 Built on a site long favored by pre @-@ Columbian peoples , Lock Haven began in 1833 as a timber town and a haven for loggers , <unk> , and other travelers on the river or the West Branch Canal . <unk> extraction and efficient transportation financed much of the city 's growth through the end of the 19th century . In the 20th century , a light @-@ aircraft factory , a college , and a paper mill , along with many smaller enterprises , drove the economy . Frequent floods , especially in 1972 , damaged local industry and led to a high rate of unemployment in the 1980s . 
