USA > Pennsylvania > A gazetteer of the state of Pennsylvania : a part first, contains a general description of the state, its situation and extent, general geological construction, canals, and rail-roads, bridges, revenue, expenditures, public debt, &c. &c. ; part second, embraces ample descriptions of its counties, towns, cities, villages, mountains, lakes, rivers, creeks, &c. alphabetically arranged > Part 52
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reserving also to themselves certain residuary profits, and exclusive privi- leges in the management of such company.
The navigation company commen- ced the improvement of the Lehigh in Aug., 1818. In 1820, coal was sent to Phila. by an artificial naviga- tion, and sold at $8 50 per ton, deliv- ered at the door of the purchasers.
The following plan was adopted, to render the passage of the river more facile. The obstacles in the bed of the river were removed, and 13 dams, with sluices of various heights, were constructed of pine logs, at an average expense of three thousand dollars each. The gates of the sluices, of a peculiar construction, were invented by Mr. White, (to whom the company are indebted for many ingenious improve- ments) and merit particular notice. The gates in the sluice or lock were attached to the flooring by hinges, and rose by the force of water admitted from a floom, constructed parallel with the lock, and when suspended, forming a section of the dam. When the floom was closed, the water beneath the gates passed off, and they fell by their own weight, and the pressure of the fluid from the dams. The dam served a double purpose, forming pools of navigable water, and reservoirs. At fixed periods the arks were passed with great rapidity through the slui- ces ; and the sudden efflux of water gave additional depth and velocity to the stream below. These sluices, admirably adapted to the original plan, have proved inefficient for canal navigation, and have been in a great measure, and perhaps altogether, aban- doned. From Easton, the arks pur- sued the natural channel of the river to Trenton, whence a steamboat tow- ed them to the city in gangs of 18 or 20 together. The arks emptied of their freight were broken up and sold, at a considerable loss to the company. These arks were rectangular barges, 16 ft. wide by 20 ft. in length, con- nected by iron hinges, so that they accommodated themselves to the mo- tion of the waves.
During this amelioration of the navi- gation, the coal company erected mills for grinding grain and sawing lumber, and the buildings necessary for shel- tering their work people. A large quantity of coal was uncovered at the mine, by removing from its surface a gravelly loam, from a few inches to 4 feet in depth, and disintegrated slate from 2 to 4 feet. This process has been continued, until the excava- tion has a superficial area of 10 acres, and a depth ,varying from 30 to 70 ft. A road was made to the summit of the mountain, distant from the r. 9 miles, which was soon after paved with stone, or turnpiked in the best manner, upon which 7 tons of coal were conveyed with ease, on 2 wagons drawn by 4 horses.
In 1820 the two companies were amalgamated under the title of " The Lehigh coal and navigation compa- ny ;" and Messrs. White and Hazard, having in the interim acquired the interest of Mr. Hants, they obtained for themselves in the union, the privi- leges which had been reserved in the original organization of the separate companies.
By an act of assembly passed 13th Feb., 1832, the Lehigh coal and navigation company was incorpora- ted, and the property of the prior associations, and the privileges created by the act of 1818, were invested in them. Their capital stock was limited to $1,000,000, divided into shares of $50 each ; and of this capital, their former property formed part. They were empowered to commence a slack water navigation upon the Lehigh, within a year from the date of the act. To this company Messrs. W. and H. became parties, as simple stockholders merely.
