Susquehanna Boom

The Susquehanna Boom was originally built under the supervision of James H. Perkins,[1] and operated from 1851 to 1909, when it shut down for lack of timber.

[3] The Susquehanna Boom extended seven miles (11 km) upstream[4] from Duboistown to the village of Linden in Woodward Township where it was interrupted to create a channel across the river for the passage of a ferry.

The men working at the end of the boom would sort the logs according to their corresponding brand and float them into the correct holding pond along the bank of the river.

[6] The first European settlers arrived in what became Lycoming County after the Province of Pennsylvania purchased the land from the Iroquois in the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix.

Small scale sawmills along tributaries of the West Branch Susquehanna River were built prior to the American Revolution, and provided enough lumber to build the houses and barns of Williamsport and the surrounding area.

According to Taber, the idea for a very large boom on the West Branch Susquehanna River originated with John Leighton, who had worked in Maine sawmills and visited the Williamsport area in 1836.

In the 19th century these streams and their tributaries reached far into the Allegheny Plateau and provided easy access to the millions of trees that covered much of Pennsylvania then.

[1] Leighton saw that the stretch of the West Branch near Williamsport was fairly slow moving, broad, deep and calm.

The first was the development of reliable means of transportation, with the completion of the West Susquehanna Branch of the Pennsylvania Canal to Williamsport in 1834 and opening of the first railroad in 1839.

[6] These allowed finished wood products to be taken to markets year-round, instead of just floating logs and rafts down the river during Spring and high water.

The second was the gradual development and acceptance of steam engines to power sawmills, allowing large mills to operate without water-power.

[1] Perkins had been a successful owner of a calico prints factory in Philadelphia prior to selling out and moving to the West Branch Susquehanna River Valley.

Perkins and his business partner, John Leighton, set out with the goal of creating a large scale lumbering and milling operation.

Perkins believed that Williamsport could be a major center in the lumber business, as it was surrounded by a plentiful supply of old-growth forests of hemlock, white pine and various hardwoods.

[2] The stockholders meeting held on November 5, 1849, saw the election of John Leighton to the chair and Elias S. Lowe was chosen as the secretary.

Men like Peter Herdic, James Perkins and Mahlon Fisher had become millionaires while they struggled to feed their families with the wages earned at the dangerous jobs.

[6][10] In addition to the disparity in income the workers were also being forced to work twelve-hour days when the Pennsylvania General Assembly had recently passed a law requiring ten-hour workdays.

[10] Twenty-one days later all of them were pardoned by Pennsylvania Governor John W. Geary as a political favor to Peter Herdic, the owner of the Susquehanna Boom.

First was the periodic floods that swept down the West Branch Valley following the winter snow melt and the spring rains.

These railroads were able to transport the fresh timber more quickly and were less risky, expensive and dangerous than floating the logs down the West Branch Susquehanna River and its tributaries.