Pike County

Pike County was created on March 26, 1814 from part of Wayne County and named for General Zebulon Pike. Milford, the county seat, was incorporated as a borough on December 25,1874, and named for Milford Haven of Wales. 

Indians and Early Settlers

The first known inhabitants of what is now Pike County were the Indians. The Leni Lenape tribe, later called the Delaware, was centralized around the Delaware River. The name Leni Lenape means 'the original people' as they claim to have existed from the beginning of time The Minsi was the Lenape nation in what was to become Pike county.

The first recorded visit to any part of the region was made by Captain Arent Schuyler in 1694. He was sent by Governor Benjamin Fletcher of the provenience of New York under the crown of England to ascertain if the emissaries of the French in Canada had sought to enlist the Indians against the English. 

In 1696, governor Fletcher granted authority to a number of citizens of Ulster County to obtain deeds from the Indians in nearby New York. Several descendants of these citizens ultimately became settlers of Pike County.

Probably the first settler in Pike County was Nicholas Depui in 1725. Thomas Quick settled on the site of Milford in 1733 and Andrew Dingman at what would later bear his name, Dingmans Ferry, in 1735. Depui, a man of legendary strength, had good early relations with the Indians as did Quick. However  pressure from more and more settlers moving into the area led to land disputes between the Indians and settlers.

The famous 'Walking Purchase' of 1737, where the Indians agreed to relinquish land included in an area that could be walked in a day and a half from Wrightstown with a line then drawn to the Delaware River

The 'walkers' paced off sixty-one miles, but the Indians felt they were had when the line to the Delaware was not drawn in a straight line to the nearest point, but rather a right angle taking in more than half of the present day Pike County  

The Indians, resenting the loss of their favorite hunting grounds and encouraged by the French, took to the warpath. The French and Indian war between 1754 and 1763 were years of terror for settlers of the area. One of the early casualties was senior Tom Quick who was shot and scalped while on a trip to gather hoop poles near the Delaware River Quick had previously enjoyed good relations with the Indians, and his youngest son, Tom, Jr., had played and hunted with the Indians. However, the murder of his father turned the younger quick into the 'Avenger of the Delaware', killing an unknown number of Indians even after the wars were over. Robert Ripley in his syndicated 'Believe it or Not' gave credence to the story that Quick died of smallpox and the Indians, hating him, dug up his grave and contracted the disease which killed more of them than he had in a lifetime

Pike County, was formed out of Wayne County in 1814, but lost the area of Smithfield when Morn County was formed in 1836. The first county commissioners were Hezekiah Bingham, Cornelius Case, and John Lattimore.

Coal, Canals, and the Delaware Aqueduct.

 As early as Pike County settlers were clearing forests for homesteads and farms, cities to the east were experiencing shortages of wood and fuel. Coal, discovered over the mountains to the northwest in the area of present-day Carbondale, would reveal these shortages only if an economical means of transporting the coal to market could be found. The answer: a combined railroad and canal system. From Carbondale to Honesdale, coal would be transported via a gravity railroad and from Honesdale to New York via a canal. In 1823 the state of New York approved the Delaware and Hudson Canal on a 108-mile waterway between Honesdale, Wayne County, and the Hudson River terminus near present day Kingston, New York. Work on the canal began in 1825 and was completed in 1828. The canal system proved profitable but the section where boats crossed the Delaware River was a perennial trouble spot. The solution in the words of John Roebling: "Build the canal above the water."

The canal company approved plans submitted by Roebling for an innovative suspension design. Compared with conventional wooden bridges of the day, Roebling's plan called for just three piers instead of five that allowed more room for ice flows and timber rafts to pass underneath.

For the next half-century, the aqueduct carried coal boats over the Delaware River without expenses caused by lawsuits and from mud clogged entrances.

The building of New York and Erie Railroad led to the demise of the Delaware and Hudson Canal as engines fed on cheap coal and were able to move freight year round - the canal was forced to close whenever winter froze the water. By 1898, profits dwindled and the canal was abandoned.

The Delaware Aqueduct, or Roebling's Bridge as it is called today, is a National Historic Landmark. The Aqueduct is believed to be the oldest suspension bridge in America. Mr. Roebling is perhaps best known for his design of a much larger national landmark: New York City's Brooklyn Bridge.

Lake Wallenpaupack

In 1924, the Pennsylvania Power and Light Company began damning the Wallenpaupack creek at Wilsonville to harness the waters power to generate electricity. The dam and resultant lake were   completed in 1926 and the Wallenpaupack power plant at the end of a three-and-a-half mile long pipeline, was put into service.

PP&L's decision to dam the creek meant more than sealing off one end of the valley and allowing it to fill with water. First the land was purchased from about 100 owners. Land values at that time were around $20 an acre.  Farms, barns, homes and other buildings were razed or moved.

Trees were cut in the 5,700 acre lake bed and 17 miles of roads, along with telephone and telegraph poles were rerouted beyond the 52-mile shoreline. It was also necessary to relocate a cemetery.

Construction of the dam required the power of 2,700 men and took two years to complete at a cost of $1,026,000.  Today, PP&L owns acreage around the lake to an elevation of 1,200 feet above sea level. Since the lake elevation is 1,190 feet above sea level at capacity, the power company still owns the extra 10 feet right near the shoreline.  The power plant is operated today from a control center in Allentown, 100 miles away and provides extra power during periods of peak demand.

When the lake was completed, four areas of company-owned land at various locations around the lake were set aside for public access and for camping. These are the Ledgedale, Ironwood Point, Wilsonville, and Caffrey recreation areas. Lake Wallenpaupack's value as an ideal recreation spot has been evident since its  construction.  Businesses have sprung up, grown, and prospered as the area around the lake has developed into a major recreation and tourist area of eastern Pennsylvania and nearby New York.