Susquehanna

River of the northeastern USA, rising in Otsego Bay in central New York State, and flowing southeast 715 km/444 mi through Pennsylvania, past Harrisburg and Columbia, to enter Chesapeake Bay at Havre de Grace. Although mostly shallow and unnavigable, some stretches were formerly used for river traffic, and sections were channelled to form part of an intended canal joining eastern and western Pennsylvania across the Appalachian Mountains. It is used for hydroelectric power.

In 1972 the river caused enormous flood damage to cities along the Susquehanna Valley, including Harrisburg and Wilkes Barre. Three Mile Island, a nuclear power station shut down in 1979 following an accident, is situated on the river south of Harrisburg; the facility was partly reopened in 1985.

The West Branch of the Susquehanna rises in the Allegheny Mountains and joins the main river at Sunbury, Pennsylvania, after a circuitous course of 322 km/201 mi.

The lower Susquehanna was selected as one of the first 20 study units under the US Geological Survey National Water Quality Assessment programme of 1991.

On the strength of its musical name, Samuel Coleridge planned to establish a communal settlement on the river with his fellow poet Robert Southey.