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Old Mine Road OLD MINE ROAD TRAIL FOR INDIANS AND EARLY SETTLERS AMELIA STICKNEY DECKER 1932 Copyright 1932 Wantage Recorder Press, Sussex, N. J. FOREWORD. In presenting this historical pa1nphlet re­ lating to "The Old lVIine Road," particularly in Sussex County, I have not aimed to place before you any hitherto unfound material. I have en­ deavored to put into compact form much im­ portant historical data from various sourees, ,vhich with the illustrations should form a valu­ able document in the study of the history of this "Path of the Great Valley." 3 Wa. ~ 41 a.')- S ~ 'k ~ fllo.P"'1'loC:.k The Old :i\Iine TI.oad 4. THE OLD MINE ROAD. The First Road Built in the United States. Thrilling stories and adventures come to us out of the past, even from our own country. What tales of exploration, of Indians, of struggles to exist, those early settlers along the Old Mine Road might have recorded. That National trail, the Old Mine Road, known as the King's Highway, or the Queen's Highway was mentioned first as "The Trade Path," then in 1682 as "The Path of the Great Valley," in 1737 as "The Old Mine Road," and in 1770 as "The Good Esopus Road." This highway has for years aroused the interest and E.rt­ thusiasm of history loving individuals, especially those ,vho nre seeking know ledge of our own particular region. Authors have left us exciting stories of Indian life along this trail, and the same border line between Pennsylvania and New Jersey played an in1- portant part before and during the An1erican Revolution. But, you ask, "What is the Old Mine Road?" It is a high­ way, the first of any length built in the United States. 1632- 1638-1640-1650, historians differ as to the date of building, but early records advise us that no one knows when the road was actually constructed. vVithout doubt it had been a familiar footpath of the Indians for generations for it was a thoroughfare for then1 to the fording place at Big Minisink Island where their ancient castle and village of Minisink stood, and near which their tribal l\finsi burial ground, covering acres of the river flats, \\i·as located. : One hundred and four miles long, this trail ran from Kings­ ton or Esopus, N. Y., to Port Jervis, N. Y., then dO"\Vn the east~rn shore of the Delaware River, forty miles of it thru Sussex County, N. J., to what was known as the Pahaquarry Copper Mines in Warren County, N. J. Even the earliest settlers could give only traditionary ac­ counts of this old road, these coming from older people of the valley who were able to give no actual dates even then. They believed that in some former age, there came a co1npany of miners from IIolland; one historian says they may have been ...t\.rminians; that they w·orked the mines, one on the Dela,vare where the mountain nearly approaches the lower point of the Pahaquarry Flat, the other at the north foot of the san1e mountain, half way from the Delaware and Esopus. It was understood that an abundance of ore had been hauled over that same road, but whether lead, silver or copper is not 5 known. '\Ve do kno,Y that the building of that road ,vas a gigantic project costing a vast sun1 and attended by innumerable perils. Here ,Yas a vast \Yilderness, a mountainous region, forests. waterfalls and savage Indians roaming over the country. Today we cherish a paTdonable pride in recalling the heroism, the endur­ ance, the lofty devotion to duty, to principle, the patient perse­ verance of those early explorers, exposed to attacks of savage tribes ,vho ,\·ere at tin1es friendly, at others hostile, far away from markets, fTon1 civilization, their toil abounded in hardship$ from which ,:\;e shrink even in recital. Exceedingly- early these hardy explorers must have entered the valley for the Journal of N e,Y Netherlands, 1641, writes of the high mountains exhibiting strong indications of minerals; 1645, The West Indian Company determined to investigate, because by this time a definite location of the mine \Yas found; 1646, it was deemed ad,is2.ble to continue the search; 1657, Vice Director Aldrich v.