USA > Pennsylvania > Beaver County > History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and its centennial celebration, Volume I > Part 35
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agricultural works, distilleries, furniture establishments, cutlery works, car shops, and factories for the making of plows, carding machines, steam engines, window sashes, baskets, buckets, tubs, wire, scythes, cotton goods, carpets, lasts, silk, files, axes, hoes, glass, and almost everything that man needs for his comfort or convenience.
Details of individual establishments will be found in the chapters on the several boroughs and townships in other por- tions of this work, but we will give here some account of one of the most important enterprises in the earlier period of Beaver County's industrial development.
BOAT BUILDING IN BEAVER COUNTY
The early explorers of this region had navigated the waters of the Ohio and the Beaver in bateaux, some of which were built at Fort Pitt as early as 1777. Later, keel-boats as well as flat-boats were used; but the complete success of Robert Fulton's attempt at steam navigation on the Hudson in 1807 turned the attention of Fulton and Livingston to its application on the western waters, and as a result of their investigations it was decided to build a boat at Pittsburg. This was done under the direction of Mr. Roosevelt 1 of New York, and in 1811 the first steamboat was launched on the Ohio River. It was called the New Orleans. This boat was four days in making her maiden trip from Pittsburg to Louisville, Ky. The difficulties peculiar to navigation in the varying waters of the western rivers were still deterrent to confidence in the success of the venture, how- ever, and it was not until 1816 that the public generally was persuaded that steam navigation was practicable in these waters. After this date a rapid growth in steamboat building took place. As showing the vast importance of this new mode of navigation, and its influence upon the life and manners of the people, we may profitably insert here a brief description of river travel in pioneer times.
The early navigation of the western rivers was attended with every kind of hardship and peril, and the return up the stream especially, required men of iron frame and courage. Sometimes
1 Grandfather of President Roosevelt. Captain Peter Shouse for whom Shousetown, Allegheny County, was named, and who came to that place in 1827, helped to build the New Orleans.
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History of Beaver County
the boat was propelled by poles or sweeps, and in ascending had frequently to be towed against the current by the crew walking along the shore and pulling on a rope fastened to the bows. When from the nature of the shores this was not possible, the "warping" process was employed. In this case, the yawl would be sent out with a coil of rope, which was fastened to a tree or rock on shore, and the crew would then pull the boat up by this line, the yawl in the meantime carrying another line farther ahead to be fastened and used in like manner. On the Ohio "setting poles" were frequently employed. These were poles set in the bed of the river, against which the men put their shoulders, and by pushing carried the boat forward. But the labor of navigation was not the worst feature of the hardship which the crews and passengers of these early boating days had to endure. Up to 1794, when Wayne's victory as we have frequently remarked, quelled the savages, they were constant in their efforts to destroy the voyagers on the rivers, either by shooting at them from the high banks on either side or by board- ing, when they felt themselves powerful enough to do so.1 The advertisement which follows, and which appeared in the Cen- tinel of the Northwestern Territory, published at Cincinnati under date of January 11, 1794, will show the character of the protec- tion which was offered by boat companies to encourage travel in their craft:
Two boats for the present will start from Cincinnati for Pittsburgh and return to Cincinnati in the following manner, viz .: First boat will leave Cincinnati this morning at eight o'clock, and return to Cincinnati so as to be ready to sail again in four weeks. The second boat will leave Cincinnati on Saturday, the 30th inst. and return to Cincinnati in four weeks as above. And so regularly, each boat performing the voyage to and from Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, once in every four weeks.
No danger need be apprehended from the enemy, as every person on board will be under cover made proof against rifle or musket balls and convenient port holes for firing out of. Each of the boats is armed with six pieces, carrying a pound ball; also a number of good muskets and amply supplied with plenty of ammunition, strongly manned with choice hands and the masters of approved knowledge.
ยท A separate cabin from that designed for the men is partitioned off
1 "Sometimes an Indian dressed in the old clothes of a white man would appear alone and unarmed on the shore and lure the occupants of the boats within reach by pretending to be an escaped captive and calling for assistance, when the enemy concealed behind rocks and bushes fired upon them."-Old Pittsburgh Days, Chapman, p. 162.
ESSENCES.
Ferry Boat Messenger, about 1833, Rochester and Phillipsburg.
