rhine,
Nor Burns’ banks of Bonny Doon
Nor boasted Tweed, nor lauded Tyne,
Not Delaware nor Brandywine,
Nor Spey, nor Tay, nor Don nor Dee,
Nor Shakespeare’s Avon, still more
fine.
E’er seemed so beautiful to me—
As tranquil Conestoga!”
-James D Law
If you would like a copy of my book, you may order one on my website at www.donaldkautz.com.
Meet the Guest Writer Donald Kautz
I grew up and still live among the beautiful farmland and rolling hills of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. I have been interested in photography my entire life (starting with a Kodak Brownie box camera) but have gotten more serious with the hobby after my three children have become adults. I am a retired software engineer which probably explains why I enjoy the technical aspects of digital photography post processing as much as capturing the images in the first place. I enjoy landscape photography and love to photograph scenes around Lancaster County, focusing on the Conestoga River and the remaining water-powered grist mills that may still be found around the county. I am interested in the history of Lancaster County and have written a book about the Conestoga 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.
Susquehanna NHA is pleased to introduce guest blog writer, photographer and author of The Conestoga River: A History, Donald Kautz. This is the third blog post in a four part series on the Conestoga River by Mr. Kautz.
This is the third article in the series in which we are taking a journey through time on the historic waters of the Conestoga River. In the first article, I covered the conditions of the Conestoga prior to European settlement. We looked at how the Conestoga watershed looked very different than it does today. The second article covered the colonial settlement era. We saw how the river provided transportation for commercial endeavors from the fur trade to the slack-water canal.
In this installment, we will cover the Victorian era. During this time, the river ceased being a means of transportation, but recreation became the primary focus. And, as the population grew, the urban areas depended on the river as a source of water and as a means for waste disposal.
Ice
Ever since colonial times, the river was a source of ice for the city and surrounding area. In the winter, when the river was frozen, men would cut the ice into large blocks using iron saws made for the purpose. The ice blocks were stored in icehouses that lined the riverbank. These houses could be as much as three stories tall and were packed with ice from floor to ceiling. The ice blocks were covered in straw and sawdust to prevent melting. Throughout the year, but especially during the summer months, the ice man would make his way through the back alleys with his horse-drawn cart bringing ice to the people who had iceboxes in their homes. Sometimes the boxes were built into the wall with an outside opening so the ice man could refill the box without needing to enter the home. In other cases, the delivery man had to enter the kitchen with a block of ice in his tongs to be placed into the family’s icebox. When manufactured ice became available in 1895, the need to harvest ice from the river declined. Household refrigeration started to become available in 1925. Today, we simply need to push a button on the front of our refrigerator door to fill our cup with crushed ice.
Bringing Water to Lancaster City
For the first one hundred plus years after the founding of the town of Lancaster, its inhabitants had to rely on wells, pumps and springs for their water supply. But as the city grew, these became inadequate to serve the population. As early as 1789, General Hand, who was serving as burgess at the time, lamented about the millions of gallons of water going to “waste” in the Conestoga River every year. But the prospect of bringing water from the river up to the town was considered an impossibility at that time.
Thirty-six years later, the state legislature authorized the formation of the Lancaster Water Company and granted the company to sell stock. Not much happened until 1831 when the legislature also granted the city the right to levy taxes to support the water works. The city hired engineer W.B. Mitchell to survey the possible options, and finally in 1836, the city built its first water plant. The plant was located at the site of an existing grist mill and dam southeast of the city at the lower end of City Mill Road. A water wheel powered a series of pumps that carried water from the river up to a newly built reservoir on King Street next to the county jail. On Washington’s birthday, February 21, 1837, operations began, and water from the Conestoga began to flow through water plugs in the city. Wastewater returned through various conduits back into the Conestoga, including any materials that were added to the mix in the process.
