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 IV > Part 31
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"And yet that which induces the influx of a new population, must inevitably presuppose the emigrations of the old. The seller will probably go west, influenced by the same motives which led the purchaser of his property to dispossess him. The rich soil of Illinois of Indiana has attractions for him. The old names of the Valley-those identified with its earliest history, will remain perhaps; but what of his? Tempora Mutantui!
"There are yet many fine bargains to be made-men of capital who wish to make safe in- vestments can do so here. No district or country holds out stronger inducements. No branch of business has increased more than the coal business. The Baltimore Company alone, have upon the bank of the River about 6,000 tons.
"Besides this, Messrs, Borbridge & Donley, and other individuals have an immense quantity. All of which if our canal had been completed, would ere this have been conveyed to market.
"During this week, we presume some thousands of tons have been started on the river. The remainder will be upon the bank, waiting the favor of freshets, perhaps till spring, by which time the quantity will be greatly augmented."
In the same publication of April 12, 1838, appears what might now be termed a "snappy" contribution from the pen of one who poses as a would-be speculator in coal lands.
The article in question serves a purpose in throwing a side light on the affairs of that period. In part it reads as follows:
"Come all the way from Boston to buy coal land-heard much of making money here- Gad!'t don't look like it. I'll buy an anthracitometer at Pompton, and try my hand among the natives. Had no letter of introduction-only helps a chap now-a-days into trouble-put him right into the maw of the shark-kept looking around-heard little knots of men talking about land, eight and ten feet veins, extension of the canal, new railroad, beautiful valley, richest min- eral deposit in the world. All this fell upon my ear like the sweet and silver sound of the lute, though a deal more stirring. That man, (naming him,) said one, sold yesterday for the trifling sum of $20,000; and his neighbor, said another sold for $10,000. Having come all this way to make my fortune-force of early education-a New England lad, you know does nothing ir- reverently-concluded to lounge about-look into two or three graveyards-go to an evening meeting, sober myself, and see that the heart was in the right place, and the motive not improper before venturing upon this uncertain business, and rise in the morning with proper views and proper feelings, and then all right within. I'll see how the land lies. Slept soundly-heard the robin-red-breast carrolling his morning roundelay-couldn't stand it any longer-dressed myself and walked out upon the balcony of the third story-the sun just peeping above the Eastern hills-lovely sight-thought of the lines,
"'Oh, there is freshness in the morning air,
And health, that bloated ease can never hope to share.'
"All along for a mile the river was lined with rafts, arks, etc., running rapidly with a strong current to market. What's the value of the property that passes by here in the Spring on the
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Susquehanna? I'll ask that question. Don't believe any of them can answer it .- don't look like studious people-quick at conclusions, most likely, without much calculation.
"Went down to breakfast-met a stranger from Poughkeepsie, ripe for trade and specu- lation. Told me all about the art .- said he learned it some years ago in the Pottsville region- had his pocket full of maps and drawings of future improvements, etc .- half a dozen cities on paper-one at Pittston, another at Nanticoke-the plans of the cities were good-easy introduction of fresh water for the inhabitants .- had seen the Susquehanna bank full a few days ago at Lacka- wanna-thought it myself a fine place to raise water in the Spring for washing and cooking purposes. Profited in a small way by the aptness and wisdom of the York State gentleman's experience. Said he got along without a dollar-took pledges to convey property to him within a given time at a stipulated sum-went off in a hurry, sold at an advance, and pocketed the excess; or if he failed to raise the wind and coax any body into the measure, why then he never returned!
"Rode out a mile or two above to a plain, sensible man, whose land lay favorably to my notion-told me I might have his 4 or 500 acres at $30 per acre. Ask'd him to give me two months to conclude, and put his fist to a piece of paper obliging himself to convey within that period at that price, or forfeit $800. 'Cui Bono?' says he 'Why yours and mine of course,' replied I. He thought mayhap I did not look like understanding his lingo. But I did not come from the East, without a little smattering of the 'Typture tu patulae.' 'That's flat' said he 'why half the boys in Wilkes-Barre have been playing that game. I understand my own affairs.' I walked off -called at two or three other places with like success-abandoned the notion of coal speculations -crossed the river-called at New Troy-got out my horse and cargo of tin and wooden bowls, and thought it better to follow my old business."
