History of Morris County, New Jersey, Part 15

Author: Halsey, Edmund Drake, 1840-1896; Aikman, Robert; Axtell, Samuel Beach, 1809-1891; Brewster, James F; Green, R. S. (Rufus Smith), 1848-1925; Howell, Monroe; Kanouse, John L; Megie, Burtis C; Neighbour, James H; Stoddard, E. W. (Elijah Woodward), 1820-1913
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: New York : W.W. Munsell & co.
Number of Pages: 540

USA > New Jersey > Morris County > History of Morris County, New Jersey > Part 15

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Next to the Dickerson mine is the Byram mine, so called from John Byram, who purchased it about forty years ago, when its principal value seemed to be in a venerable apple orchard. His explorations for ore were very successful, and in the last thirty years, during which time it has been under lease, it has produced an lowing mines: Johnson Hill, Hoff, Dolan, Washington immense amount of ore. The old mine slope is 900 feet

A narrow-gauge railway runs from the mine to Ferro- monte, carrying the ore to the High Bridge Railroad, by which it is sent to the furnace of the Andover Iron Com- pany, the lessee.

The Millen mine, near the Byram, was sunk to a depth of 120 feet and produced about 4,000 tons of ore in 1853. It was then owned by Green & Dennison, and with their Boonton works it passed from them to Fuller & Lord, and thence to the estate of J. Cowper Lord, deceased.

The Baker mine on the same range is on the farm pur- chased by Henry and William H. Baker from Stephen De Hart in 1847. It was not extensively developed until sold by the Bakers, June 6th 1873, to Selden T. Scran- ton and Isaac S. Waterman. It is now operated and owned by the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company.

Of the Irondale mines all have been idle of late years except the Stirling and Hurd mines, which are leased to the Thomas Iron Company. Some of these mines-as for example the Stirling and one formerly called the Jackson mine, from its owner, Stephen Jackson-are of great antiquity, having been worked with profit in the last century.

The Stirling mine shoot has been followed about 1,500 feet, on a gentle pitch to the northeast, with an average thickness of six feet of ore. The height of the shoot was ninety feet in 1879, when it was producing about 1,200 tons per month.

The Hurd mine was opened in 1872, by the Thomas Iron Company. In 1874 a subterranean stream of water prevented working it to its full capacity and finally led to a stoppage. Similar difficulty was met with in the Harvey and Orchard mines. To relieve these mines and all those about Port Oram the Orchard and Irondale adit was projected. It was a tunnel, having its mouth between the canal and the Morris and Essex Railroad between Port Oram and Dover and extending westerly. In a description of it given by L. C. Bierwirth, mining engineer and agent of the New Jersey Iron Mining Company, in the geological report of 1879 it is stated that it was commenced in April 1877, by the New Jersey Iron Mining Company, the Thomas Iron Company and the trustees of the estate of J. Cowper Lord, to drain their mines. The mouth of the discharging ditch is on the west bank of the Rockaway River, and the ditch and main adit had been carried up in April 1879 on the southwest side of the railroad 3,667 feet, the ditch being 983 feet and the adit 2,684 feet. At present there are 795 feet of open cut, 2,888 feet of the main line and 1, 100 feet of the Irondale branch, which will be 350 feet longer when complete. It is five feet wide and ascends three-quarters of an inch in 100 feet. The ground encountered has generally been coarse gravel, with numerous boulders and occasional beds of quicksand. The effect on mines over 1,500 feet distant has been remarkable, and wells in the neighborhood have been entirely dried up.

In Rockaway township in the Passaic belt are the fol- Forge, Mount Pleasant, Baker (Dolan), Richards, Allen,

HISTORY OF MORRIS COUNTY.

Teabo, Mount Hope (including Hickory Hill), Swedes, purchased by Faesch in 1772. The Richards mine was Sigler, White Meadow, Beach, Hibernia, Beach Glen, Tichenor, Righter, Meriden, Cobb, Split Rock Pond, Greenville, Chester Iron Company, Davenport's, Green Pond or Copperas, Howell, Kitchel and Charlottenburg.