The abundance of water inspired some of the more well-to-do citizens to install bathtubs in their homes. The first to do so was Jacob Demuth, who installed a tub in 1839. Soon after, there were found to be eight more tubs in city homes. At this, the city council assessed a bathtub tax of three dollars annually. Nine out of ten doctors of that time were unconvinced that such frequent bathing was healthy. The tenth doctor, Dr. John Light Atlee, begged to differ, and installed a tub in his home in 1849. Even though the cholera outbreaks of 1832 and 1854 were blamed on “misty clouds of putrefying organic matter decaying along the streams and canals,” Dr. Atlee believed the disease might be caused by some tiny organisms he could see in his microscope. He was proven correct thirty years later when germ theory became better understood.
In 1888, the old water plant at the city mill was replaced with a new pumping station along the Conestoga River near the railroad bridge on Grofftown Road. Two large steam pumps operated with a daily capacity of eleven million gallons. These were placed on a reserve basis in 1929, when eight electrically driven and three gasoline-powered pumps were installed. The current water-treatment plant located along the Susquehanna River in Columbia was constructed in the 1950s. The Grofftown Road plant was removed in 1976. A small reserve pumping station is located across the river next to Conestoga Pines Park.
Recreation
Following the Civil War into the beginning of the twentieth century, various kinds of recreation became popular. Lancaster City had parks on both sides of the city, Wabank, Gable’s Woods, and Maple Grove on the West side, and Conestoga Park, Williamson Park, Rocky Springs and Peoples’ Bathing Resort on the East.
In 1854, a group of investors from Lancaster purchased two tracts of land at lock #3 of the Conestoga Navigation Company, which included an old tavern, several mills and a miller’s house and approximately sixteen acres of land. They replaced the old tavern with a grand hotel that they named “The Wabank House”. The house measured 105 feet long and 45 feet wide and had four stories and an attic. It boasted one hundred rooms and a dining room that could seat three hundred persons. Forty “colored” waiters were employed to serve the many guests. The entire structure was surrounded with wide verandas on the first, second and third floors.
In spite of its great popularity among the Lancaster elite, the hotel was not profitable. The mill and other properties not related to the hotel were sold to the miller Daniel Overholtzer in 1855. The board listed the hotel property for sale in 1857, but there were no takers. The company went into foreclosure, and the hotel came into the possession of Mr. Overholtzer. Overholtzer sold the hotel building to Samuel Lichtenthaler of Lititz in 1863. Lichtenthaler was the owner of the Lititz Springs Hotel. He disassembled the Wabank House and transported it to Lititz. It took one hundred four-horse wagonloads to transport it. Lichtenthaler reconstructed the hotel on the square of Lititz adjacent to the Lititz Springs Hotel. The two buildings were connected by a corridor and were together known as the Lititz Springs Hotel. The new addition opened on July 4, 1864. The hotel operated at that location for a decade until it was destroyed by fire on July 31, 1873.
Not far from Wabank, on a hill above the Conestoga sat the hotel at Gable’s Woods Park. Built by Jacob Gable sometime in the late 19th century, the park was a popular picnic spot into the early 20th century. The old hotel was torn down in the 1970s. Aaron Summy opened West End Park on the Little Conestoga in 1899. The park earned the name “Maple Grove” because of the many Maple Trees on the property. In 1912, Ralph Coho converted the park into an amusement park including a roller rink, a dance hall, a roller coaster, and a large swimming pool. The amusement park closed in the early 20th century.
Conestoga Park was located on the west side of the river just below Witmer’s Bridge. In 1890, David Burkholder laid out a driveway along the Conestoga that was called the Conestoga Boulevard. The boulevard was a mile and a third in length and was designed for driving horses and carriages for pleasure rides. Racing and bicycles were prohibited. The park included a boat house along the riverbank and a large theatre at the top of the hill that was the site of many performances. Trolleys operated by the Pennsylvania Traction Company, as it was called at that time, provided transportation from the city to a loading platform near the theatre. The park was popular for picnics, and rowboats were available for boating on the Conestoga. Regattas were held regularly, for which boat owners would decorate their crafts and thousands of people lined both sides of the riverbank cheering for their favorite.
Rocky Springs began as a hotel in 1855. Samuel Demuth purchased the estate in 1882 and enlarged the park. Demuth Park became a popular picnicking destination. John B. Peoples leased the park in 1890 and added various amusements including bath houses and a sandy beach.
