USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Annals of Luzerne County; a record of interesting events, traditions, and anecdotes > Part 26
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The history of the introduction of anthracite, as a fuel, is not unlike the story of the countryman's dog-skin. His dog died, and taking the skin to town he offered it for sale. He found no purchaser. He next proposed to give it away, but found no one willing to take it as a gift. He then resolved to lose it, but a well-meaning old woman seeing it fall from his wagon, picked it up and ran after him with the information, "Mister, you have lost your dog-skin." Dashing it into his wagon, the countryman, in his vexation, swore he could neither sell, give it away, nor lose it.
In 1812 an application was made to the legislature for a law for the improvement of the river Schuylkill. The coal on the head-waters of that river was held up as an inducement to the legislature to make the grant, when
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the senator from Schuylkill county rose in his seat and declared there was no coal there; that there was a kind of a " black stone" that was called coal, but that it would not burn !
In 1817, some time after Messrs. Miner and Cist had abandoned the Lehigh project, the mines were leased by Josiah White and Erskine Hazzard, who had used the coal in their wire manufactory in Philadelphia. These shrewd, enterprising men foresaw that an extensive trade in coal would eventually arise in this state; and to over- come the dangerous and difficult navigation of the Lehigh, Mr. White invented what is known as the bear-trap dams, so arranged as to create artificial floods, on which arks, loaded with coal, were conveyed to the Delaware. By this process Lehigh coal was sent to Philadelphia until the completion of the canal and slackwater navigation in 1827. In 1820, which year is generally considered the date of the commencement of the coal trade, 365 tons of Lehigh coal supplied the market. In 1821, 1073 tons were mined; in 1822, 2240 tons; in 1823, 5523 tons; in 1824, 9541 tons ; and in 1825, 28,393 tons. In 1825 the Schuylkill region sent 6500 tons to market, at which period may be dated the commencement of the coal trade on the Schuylkill.
In 1826 John Charles, a hunter, while digging for a ground-hog, discovered coal at what is now known as the old Hazelton opening, which led to further explorations, and finally to the organization of the Hazelton Coal Com- pany. This is the first company that was organized to work that portion of the Eastern Middle coal-field lying within the boundaries of Luzerne county.
The demand for coal led to the construction of the Lehigh navigation, 74 miles in length, from Easton to Port Jenkins, at a cost of $4,455,000. The Beaver
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MINERALS AND THE COAL TRADE.
Meadow Railroad, 26 miles long, and connecting with the Lehigh, cost $360,000; and the Beaver Meadow Com- pany, in 1837, sent 33,617 tons of coal to market. The Hazelton Railroad, 10 miles long, and connecting with the Beaver Meadow road, cost $120,000; and the Hazel- ton Company, in 1838, sent 16,221 tons of their coal to market. In 1839 the Sugarloaf Company shipped 7350 tons; and, in 1840, the Buck Mountain Company, having completed their railroad, 4 miles in length, at a cost of $40,000, shipped 54 tons to market. Since 1840 additional mines have been opened on the lands of the Hazelton Coal Company, now leased by A. Pardce & Co., who are also the lessees of the Diamond Company's Slope, and the Cranberry and Crystal Ridge Collieries, on lands of A. S. and E. Roberts. The Hazelton vein, worked by Mr. Pardee, yields about 17 feet of merchantable coal. At Jeansville there are 3 or 4 slopes, with 17 feet of merchantable coal, of which 17,773 tons were sent to market in 1846. These mines are connected with the Hazelton road by a railroad, 2} miles in length, and are now worked by Messrs. Randolph and Hampshire.
At Stockton, Asa Packer, Esq., and Dr. M. B. Smith discovered coal on their land, a tract of about 800 acres. It was first opened, in 1851, by Packer, Carter & Co. There are 3 mines, now worked by Packer, Lockhart & Co., who employ 300 men and boys, and 54 head of horses and mules. In 1859 they shipped to market 150,000 tons of coal. The average thickness of this merchantable coal is about 20 feet.
