The library, which is free, now numbers more than 2,000 well selected books. The funds for its support are derived from the membership dues, contributions, lectures or entertainments, and the State appropriation.
[CHAPTER XV.]
TOWN OF DEER PARK.
LOCATION, AREA AND TITLE.
This town is located in the extreme western angle of Orange County. In outline the territory forms nearly a perfect triangle. It is one of the larger towns in the county, having an area of 37,020 acres, according to the latest tax tables of the Orange supervisors, being exceeded only in extent by the town of Warwick. It is also next to the largest in population, having 11,562 inhabitants, according to the State census of 1905. It is also a most important town in several other respects, as will be seen from the comprehensive outline presented in the succeeding pages.
It contains the point of land where three States intersect—New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. This precise point is known as the "Tri-States Rock." This solid rock is at the extreme point of the tongue of land lying at the mouth of the Neversink River and between that stream and the Delaware River. A copper bolt has been sunk in this rock to mark the spot which has been agreed upon by the authorities of these States. By standing over this bolt one is therefore in three different States at the same time.
Whether or not the full legal import of this strategic point of vantage has been well understood by certain classes, or made use of in critical emergencies, is not definitely known. It is, however, one of the show places of Port Jervis, and visitors may easily find it by a short walk through Laurel Grove Cemetery.
In 1880 the town assessors reported a total value of taxable property of $2,431,680, upon which a tax of $37,374.27 was levied. These amounts have been increased to $2,509,003, and $41,378.65 respectively, the valuation of the two banks not included, $379,706, on which their tax is levied.
With the exception of the small tracts known as the Arent Schuyler patent, the Tietsort 400 acre patent, and the Cuddeback patent, the title to all the land of Deer Park comes from the Minisink patent. This name was originally spelled "Minnisink." The tribal Indian occupants were first known as the Minquas, and subsequently as the Minsis, from which the present name seems to have been evolved.
Captain Arent Schuyler visited this region in 1694, during that turbulent period of war with the savages, in order to determine how far the influence of the French had effected the aborigines.