https://www.youcaring.com/millersburg-f ... ion-516092

The Millersburg Ferry in Pennsylvania has been run by a non-profit 501(c)3 since 1990. It's still an actual stern paddle-wheeler (last ferry of its kind in America, allegedly) pushing flat barges across the Susquehanna, which needs to be slightly dammed with bulldozers every few years to keep the water level deep enough to float the boats.

They're looking for a modest amount of donations to underwrite a dam repair.

More info: www.millersburgferry.org

Railroad content: You have to cross NS's ex-PRR main to get to it on the east side.

Similarly, Scottsville VA is home to the Hatton Ferry, which bills itself as the last "Poled Ferry" in the US (my experience there is that it is winched across the James River):
http://thehattonferry.org/

Railroad-related: the former C&O James River line runs through Scottsville. Also, nearby Schuyler VA ("Walton Mountain", childhood home of "The Waltons" Earl Hamner Jr.) had the Nelson and Albemarle Railway, a very interesting shortline, now abandoned, but vestiges of it remain.

I'm curious, how far north is the Susquehanna considered navigable? Is there any commercial boat traffic at all above Harrisburg?

This question is railroad-related (at least in my mind) in the context of the Ithaca & Owego RR, the second railroad chartered in the state of New York (1828), which was intended to connect Ithaca, NY with the Susquehanna at Owego, NY; since Ithaca was already linked to the Erie Canal via locks at the north end of Cayuga Lake, the railroad was also supposed to provide a connection between the Susquehanna and the Great Lakes. I've never quite understood how this was supposed to work, given how shallow the Susquehanna is in Owego (deep enough to float a canoe, certainly, but not much more), but somehow it made sense to investors in the 1820s. The Ithaca & Owego failed in 1841 but was succeeded in 1843 by the Cayuga & Susquehanna RR, which eventually became the Ithaca branch of the DL&W.

-Philip Marshall

Philip, the Susquehanna has several dams below Harrisburg, so the concept of commercial boat traffic boils down to ferries around the Harrisburg area out to some of the islands in the river. True navigable waters end at or below the Conowingo (sp?) Dam.

The river is shallow enough to wade across from Liverpool to Millersburg, although, to get from Liverpool to Millersburg you are actually going downstream as well. The ferry mentioned in ADM's message has a west-shore landing at Crow's Landing, within the campground.

As an aside, a long-distant uncle owned the ferry in the 1820s or so, and the west shore property was part of his farm.

Dave Crow

I'm curious, how far north is the Susquehanna considered navigable? Is there any commercial boat traffic at all above Harrisburg?

-Philip Marshall


My understanding that "navigable" as far as the Coast Guard is concerned is far north of the dams on the south end. There is a commercial tour boat operation just upstream from Williamsport that requires US Coast Guard certification.

Brian

There are numerous places, ways, etc. for a "commercial" craft such as the Millersburg Ferry to float across or around. Nearly all of these vessels have a draft of six feet or less (seriously).

The Susquehanna has not been used for commercial traffic up and down the river ever, aside from log rafts to send timber down the river. The lowest couple miles of the mouth below Conowingo Dam sees some limited quarry gravel barge traffic from quarries near Havre de Grace.

The design of the Millersburg Ferry actually owes much to the design of coal dredges that used to dredge anthracite silt from hollows in the river between Harrisburg and Wilkes-Barre. The last one of those was still operating in Port Trevorton until late last century.

And, yes, it is at least theoretically possible to wade across the Susquehanna in many places like Millersburg and Port Trevorton without getting your armpits wet, although it's a maze-like route stepping from rock seam to rock seam--slip and you're in a hole over your head. Also, rainfall will change the depth considerably day to day. But there are also numerous shallow dams across the river at various points like power plants and the Millersburg Ferry--as some rafters and inner-tubers occasionally tragically discover the hard way every few years.

TAN: It was possible to get a boat up the Susquehanna River from Havre de Grace on Chesapeake Bay via at least 2 inland routes to Ithica, using various canals and slack water navigation systems along the river and beyond. From Binghamton, N.Y. on the North Branch of the River, the Chenango canal connected with the Erie Canal at Utica. Or, from near Athens, Pa. on the same branch, take the Junction Canal to Elmira, the Chemung Canal to Watkins Glen, get towed up Seneca Lake to Geneva, and use the Cayuga & Seneca Canal to connect to the North end of Cayuga Lake. As mentioned in the previous post, there were connections South from the Erie Canal via Cayuga Lake to Ithica.
Someone actually did build a steamboat somewhere way up the Susquehanna River, and ran it South once! They thought that it was better to build canals than attempt a return trip.

The Susquehanna River is navigable to a spot just above the town of Port Deposit, MD. I grew up near Conowingo and remember dip net fishing in the spring for shad in the Susquehanna as a boy right at the spot where the navigation ended. At one point, there was a canal that boats could take from Port Deposit, MD to Columbia, PA. My great-great grandfather was a lock tender on that canal. When the rail line was built along the Susquehanna, the canal was rendered obsolete. The building of Conowingo Dam in 1928 flooded about 14 miles of the old canal. There is a lock that was rebuilt for visitors near Holtwood, PA.

