In 1852, the Scranton Brothers and other people developed the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, providing another route to the Lackawanna River watershed and contributing to the valley's development. The Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad also went into the watershed, and the Erie Railroad had a number of routes into it. These included the Erie and Wyoming Valley Railroad, which followed Roaring Brook, and the Jefferson Branch, which entered the river's watershed at Ararat Summit. The New York, Ontario and Western Railway, which was developed in 1890, was the last railroad to enter the watershed. It followed the river from Scranton to Union Dale before leaving the river's drainage basin via the East Branch Lackawanna River watershed.