USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Wilkes-Barre > A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania : from its first beginnings to the present time, including chapters of newly-discovered early Wyoming Valley history, together with many biographical sketches and much genealogical material. Volume III > Part 98
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*According to Shiber, "the Arndt storehouse was a two story frame, not bad looking, newer and better than the Hollenback storehouse. Down on the bank, near the storehouse, was a spring of fine water." This spring is still (1923) io use by patrons of the Finch boat house, which is anchored throughout summer months near the foot of North- ampton street.
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Baltimore and engaged in ocean bourne traffic. This event commanded a brief notice in the Luzerne Federalist of July 30th, as follows:
"On Tuesday, the 27th was launched from the boat yard of Messrs. Philip and John P. Arndt the beautiful boat John Franklin, named in honor of the celebrated patriot of Luzerne. She is about twelve tons burthen and is calculated as a sailboat."
THE JOHN FRANKLIN Built in Wilkes-Barré, 1803.
No vestige now remains of wharves and docks which lined the river front between Northampton and Market streets in Wilkes-Barré, nor of the ware- houses which were built on the banks above, nor of the boat yard which held its place in the development of a once prosperous river commerce. At many "ports" up and down the river from Wyoming, some of these large warehouses, especially those constructed of stone, are still in existence as sole reminders of that period.
Judge Hollenback, as well as the Arndts, was a pioneer in the development of river commerce. Their warehouses were scenes of considerable activity in the loading and unloading of boats. Cargoes of grain, salt, plaster, potatoes and various other items of general commerce, were raised from the river to the warehouse level by means of block and tackle, at- tached to beams which projected from the roof timbers. Unlike John P. Arndt, however, Judge Hollenback did not confine his efforts to Wilkes-Barré alone. By the establishment of branch trading houses along the Susque- hanna, much after the fashion of the chain store of today, the Judge became a familiar figure from the upper waters of the river, to Philadelphia, as his busi- HOLLENBACK HOUSE AND GENERAL STORE. South Main Street, Erected in 1781 ness took him, almost invariably on horseback, to distant points. His principal place of business was established on South Main street, almost opposite the Pickering house, where, in 1781,
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he completed a commodious storeroom, with offices attached. This building, until the march of progress on that thoroughfare caused its demolition, in 1914, was the oldest structure then standing in Wilkes-Barré.
Both were men of vision. They believed that Wilkes-Barré was destined to become a center of great activity in the shipment and trans-shipment of river commerce, and set their plans accordingly. Indeed, a main incentive in the promotion of the Easton and Wilkes-Barré turnpike, a popular agitation for which was begun in 1800, was a belief, shared not only by these, but by other public spirited men of the community, that the port of Wilkes-Barré would become a principal terminus of up-river transportation, and would benefit greatly by the transfer of freight from boats to wagon trains, maintaining a regular service to points on the lower Lehigh, as well as to Philadelphia. The usual route of river bourne commerce from Wilkes-Barré southward, was over a dan- gerous stretch of shoal and reef, to Harrisburg or Middletown, with turnpike connections via Lancaster to Philadelphia, or by trans-shipment at Columbia or Wrightsville, further down the stream, via the Lebanon-Reading highway to Philadelphia. The fact that by diverting these shipments at Wilkes-Barré, not only the dangers of navigation would be avoided, but the route to Phila- delphia shortened nearly one hundred miles, lent encouragement to this op- timistic belief.