In 1896, Peoples built his own resort across the river from Rocky Springs. Peoples Bathing Resort was a popular facility for swimming and boating. A large water slide located at the northern end of the park provided thrills for the more adventurous. The resort included a skating rink that was alleged to be the largest in the county. A miniature electric railway provided transportation between the resort and Conestoga Park.
Meanwhile, Rocky Springs came under new ownership and Herman Griffiths and Emma Wiener were installed as the managers. Griffiths and Wiener added a steam merry-go-round and a dance pavilion. They also built a theatre and a roller rink. The Jack Rabbit roller coaster was built in 1918 and a large swimming pool added in 1921. The park installed the famous Rocky Springs Dentzel carousel in 1924. The Wildcat roller coaster replaced the Jack Rabbit in 1928. The Conestoga Traction Company operated trolley service to the park on a two-line track that ran from the city down through the Sunnyside Peninsula.
Steamboats on the Conestoga
At the entrance to Conestoga Park, just below Witmer’s bridge were the riverboat landings for three paddlewheel steamboats. Rocky Springs operated the Emma Belle and the Evelyn B. The Emma Belle and Evelyn B. each sported a 50 HP steam engine powering stern paddle wheels. John Peoples owned and operated the Lady Gay. The Lady Gay had a 20HP engine. The three steamboats operated on the approximately one and a half mile stretch between Witmer’s Bridge and the City Mill dam just below Peoples’ Park. In fact, it was the City Mill dam that raised the water level high enough for the boats to navigate safely.
A roundtrip ticket from Conestoga Park to Rocky Springs on the Emma Belle or Evelyn B was 10 cents. Mr. Peoples charged only 5 cents on the Lady Gay for a round trip to his park and provided a free shuttle ride across the river to Rocky Springs. The proprietor of Rocky Springs sued Peoples claiming he was using the Rocky Springs dock without permission. The court ruled that since the dock was floating in the river, it was public property.
The Evelyn B. was destroyed in a flood in 1902. The Emma Belle was put into dry dock soon after. Peoples Resort had to close because raw sewage was making the river unfit for bathing. The Lady Gay made her last voyage in 1915.
Electric Power Generation
In 1897, the newly formed Lancaster Electric, Heat & Power Company purchased the water rights at the Wabank, Slackwater, and Rock Hill dams. These dams had previously served as locks for the Conestoga Navigation Company. The Wabank plant supplied electricity for Lancaster and Pequea Townships. Electricity generated at the Slackwater plant was transmitted to Engleside to provide power to Lancaster City. The Rock Hill plant provided power for Manor and Conestoga Townships. Electrical generation on the Conestoga River continued for about forty years, closing in 1946.
From the first European settlers until the first part of the twentieth century, the prevailing philosophy was to harness the rivers and other natural resources to produce profit and prosperity to the growing population. But after World War II, it became apparent that this philosophy was causing irreparable damage to those natural resources. In the next, and last, installment in this series of articles, we will look at those impacts and what is being done to mitigate them along Lancaster’s Historic Waterway.
The next article in this series will delve into 20th Century Struggles and 21st Century Dreams of the Conestoga River. If you would like a copy of my book, you may order one on my website at www.donaldkautz.com.
Meet the Guest Writer Donald Kautz
I grew up and still live among the beautiful farmland and rolling hills of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. I have been interested in photography my entire life (starting with a Kodak Brownie box camera) but have gotten more serious with the hobby after my three children have become adults. I am a retired software engineer which probably explains why I enjoy the technical aspects of digital photography post processing as much as capturing the images in the first place. I enjoy landscape photography and love to photograph scenes around Lancaster County, focusing on the Conestoga River and the remaining water-powered grist mills that may still be found around the county. I am interested in the history of Lancaster County and have written a book about the Conestoga 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.
Susquehanna NHA is pleased to introduce guest blog writer, photographer and author of The Conestoga River: A History, Donald Kautz. This is the second blog post in a four part series on the Conestoga River by Mr. Kautz.
