There was a lumbering industry in the watershed of Bowman Creek by the late 1800s. In 1876, the Lehigh Valley Railroad purchased of timbering land in the vicinity of the creek. Until the early 1890s, when rail lines reached the area, the lumbering industry used splash dams, creek freshets, and wagons to transport their lumber to the market. In 1885, the Lehigh Valley Railroad surveyed several routes from the Wyoming Valley to Bowman Creek. Several other railroad companies at the time also had interest in such a railroad.