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History of Beaver County
in each boat for accommodating ladies . . Conveniencies are con- structed on board each boat so as to render landing unnecessary, as it might at times be attended with danger. Passengers are supplied with provisions and liquors of all kinds, of the first quality, at the most reason- able rates possible. 1
The private boatman or company of emigrants would not enjoy these superior advantages, however, and many a traveler yielded up his life on these rivers. After the danger from the Indians was past, the voyage was still for a long time dangerous from the fact that bands of lawless men infested the shores of these rivers, and piracy was not uncommon, especially, of course, on the lower waters. Not infrequently, too, the barge- men were rascally fellows, in league with the robbers on shore. A beautiful and romantic spot, called "Cave-in-Rock," on the Ohio River, was the general rendezvous for freebooters and evil-minded boatmen. Here they made their plots and divided their plunder.2 One of the most notorious of these banditti bargemen was Mike Fink, who had been an Indian scout at Pittsburg, and another was James Girty, a nephew of Simon Girty the renegade.3 It is a tradition concerning James Girty
1 A singular method of protection is related in the following note:
"November [1790] I proceeded [from Pittsburg] down the Ohio in Mr. Beall's Boat, which was a moveable Fortification; having about one Hundred and Fifty Salt Pans so arranged as to render a few Men within capable of repulsing ten Times their Number with- out."-A Tour through the Southern and Western Territories of the United States, by John Pope; printed by John Dixon, Richmond, 1792; reprinted by C. L. Woodward, New York, 1888, page 18.
2 Lloyd's Steamboat Directory and Disasters, Cincinnati, 1856, page 39. From Zadoc Cramer's Navigator for 1818 we learn that this cave was also called the "House of Na- ture." It was on the Ohio, some distance below the mouth of the Wabash. See the Navigator, pp. 120, 224.
3 Lloyd, pages 37-38. Our readers may pardon us if we quote from this rare old book the substance of one or two anecdotes concerning Fink. On one occasion he was stealthily creeping through the woods, when he saw a beautiful buck browsing at some distance ahead of him, and despite the proximity of Indian enemies, he determined to try a shot at it. Just as he raised his rifle to fire, he saw a large Indian, intent upon the same object, ad- vancing beyond him. The Indian had not observed Fink, who immediately drew back behind a tree, and turned his rifle upon the newcomer. The moment the Indian fired, Fink sent a ball through his breast, and with a yell the savage fell dead at the same instant with the deer. Assuring himself that the Indian was dead and that no others were near, Mike then turned his attention to the buck, taking from the carcass such pieces as he could conveniently carry off.
Fink was a dead shot. It is related that while descending the Ohio on his barge he once made a wager with a passenger, that he could from mid-stream, shoot off the tails of five pigs which were feeding on the bank, and that he won the bet. His reputation as an accurate marksman was such that his companions frequently allowed him to fire at a tin cup placed on the head of one of their number, and this confidence tempted him to the commission of his last crime, for which he paid instant penalty. One of his barge com- panions, named Joe Stevens, had been his successful rival in love, and Mike waited an op- portunity of taking revenge upon him. This came one day when the crew of the barge were
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History of Beaver County
that, instead of ribs, nature had provided him with a solid, bony casing on both sides, without any interstices through which a knife, dirk, or bullet could penetrate. An early writer has said, speaking of these and other similar characters:
Traveling on the western rivers, at that period (about 1800 to 1820) was not less dangerous than expensive and dilatory. Robberies and murders were the common incidents of westward travel, either by land or water. The barges were manned chiefly by men of desperate for- tunes and characters, fugitives from justice, and other outcasts from society, who were prepared to commit any crime on the slightest provo- cation or inducement.
The advent of the steamboat changed all this, for, by making travel speedy it made it safe, and a better class of boatmen began to be demanded, while the increase of emigration which came with improved means of transportation, cleared the country of the lawless elements which had infested it. So great was the change wrought by this agency that it has been well called "the Steamboat Revolution."
Beaver County, at a very early period, was noted for its activity in this new enterprise. In several places in the imme- diate neighborhood of the mouth of the Beaver were extensive boat-yards, where all kinds of river craft,-flat-boats, cotton boats, keel and steamboats-were built. One of the first to engage in this industry was John Boles, who came to this place sometime in the early twenties and settled at the point between Rochester and New Brighton, now known from him as Boles- ville. He established there a large boat-yard, constructing flat-boats, keel-boats, and steamboats. In 1826, John Hartman Whisler,' one of his employees, became his partner, and to him the following year he sold out the business. Under Mr. Whis- ler's management the business grew rapidly, the principal con- on shore, shooting at a mark. A stranger being present, Fink proposed to show his skill by shooting a tin cup from the head of Stevens, and the latter, not suspecting the feelings of Fink toward him, promptly assented to the trial, took his position and told him to "blaze away." But instead of aiming at the cup, Fink put a ball through the forehead of Stevens, and killed him instantly. A brother of Stevens who was present, suspected that the shot had been fired with murderous intent, and as quickly shot Fink dead.
