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88-627: The C&PD, originally called the Washington and Maryland Line Railroad and then the Columbia and Maryland Line Railroad , was chartered in 1858. The C&PD began construction in 1866, as another rail line, a branch built by the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad (PW&B), approached Port Deposit from the southeast. The PRR, which controlled the PW&;B, also purchased a controlling interest in

176-484: A "seaman's protection", a document obtained by his future wife, a free black woman, which was normally carried by free black sailors, of which there were many in the merchant fleets and the navy. Later, the railroad would require black passengers to have "a responsible white person" sign a bond at the ticket office before allowing them to board. In December, the PB&;W completed its Schuylkill bridge at Gray's Ferry. Named

264-562: A few miles south of Philadelphia's city limits. Passengers debarking at Gray's Ferry were taken by omnibus into the city. The disadvantages of tripartite ownership of the Philadelphia-Baltimore line became obvious, and the three remaining state-chartered railroads merged on February 12, 1838, to form the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Company. (The new company's name differed from its predecessor's in that "The" at

352-551: A majority of the stock at the price specified. Meanwhile, Garrett's maneuver became known to the PRR, which quickly bought out a majority of the stock at a somewhat higher price, preemptively taking control of the PW&B. Garrett and the Baltimore and Ohio were forced later to construct an independent separate northeast line to Philadelphia, the Baltimore and Philadelphia Railroad , while paying

440-555: A net height of 1,009 feet (308 m) between basins, requiring the use of more than 100 water locks , which were too expensive to be maintained under the new competition. The Susquehanna River figures in the history of the Latter Day Saint movement . It holds that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery received the priesthood from heavenly beings at a site along the Susquehanna and performed their first baptisms of Latter Day Saints in

528-678: A third major language family, with their peoples occupying much of the middle areas of the interior. Algongquian-speaking peoples predominated in the coastal areas. Iroquoian speakers , such as the Cherokee and Tuscarora peoples , generally occupied areas to the interior near the Piedmont and foothills. In 1615, the river was traversed by the French explorer Étienne Brûlé . In the 1670s the Conestoga, or Susquehannock people, succumbed to Iroquois conquest by

616-511: Is a practical ferry for up to four vehicles and 50 passengers, while the Pride of the Susquehanna , based at Harrisburg, provides a passenger-only pleasure cruise. Most of the canals have been filled in or are partially preserved as a part of historical parks. Dams generally are used to generate power or to provide lakes for recreation. The environmental group American Rivers named the Susquehanna " America's Most Endangered River for 2005 " because of

704-665: Is now Washington Avenue, where it connected with the Southwark Rail-Road , built in 1835, to reach the Delaware River . In 1839, the railroad's ticket agents advertised daily mail-and-passenger trains that left Baltimore's old original Pratt Street station at South Charles Street of the B&;O (before 1857-65 construction of the now-famous Camden Street Station ) at 9:30 a.m., stopped for lunch in Wilmington, Delaware , and reached

792-770: Is regarded by many as one of the premier bass fishing rivers in North America. Canoe races are held annually on various sections of the river, such as the amateur race held in Oneonta, New York . Susquehanna rowing and paddling have a long history. Starting in 1874, rowers from Shamokin Dam, Pennsylvania , raced men from Sunbury . The General Clinton Canoe Regatta, a 70-mile (110 km) flat-water race, takes place each year in Bainbridge, New York , on Memorial Day weekend. Binghamton University Crew and Hiawatha Island Boat Club are also located on

880-589: The Allegheny Plateau region of the Appalachian Mountains , cutting through a succession of water gaps in a broad zigzag course to flow across the rural heartland of southeastern Pennsylvania and northeastern Maryland in the lateral near-parallel array of mountain ridges. The river empties into the northern end of the Chesapeake Bay at Perryville and Havre de Grace, Maryland , providing half of

968-546: The American Civil War began at Fort Sumter , an angry mob of Southern sympathizers attacked a trainload of future Union Army soldiers at the PW&B's President Street Station , starting a street battle that spread to the Camden Street Station. This Pratt Street Riot produced the war's first deaths of Union volunteers by hostile action and set the nation irrevocably on the path to war. From 1863 to 1865,

