De Bruce was, in its earliest days, a site for one of the Catskills' largest tanneries, employing over 100 men shortly after it was established in 1856. This industry relied on the easy availability of water and hemlock trees, about 5% of the forests. The trees were cut down and their bark, one of the cheapest supplies of tannin available, was peeled off, leaving the timber to rot. The leather was processed in factories near the water and often actually in the forest. The industry quickly depleted the trees, peaking in about 1870, and was entirely gone from the Catskills by 1895, much to the relief of the trout fishermen, no doubt. Bald Mt. in De Bruce was so named because it was left that way by the tanneries.