To facilitate the ascent of the r., the company resolved on a lock naviga- tion, on which steam boats might be employed. Accordingly a lock was built in - 182 ., at Mauch Chunk, measuring 135 ft. in length, and 30 in with, and the canal, of more than a mile in length, annexed to it, was ex- cavated five feet deep, and its banks
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lined with stone. But as this mode ||N. W. The Mauch Chunk extends was very expensive, and the state had S. W. about 13 ms., to the Little Schuylkill r., which divides it from the Tuscarora mtns. Panther creek separates it on the north from the radiating hill of Nesquihoning, and the Mauch Chunk creek divides it from the Mahoning on the south. The vallies through which these creeks run, are deep and narrow. Explora- tions have been made in various parts of this mountain, and coal has been discovered through its whole extent. commenced the Delaware canal from Easton to Bristol, a change in the plan became expedient. And in 1827, the company having increased their funds by the sale of ten thousand shares, the balance of their capital, determined on making a canal navigation, which should correspond with the Delaware canal. This great work extending from Easton to Mauch Chunk, a dis- tance of 463 ms., consisting of 10 ms. of pools, and 362 of canals, was " The geological structure of this coal formation is extremely simple. The upper rock is commonly a sand stone, or a fragmentary aggregate, of which the parts are more or less coarse or fine in different situations. In this region there is much pudding stone, or conglomerate, and much that would be called graywacke, by most geolo- gists. In these aggregates the parts are of every size, from large pebbles to sand. The pebbles are chiefly quartz ; and even in the firmest rocks are round, and appear to have been worn by attrition. The cement is silicious, and the masses frequently possess great firmness, resembling the mill-stone grit, and sand-stones of the English coal measures. Beneath this rock there is usually some variety of argillaceous slate, which commonly, though not universally, forms the roof of the coal ; sometimes the sand-stone is directly in contact with the coals, the slate being omitted. The slate also forms the floor. commenced in the summer of 1827, and was in condition to authorize the company to exact toll thereon in July, 1829. The canal is 5 ft. deep, 45 ft. wide at bottom, and 60 ft. at top; the banks are firm, and lined chiefly with stone; the locks are 22 ft. wide, and 100 feet long, and are adapted to pass boats, suited to the Delaware canal, in pairs. The ascent of 364 ft., is over- come by 54 locks and 9 dams. " The whole of the river improvement, from its commencement, as a descending navigation to its final completion, as above, including the amount paid to White & Hazard for their property, rights and privileges, and the extin- guishment of Hants's claims, cost about $1,558,000. The toll houses erected along the canal, are of the most substantial and comfortable kind ; and in the completion of this noble work, in the language of the acting manager, " there has been no money expended for ornament, though no money has been spared to render it sound and permanent."
Having thus noticed the operations of this enterprising company in im- proving the navigation of the Lehigh from Easton to Mauch Chunk, we proceed to consider their labors more immediately connected with the raising and shipment of the coal.
Mauch Chunk mountain rises pre- cipitately from the Lehigh river, where it is also the head of the Nes- quihoning mountain, which at a short distance from the river diverges from Mauch Chunk proper, towards the
The great mine, as has already been observed, is at the summit of the mountain. The coal is uncovered, and fairly laid open to view, and lies in stupendous masses, which are work- ed in the open air, as in a stone quarry. The excavation is in an angular area, and entered at different points by roads cut through the coal, in some places quite down to the lowest level. The greatest ascertained thickness of the coal is fifty-four feet ; in one place, it is supposed to be one hundred; but is commonly from twelve to thirty-five feet. Several banks of these dimen-
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sions are exposed, interrupted only by| become causes of subterranean fires, thin seams of slate, running parallel we will not attempt to conjecture. But, that extraneous volcanic force may give new forms to the regions in which they lie, we deem probable, and that at some future-perhaps very remote period, these beds of timber, converted into coal, and their interme- diate and incumbent strata of earth turned into rock, may be upraised and broken into the various forms which distinguish the authracite country of Pennsylvania. Such a process we conceive would be but a repetition of that, which contributed to the forma- tion of the Mauch Chunk mountain. with the strata. The latter are in- clined generally at angles, from five to fifteen degrees, and follow with great regularity the external form of the mountain. In some places they are saddle shaped ; in some positions they and the attendant strata are wonderfully contorted and broken ; and in one place, both are vertical, yet at a short distance return to the gene- ral arrangement. It is impossible to avoid the impression that some great force has disturbed the original forma- tion, by elevating or depressing the strata."
" The entrances to the mine are numbered. At No. 3, is a perpendicu- lar section through all the strata, down to the flooring of slate; and the gray- wacke, the slate and the coal, are all raised on edge. The strata are in some places vertical, in others, curved or waving, and they are broken in two at the upper part, and bent in opposite directions."