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1056-465: The Chernobyl nuclear accident . The remaining reactor at Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station was shut down in 2019. In 2015, a smallmouth bass with a rare, cancerous tumor was caught from the river, raising renewed concerns about toxic materials and water pollution. The Environmental Protection Agency reported, "we do not have sufficient data at this time to scientifically support listing

1144-563: The Chesapeake Bay . It was well established in the flat tidelands of eastern North America during the Mesozoic era about 252 to 66 million years ago. This is the same period when the Hudson , Delaware and Potomac rivers were established. Both branches and the lower Susquehanna were part of important regional transportation corridors. The river was extensively used for muscle-powered ferries , boats , and canal boat shipping of bulk goods in

1232-570: The Civil War 's 1863 Gettysburg Campaign , Union Major General Darius N. Couch , commander of the Department of the Susquehanna , resolved that Robert E. Lee 's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia would not cross the Susquehanna. He positioned militia units under Maj. Granville Haller to protect key bridges in Harrisburg and Wrightsville , as well as nearby fords. Confederate forces reached

1320-596: The Endless Mountains in the Allegheny Plateau of Pennsylvania. It receives the Lackawanna River southwest of Scranton and turns sharply to the southwest, flowing through the former anthracite industrial heartland in the mountain ridges of northeastern Pennsylvania, past Pittston City ( Greater Pittston ), Wilkes-Barre , Nanticoke , Shickshinny , Berwick , Bloomsburg , and Danville , before receiving

1408-554: The Lenape (Delaware) word siskëwahane meaning "Muddy River". Alternatively, it may come from the Lenape (Delaware) term Sisa'we'hak'hanna , which means "Oyster River". Oyster beds were widespread in the bay near the mouth of the river, which the Lenape farmed. They left oyster shell middens at their villages. A third account translates "Susquehanna" from the Susquehannock language , of

1496-685: The Mason–Dixon line , the Delaware and Maryland legislatures , were doing their part to create a rail link to Wilmington and Baltimore . On January 18, 1832, the State of Delaware chartered the Wilmington and Susquehanna Rail Road Company (W&S, $ 400,000) to build from Wilmington to the Maryland state line. On March 5, the State of Maryland chartered the Baltimore and Port Deposite Rail Road Company (B&PD) (with $ 1,000,000) to build from Baltimore northeast to

1584-630: The Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, crossing three lower Northeast states (New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland). At 444 miles (715 km) long, it is the longest river on the East Coast of the United States . By watershed area, it is the 16th-largest river in the United States, and also the longest river in the early 21st-century continental United States without commercial boat traffic. The Susquehanna River forms from two main branches:

1672-704: The Monongahela , Allegheny Rivers and their confluence into the Ohio River flowing southwest towards the Mississippi River . The 82-mile (132 km) Union Canal was completed in 1828 to connect the Schuylkill River (flowing southeast towards the Delaware River at Philadelphia ) at Reading westwards to the Susquehanna River above the state capital of Harrisburg . Competition from faster transport via

1760-581: The North Branch , which rises in Cooperstown, New York , and is regarded by federal mapmakers as the main branch or headwaters, and the West Branch , which rises in western Pennsylvania and joins the main branch near Northumberland in central Pennsylvania. The river drains 27,500 square miles (71,000 km ), including nearly half of the land area of Pennsylvania. The drainage basin includes portions of

1848-636: The Ohio River . In 1792, the Union Canal was proposed in order to link the Susquehanna and the Delaware rivers in Pennsylvania along Swatara and Tulpehocken creeks. In the 19th century, many industrial centers developed along the Susquehanna, using its water power to drive mills and coal machinery, to cool machines, and as a waterway for the transport of raw and manufactured goods. Based on colonial charters, both Pennsylvania and Connecticut claimed land in

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1936-403: The Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad . The New Castle and Frenchtown Turnpike and Rail Road Company (merged May 15, 1877) The New Castle and Wilmington Rail Road Company (merged May 15, 1877) Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River ( / ˌ s ʌ s k w ə ˈ h æ n ə / SUSS -kwə- HAN -ə ; Lenape : Siskëwahane ) is a major river located in

2024-518: The Susquehanna Gap through the Blue Mountain Ridge , just northwest of Harrisburg . Downtown Harrisburg developed on the east side of the river, which is nearly a mile wide here. Harrisburg is the largest city located on the lower river, which flows southeast across South Central Pennsylvania , forming the border between York and Lancaster counties, and receiving Swatara Creek from

