USA > Pennsylvania > Carbon County > History, government and geography of Carbon County, Pennsylvania > Part 14
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The township includes the land between Nesquehoning Mountain (often incorrectly called Broad) on the north and Mahoning Mountain on the south, and contains some of the richest coal deposits in the world. Packer, Lehigh, and Penn Forest Townships bound it on the north and Mahoning and Franklin on the south. It has an area of about fifteen square miles. Nesquehoning Creek flows eastward through this town- ship and empties into the Lehigh at what was formerly called Lausanne. Locust Mountain is on the southern side of this creek and forms an angle with Sharp Mountain, which is called Mt. Pisgah. Sharp Mountain extends westward into Schuylkill, and about five miles west of Mt. Pisgah contains something of a peak which is called Mt. Jefferson. Panther Creek Valley is between Locust and Sharp Mountains, and in it are found the treasures of coal previously mentioned. Mauch Chunk Creek is between Sharp and Mahoning Mountains.
The first town in this township was built at the junction of Nesquehoning Creek and the Lehigh River. This spot was then called Lausanne. It was started when the Easton and Berwick Turnpike was opened by the Easton and Berwick Turnpike
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Company about 1812. Jayne's Run empties into the Nesque- honing Creek near Lausanne. Just how wild and dreary this mountainous region must have appeared to the first settlers may best be imagined by following this creek up through the winding, rocky, moss-covered ravine to the summit of Nesquehoning Mountain where nature has fixed the divide which separates the waters of Jayne's Run from those which leap over the ledges and precipices of Glen Onoko. Save that the timber has been re- moved, the moss-covered rocks, the massive weather beaten bowlders, and tottering, toppling walls of frost loosened stones yet remain in the midst of this grand solitude just as they came from the hands of nature.
The Landing Tavern was one of the first buildings in the town of Lausanne. Abraham Klotz was probably its first keeper. In 1817, he was followed by a man named Holland. John Rothermel, father of the famous artist, was landlord from 1825 until 1832. Isaac Chapman was the first postmaster here. In his diary of August 5, 1817, we read, "Rode to Lehighton to take the oath of office before Justice John Pryor as postmaster of Lausanne." Lausanne in those days contained ten houses, a store, and the Landing Tavern. Jacob Buss was the last keeper of this hotel.
Lausanne would probably have become a flourishing town had it not been for the high price that the owners of the land asked of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company who wanted to purchase it. The company had planned to make it their principal town, but considering the price asked so much beyond its real value, they decided to locate their buildings where Mauch Chunk is now situated.
In 1827, the company was assessed as follows: 346 acres of improved land, 3,692 acres of unimproved land, a grist mill, a store, a tavern, a furnace, a stone house, sixteen stone dwellings, sixteen log and frame dwellings, 42 horses, 36 oxen, and 36 mules. William Butler, George Fogleman, and Henry Rhodes were the only persons who in this assessment were designated as farmers, and of these Butler was farming for the company. Much of the valuable real estate now in the township belongs to private
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individuals, but the company owns by far the larger portion. The assessed valuation in 1910 was $4,498,872, of which $3,734,265 was the property of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company.
Mauch Chunk, East Mauch Chunk, Lansford, and Summit Hill were taken from Mauch Chunk Township. Coalport, Hauto, Bloomingdale, and Hacklebernie are villages.
Nesquehoning is now the largest town in the township. It has a mixed population, and like all mining towns in the county is growing rapidly. Nesquehoning is an Indian term, meaning narrow valley. The town is second in age of the company's early towns. The first house was built here in 1824 for Thomas Kelley. The Room Run gravity road was built in 1830. This locality was originally known as "Hell's Kitchen."
