The Conestoga River (), also referred to as Conestoga Creek (), is a tributary of the Susquehanna River flowing through the center of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States.
Geography
Its headwaters rise mostly in southern Berks County and northeastern Lancaster County, in an area known as "Bortz's Swamp" or "Penngall Field" (a small area rises in Chester County). The East Branch and West Branch of the Conestoga join to form the main river just north of Morgantown, and the stream flows from northeast to southwest for more than , passing close to the center of Lancaster and ending at Safe Harbor along the Susquehanna River, approximately north of the Pennsylvania-Maryland state line.
The principal tributaries of the Conestoga River are Cocalico Creek, Mill Creek, and Little Conestoga Creek; they drain into the Conestoga River watershed in the order listed. The Conestoga River and its principal tributaries comprise approximately 114 stream miles, and they drain a watershed area of approximately if the main stream is alone considered, rising to when the Cocalico, Mill, and Little Conestoga Creek watersheds are also included.
History
thumb|right|Conestoga River in Lancaster
The stream was named after the Iroquoian-speaking Susquehannock people. In the eighteenth century, British colonists in Pennsylvania called them the Conestoga, referring to the river, and to the village the Susquehannock established about 1690. The name may be based on the Mohawk word tekanastoge, meaning "place of the upright pole." Conestoga may also be the anglicized form of Gandastogue which is possibly the closest to what the Susquehannock called themselves.
For several decades Conestoga Town was important fur trading center, and a meeting place for negotiations between Pennsylvania and various Indigenous groups. Its importance, however, waned as the focus of the fur trade moved westwards. The population declined due to out-migration, and the remaining Conestoga became increasing impoverished and dependent on the Pennsylvania government, who occasionally provided clothing and provisions.
Robert Fulton’s early experiments to perfect the first commercial steamboat occurred on the Conestoga River. In the 19th century the name of the river gained wider recognition with the spread of the Conestoga wagon, first built in and named after this valley. The wagon assisted the transportation of freight throughout the East, and later was adapted to help transport goods to the western frontier of the United States. So many cigars were made in the watershed in the late 19th century that a local cigar named the Conestoga became known as a "stogie" throughout the United States.