In 1854 Messrs. Sharp, Leisenring & Co. commenced their extensive works at Eckley, which are connected with the Hazelton Railroad by a branch of the Lchigh and Luzerne road. In 1855 they shipped 2000 tons of coal to market, which, in 1859, was increased to 110,000
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tons. The average thickness of their merchantable coal is 12 feet. In addition to these there is a colliery at Mount Pleasant, worked by Messrs. Silliman & McKee, who also have works on the lands of the Big Black Creek Improvement Company. G. B. Markle & Co. have works at Jeddo, on lands of the Union Improvement Company. These several localities are now connected with the Hazelton Railroad by the completion of the Crystal Ridge Tunnel, through which the first coal-train passed on the 29th of August, 1859. There passed through this tunnel, on the same day, the first regular passenger train from Wyoming to Philadelphia by the Lehigh route. The number of tons of coal cleared for market, in 1840, from this region, was 79,459 tons; in 1848, 247,887 tons.
The amount of coal mined in the Eastern Middle field down to 1860 is 5,914,985 tons.
The portion of the Eastern Middle coal field within the boundaries of our county, lies chiefly in Foster, Hazel, Sugarloaf, and Black Creek townships. The coal is deposited in basins, and, in the aggregate, occupies an area of about 10 square miles, or 6400 acres: The coal lands are principally owned by companies, who lease-the mines to operators at rents varying from 20 to 30 cents per ton. An acre of first-rate coal land will yield to the owner about $6000, and to the operator an equal profit or a loss, as the scales of trade go up or down.
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 de- velopements of the Northern or Wyoming and Lack- awanna 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
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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 bitu minous coal which descended the Susquehanna. At this time, inconsiderable quantities of Liverpool coal were used in Philadelphia and Baltimore, and, consequently, the introduction of our bituminous coal, igniting as readily as the foreign variety, would have been comparatively 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 Phila- delphia and Baltimore. We have no positive evidence that the Wyoming coal had been used in Baltimore prior to this attempt of Mr. Karthauss to introduce the bitu- minous 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 depôt of the Pennsyl- vania Coal Company, at Pittston. It was from this open- ing that Ishmael Bennet dug coal as far back as 1775, to use in his blacksmith shop.
About the same time (1813), General Lord Butler sent
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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 ark-loads 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 pur- chased ; and in the same year he mined and sent to Bal- timore 1000 tons, which he sold at $S 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 S500 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 W. 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's 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 fear-
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ful cost to himself, as well as to his employers, who sold the coal at Columbia for $1500 less than cost. Scientific mining in those days was not well understood in America. Few, if any, practical European miners had yet reached our valley. We must, however, except Abraham Wil- liams, who emigrated to America from Wales in 1799. In 1805, this pioneer of the Luzerne mines made his appearance in the " Federalist," published at Wilkesbarre, in the following advertisement :-
"The subscriber takes this method of informing the public that he understands miner's work. He has worked at it the greater part of 23 years in the mines of Wales, one year and a half in Schuyler's copper-mines in New Jersey, and three years in Ogden's in the same state. If anybody thinks there is any ore on his lands, or wants to sink wells, blow rocks or stones, he understands it wet or dry, on the ground or under the ground.
" He will work by the day, or by the solid foot or yard, or by the job, at reasonable wages, for country produce.
" He works cheap for country produce, But cash, I think, he won't refuse ; Money is good for many uses ; Despise me not nor take me scorn, Because I am a Welshman by my born. Now I am a true American, With every good to every man.
" ABRAHAM WILLIAMS."
It will be seen that if Abraham was a good miner, he was somewhat deficient as a poet.
As a class miners are too much given to dissipation, though there are many individual exceptions. They squander their earnings in riotous living, the result proba- bly of the life they lead. They go down into the bowels of the earth, and delve in its dark and gloomy workshops
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A MINER.
by the faint light of the lamps on their caps. The gloom and dampness which surround them, and the labor which exhausts them, depress their spirits. When they ascend to the upper world, the refreshing breeze and the genial light are not consi- dered sufficient to revive their drooping hearts, and the aid of intoxicating drinks is invoked to drive away dull care. They are a most useful people, pos- sessing many excellent traits of character, and deserve more attention from the missionary
and the philanthropist than they have hitherto received.
" Do not despise the miner lad, Who burrows like the mole, Buried alive, from morn till night To delve for household coal. Nay, miner lad, ne'er blush for it, Though black thy face be as the pit."
COAL BREAKER.
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MINERALS AND THE COAL TRADE.
We return to our narrative. From 1823 to 1829 the Susquehanna coal trade increased with considerable rapid- ity. The completion of the canal, then under contract up to Nanticoke, promised new and enticing facilities 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.
BALTIMORE COMPANY'S COAL OPENING.
