Getting there: Up the river with Samuel Maclay

Several years ago, when I was poking around the Pennsylvania State Library for books about the history of the West Branch, I came across a microfiche of the "Journal of Samuel Maclay while surveying the West Branch of the Susquehanna, the Sinnemahoning and the Allegheny Rivers" Written during Samuel Maclay's 1790 expedition, it was not published until 1887. We are lucky to have a new publication courtesy of the folks at Wenneawoods Publishing in Lewisburg. The book-actually more of a booklet- has been digitized and is available for free on Google books but if you are interested in the publication, it is very inexpensive and supports a publishing company that is keeping the very early history of Pennsylvania alive.

Initially, I was interested in comparing descriptions of Maclay's trip in 1790 with ours, but as I started reading, it became apparent that comparisons would be difficult since Maclay's expedition left the West Branch at the mouth of the Sinnemahoning creek. We never canoed downstream that far so I couldn't draw any comparisons. But as I read, Mr. Maclay's exploits captured my imagination in other ways.

In 1790, when Samuel Maclay was 49 years old, he and two others, Timothy Matlock of Haddonfield, NJ and York resident John Adlum were commissioned by the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania to examine the headwaters of the Susquehanna and explore the streams of the newly purchased Northwest Section of the state. They were charged with determining whether there was a water route from the Susquehanna River basin into the Allegheny River. The Pennsylvania General Assembly had declared the Susquehanna a "Public Highway" in 1771 and at that time, using rivers was still a most effective means of travel. When our forbearers began constructing roads, they followed the rivers and when we travel up to Shawville, we follow the rivers for a great deal of the route.

A 1795 Map with the approximate route of the 1790 Maclay expedition
Click on the map to view a larger copy

Mr Maclay's trip was quite a bit more arduous than ours; at least two thirds of the trip required poleing the vessels upstream through the high waters of April and May. Then there was the matter of portaging their boats 14 miles from the Sinnemahoning to Portage creek. Imagine hefting those things through the woods: they were a far cry from the lightweight Kevlar and carbon fiber canoes of today. In fact, none of the equipment used on this expedition was as lightweight, waterproof or warm as what we carry. Though we "rough it" our experience is nothing in comparison.


The exploits chronicled in Maclay's journal, and the purpose of surveying water routes to the Ohio and to the Great Lakes are quite compelling. As you look at the 1795 map and Maclay's route, it is apparent that the expedition uncovered routes into New York and west, to Pittsburgh. The survey records tentative routes from Philadelphia and anticipates much of what would become the network of Pennsylvania canals in the 1800's thus giving rise to an entire new vein of investigation of our state's history.