When the company decided upon laying out a town here they put the following into the newspapers of Eastern Penn- sylvania:
"The Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company offer for sale a variety of building lots in the town of Nesquehoning. This town is situated in the Nesquehoning Valley, within half a mile of the coal mines on Room Run, and four and one-half miles by a railway from the coal-landing at Mauch Chunk, forty miles from Catawissa, and thirty miles from Berwick on the Susquehanna. The ground is very favorable for a town plot, and a number of buildings are already erected. It being in the immediate vicinity of the greatest anthracite coal region now known, and on the only ground near it adapted for a town, will, no doubt, secure a speedy and extensive settlement. For terms apply to Joshua White, acting manager, at Mauch Chunk." This advertisement appeared in 1831. Enoch Lewis was at that time surveying the land. In 1832, when the centennial anniversary of Washington's birth came around, a very successful celebration was held which was attended by people from Lausanne, Mauch Chunk, and Lehighton. A great dinner was served at the house of N. Allen at four o'clock in the afternoon.
The town is supplied with pure mountain water which comes from the reservoir which has been built in the third hollow, and supplied by electric power by the Panther Valley Electric Light,
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Heat and Power Company. A silk mill is the only manufacturing establishment in the town. Nearly all of the men are engaged in or about the mines, where work is more regular and constant than in almost any other mining region in Pennsylvania. There are two school buildings in Nesquehoning. The one in the west end contains a room for each of the eight grades, and the one in the east end has one floor of a large addition devoted to high school work and a room for each of the grades below the eighth. There is a Greek and a Roman Catholic Church, as well as a Baptist and a Methodist Church in the town.
There were twenty-two schools in the township during January of 1910, under the management of a principal who devoted most of his time to supervision.
MAUCH CHUNK BOROUGH.
The town of Mauch Chunk takes its name from the curiously shaped hill on the opposite side of the Lehigh, called by the Indians "Machk Tschunk," which means Bear Mountain, or Mountain of the Bears. The earliest known mention of it is in connection with the captivity of the Gilbert family. The name was then applied to the mountain, at the top of which is the Flagstaff. The town is built between Mt. Pisgah and Flagstaff Mountain. Down through this narrow valley flows the Mauch Chunk Creek. In order to build many of the houses against the mountain sides it was necessary to wall up the front of the house a whole story in some cases and dig down the rear two stories. The creek is arched over for almost its entire course, and nearly every foot of building ground has been used.
As before stated, it was the intention of the company's officers to have their principal town at Lausanne, but the owner of the land thinking that the company must accept his price, made it so high that no one would buy at his figure. He was offered three-fourths of the amount he had fixed as his selling price, but he refused. The company never again tried to buy it. They placed the buildings necessary to do business along Mauch Chunk Creek. The house built for Steward Brink and his family-
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was the first in Mauch Chunk. It was near where the company's offices now are located. The family lived in one end and Mr. Brink had his bakery in the other. Mrs. Brink soon kept very many boarders. They took meals and slept in the long shed buildings adjoining the dwelling. The company built sixteen stone houses on each side of Broadway in 1822. Log and plank houses were built farther up the creek. Hotels, sawmills, grist- mills, and a foundry were built about 1825, and in 1827 a wooden bridge was built across the Lehigh.
The Company began to sell lots in 1832 and merchants and manufacturers soon were seen in the town. Experiments were begun to make iron by using anthracite coal, and stoves were made which could be used very well in burning it. The First National Bank of Mauch Chunk was started August 1, 1864. The first newspapers were the Lehigh Pioneer and the Mauch Chunk Courier which first appeared in 1829.
The business portion of the town was destroyed by fire in 1841, and in 1862 occurred the flood which destroyed much prop- erty. The water rose five feet one inch on the floor of the bank; more than forty buildings were carried away or were very seriously damaged; four lives were lost.
In 1826 the population was increased to thirteen hundred and sixty-four, while the number of families was two hundred and sixty. In 1849 it was over twenty-five hundred, and as a majority of voters desired a borough form of government, the Court of Quarter Sessions granted a charter of incorporation in the following year.
Upper Mauch Chunk constitutes the second ward of the borough. It is composed almost entirely of residences which are more than two hundred feet above the lower town.
The town extends about a mile from east to west. It is divided into three wards and the assessed valuation of its property in 1910 was $2,141,938. Eighteen teachers and one supervising principal were employed. The High School was ranked as first class by the state authorities.
The streets are paved and well lighted. The state road connects the town with Lehighton and a bridge spans the river
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to East Mauch Chunk. Water is supplied by two reservoirs, private wells and springs, and the famous Thompson Spring. The gas tanks are along the river below the Mansion House and the power house for illumination is along the Lehigh above the Weigh Lock.
