Susquehanna Boom - Beginnings

Beginnings

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. Even more timber was made into rafts and floated all the way down the Susquehanna River, into Chesapeake Bay and on to Baltimore, where the massive and straight timbers were turned into masts for the famous Baltimore Clippers and other sailing vessels of the 18th century.

In the 1830s, lumber booms were not used along the Susquehanna and West Branch Susquehanna rivers, but they were used extensively in the Maine lumber industry. 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. The West Branch Susquehanna River drainage basin at Williamsport is 5,682 square miles (14,716 km2), and is drained by many fairly large tributaries such as Sinnemahoning Creek and its branches, Kettle Creek, Pine Creek, and Lycoming Creek. 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. Leighton saw that the stretch of the West Branch near Williamsport was fairly slow moving, broad, deep and calm. This stretch of river, known as the "Long Reach", proved to be the ideal setting for the construction of the Susquehanna Boom. However, the properties of the river that made it ideal for a very large boom also made it a poor location for operating water-powered sawmills. Only one such sawmill, the "Big Water Mill", operated in Williamsport prior to the establishment of the boom, and it went bankrupt at least twice.

The next several years saw two developments that made the Susquehanna boom and the sawmills associated with it feasible. 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. 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.

The arrival of James H. Perkins, a native of New Hampshire, in December 1845 was the beginning of the economic boom that would make Williamsport into a booming lumber city. 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.

The Susquehanna Boom Company was incorporated on March 26, 1846. There were initially 100 shares of stock issued at $100 per share. The first shareholders were John Dubois (founder of Duboistown and later Dubois, Pennsylvania) and his brother Matthias DuBois, each with 25 shares, Perkins had 24 shares, Isaac Smith had 20 shares, Elias S. Lowe (a partner of the DuBois brothers) had five shares, and Leighton had one share, perhaps as payment for services. John DuBois was elected President of the Boom and served in that capacity until 1857.

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. Construction of the boom began in 1849 with the erection of two temporary booms. Periodic flooding along the West Branch slowed construction of the boom until it was ultimately completed in 1851. When filled to capacity the 450 acres (1.8 km2) of enclosed river could hold nearly one million logs.