Upper Susquehanna

Upper Susquehanna. Historic New York. Rivers and streams flowing southward make this area a part of the great Susquehanna River Valley. Early fur traders from the Mohawk Valley dealt with Indians as far away as Oquaga(Now Windsor). Large colonial land grants were obtained by George Croghan around Otsego Lake and by Sir William Johnson along Charlotte Creek, but few settlers came until after the Revolution. Retaliating for Tory and Indian raids on Cherry Valley and Cobleskill, General James Clinton's troops came down the valley in 1779, floating on the dammed-up water from Otsego Lake, and forced the Indians to leave their devastated lands.

In 1786 William Cooper came from New Jersey, founded Cooperstown, and opened the land to settlers. Lumber and farm products were sent down river on rafts in periods of high water to markets as distant as Harrisburg and Baltimore. The Albany and Susquehanna Railroad, later a part of the Delaware and Hudson line, opened in 1869 and spurred economic development. Railroad shops were located in Oneonta and creameries and factories for milk products served the dairy farmer in the area. Traffic on improved highways has succeeded that on rails and river, stimulating resorts and centers of recreation. . This historical marker was erected in 1963 by Education Department State of New York Department of Public Works. It is in Milford in Otsego County New York