This is the second article in the series in which we are taking a journey through time on the historic waters of the Conestoga River. In the first article, I covered the conditions of the Conestoga prior to European settlement. We looked at how the Conestoga watershed looked very different than it does today. And we looked briefly at some of the early inhabitants of the area and how the river provided their sustenance.
In this installment, we will cover the colonial settlement era. We will look at how those settlers utilized the resources of the river for their sustenance and how farming and industry developed along the waterway, providing great prosperity to its new inhabitants.
Fur Trade
During the seventeenth century continuing into the eighteenth, the fur trade was big business among the Swedish, Dutch, French, and English traders. Many people wanted to get in on the action. There was intense competition between the governors of New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, each wanting to keep their ports busy.
The fur traders were an adventurous lot, rugged outdoorsmen who spent half their time bartering with the Natives in the wilderness and the other half bartering with the European settlers who wanted their goods. In many cases, the first white people with whom the natives came into close contact were the fur traders. The natives’ impression of white people was often formed by these encounters, for better or worse. During their work, the traders often learned the native languages and, in some cases, married native women. This made the traders valuable as interpreters when the colonial governments needed to hold conferences with the native tribes.
Two of these early traders who set up shop along the Conestoga were the Quaker Brothers, Edmund and John Cartlidge. Their trading post was at the mouth of the Conestoga, near the Susquehanna. The brothers got into some trouble in 1722 when they murdered a Seneca Indian. They were arrested and jailed in Philadelphia until they were eventually released at the urging of the Iroquois leadership.
Some other prominent fur traders in the area were Martin Chartier, who had a trading post at the mouth of the Pequea Creek and Ann Letort with her son James. Anne’s name is preserved in the village of Letort in Manor Township. Another famous French trader was Peter Bezaillion. Peter and his brother Richard operated a trading post near the mouth of the Conoy creek in 1721. He built a wagon road from this trading post on the Susquehanna to his headquarters in Compass. This road, called “Peter’s Road”, formed the northern boundaries of Manheim and Upper Leacock Townships. The road forded the Conestoga at the point where those two townships meet, just below the conjunction with the Cocalico Creek.
The Indians supplied the traders with animal pelts of various kinds, deer pelts for leather, and the furred animals like mink, otter, and the highly coveted beaver. In exchange for these items, the traders provided articles like glass beads, small brass bells on chains, copper kettles, finger rings, clay tobacco pipes, tobacco boxes, vermillion, iron hatchets and hoes, knives, fishhooks, pewter spoons, thimbles, mirrors, sheet copper for making arrow tips. Some of the more expensive items were flintlock rifles, bullet molds and lead, clothing known as “match coats”, the heavy cloth called “duffel”, and, of course, Jamaican rum.
These goods were carried over paths formed from a combination of water and overland trails. One such trail was the “Conestoga Path” that ran from the Susquehanna, up the Conestoga to the east branch. Then a short portage brought them to the French Creek which in turn led to the Schuylkill River and down to Philadelphia on the Delaware.
Mills
William Penn invited members of his own religious affiliation, the Quakers, and others who were experiencing religious persecution in Europe to settle in his colony. Among those immigrants were a group of anabaptists from Germany called “Mennonists”. Seven Mennonist families settled in the Pequea Valley just south of the Conestoga in 1711. Another larger group of Mennonite families arrived six years later and purchased land adjacent to the first group. The Germans cleared the land and added to their farms a little more acreage each year. As the new settlers arrived, built their homes and cleared land for their farms, sawmills were in great demand to turn the native timber into lumber for building. As the farms became established, it soon became necessary to build mills to process the grain. Until the first mill was built on the Mill Stream, it was necessary to make a long arduous trip by wagon to the nearest mills on the Brandywine. The Pennsylvania proprietors, to encourage someone to build a mill in the Susquehanna watershed, offered a grant of 1,000 acres at a reduced rate if a mill was built on the property before May 1, 1714.
