Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: PREFATORY. NOTWITHSTANDING the early settlements in Northeastern Pennsylvania at Wilkes-Barre, Easton, Scranton, Stroudsburg, Carbondale and other points, many of the contiguous mountain tracts were covered with the magnificent primeval forest until after the close of the Civil War. For a decade or more after that period they were the scene of the almost incredible hardships and activities of lumber camps, and these were so generally conducted with extravagance and wastefulness that in their wake appeared miles of waste and barren territory, swept from time to time by awful fires and followed by yet more terrible scenes of desolation. Within the last two decades, however (mainly since the beginning of the twentieth century), that part of this section of the state known as the "Pocono Plateau" in Monroe County, in consequence of its accessibility, of the purity of its atmosphere and perhaps above all for the peace and rest it offers, has become attractive not only to invalids, convalescents and refugees from social and business cares, but to students of Nature and other exalted subjects as well as to aspirants after the "simple life." It presents indeed many of the climatic conditions and some of the rugged scenery which characterize the celebrated Engadine Valley in the Swiss Canton of the Grisons, whose principal town, St. Moritz, has figured attractively in so many stories. It is under these circumstances that, at the instance of the Historical Committee of the Pocono Lake Preserve, this brief historical account of the territory has been prepared. Although but one member of this committee is named as the responsible author of the history, the assistance of the other members, and of their friends, has been freely given and has been very essential. With no att...