A journey down the West Branch Susquehanna River follows the history of lumbering in Pennsylvania, from the first small-scale sawmills of the 1780s, which operated seasonally for local needs and also sent wood downstream on lumber rafts, to the 1830s, when sawmills along the West Branch were supplied by logs or "sticks" floated downriver in rafts or scattered in drives and captured by booms across the river, while the straightest timber became masts or "spars" for the Chesapeake Bay shipbuilding industry. From 1864 to 1941, logging railroads became the principal means of hauling timber, especially hemlock used for leather tanning and lumber, and their efficiency helped bring Pennsylvania's forests close to being cleared by the 1930s. Decades of forest clearing eroded soil and increased sediment in the West Branch and downstream to the Chesapeake Bay, prompting efforts to control wildfires, erosion, and the depletion of forest resources, with the PA Bureau of Forestry, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Civilian Conservation Corps playing the largest roles in restoring and protecting the state's forests. After World War II, new hardwood forests replaced the white pine and hemlock forests, and sustainable forestry practices emerged to keep land in forest use, foster cleaner rivers and more wildlife, and support Pennsylvania as the nation's leading producer of hardwoods while more than half the state remains forested. Along the river, the legacy of lumbering endures in historic rafting points used by river pilots, abandoned railroads, and miles of renewable forest.