Over the years, there’s been an unbelievable amount of valuable stuff dropped all up and down the Susquehanna. If you’re any kind of occasional reader of my column, chances are you’ve seen me write about something of that nature. Gold, silver, gems, artifacts, missing documents, Amelia Earhart All sorts of stuff has been left behind in this area. Jimmy Hoffa could be someplace around here, for all I know.

Some of the stories are pretty intriguing. There’s one that has fascinated me for a couple of years now, and it’s over in the Susquehanna River, near Williamsport. It’s called the Cannon Hole.

I will readily admit that “Cannon Hole” sounds like a drinking game that some college kids would come up with when it was far from their first drink of the night. But this is actually how it’s referred to in Thomas Lloyd’s “History of Lycoming County,” published in 1929.

It was during the French and Indian War, also known as America’s least favorite war. If you actually knew the French and Indian War was a thing, you’re already ahead of half the people I know.

Down around present-day Sunbury, Fort Augusta was an important strategic point. It was known as the biggest fort in the area, with walls that were about 80 feet to a side – forts were smaller then; what they considered a fort back then, we would call “cabin with fence around it.” People from this area ran to Fort Augusta when they abandoned the local forts during the 1778 Great Runaway.

Because of its strategic position where the branches of the Susquehanna met, Fort Augusta was a highly coveted possession, sort of like the last Frito in the bag. It was built by the American settlers, and the British, French, and Native Americans all had ideas of capturing it. (The Pennsylvania Dutch wisely stayed out of this one.) The French came up with an idea of taking their Native American allies, going down the river, and assessing the situation. As they took along four functional cannons, it must have been one serious “assessment” they were planning.

The party was led by a French officer named M. de St. Ours. Like all French people, he had an unpronounceable name and would sneer at you if you got it wrong. He and his men placed the cannons on rafts, and set off.

They arrived at a point somewhere just south of present-day Williamsport. And then they hiked overland to spy on Fort Augusta.

Lloyd’s book says, “They descended the river to the mouth of Loyalsock Creek where they went into camp until further reconaissances could be made as to the strength of the enemy and the possibility of capturing the fort. St. Ours had a small body of men then proceed by the crest of the Bald Eagle Mountain and that opposite Sunbury to a point from which they could look down upon Fort Augusta. They found that it was so well manned that it would be impossible for them to capture it and they returned to their camp on the Loyalsock. They then started on their return to Canada.”

St. Ours, at that point, encountered a problem. Have you ever been on a family trip or vacation when everything goes right, with no snags? Neither had St. Ours and his men. Their big problem was the cannons.

It goes without saying – cannons are heavy. They’d been fine on the rafts as long as they were going downstream. But when it came time to paddle back up, nobody was too hot on the idea of moving huge, heavy metal cannons physically back up the river. So St. Ours did about the only thing he could – he dumped them.

St. Ours and his men, according to Lloyd, dropped the cannons into the water, letting them sink. This meant that the enemy was denied the use of them, and more importantly, that they were no longer St. Ours’s problem.

They’re still there. Somewhere near Williamsport, where the Loyalsock meets the Susquehanna, there are four ancient cannons, sunk to the bottom of the river.

Lloyd mentions in his book that attempts had been made to locate them, but unsuccessfully. I’d love to find them myself some summer, because it would be a fantastic adventure. Except my metal detector won’t work underwater. Also I’m not a very good swimmer. Anyone want to partner up? Assuming we’re successful, I can pay you in a cannon.

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Lou Bernard is a Lock Haven resident with a keen interest in the history of this area. He is adult services coordinator at Ross Library and may be reached at ross13@rosslibrary.org or 570-748-3321.