Use
The path was used by Iroquois warriors on their war raids to points south. One of the earliest accounts of the path is from Moses Van Campen, who was captured on Bald Eagle Creek in 1782, and taken north as a prisoner along the path. Some isolated bands of Native Americans remained in the Pine Creek Gorge until the War of 1812. When lumbering become a major industry along Pine Creek in the 19th century, the path was used by lumbermen. They would take rafts of lumber in the spring down Pine Creek from Ansonia to Jersey Shore, and then walk back north along the path. Attempts to convert the path into a wagon road early in the same century were unsuccessful – when John Peet tried it he said it took 18 days, crossed Pine Creek "eighty times going to and eighty times coming from", lost a wheel, broke two axles, and upset the wagon twice.
In 1883, the Jersey Shore, Pine Creek and Buffalo Railway opened, following the course of the path from Jersey Shore to Ansonia. The railroad soon became the Pine Creek Railway, a part of the Fall Brook Coal Company. It was leased by the New York Central Railroad in 1899, and was consolidated into the New York Central Railroad in a 1914 corporate reorganization. The Pine Creek line was one of those taken over by Conrail in 1976, but the last train ran on the route on October 7, 1988. After the removal of the tracks, the right-of-way was converted to the Pine Creek Rail Trail, which was named one of "10 great places to take a bike tour" in the world in a 2001 USA Today article.
Read more about this topic: Pine Creek Path
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