2112-522: The Wyoming Valley along the Susquehanna. Connecticut founded Westmoreland County here and defended its claim in the Pennamite Wars . Under federal arbitration, eventually the state ceded this territory to Pennsylvania. In the 1790s English Lake Poets Robert Southey , Samuel Taylor Coleridge , and Robert Lovell formulated the " Pantisocracy Plan" to marry three sisters and move to the banks of

2200-505: The history of the United States . In the 18th century, William Penn , the founder of the Pennsylvania Colony , negotiated with the Lenape to allow white settlement in the area between the Delaware River and the Susquehanna, which was part of Lenape territory. In late colonial times, the river became an increasingly important transportation corridor, used to ship anthracite coal , discovered by Necho Allen , from its upper reaches in

2288-822: The railroad industry by the 1850s resulted in reducing the reliance on the river for transport. Two canal systems were constructed on the lower Susquehanna to bypass the rapids. The first was the Susquehanna Canal , also called the Conowingo Canal or the Port Deposit Canal, completed in 1802 by a Maryland company known as the Proprietors of the Susquehanna Canal. The second was the much longer and more successful Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal . The canals required dams to provide canal water and navigation pools. As

2376-595: The " Newkirk Viaduct " after PW&B president Matthew Newkirk , it allowed trains to run from downtown Philadelphia to downtown Baltimore, with only the Susquehanna River steam railroad ferry interrupting the ride. (The railroad marked this achievement by erecting the Newkirk Viaduct Monument , a 15-foot marble obelisk designed by Thomas Ustick Walter , a future Architect of the Capitol .) That interruption

2464-487: The 9.9-mile old alignment less than a year later, leasing it on July 1, 1873, to the Philadelphia and Reading Railway for 999 years with the stipulation that it would be used solely for freight. (The Reading dubbed the line, along with some connecting track, its Philadelphia and Chester Branch; southbound trains reached it via the Junction Railroad (jointly controlled by PW&B, Reading, and PRR) and continued on to

2552-500: The Atlantic coast and Eastern seaboard, chartered the Philadelphia and Delaware County Rail-Road Company . The legislature allotted $ 200,000 to build a rail line from America's largest city to the Delaware state line. In July 1835, surveyors began to look at possible routes, and in October, they reported that the best option, a 17-mile line, would cost $ 233,000 to build. Further south, across

2640-428: The B&O line to reach Washington, D.C. , from Philadelphia and Baltimore by agreeing to allow the builder to use the PW&B right-of-way in exchange for the use of the communications equipment. On January 12, 1846, Buckley was replaced by Edward C. Dale, a grandson of Richard Dale , one of the U.S. Navy's first commodores. Between 1846 and 1849, the railroad ordered five more locomotives, likely 4-4-0s , from

2728-685: The B&PD began operating trains between Baltimore harbor's basin at the present-day Inner Harbor waterfront and its Canton industrial, commercial and residential neighborhood to the southeast. But Matthew Newkirk , who had invested $ 50,000 in the B&PD including funds borrowed from the United States Bank, grew impatient. On Oct. 6, he wrote to the Company Board "demanding that Pres. Finley resign and be replaced by someone who will be more aggressive in collecting from delinquent subscribers and pushing project forward." As alternates, he suggests

Columbia and Port Deposit Railroad - Misplaced Pages Continue

2816-615: The Bay's freshwater inflow. The bay lies in the flooded valley, or ria , of the Susquehanna. The Susquehanna River is one of the oldest existing rivers in the world, being dated as 320–340 Myr , older than the mountain ridges through which it flows. These ridges resulted from the Alleghenian orogeny uplift events, when Africa (as part of Gondwana ) slammed into the Northern part of Euramerica . The Susquehanna basin reaches its ultimate outflow in

2904-487: The C&;PD in 1866. The first completed section of the C&PD opened in 1868 and connected the newly built Philadelphia and Baltimore Central Railroad at Rowlandsville (4 mi (6.4 km) north of Port Deposit) to the PW&B branch line. The remainder of the line to Columbia was completed in 1877, and all facilities were leased by the PW&B. The company was reorganized as the Columbia and Port Deposit Railway in 1890. In 1893