1 John Hartman Whisler was born near Carlisle. Pa., September 2, 1802. In 1829 he married Agnes, daughter of James and Jane Jackson, of North Sewickley township. The children of this union are well known citizens of the Beaver valley. Among them are Alfred M., Doctor of Dentistry, of New Brighton; Addison W., the genial reporter of the Beaver Valley News, and John H., a mechanical engineer. Charles, at one time editor of the Beaver Star, and a well known reporter, died in 1893. Mary, widow of Robert Kerr, and Jemima reside in Rochester.
ofkelch of a Flat bottom Beat;such as are used to descend the Chio and the Mississipi.
Half-tone Reproduction of a Plate in Collot's Voyage Dans L' Amerique Septentrionale. Original in possession of Carnegie Library, Pittsburg.
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History of Beaver County
struction being keel-boats, cotton boats, and canal boats. The keel-boat was a regular model boat with a prow at both ends, built in this way in order that the boat might run in either direction without turning around. These boats were usually from one hundred and ten feet to one hundred and twenty-five feet in length, and were furnished with what was called a "cargo box." This was a compartment rising considerably higher than the deck, roofed on top and closed on the sides and ends, extend- ing almost the entire length of the boat, and narrower in width than the boat, so as to leave a way outside of about sixteen inches to walk on when propelling the boat, with openings through the sides to permit the goods to be placed inside of the "cargo box." The purpose of this box was to protect the cargo from the weather.
The cotton boats were similar in construction to the keel- boats, but seldom exceeded one hundred and ten feet. They were used to carry cotton out of the bayous and small streams in Mississippi.
The principal activity in this enterprise was at first at Phil- lipsburg, where boat building, under the ownership of Phillips & Graham, was the main industry during a period of several years prior to 1832, when that firm transferred their boat-yards to Freedom. At Freedom the yards were still further enlarged. There were several other boat-building concerns at Phillipsburg, Freedom, Sharon, and Industry; also at Chrisler's Landing, Cook's Ferry, and Shippingport some boats were constructed.
The extent of the boat-building industry in Beaver County will be seen from the following article copied from the Beaver Argus of August 26, 1846:
STEAM BOAT BUILDING IN BEAVER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
A short time ago we noticed in the Pittsburgh Journal a long list of Pittsburgh steamers, embracing a large number that we knew had been built in this county, thus in some degree robbing our enterprising and skilful mechanics of the credit that justly belongs to them. To do them justice, we have sought a statement of all the steamers built in this county, which has been prepared and furnished by our friend Mr. William P. Phillips, of Freedom, and will be found annexed. It presents a for- midable and we may well say a creditable list, embracing no less than one hundred and thirty-eight boats, including two sea vessels, making an aggregate of over thirty thousand tons. The value and importance of
298
History of Beaver County
this branch of industry may be seen at a glance. At the moderate average of $50 per ton these boats have paid no less than a million and a half of dollars, the bulk of which has been paid out for labor and sup- plies. Long may it continue and prosper.
List of Steamboats
LIST OF STEAMBOATS BUILT BY PHILLIPS & GRAHAM (SOUTHSIDE)
Pennsylvania
Bolivar
Boston
Essex
Rambler
Gen. Wayne
Mohawk
La Grange
Eclipse
Liberator
Pocahontas
Pgh. & Whg. Packet
President
Paul Jones
America
Red Rover
La Fayette
Eleanor
Florida
Missouri and Barge
General Brown
Peruvian
Columbus
Cora
Wm. Penn
Louisville
Echo
New Jersey
Antelope
Frankfort
Carrolton
Hermit
BY GRAHAM & ROGERS (SOUTHSIDE)
Potomac
Talma
Phoenix
Huron
BY JOHN GRAHAM, AT BRIDGEWATER
Fallston
Itaska
Rodney
The above comprise an average tonnage of 8,635 tons, the ship car- penter work $22. per ton, and when finished $60. per ton.
BUILT BY PHILLIPS & BETZ, AT FREEDOM, PA.
Fame
Selma
Wm. Robinson
Missourian
Return
Alton
Rhine
Wm. Penn
Boonslick
Palmyra
Shawnee
Galenian
Majestic
Boonsville
Meteor
New Castle
Potosi
St. Louis
Chester
Mogul
Ivanhoe
Ariel
Orinoco
St. Charles
Siam
H. L. Kinney
Rosela
Dubuque
Detroit
Platte
Frances
Madison
United States
Troy
Rienzi
Louisville
Oceana
Burlington
Pirate
BY JONATHAN BETZ, FREEDOM
General Pratt Euphrase
BY CHARLES GRAHAM
Cleveland Amelia
The above are mostly boats of the largest class, tonnage near 12,000 tons, cost near $70. per ton.
