Fox Township, Elk County (Images of America)

In the middle of the Allegheny Plateau of the Appalachian Mountains, Fox Township, Pennsylvania, in Elk County, was one of the last settled areas in the eastern United States. Known as part of the Great Buffalo Swamp, it was a community that was nearly impossible to reach because of geographical limitations. Settlers started to arrive in this wilderness around 1800, although the township was not officially established until 1814. Settled by Englishmen, Germans, Irish, Swedes, and Italians, Fox Township is an area with great ethnic diversity. At first an agricultural community, the township became a center of the coal mining industry with the arrival of the railroads after the Civil War. Nearly all of the coal mines closed after World War II, and today the township is home to powdered metal industry leaders such as Rebco, GKN, SinterFire, and Kersey Tool & Die.