USA > Pennsylvania > Armstrong County > Armstrong County, Pennsylvania her people past and present, embracing a history of the county and a genealogical and biographical record of representative families, Volume I > Part 13
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47
HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
With the growth of the coal business, con- ditions have necessarily been completely to Cincinnati.
changed. When coal was first mined, the farmer took his pick and shovel and sallied forth to the neighboring hillside where he dug up enough coal to supply his kitchen fire. Soon he began hauling coal in his farm wagon and selling it to the neighbors. At that time, the purchaser was well known to the dealer, and the dealer and the miner were the same person. It was not necessary for the trade to issue any publications for the information of its custom- ers, who already knew all the affairs of the neighborhood.
Now the conditions are different. Coal is mined in districts remote from the centers of population. Mines cover great areas and require the use of a great variety of mechanical devices and the employment of armies of men. Coal is shipped to all parts of the country, and the consumer may be a thousand miles away from the mines.
Time was when the Pittsburgh coal was exposed in hundreds of places along the hill- sides and was mined with pick and shovel and wheelbarrow, often by the user himself. In those days, one simply went out in the morning to the neighboring slope, and dug enough coal to last the household for the day. Now it is necessary to mine coal at great depths beneath the surface, often under considerable natural difficulty. Instead of being used for domestic purposes merely, in the neighborhood of the deposits, coal is now used everywhere in great quantities. It is one of the foundation stones of all civilization and the basis of all the useful arts. It generates nearly all of the power on which we depend so much for physical com- fort and intellectual efficiency. To the burning of coal under steam boilers are we indebted. not only for our transportation facilities, our telephones, electric lights, elevators, etc., but our very food, clothing, and shelter are pro- duced by this means.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF COAL
The following statistical history of coal dis- covery and use in this country is compiled from many sources :
1679-Father Hennepin discovered a "cole mine" on Illinois river.
1684-Privilege granted by William Penn to mine coal in Pittsburgh.
1758-Discovery of coal in "Coal Hill" op- posite Pittsburgh on Monongahela River.
1802-Initial shipment of Pittsburgh coal
1800-First used in grates by Pennsylvania settlers in the coal regions.
1812-Coal first used in the rolling mills in Delaware county, Pennsylvania.
1817-Regular shipments of Pittsburgh coal to Ohio river ports began.
1818-Cincinnati coal trade was 116,000 bushels.
1825-Pittsburgh coal receipts were 35.714 tons ; Stockton & Darlington Railroad opened.
1830-Pittsburgh coal shipped to New Orleans. Cumberland coal shipped in barges on the Potomac.
1842-Maryland shipments by B. & O. Rail- road began.
1843-Pennsylvania canal (western divi- sion ) carried 973 tons Allegheny Mountain coal.
COAL STRATA OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY
The carboniferous system occupies the whole surface of the county. The Upper Pro- ductive Coal Measures are in the southeastern corner of the county, the Lower Barren Meas- ures spread over the uplands and the Lower Productive Coal Measures are in the sides of the valleys, while the Pottsville Conglomerate comes to daylight in the deep and rocky ravines.
The geological structure of Armstrong county consists of a series of anticlinal and synclinal flexures arranged in nearly parallel order from southwest to northeast. In the first geological survey nearly the whole of the county was included in what was called the fifth great basin, which has for its southeast boundary the fourth great axis, crossing the Kiskiminetas at the mouth of Roaring run : and for its northwest boundary the fifth great axis, which crosses the Allegheny between the mouths of Red Bank and Mahoning creeks. This great basin is twenty miles wide.
According to the geologists there was in the formation of the various strata a great wave from north to south, but between the Alle- gheny mountains and the highland in Erie county, Pennsylvania. there were six minor cross waves from northeast to southwest. which they call the Six Coal Basins. The synclinal of a basin is its bottom, or the line along which its opposite slopes meet ; its anti- clinal is the line along the top or crest of its southeastern slope: and its axis is the line
1769-Coal first burned in blacksmith forge by Obadiah Gore, in the Wyoming valley, along the top or crest of its northwestern Pennsylvania.
slope.