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CANAL LOADING BASIN, SUSQUEHANNA COAL COMPANY, AT NANTICOKE, 1861
Pearce devotes a chapter of his Annals to the early coal trade. From this narrative (p. 378) the following additional summary of events is taken:
"We return now to the Susquehanna, and will proceed to give a brief account of the coal trade on that river, and also trace, as far as our limits will admit, the first developments of the Northern or Wyoming and Lackawanna anthracite coal-fields. Before entering on this narrative, however, a short paragraph in relation to bituminous coal may not be amiss. In 1785, Samuel Boyd, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania became the possessor of a large tract of land in what is now Clearfield county, and upon which bituminous coal was discovered. In 1803, William Boyd sent an ark-load of this coal to Columbia; and in a few weeks thereafter, John Jordan sent down a second ark-load, and this was the first bituminous coal which descended the Susquehanna. At this time, inconsiderable quantities of Liverpool coal were used in Philadelphia and Baltimore, and, consequently, the intoduction of our bituminous coal, igniting as readily as the foreign variety, would have been compartaively easy, yet we have no evidence that the Clearfield coal was used in these cities until 1815. In that year Philip Karthauss descended the Susquehanna with three or four ark-loads to Port Deposit, whence it was shipped by sloops to Philadelphia and Baltimore.
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We have no positive evidence that the Wyoming coal had been used in Baltimore prior to this attempt of Mr. Karthauss to introduce the bituminous variety. But the fact that John and Abijah Smith were engaged in the business of shipping coal, and in no other, from 1808 until 1825, renders it probable that some of our anthracite reached Baltimore shortly after its introduction into Columbia. The Smiths were energetic, persevering men, and it seems not improbable that they shipped coal from Port Deposit to Baltimore before the attempt of Karthauss in 1815.
"In 1813, Colonel G. M. Hollenback employed Daniel Gould to mine two ark-loads of coal from the bed above Mill Creek, at 75 cents per ton. In the fall of the same year, Joseph Wright Esq., loaded two arks with coal from an opening near the present depot of the Pennsylvania Coal Company, at Pittston. It was from this opening that Ishmael Bennett dug coal as far back as 1775, to use in his blacksmith shop.
"About the same time (1813), General Lord Butler sent down the river 100 tons, mined from the old Baltimore bed, which, with that of Messrs. Hollenback and Wright, was the first coal from Wyoming to come in competition with Smith's at Marietta and Columbia. The price of coal at these places then ranged from $5 to $7 per ton.
"In 1814, Crandal Wilcox entered the trade, and sent several arkloads of coal down the river from the old Wilcox mine, in Plains township.
"In 1820, Colonel Washington Lee discovered coal in Hanover, on the Stewart property, which he had purchased; and in the same year he mined and sent to Baltimore 1000 tons, which he sold at $8 per ton. White & Hazzard, the same year, shipped only 365 tons of the Lehigh coal to market. Up to this date the total amount of coal sent from Wyoming is reckoned at 8500 tons, while that from the Schuylkill and Lehigh regions did not exceed 2000 tons. And thus, it is seen, that in the year which dates the commencement of the coal trade, Wyoming sent to market a much greater quantity than the other portions of the anthracite field.
"In our valley, at this time, grates and coal stoves were in general use; and Wilkesbarre was supplied with fuel from Lord Butler's mine at $3 per ton, delivered, while the farmers, each digging for himself, obtained their supply from the numerous imperfect openings in their several neighborhoods.
"In 1823, Colonel Lee and George Cahoon leased the Stivers mine in Newport, 14 feet vein, and employed Timothy Mansfield to mine and deliver 1000 tons of coal into arks at Lee' Ferry, at $1.10 per ton. Mansfield notwithstanding he was a Yankee did not understand coal mining; for, instead of tunneling and blasting, he removed a heavy covering of earth and slate from the vein, and broke it down with large iron wedges, at a fearful cost to himself, as well as to his employers, who sold the coal at Columbia for $1500 less than cost.
"From 1823 to 1829 the Susquehanna coal trade increase with considerable rapidity. The completion of the canal, then under contract up to Nanticoke, promised new and enticing fac- ilities for the transportation of coal to market. The attention of Baltimore capitalists was directed to the Wyoming coal field, and in July, 1829, Thomas Simington, Esq., of that city, purchased the Lord Butler mine, 410 acres of land, for $14,000 or less than $35 per acre. Soon after this the Baltimore Coal Company was formed.