Hi,

My Aunt and Uncle (who worked for the PRR) told the story about going fishing in their rowboat in the Susquehanna River.

They lived in Summerdale and he was a baggage handler in Harrisburg Pennsylvania Station until Amtrak came. He transfered to become a jitney driver collecting crews around Enola Yards.

Anyway, they were out in the river and the fish were not biting so they decided to call it quits. They found the river had dropped and so they got out of the boat and carried the rowboat back to shore. This illistrated the depth of the river. It is a mile wide and a few feet deep - definitely not commercially navigable in some cases.

I've ridden the Millersburg ferry a few times. Quite leasurely and fun.

Doug vV

Philip Marshall -

"the Ithaca & Owego RR, the second railroad chartered in the state of New York (1828), which was intended to connect Ithaca, NY with the Susquehanna at Owego, NY; since Ithaca was already linked to the Erie Canal via locks at the north end of Cayuga Lake, the railroad was also supposed to provide a connection between the Susquehanna and the Great Lakes. I've never quite understood how this was supposed to work, given how shallow the Susquehanna is in Owego"

I don't know if Ithaca & Owego and Cayuga & Susq. ran to the river at Owego for freight or just into town to meet wagons. The freight traffic on the I&O and C&S was relatively light and still hauled by horse 1847-1849, so it probably traveled by wagon until the Erie came to Owego in 1849. I don't know if there ever was any barge traffic down the river from Owego, and Taber mentioned that the barge concerns had promised the river would be dredged but it never was, nor was the Extension canal or Penns. canal system ever completed - rendered moot by the Erie RR. I would guess that some traffic might have been loaded on barges or rafts and held for heavy rains that would provide enough water to float them, but wagon was more likely. When the Erie reached Owego, C&S traffic was hauled over the Erie to Binghamton and the Liggett's Gap RR until the DL&W was built west from BInghamton. The old C&S was absorbed by the DL&W long before its mainline was built and the Susquehanna River was bridged by the Cayuga DIvision (C&S) when the mainline came through (1881).

Unless the freight was lumber to build timber rafts, it was probably not actually transshipped to the Susquehanna River, but rather to boats on the Susquehanna's North Branch Canal. It was really a portage railroad, to avoid the much longer all water route via the North end of Cayuga Lake to Ithica.
Even after the New York City railroads reached Owego, there would still be some transshipment for Baltimore and some Philadelphia traffic until better all rail routes were perfected.
There was a short transition period when canals, often bought out by railroads, were used for coal and excess freight that the railroads couldn't or didn't want to carry.

Hi,

Remember that the Pennsylvania owned State canal and portage Railroad was conceived and built after canals were on the were giving wat to the railroads as the better transportation system.

The State Canal had specially designed canal boats that were sectional so that the portage railroads over the mountains could haul one section over the mountain at a time and then the sections were reassembled at the other end.

The original State railroad from Philly to the river was state owned and operated under a system much like the highway and road system of today. Anyone with a car and motive power (horse or locomotive) could use the State Railroad as long as the schedule was regular. The The State railroad then dispatched the differently owned trains over the line. Since I am doing this from memory, I may not have the details completely correct, but as with today's road system, to drive we have to obey traffic laws and signals.

A very novel and apparently before its time idea.

Doug vV

I grew up in York and spent my childhood riding up and down rte 15, visiting grandparents and relatives in Williamsport (BOTH grandfathers were NYC men in Newberry Yard). We stopped to ride the ferry a couple of times, it was very cool, and I remember seeing the coal dredges about, probably in the early 1970's.

A stop for a little train watching at Enola was always requested, and we always had to stop and play on the Sherman tank at the VFW in Selingsgrove? Probably very frustrating to Mom & Dad who had places to go and things to do, but lots of interesting things to stop at and marvel for us kids. (Including Skyline Drive up over "The Pike" south of Williamsport and of course Reptileland........ in later years there was the White Deer train station museum and the Delta Place railroad excursion terminal south of Lewisburg.....I think most of that I@ Delta Place gone now....though has been several years since I've ben up rte 15.

Okay, let's cut to the chase.

Here's NS company photographer Casey Thomason (and, of course, me as well) a couple hundred feet from shore during NKP 765's August 2012 visit to Harrisburg, Pa. on employee excursions from Enola Yard to Harrisburg's station wye and back. He and I are "just chilling," not in a hurry to get back to shore after another passing of 765 on Rockville Bridge.

So the term "wade across" has to be used with a qualifier. And care. There are all sorts of hollows in the bedrock bottom that can suddenly drop you in over your head.

Hi,

Yes. The Island Park affair has a river boat tour boat.

As my Aunt and Uncle said, it was a drought and the water was below their knees.

I've also seen it in the winter when the Rockville Bridge was more or less an ice dam on the river. I've also seen photos from Huricane Agnes. My Grandmother was on the island of Harrisburg! I seem to recal that only the Mulberry (?) Street and the State Street bridges were avilable to get in and out.

I alway thought of Harrisburg/Williamsport/Philly as my ancestral home. My Dad's was born in the Dutch East Indies and the graveyard where his family is buried is now a parking lot for the people in Java.

Doug vV