Book by former Pocono Record reporter is worthwhile read into history of Tocks Island dam
Whether you are a new resident or one that has a legacy of generations in the area, there is a book that will draw into the history of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (DWGNRA) and the ill-fated Tocks Island dam.
A new book, written by retired journalist David Pierce, recounts the most volatile regional news story of the 20th Century in a recently published book called, Tocks Island: Dammed If You Do. An award-winning journalist in his own right, Pierce spent years covering the story of the Tocks Island Dam project.
Pierce’s family moved to the region in 1969 at age 14, as the Tocks saga was unfolding. The career journalist returned to the area in 2000 to work as a reporter for the Pocono Record. He left the Record in 2016 and worked two summer seasons as a National Park Service ranger at Delaware Water Gap before retiring.
In the book, he tells the true story of how a grassroots movement in the eastern Poconos and New Jersey Skylands forced cancellation of an approved dam and 37-mile reservoir on the Delaware River after a 13-year fight. The dam was to be used for the contradictory goals of flood protection, potable water for greater Philadelphia and eastern New Jersey, lake recreation, and hydroelectricity.
Today, that 70,000-acre site is the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, encompassing parts of Monroe, Pike and Northampton counties in Pa., and Warren and Sussex counties in NJ.
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A brief history of the fight against Tocks Island
The reservoir was approved by Congress in 1962 with the blessing of the four Delaware River basin states’ governors. The project was advanced following a 1955 flood that killed 75 people along Monroe County’s Brodhead Creek, a Delaware River tributary stream, though no one had died in the flood on the Delaware itself.
One of those who would lose her home to the ill-fated dam project was the late Nancy Shukaitis of Middle Smithfield Township. She was the author of Lasting Legacies of the Lower Minisink (2007). She would testify against the dam at several regional and federal hearings, formed an organization of dam opponents, and provided more anti-dam clout after becoming the first woman elected as a Monroe County commissioner.
Property acquisitions were conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. That didn’t stop Joan Matheson of Dingmans Ferry, wife of an Army Corps career engineer and officer, from forming an “underground” anti-dam newspaper. Glen Fisher resigned his job as a U.S. Soil Conservation Service scientist to devote his efforts to protecting a high-elevation glacial lake in Warren County from being used as part of the Tocks Island dam.
Opponents argued that the loose glacial till near Tocks Island, where the dam was to be located, was too unstable to support the earthen structure. Later, opponents said the still water to be harnessed by a reservoir would produce oxygen-depleting algae that would kill plant and animal life on an enormous scale.
Massive federal spending on the Vietnam war led to spending delays in nearly all other aspects of the federal budget, including for the Tocks Island dam. The Army Corps responded to those delays by temporarily renting out some properties it had acquired from residents, through eminent domain, to young adults from nearby urban centers. Public pressure forced the corps to cancel its rental program, but many tenants refused to leave, and they were joined by other “squatters” who fought off authorities for nearly four years before finally being evicted by federal marshals.
The story of the Tocks Island Dam project is one that was contentious, convoluted, sometimes bizarre and many times heart-wrenching. If you are a history buff, want to learn more about the DWGNRA and how it came to be, or if you lived the story, you will be drawn into this easy read book.
I grew up during the time of the dam project and remember many of the stories related in the book. It is a true passion project.
Tocks Island: Dammed If You Do is available in paperback, hard cover, or e-edition from Amazon Books (amazon.com/Books-David-Pierce)
Debbie Kulick writes a weekly column for the Pocono Record and Tri-County Independent. She serves on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic as an EMT.
This article originally appeared on Pocono Record: Kulick: Book by Pocono reporter on Tocks Island dam will draw you in