Rafting on the Susquehanna was no less a means of the enlargment of commerce than was the general trade of early merchants. The first of these rafts were composed of white pine timbers, intended for masts of ocean vessels, and of hewn timbers, likewise used in ship construction. Unlike boat cargoes, they were destined to Baltimore, which was a principal point of ship building along the Atlantic. They followed the river's current to Havre de Grace, where, at first, they were broken up and their contents trans-shipped or, later on, the clumsy structures were towed into Baltimore harbor. It is recorded that in the spring of 1794, thirty of these rafts passed Wilkes-Barré. Pearce, writing in 1 860 (page 468) indicates the extent of this branch of river commerce in subse- quent years, as follows:
"The first object of the early settlers was to clear the land for agricultural purposes, and there being no demand for lumber, or means of manufacturing it into boards, timber of the best quality was rolled into heaps and consumed by fire. In a few years, however, after the country became settled, a farmer here and there would erect a sawmill, and would manufacture lumber from the good timber cut on his annual clearings. It was not long before the surplus was floated to market below, in the spring or fall, during a freshet. As the demand increased the number of mills multiplied, and in 1804, no less than 552 rafts, or about 22,000,000 feet of lumber, were taken to market. In the same year, 84 arks and 19 Durham boats laden with wheat, furs, and fat cattle destined for Baltimore and Philadelphia and valued at $190,400, passed down the river. In speaking of this fleet of arks and boats with their valuable cargoes, the editor of the Federalist, published in Wilkesbarré at that time, expressed regret that the Easton and Wilkesbarre Turn- pike was not completed, so as to induce a transhipment of the produce at Wilkesbarre, and secure its transportation over the road to Philadelphia. In 1827, during a single freshet, from March Ist to April 5th, 1030 rafts and arks, many of them laden with agricultural productions, passed Wilkesbarre on their way to tide-water, and to Baltimore. Baltimore was long the natural, and only market, for the Upper Susquehanna trade. But after the construction of the Columbia and Philadelphia Railroad, and the state canals, the trade became divided between Baltimore, Phila- delphia, and other populous places. The demand increased from year to year, and lumbering
became an established business. With many it became the primary, while agriculture was a secondary pursuit. From 1827 to 1849, the increase of the lumber trade was rapid and enormous. From March 22d to April 17th, in the last-named year, 2243 rafts and 268 arks passed Wilkesbarre, on the swollen waters of the river. They contained about 100,000,000 of feet, and were valued at S600,000. Since 1849 the number of rafts and arks has gradually dimished. owing to the scarcity of timber, and to the diversion of trade by the construction of the New York and Erie, and of other railroads, in Northern Pennsylvania and Southern New York. Very little lumber is now rafted within the limits of Luzerne, being conveyed to market chiefly on the railroads and Sus- quehanna canals, while a considerable quantity is consumed at home.
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To the development of the community and its river commerce, the building of saw mills and grist mills contributed. Mill Creek, because of its proximity to the settlement at Wilkes-Barré, and, as well, its available water power sites, was the scene of the earliest activity in mill building. Upon the return of a con- siderable body of settlers from Connecticut, in 1769, with an intention of making Wyoming their permanent home, a saw mill was erected not far from the point where the creek empties into the Susquehanna. In a petition to the Connecticut Assembly, dated at Wilkes-Barré, August 29, 1769 and signed by a number of settlers, attention was called to the fact that they had, at great expense, "erected houses, mills and other necessary buildings."
The New York Journal, under date of December 28, 1769, published an account of troubles at Wyoming, between Yankees and Pennamites and referred to the capture of Maj. John Durkee, while "going from the blockhouse to some mills they were building."
Up until 1771, however, no grist-mill had been erected in the Wyoming Valley. Corn, pounded in a hominy block, was a principle article of diet. Doctor
POUNDING CORN IN A HOMINY BLOCK.
Sprague, who kept a boarding house in Wilkes-Barré at that time, made trips to Coshutunk, on the Delaware, where a mill was situated, to have his grain ground. The flour thus secured was used sparingly and only upon notable occasions.
When full possession of Wyoming was gained by the Yankees, in 1772, a matter of first importance acted upon in town meeting, was the erection of a grist-mill. A grant was made by the Proprietors of Wilkes-Barré Township, to Nathan Chapman, a former resident of Goshen, New York, in the spring of that year, of a site of forty acres of land at Mill Creek; thirty acres on the north side and ten acres on the south side of the Creek. At a point about half a mile from the mouth of Mill Creek, Mr. Chapman erected both a grist and a saw- mill, in that year.
Under the Connecticut law, each miller was "allowed three quarts out of every bushel of Indian corn he grinds, and for other grain, two quarts out of each bushel, except malt, out of which one quart." To protect his customers, each miller was required to provide sealed measures, "with an instrument to strike said measures."
The Chapman grist-mill was a log structure, with one run of stones. It was burned, with practically all other buildings of the settlement, after the Battle
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of Wyoming. In 1781, these mills were rebuilt by Josiah Stanburrough, who had earlier acquired Chapman's interest in the property. By him they were operated, with occasional interruptions during the Yankee-Pennamite troubles, until 1787, when he conveyed the property to his daughter Elizabeth, wife of John Hollenback After the death of her husband, in 1797, Mrs. Hollenback rebuilt the mills to meet an increasing demand for their products, and they passed, with her death, in 1809, to her son, Matthias, 2d.
Sometime after Chapman had sold his Mill Creek property to Stanburrough, he erected, in Newport Township, in 1774 or 1775, a small log grist-mill, with one run of stones. It stood near the line of Hanover Township, not far from Nanticoke Falls, and in its vicinity the Newport iron forge of Mason F. and John Alden was erected, about 1777. 1n 1776, this grist-mill was known as Coffrin's Mill, being then the property of James Coffrin. In 1777, he sold it to John Comer.