48
HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
All of the coals of Armstrong county belong These basins consist of one or two benches of to the Allegheny formation, the different cannel and bituminous coal. At Bostonia there are 2 feet of bituminous coal overlaid by 8 feet of fine coal, resembling cannel. This is the finest coal mined in the county and an im- portant article of export. strata, owing to their outcropping at those points, being called Upper, Middle and Lower Kittanning, and Upper and Lower Freeport. These strata have a general rise from the south to the northwest, in the upper part of the In addition to the coals which bear names derived from points in Armstrong county, there are three others which outcrop at various points in the county. The two Clarion coals outcrop at Craigsville, but are of no com- mercial value. The Brookville coal is three feet thick at the mouth of Long Run in West Franklin township, but is worthless there. It is workable only along the upper part of Mahoning creek, but is hard, lustrous and county the Upper Freeport only being vis- ible on the tops of the highest hills. The Lower Kittanning is the most valuable of these deposits, underlying almost the entire county. It is of minable thickness wher- ever found. Along Mahoning creek it has a workable thickness of three feet. Although more limited in area and of variable thickness, the Upper Freeport coal is of greater heating value than the other deposits splinty. in this county. It occurs in deep layers at some places, while at other points it is merely a trace. COAL MINES AND PRODUCTION At some points coal and shale replace each other within short distances, while "rock In 1910 the amount of coal produced in Armstrong county was 3,527,680 tons; the number of miners employed was 4,290, and only six lives were lost in the work, making a percentage of 1.40 per million tons produced. Westmoreland county was 3.75% and Indiana 3.48%. The chief of the Department of Mines states in his report that if the percentage of deaths in Pennsylvania mines can be reduced even to 3% we will have the safest mines in the world. So Armstrong can claim to have precedence over almost all of her neighbors in the safeguarding of human life. At the West Penn mine near Apollo not one fatal accident has occurred in eleven years. faults" are frequently found. It is excellent for steaming but too sulphury for making gas or coke. At the Red Bank mine it is 4 feet thick, at Oak Ridge 3 feet 6 inches, at Dean- ville 52 inches, at Templeton 35 inches, at Goheenville 44 inches, at McCrea Furnace 47 inches, at Putneyville 46 inches, at Charleston 47 inches, at Muff 52 inches, at Dayton 48 inches, at Echo 49 inches, at Mosgrove 52 inches, at Cowanshannock 62 inches, at Mc- Nees 44 inches, at Blanket Hill 25 inches, at Yatesboro 42 inches, at Blanco 48 inches, at Garrett's run 78 inches, at Heilman 47 inches, at Crooked Creek it averages 4 feet, on Roar- ing run the average is over 4 feet, while on Long Run it reaches the limit of 7 feet, 2 inches.
The Lower Freeport is a firm and good steaming coal, but badly cut up by clay veins. It is well adapted to making coke. It lies from 35 to 60 feet below the Upper Freeport. At Cowansville it is 5 feet thick, at South Bethle- hem 4 to 6 feet, at Goheenville 5 feet, at Echo and Oscar 2 feet, at Cowanshannock about 30 inches. It is commercially worked in only a few places.
The Middle Kittanning is not an important coal, although it reaches a depth of 5 feet at Wattersonville, and is not commercially mined. At Mahoning and Echo it is 3 feet in thickness but at Applewold only 15 inches.
The Upper Kittanning is usually of little value but at several localities it attains work- able depths. At Summerville it is 2 feet thick and on Crooked Creek runs from 2 feet to a mere streak. It is occasionally found in basins of small extent which pinch out on either side.
From 1888 to 1910 mines in this county produced 31,926,569 tons of coal. In 1880 the production of coke was 113,000 tons ; in 1890, 31,000 tons; in 1900, 28,000 tons; since which date the manufacture has altogether ceased, as the large quantity of sulphur in the coal precluded competition with the regions around Connellsville.
The following are producing mines in the county, and do not include numerous private workings, the report being for 1910:
Great Lakes Coal Co .- Barnhart, Kaylor and Pine Run Nos. 1 and 2 mines, Snow Hill ; 524,849 tons; 801 men employed; steam power.
Widnoon Coal Mining Co .- Widnoon mine, Lawsonham; 98,804 tons; 156 men; steam power.
Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co .- Mosgrove Nos. I and 2, Mosgrove ; 74,201 tons ; 105 illen ; steam power.
Kittanning Plate Glass Co., Kittanning ; 53.178 tons ; 46 men ; steam power.
49
HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Summit Coal Co., Summit; 135,774 tons; borough of Leechburg and is operated almost 102 men ; steam power.
Dayton Coal Co., Dayton; 64,129 tons ; 88 men ; steam power.
entirely by gravity, the coal being run into the cars from the tipple, the brakes released and the loaded cars roll through the street into the Avonmore Coal & Coke Co., Avonmore; gates of the rolling mill, where the coal is delivered direct to the furnaces. The empty cars are pulled up the hill to the mine mouth by mules.
160,887 tons ; 196 men ; steam power.
Joseph G. Beale & Co., Leechburg ; 144,105 tons ; 137 men ; steam power.
