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New York
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Delaware County

Delaware County, formed from Ulster and Otsego counties in 1797, is centrally distant from New York, via Cattskill, 166, SW. from Albany, 77 miles. Greatest length NE. and SW. 60; greatest breadth SE. and NW. 37 miles. The county has a broken and diversified surface—from the rugged, lofty, and barren mountain side and summit, to the subsiding bill and the high and low plain, with the rich valley, and the low and fertile alluvion. Its climate is subject to sudden and great changes of temperature, yet not unfriendly to health and longevity. It is principally watered by the northeastern sources of the Delaware river. The east branch of the Susquehannah, another large stream of Pennsylvania, forms a part of the northeastern boundary, as does the Delaware a part of. its southwestern. The Cookquago branch of the Delaware, or the true Delaware, as it ought to be called, runs nearly centrally through the county from NE. to SW.; the Popacton branch runs nearly parallel with this, a short distance to the south of it. These streams with their branches, and many smaller streams, spread plentifully over the whole county, and supply a vast profusion of fine sites for mills. The quality of the soil is as various as the surface. On the upland there is a large proportion of chocolate-colored loam, and the valleys and alluvial flats have a rich mould. The whole may be pronounced a good country for farming, well watered by small springs and rivulets. The heavy trade of this county follows the course of its lumber, which goes in rafts by the Delaware and Susquehannah rivers to Philadelphia and Baltimore; while considerable traffic is carried on with the towns on the Hudson, to which there are turnpikes in various directions. The value of the wild lands in the county is from two to three dollars an acre, and the improved lands in the valleys average about 30 dollars, while those on the hills are worth about 5 dollars the acre. West of the Mohawk branch of the Delaware, the county was divided into several patents; but east of it was included in the Hardenburgh patent. In 1768, William, John, Alexander, and Joseph Harper, with eighteen others, obtained a patent here for 22,000 acres of land, and soon after the Harpers removed from Cherry Valley, and made a settlement which was called Harpersfield, but which was broken up by the Indians and tories during the revolutionary war. About one quarter of the county is under improvement. The county has 18 towns. (Historical Collections of the State of New York, Past and Present, John Barber, Clark Albien & Co., 1851)

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