The town people have the convenience of the trolley cars which are run by the Carbon Transit Company to East Mauch Chunk and Lehighton, as well as those that are run to Nesque- honing and Lansford by the Eastern Pennsylvania Railway Company.
Mail is delivered three times and collected four times daily, except on Sunday when it is collected two times; the postoffice being on Susquehanna Street. There is a hose company in each of the three wards, and the chief of police is assisted by specials whenever needed. There are two banking institutions, the National Bank and the Mauch Chunk Trust Company
Among the industries of the town are the Mauch Chunk Iron Works which manufactures machinery of various kinds and employs about forty men; the Mauch Chunk Mill in which silk is spun which requires the service of sixty employees; Corkill's Carriage Works, a facing mill, Harlan's Ice, Storage, and a Butcher plant in which cattle, selected weekly in Buffalo by Mr. Harlan himself and shipped to Mauch Chunk alive, are killed.
Mauch Chunk has twelve churches. The Daily News and the Daily Times are daily papers and the Coal Gazette is a weekly. The county jail and the court house are located here. The Dimmick Memorial Library and the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation Building are buildings especially well adapted for the purpose they serve. The hotels are large and able to accommo- date the thousands of visitors who come to Mauch Chunk yearly.
The oldest houses in the town are at the western end of Broadway. At the Mansion House may still be seen the high water mark of the flood of 1862. The Switchback Railroad, the Soldiers' Monument, and Glen Onoko are places of interest connected with its development which have been previously mentioned. St. Mark's Church is one of the finest in the
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country, its reredos ranking third in the world for beauty, while its fine carved brass litany desk and pulpit are unsurpassed.
PACKER TOWNSHIP.
Packer Township was taken from Lausanne in 1847. Broad Mountain extends the entire length of the southern and middle portion of this township. Quakake Valley extends through it north and south and is between Spring and Broad Mountains. The Quakake Creek crosses the township, rising in Banks Town- ship and flowing eastward into the Lehigh at Penn Haven. The valley is adapted for agricultural pursuits and has many fine farms. The Mahanoy Division of the Lehigh Valley Railroad extends through the Quakake Valley, having a stopping place near Hudsondale. The road from Mauch Chunk across Broad Mountain is being rebuilt by the county.
Hinkle, Hartz, Wetzel, Balliet, and Powell are conspicuous names on the early assessment rolls. Sawmills were built by the Gerhards, the Wetzels, and the Keims. S. W. Hudson came into Packer Township in 1859 and purchased a property in what is now Hudsondale. He conducted the sawmill on his property for several years, and later erected a foundry. The first school house of the township was built in 1823 near what is now the Spring Mountain House. There were only three schools in the township in the early eighties. In January of 1910 there were four.
A pumping station to supply Hazleton with water has been built at Hudsondale. Near this is also a station for pumping oil through a pipe line which passes through the county to New York.
Powder mills were conducted at Quakake for a number of years, but being blown up in 1878, were abandoned. Powder mills were also conducted along the old turnpike about three miles above Mauch Chunk. A portion of this plant was in Mauch Chunk Township.
The township contains rich deposits of ochre. A plant for producing commercial ochre has been in operation for a number of years. The ochre is ground and sold to the manufacturers of oilcloth. It is estimated that the ochre produced in 1909 had a
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market value of about $40,000. An extensive yard for storing coal has been built on the south side of Nesquehoning Mountain by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company.
PARRYVILLE.
A settlement was started at this place in 1770 by Peter Frantz. It is situated at the junction of the Poho Poco Creek and the Lehigh River.
The Beaver Meadow Railroad Company completed its road to Parryville in 1836 and this town then became the shipping point for coal. The coal cars were emptied into the canal boats of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. The unusual amount of water in the river as the result of the freshet of 1841 did so much damage to the railroad, the chutes, and the trestling that they were no longer usable. The railroad was rebuilt to Mauch Chunk and the remainder of the property was abandoned.
