Editing Endless Mountains (section)

==History==
{{See also|History of Pennsylvania}}
[[File:Endless Mountains 1756 map.jpg|thumb|A 1756 map of the Endless Mountains on display at the [[Smithsonian Institution]]'s [[National Museum of American History]] in [[Washington, D.C.]]]]
[[File:Autumn View From Elk Mountain.jpg|thumb|An autumn view from [[Elk Mountain Ski Resort]] in the Endless Mountains]]
Several Native American bands settled the area in prehistoric times. By the early colonial period, [[Munsee]]-[[Lenape]], [[Susquehannock]], and [[Iroquois]] peoples were the principal occupants of the region. The majority of the local place names were derived from the Munsee-Lenape, however; places like ''Lock-ah Hanna'' ([[Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania|Lackawanna]] or Sand River), ''Tunk Hanna Unk'' ([[Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania|Tunkhannock]] or Bend River Place), ''Why-ohm Ing'' ([[Wyoming Valley|Wyoming]] or Food Place), ''Min Nees Unk'' ([[Minisink]]), ''Toe-be Hanna'' ([[Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania|Tobyhanna]] or Cool River), ''Mesh-op Ing'' ([[Meshoppen Township, Pennsylvania|Meshoppen]]), ''Why-ah-loose Ing'' ([[Wyalusing Township, Pennsylvania|Wyalusing]]), ''Schick-shin Ing'' ([[Shickshinny, Pennsylvania|Shickshinny]]), and ''Mawsch Unk'' (Bear Place, present-day [[Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania|Jim Thorpe]]) are examples. The Munsee and other native peoples like the Shawnee, Nanticoke, Conoy, and Tutelo were evicted by the terms of the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix, which was between the Iroquois League and the British Crown.

After 1768, hundreds of British, Irish, and German families flooded in from New England, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania to occupy lands purchased from the Susquehanna and Connecticut Land companies of Connecticut. These settlements eventually led to armed conflict with the Penn proprietors (William Penn's sons, Richard and Thomas, and his grandson, John), who also claimed the land. (See [[Pennamite Wars]]). During the [[American Revolution]] in 1778, a combined British, Tory, Iroquois, Munsee, and Lenape force attacked the [[Wyoming Valley]] settlers on the eastern edge of this region, and [[Wyoming Massacre|killed]] many of the settlers. Washington sent Major General [[John Sullivan (general)|John Sullivan]] on a campaign to destroy the Iroquois threat by a "[[scorched earth]]" drive up the Susquehanna and [[Chemung River]]s into central and western New York.

The region's economy was formerly based on [[mining]], [[lumbering]] (especially of [[Tsuga|hemlock]] for [[Tanning (leather)|tanning]]) and [[Industrial sector|industry]] but is now largely [[agriculture|agricultural]] with [[forestry]] and [[tourism]] contributing to the economic base. Much of the land is steep, but there are a few good farms on rolling hilltops or valley bottoms; many of these farms have been occupied by [[Mennonite]] and [[Amish]] people who have migrated northward as their traditional homelands became developed.

[[Quarry]]ing remains an important local industry with the region's high quality [[Blue stone (US)|blue stone]] being particularly valuable. The area is on the edge of Pennsylvania's [[Coal Region]], with some minor veins of coal extending into the area.