2992-555: The C&PD purchased the Perryville branch line from PW&B, and then PW&B purchased the C&PD. The PW&B was merged into the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad (PB&W) in 1902, and the C&PD was merged into the PB&W in 1916. The PRR, which controlled all of these companies, labeled the line as the Port Road Branch and electrified the branch in 1938. (The Port Road branch designation continues on

3080-521: The Great Lakes. The English of Pennsylvania referred to the Eroni people of Conestoga as "Susquehannocks" or "Susquehannock Indians", a name derived from the Lenape term. In addition, John Smith of Jamestown , Virginia, labeled their settlement as "Sasquesahanough" on his 1612 map when he explored the upper Chesapeake Bay area. In Virginia and other southern colonies, Siouan -speaking tribes constituted

3168-813: The Iroquoian family, as "the stream that falls toward the south" or "long-crooked-river". The Lenape are an Algonquian-speaking Native American people who had communities ranging from coastal Connecticut through New York and Long Island, and further south into New Jersey and Delaware in the mid-Atlantic area. Their settlements in Pennsylvania included Con'esto'ga ("Roof-place" or "town", modern Washington Boro, Lancaster County ), also called Ka'ot'sch'ie'ra ("Place-crawfish", modern Chickisalunga, Lancaster County), or Gasch'guch'sa ("Great-fall-in-river", modern Conewago Falls , Lancaster County). They were called Minquas ("quite different"), or Sisa'we'hak'hanna'lenno'wak ("Oyster-river-people") by others. The Lenape also called

3256-490: The Market Street depot in Philadelphia at 4 p.m. In 1842, Newkirk resigned as PW&B president. He was replaced by Matthew Brooke Buckley (1794-1856), who had become a PW&B board member on Jan. 10, 1842, and one week later had taken over leadership of one of the railroad's three executive committees, the Northern one. As president, Buckley helped create the first telegraph line. In 1844, Samuel Morse arranged for

3344-528: The New York system. Today 200 bridges cross the Susquehanna. The Rockville Bridge , which crosses the river from Harrisburg to Marysville, Pennsylvania , is the longest stone masonry arch bridge in the world. It was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1902, replacing an earlier iron bridge. Two seasonal ferries operate across the Susquehanna. The Millersburg Ferry at Millersburg, Pennsylvania ,

3432-498: The Norris Works. In February 1850, the PW&B improved its Baltimore terminus with a new station with a 208-foot (63 m) barrel-vaulted train shed. Because locomotives were not allowed to transfer through the city—possibly for fire safety reasons—service onward to Washington was facilitated by drawing the coaches by horse down Pratt Street to the B&O terminal, first at East Pratt and South Charles Streets, and, after 1857, to

3520-573: The North Branch flowing from the northwest at Northumberland. Downstream from the confluence of its branches in Northumberland , the river flows south past Selinsgrove , where it is joined by its Penns Creek tributary, and cuts through a water gap at the western end of Mahantongo Mountain. It receives the Juniata River from the northwest at Duncannon , then passes through its last water gap,

3608-623: The North Branch of the river. Smith and Cowdery said that they were visited on May 15, 1829, by the resurrected John the Baptist and given the Aaronic priesthood . Following his visit, Smith and Cowdery baptized each other in the river. Later that year, they said they were visited near the river by the apostles Peter , James and John . Both events took place in unspecified locations near the river's shore in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania . During

Columbia and Port Deposit Railroad - Misplaced Pages Continue

3696-404: The PRR had this to say about the significance of the PW&B, which it had acquired and gained control of fourteen years before: An important constituent of a great North and South line of transportation, it challenges ocean competition and carries on its rails not only statesmen and tourists but a valuable interchange of products between different lines of latitude. As a military highway, it is of

3784-570: The PRR substantial fees to continue service further north to New York City over their lines. The new line opened in 1886; the Reading also used it to avoid the Junction Railroad. A number of branches were built, bought and sold from 1881 to 1891, as described below. In 1895, the main line was realigned and straightened at Naaman's Creek in Delaware. The old line would become sidings for Claymont Steel . The PRR's Baltimore and Potomac Rail Road