"The completion of the canal to the Nanticoke dam, in 1830, gave a great impetus to business in this part of the state, which was further increased by the Tide Water Canal, construc- ted to avoid the dangerous navigation of the Susquehanna from Columbia to tide. In 1834, the canal was completed to the Lackawanna, affording facilities for sending the Pittston coal to market. A coal-bed was opened in a bluff, near the eastern end of the Pittston bridge, by Calvin Stockbridge, in 1828, and during three years he sent about 2000 tons down t e Susquehanna in arks.
"In 1838, Garrick Mallery and John and Lord Butler, Esqs. opened their mines at Pit- ston, connecting them with the canal by a railroad one mile and eight hundred feet in length, and in 1840 they shipped their first coal from Pittston by canal.
"The completion of the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad, in 1843, connecting Wilkesbarre with White Haven, promised another outlet to market from Wyoming coal. These improvements, together with the discovery of the methods of generating steam on boats, and of smelting iron in furnaces, by the use of anthractite, created a great and increasing demand for coal in all quarters of the state, and in the seaports of the country generally. At this time (1843) the coal operators in the valley and vicinity were, Washington Lee, Jameson Harvey, Freeman Thomas, Thomas Pringle, Henderson Gaylord, John Turner & Sons, J. B. Smith, Mallery & Butler, Boukley & Price, John Blanchard, David Lloyd, Jonathan Jones, The Baltimore Company (Alexander Gray, agent,) Nathan Beach, who opened his mine in the Rocky Mountain, below Shickshinny, about the year 1828, and the Wyoming Coal Company (S. Holland, H. B. Hillman & Alexander Lockart).
"In 1838, the Wyoming Company connected their lands, 500 acres in Hanover, with the Nanticoke pool or slack-water, by a railroad 2 miles in length, and a basin, at a cost of $22,700. They shipped their first coal in 1840, and in 1847 Colonel Hillman shipped 10,000 tons of coal from the old Blackman and Solomon Gap or Ross mines to New York and Philadelphia, via the Sus- quehanna and Lehigh Railroad, &c. This was the first considerable amount of coal sent from the valley by that route.
"In 1842, Wyoming sent to market 47,346 tons of coal; in 1843, 57,740 tons; in 1844, 114,906 tons; in 1845, 178,401 tons; in 1846, 166,923 tons, and in 1847, 285,462 tons.
"In 1850 the Pennsylvania Coal Company completed their railroad to Hawley, and com- menced shipping coal from Pittston to New York. This, with the exception of the Delaware and Hudson, is (1850) the largest Company in Luzerne. It owns about 10,000 acres, of which 6000 are coal lands, and ships annually about 600,000 tons to market.
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"The North Branch Canal was completed in 1856, connecting us with the New York im- provements, and during the fall of that year 1150 tons of coal were sent up to Western New York. In 1857, 2274 tons passed up to the same destination; in 1858, 38,947 tons; and in 1859, 51,914 tons. By the extension of the Lackawanna and Bloomsburg Railroad to Northumberland, and the finishing of the lateral roads connecting with the Susquehanna and Lehigh Railroad, all of which has been accomplished at the present date, and Wyoming coal is now transported by rail and canal to all the inland and seaboard cities of the country. The amount shipped from the Wyoming coal-field may be reckoned as follows: From 1808 to 1830, 48,500 tons; from 1830 to 1840, 350,000 tons; from 1840 to 1850, 1,407,554 tons and from 1850 to 1860, we estimate the amount at 4,079,053 tons, exclusive of that mined in the valley by the Pennsylvania Coal Com- pany. The total amount mined in the Wyoming Valley down to 1860, is 10,293,376 tons.
"The shaft of the Dundee Company, in Hanover township has been sunk to the perpen- dicular depth of 792 feet, where the Nanticoke or Mill vein was struck, which is 12 feet in thick- ness. It is the first vein below the surface, and the sixth from the bottom. This proves the truth of the theory that the flats or lowlands in the valley are underlaid with coal."
