The Susquehanna's First Ark

Did you know? Lytle's 1876 county history says the first ark to appear in the Susquehanna came out of the Juniata. It had been taken there by Cryder, an enterprising German, and was laden with flour manufactured at his mill above Huntingdon.

Lytle says the mouth of the Swatara, at Middletown, was then considered the end of navigation on the Susquehanna. Cryder passed the falls and cataracts that had deterred others, descended safely to Baltimore and reaped a rich reward.

The year is not settled. Lytle puts the voyage in 1796. Africa's 1883 history quotes an older report, printed in the American Museum for January to July 1792, that a Baltimore paper mentioned Mr. Kryder arriving there from Standing Stone, on the Juniata, with one hundred and four barrels of flour after a voyage of five days. The merchants presented him with one hundred and four dollars as a premium for the risk he ran, with his two sons, in attempting the navigation of the Susquehanna, which had been thought impracticable for boats of burden.

Africa identifies the miller as Michael Cryder, who moved from near Lancaster to Huntingdon in 1771 and the next year obtained a warrant for land about two miles above the town, including the water power of the Juniata. His son Israel, Africa says, helped him run the first ark from the Juniata Valley to Baltimore and managed one of the oars. Africa says the mill site had been in Porter Township until a few years before it wrote, when readjusted bounds threw it within Walker Township.

Lytle says word of the success spread through the region, and numerous arks were built the following year and reached tidewater with their cargoes. From the Juniata and its branches they floated down whenever the streams allowed, carrying principally flour, grain and whisky, and the trade continued until after the Pennsylvania canal was made.

Checked 2026-10-30 · County histories and primary sources, read in full

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