3872-664: The PW&B formally absorbed the New Castle and Frenchtown and New Castle and Wilmington railroads, forming a branch line from Wilmington to Rodney. On May 21, 1877, it then absorbed the Southwark railroad, extending its main line to the Delaware River waterfront. In 1880, a conflict began between the PRR and the B&O, both of which operated over the PW&B. The B&O was working to reduce its reliance on PRR tracks; it had recently arranged to switch its Philadelphia-New York trains to

3960-452: The PW&B line is still in use today as part of Amtrak 's Northeast Corridor and the Maryland Department of Transportation's MARC commuter passenger system from Baltimore to Maryland's northeast corner. Freight is hauled on the route; formerly by the Conrail system and currently by Norfolk Southern . On April 2, 1831, the General Assembly of Pennsylvania , seeking to improve transportation between Philadelphia and points south along

4048-521: The State to $ 400,000; and changed its name, on March 14, to The Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Company . On July 4, the PW&B began building its bridge over the Schuylkill River , the most significant obstacle on its part of the route. The bridge would cross at Gray's Ferry Bridge , south of the city. Meanwhile, on April 18, the D&M merged with the W&S, forming the Wilmington and Susquehanna Railroad Company . Work also proceeded in Delaware and Maryland . By July 1837, there

4136-457: The Susquehanna River to start a socialist experiment. They made the marriages but Southey moved to Lisbon, Portugal , to visit an uncle, and they abandoned the plan to move to the United States. In 1833 John B. Jervis began a canal system to extend the Chenango River and connect the waters of the Susquehanna from Chenango Point to the Erie Canal , which ran through the Mohawk Valley of New York , ultimately connecting with Lake Erie through

4224-740: The Three Mile Island accident has not resulted in any harmful radiation effects. The areas in and along a 262-km length of the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania were monitored for the presence of radioactive materials. This study began two months after the 1979 Three Mile Island (TMI) partial reactor meltdown; it spanned the next 25 years. Monitoring points included stations at the PPL Susquehanna and TMI nuclear power plants. Monthly gamma measurements documented concentrations of radionuclides from natural and anthropogenic sources. During this study, various series of gamma-emitting radionuclide concentration measurements were made in many general categories of animals, plants, and other inorganic matter, both within and near

4312-419: The United States gaining independence in the Revolutionary War, in 1790 Colonel Timothy Matlack , Samuel Maclay and John Adlum were commissioned by the Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to survey the headwaters of the Susquehanna river. They were to explore a route for a passage to connect the West Branch with the waters of the Allegheny River , which flowed to Pittsburgh and

4400-493: The West Branch at Northumberland. The origin of the official West Branch is near Elmora, Pennsylvania , in northern Cambria County near the contemporary junction of Mitchel Road and US Route 219 (locally Plank Road). It travels northeasterly through the towns of Northern Cambria , Cherry Tree , Burnside , Mahaffey and Curwensville (where the river is dammed to form a lake), into and through Clearfield , where it receives Clearfield Creek . The West Branch turns to

4488-471: The Wood Canal. In October 1836, water from the Susquehanna was connected to the Erie Canal at Utica, New York . Water travel was the main form of transportation during that era. The Erie Canal dramatically expanded trade between communities around the Great Lakes and markets in New York and Pennsylvania. With the expansion of construction of railroad lines, canal-transport became unprofitable, as it could not compete in speed or flexibility. Boats had to climb

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4576-434: The area Sisa'we'hak'hanna'unk ("Oyster-river-place"). Peoples of the mid-Atlantic Coast included coastal peoples who spoke Algonquian languages , such as the Lenape (whose bands spoke three dialects of Lenape), and Iroquoian languages -speaking peoples of the interior, such as the Eroni and the Five Nations of the Iroquois League , or Haudenosaunee , based largely in present-day New York and upper Pennsylvania around

4664-478: The beginning of the titled name was not part of its formal incorporated name. ) Among the passengers that year was Frederick Douglass , a slave who escaped his Baltimore owner by boarding a PB&W train, perhaps at Canton or somewhere east of where the President Street Station would be built in 1849, and riding it northeast to Philadelphia. To avoid detention, Douglass, a future world-famous abolitionist, statesman, Federal official, orator and publisher, borrowed

4752-468: The branch in 1981. There are many remnants of the electrification along much of the line; including catenary poles and return wires. As part of the Conrail break-up in 1999, the Port Road Branch was sold to Norfolk Southern. Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad The Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad (PW&B) was an American railroad that operated independently from 1836 to 1881. Headquartered in Philadelphia , it