Pearce says: "This was the only mill in Wyoming that escaped destruction from floods and from the torch of the savage." Miner states that in the latter part of 1779, it was guarded by a few men, and three or four families ventured to reside in its vicinity. During the Summer of 1780, it was guarded by one lieu- tenant, one sergeant and ten privates from Capt. John Franklin's militia com- pany, then in the Continental Service at Wyoming.
"The mill was a small affair", says the Hon. Charles A. Miner, "and could hardly be dignified by the name of grist-mill. It was, in fact, a corn mill, and was like many others which were erected during the early years throughout the Sus- quehanna settlements They were located upon little streams which were often dry or nearly dry, and they had one run of stones but little larger than a half- bushel measure. These mills were so arranged that when the stream was low they could be turned by hand, and could crack into samp and meal from one and one-half to three bushels of corn a day."
In the year 1772, the Susquehanna Company voted to "give to Capt. Stephen Fuller, Obadiah Gore, Jr. and Seth Marvin, all the privileges of the stream called Mill Creek below Mr. Chapman's mill, to be their own property, with full liberty of building mills and flowing a pond-provided they have a saw- mill ready to go by the 1st of November, 1773." This mill was completed within the time allowance, but suffered the same fate as the older mill along the same stream in July, 1778. Through a series of conveyances, Judge Matthias Hollen- back acquired title to the lower mill site and operated a saw-mill there in 1790. In 1809, he began the erection of what was to be the largest and most expensive grist-mill in the county, near the present site of the City Hospital. The rear of this mill, abutting on Mill Creek, was four and one-half stories in height, the lower stories being of stone. It was equipped with four runs of stones and from it was produced flours which entered largely into the extensive trade which Judge Hollenback had built up throughout the Susquehanna country. This mill was still standing in 1874, but on March 27th of that year, it was destroyed by fire originating from the sparks of a passing locomotive.
Before the allotment of lands to the proprietors of Plymouth township, the owners agreed to set off a tract of fifty acres with a mill site thereon, for the purpose of "encouraging the building of a grist-mill."
This site lay along a small stream which afterwards became known as Ransom's Creek. A mill was in process of erection during the invasion of 1778, one of its erectors, Joseph Denton, being a victim of the massacre. Samuel Ran-
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som next attempted the completion of this mill, but in 1786, sold his interests to Hezekiah Roberts, who completed the mill the following year.
Among other mills of the community which contributed to the early trade of Wyoming, might be mentioned Sutton's mill, erected in 1776, on Sutton's Creek, in Exeter Township, and destroyed during the invasion of 1778. All the mill-iron of this mill was carried away except the crank, now in possession of
THE SUTTON MILL, 1776.
the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society. Cuts of the mill and crank are reproduced herewith by courtesy of the Society.
This mill was rebuilt by Samuel Sutton, a son of James Sutton, one of its original owners, and in 1846, the property having been acquired by E. A. Corey, a third and larger mill was erected on the same site, which mill is still standing, [1923].
There was an early mill in Pittston Township erected at the falls of the Lackawanna by Capt. Solomon Strong. It was built on the north bank of the river in 1774, but was carried away by a flood, two years later. The sec- ond mill in the Pittston district was built in 1794. by Joseph Gardner and Isaac Gould, on Gardner's Creek, in what is now Jenkins Township.
CRANK OF THE SUTTON MILL.
In 1785, Benjamin Harvey erected a log grist-mill near the mouth of Harvey's creek. At the time of his death, in 1795, he had under construction a much larger mill which, when completed, was run by his son-in-law, Abraham Tillbury and eventually became known as the "Tillbury Mill."
The following. written by the late Caleb E. Wright, Esq., and published in The Historical Record, Wilkes-Barré, in 1889, relates to this mill:
"Near the river Harvey's creek passes the base of 'Tillbury's Knob,' an abrupt ledge sim- ilar to Campbell's at the head of the Valley. It was near the brow of the butting ledge, on the waters of Harvey's creek, and distant a mile or so from his nearest neighbor, that Abraham Till-
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bury established his noted grist-mill. It did the custom work for the farmers in a circuit of many miles around. Abraham, a silent, meditative man, wearing spectacles of the ancient style, whose glasses were as large as our silver dollars, ran the mill himself."
In 1798, Henry Tuttle erected a small two story frame grist-mill on Abra- ham's Creek, near where the stone arch bridge on the present road between Kingston and Pittston, is now situated. In 1854, this mill was purchased by Elijah Shoemaker and operated by him and his heirs until 1888. In 1894, the structure collapsed and its remains were removed.
