WW
W W
Wayne
County
, In August of 1749, Indians of
the tribes of the Onondaga, Mohawk, Cayuga,
Oneida
, Tuscorara, Seneca,
Shawnee
,
Delaware
and Mohican
conveyed to the Proprietary Government for 500 pounds
Sterling
(approximately $2,500) a strip of land containing
what is now ten eastern
Pennsylvania
counties,
including
Wayne
.
Wayne
County
,
itself, was created on March 21, 1798, from part of
Northampton
County
and originally included
Pike
County
. The County was
named for Anthony Wayne, a Major-General in the Revolutionary War.
The area of
the original county contained 1,492 square miles with a population of 2,562
in the year 1800.
Courts for
Wayne
County
were first established at
Milford
,
the modern-day seat of
Pike
County
.
However, this choice for the seat of
government apparently agitated the sparse population since the courts were moved to Wilsonville, a small village along the Wallenpaupack Creek, the following year in 1799. This area is now the location of the PP&L
dam on
Lake
Wallenpaupack
.
Wilsonville was to be the center of county government until suitable land could be located near the Dyberry Forks of the
Lackawaxen
River
-the area of present-day Honesdale. Wilsonville proved unsatisfactory so the courts
were again moved in 1802 back to
Milford
.
Meanwhile trustees accepted from Henry Drinker, a large land owner
from
Philadelphia
,
a tract of 999 acres within four miles of the Dyberry Forks to be laid out in town and outlots and conveyed
to the Wayne County Commissioners lots for the
purpose of erecting a courthouse, jail and offices for safe record-keeping. This area today is the Borough of Bethany,
which became the seat of
Wayne
County
in 1805.
Discontent among the people living along the Delaware River below
Milford
raged because of the long travel
distance to
Bethany
.
Pressure from the lower part of the county forced the Legislature in 1814 to set off this section as a new county to be called
Pike, with the seat of government at
Milford
. The
County
Commissioners
fixed Honesdale as the new county seat
on May 4, 1841 and the government of
Wayne
County
remains there today.
Coal, Rails, and Canals
Even
as early as Wayne 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 west of
Wayne
County
,
would relieve these shortages only if an economical means of transporting the
coal to market could be found. The answer: a combined railroad and canal
system. Work on the canal began in 1825 and was completed in 1828.
In
1823, with the Erie Canal nearing completion, the State of
New
York
approved the
Delaware
and
Hudson
Canal
on a 108 mile waterway between Honesdale and the Hudson River terminus near
present-day
Kingston
,
New York
.
In
the meantime, a railroad was constructed to haul the coal from the
Carbondale
area and
Lackawanna
Valley
over the mountains, designed to descend by gravity over a series of inclined
planes to Honesdale. Piles of coal were not uncommon in Honesdale as the coal
was hauled there by the
Delaware
and
Hudson
's Gravity Railroad
then transferred to the company's canal boats.
Wayne
County
is known foremost as the birthplace
of the American railroad. The first locomotive arriving in Honesdale was the Stourbridge Lion, manufactured in
Stourbridge
,
England
, with a painted lion on the
front of the boiler. Delivered by canal, it made a short, yet historic trip
between Honesdale and Seelyville, engineered by
Horatio Allen. The heavy load of the locomotive proved too much for the wooden
rails on which it traveled and eventually the 'Lion' was dismantled and used as
a stationary engine.
The
Delaware
and
Hudson Gravity Railroad and Canal flourished until the end of the 19th Century,
supplying
coal to the eastern cities for nearly seventy years.
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 re-routed 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
.
| 