The Johnson Hill and Hoff mines are on the Moses Tuttle property at Mount Pleasant, the one falling to Mrs. Jane De Camp and the other to Mrs. Hannah Hoff in the division made in 1822 of the Tuttle property. The Johnson Hill mine is owned by Ephraim Lindsley, of Dover, and has not developed a large deposit. The Hoff mine has been worked almost continuously since 1872 by the Chester Iron Company, who leased from the heirs of Hannah Hoff. The Company shipped about 6,000 tons of ore in half of the year 1880, and the ca- pacity of the mine for the present year was estimated at 15,000 tons. The openings indicate a succession of shoots which pitch to the northeast. The ore is very

solid and clean and said to be especially adapted to soft was discovered on this tract by Jonathan Wiggins many foundry iron.

The Dolan mine, belonging to Bishop Dolan, has not place and set one William Teabo to work, with the

been extensively developed.

The Mount Pleasant mine is an old one, having been worked to some extent by Moses Tuttle. Guy Hinch- man purchased the property in 1818, and the mine was worked until the shafts reached a depth which prevented their being worked to profit at the then prices of ore and methods of mining. It afterward came into the hands of Green & Dennison, of the Boonton Company, and since then it has been in almost continuous success- ful operation. It now belongs to the estate of J. Cow- per Lord, deceased. The ore is very rich and clean. The depth of the east mine in 1879 was 600 feet.

The Washington Forge minc, worked by the Carbon Iron Manufacturing Company, is on the old Washington Forge lot of Hoff & Hoagland. The length of the vein on this property is not very great and there is a prospect of its soon being exhausted.

The Baker mine, to the northeast of the Mount Pleas- ant, was worked by the Allentown Iron Company until 1877, when the large vein suddenly "pinched out " in the bottom and the lessees were unable to discover its continuation, if any. This large vein is to the east of the Mount Pleasant vein, which also crosses the property and which has been worked to some extent. The Allentown Iron Company was sued in 1877 by the Thomas Iron Company, which owns the Richards mine, adjoining, for alleged overworking; and the suit occupied the time of a court and jury for over a month in October and Novem- ber 1877, resulting finally in a disagreement. The suit was at last compromised and settled. The shafts on this large vein were sunk about 300 feet, and the vein was in its widest place twenty-five feet wide. The ore was exceedingly rich and pure, comparing favorably with the Dickerson and best Mount Hope ores.

worked and operated by the Dover Company and its suc- cessors, Blackwell & McFarlan, and by Henry McFarlan was sold to its present owners, the Thomas Iron Com- pany, October 30th 1856. It is only since the latter. change of ownership that its wealth has been fairly de- veloped. There are two veins in this property, as on the . Baker; the southeastern is the larger and the one princi- pally worked. The ore is sent to the company's furnaces at Hokendauqua, Pa.

The Allen and Teabo mines and the 820 acres on which they are found were purchased of General Doughty by Canfield & Losey in the sale of the Faesch lands .: From them the property passed to Goble & Crane, and. by them it was conveyed to Joseph and William Jackson. . The Jacksons divided the property between them in . 1828, the Allen mine as it is now called falling to William and the Teabo to Joseph Jackson. The presence of ore years ago; but in 1826 Colonel Jackson marked out a promise that if he found ore the vein should be named after him. The vein was reached in about 30 feet and - the name of Teabo has been attached to the mine ever since. Colonel Jackson worked the mine for his forges until 1851, when he sold it to Samuel B. Halsey, who sold it the next year to the Glendon Iron Company, its present owners. For many years after the Glendon Company purchased it it lay idle and was supposed to have been exhausted; but the discovery that another vein crossed the property revived operations, and for several years it has yielded annually a large amount of very rich- iron ore.