An anthracite blast furnace was established in 1855. This property was soon bought by a corporation known as the "Carbon Iron Company," by whom the business was conducted successfully until 1864, when the capacity of the plant was increased by building an additional furnace. In 1876, the property was sold to the "Carbon Iron and Pipe Company" and a building for manufactur- ing pipes was erected. Iron works are still the principal business establishments of the town, which has grown up as the result of the iron industry.
The road extending from Bethlehem to Gnadenhutten along which the town was built was originally known as the Fire Line. It is supposed to have been so called because fires are reported to have been built at the highest points along its course to inform the Brethren at Bethlehem of the condition of affairs at Gnaden- hutten. Franklin and his men passed along its route.
The first school house, made of logs, was built in 1820. The school conducted in it was in session only three months during the year. Parents were required to pay for the children they sent in those days. Three teachers were employed in the schools in 1910.
The borough was organized in 1875 and the assessed valuation of its property in 1910 was $266,280.
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PENN FOREST TOWNSHIP.
Tobyhanna Township was part of Monroe County. When Carbon County was formed all that is now Penn Forest and Kidder formed one township. This took place in 1843, and in 1849 Penn Forest and Kidder were separated.
Mud Run, Slave, Drake, and Bear Creeks flow through it. They rise in the eastern part of the township and flow west into the Lehigh River. Wild Creek with its branches, Tar Run and White Oak Run, are in the southeastern part. The road from Emnetsburg to White Haven passes through this township.
The township was early noted for its lumber. Settlements around lumber mills usually contained a store, a mill, a tavern, and a school house. The assessed valuation of its property in 1910 was $127,344, and five teachers were employed in its schools.
Much of its surface consists of the Pocono Mountains and the area is about seventy-two square miles. There are five plants engaged in the lumbering business. The value of the lumber produced in 1910 was estimated at $500,000. Oriskany grit, sand, and paint ore, mentioned in another chapter, are also exten- sively produced.
SUMMIT HILL.
It was within the limits of what is now Summit Hill that Ginter's discovery of coal was made in 1791, but operations were not begun by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company until 1818. A settlement consisting of the company's miners was started, but it was not until many years after that the locality presented anything like the appearance of a town. James Broderick was the earliest permanent resident, having made his home here about 1821. His wife is said to have been the first woman to have her home in what is now Summit Hill. One authority states that in 1826 there was but one house in this town and only four others in the locality. These were log struc- tures, and that occupied by James Leamon, the "boss," was the only one that had two stories. It assumed the appearance of a town only after the company began erecting houses for its em-
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ployees in 1837. Ten years later an attempt was made to sell lots and people started building houses of their own. Abram Harris built the first hotel in 1850, and a foundry was erected a year later. According to the census of 1880 the population of Summit Hill was 1,763.
The town is approximately one mile long and about as wide, but the borough limits are more extensive than this. The people of the town have the conveniences of water supplied by a reservoir, electric lights, sewers, trolleys, and mail delivered at the post- office four times a day. One policeman is employed and a well organized fire company acts as a safeguard to the property of the town.
The chief industry is the mining of coal, but the town also contains one of the best equipped planing mills in the county. In January of 1910, there were fifteen teachers in the schools. The assessed valuation of the property in the district in the same year was $4,179,750. The coal novelties produced in one year are estimated at $8,000.
Among the things of interest are the Switchback Railroad and the burning mines.
The burning mine had its origin in the old slope about three hundred feet south of Railroad Street and two hundred feet west of John Zerby's dwelling. The mine had been idle during the winter of 1857-58, and it is for this reason that the cause of the fire has never been known. It is supposed to have been started by boys who made a fire on the slope to warm themselves while lounging there. It was first discovered by William McKeever, who was foreman in the mine.
Thousands of tons of coal have been consumed by this under- ground conflagration. It has traveled at least one mile since it started. In its passage, this unquenchable fire consumes the coal, and makes the rock bordering upon it one molten mass, which, on cooling, crumbles to pieces.