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, constructed to avoid the dangerous navigation of the Susquehanna from Columbia to tide. In 1834, the canal was completed to the Lackawanna, affording facili-
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ties 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 the Susquehanna in arks. Mr. Wright, of Plymouth, as already stated, had taken out coal at Pittston as early as 1813, but Mr. Stockbridge was the first resident coal operator in that place.
In 1838, Garrick Mallery and John and Lord Butler, Esqs., opened their mines at Pittston, 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 Rail- road, in 1843, connecting Wilkesbarre with White Haven, promised another outlet to market for 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 anthracite, 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 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 Shick- shinny, about the year 1828, and the Wyoming Coal Com- pany (S. Holland, H. B. Hillman & Alexander Lockhart)*
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,
For names of coal companies and operators in 1865, see Appendix W.
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MINERALS AND THE COAL TRADE.
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 Susquehanna 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. (See Appendix W.)
In 1850 the Pennsylvania Coal Company completed their railroad to Hawley, and commenced shipping coal from Pittston to New York. This, with the exception of the Delaware and Hudson, is the largest company in Lu- zerne. It owns about 10,000 acres, of which 6000 are coals lands, and ships annually about 600,000 tons to market .*
The North Branch Canal was completed in 1856, con- necting us with the New York improvements, and during the fall of that year 1150 tons of coal were sent up to West- ern 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 Blooms- burg 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 Val- ley down to 1860, is 10,293,376 tons.
* From 1860 to 1865 inclusive, the amount shipped was 9,209,768 tons.
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ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
The shaft of the Dundee Company, in Hanover town- ship, has been sunk to the perpendicular depth of 792 fcet, where the Nanticoke or Mill vein was struck, which is 12 feet in thickness. It is the first vein below the sur- face, 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.
We proceed now to the Lackawanna coal-field. Wil- liam Wurts, a merchant of Philadelphia, having, proba- bly, read the numerous communications of Mr. Miner and of Mr. Cist, on the subject of anthracite, published in the city newspapers, began to explore the Lackawanna region as early as 1812. Under the guidance of C. E. Wilbur, an early settler there, he found coal at Carbon- dale, and at other points along the Lackawanna river. In 1814, Mr. Wurts and his brother Maurice, purchased land about Carbondale and Archbald, at prices varying from $2 to $5 per acre. In the following year, they hauled two sled-loads of coal to Jones' Creek, a tributary of the Wallenpaupack, and placing it on a small raft started for the Delaware. But the raft was wrecked, and the coal emptied into the bed of the stream. Sometime after this, they took several tons to the Lackawaxen, and placing it on rafts, constructed of pine-logs, succeeded in reaching the falls of that stream; thence it was conveyed in a small ark to the Delaware, and to Philadelphia.
In 1822, they began operations at Carbondale, and mined 800 tons from the old opening in the 3d Ward, 100 tons of which they hauled in ox-teams to the Lacka- waxen, and conveyed thence on rafts and arks to Phila- delphia. There they now came in competition with the Lehigh coal, and this circumstance led the Messrs. Wurts to direct their attention to the New York market. This was followed by the conception of the Delaware and Hud-
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son Canal, which was surveyed in 1824, commenced in 1826, and completed in 1828. Carbondale was imme- diately connected with this improvement by a railroad, and, in 1829, 7000 tons of coal were shipped thence to the New York market. From that day to the present, the mighty company of the Delaware and Hudson Canal and Railroad has stretched its arms like seas, and encom- passed thousands of acres of first-rate coal land, at prices varying from $30 to $300 per acre. The company gives employment to many thousands of people. From 1830 to 1839, inclusive, it sent to market S54,430 tons of coal, and from 1840 to 1849, 2,958,458 tons .*
Scranton was connected with the New York and Erie Railroad at Great Bend, in 1851, by the construction of the Northern Division of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western road, which gave the lower Lackawanna coal- basin its first outlet. In 1856, the southern division of that road being completed, Scranton was connected with New Jersey and the city of New York. In consequence of this improvement, and the construction of the Lacka- wanna and Bloomsburg Railroad, the vast body of coal- lands lying along both banks of the Lackawanna, and south-west of the lands of the Delaware and Hudson Company, has been brought into market, and its resources are now being developed with astonishing energy. The amount of coal sent from this locality to market in 1851 was 6000 tons, and in 1859, about 800,000 tons .* The number of tons mined in the Lackawanna Valley down to 1860 is 12,552,025.