Prior to 1790, Zachariah Hartsouj purchased a large tract of land in Kingston Township and erected a small grist-mill in the narrows through which Toby's creek enters the Wyoming Valley. In 1805, he sold to Samuel Atherholt a part of this tract with a mill site available below the older mill. Here another mill was erected in 1806. In 1817, a distillery was erected near the second mill and both properties were operated by Joseph Swetland who had succeeded to the title of
WRIGHT-MINER MILL. Erected 1795 -- Burned and Rebuilt 1826.
the tract. This section, because of its available water sites, and the number of mills erected along the Creek, became known as "Mill Hollow", which desig- nation it bore until the Borough of Luzerne was erected.
In 1793, Peter Grubb,* at that time a resident of Kingston Township, near the Plymouth line, built a grist-mill in Plymouth Township, on the main branch of Toby's Creek. This mill stood on the east side of the road between Kingston and Plymouth and the stream itself became locally known as Grubb's mill brook.
From the standpoint of present day interest, the Wright-Miner mill at Miner's Mills, deserves mention. Thomas Wright, of Doylestown, whose later
*PETER GRUBE had formerly been the keeper of a general store at Wilkes-Barré, and at the time of his mill ven- ture was a farmer, a Justice of the Peace and a Commissioner of Luzerne County.
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connection with the publication of the Wilkes-Barre Gazette and Luzerne Ad- vertiser has been referred to, removed to Wilkes-Barré in 1791, and engaged in the general mercantile business. In 1793, he purchased of Nathan Waller and John Carey, twenty-five acres of back lot No. 11, in what is now the Borough of Miner's Mills, "together with a mill pond and saw-mill upon and belonging to said tract."
In 1795, Mr. Wright erected a grist-mill at the mill pond mentioned, and built a commodious residence for himself below the mill. This mill was operated by Mr. Wright until 1813, when he sold it to his son-in-law, Asher Miner. then residing at Doylestown.
The following description of the Wright mill was written by James A. Gordon, a local historian, who lived in Plymouth, in 1877. The article was later published in the Record of the Times, and is in part, as follows:
"Thomas Wright, who had come from Ireland before the Revolution, conceived the project of building a merchant mill on Mill Creek about one and a quarter miles ahove the Matthias Hollenback mill, and accordingly, in 1795, he began what was afterwards known as 'Wright's Mills.' It was thirty by forty feet, the super-structure was two stories, and I think from my own impression there were not over seven or eight feet between the floors.
"Elisha Delano of Hanover was the mill-wright and James A. Gordon and George or Ben- jamin Cooper were the carpenters who erected the frame and enclosed it with ordinary half-inch weather boarding. It was started early in the spring of 1796 with a single run of country stones, known as conglomerate rock, which were made by Israel Bennett and Jacob Ozancup. There was no bolter for the first six months, but a sifter was used instead, into which was discharged the meal as it came from the grinder.
"Jacob Ozancup was the first miller and came from Minnesink. Sussex county, N. J. He continued to run the mill until it was fully completed as a merchant mill, which was sometime in 1799 or early in 1800, when the. Tysous came on from Bucks county and took charge of the con- cern, and continued to operate it until 1821 when they removed to Canada. During a part of this time Joseph Murphy was the miller under Thomas Tyson, Isaiah Tyson having joined John Murphy in erecting and operating at Pittston what was afterwards the Barnum mill.
"The facts above stated, which occurred before my remembrance, I have received from authentic sources, being indebted therefor to Nathan Draper. John Clarke and my uncle John Atherton, and William Thompkins late of Pittston, Mrs. Hannah Abbott of Wilkes-Barre, and Mrs. Clarissa (Cooper) Price, all natives of that neighborhood with the exception of John Atherton. Besides this I remember distinctly a stone in the foundation wall roughly cut with the inscription '1793' or '1795.' I have no choice from my own impressions which it was.
"James A. Gordon was a resident of Wilkes-Barre less than three years, removing to Athens early in 1796. His accounts were in my possession up to 1845 when they were burned in my office on the Public Square in Wilkes-Barre. In these books were charges against Thomas Wright for days work done on the mill in 1795. These facts and circumstances, though not absolutely conclusive, are to my own mind perfectly satisfactory that the mill was commenced in 1795 and completed as above stated.
"I now proceed to give a brief description of the mill as I remember it from 1802 up to 1820. My means of information are ample and my impressions of the mill and its features are as vivid as if they were but a week old. Within the last week I have drawn out from memory a front view of the mill with diagrams of each floor or story and machinery somewhat in detail to which the curious reader is referred. On the first floor or basement were the receiving boxes or chests in which the ground grain was deposited directly from the stone. If it needed bolting, it was placed in the hoisting tub and raised to the second floor above and emptied into the bolt hopper, from whence it descended through the bolt to the main or second floor. Thence it was delivered to the owner. The grists which did not need bolting were delivered at the lower door on the south side of the mill.
