West Branch Susquehanna River
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The West Branch Susquehanna River is one of the two principal branches, along with the North Branch, of the Susquehanna River in the northeastern United States. The North Branch, which rises in upstate New York, is sometimes regarded as an extension of the main branch, with the shorter West Branch being its principal tributary. The West Branch, which is 160 mi (257 km) long, is entirely within the state of Pennsylvania, draining a large mountainous area within the Allegheny Plateau in the western part of the state. Along most of its course it flows in tight meanders along mountain ridges and through water gaps, forming a large zigzag arc through central Pennsylvania around the north end of the Allegheny Ridge. In colonial times the river provided an important water route to the Ohio River valley. In the 18th century, its lower valley became a significant industrial heartland of Pennsylvania.
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[edit] Description
The West Branch rises on the west side of the Alleghenies, in northwestern Cambria County, approximately 20 mi (32 km) east of the city of Indiana. It flows generally north, crossing the eastern corner of Indiana County at Cherry Tree, then into southern Clearfield County. Near Mahaffey it turns generally northeast and flows past Curwensville and then Clearfield. In northern Clinton County it turns to the southeast to Lock Haven. At Lock Haven it turns east, flowing through the West Branch Susquehanna Valley along the foot of Bald Eagle Mountain ridge past Williamsport, the largest city on the river, then turns south at the end of the ridge. From there, it winds around the Muncy Hills, emerging from a water gap between Mountour Ridge and Shamokin Mountain and joining the North (Main) branch of the Susquehanna from the northwest approximately 2 mi (3 km) north of Sunbury.
[edit] Tributaries
From its upper reaches to its lower reaches, it receives:
- Chest Creek from the south at Mahaffey
- Clearfield Creek from the south 2 mi (3 km) east of Clearfield
- Sinnemahoning Creek from the northwest at Keating
- Bald Eagle Creek from the southwest at Youngdale
- Pine Creek and Larrys Creek from the north near Jersey Shore
- Lycoming Creek from the north at Williamsport
- Loyalsock Creek from the northeast at Montoursville
- Muncy Creek from the northeast at Muncy
- White Deer Hole Creek from the south at Allenwood.
[edit] History
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Up through the early 19th century the river provided the principal canoe route across the Alleghenies connecting the Susquehanna and Ohio valleys, with a portage at Cherry Tree to Blacklick Creek, a tributary of the Conemaugh River. In the late 18th century, Cherry Tree marked the frontier between the Pennsylvania Colony and the Shawnee and Lenape lands to the west as specified by treaty.
The lands along the West Branch were vital hunting grounds and agricultural lands for Native Americans. During Pennsylvania’s great lumbering era, the most significant log drive was conveyed on the West Branch of the Susquehanna River. The Susquehanna’s West Branch Canal Division further shaped the corridor, linking towns and villages and providing vital opportunities for commerce. Finally, railroads in the corridor fused the links between communities and commerce within the corridor. [1]
[edit] Early inhabitants
The first recorded inhabitants of the West Branch Susquehanna River valley were the Iroquoian speaking Susquehannocks. Their name meant "people of the muddy river" in Algonquin. Decimated by diseases and warfare, they had died out, moved away, or been assimilated into other tribes by the early 18th century. The lands of the West Branch Susquehanna River Valley were then chiefly occupied by the Munsee phratry of the Lenape (or Delaware), and were under the nominal control of the Five (later Six) Nations of the Iroquois.
[edit] Ostuagy
Madame Montour's village of Ostuagy was a vitally important location during the settlement of what is now Lycoming County. Her village at the mouth of Loyalsock Creek on the West Branch Susquehanna River was an important stopping point for the Moravian missionaries who were spreading the gospel throughout the wilderness of Pennsylvania during the 1740s. Count Zinzendorf, a missionary being guided by Conrad Weiser with the permission of Chief Shikellamy came to Ostuagy in 1742.
[edit] Colonial settlement
The British purchased land from the Iroquois in the Treaty of Fort Stanwix of 1768, opening what is now Lycoming County to settlement. However, the Line of Property (or Purchase Line) border defined by "Tiadaghton Creek" dividing colonial and Native American lands was disputed. The colonists claimed this was Pine Creek, the Iroquois and other tribes Lycoming Creek. The area between Pine and Lycoming Creeks was disputed territory. The illegal settlers there were part of the "Fair Play Men" system of self-government, with their own Declaration of Independence from Britain on July 4, 1776.
In the American Revolutionary War, settlements throughout the Susquehanna valley were attacked by Loyalists and Native Americans allied with the British. After the Wyoming Valley battle and massacre in the summer of 1778 (near what is now Wilkes-Barre) and smaller local attacks, the "Big Runaway" occurred throughout the West Branch Susquehanna valley. Settlers fled feared and actual attacks by the British and their allies. Homes and fields were abandoned, with livestock driven along and a few possessions floated on rafts on the river east to Muncy, then further south to Sunbury. The abandoned property was burnt by the attackers. Some settlers soon returned, only to flee again in the summer of 1779 in the "Little Runaway". Sullivan's Expedition helped stabilize the area and encouraged resettlement, which continued after the war.[1]
[edit] Fair Play Men
The Fair Play Men were illegal settlers (squatters) who established their own system of self-rule from 1773 to 1785 in the West Branch Susquehanna River Valley of Pennsylvania in what is now the United States. Because they settled in territory claimed by Native Americans, they had no recourse to the Pennsylvania colonial government. Accordingly they established what was known as the Fair Play System, with three elected commissioners who ruled on land claims and other issues for the group. In a remarkable coincidence, the Fair Play Men made their own Declaration of Independence from Britain on July 4, 1776 beneath the "Tiadaghton Elm" on the banks of Pine Creek.
[edit] Trivia
- There is an area in Clearfield County named after the river, called West Branch. This includes Morris Township, Cooper Township, and Graham Township among other towns and villages. It is also the namesake for the West Branch Area School District.
[edit] See also
- List of Pennsylvania rivers
- List of dams and reservoirs of the Susquehanna River
- List of crossings of the Susquehanna River
[edit] Reference
- ^ [1939] A Picture of Lycoming County (PDF), The Lycoming County Unit of the Pennsylvania Writers Project of the Work Projects Administration, First edition, The Commissioners of Lycoming County Pennsylvania. Retrieved on 2006-07-23.