The earliest record of a mill in what would later become Lancaster County was built by a native of Saxony, Germany named Christopher Schlegel (Schleagel), who built a mill on the Mill Creek in about 1714. Schlegel requested a land grant, taking advantage of the discount offer, and James Logan’s surveyor Isaac Taylor marked out 700 acres for him along a tributary of the Conestoga Creek (later named the Mill Stream) not far from the land granted to the recent Mennonist settlers. Apparently, Schlegel did not like the land that Taylor surveyed for him and built his mill on a site about two miles away. On November 15, 1716, Schlegel sent a letter to the proprietors, asking to take up 1,000 acres around his mill “when the Indians leave”.
The Pennsylvania proprietors were apparently unimpressed, because on October 1, 1717, Edmund Cartlidge, the fur trader, purchased the land that Schlegel had chosen for himself, and ejected Schlegel from the property. Cartlidge then built his own mill on the property. The site of this mill was two miles south of Lancaster, north-east of Willow Street at the spot where Golf Road comes nearest to the Mill Creek. This would place it near to where Evan’s Candy is located today.
Lancaster County’s mills were an extremely important part of the commerce of the county in the early days. An 1840 census showed 383 mills in the county, which amounts to one mill for every two and a half square miles. They were hubs of the local economy. Thirty-seven of those were situated on the Conestoga.
Iron Furnaces and Forges
During the 18th and early 19th centuries, southeastern Pennsylvania was a major center of American iron production. The first furnaces were situated along waterways because they needed the waterpower to drive the forges and hammers. The Hammer Creek in Lancaster County was so named because of the sound of the hammers operating in the valley.
Peter Grubb built Hopewell Forge on the Hammer Creek in 1740. He built Cornwall Furnace a few years later. Cornwall is in Lebanon County today, but it was part of Lancaster County then. Grubb also built the Mount Hope Furnace on the Chiques Creek around 1784. Martic Forge opened around 1751 on the Pequea Creek. James Old opened Poole Forge on the Conestoga and Speedwell Forge on the Hammer Creek. The Spring Grove and Windsor forges were also operating on the Conestoga by the end of the 18th century. In fact, in the early 1800s, the upper Conestoga was providing power for three forges, three grist mills, and a hemp mill.
Rifle Manufacturing
Lancaster County was also known for its rifle makers. Martin Meylin manufactured the famous Pennsylvania Rifle near Willow Street in 1745. The barrels were sometimes bored by hand, a long and arduous process, but production could be significantly improved if you could utilize waterpower. James Bryson operated a boring mill on the Mill Stream, not far from Meylin’s gun shop. According to tradition, this mill produced barrels for the Lancaster gunmaker, William Henry. This site was later converted to a grist mill by John Eshleman. Andreas Kauffman operated a boring mill on the Little Conestoga downstream from the Abbeyville/Maple Grove mill around 1770. Henry Leman built his boring mill on the Conestoga near Pinetown in 1834.
Conestoga Navigation Company
By the beginning of the 19th century, Baltimore had become a ready market for agricultural goods and could be reached by natural and modified waterways, thereby reducing the traffic from Lancaster to Philadelphia. In 1817, the State of New York began a major project to connect its eastern ports with Lake Erie in the west. That caused a stir in Pennsylvania, which then began a major push to build canals across the state, fueled by fears that New York would threaten commerce in Philadelphia. On March 27, 1824, Governor Andrew Shulze appointed the first three Pennsylvania canal commissioners and charged them with the task of finding a viable canal route connecting Lancaster and Chester Counties to Pittsburgh. The “canal fever” ran high among Pennsylvania business leaders during this time.
Lancaster’s leaders were in search of ways to improve the local economy. As a result, on May 15, 1824, at a public meeting in Lancaster, a committee was formed to petition the state legislature to grant rights to incorporate a company to make the waters of the Conestoga navigable. The petition was granted on March 3, 1825. This act provided for the “erection of the Conestogo Navigation Company and the construction of its plant.” Adam Reigart and others should have the power to make a navigation canal or slack-water navigation and towpath on and along the Conestoga River and to set up locks and dams fit for navigation. Landowners should be compensated for any damages caused by erecting the dams or by the swelling water. The company would be able to sell or rent surplus water for works.
