In the woods next to the river stood the Lehigh Tannery and the village of Lehigh Tannery, where over 100 families lived and two railroads ran through town beside an ice house, steam saw mill, hotel, and school. Bark from the valley's giant hemlocks supplied the tannic acid used to cure as many as 50,000 hides a year, making this the second largest tannery in America during this era. The river and forest paid heavily for that prosperity as wastes dumped into the river turned it black and logging left the landscape littered with abandoned trees cut only for their bark. In 1875, an uncontrollable fire swept across the forest floor and engulfed and forever destroyed the tannery. Only decades before, naturalist and artist John James Audubon visited, sketched native birds, and sadly noted the deforestation in his journal. Today, industry is largely gone, and rejuvenated forests again shelter native birds and welcome modern-day Audubons.