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The Susquehanna Log Boom, Williamsport, PA, 1890.
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The enormous Susquehanna Boom extended for miles along the west branch of the Susquehanna River, near Williamsport, Pennsylvania. It was capable of holding close to a million logs at a time.

Credit: Courtesy Pennsylvania State Archives

Completed in 1851, the Williamsport Log Boom, by holding hundreds of thousands of logs until needed by local sawmills, enabled Williamsport to become the "Lumber Capital of the World" in the late 1800s. At its peak, the Boom's six miles of walls could hold close to a million logs in a 450-acre enclosure. The boom remained in place until 1909, when its dismantling ended the water era of sawmilling in Williamsport.

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