In a slack-water system, dams were constructed at intervals across the width of the river. This resulted in the water piling up behind the dams to form “ponds.” The dams were spaced such that the water behind one dam would back up all the way to the next dam upstream. This usually amounted to several miles of navigable water wide enough for animal-powered packet boats to be pulled along the side while steam-powered craft could navigate the center of the channel. Locks were constructed as an integral part of each dam.
The Conestoga Navigation Company initially built nine locks and dams between Lancaster City and Safe Harbor. The company opened for business in the spring of 1829. Goods shipped on the canal could reach Baltimore weeks ahead of the overland route and with less damages in transit. Business improved each year until an ice flood in the winter of 1832 damaged many of the dams. The business did not recover from the blow. Edward Coleman bought the company at sheriff’s sale in 1833. Coleman rebuilt the locks and reduced the number of dams from nine to seven. After the Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal opened in 1840, Coleman used a crib dam across the Susquehanna to produce enough draught such that canal boats could be towed from the mouth of the Conestoga to an entry port on the canal. The Conestoga Navigation operated until about 1856, when the railroads became the preferred method for transporting freight.
As we can see, Pennsylvania’s waterways served a prominent role in the development of the country. Such use of the waterways came with a cost, however. In the next article in this series, we will look at the Victorian Era, and how the rivers became centers of recreational activities.
The next article in this series will delve into Victorian Era progress of the Conestoga’s history. If you would like a copy of my book, you may order one on my website at www.donaldkautz.com.
Meet the Guest Writer Donald Kautz
I grew up and still live among the beautiful farmland and rolling hills of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. I have been interested in photography my entire life (starting with a Kodak Brownie box camera) but have gotten more serious with the hobby after my three children have become adults. I am a retired software engineer which probably explains why I enjoy the technical aspects of digital photography post processing as much as capturing the images in the first place. I enjoy landscape photography and love to photograph scenes around Lancaster County, focusing on the Conestoga River and the remaining water-powered grist mills that may still be found around the county. I am interested in the history of Lancaster County and have written a book about the Conestoga 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.
Susquehanna NHA is pleased to introduce guest blog writer, photographer and author of The Conestoga River: A History, Donald Kautz. This is the first blog post in a four part series on the Conestoga River by Mr. Kautz.
The Conestoga River meanders for sixty miles through the fertile farmlands of Lancaster County. From early Native American inhabitants to the European settlers who made the Conestoga Valley their home, the river has provided sustenance and transportation for generations. Victorian era resorts and hotels were built along the river, providing new recreational activities as steam power drove innovative forms of transportation and waterpower. As the region developed and the population grew, the river paid a heavy price in increased pollution from sewage runoff and industry. Conservation efforts toward the end of the twentieth century through the present day have restored the river’s beauty and recreational reputation.
This is the first article in a series of four which are taken from my book, “The Conestoga River: A History”. In these articles we will take a journey through time on the historic waters of the Conestoga River.
Conestoga Watershed
The Conestoga River is a 61.6-mile-long tributary of the Susquehanna River. It originates in Berks County but most of its length is in Lancaster County. It enters the Susquehanna at Safe Harbor just below the Safe Harbor dam. Originally known as the Conestogoe or Conestogo, its name is derived from the Iroquoian word “Kanastoge” meaning “place of the immersed pole”.
The Conestoga and its tributaries drain approximately 217 square miles. The principal tributaries of the Conestoga are Cedar Creek, Muddy Creek, Cocalico Creek, the Lititz Run, the Mill Creek, and the Little Conestoga. The Conestoga has an “inverted” profile, meaning that it starts out with a gentle slope and slope increases as it approaches its mouth. The Conestoga and its sister stream the Pequea Creek form a double watershed system. The Conestoga and Pequea with their tributaries drain most of Lancaster County.
The headwaters of the Conestoga are made up of two branches. The West branch begins in a pond on the edge of the Pennsylvania State Games Lands #52 north of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, north-east of Morgantown. The East Branch begins somewhere just north of Elverson. The two branches join at a point along Mill Road just south of Morgantown.
Creek or River?
