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SHOKAN is the next stop after a mile run. It is one of the old Indian names that have been retained in the geographical nomenclature of this region. The place is divided in two parts; about the station is known as West Shokan, the older settlement which antedates the railroad, being a mile toward the east. It is a pleasant hamlet with churches, schools, stores and many boarding houses where hundreds of city people pass the summer delightfully and at moderate cost. The famous "High Point" peak, 3,098 feet toward the sky, looms up grandly now on the left, in a south-westerly direction. This is the most southerly peak of the Catskills, and the view from its summit is very extended. The ascent is no longer difficult, there being a well marked road over half the way. Fairly good carriage roads lead out from Shokan in different directions to interesting points. Among those well worth visiting are the celebrated Peakamoose Lake and the "Gulf." The former is a beautiful strip of mountain water where the Rondout Creek flows through one of the most charming glens in the world. Speaking of this spot, a recent writer and artist says: "Nothing else in the Catskills approaches it in its peculiar type. For a mile it is a succession of impressive pictures, with cascades and waterfalls innumerable
living pictures of living water." Looking west from Shokan station a crescent of lofty mountain peaks will be seen. That on the right is the "Wittenberg," 3,778 feet, the next is Mount Cornell, 3,681 feet high. Some two miles beyond this chain is the famous  Slide Mountain, the king of the range, 4,205 feet in the air. In the same locality are Peakamoose, 3,875 feet, Table Mountain, 3,865 feet high, and several others. It is the wildest and most interesting group in the entire range, and it can only be reached by way of the Ulster & Delaware Railroad. Leaving Shokan now, the train winds up the valley for three miles, recrossing the Esopus at a broad bend, and halting briefly at (Boiceville).
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