West Penn Coal & Manufacturing Co .- West Penn No. 1, Apollo; 80, 146 tons; 117 men ; electric power.
Fairmount Coal Co .- Mines Nos. 4, 5, 6, 8, South Bethlehem; 282.958 tons; 457 men ; steam power.
Oak Ridge Mining Co .- Mine No. 8, Oak Ridge ; 99,925 tons ; 132 men ; steam power.
Cowanshannock Coal & Coke Co .- Mines Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5. Yatesboro ; 832,179 tons ; 1,075 men ; steam power.
Buffalo & Susquehanna Coal & Coke Co .- Mines Nos. 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, Sagamore; 592,055 tons ; 806 men ; steam power.
Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal & Iron Co .- Cowan Mines Nos. 2 and 3, Cowansville : 51,366 tons ; 104 men ; steam power.
Rimerton Coal Co., West Monterey ; 5,112 tons ; 30 men ; steam power.
Bagdad Coal & Coke Co., Bagdad ; 77,435 tons : 284 men ; steam power.
Haddon Coal Co., Leechburg : 75,373 tons ; 86 men ; steam power.
Raridan Coal Co., Logansport ; 73,600 tons ; 73 men ; steam power.
United States Sewer Pipe Co .- Mines Nos. I and 2. Johnetta; 73.502 tons; 100 men; steam power.
Aladdin Coal & Coke Co., Aladdin; 61,514 cent, and increase in value was $23,215,545, or 16 per cent. Production increased generally throughout the State, 18 out of 23 counties showing gains.
tons ; 86 men ; steam power.
Logansport Coal & Coke Co .- Bethel mine, Logansport ; 55,095 tons; 59 men; steam power.
Gilpin Coal Co., Leechburg ; 70,113 tons ; 91 men ; steam power.
American Sheet & Tin Plate Co .- Kirk- patrick mine, Leechburg ; 30.539 tons ; 34 men ; gravity.
The last named mine is in the heart of the
The great majority of the above mines use cutting machines operated by electricity or compressed air. State inspectors enforce stringent rules covering drainage and ventila- tion, and see that the utmost care is used in handling explosives.
There is a stratum of block coal on Mud Lick and Little Mud Lick runs in Red Bank township about three miles wide, extending about four miles from cast to west, varying from seven to fourteen feet in thickness. It burns freely as a pine knot, with but little smoke, leaving a considerable quantity of clear ashes, with an alkaline reaction.
COAL STATISTICS
The output of bituminous coal in Pennsyl- vania in 1912 exceeded the previous maximum of 1910 by 11,343.964 short tons in quantity and by $16,340,987 in value. The production de- creased from 150,521,526 short tons in 1910 to 144,561,257 tons in 1911, the smaller produc- tion being accompanied by a slight decline in price. In 1912 prices were somewhat improved and the production increased to 161,865,488 short tons. The gain in quantity in 1912 over IQII Was 17,304,231 tons, or nearly 12 per
The average price per ton for Pennsylvania bituminous coal advanced from $1.01 in 1911 to $1.05 in 1912. The advance was significant, principally from the fact that the gain of four cents a ton made the average in 1912 the highest price paid for bituminous coal in Penn- sylvania during a period of thirty years.
1
CHAPTER VII
PETROLEUM, NATURAL GAS, DISTILLERIES, STATISTICS
OIL DISCOVERIES-MAKING "COAL OIL"-THE OIL BOOM-SPECULATION AND RUIN-NATURAL GAS -EARLY DISTILLERIES-THE "WHISKEY INSURRECTION"-STATISTICS OF THE COUNTY-POP- ULATION-MODERN MIRACLES
A Franciscan priest, Louis de la Roche, was the first person to notice a coating of oil on a spring in Cuba, Allegheny county, New York, in 1629. He made no use of the dis- covery, except to bottle the oil for medicinal purposes. For many years after de la Roche's discovery different persons put up the oil in fancy labeled bottles, claiming miraculous virtues for it in rheumatism and other diseases, calling it "Seneca Oil."
COAL OIL
Another oil, made from cannel coal, was brought out by Eli Hancock in 1694, who obtained a patent for the process of distilling it. In 1761 many persons started distilleries for the production of oil from bituminous shale in various parts of Pennsylvania.
from coal into Pennsylvania was an Austrian named Toch, who built a refinery at Tarentum in 1853 for the firm of Peterson & Dale. After that date the refineries increased rapidly in numbers, and were successful until the develop- ment of the petroleum industry.
The oil made from coal was of different consistency and quality from petroleum, but owing to the source of both being in the same State, many persons called petroleum "coal oil," and the name has stuck ever since.