Before we go any further, we must ask the question, “Is the Conestoga a creek or is it a river?” People who grew up along its banks and fished or swam in its waters often prefer to call it the Conestoga Creek. Or simply, the “crick”. However, the signs along the major highways that cross the Conestoga label it the “Conestoga River”. And recently, the Conestoga was nominated for 2023 River of the Year by The Pennsylvania Organization for Watersheds and Rivers. So, which is it? A creek or a river?
(The River of the Year designation for 2023 was awarded to the North Branch of the Susquehanna.)
In 1824, Captain Ephraim Beach surveyed the Conestoga from Lancaster to Safe Harbor for the purpose of making the Conestoga navigable. Beach produced a map indicating the plans for a system of locks and canals that would enable canal boats to make the trip from Lancaster to the Susquehanna. This map may be viewed at the Lancaster Historical Society. The legend on that map calls it the “Conestogo River”. Of course, Captain Beach was promoting the Conestoga as a commercial waterway, so the river designation seemed more appropriate for that purpose.
In 1912, Frank R. Diffenderfer, who was an associate editor of the Lancaster New Era newspaper and one of the founders of the Lancaster Historical Society, wrote an impassioned plea on behalf of the Conestoga River. Here is an excerpt from his “Plea for the Conestoga River” that was read before the Lancaster Historical Society:
“One of the most beautiful streams in the world flows quietly through the green meadows and along the sunny braes of Lancaster County for a distance of more than sixty miles, draining a territory 315 square miles in area, affording endless themes of beauty to the brush of the painter and the fancy of the poet.”
“It is the Conestoga ‘Creek’ to most of our people ‘and it is nothing more’; yet it is a river, just as truly as are some of the most noted streams of the world which have been called rivers for thousands of years.”
“Our Conestoga has borne its present misnomer long enough. Let no member of this Society ever again speak or write about it as a ‘creek.’ Call it what it really is, and what it deserves to be called – The CONESTOGA RIVER.”
Earl F. Rebman, founder of the Conestoga Valley Association, fought for 28 years to fulfill Diffenderfer’s plea. Finally, in April of 1974, Rebman’s dream was fulfilled when the United States Board of Geographic Names approved the name “Conestoga River” for federal use. The main branch of the Conestoga including the East and West branches at its source were included in the approval. The Little Conestoga, however, remains a creek. (Lancaster New Era, April 24, 1974)
Presettlement Conditions
Prior to the arrival of European settlers in the 17th century, the Conestoga Valley was much different than it is today. The valley was more like a swamp than the single channel that we know today. The valley was made up of numerous, interconnected streams that flowed around islands of vegetation. The system was resistant to flooding because the flood plains were broad and marshy, and the underlying soil was porous. The historic floodplain was full of vegetation with root systems that held the soils in place even during high water flow.
The area is part of the Pennsylvania Piedmont lowlands. This area was once covered with a shallow sea. Various species of shellfish lived and died in the sea, their discarded shells building up to create great sheets of limestone. Eventually tectonic forces pushed up to form the Appalachian Mountains. Over time, these mountains eroded forming deep, rich soil in the alluvial valleys. This, in turn, enabled great forests to grow and the forests provided the habitat for abundant wildlife. Bear, deer, elk, foxes, otters, raccoons, wildcats, wolves, and the much-coveted beaver all made their home in the forests and wetlands of the Conestoga Valley.
The Conestogas
The Susquehannock Indians appeared along the Susquehanna c1550 at about the time that an earlier group who are known as the Shenk’s Ferry people disappeared. It is unknown whether the earlier group died of an illness or if the Susquehannocks conquered or assimilated them. The Susquehannocks were mostly nomadic hunters and fisherman who would stay in one area only so long as the game and fish remained plentiful. They were not very friendly to members of other tribes and would regularly send out war parties to attack the hunters from other tribes who happened into their territory. By 1608, the Susquehannocks had a town and stockade fort on the shore of the Susquehanna at the foot of Turkey Hill.
In the summer of 1608, Captain John Smith encountered a hunting party of Susquehannocks at the head of the Chesapeake Bay. Captain Smith described them as more muscular and larger in stature than other natives that he had seen. Smith said, “They seemed like giants, and were the strangest people in all these countries, both in language and attire; their language well becomes their proportions, sounding ‘from them as a voice in a vault. The Susquehannocks were called “Minquas” (treacherous) by the Delaware (Lenape).
