Kayakers pass under the Pierce Street Bridge during Riverfest in 2016.
Times Leader File Photo
We would be remiss if we let the annual Riverfest in Wilkes-Barre last weekend pass unremarked. We have quite often happily pointed out that the Susquehanna has been an integral part of history for not only the Diamond City and Wyoming Valley, but for the region.
Luzerne County is where the movie and book title literally applies: “A river runs through it.” A big waterway wends from one side to the other, rending the county in two.
And imagine, for a moment, if the river didn’t exist. The county has 76 municipalities but only four incorporated as cities, and three of those — Pittston, Wilkes-Barre and Nanticoke — sit on its banks. Only Hazleton has no physical connection to the Susquehanna, and it is by far the second-largest of the four.
Even without a river, Hazleton became a dominant player in the region, thanks not only to vast coal mining operations in and around it, but also to the business leaders and innovations it spawned. We won’t get into details other than to mention just one prominent family name: Markle.
That family became a local pioneer in electric power, in electric trolley transportation, in banking, in founding the lost but impressive Hazle Park, and more. The Markle clan — not some W-B family — pioneered an electric rail between Hazleton and Wilkes-Barre. It is very reasonable to suggest that, sans the big river in the Diamond City’s back yard, the “Mountain City” in the south would have become the County Seat.
The Susquehanna is the reason native Americans passed through and settled in Wyoming Valley. It’s the reason colonists came as well. It’s the reason some of the adjacent land proved so fertile that tomatoes grown in Pittston gained renown far beyond county borders. It’s the reason our area became a pivotal gathering point for Sullivan’s March, a key military operation in the Revolutionary War designed to quell relentless tribal raids on colonial outskirts (an operation that ultimately freed up Continental Army regulars to fight the bigger battles, and that came strikingly close to crippling a big part of the British war machine).
The river was a reason Wyoming Valley became so densely populated, a hub of manufacturing, rail, merchants and more. And in becoming a nexus of so much, the river helped our valley and our county become a hotbed of higher education. All those people engaged in so many varied professions needed well-trained employees, prompting the establishment of colleges that thrive today.
And don’t dismiss the Susquehanna’s importance to our bustling communities in higher elevations. The devastation of the 1972 Agnes flood throughout the valley has long been recognized as a spur to shifting demographics in the age of effortless transportation, as those once living in — or routinely lured to — the valley decided that more remote, higher homes seemed a better life choice. Live there, work elsewhere.
There’s much more, including the fact that rivers routinely offer economical transportation, both by floating on them and by building railroads and highways next to them.
Riverfest may be a local celebration by geography, but it is a county-wide celebration thanks to the overwhelming weight of history.
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