No man will ever tell how long prior to the patent to William Penn there were white people settled in the Minisink above the delaware Water gap. They were possibly there even before the Swedes settled on the lower part of the river in Pennsylvania. These settlers did ot know themselves that they were in Pennsylvania until 1720, nor did the authorities of the Province prior to this date know of their presence. Surveyors Nicholas Scull and John Lukens went to look after them in 1730, and were surprised to see “a grove of apple trees of a size far beyond any near Philadelphia.” Samuel DePui, one of the settlers, told him he took ‘wheat and cider” to Esopus, now Kingston, on the Hudson, for “salt and necessaries,” and he seemed to know nothing of Philadelphia nor whither the Delaware ran. His father, Nicholas DePui, had settled there before him, and traditions received by him from a descendant of an original settler were to this effect: In a former age, a body of rich Hollanders opened a road some hundred miles in length fro Esopus to the Minisink, to a mine which they operated. afterwards some Dutch people being persecuted on account of their religion in the Old Country, came to New Netherland, and following the “old mine road” to the large flats on the Delaware, found “here the smooth cleared lands and an abundance of large apple trees suited to their views,” so they purchased lands from the natives and settled there.198, pg 474,199, pg. 396