BUILT BY A. & G. W. COFFIN, AT FREEDOM
Little Stewart (ferry-boat)
Guide
Iron City Atlas
Birmingham St. Louis Medium
Together with Government Boats, &c .- 950 tons.
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History of Beaver County
BUILT BY JOHN GRAHAM AND G. W. ROGERS
Belfast
White Wing
H. Kinney
May Duke
Hibernian
Little Rock
Oregon
Whiteville
Falcon
Wabash Valley
Monongahela Valley
2,150 tons.
BUILT BY GEORGE BAKER (SOUTHSIDE)
Chareton.
Platte
Omega
Brilliant
Dart
Narragansett Iatan
Pawnee
Desmoines
Neptune
Adelaide
Osceola
Sligo (Built at John McDonald's.)
BUILT BY FREEDOM BOAT BUILDING SOCIETY
Lake Erie
Laura
Miner
Belle of Illinois
Nashville
Pacific
New Boat for Fisher Co. (Gladiator).
Steam Ferry Boat for Steubenville
One commenced for Lyon Moore Co. (Gondolier).
Schooner, Regina Hill of New York
Schooner, Cyrus Chamberlain of New Haven
These sea vessels have proved themselves worthy of the briny elementI (2,050 tons by society.) Boat building is now carried on with success by the company, and those wishing to contract for boats of any descrip- tion will do well to call (if nothing more).
BUILT BY BAKER, HALL & CO., AT FREEDOM
North Carolina
Pink
America
Pilot
Arcadia
Despatch
(Near 1,000 tons.)
BUILT NEAR SHARON, PA. The Rose of Sharon, by G. W. Rogers Ruhama Twins, By J. Hall
1 Sea-going vessels were also built at Pittsburg at the beginning of last century as we learn from an old book of travels. M. Michaux's journal says:
"What many, perhaps, are ignorant of in Europe is, that they build large vessels on the Ohio, and at the town of Pittsburgh. One of the principal shipyards is upon the Monongahela, about two hundred fathoms beyond the last houses in the town. The timber they make use of is the white oak, or quercus alba; the red oak, or quercus rubra; the black oak, or quercus tinctoria; a kind of nut tree, or quercus minima; the Virginia cherry-tree, or cerasus Virginia; and a kind of pine, which they use for masting, as well as for the sides of the vessels which require a slighter wood. The whole of this timber being near at hand, the expense of building is not so great as in the ports of the Atlantic states. The cordage is manufactured at Redstone and Lexinton, where there are two extensive rope-walks, which also supply ships with rigging that are built at Marietta and Louisville. On my journey to Pittsburgh in the month of July, 1802, there was a three-mast vessel of two hun- dred and fifty tons,* and a smaller one of ninety which was on the point of being finished. These ships were to go, in the spring following, to New Orleans, loaded with the produce of the country, after having made a passage of two thousand two hundred miles before they got into the ocean."
* "I have been informed since my return, that this ship, named the Pittsburgh, was arrived at Philadelphia."-Travels to the West of the Allegheny Mountains, etc., by F. A Michaux, Member of the Soc. of Nat. Hist. at Paris, etc., London, 1805, pp. 63-64.
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History of Beaver County
INDUSTRY
Pekin Hart & Co.
Pickaway
Eakin & Co.
Palo Alto
New Boat for McLean
Mingo Chief, by R. Moffett, G. W. Rogers, foreman.
Rhode Island, by McFall, Thos. Rogers,
America, by McFall, Thos. Rogers,
New Boat for Poe, by McFall, Thos. Rogers
Financier for Todd, by McFall, Thos. Rogers
New Castle for Pollock, by Joseph Hall.
It will be borne in mind that a goodly number of the boats built at Freedom were furnished complete, with engines, cabins and painting, before leaving the place, and engines were furnished for others built else- where.
We had like to have forgotten the little "Fishes," the yawl building. But let it pass. The modesty of our friend shall not prevent us doing justice to the little fishes. Messrs. Phillips & Skillinger have turned out of their shops in the two or three years some fifty yawls which are the admiration of all watermen, for which they find ready sale, as well for boats built here as elsewhere. They are strong, yet buoyant, sitting gracefully upon the water, easily managed and of great capacity; a combination of excellence which makes them deservedly popular.I
1 Following the date of this communication many other boats were built at the points named therein and elsewhere; as at Shippingport and Glasgow. At the place last named Alfred McFall had a large yard, of which George Baker was foreman. There in 1854 the keel of the Silver Wave was laid, and she was launched in the year following. She was built for Captain John McMillen, and she was the first steamboat to run the blockade at the siege of Vicksburg in 1863. About the same time the steamboat Yorktown was built here for Captain Jacob Poe of Georgetown.