THE OIL BOOM
In 1858 a well was dug to the oil sand by J. M. Williams of Oil Creek in Venango county, and soon thereafter a well was drilled at the same place, by Colonel Drake. This was the inception of the oil industry in Pennsylvania.
The North American Oil Works were estab- In 1860 Thomas McConnell, W. D. Robin- son, Smith K. Campbell and J. B. Finley bought two acres of Elisha Robinson, Sr .. on Thom's lished by a joint stock company in 1856 and were located on the right bank of the Kiskimin- etas, about 200 rods above its mouth. Oil for , run, and the Allegheny river, in Hovey town- illuminating purposes was manufactured from ship, and organized the Foxburg Oil Co. They cannel coal, which abounds in pots rather than drilled a well for 460 feet, but were stopped by the breaking out of the war. Fortunately for the oil industry this territory was later found to be dry. If they had completed this well and been disappointed in their search the industry would have delayed in development for many years. They returned from the war in 1865 and bought 100 acres more of Robin- son, south of the first tract. On this they drilled a well, known as Clarion No. I, and brought in the first producer. The flow was 18 barrels a day until 1869, when it was increased to 25 barrels. regular strata in that region. The coal was placed in revolving retorts, which were heated by external coal fires. Thus the coal in the retorts was roasted and its oleaginous matter expelled in the form of gas, which was con- ducted into a number of iron pipes several inches in diameter, which were placed horizon- tally and side by side in reservoirs of cold water, where it was condensed into the form of crude oil, which was conducted into large tanks, from which it was drawn off, refined, and prepared for burning by the use of chemi- cal agencies and suitable apparatus. The From this beginning arose the forest of derricks that soon dotted the country around Parker City. In July, 1869, there were 25 wells, producing 310 barrels a day. In Novem- ber there were 1,058 wells, in the Parker and capacity of these works was from 1,500 to 2,000 barrels a month. Dr. David Alter of Freeport was a stockholder in this company, and the inventor of the process of refining.
The first to introduce the making of oil Lawrenceburg fields.
50
51
HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
These wells were from 1,200 to 1,600 feet building of the railroads. Then the first pipe deep, and were mostly in the fourth sands. Oil line was proposed from Oil City to Kittanning advanced in 1876 to $4.00 a barrel and there in 1862. The project was defeated in the were in these fields 1,002 wells, producing 9,904 barrels a day. Legislature by the teamsters, 4,000 of whom would be thrown out of work by the construc- tion of the line.
SPECULATION AND RUIN
A monopoly at first prevented the building of competing lines, and the Legislature finally, in 1868, passed a free pipe line bill. The first
To convey an idea of the fortunes made in the oil boom the careers of two of the old Arm- private line was laid across the Allegheny at strong county operators are given. John Mc- Parker, by "Dunc" Karns. There were six Keown had nothing but his strong arms as capital when he went to work in the field. Within a short time he was taking drilling con- tracts, and when he died several years after the decline of the industry he left a fortune of $10,000,000. lines to Parker in 1872. In that year the re- strictions were entirely removed from the con- struction of pipe lines, and this caused the building of "wild cat" lines. These promoters issued certificates for the oil they pumped. and the practice finally resulted in the failure of many operators who trusted the promoters. From the consolidation of these many lines
Stephen Duncan (Dunc) Karns was a noted character of those days. He returned from the war and leased an acre of oil land from Fuller- gradually evolved the famous Standard Oil Company. They paid cash for the oil and thus saved the industry.
ton Parker. On this he drilled a well. borrow- ing the money to pay for supplies. This well produced only one barrel a day at first. This did not discourage him, but he kept on leasing and sinking wells. His first well later yielded
Col. E. A. L. Roberts, in 1864. obtained a 25 barrels a day. By 1872 his income from his patent for the process of "shooting" the wells leases was $5,000 a day.
He made good use of this money. He pro- moted the Parker & Karns City railroad, built the town of Karns City, the Fredericksburg & Orange railroad, started the Exchange Bank and erected the bridge across the Allegheny at Parker. He built a mansion at Glen Cairn and kept a string of racehorses. Ile had many peculiarities, which the sudden accession of riches only accentuated. In 1874 the dropping of the price of crude oil to 40 cents and unwise speculations caused his failure. He went West, ran a ranch and later returned to Pittsburgh, where he practiced law and published a Popu- list paper. In 1898 he returned to the West and in California made a second success in the oil business.
