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Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2003
COLUMBIA, 43.5 miles (320 alt., 287 pop.), a workaday town on Delaware River, has been nourished for more than 200 years by the water
power of Paulins Kill. Early Dutch settlers, led by mining prospectors
who made their way down Delaware valley, first built a mill dam here. A
larger dam now supplies hydroelectric power. The population consists
largely of railroad workers, retired farmers, and silk-mill workers em-
ployed in Portland, Pa., across the river.
Right from Columbia on an oiled road that parallels the river and crosses and
recrosses a branch of the Erie R.R. to the DELAWARE WATER GAP, 3.2 m.
Here the river cuts through the rocky, forested ridge of the Kittatinny Mts., afford-
ing a pass for a railroad and a highway on both shores. Geologists explain that the
channel through the 1,635-foot mountain was carved many-thousands of years ago
during a period of crustal changes, when the rock mass of the mountain was being
forced upward from a plain. As the mountain grew, the river kept pace by sawing
a deeper channel. The commercial value of this scenic point has been exploited on
the Pennsylvania shore where hotels were built many years ago; some of them have
since burned. The New Jersey shore, more precipitous, and less accessible because
of a narrow and rather rough road, has numerous summer cottages and camps in
the woods.
(The route beyond this point is not recommended for motorists who wish to avoid
rough mountain roads.)
Northward from Delaware Water Gap the dirt road climbs the mountain slope,
past clumps of rhododendron and ferns, and then descends to the valley. Purplish-red shale is common here.
The MERCER COUNTY Boy SCOUT CAMP, 12 miles (R), marked by a small stone
highway bridge, consists of a frame house and a three-story building finished in
gray composition hoard, against the mountainside. This structure, now used as a
mess hall and handicraft shop, was part of a copper-mine works.
Right from the stone bridge and up a good path along the stream about 500 feet
to the OLD COPPER MINE (R), one of the "Mine Holes of Pahaquarry" whose
origin has received much attention from historians but has never been completely
explained. The drift is cut into solid siliceous shale, and is almost large enough to
permit a person of average height to walk erect (flashlight required). Old timbers
are found about 50 feet from the entrance, making it inadvisable to go farther. It
is possible that the mine was dug as early as 1664. C. G. Hine wrote after a visit
in 1907: "No one knows who the original miners were, but the supposition is that
they were some of the earliest Dutch explorers who disappeared long enough before
the first actual settlers came to leave no memory or legend of themselves that is
founded on anything more substantial than air. The surroundings are romantic and
beautiful in the extreme, and it is a wonderful spot for a person with a well-trained
imagination, provided he is careful not to sit down on a rattlesnake." The old mine
was the southern terminus of the famous Old Mine Road to Kingston, N. Y., which
has been called "the first good road of that extent ever made in any part of the
United States." It played an important part in Washington's victory at Trenton when
General Gates with seven regiments marched through here from Saratoga in December 1776. Gates chose this back route to avoid British forces in eastern New Jersey;
four of his regiments reached Washington's depleted army only three days before
the crossing of the Delaware.
The high price of copper in 1907 encouraged some entrepreneurs to open a new
mine on top of the mountain. Ore was hauled by rail to machinery on the site of
the Boy Scout camp. The venture soon failed. Part of the masonry work remains,
next to the mess hall.
The road north to Millbrook follows the route of the original Mine Road. A
graded road in fairly good condition leads over the mountains from Millbrook to
Blairstown.
At 43.7 miles, on a free, covered bridge over Delaware River, the highway
crosses the Pennsylvania Line, 0.2 miles east of Portland, Pa.
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