4840-403: The brief decades before the Pennsylvania Canal System was eclipsed by the coming of age of steam -powered railways . While the railroad industry has been less prevalent since the closures and mergers of the 1950s–1960s, a wide-ranging rail transportation infrastructure still operates along the river's shores. Also called the Main Branch Susquehanna , the longer branch of the river rises at

4928-461: The connecting Chester and Delaware River Railroad .) The PW&B, which had competed so fiercely with the Pennsylvania, began to see their interests align. In 1873, the PRR opened the Baltimore and Potomac Rail Road (founded 1853, organized 1858), from Baltimore to Washington. The PW&B agreed to allow the PRR to use its track between Philadelphia and Baltimore, helping the PRR offer a shorter and more direct trip to Washington. On May 15, 1877,

5016-547: The evacuation of thousands of residents. In September 2011 the Susquehanna River and its communities were hit by Tropical Storm Lee , which caused the worst flooding since Agnes in 1972. The Susquehanna River is important in the transportation history of the United States . Before the Port Deposit Bridge opened in 1818, the river formed a barrier between the northern and southern states, as it could be crossed only by ferry . The earliest dams were constructed to support ferry operations in low water. The presence of many rapids in

5104-399: The excessive pollution it receives. Most of the pollution in the river is caused by excess animal manure from farming , agricultural runoff , urban and suburban stormwater runoff , and raw or inadequately treated sewage . In 2003 the river contributed 50% of the freshwater, 44% of the nitrogen , 21% of the phosphorus , and 21% of the sediment flowing into the Chesapeake Bay . It

5192-450: The greatest strategic importance to the national, industrial, and commercial capitals – Washington, Philadelphia and New York. It presents some of the very best transportation facilities to the commerce of the cities after which it is named and could not be obliterated from the railroad map of the United States without materially disturbing its harmony. The PW&B merged with the Baltimore and Potomac on November 1, 1902, to form

5280-433: The hardest-hit communities and the capital Harrisburg was flooded. The Chesapeake Bay received so much fresh water that it altered the ecosystem, killing much of the marine life that depended on saltwater. The Mid-Atlantic Flood of June 2006 , caused by a stalled jet stream-driven storm system, affected portions of the river system. The worst affected area was Binghamton, New York , where record-setting flood levels forced

5368-468: The industrial age progressed, bridges replaced ferries , and railroads replaced canals. The railroads were often constructed on top of the canal right-of-way along the river. Many canal remnants can be seen; for example, in Havre de Grace, Maryland , along US Route 15 in Pennsylvania, and in upstate New York at various locations. These latter remnants are parts of the upstream divisions of the Pennsylvania Canal , of privately funded canals, and of canals in

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5456-410: The introduction to his historical novel The Pioneers (1823). At Athens, Pennsylvania , then known as Tioga or "Tioga Point", Clinton met with General John Sullivan and his forces, who had marched from Easton, Pennsylvania . Together on August 29, they defeated the Tories and warriors of allied Iroquois bands at the Battle of Newtown (near present-day Elmira, New York ). This was part of what

5544-442: The line again through the twin towns of Waverly, New York , and Sayre, Pennsylvania , and their large right bank railyard, once briefly holding the largest structure in the United States devoted to the maintenance and construction of railroad locomotives. A couple of miles south, in Athens Township, Pennsylvania , it receives the Chemung from the northwest. It makes a right-angle curve between Sayre and Towanda to cut through

5632-424: The line north of Columbia, to Marysville , along the Enola Branch .) The PRR merged into Penn Central in 1968, and after the Penn Central bankruptcy in 1970, ownership of the line went to Conrail in 1976. Scheduled passenger service over the Port Road ended on October 29, 1978, when Amtrak re-routed the National Limited ' s Washington section via Philadelphia . Conrail removed electrification equipment on

5720-403: The main stem of the Susquehanna as impaired ." The Susquehanna River has attracted boaters who watch or fish for its migratory species. Many tourists and local residents use the Susquehanna in the summer for recreation purposes such as kayaking, canoeing, and motor-boating. Due to the high volume of smallmouth bass in the river, it is the host of numerous bass fishing tournaments each year and