According to Professor Rogers, who says he measured it, the northern coal-field (see dotted line on the accompany- ing county map) extends in length 50 miles, from Beach's mine, one mile below Shickshinny, to a point some dis-
* See Appendix, W.
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tance above Carbondale, and contains 177 square miles. The veins of coal vary in number from two to eight accord- ing to location, and in thickness from 1 to 28 feet. Taking the most reliable data we can obtain, we estimate this entire field to contain about 2,285,600,000 (two billions two hundred and eighty-five millions six hundred thou- sand) tons of good merchantable coal. Add to this 128,000,000 tons, the estimated amount in that portion of the eastern middle coal-field lying in Luzerne, and we have a total of 2,413,600,000 (two billions four hundred and thirteen millions six hundred thousand) tons. This quantity, valued in the mine at 30 cents per ton, is equal to $724,080,000, or valued at the pit's mouth at $1.50, it would be worth $3,620,400,000; a greater sum of money than California could send us in 300 years, at the rate of more than $1,000,000 a month, or exceeding $30,000 a day.
The total area of the anthracite fields of Pennsylvania, which include all of this variety of coal in the United States of any value, is 409 square miles, of which 187 lie within the limits of our county. The total amount of anthracite in all the coal-fields of the state has been liberally estimated at 5,500,000,000 (five billions five hundred millions) tons. From these fields there were mined, in 1830, about 175,000 tons; in 1835, 560,000 tons; in 1842, 1,108,000 tons; in 1850, 4,800,000 tons ; and in 1856, 6,751,542 .tons. For 1859 the number of tons of anthracite and semi-bituminous coal mined in the state was 8,737,766 tons, of which 3,500,000 tons were taken from the mines of Luzerne. The total amount of anthracite mined in this county down to 1860, is 29,060,386 tons .* That mined in the whole state amounts, to the same date, to 83,374,869 tons. At this rate, how long will our anthracite last ? England uses 65,000,000
* For amount mined since 1859, see Appendix W.
1
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MINERALS AND THE COAL TRADE.
tons of her coal annually, of which 10,000,000 tons are consumed under her steam-engines. Such a drain on our coal-fields would exhaust them in less than 85 years. But if we estimate the consumption of our anthracite as averaging about 15,000,000 of tons annually, from this date, it will last more than 420 years. At the present rate of increase, it will not be many years before the amount of anthracite mined in Pennsylvania will reach 15,000,000 of tons annually.
Coal lands in England sell at from $3000 to $4000 per acre, while those in Luzerne bring only from $100 to $300 per acre. The difference in price is mainly attributable to the demand being greater there than in this country. As the demand for anthracite increases here, the prices of our coal acres must advance. It is impossible to say what is the annual capacity of our coal-fields, or to esti- mate the increasing expense of mining, or to conjecture, with a show of probability, how far the bituminous variety will come in competition with the anthracite, all of which circumstances will modify the prices of coal lands. But it is evident to every observer that the day is not distant when our coal acres will command a much higher price than they do now.
To the man of science, the geologist and mineralogist. a visit to the coal-fields of Luzerne is replete with interest. The fossil remains of vegetables and animals are found in abundance, and not unfrequently specimens of the most perfect and interesting character. In the Baltimore mine, near Wilkesbarre, a stone forest may be seen-immense trees, the trunks and roots of which are perfect and dis- tinctly visible .* From several shafts, at a depth of from 200 to 800 feet, there have been taken many interesting fossils, which are preserved in the cabinet rooms of the
* The stump of one of these trees may be seen in the vestibule of the court-house at Wilkesbarre.
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ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
Wyoming Historical and Geological Society at Wilkes- barre. To enter into a description of these, and of the interior of the mines, extending from 1000 to 8000 feet into the crust of the earth, and also of the coal crackers, screens, schutes, &c., used for preparing and loading the coal into boats and cars, would occupy more space than we have allotted to this chapter. Millions of money are expended, thousands of miners are employed, the dangers of damps, spontaneous combustion, and falling of the mines, are encountered to supply us with the "black stones," which were rejected as worthless less than half a century ago. It is foreign to the character of this work to speculate on the origin of coal, and the geological con- ditions under which its formation took place; but the strata of the earth, like the leaves of an instructive volume, contain the history of our planet, and though man has scarcely, as yet, mastered the alphabet of the language in which it is written by the finger of God, still he can decipher sufficient to know that the knowledge therein preserved is of the most interesting nature.
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