Fall Brook Falls features a 10-foot fan and 12-foot fan waterfall along Fall Brook east of Blossburg within Tioga State Forest in Pennsylvania.
The community of Fall Brook was established in 1860 by the Fallbrook Coal Company along Fall Brook Creek. John Magee and his son, Duncan, had discovered coal along the banks of the stream. The company soon constructed a railroad to connect Fall Brook with Corning, New York, where the coal was transported to the Erie Canal via Chemung Canal and Seneca Lake.
By 1862, Fall Brook had a population of 1,400. The coal seams were exhausted after the American Civil War, and by the close of the 19th century, the town ceased to exist.
Tioga State Forest was formed in June 1900 to protect the headwaters of Pine Creek in response to the depletion of forests and the degradation of land in the state. Conservationists feared that without proper management, the woods would not regrow. Lumber and iron companies had harvested the old-growth forests on a massive scale, leaving behind rotting stumps and sash that was ready fuel that needed just a spark from a passing steam locomotive to become an inferno. Additionally, tanneries took advantage of the availability of oak and other bark in tanning animal hides into leather, which led to tannic acid pollution, while other companies extracted coal that led to acid mine drainage that fouled streams.
Tioga State Forest was named after the Tioga tribe of the Seneca, whose homeland was in the region. Tioga translated into English represents two rivers.
Improvements to the area did not begin in earnest until the establishment of several Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps in 1933. The CCC constructed trails, roadways, and bridges throughout the protected lands, many of which are still in use today.
Recent improvements to Fall Brook Creek include the addition of an in-stream lime-dosing site and two other passive treatment systems to increase the pH balance in the water because of acid mine drainage. Water samples below Fall Brook Falls indicate a significant increase in the pH from 3.6 to 7. As a result, wild brook trout and other native aquatic species have been spotted in Fall Brook for the first time in nearly a century.