Professor Silliman asks, " Has sub- terrancan fire produced these extra. ordinary locations ? It would seem," he adds, " to favor this view, that the graywacke has, in some places, con- tiguous to the coal, the appearance of having been baked ; it appears indura- ted, is harsh and dry, and is inflated with vesicles, as if gas, produced and rarified by heat, was struggling to escape." This is a tempting opportu- nity to indulge in speculation on the origin of coal measures generally. But, the limits of our volume impel us to forbearance. Yet we will avail ourselves of the occasion to say, that we adopt the general opinion, that coal is a vegetable deposit, composed of masses of timber, collected by powerful currents of water; and, that we now behold new coal-beds forming in many of the western waters, where miles of rafts are formed, sunken to unknown depths, and covered with strata of earth variously composed. How far these immense aggregates of vegetation may, in the course of time,
" There are rail roads leading through the mine, for the purpose of conveying the coal to the main road ; and others on which the refuse coal, rocks, and rubbish, are made to des- cend in cars, by gravity, to different points, at which such materials are discharged down the side of the moun- tain. These rail ways are continued over the valleys, and the rubbish thrown from them has already formed about a dozen artificial hills, shaped like a steep roof, and terminating almost abruptly in a descent of hun- dreds of feet. The cars are guided, each by one man, wlio at a proper place, knocks open one end, and dis- charges the load. In some instances cars have run off from the end of the rail way, and the guides have been thrown down the mountain; but, fall- ing among loose rubbish, such acci- dents have not proved fatal.
Besides the incombustible refuse, there is small and inferior coal enough here, to supply the fuel for a large city for years. It is not now sufficiently valuable for transportation. Small coal is used successfully at Mauch Chunk and elsewhere in burning lime, and at some future day may be advan- tageously employed in other manufac. tures.
Two mines have been recently opened within a mile of the large one; they are portions of the same great mass, and present an inexhaust. ible supply of fuel.
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Notwithstanding this great abund- ance of coal upon the summit, hopes of procuring it from a part of the mountain nearer to navigation, have induced the " company" to excavate a tunnel two hundred feet below the precipitous ridge, and within two and a half miles of Mauch Chunk. This great enterprize was commenced on the 1st March, 1824, before the con. struction of the rail way to the " great mine," under the impression that the coal strata here dipped to the south. This supposition proved erroneous, and the company for that and other reasons suspended their labors. The tunnel is 16 feet wide, 8 feet high, and penetrates the mountain through hard pudding stone, 790 feet. Three thousand seven hundred and forty- five 5 cubic yards of stone have been removed, at an expense of $26,812, or $7 16 per cubic yard, or $33 94 the lineal foot. The following state- ment of the particulars of cost, may prove useful to persons disposed to a similar undertaking. The work was suspended on the 9th June, 1827. 23,1292 days labor, inclu-
ding 2, and sometimes 4 smiths, making and dress. ing tools, 18,667 19 Tools and materials for them, 3,785 86 521 kegs of powder, 1,831 00
Candles and oil for light, 812 71
Lumber (for air-pipes and other fixtures), hauling
tools and materials, and supplies for hands, 508 54
268 days, one horse blowing wind,
160 80
Superintendance,
. 680 00
$26,812 00
Shafts were sunk 80 feet in the table land at the base of the narrow rocky ridge; and good coal was found after penetrating seven feet of earth and slate. Coal has been struck in the horizontal tunnel, and though it is not deemed expedient to work it, the expenditure has not been in vain. The tunnel will serve to drain, and give access to the great coal bed above it.
When the company became satisfied of the present inexpediency of making further progress with the tunnel, they resolved to lay a rail way from Mauch Chunk to the great mine, which they commenced under the direction of the indefatigable Mr. White, their mana- ger, on the 8th of January, 1827, and finished so as to pass the first load of coal down the whole line, in three months and 26 days.
