Editing Pike County, Pennsylvania (section)

==History==
[[File:Matamoras PA Bridge.JPG|thumb|Mid-Delaware Bridge]]
[[File:Roebling's Delaware Aqueduct Side View 3000px.jpg|thumb|[[Roebling's Delaware Aqueduct]]]]
Pike County was named for General [[Zebulon Pike]]. It was organized on March 26, 1814, from part of [[Wayne County, Pennsylvania]]. Some English settlement in the area had started during the colonial years.

The longtime original inhabitants were the [[Lenape]] [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]], known by the English colonists as the Delaware Indians because their territory was along the [[Delaware River]] (as named by the colonists), as well as the coastal mid-Atlantic area. In 1694, Governor [[Benjamin Fletcher]] of the [[colony of New York]] sent Captain [[Arent Schuyler]] to investigate claims that the [[France|French]] were recruiting Indian allies for use against the English. In 1696, governor Fletcher authorized purchases of Indian land near the New York border by a number of citizens of [[Ulster County, New York|Ulster County]]; their descendants became the first European settlers of what became Pike County.

Nicholas Depui was the first to settle in the area, in 1725. Thomas Quick [Sr] moved to the area that would become Milford in 1733. Andrew Dingman settled on the Delaware River at the future site of [[Dingmans Ferry, Pennsylvania|Dingmans Ferry]] in 1735. The early settlers got along well with the Lenape and traded with them. As settlement increased and their land practices encroached on Lenape uses, land disputes arose. The colonists' infamous [[Walking Purchase]] of 1737 swindled the Lenape out of more than half of present-day Pike County. As the Lenape realized what had happened, violent conflicts arose between them and the colonists.One notarious Indian Killer was [https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/66642750/thomas-quick Tom Quick Jr (1734-1795/6)] of [[Milford, Pennsylvania]]; after his father Tom Quick Sr was killed by Indians,Tom Quick Jr is  purported to have murdered numerous Lenape, an indigenous people of the area-<ref>Quinlan, James E. [http://jrbooksonline.com/HTML-docs/tom_quick_1851.htm "Tom Quick The Indian Slayer and the pioneers of Minisink and Wawarsink"] Monticello, N.Y.: De Voe & Quinlan, Publishers (1851)</ref>

Early in the nineteenth century, [[coal]] was discovered nearby in the area that would become [[Carbondale, Pennsylvania|Carbondale]]. This became especially significant as the British restricted export of British coal to the United States after the [[War of 1812]], creating a fuel shortage in rapidly expanding [[New York City]]. To get the coal to New York, developers proposed a [[gravity railroad]] from Carbondale to [[Honesdale, Pennsylvania|Honesdale]], along with a [[canal]] from Honesdale to the [[Hudson River]] at [[Kingston, New York|Kingston]].

The state of New York approved the canal proposal in 1823. Work on the {{convert|108|mi|km|adj=on}} [[Delaware and Hudson Canal]] began in 1825 and was completed in 1828. The canal system, which terminated at the [[Hudson River]] near present-day Kingston, proved profitable. But the barges had to cross the Delaware via a rope ferry across a "slackwater dam," which created bottlenecks in the canal traffic and added greatly to the cost of transportation.

[[John Roebling]] proposed continuing the canal over the river as part of an [[aqueduct (bridge)|aqueduct]]. Built in 1848, his innovative design required only three piers, where five would ordinarily have been required; this allowed [[Drift ice|ice floes]] and [[timber raft]]s to pass under with less damage to the bridge. Three other suspension aqueducts were subsequently built for the canal. [[Roebling's Delaware Aqueduct]] is still standing, possibly the oldest suspension bridge in America; it has been named a [[National Historic Landmark]].

For fifty-one years, coal flowed to New York City via the canal. But the development of [[railroads]], which were faster, cheaper, and operated even when the canals were frozen, brought the end of the canal era. The [[New York and Erie Railroad]] supplanted the canal and in 1898 the water route was abandoned.

From 1904 to 1926, [[Grey Towers National Historic Site|Grey Towers]] in the borough of [[Milford, Pennsylvania]] was the site of summer field study sessions for the Master's program of the [[Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies|Yale School of Forestry]], together with the [[Forester's Hall]], a commercial building that was adapted and expanded for this purpose.<ref name="arch">{{cite web| url = https://www.dot7.state.pa.us/ce/SelectWelcome.asp| title = National Historic Landmarks & National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania| publisher = CRGIS: Cultural Resources Geographic Information System| format = Searchable database| access-date = October 9, 2013| archive-date = July 21, 2007| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070721014609/https://www.dot7.state.pa.us/ce/SelectWelcome.asp| url-status = dead}} ''Note:'' This includes {{cite web| url = https://www.dot7.state.pa.us/ce_imagery/phmc_scans/H050979_01H.pdf| title = National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Forester's Hall| access-date = May 30, 2012| author1 = Betz Steiner| author2 = Leon Husson| author3 = Carson O. Helfrich| name-list-style = amp| date = December 1982| archive-date = November 9, 2013| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131109075805/https://www.dot7.state.pa.us/ce_imagery/phmc_scans/H050979_01H.pdf| url-status = dead}}</ref>

In 1926, [[PPL Corporation]] built a hydroelectric plant on Wallenpaupack creek at the former village of Wilsonville. The town was evacuated and now lies under [[Lake Wallenpaupack]], created by a dam. A crew of 2,700 men worked for two years to complete the dam for the project at a cost of $1,026,000. This required the acquisition of nearly a hundred properties, and a number of farms, barns, and homes were razed or moved. In addition, {{convert|17|mi|km}} of roads and telephone lines were relocated, and a [[cemetery]] was moved to make way for the project.

The largely rural area of the county made it attractive as a country destination. Several camps were developed in the area of [[Milford, Pennsylvania]], the county seat. It has several hundred late 19th and early 20th-century buildings that contribute to a [[National Register of Historic Places property types#Historic districts|National Historic District]] listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]]. [[Yale]] ran summer field studies for its Master's program in forestry there from 1904 to 1926.

Since the late 20th century, Pike County has been the fastest-growing county in Pennsylvania; between 1990 and 2000, its population increased by 65.2%, and it grew an additional 16.9% between 2000 and 2004. The area has relatively low state and county taxes, and affordable housing. [[Interstate 80 in Pennsylvania|Interstate 80]] and [[Interstate 84 in Pennsylvania|Interstate 84]] provide rapid commutes to New York City's northern suburbs.