5808-463: The mountains to the markets downriver. In 1779 during the American Revolutionary War , General James Clinton led an expedition down the Susquehanna from its headwaters. His party had made the upper portion navigable by damming the river's source at Otsego Lake , allowing the lake's level to rise, and then destroying the dam and flooding the river in order for his flotilla to travel for miles downstream. James Fenimore Cooper described this event in

5896-434: The new Camden Street Station . Unwieldy as it was, the arrangement allowed the railroads to temporarily compete with the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad (renamed Pennsylvania Railroad after 1857) on routes going west from Philadelphia. By 1853, the Camden and Amboy Railroad and New Jersey Railroad were also part of this agreement, providing through service from New York City to the West. In 1861, one week after

5984-416: The new Reading -controlled "Bound Brook Route," which had recently broken the PRR's monopoly on travel to New York via New Jersey. At the time, northbound B&O trains left the PW&B at Gray's Ferry Bridge in southwest Philadelphia and traveled over the Junction Railroad to Belmont, where they reached Reading rails and continued north. However, a mile of the Junction Railroad's track through Philadelphia

6072-406: The northeast. It crosses into northern Maryland approximately 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Baltimore and is joined by Octoraro Creek from the northeast and Deer Creek from the northwest. The river enters the northern end of the Chesapeake Bay at Havre de Grace . Concord Point Light was built here in 1827 to accommodate the increasing navigational traffic. "Susquehanna" may come from

6160-421: The noted lawyer, artist and civic activist, John H. B. Latrobe, brother of Chief Engineer Benjamin H. Latrobe, II (grandson of famous architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe ), or Roswell L. Colt . Six days later, Colt became railroad line president, but his term lasted just five weeks; he was soon replaced by Lewis Brantz . In 1836, P&DC opened its first segment of track; saw its allowable expenditures upped by

6248-472: The outlet of Otsego Lake in Cooperstown, New York . From there, the north branch of the river runs west-southwest through rural farmland and dairy country, receiving the Unadilla River at Sidney . It dips south into Pennsylvania briefly to turn sharply 90 degrees west at Susquehanna and again 90 degrees north at Great Bend hooking back into New York . It receives the Chenango in downtown Binghamton . After meandering westwards, it turns south crossing

6336-554: The powerful Five Nations of the Iroquois League based in present-day New York, who wanted to control the fur trade with Europeans. The Susquehannock assimilated with the Iroquois. In the aftermath, the Iroquois resettled some of the semi-tributary Lenape in this area, as it was near the western boundary of the Lenape's former territory, known as Lenapehoking . The Susquehanna River has continued to play an important role throughout

6424-457: The railroad ordered ten 4-4-0 locomotives from the Norris Works. The PB&W also extended its reach into Delaware – on March 15, 1839, it bought the New Castle and Frenchtown Turnpike and Rail Road running from New Castle, Delaware , to Frenchtown, Maryland  – but it took 13 years to connect the line to the rest of the PW&B. The "New Castle and Wilmington Railroad"

6512-523: The river at several locations in Cumberland and York counties. In 1972 the remnants of Hurricane Agnes stalled over the New York-Pennsylvania border, dropping as much as 20 inches (510 mm) of rain on the hilly lands. Much of that precipitation was received into the Susquehanna from its western tributaries, and the valley suffered disastrous flooding. Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania , was among

6600-615: The river meant that while commercial traffic could navigate down the river in the high waters of the spring thaws, nothing could move up. The Susquehanna was improved by navigations throughout the 1820s and 1830s as the Pennsylvania Canal . Together with facilities of the Allegheny Portage Railroad , loaded barges were transferred from the canal and hoisted across the mountain ridge into the Pittsburgh area with access to

6688-476: The river. Sampling began in 1979 before the first start-up of the PPL Susquehanna power plant. Although all species were not continuously monitored for the entire period, an extensive database was compiled. In May 1986, ongoing measurements from several monitoring stations along the river near Three Mile Island, Peach Bottom and Calvert Cliffs detected iodine-131 beta particles attributable to fallout from