The Allen mine was sold by William Jackson, June Ist 1830, to Caleb O. Halstead and Andrew Brown in ignor- ance of its mineral value, and December 27th 1848 it was sold to Jabez L. Allen, who developed the rich veins which crossed it. He sold it January roth 1868 to Con- rad Poppenhusen, for $100,000, and it is now owned by the New Jersey Iron Mining Company. It has been operated, however, for many years by the Andover Iron Company, and is under the management of Richard George.

The Mount Hope mines have perhaps produced more ore than any other in the county. As we have stated, they were worked by Jacob Ford, to supply his forges on the east branch of the Rockaway, before 1770, and by John Jacob Faesch, to supply his furnace and forges, to 1800. From Faesch they passed into the hands of the Phillipses, and from them to the Mount Hope Mining Company. Edward R. Biddle, owning or controlling the stock of this company, about 1852 transferred or sold it to the present owners, Moses Taylor and others, who are also the principal stockholders of the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company. In effect the property is owned by the last named company. It is estimated that 1,000,000 tons of ore have been taken from this mine since it was first opened. The great Jugular vein originally jutted

The Richards mine is very old and is named from Richard Faesch, who purchased it of his father's estate. This mine, the Allen, Teabo, Mount Hope, Hickory Hill and Swedes are all on the old Mount Hope tract out of the ground like a cliff, on the north side of the

IRON MINES IN ROCKAWAY TOWNSHIP.

: road west of the Mansion House. It is of great width and developed for an enormous distance. Besides this vein there are at least four other large developed veins on the property.

The Swedes mine, so called from the quality of the iron made from the ore, is on the original Mount Hope tract, but to the east of the range of the mines just men- tioned, and between Rockaway and Dover. It was dis- covered as early as 1792 or 1794 by one John Howard, who was in the employ of Stephen Jackson and mining at Hibernia. One Saturday he was returning to his home in Dover with his week's provisions when, instead of fol- lowing the road, he crossed through the woods. Setting down his provisions and a compass he carried, to rest, he noticed the needle standing nearly east and west. He communicated the fact to his employer, who told Mr. Faesch. After Faesch's death Mr. Jackson purchased a large body of land from the Mount Hope tract near Rockaway, including the land on which this attraction was discovered. After the death of Stephen Jackson this property came into the possession of his son, Colonel Joseph Jackson, who developed the mine, driving in a `tunnel, etc. October Ist 1847 Colonel Jackson sold it. to Green & Dennison, of the Boonton Company, who operated it extensively. The Boonton blast furnace was run principally on this ore for one hundred and twenty weeks at one time. This mine was very convenient for the Boonton Company, because the mouth of the adit or tunnel was on the bank of the Morris Canal, and trans- portation was easy down that canal about ten miles to the company's furnace. Since the war, however, the mine has been abandoned.

The White Meadow mine was known before the Revo- lutionary war, as is evidenced by the mine lot being " taken up" at that early date. No doubt ore was obtained from it to use in the White Meadow and other forges by Beman, Munson and the other forgemen of that date. Still the vein is narrow, and though the ore is of excellent quality the mine has not been steadily worked. It was leased in 1853 to the Boonton Iron Company under a lease which obligated them to raise 2,000 tons per annum. It then belonged to Colonel Thomas Muir, and is now owned by his son Peter Muir, his daughter Mrs. Ann J. Hoagland, and his son-in-law Mahlon Hoagland.

Adjoining the White Meadow tract are lands of Dr. Columbus Beach, on which the White Meadow vein has been traced and an opening made called the Gidd mine. It was last operated by the Musconetcong Iron Company.

