 Lumberjacks harvested the trees and sent them down the creeks to the West Branch Susquehanna River to the Susquehanna Boom and sawmills at Williamsport.Clearcutting allowed silt to choke the streams, and nothing was left except the dried-out tree tops, which became a fire hazard.As a result, large swaths of land burned and were left barren, and much of the central part of the state became known as the "Pennsylvania Desert".