The forest is located on several tracts in Lackawanna, Luzerne, Wyoming, Susquehanna, and Wayne counties.

They clear cut the forests and left behind nothing but dried tree tops and rotting stumps.

The sparks of passing steam locomotives ignited wildfires that prevented the formation of second growth forests.

The Pennsylvania General Assembly passed legislation in 1897 that authorized the purchase of "unseated lands for forest reservations."

[2] Pinchot State Forest began a few years later, in 1902, with the purchase of 2,854 acres (1,155 ha) of land in Thornhurst Township, Lackawanna County, from William and Catherine McMurtry for $3,567.40.