The Hibernia mines are upon one vein, extending at least two miles in length. Where it cropped out of the south side of the hill at Hibernia it was operated by Samuel Ford, Stirling and those who preceded them, and adjoining to the northeast the "Ford mine " was opera- ted, as we have seen, by Jacob Ford and his lessees and grantees. But those operations were small compared with the mining of the last thirty years. Taking them in order, the mine to the southwest is the Beach mine, owned by the New Jersey Iron Mining Company, for-

merly by Conrad Poppenhusen, who purchased of Dr. C. Beach. It was first opened about the close of the war, and is now being operated by the Andover Iron Com- pany. Next to this is the "Theo. Wood mine," the oldest opening of them all, and covering the vein on the side and foot of the Hibernia hill. It formerly belonged to the two sons of Benjamin Beach, Chilion and Samuel Searing Beach. The share of Chilion was bought by his son Columbus, and Thomas Willis, of Powerville, pur- chased the other half. Dr. Beach and Willis sold the mine, January 11th 1853, to Theodore Wood for $14,000, which was supposed to be an excellent sale; but in 1865 it was sold to Conrad Poppenhusen for five times that amount. It belongs now to the New Jersey Iron Mining Company, which leases it to the Andover Iron Company. With the other mines owned or leased by the latter com- pany it is under the management of Richard George. Next in order is the Old Ford mine, now owned by the Glendon Iron Company. This company, being the lessee of the mines beyond, has not driven its Ford mine so rapidly as those leased by the company, holding it in reserve. Next to this mine are the Crane mine, belong- ing to the estate of Mrs. Eliza A. Crane, one of the daughters of Colonel William Scott, and the De Camp mine, belonging to the heirs of Mrs. Augusta De Camp, wife of Edward De Camp and another one of the daughters of Colonel Scott. Both of these mines and the Upper Wood mine are and have been for many years leased and operated by the Glendon Iron Company, whose general superintendent and manager is George Richards, of Dover. The Upper Wood mine, so called from having once been owned by Theodore T. Wood, and to distinguish it from the one under the hill, for- merly belonged to Elijah D. Scott, a son of Colonel William Scott. Beyond the Upper Wood mine is the Willis mine, which was once the property of Araminta Scott, another of the daughters of Colonel Scott. It is now operated by the Bethlehem Iron Company and be- longs, as does also the Upper Wood mine, to the New Jersey Iron Mining Company.

An underground railroad has been constructed from the foot of the hill northeast upon or in the vein through the bowels of the mountain, which brings the product of all the upper mines to the terminus of the Hibernia Railroad, on which all the ore of the Hibernia mines goes to market. The tonnage of this road, almost en- tirely made up of the product of these mines, was 99, 123 tons in 1879.

The Beach Glen mine is at Beach Glen, near the site of the old Johnston iron works and east of the old pond. It was formerly the property of Colonel Samuel S. Beach, who sold it to Samuel B. Halsey and Freeman Wood. They sold it for $4,000 to the Boonton Company, from whom it has come to the possession of the estate of James Cowper Lord, deceased. It was not in operation from 1875 to 1879. There are two large veins on the property, which have been worked to a depth of from 100 to 130 feet. The mine has been very productive, yielding large quantities of ore.

HISTORY OF MORRIS COUNTY.

The Cobb mine, east of the Split Rock Pond is an old mine, owned and worked for many years before his death by Judge Andrew B. Cobb. It still belongs to his estate, and with the forge at Split Rock is under lease to William D. Marvel, of New York.

The Split Rock Pond mine was opened within the last few years by William S. De Camp, on the property of Benjamin F. and Monroe Howell, at the head of Split Rock Pond. Two veins of good size not fifty feet apart have been opened upon, with a good quality of ore. Transportation must be by wagons to Boonton or Beach Glen, which prevents development except when prices of iron rule high.

The mines of the Chester Iron Company (that on the Halsey tract now owned by A. S. Hewitt, the Canfield or Pardee mine, the Davenport mine, the Green Pond or Copperas mine, belonging to the estate of Andrew B. Cobb, Howell's mine, Kitchel's mine, lately Bancroft's, and the Charlottenburg mine) are all upon what appears to be one vein, having its principal openings at the Cop- peras works. The vein lies under and along the east side of Copperas Mountain, and extends with more or less in- terruption from the Pequannock River to Denmark. Most of the ore is strongly impregnated with sulphur, which prevented its being used by the old forges for making iron. The absence of phosphorus makes it very valuable, however. for making Bessemer steel. The mines were operated by Job Allen in the Revolutionary war, and by Dr. Charles Graham during the war of 1812, and large quantities of the ore taken out for making cop- peras. A little was probably also used for making iron. In 1873 leases were made of this mine to William S. De Camp, who transferred them almost at once to the Green Pond Iron Mining Company. A railroad was built to the Midland Railroad, and over 60,000 tons of iron have been taken out by the tenants in the last eight years. The mines are not now in operation.

