About 200 miles due west of here is Elk County, population 30,000. And in the interest of full disclosure, the place where I grew up. It's home to thousands of free roaming elk, the largest herd east of the Mississippi River. But that almost wasn't the case. According to the State Game Commission. Elk were hunted to extinction by European colonists by the 1850s.
What was once an impressive elk population had significantly dwindled, and some 20 years later, they were gone. Fast forward to 1912. The State Game Commission had been established and its director learned of an elk herd that had overrun Yellowstone National Park and other areas out west. He bought 50 elk, brought them by train in an effort to reestablish the herd.
Today, an area called Benezette is known as being the best location to catch a glimpse of a Pennsylvania elk in a county that truly lives up to its name.