" The rail road commences at the Lehigh r., and ascends at the rate of 1 foot in 3} of the slant; the whole ascent to the top of the promontory is 215 feet, and the slant 700. The loaded wagons descend this inclined plane to the river. At the top of the hill is a building containing the ma- chinery, by which their descent is governed ; the most important part of which is a large cylinder, revolving horizontally, and serving to wind the rope attached to the cars. The latter are rolled by hand on a circular plat- form, which, revolving horizontally upon a perpendicular axis, brings the wagon upon a line with the inclined plane upon which they are launched. The rapidity of their progress is in a measure checked, by the weight of an ascending empty waggon, which being fastened at the other end of the rope, and moving on a parallel rail way on the same plane, necessarily mounts as rapidly as the empty one descends ; and when it arrives at the top, it is transferred to the upper rail way by means of the circular platform. But this partial counterpoise is insufficient to moderate properly the speed of the descending car. This object is effec- tually gained by an iron band which clasps the drum, and which compressed by a lever controls its motion. Acci- dents have been rare in this descent, but the cars have sometimes deviated, or broken loose, and one man has been killed. They are now guarded against by a very simple, yet ingenious con- trivance. The rail way is double, until the most rapid part of the descent is passed ; when both ways curve and Junite in one. Should a wagon break
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loose, its momentum will be so great as to prevent its following the curve, and as soon as it reaches this spot, it is thrown out, overturned and lodged on a clay bank, formed for this pur- pose below. Farther down a bulwark is constructed, overarching the rail way, to intercept the loose coal as it flies from the wagon. When the car arrives at the foot of the inclined plane, it pitches into a downward curve in the rail way, and a project- ing bar which secures the lower end of the car, which for this purpose is hung on a horizontal axis, knocks it open, and the coal slides down a steep wooden funnel, into the boat or ark, which receding from the shore by the impulse thus given to it, occasions the coal to spread evenly over its bottom. The length of the main rail
road, from Mauch Chunk
to the west end of the coal mine, is 9 miles, or
47,520 ft.
Length of branch roads to the mine, 8,069
Roads and their branches in the mine, 11,437
Total length of single tracks
12 625, miles = 67,026
The cost of the road was $38,726 = $3050 per mile.
Cost of the reservoir brake shute and fixtures, $9,500.
Whole cost, $48,226
The saving made by this mode of transportation, over that on a stone turnpike road of the best construction on a portage of nine miles is 642 cents per ton, which after deducting the in- terest on the cost of the improvement, produced a saving in the remainder of the season after its completion, of more than $15,000, and the road in less than three years use has overpaid its cost. The actual cost of transport- ation on this road, is thus stated by Mr. White in his report of Ist Jany. 1829, exclusive of tolls or repairs.
Mules and horses cost 1} cts. per ton per m. Hands 1} do.
Repairing wagons
do.
Oil 1
do.
3.53 cts. per ton per m.
full load one way, and the whole cost
|divided into the distance one way only. The wear and tear of the road is esti- mated upon three years use at 1 cent per ton, per mile, making the whole cost of transportation, interest exclud- ed, 4,5,3% per mile. He estimates the cost of transportation by canal in boats of 40 tons burthen at one cent per ton per mile ; full load one way, and re- turning empty.
The rail way is of timber, about 20 feet long, 4 inches by 5, and set in cross pieces made of cloven trees pla- ced 3g fect distance from each other, and secured by wedges. The rail is shod on the upper and inner cdge with a flat bar of iron 21 inches wide, § of an inch thick. These being bedded on the turnpike road for the greater part of the way are very firm and durable ; this excellent stone road gave the com- pany great facility in making the rail way, and enabled them to complete it in the very short time employed about it. The height surmounted by the rail road above the inelined plain is 767 feet in 8} miles equal to about 1º of acclivity in the mile. There are two places for turning out, made as usual by a curved rail road, ly - ing against the main one, and forming an irregular segment of a circle rest- ing upon its cord. If carriages meet on the road, the lighter must return to the place of turning out, or be remov- ed from the rail way track. This sometimes happens with the pleasure cars ..
Upon this road the coal is conveyed from the mine to Mauch Chunk vil- lage, in cars set on four cast iron wheels about 21 feet in diameter, cach con- taining one ton and a half of coal. Fourteen of these are connected to- gether by iron bars, admiting a slight degree of motion between two contig- uous cars, and are conducted by a single man on one of them, who regu- lates their movements by a very sim- ple contrivance. A perpendicular lever causes a piece of wood to press against the circumference of each wheel on the same side of the car, act- ing both ways from the central point
2M
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between them, so that by increasing the pressure, the friction retards or stops the motion, and as all the levers are connected by a rope, they are made to act in concert. The observ- er is much interested in beholding the successive groups of wagons moving rapidly in procession without apparent cause. They are heard at a consid- erable distance as they come thunder- ing along with their dark burdens, and give an impression of irresistable en- ergy. At a suitable distance follows another train, and thus from 300 to 340 tons a day are discharged into the boats. At first the cars descend- ed at the rate of 15 or 20 miles an hour ; but the speed was reduced, as it injured the machines and by agitat- ing and wearing the coal involved the driver in a cloud of black dust. The empty cars are drawn back by mules, 8 to a gang of 14 wagons ; 28 mules draw up 42 coal, and 7 mule wagons; and the arrangement is so made, that the ascending parties, shall arrive in due season, at the proper places for turning out. This is the case with the pleasure cars, and the line of stages which pass by this route through Tam- aque and by the Schuylkill valley rail road to Pottsville.