Three attempts have been made to extinguish the fire. The first consisted in flooding the mines with water. This failed. The second consisted in boring holes down to the seam of coal and pouring water mixed with culm into these holes. This also was unsuccessful, though the raging of the underground flame was for
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a time checked. In the third attempt a trench was cut across the seam a number of feet ahead of the fire. This trench was made twelve feet wide and at some places 222 feet deep. On each side of the trench was built a wall of concrete and the space between these walls was filled with clay, thirteen thousand carloads of clay being required. More than $400,000 have been spent in the last effort, and the result of it can not yet be told, since the fire has at no point reached the wall in all its raging fury.
TOWAMENSING TOWNSHIP.
Count Zinzendorf named the whole of the Towamensing District, "Saint Anthony's Wilderness." The dimensions of the Towamensing District-for Zinzendorf's name was never generally adopted-are given in a petition, made for its division in Northampton County, as thirty-six miles in length. This peti- tion asked that the district be divided with the Lehigh River as the dividing line. The division was made in 1768 with the territory west of the Lehigh known as Penn Township, and that east of the river as Towamensing, meaning wilderness. Lower Towamensing was separated in 1841, and Franklin in 1851. There were no schools before 1841, when the township adopted the school law relating to the establishment of free schools.
About 1795 General Thomas Craig purchased the land upon which Stemlersville is nowlocated. Here he built a house which stood for a long time, and in 1814 he removed to Lehigh Gap. Daniel Stemler purchased the property, erected a hotel, and it is after him that the village was named. A mill was built nearby in 1833. A regular stage and mail route now passes through the village. Trachsville is located in the western part of the town- ship. It contains a hotel, store, and a school house.
There were nine teachers employed during the month of January, 1910, and the assessed valuation of the property was $289,155. Agriculture is the chief industry in the township.
WEISSPORT.
Colonel Jacob Weiss, the founder of Weissport, was born in Philadelphia, September 1, 1750. He was educated in his native
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city and at Nazareth. Weiss served as a soldier in the Revolu- tionary War, and at its close purchased seven hundred acres of timber land from the Moravians at Bethlehem. He erected a log house for his own use on the site of Fort Allen, to which he brought his wife and two children in 1784. At this time the Solts, the Arners, and the Hoeths were living to the east of him, and the Dodsons on the opposite side of the river.
In "Rupp's History of Five Counties" is found a description of the "Flood of 1786." The Lehigh River raised very rapidly, and before long the whole flat on which Fort Allen stood was covered with several feet of water. On the night of the 6th of October, 1786, the town was alarmed by the cry, "We are all surrounded." The first thought that struck the people was that they were surrounded by the Indians. They soon learned that it was water, and to save themselves they had to leave their houses. Weiss' sheep were penned up in the loft; the cattle were on the hills. Children were carried to higher ground in a wagon and between two and three o'clock in the morning Mrs. Weiss and her husband mounted their horse to seek higher ground. It was soon found that the horse could not possibly carry them since the ground was too soft, and Mrs. Weiss was carried to the hill east of the canal in an armchair by some men. At this time a house near the river was swept away with its inmates, Mr. Tippey, his wife, and their two children. In floating down the stream the house struck a tree. Each of the parents held a child by the hand as the house was floating along, and when the tree was struck the parents caught hold of the limbs and were saved, but the children perished. Mr. Mullein, a sailor, took a canoe and rescued Tippey and his wife from the flood.
Philip Ginter brought the coal which he had discovered at Summit Hill to Colonel Weiss for his inspection. Weiss took it to Philadelphia and there helped to form the Lehigh Coal Company. At the age of eighty-nine years, Colonel Weiss died and was buried in the cemetery now located in the Franklin Independent District as previously stated.
Eighty-nine houses were either moved or washed away in the "Flood of 1862." Houses, logs, and canal boats were piled up to a great height.
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A bridge connecting Lehighton and Weissport was completed in 1805. This later became a part of the Easton and Berwick Turnpike. Boat building was the principal industry for a long time.
The first school house of the town was built in 1838 at a cost of $400. A stock company under the name of "Carbon Academy and Normal School Association" was formed in 1864, but was not a success. A building was erected, but was destroyed by the flood of 1862 and the school was then moved to Lehighton. There were three teachers employed in the schools of the borough during January of 1910.
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