Lake township, the remaining quarter of the original Cool Spring, divided in 1850 for many years has been the seat of industry. The Mercer Iron and Coal Company and individual operators have driven shafts, and slopes and drifts into its rugged surface and brought out vast quantities of coal. From the two railroads, various spurs of tracks have been constructed to reach the mines, and every day the loaded cars are strung into trains that transport the fuel to the big industrial centers. In many respects Lake township is the most picturesque of all the townships, Sandy lake and its surrounding hills and the broken country about the small streams making a landscape of unusual attractive ness

Matthias Zahniser, a native of Germany, came to the southwest corner of this township in the spring of 1796, and was the leader of a numerous family to this region, members of which are known and valued citizens in this and other townships of the county. The year after his arrival, this pioneer planted three apple trees on his land. Eighty years later two of these were still living in gnarled and knotted age, having borne fruit for three generations. The McClures were another pioneer family. Richard McClure put up a sawmill on the banks of Little run, and the ruins of this pioneer mill stood for many years near Coulson station, which was located on McClure’s farm. The only town in this township is Stoneboro.

Twentieth Century History of Mercer County, 1909, page 155