The Musconetcong Belt covers the remainder of the county to the northwest of the Passaic belt (the Pequest Belt, the fourth mentioned by Professor Cook, lying en- tirely outside of the county). It includes the following mines in Morris county: In Washington township, Sharp, Kann, Hunt Farm, Stoutenberg, Fisher, Marsh, Dickin- son, Hunt, Lake, Naughright, Sharp, Rarick, Hopler and Poole; in Mount Olive township, Shouse, Cramer, Smith, Appleget, Smith Lawrence, Mount Olive or Solomons, Drake and Osborne; in Roxbury township, Hilts, Baptist Church, King, High Ledge and Gove; in Jefferson township, Davenport, Nolands, Hurdtown, Apatite, Hurd, Lower Weldon, Weldon, Dodge, Ford, Scofield, Fraser, Duffee and Shongum.

Many of these mines are simply opened and their real value not developed. Some of them in Jefferson have been operated extensively. The Hurd mine, leased by the Glendon Iron Company of the estate of John Hurd, has perhaps produced the largest quantity of the best ore. The shoot is 60 feet high and 40 feet wide, and the slope has reached a length of 1,450 feet. The ore is shipped by way of the Ogden Mine Railroad and Lake | felt.

Hopatcong, and thence to the company's furnaces at Glendon, Pa.

Through the kindness of G. L. Bryant, of the High Bridge Railroad, of H. W. Cortright, superintendent of the Ogden Mine Railroad, and of John S. Gibson, of the Iron Era, we have obtained the amount of ore shipped from the county or from one part of the county to Chester furnace for the year ending July Ist 1881 over the High Bridge, Ogden Mine and Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroads-the Ogden Mine connecting through Lake Hopatcong with the Morris Canal. The amounts are as follows: Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Rail- road, 297,359 tons 9 cwt .; Ogden Mine Railroad, 72,668 tons 13 cwt .; High Bridge to Chester, 18,386 tons; High Bridge to Phillipsburg, 161,135 tons 5 cwt .; total, 549,- 549 tons 7 cwt.

Besides this amount should be added what is shipped from the Dickerson mine to Stanhope and that which is sent over the New Jersey Midland Railroad. Professor Cook estimates the entire ore product of the State for the year 1880 at 800,000 tons. If the amount is the same from July Ist 1880 to July Ist 1881 then Morris county produces over two- thirds of all the ore mined in the State.

From the "Census of the Production of Iron Ore in the United States " compiled from the official figures for the bulletin of the Iron and Steel Association, we extract the following: There were nineteen mines in the country which produced over 50,000 tons each during the census year, two of which are in Morris county. First in order is the Cornwall Ore Bank, in Lebanon county, Pa., with a production of 280,000 tons. The eleventh in rank is the Hibernia mine, in this county, with a production of 85,623 tons, and the nineteenth is the Mount Hope mine, with a production of 50,379 tons.

· Eleven counties produce 55.14 per cent. of the entire product, of which Marquette county, Mich., is credited with 17.14 per cent. The three leading counties and their product are: Marquette, Mich., 1,374,812; Essex, N. Y., 630,944; Morris, N. J., 568,420. Thus it will be seen that the county of Morris produced about three- quarters of all the iron ore raised in New Jersey. Sus- sex county produced 70,365 tons, and Warren county, 50,214 tons.

CHAPTER XI.