The mules ride down the rail way. They are furnished with provender,pla- ced in proper mangers ; 4 of them be- ing enclosed in one pen, mounted on wheels ; and 7 of these cars are con- nected into one group, so that 28 mules constitute the party which, with their heads directed down the mountain and apparently surveying its fine land- scapes, move rapidly along the inclin- cd plane, with a ludicrous gravity, which when seen for the first time proves too much for the severest mus- cles.
The mules readily perform their du- ty of drawing up the empty cars, but having experienced the comfort of riding down, they seem to regard it as a right, and very reluctantly descend any other way. The speed first adopted in travelling the rail way injur- ed the health of the mules and horses
|employed on it, but the moderate rate of 6 or 7 miles the hour, at present used, does not affect them.
The pleasure of the traveller on re- turning in the pleasure car is mingled with a sense of danger. The 8 miles from the summit are frequently run, in 30 minutes, and some parts of the road are passed over at a still greater speed, nor is the danger apparent only. The axles of the coal cars have been bro- ken, and like accidents may occur to those of the pleasure carriages. In one instance at least a carriage has been thrown from the road and the passengers hurt, but fortunately not very severely. Due care however is taken by the proprietors to keep the pleasure cars in good repair, and to entrust them to careful guides, who cheerfully conform to the wishes of the passengers, relative to the rate of progress.
With the exhaustless mines of the Mauch Chunk, and the admirable means of transporting their product, the company might have reposed in full confidence of an ultimate and speedy and profitable return for their great expenditure. But their vigilant prevoyant and energetic acting man- ager, has found means to take a bond of fate, and to hasten this result by the discovery and development of new mines upon the adjacent Nesquihoning mountain, 4 miles nearer to the landing of Mauch Chunk, and extremely facile of operation. In a defile of the moun- tain, through which passes a sparkling and bounding rivulet, called " Room run," a name soon to be as famous as " Maunch Chunk," some 20 veins of coal have been explored, varying in thickness from 5 to 50 feet, making an aggregate of more than 300 feet, near- ly 5 times the thickness of the great mine. This coalfield is supposed to be a continuation of that of Mauch Chunk, from which it is distant be- tween 4 and 5 miles. Some of these veins have been traced three and a half miles along the mountain. All of them are accessible above the water level; some of them have great facil-
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ities for drainage, and are provided with most desirable roofs and floors of slate, which render them suscepti- ble of cheap excavation. This is es- pecially the case of a 28 feet vein, in- to which three openings at different el- evations have been made, whence coal of the first quality and highest lustre has been taken. Other veins approach so near the surface of the mountain, particularly the vein of 50 feet, that it may be best wrought by uncovering, after the manner of the great mine. And this labor has ac- cordingly been commenced. It has been observed that the most solid, homogeneous and perfect masses of coal have been found under the thick strata of slate, with a sharp dip, and that soft and pliable coal is to be ex- pected beneath an earthy and porous covering. The cause of this differ- ence would seem to be, that in the first case the atmospheric water is excluded from the coal, and is carried away by the upper surface of the slate strata, whilst in the second, it percolates, and softens the coal, di- viding it into small particles, which adhere feebly to each other.
Professor Silliman describes a pe- culiar formation of the great bed of 50 feet, and its contiguous strata. They rise in form of a half ellipse, placed on end with the curve upper- most ; the form of the mountain of which they are part. " There is here, he observes, the most striking appear- ance, that these strata have been rais- ed by force from beneath; and it is difficult to avoid the conviction that they were also broken at the top; for at the upper end of the stratum of coal there is a huge rock, 20 feet in two of its dimensions, and five or six feet in the other, which has been broken off from the roof rock, a greywacke of which it is part, and fallen in ; and the coal seems then to have closed all around and shut it in on all sides, ex- cept, that in one place on the right hand a little below the top, the rupture is continued to the surface, and that place was then filled and concealed by
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