In the mid-1600s, pressure from the Dutch Trading Company forced the Senecas south into Susquehannock territory. This resulted in violent inter-tribal conflicts. The Senecas fought the Susquehannocks as far south as the Chesepeake Bay. The Susquehannocks pleaded for assistance from the English colonial settlements but did not receive the level of aid that they needed to ward off the Seneca attacks. By the late 17th century, the ranks of the Susquehannocks were severely decimated and they no longer held the importance that they once commanded. Soon after this, the remnant left their fort on the river shore and moved to their town on Turkey Hill about four miles further up the hill. Once established at this new location they became known as the Conestogoes. Here William Penn granted them 500 acres of land that became known as “the manor”, today it is Penn Manor Township.
Fast forward a hundred years or so into the mid-18th century and you find the European settlers engaging in their own inter-tribal conflicts. The English went to war with the French over territorial disputes. A few of the native peoples joined up with the French under the vague promise that they might be able to recover their land if the English were defeated. The Conestogoes had become extremely destitute by this time, many of them had little clothes to wear. They went from farm to farm begging for food or bartering for it with reed baskets and brooms. Alcoholism was rampant. When the white inhabitants of the upper Susquehanna, having fled their homes, came into Lancaster County and Philadelphia, the suspicions against the Conestogos grew with each new story of the atrocities that were committed upriver. The Conestogos at this time were afraid to leave the manor even to hunt for food.
The French and Indian war ended in 1758 but an uprising by chief Pontiac in 1763 caused animosities to rise again against the small tribe. On December 13, 1763, a company of men from Paxtang, Hanover, and Donegal headed to Conestoga Indian Town to destroy the place and its people. Early the next morning they attacked the town, killed, and scalped four men and two women and burned the town. A boy escaped and alerted the manager of the tragedy. The Lancaster authorities gathered up the remaining Conestogos (fourteen in number) and housed them in the city workhouse for their protection. But then on December 27, about fifty or sixty men armed with rifles and tomahawks appeared suddenly in the town about 2:00 in the afternoon, broke into the workhouse and killed the fourteen Conestogos in the courtyard behind the jail. The Conestogos are no more, but their memory remains in the river that bears their name.
The next article in this series will delve into the colonial settlement period of the Conestoga’s history. If you would like a copy of my book, you may order one on my website at www.donaldkautz.com.
Meet the Guest Writer Donald Kautz
I grew up and still live among the beautiful farmland and rolling hills of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. I have been interested in photography my entire life (starting with a Kodak Brownie box camera) but have gotten more serious with the hobby after my three children have become adults. I am a retired software engineer which probably explains why I enjoy the technical aspects of digital photography post processing as much as capturing the images in the first place. I enjoy landscape photography and love to photograph scenes around Lancaster County, focusing on the Conestoga River and the remaining water-powered grist mills that may still be found around the county. I am interested in the history of Lancaster County and have written a book about the Conestoga River.
For Further Reading:
Brubaker, Jack, Massacre of the Conestogas, The History Press, 2010
Minderhout, David J., Native Americans in the Susquehanna River Valley, Past and Present, Bucknell University Press, 2013
Merrell, James H., Into the American Woods, W. W. Horton & Company, 1999
Every year, the PA Fish and Boat Commission designates two Fish-For-Free Days, when residents and non-residents can legally fish without a fishing license. In 2023, those days are Sunday, May 28th and Tuesday, July 4th. Fish-For-Free days are a great opportunity for the young and…less young to try their hands at fishing!
To make it even easier, Susquehanna National Heritage Area will allow visitors to borrow fishing poles and child-sized PFDs (life jackets) on Fish-For-Free Days this summer. Simply stop in at the front desk during business hours with the name, age, address, and phone number to check out your gear. You must use the equipment in Columbia River Park and return it by 5pm that day. We strongly encourage that everyone, particularly kids, wear PFDs when close to the water’s edge. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Sophia Vayansky at SVayansky@SusqNHA.org or 717-449-5607.