It is bounded on the north by Sullivan County and a very small part of the town of Wallkill, east by that town, south by the towns of Wawayanda and Greenville, and west by the town of Deer Park.
The area of the town is now placed at 16,104 acres. The assessed valuation of all the real and personal property, as reported by the assessors in 1906, was $632,075, upon which the tax levy for that year was $3,903.36. In 1880 this land was valued at $673,470, and the annual tax was $5,157.79. But it would be manifestly unfair to assume that the land is less valuable now than it was twenty-five years ago. The average town assessor in the State of New York, under the prevailing political conditions and customs, is largely a creature of circumstance, with strange vagaries in judgment, if indeed he is called upon to exercise any judgment at all under the official limitations of his position. Then, too, standards of value have greatly changed during that time.
This Mount Hope territory lies wholly north of the old county line which originally divided Orange from Ulster County.
NATURAL FEATURES.
The Shawangunk mountain range in the western border of the town is the most important topographical feature. This northern spur of the Alleghenies is known as the Blue Mountains in New Jersey and the Kittatiny Mountains in the State of Pennsylvania. Beginning in the central part of Ulster County the general trend of the range is toward the southwest for some 250 miles. There are few isolated peaks, and the greatest altitude reached is about 1,800 feet above tide. The more notable elevations of this range are Sam's Point, near Ellenville, Sky Top and Eagle's Cliff at Lake Mohonk, all of which are in Ulster County. The Indian word Shawangunk, which has been used to designate this range since the settlement of the region, signifies "great wall" in the aboriginal vernacular, which in fact seems especially appropriate as a descriptive title.
The eastern slopes of these mountains are uniform and well adapted to cultivation, even to their summits, in most instances. But on the western side they are broken and precipitous. The approach from the east has been fitly described by an old writer in the following language: "The eye rests upon fields of grain and grass, upturned furrows, the verdure of waving trees and the homes of thrifty hospitality, spread out from valley to crest, over the south and the far north, in unwearying {sic} panoramic beauty—a patchwork of gold and green, of brown and gray, of white and red."
The Shawangunk River is another dominating feature in this Mount Hope township. Rising in the adjoining town of Greenville on the south, this stream enters the Mount Hope territory near the middle of the southern boundary line and flows northeasterly through the central portion of the town, leaving the north boundary line at the apex of Sullivan County, as before stated.
The Little Shawangunk rises at Shawangunk Lake, on the eastern border of the town, flows northward along the line some four or five miles, then crosses over into the town of Wallkill, anon reentering Mount Hope in the northeast corner, and finally unites with the parent stream in the western bounds of Wallkill. There are several small tributaries which enter the Shawangunk from the west and drain the mountain slopes effectually.
This territory also presents many geological features of interest which have attracted considerable attention in past years. Here, as elsewhere in this mountain range, rich mineral deposits have been found. Lead, copper and zinc ores were discovered many years ago, and numerous mining companies have been formed in the town.
EARLY SETTLEMENT.