·rites, "On this road or ,vay is a good and rich iron mine. situate near a 1·iver ;" 1659, the directors in Holland wrote to Governor Stuyvesant that they had received a piece of good and pure copper fron1 N e,v Netherland, and that there \Vas a copper mine in the Neve sinks. Governor Cosby in 1735 \Yrote to the London Board of Trade that in N e,v Jersey ,-r as an extraordinary xich mine, then narrated the story of the efforts to reach it. "Situated near the Delaware Water Gap," he said "no atternpts had been made to get to it frorn the south, but access \Yas easiest from Kingston." Historians have run the road up the valley of the Roundout or Esopus to Hurley, to l\IarbletO"\Yn, to Vl arvvarsing, to Peenpack and to Mahackameck or Port Jervis, N. Y. It passed through Napanoch, Ellenville, Phillipsport, vVurtsboro, vVestbrookville, Cuddeback­ ville, Port Clinton then to Port Jervis, N. Y., to Brick House, N. J., Dingman's Ferry, Flatbrookville, the mine holes, and thence to the Water Gap. For reasons unkno,Yn even to early pioneers, these old mine holes had been closed up by 1nasonry, obscuTed by branches ant.I abandoned lor:.g l ;efo~·e perrnanent settlements ,vere effected. Eager's Histo1·y of Oran_ge County believes that miners ,vere at work in the 1nine holes of }Iinisink previous to 1664 and that the mining business closed in co11sequence of the surrender to th~ English in that year. WhetheT any of those ear1y \Yorkers Temained in the valley i& not definitely kno,\·n as early ,,-ritten records do not go back of 1700 except in one or t,-ro instances of patents in Upper 1\1:inisink. Webb's Directory of Sussex County, ho,vever, gives a statement said to have been n1ade by Samuel Depue that the mines in Warren County ,-rere discovered by some of the first Dutch people 6 in this country, and that some of these farnilies either stayed or returned as is evidenced by the nan1es '\Y hich have come down to us, Westbrooks, Ryersons, Depues, Schooner1nakers. We do know that a number of settle1·s n!ust have been living in Upper Minisink as on October 18, 1701, the Legislature of New York passed an act providing that the inha;-'itants of Great and Little Minisink should vote in Ulster CouI1ty, !~. Y. Dr. S. W. Mills in an address at Port J-ervis, N. Y., claimed that settlements ,vere made as eariy as 1690 a~ong the old trajl above Port Jervis, N. Y. These ·\yere 1n,1de by Jacob Codebec, Thomas Svvartwout, Anthony S,vart,voGt, Be1utrdus Swartwout, Jan Tys, Peter Guimar and David Jamison. About the same year, or a little earlier·, vVm. Titsoort, a blacksmith, located in the valley a n1ile from Port Jervis. It is written that this settler ,vas invited by the Indians to come into the Minisink valley to help them fashion tools. Other pioneers were forming colonies in and near Kingston and \Ye are told that these furnished some of the settlers ·who ,vent into the Minisink country. Francis J. S,vayze assures us that as early as 169'4 settle­ ments in the Minisink region were of little consequence. Capt. _.t\.rent Schuyler was sent in that year by the government of New York to learn whether the French or Indhlns in alliance with them had been in the valley. I-Ie was compelied to confer with the Indians as he could :find no white settle1nents. fie ,vas so pleased v.-ith the country that in lVIay, 1697, patent fo1· 1,000 acres was issued to him. However, Snell's History of Sussex and "\Yarren Counties says that Low Dutch farmers from Ulster County, N. Y., made settle.. ments in the valley just prior to 1700, and a(!co1·ding to Twichell's History of the lVIinisink Country, a flourishing settlement was existing in Minisink as early as 1697, as in that year a patent bearing the date October 14, 1697, ,Yas issued to them by the colonial governor of New York. The story is tcld by John J. Van­ Sickle (,vho was considered an authority on the ~Iinisink region) that in 1650 the village of l\tlinisink ,\·ns a stc·1~ping place for men and teams carting copper ore fron1 the ancie2it copper mines in Pahaquarry to the !-Iudson, and that on a n1al) o-f Sussex County printed in Charing Cross, London, all ro::~ds ,.~:e2·e sho,vn leading to the village of l\1inisink, ,vhich "·as located ,1lr:1ost on the border lines between J\'.Iontague and Sandyston To,\T1ships in Sussex County. In 1730 one Nicholas Scull, a f an1ous sur,·eyo1·, ,vas appointed by the Governor of Philadelphia to investigate the facts concern­ ing the settlement in the valley of the Dehn\·al'e. He and his assistant, James Lukens, both being able to converse with the '1 Indians, undertook the journey, a hazardous and difficult one in those days. They tell us that they had n1uch trouble leading their horses through the vVater Gap to the 1\linisink Flats, which they found all settled ,vith Hollanders. At the venerable Samuel Depui's they found great hospitality and plenty of the necessities of life.
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