Many other fortunes were made and lost in this oil strike. The price of crude oil ran up and down and many speculators lost all in a single hour. In 1864 oil sold at $4.00 a barrel
WILDCATTING
to increase their production. His exorbitant charges caused many "wild cat" shooters to make a business of torpedoing the wells under cover of darkness. Many fights between the licensees and the "wild catters" occurred, and thousands of lawsuits arose over the illegal shooting of wells. In these suits, owing to his influence and wealth, Roberts always won.
At first gunpowder was used to torpedo the wells. thus loosening the paraffine that accumu- lated in the pipes, five pounds making a charge. Later nitroglycerine was introduced in 1867, thus adding greater hazard to the work. Many accidents occurred. One "wild-catter" con- cealed a can of the deadly fluid in the bushes near a well. The wife of the driller found it and thinking it was lard oil, filled her husband's oil can with it. He oiled the engine with it, with the result that his body was gathered up in fragments.
After the Roberts patents expired in 1883 and in 1862 it had been 10 cents. Prices in the business of oil production settled down later years have been: 52 cents in 1891, $1.72 into a systematic profession. Many of the in 1909. $2.50 in 1913. The supply is slowly diminishing and the price is raising at a cor- responding pace. operators of small producers were rewarded by holding on through the years. For forty years the old Graham well opposite Parker has produced day after day, yielding eight barrels, PIPE LINES and this product has averaged at least a dollar a barrel through the period of its existence.
Part of the oil history is the story of the Many other small wells are yielding their pipe lines. At first the methods of transporta- owners a lifetime income. which though small, tion were by flatboats and wagons, until the is as eternal as the flow of the Allegheny.
52
HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
NEW WELLS
The Pine Creek Oil Company owned and financed by the Lamberton interests of Frank- lin, Pa., have in 1913 leased over 2,000 acres of land in Boggs and Pine townships, and will begin work at once in putting down a number of test wells on land in that district. The first wells will be drilled near Goheenville and each given thorough tests. In a determined effort to find oil every sand will be drilled through, as gas will be a minor consideration unless it is developed in large volumes. It is the general opinion throughout these townships that oil may be found there some day in large quantities and no efforts or expense will be spared to prove these opinions by veteran oil men.
NATURAL GAS IN ARMSTRONG COUNTY
While engaged in tearing down an old mill on Canodonay creek, near Fredonia, N. Y., some workmen noticed bubbles in the bed of the creek and lighting the gas found it to burn without smoke and with a hot flame. They drilled into the spot and put in an inch and a half pipe, from which they supplied the town of 100 houses with light and ran the new mill for several years. This discovery was in 1824, and in 1831 a cone-shaped tower was built at Erie over a gas spring, thereby supplying the lighthouse on the lake.
These were the beginnings of the gas in- dustry in the United States. The introduction of gas into the industries of Armstrong county occurred in 1869, when a well was drilled at Leechburg by Jos. G. Beale and others, who were seeking oil. For several years the oil and salt well drillers had found gas, but dreaded it, and generally shut it off. This time it was tried as an illuminant with success, and later used under the boilers and furnaces of the Siberian Iron Works. This was the first in- stance of the use of gas for metallurgical work in the United States.
At Bakou, on the Caspian sea, in Persia, natural gas had been used by the Parsees in their temples to perpetuate the sacred fire, and at a very early date in the world's history it ever, this was never developed further than in a crude way.
wells began to fail, gas was turned to as a last resource, but it has proved of equal value. Many industries would never have come to this county had they not been able to avail them- selves of this clean, cheap and simple fuel. To it we owe the great glass works, the many brick kilns, the finer grades of iron and steel and the efficient and economical lighting and heating of our homes. It has completely driven artificial gas out of the field.
For a time the gas industry languished, when the pressure of the wells ran low, but it was brought back quickly with the introduction of the gas pump. By this means the flow of the wells is equalized, the pumps being connected with several wells of varying pressure.
GAS COMPANIES
The Carnegie Gas Company have been among the energetic operators in this gas field with others and have put down twelve wells with more or less success, though they have not looked upon it as an especially desirable field and they have perhaps given it a better test than any other company. They estimate that it has cost thirteen cents a thousand to produce gas in the field, which is considered high. This is on account of the number of failures and light wells. We doubt whether other companies have a record of the cost, or, at least, we do not have their estimates.
The companies operating in Armstrong county are : American Natural Gas Co., Phila- delphia Gas Co., Apollo Gas Co., Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co., T. W. Phillips Gas & Oil Co., Peoples' Gas Co. and the Carnegie Gas Co. Some of these are private concerns, but all of them have pipe lines and pumping stations in the county. It is impossible to give a list of the hundreds of wells in operation, as new ones are coming in every week and exhausted ones being closed down. The T. W. Phillips company has between five and six hundred wells in seven counties of the State.
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