TRAVEL AND TRANSPORTATION-TURNPIKES-THE MOR- RIS CANAL-RAILROADS.

B Y the end of the last century the increased business and population of the county de- manded better roads than had thus far suf- ficed. The pack saddle had been supplanted by wheels, and tolerable roads through the county had been built, but from the county to the seaboard the want of something better was The first turnpike company in the county was the

TURNPIKES AND STAGE LINES.

Morris Turnpike Company, which was chartered March

February 23d 1804 Elias Ogden, Joseph Hurd and John De Camp were made corporators of a new turnpike company, to be called the Union Turnpike Company, which had for its object the building a road from Mor- ristown through Dover and Mount Pleasant, and from thence to Sparta, in the county of Sussex. The con- pany was to commence building the road at Sparta and work eastward. Under the auspices of this company the pike was made which, coming east from Sparta, ran through Woodport, Hurdtown, Berkshire Valley, Mount Pleasant and Dover, to Morristown. February 4th 1815 the company was allowed by act of Legislature to raise $7,500 by lottery to pay its debts, and it is of record that a road near Stanhope was built with money raised in this manner.

March 12th 1806 the Newark and Mount Pleasant Turnpike Company was incorporated, its incorporators being Joseph T. Baldwin, Nathaniel Beach, Isaac Pier- son, Hiram Smith and Joseph Jackson. This road en- tered the county at Cook:'s Bridge and, passing through Whippany and Littleton, fell into the Union turnpike at Pleasant Valley, near Dover. It was abandoned as a turnpike before 1833.

March 3d 1806 a company was chartered to build a turnpike from Morristown to Phillipsburg, with a branch from Schooley's Mountain passing by the celebrated mineral springs to Hackettstown. The incorporators were David Welsh, George Bidleman, Nicholas Neighbour, Ebenezer Drake, Israel Canfield, James Little, John Mc. Carter, Edward Condict, Harry Cooper, and Samuel Sherred, and it was ealled the Washington Turnpike Company. It built the road which, leaving Morristown by the court-house, is still the principal road to Mendham; running thence through Chester, by the late General Cooper's mills, to German Valley, and so up Schooley's Mountain, through Springtown, to the mountain hotels, where it branched, the " spur " going north to Hacketts- town and the main line continuing through Pleasant Grove toward Phillipsburg. In 1823 the property of this company was sold by the sheriff to James Wood, who owned the road until 1842, when he made a reconvey- ance to the company. Mr. Wood also owned the fran- chises etc., of the Union Turnpike Company, which had fare to the Hook was $1.25, and to Elizabethtown $1.

been sold to Sylvester D. Russel and by his widow re- 9th 1801. Its corporators were Gabriel H. Ford, David leased to him. The executors of Mr. Wood sold his Ford and Israel Canfield, and its object was declared to interest in it in 1852 to A. C. Farmington and others, be the erecting and maintaining of a good and sufficient who reorganized the company. turnpike road from Elizabethtown, in the county of Es- At the same time, March 3d 1806, the Paterson and Hamburg Turnpike Company was organized, which built the turnpike that, beginning at Aquacknonk Land- ing, in Essex county, passed through Paterson to Pomp- ton, and so up the valley of the Pequannock to Newfound- land, and on to Hamburg in Sussex. The corporators named in the act were Joseph Sharp, John Seward, Robert Colfax, Martin J. Ryerson, Charles Kinsey, Abraham Godwin, Abraham Van Houten, John Odle Ford and Jacob Kanouse. sex, through Morristown, in the county of Morris, and from thence into the county of Sussex. The act. of in- corporation is very much like a modern railroad act, and. provided for tolls to be charged, condemnation of lands, etc., etc. The road was actually built, entering Morris county at Chatham, and, passing through Madison in almost a straight line, ran to nearly opposite Washing- ton's headquarters in Morristown; passed through Mor- ris and Spring streets and Sussex avenue in Morristown, and so on through Walnut Grove, Succasunna Plains, Drakesville and Stanhope to Newtown.

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