These Susquehanna River islands, today known as the Conejohela Flats, were called “Islands of Promise’’ in the ad, and no doubt some Spy readers thought of the fertile alluvial islands precisely that way.

The Scribbler never would have known about this ad for offshore farmland that “produces good crops every year’’ if he had not encountered the digitized version of the Spy at the Lancaster County Historical Society.

The Scribbler easily located the ad with the aid of the society’s librarian, Mary Virginia Shelley.

The society has almost all Spy issues from 1830 to 1889. The years 1847 to 1870 have been digitized and are available online, and the years 1830-1847 and 1870-1889 will be online by next week.

Digitization provides access to copies of the newspaper by computer, rather than by the fragile old paper itself, or by way of cumbersome microfilm.

More important, it provides the almost instantaneous ability to scan through all those copies and find articles or ads mentioning “Susquehanna’’ or your own family name.

“Microfilm was a big advance in preservation, but this is a great leap,’’ says Shelley. “Not only do you have preservation, but you have key-word searching ability and remote access.’’

The Columbia Spy is the first Lancaster County historic newspaper to be digitized and accessible to the public without charge.

Next Wednesday, from 5 to 7 p.m., the historical society officially will launch online access to six decades of the Spy with a demonstration and refreshments.

Meanwhile, it’s easy to access the copies digitized so far. Just go to the society Web site at www.lancasterhistory.org and follow links to the Spy.

The society collaborated with Penn State University’s Civil War Newspaper Project to digitize the Spy’s Civil War years and used a Library Services and Technology Act grant to digitize the pre- and post- Civil War years.

The work is supported by the Lancaster County Digitization Project — a countywide consortium of cultural institutions that includes the historical society.

The Spy is the first of several newspapers the society hopes to digitize. Next probably will be The New Holland Clarion.

“It would be a nice balance to the Columbia Spy in the western part of the county,’’ says Shelley. “Columbia was an African-American community. The New Holland Clarion has a completely different audience, including Amish and Mennonites.’’

But, for now, the Columbia Spy will suffice.

In addition to Susquehanna lore, those searching for information about Columbia will find multiple stories about the town’s sizable free black population and several contributions by the writer Edgar Allan Poe.

Those who want to see digitization in action on copies of the Columbia Spy next Wednesday should RSVP the historical society by e-mailing Shelley at Ginger.Shelley@millersville... or phoning 392-4633, ext. 102.

A covered bridge that is no more

A Lancaster County covered bridge is pictured in a new exhibit at the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg.

Unfortunately, the bridge is kaput.

Albert B. Worth’s covered bridge spanned the Octorara Creek between Lancaster County’s Colerain Township and Chester County’s Lower Oxford Township until a fire destroyed it in 1950.

The exhibit, “Covered Bridges: Spanning the American Landscape,’’ focuses on remaining bridges while mourning the departed.

Pennsylvania hosts more than 200 covered bridges, according to the exhibit, a traveling display created by the Smithsonian Institution. That’s more than any other state.

Lancaster County has 30 covered bridges — more than any other Pennsylvania county.

The exhibit opened Sunday and continues through July 16.

The Scribbler column appears in the New Era on Tuesdays and Fridays.

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