US reservoir plan displaced 600 families; abandoned land became national park

The US government once planned to flood a 40-mile stretch of the Delaware River valley to build a massive reservoir, only to cancel the project and turn the acquired land into a sprawling federal parkland.The Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, a 70,000-acre national park spanning Pennsylvania and New Jersey, exists today as the unexpected result of the abandoned Tocks Island Dam project. What began as an ambitious mid-century plan to control floods and generate hydroelectric power ended in 1975, when regional authorities voted to cancel the project, leaving 40 miles of free-flowing river under the National Park Service.High water and a federal mandateThe push to dam the Delaware River gained national attention in August 1955, when Hurricanes Connie and Diane hit the eastern seaboard one after another.