With reference to the formation of companies for mining purposes and the rise of the independent coal operator to a position of influence and wealth in the community, the present writer finds it necessary to quote at length from earlier historians. There is little of original record remaining for the searcher for facts upon which he may base his own narrative. Speculation in coal properties was so rife in the period referred to, and the ownership and management of many of these early mining ven- tures were changed so frequently that cross sections of the sit- uation at certain intervals must suffice to give to a present day reader an idea of the epoch. As one company succeeded another, older records of the business, ex- cepting those which pertained to title, were considered value- less and frequently destroyed. AN EARLY COAL BREAKER Such statistics of the trade as were preserved have already been quoted or will be dealt with later. Both Wright and Pearce wrote of mining operations and of the men involved in the forties and fifties from a personal contact with the times. Each speaks of the arrival in Wilkes-Barré of Alexander Gray as marking a progressive step not to be overlooked by him who records the development of mining. One of the earliest outside capitalists to reach the valley with an idea of engaging in the business on an extensive and permanent scale was Thomas Simington, a prominent citizen of Baltimore. After a creful survey of the situ- ation, he negotiated for the business being conducted by John L. and Lord Butler. After purchasing the holdings of these pardners in land and mine equipment for a price which barely reached thirty-five dollars per acre for the former, Mr. Simington returned to Baltimore in July, 1829, and interested others with him in the formation of the Baltimore Coal Company. They selected Mr. Gray, then a young and enthusiastic engineer, to manage the property. Mr. Gray removed to Wilkes-Barré some time later with a constructive program in mind and an ability to put his ideas into practice. Up until his arrival, the coal of what then became known as the Baltimore opening in the East End portion of Wilkes-Barré, had been hauled by wagon to a point on the river bank near where the present Gas plant of the Pennsylvania Power and Light Company
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is situated. A crude loading chute ran from this point to the eddy water of the river below and, as the stage of water permitted this chute filled the waiting arks moored to the bank.
The operation of the mine, however, was continued practically throughout the entire year, its product being stored on the bank until river conditions per- mitted the loading of boats.
While the coming of the canal did not entirely end the shipment of coal by river, to reach the easier facilities of the former, Mr. Gray in 1836 constructed a gravity railroad, the first of its kind in the valley, from the mine opening to the canal basin. The rails were of wood and the empty cars were returned to the mine by horses.
A contributor to the Advocate of March 12, 1845, refers to this railroad in an article which dealt in the main with a plan of making Wilkes-Barréa health resort by advertising numerous springs in the neighborhood, one of which, on the lands of Capt. H. Parsons, was supposd to contain medical properties of a decidely healing nature. The railroad reference in the same article is as follows:
"One suggestion more. The great Baltimore mine presents to the stranger the most ready and impressive view of our coal formation of any I have seen, but it is difficult of access. Could not an arrangement be made with Mr. Gray, a gentleman while thoroughly attentive to his business, yet why lizny courteous and obliging, to allow LY9 ALEX. ORAY & SONS a neat car to run up his railroad DIKT for the accommodation of pas- CENTS sengers?"
Payable in Trade at our Store.
GROCERIES, PROVISION DEALERS LA
20 Cts. Almost coincident with the formation of the Baltimore Coal 1 Company, was the driving of the Grand Tunnel at Plymouth. ALEX GRAY & SONS SHINPLASTER Perhaps no event concerned with the early anthracite trade appeals more to the imagination of readers of a present generation than does the story of the faith and persistence of a single individual who struggled forward on an un- charted course, for nearly three years. At the end, almost assured that he had failed in his carefully completed reckonings and practically bankrupt as a result of his efforts, he was to find his dreams realized in greater measure than he or anyone else of his time ever contemplated.
In 1811 Freeman Thomas, a former resident of Northampton County, settled on a farm he had purchased in Plymouth Township and upon which he conferred the euponious title of Avondale. In addition to a knowledge of farming, Mr. Thomas gained considerable information as to coal formations after he reached the valley from a study of geology and associations with Andrew Beau- mont who entertained many correct theories as to anthracite strata. Up until his experiment, no coal measures of the valley had been tapped excepting those whose outcrop gave unmistakable evidence of their presence. And it was many years following this same experiment before shafts below the river level were attempted by even the most daring. Studying the rock strata closely, Mr. Freeman was convinced that by tunneling through a thick measure of rock which pitched at a steep angle on the eastern face of the Plymouth mountain, he would strike the same veins of coal which underlay that particular rock
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stratumn in other portions of the valley. Wright in his Historical Sketches of Plymouth, thus describes the effort of Mr. Freeman:
"Mr. Thomas was in advance of most of his neighbors in his knowledge of coal measures. At an early day he commenced driving the 'Grand Tunnel' into the mountain side, with the pur- pose of striking the coal. This was probably as early as 1828. This was the first experiment of tunneling in the Wyoming Valley through rock. He labored on very assiguously for several years before the object was accomplished. His neighbors regarded the enterprise as utopian, but amidst all obstacles, and against the counsel and advise of his friends to abandon the tunnel, he moved steadily and persistently on; and after three or four years of persevering labor, and with his credit almost sunk, he struck the big red ash vein.