6776-617: The southeast and passes Karthaus (at Mosquito Creek), Keating (at Sinnemahoning Creek), Renovo and Lock Haven , where it receives Bald Eagle Creek . At Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania, Pine Creek, the largest tributary of the West Branch Susquehanna River, is received. Pine Creek has the largest watershed of all the West Branch’s tributaries. It passes Williamsport , where both Lycoming Creek and Loyalsock Creek empty into it, then turns south, passing Lewisburg , before joining

6864-560: The southwest corner of President and Fleet Streets, east of the Jones Falls , the eventual future site of the President Street Station . The line ran east along Fleet Street, turned southeast onto Boston Street and ran along the waterfront past Canton before turning northeast and leaving the city limits, heading east, then northeast towards the Susquehanna. In Philadelphia , the line ended at Broad Street and Prime Avenue, which

6952-490: The western bank of the Susquehanna River . On March 12, the Delaware and Maryland Rail Road Company (D&M) was chartered for $ 3,000,000 to build from Port Deposit or any other point on the Susquehanna's eastern river bank north to the Delaware line. In 1835, the W&;S hired architect/surveyor William Strickland to make a preliminary survey to the southwest between Wilmington and North East, Maryland . That same year,

7040-677: Was bridged at last by the PW&;B Bridge , a 3,269-foot (996 m) wooden truss , finally creating a continuous rail connection between Philadelphia and Baltimore. To avoid swampy areas and serve more populated ones, the PW&B built the Darby Improvement, which diverged from its existing main line just south of the Grays Ferry Bridge , passed through Darby , and rejoined it at Eddystone , just upriver from Chester . The new inland track opened on November 18, 1872. The PW&B dispensed with

7128-649: Was chartered to do so, and opened in 1852. The line also provided a connection with the Delaware Railroad , which the PW&B took over and began to operate on January 1, 1857. In 1859, the NC&;F was abandoned west of Porter , the junction with the Delaware Railroad. By 1866, these moves and others allowed the PW&B to dominate the Delmarva Peninsula rail market. In November 1866, the Susquehanna River

7216-410: Was continuous track from Baltimore to Wilmington, broken only by the wide Susquehanna River , which trains crossed by steam-powered ferryboats at Havre de Grace to Perryville . That year, the railroad ordered seven 4-2-0 steam locomotives from Norris Locomotive Works ; it ordered two more in or about 1840. On January 15, 1838, the PW&B opened service from Wilmington to Gray's Ferry , then

7304-478: Was designated as one of the American Heritage Rivers in 1997. The designation provides for technical assistance from federal agencies to state and local governments working in the Susquehanna watershed. Another environmental concern is radioactivity released during the 1979 Three Mile Island accident . However, extensive radionuclide studies over a 25-year period from 1979 through 2003, confirm that

7392-423: Was eventually bridged under pressure of the heavy traffic needs in 1864–5, the later days of the Civil War . After a disastrous storm damaged the new spans, reconstruction began anew and was completed by 1866. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) began using the tracks that same year to offer service northeast of Baltimore to Philadelphia. In Baltimore , the PW&B's terminus and business office sat at

7480-499: Was formally leased to the PW&B on November 1, 1891. The Elkton and Middletown Railroad , opened in 1895, was planned as a cutoff between the main line at Elkton, Maryland , and the Delaware Railroad at Middletown, Delaware . However, only a short piece of track, serving industries in Elkton, was ever constructed. It was consolidated into the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad on September 15, 1916. An 1895 historian of

7568-417: Was greatly enlarged in 1838 by the merger of four state-chartered railroads in three Mid-Atlantic states to create a single line between Philadelphia and Baltimore . In 1881, the PW&B was purchased by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), which was at the time the nation's largest railroad. In 1902, the PRR merged it into its Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad . The right-of-way laid down by

7656-498: Was known as the "Sullivan-Clinton Campaign" or the " Sullivan Expedition ". They swept through western New York, dominated by the Seneca people , destroying more than 40 Seneca villages, as well as the stores of crops the people had set aside for winter. Many of the Iroquois left New York and went to Canada as refugees; casualties from exposure and starvation were high that winter. Following

7744-493: Was owned and used by the PRR, which showed great ingenuity in arranging delays to B&O trains. The irate John W. Garrett (1820–84), the Civil War -era president of Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, decided to counter-attack by quietly buying out the PW&B, which would have cut off the Pennsylvania Railroad from its Baltimore & Potomac subsidiary . However, his agent encountered unexpected difficulties in buying up

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