Watson Township lies at the western end of the county and is adjoined by Clinton County. It was taken from a part of Cummings in January, 1845, and was named for Oliver Watson, a leading attorney of his day and for many years president of the West Branch National Bank. It is the twenty-fourth in size in the county and contains 10,880 acres.

Pine Creek runs along one side of it and the Fall Brook branch of the New York Central Railroad passes through it. There are some fine farms along the creek, but the rest of the surface is hilly and mountainous.

The Tomb family is well represented in the township to this day and are descendants of Henry Tomb, the first settler of the section, who was a man of high character and left an indelible impress on the history of that portion of the Pine Creek Valley. Other early settlers were James Armstrong and James Mills.

An iron furnace was built some distance east of Pine Creek in 1817 and for many years the business of smelting ore, found in the immediate vicinity, was carried on. The ore was of an inferior quality, but by mixing it with a better grade a fairly good quality of iron was produced. The furnace passed through many hands and was operated for more than a score of years with varying success. One of the later owners of this furnace was Robert Kelton, whose son, John Cunningham Kelton, was for a long time adjutant general of the United States army.

Several United States postoffices were established in the township at various times, but these have since been abandoned and the people are now served by the rural routes out of Jersey Shore. Watson Township is well supplied with schools and churches and the educational and religious advantages are excellent. In 1920 it had a population of 180, the smallest number in the county.