"This experiment established a new theory, new at least in this valley. And the 'Grand Tunnel' as its constructor named it, will long be remembered as one of the most expensive efforts of the early days of the coal pioneers, as also a monument to commemorate the name of the man whose sagacity and foresight were far in advance of his contemporaries. In the toiling years which he devoted to the excavation of the tunnel, he constantly encountered the opposition of his friends; and many of them failing in argument to convince him of what they called his error, would laugh at and deride him, as the last means of driving him from his fixed and determined purpose. But to all this he meekly submitted, still holding on to his own convictions, and finally proved to them all that the error was with them and not with himself.
"Freeman Thomas lived to a good old age. He died in 1847, at his home in Northumber- land county, in his eighty-eighth year. He left the valley for his new residence some ten years before. His children are still the owners of the 'Grand Tunnel' property, and they also own and undivided interest in Avondale.
"Not long after the construction of the 'Grand Tunnel', Jameson Harvey discovered coal upon his premises near by. And these two coal properties being most eligible to the canal, were more extensively worked than any other mines in the township. William L. Lance became the lessee of the 'Grand Tunnel' property in the year 1851. He carried on the business of mining and transporting coal from this mine for several years, and became otherwise very largely engaged in the trade."
Turning to additional sources of information as to the Baltimore and other mines of importance in the forties, use may be made of the "Recollections" of J. Bennett Smith who contributed to a local newspaper in 1905. His references to mining were as follows:
"The Baltimore Coal Co., with Alexander Gray as general manager, had a mine located on Coal Creek, near what is now Five Points, was among the first and largest in the vicinity of Wilkes-Barre. The coal was run by gravity in mine cars to Gray's Basin, which was just east of Market street about in the rear Brown's block, and there loaded it into canal boats and shipped to market, mostly as lump coal. The only small sizes shipped were hammered through cast iron perfor- ated plates and broken by hand hammers through the perforations, then screened by revolving sereens turned by man or horse power.
"During the early forties Samuel Holland opened a mine at Warrior Run and hauled the coal to Hanover Basin, just below Butzbach's Landing, and shipped it from there to market by canal. He also operated a mine at Port Griffith. He was a man of great enterprise but failed because he was a generation ahead of his time.
"Herman B. Hillman, father of Baker Hillman, was also a heavy operator near Midvale, and Jamison Harvey, Free- man Thomas and William L. Lance were among the early operators at West Nanti- coke. Col. Washington Lee of East Nan- ticoke who afterwards sold his land to Parrish, Stickney & Conyngham for $1,600,- 000, was one of the early shippers of coal. The principal men at Plymouth were Abija and John Smith, William C. and Fuller Reynolds, John J. Shonk and Samuel French and others whose names I cannot recall.
"The old Blackman mine, now the
BREAKER BOYS
Franklin mine, was operated by Jonathan Jones, an uncle of Edwin Jones, president of the Vulcan Iron Works. This coal was sent to market via the Ashley planes and Lehigh Canal.
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"About 1847 Mordecai and Hillard came from Charleston, S. C., and purchased the Bow- man and Beaumont land and commenced developments. They built the Hillard block at the Corner of Main and Union streets, also the large grist mill on Union street. O. B. Hillard was killed a few years later by being caught between a trip of coal cars and a pile of stock coal near the Baltimore mine.
"Among the early operators at Pittston were Lord and John L. Butler of Wilkes-Barie, the Bowkleys, the Prices, Griffiths, Tomkins and Johnsons and others. The largest shippers were the Butlers, Bowkleys and Johnsons.
"All the coal up to 1850 was mined by drifts and tunnels above water level. There were a number of small mines operated for local consumption. On the West Side, at Mill Hollow, was Raub's and Ziba Hoyt's; at or near Blind Town (Larksville) were Elias Hoyt and Harry Pace; on the east side of the river was A. C. Laning, on Hollenback's land back of the Baltimore mine, where we drove the teams into the mines and loaded the coal from the face of the chambers. This mine caught fire and burned for many years .* John Jamison at the old Spring House on the mountain had another mine which is now being stripped of surface by the Red Ash Coal Co. There was another extensive opening at Ross's old mill at Solomon's Gap, and William Preston's mine near Sugar Notch, and others along the stream down the valley. All of these were worked at water level, where the veins of coal were exposed by the streams utting through the coal measures.
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