Oh What A Lovely War: 132 Buildings In Historic Pa.-N.J. Valley To Be Destroyed

The ghosts of the Tocks Island disaster of the early 1970s when hundreds of homes, barns, a church and other structures were destroyed to make way for a dam that was never built are about to write another sad chapter in the saga of the Minisink Valley with the resumption of destruction in the historic area straddling the scenic Delaware River in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

The Tocks project was a lightning rod for the nascent American environmental movement. It destroyed the careers of some politicians and brought unexpected success to others. It was the cause of suicides, arson fires and violence in the Minisink. It exposed deep tears in the social fabric of the Poconos region of Pennsylvania, unleashing a deep bitterness against the Army Corps of Engineers and the dam’s powerful, politically connected backers that seems just as intense today as it was three decades ago.

Tocks Island itself is a negligible spit of sand covered with oak, sycamore and scrub brush that sits midstream about six miles above Delaware Water Gap just out of the sight of motorists crossing the Interstate 80 toll bridge that links Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Under the Corps’ plan, a reinforced concrete dam – by far the largest east of the Mississippi – would be built at the site, but the proposal was shelved in the 1930s because money to undertake such a huge project simply was not available during those lean times.

The plan was dusted off after hurricanes Connie and Diane ravaged the region in August 1955, dumping 20 inches of rain in less than a week. Some 78 people died in the Poconos, most of them from flood surges that turned babbling brooks into raging torrents. Tocks advocates argued that such disasters would be avoided in the future if a dam were built although the deadliest flooding from the twin storms was on tributaries and not the Delaware itself.

In 1962, Congress authorized the appropriation of $122 million to build a huge earth and rock-fill dam at Tocks, submerging the Minisink and creating a 37-mile-long, 140-foot deep lake extending nearly to Port Jervis, New York. Surrounding this monstrosity would be an 80-square-mile park to be called Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.

The Army Corps of Engineers has a long and checkered history as the custodian of America’s rivers, harbors and wetlands. As was the case with Tocks, it often has been an intermediary between powerful political and private interests. As was the case with Tocks, it manipulated its own engineering and economic analyses to suit its needs. As was the case with Tocks, its tactics could be brutal.

Please click here to read more at Kiko’s House and here for other Tocks Island-related media.