Upstream, keelboats and Durham boats could transport cargo on these streams, but the Susquehanna's last 50 miles (80 km) or so to the Chesapeake Bay were fast, shallow, and rocky.

Until completion of the Conewago Canal, most boats stopped at Middletown, unloading cargoes of lumber, wheat, and iron for shipment to Philadelphia over 100 miles (161 km) of poor road.

In 1791, the Pennsylvania legislature authorized funds to improve navigation on the Susquehanna River above Columbia to enhance trade to and from Philadelphia.

[3] Pennsylvania's plans for east–west trade also included an improved highway, the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike, 64 miles (103 km) of stone and gravel built by a private company in 1794.

[4] After 1797, boats could use the Conewago Canal to bypass the rough water and continue to Columbia, where cargoes were unloaded for shipment by wagon.