The first recorded inhabitants of the Susquehanna River valley was the Iroquoian speaking Susquehannocks . Their name meant " people of the muddy river " in Algonquian . Decimated by diseases and warfare , they had died out , moved away , or been assimilated into other tribes by the early 18th century . The lands of the West Branch Susquehanna River Valley was then chiefly occupied by the Munsee phratry of the Lenape ( or Delaware ) , and was under the nominal control of the Five ( later Six ) Nations of the Iroquois .