MINISINK VALLEY HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
An event of great importance to the residents of this town was the organization of the Minisink Valley Historical Society in 1888. Among the active promoters of this undertaking were Rev. Dr. S. W. Mills, Francis Marvin, Dr. John Conkling, O. P. Howell, Dr. Sol Van Etten, C. E. and W. L. Cuddeback, W. H. Nearpass and C. F. Van Inwegen. Its collection of relics and manuscripts is large and of great value to the genealogist and historian. Its library numbers more than 1,500 volumes of books and pamphlets. Its manuscripts exceed 1,000 in number. With the facilities offered by its new home in the Carnegie Library building and protection and safety provided by its fireproof vaults, it will in time become the repository of all valuable documents and manuscripts in this vicinity.
OLD BURYING GROUND RESTORED.
During the summer of 1907 a notable work was accomplished by the Machackemech Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, of which Mrs. Charles F. Van Inwegen is the president, in clearing and beautifying the grounds of the old historic Machackcmech cemetery on East Main street next to the Catholic cemetery. Through long neglect the cemetery had fallen into a condition of utter decay and ruin. The ground was covered with a dense growth of weeds, briars and underbrush, and the memorial stones, some of them dating back to a period anterior to the Revolution, were for the most part so weather beaten and moss-grown that their inscription was difficult to decipher, in some cases were totally illegible. All this has been changed, and now this hallowed ground "Where the rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep" has been restored to order and beauty and no longer offends by its wild and neglected appearance.
SOLDIERS MONUMENT.
A conspicuous ornament to the public square of the city (Orange Square) is the soldiers' monument, erected in 1886 through the liberality and public spirit of Diana Farnum, widow of H. H. Farnum, whose gift of $10,000 defrayed the cost thereof. It commemorates the valor and patriotism of the soldiers from Deer Park who took part in the great struggle for the preservation of the Union in 1861-5. It was unveiled to the public on July 4, 1886, in the presence of a vast multitude of spectators. L. F. Carr, Esq., of Port Jervis, and General Stewart L. Woodford, of Brooklyn, N. Y. were the orators of the occasion. The ceremonies were in charge of Carroll Post, G. A. R., of Port Jervis.
FLOODS IN PORT JERVIS.
The situation of Port Jervis near the confluence of the Delaware and Neversink Rivers exposes its low-lying parts to occasional overflows of these streams in times of heavy rainfall and more especially during the break-up of ice at the end of the winter season.
The channel of the Delaware at this place is shallow and obstructed by rapids and islands against which descending masses of ice become lodged, damming back the water and producing what is known as an ice-gorge. Such an event occurred in the latter part of February, 1875, when the channel of the river for several miles in extent was filled with a gigantic accumulation of broken ice. For several weeks the village was threatened with inundation and various unsuccessful expedients were resorted to to start the ice moving. The excitement culminated on March 17, when the "gorge" gave way, carrying with it the iron railroad bridge across the Delaware above Sparrowbush, which in descending the stream on top of the moving ice, struck and swept away the Barrett suspension bridge at Port Jervis. For a short time just before the break-up of the "gorge" the lower part of the village as far as the Erie tracks was flooded with water.
On October 10, 1903, a ten-inch rainfall in forty hours caused both rivers to overflow their banks, submerging the low-lying parts of the town. Barrett bridge across the Delaware was again carried away, and five persons who were on it at the time lost their lives.