Lancaster-York Heritage Region

— Susquehanna River Water Trail —

During the mid-nineteenth century, Columbia was a busting transportation hub. Turnpikes, ferries, bridges, canals, wharves, and railroads made Columbia a major transshipment point in the movement of lumber, coal, grains, pig iron, and people.

Because the Susquehanna is rocky and shallow, most large boats could not navigate the river's treacherous waters below this point. Even rafts were unloaded and broken up here in town, where warehouses stored cargo, and sawmills cut the rough-hewn lumber into planks.

In 1832, a canal was constructed linking Columbia with areas to the north and west along the Susquehanna. Another segment of this vast transportation network was added in 1834 when a railroad line connecting Philadelphia and Columbia was completed. It subsequently became a part of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

In 1840, Baltimore businessmen, not to be outdone by their Philadelphia rivals in the north, constructed a canal along the York County shoreline. The Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal, as it was known connected nearby Wrightsville to the Chesapeake Bay in the south.

The river transported people as well as goods. With large African-American and Quaker populations, Columbia was a way station on the Underground Railroad. Here, runaway slaves from the Chesapeake Bay region found safe haven on their



way to freedom.

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Columbia and Its Railroads
The Old Columbia Public Grounds Co.
Columbia
Railroads During the Civil War
Columbia
Lincoln Highway
Susquehannock Apartments
First National Bank
"The Returned Soldier", a War Memorial
Prelude to Gettysburg / A Desperate Plan

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