From Lloyd's Steamboat Directory and Disasters, 1856, which contains a list of boats afloat on the western rivers, we get the following additional names of steamboats built in Beaver County:
Gladiator, built at Freedom in 1850: tonnage 236.
Jane Franklin
1851 :
197.
Governor Meigs
-
1851:
=
145.
Winchester
-
1851:
6 4
222.
Major Darian
=
1852:
199.
Monticello
1852:
II7.
John Simonds
1852:
1024.
Washington City
1852:
282.
W. T. Yeatman
1852:
165.
Crystal Palace
1853'
541.
Magnolia
=
1953:
131.
San Antonia
I854:
129.
Convoy
1854:
123.
Endeavor
1854:
200.
Fairfield
I854:
159.
Ranchero
1854.
207.
Jacob Poe
1855:
201.
Iowa
1855:
57.
Equator,
Beaver
1853:
62.
Huron
Christler's Ldg.
1851:
168.
Obion
1851:
62.
Bedford
1852:
ISI.
Argyle
1853:
319.
Time and Tide
=
1853:
I 20.
..
Freedom Boat Yards-McCaskey & Kerr. Barges Iron Clad and Iren Duke built in 1877 by Gray's Iron Line.
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History of Beaver County
The claim made in the foregoing editorial article, viz., that many of the boats, both keel-boats and steamboats, which were listed as being built at Pittsburg, were in reality of Beaver County manufacture, finds confirmation in the following extract from a letter written by Marcus T. C. Gould in December, 1835, to the editor of Atkinson's Casket, published in Philadelphia :
I shall now be better able to make you comprehend the reason of my speaking of Pittsburgh in connection with this neighborhood (the Falls of Beaver); for in fact the $70,000 worth of keel boats mentioned in my last, though constructed and launched in Beaver County, are most of them purchased by Pittsburgers, and not unfrequently built by their express orders, and sent to their city to receive their finish. And as it respects the new Steam Boats which hail from that city, a very con- siderable number of them are in fact built and launched here, but sent there to receive their enginery, cabin work, painting, rigging, &c. For instance-Mr. Phillis [Phillips?], of Freedom, two miles from the mouth of Beaver, will have constructed within the present year, no less than seven or eight Steam Boats, worth in his hands from forty to fifty thousand dollars and when completed not less than one hundred thousand dollars -and these are all sent to Pittsburgh to be finished-for sale, freight, or charter.
IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRIES
The manufacture of iron and steel has had a much more im- portant place in the industrial history of Beaver County than is generally known. A special article on this subject has been prepared for us by Col. James M. Swank, General Manager of the American Iron and Steel Association. This will be found in Appendix No. VIII.
FIRE-CLAY PRODUCTS
During the past ten or fifteen years the manufacture of wares from clays has increased each year, and the product confirms claims heretofore made that Beaver County clays are specially adapted to the wares they meet in competition in the market. The Lower Kittanning clay is the best, and the one chiefly used in the manufacture of fire-clay products in the county. A higher grade of clay is also brought here from Jefferson, Clarion, and Clearfield counties, and mixed with the local clays for the making of finer qualities of brick, some of which sell as high as twenty-five dollars a thousand.
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History of Beaver County
The special development of the fire-clay industry has been on Crow's Run by the Park Fire Clay Co .; on Brady's Run by the same company and the Fallston Fire Clay Co .; on Blockhouse Run by the W. H. Elverson Pottery Co. and the Sherwood Bros. Co .; at Vanport by the Douglas Fire Brick Co. the Douglas- Whisler Co. at Eastvale, the Mound Brick Co. at Beaver Falls, the Beaver Clay and Brick Co. at New Galilee, the Welch Fire Brick Works at Monaca, and many others.
OIL REFINING
At Cannelton, on the property of Hon. I. F. Mansfield, the cannel shales were formerly distilled for oil on a large scale. The shale was preferred to the coal, as it made quite as much oil and did not leave so much tarry products behind in the retort. One ton of shale made a barrel of oil. The discovery of petroleum put an end to this manufacture, yet the company still found it profitable to make a heavy lubricating oil up to the year 1872, when the establishment burned down and was abandoned. In 1859 Hunter & Code built at Freedom a refinery for making oil from cannel coal. They were later joined in the enterprise by William Phillips. They were not able to overcome the difficul- ties in the way of production of this oil, on account of the in- flammable character of the products, the plant being several
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