"Every part of the mill gearing was of wood, except the gudgeous and the journal blocks; all the small journals were of wrought iron, and I have heard my mother say that her father, Cornelius Atherton, made them at his shop on the Lackawanna, at what is now called Taylorville. It is quite probable that the heavy journals for the master wheel were also of wrought iron, as there was no furnace or foundry nearer than the Durham works between Easton and New Hope. If these journals were of wrought iron they must have been forged at Wright's forge on the Lacka- wanna, or at Lee's forge at Nanticoke. .
"This was the model mill of its day, and was the first in the county that manufactured superfine flour, and the first which could boast of a pair of French buhrs or a huller for buckwheat flour. All the moving of the grain and flour was done by the hoisting barrel, which was rigged with rollers ou the bottom so that it was moved with very little effort by the miller In the attic story was a cooler for the superfine flour, which was put in motion by a geared horizontal shaft connected with the master wheel, as were also both of the bolters.
"This mill had a high reputation for its buckwheat flour, for which it was chiefly indebted to the consumate skill of the miller and its huller. The whole machinery was operated by a
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breast wheel of twenty-four feet in diameter, with a head and fall of fourteen feet, the driving buckets being three and one-half feet long and made water tight. At this period there was always an abundant supply of water in Mill Creek, and except in a very dry summer the mill could be run from morning to sun down. I believe that this was the first mill in the county that sent its flour to the Philadelphia market. This mill was destroyed by fire in 1825 and was immediately rebuilt by Asher Miner who was then the owner of the property, and a larger and a better one took its place."
"I think it very safe to say," says the Hon. Charles A. Miner, in "Early Grist Mills of Wyoming Valley" a paper read before the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, December 16, 1898, and published in Vol. V, page 111, of the Proceedings of that Society, "that this Wright-Miner mill is the oldest mill in this County and perhaps in this State still running and managed by the descendants of the original owners and proprietors. It has descended in a straight line for five generations, in one family. First, Thomas Wright; then Asher Miner, his son-in-law; then Robert Miner, the latter's son: then Charles A. Miner, son of Robert, and now Col. Asher Miner, of the fifth generation, who is General Manager for the Miner-Hillard Milling Co., who are running it in connection with other enterprises. Such instances are very rare in this country.
"This mill has been owned and operated by Thomas Wright, Asher Miner, Robert Miner, Eliza Miner, his widow, Charles A. Miner, Miner & Thomas, Isaac M. Thomas & Co., Miner & Co., and now the Miner-Hillard Milling Co.
"Capt. Calvin Parsons says the mill-dam, now standing, was erected by Asher Miner about 1828, about two years after the destruction of the original mill by fire, consequently now is seventy years old. and as solid as when first erected."
Turning from events concerned with the growing commercial affairs of Wilkes-Barré and the chief actors in them, we find that the death of General Washington, almost on the threshold of the new century, was mourned in the settlement, as it was universally over the country. Washington died on the 14th of December, 1799. Six days later the news had reached Wilkes-Barré, and a general meeting of citizens was called at the Court House on the morning of December 27th. Memorial services were conducted under auspices of Lodge 61, F. and A. M., with the Hon. Rosewell Welles delivering the eulogium. After the services, according to records of the Lodge, its members "dined together in company with a number of invited guests, and spent the day in harmony." The martial spirit attending the threatened war with France seems to have induced the formation of a company of infantry at Wilkes-Barré, which, until its disbandment in 1814, as will hereafter be recorded, was a source of pride to the community, as it was a sort of social center for the best known young men of the settlement. This company was known as the "Wyoming Blues." While in existence at the time Captain Samuel Bowman's volunteer company was organized, in 1799, it was not recognized as a military organization by the militia authorities and took no part in the mobilization of forces in prepar- ation for defense against French aggression. James A. Gordon, who wrote from memory of the company many years later, states that it was organized in 1798, and that Joseph Slocum was its first captain, Isaac Bowman its lieutenant and Benjamin Perry its ensign, in that year. No authentic records of its existence were found until the year 1800, when, from among papers of Capt. Zebulon Butler, Jr., discovered after his death, its muster roll, rules of discipline and a description of the uniform of its members were, for the first time, ascertained. The plan of organization called for the enlistment of "particularly desirable young men," and directed that the uniform consist of "a dark blue short coat. or sailor's
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