Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1867-05-10
9NiGfella
THE sUsQUEHANNA RIVER.

We find the following interesting, descrip-
tive and historical sketch Of the SusquehaD
ma in the Lycoming Standard
If there is a more beautiful spot Of earth
than that where the men of Paxton settled,
we have neve seen 1t. From its source in
Otsago Lake, where the great American
novelist has described it in language that
will never cease to be read along by its
lovely windings, where the Chemung inter
sects the North Branch, whose beauties
have been embalmed by one of our most
graceful poets; by the Valley Of Wyoming,
which lives forever in the imagination of
Campbell. but which Is fairer even than the
semi tropical fancy of which he was enam0T
ed: on by the bold scenery Of the meeting
of Its waters at Northumberland, to its
broad glory, celebrated in the New Pastor
al. and its magnificent union with the Chesa-
peake. every mile Of the Susquehanna Is
beautiful Other rivers have their points
of lOvehness OF OF grandeur, the SuSquehan-
ma has every form of beauty or subllmlty
that belongs to rivers We have seen them
all: Connecticut, Hudson, Delaware, Ohio,
Mississippi and Missouri. There Is nothing
ike the Susauehanna on this continent.
Its peculiar character depends upon It's orl-
Gin In the New York meadows, its passage
I l.
lands and the mountains. Everywhere It's
course Is DETECTED; it begins a wooded lake;
it winds limped brooked by meadows and
over silver pebbles; makes its way through
mountains; it loiters, restlngly, by their
bases; it sweeps IN broad courses by the val
leys. Its vast width, in its mad spring
| freshets, when swollen by the melted SHOWS,
! it rushes from the hills with Irresistible
/ force. sometimes causing frightful inuda
/ tions. leaves, with its falls, island after
/ island In It's channel, of the richest green,
and most surprising beauty; while those
/ passes through the mountains afford points
/ Of scenery far finer than any one would be-
/ lieve them to be from any description if he
had not seen them.
/ The Susauehanna makes the grandest of
these passages, just below the mouth Of the
Juniata It's course there IS several miles
long before it entirely disengages itself from
/ the rapids, called Hunter Falls, which are
the remains Of the rocky barrles which once
resisted its way. Entirely at liberty, 1t
pours its stream, mile wide, along chan
mel some fifty or sixty feet beneath It's bank.
About seven miles below the mountains, at
a uoint where they look blue in the distance,
a shelteriug wall from the northern blasts,
flows in little stream which the Indians
. CdllGu i GASlhuEN 4 tNl4N'tAlAc3 VI t.NANS'A.
This mountain is the northern boundary OF
the great valley, which, underlaid with blue
limestone. covered originally with the rich
est and noblest forest growth and including
within it the garden of all the Atlantic slope
extends from Easton, on the Delaware, by
Reading, Lebanon aud Lancaster, by Har.
risburg. York and Carlisle, by Chambers
burg. Hagerstown and Winchester, until il
loses itself in the North Carolina hills
The point of greatest beauty is the spot
where it Is cloven by the Susquehanna.
A hundred and forty years ago, an enter
prising young man, from Yorkshire, in Eng
land, by descent, probably one Of those
Scandiyavians, who, under the great Canute
he'd possession of the North Of England
and gave its main character to it, made hi
way TO Philadelphia He married here {
lady who came over with n well knowI
! Yorkshire family Of this city lmpeled BY
the same enterprising spirit that brough
him from the old world, and using the in
eyitablc eve that was characteristic of him
he went to the banks Of the Susquehanna
He settled for a brief period at point aboyt
Columbia, where the village of Bainbridg'
now stands. place much frequented by th'
: Cenoy or Gawanese indians. But he wa
not satisfied with this location. Exploring
upwards along the eastern bank of the Sus
quehanna, he advanced until, instead Of tn
CopeTaga bill at his back and on the oppo