History of Berks county in Pennsylvania, Part 75

Author: Montgomery, Morton L. (Morton Luther), b. 1846
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Peck & Richards
Number of Pages: 1418

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" Walter Campbell said that he had stnek fast many times on the fish-dams with his canoe loaded with wheat, and been forced to leap into the river before he could get off.

" Jonas Yocum and Richard Dunklin said that they got fast on a fish-dam with their canoe loaded with sixty bushels of wheat ; and the said Dunklin's wife and a young child whilst in the canoe were for more than an hour in great danger of being overset into the river, and if this had happened they would un- doubtedly have been lost.

" Barnabas Roades said that he struek fast on a fish-dam in the Schuylkill for several hours in the cold winter season, destitute of any help, in which time he underwent many hardships and at last got off -during all which time he was in great danger both of his life and load. And that he had been fast on the said dams at divers times and in great danger.

" And John Boone, Joseph Boone, James Boone, Sam- uel Boone and George Boone also said that they were fast sundry times on the said fish-dams and rack-dams ; and to preserve their loads of wheat, they were foreed several times to leap into the river, eseaping very narrowly with their lives and loads."

RIOT BETWEEN BOATMEN AND FISHERMEN. -These obstructions in the way of navigating the river had existed for some time before this investigation and continued for some years afterward. The fishermen claimed the right to carry on fishing, especially since they had ex- pended considerable money and labor in con- structing their wears and dams in the river at and near their properties. In locating them, they selected places most convenient and advan- tageous ; but these were generally where they obstructed navigation most. The canoes, in passing down the river, naturally demolished

1 These canoes were evidently of considerable size to carry so large a quantity of wheat. They were hewn out of a single trunk of a tree. The growth of the trees in the wild, extended forest of that early day was very large. William Penn stated, in a letter written in 1683, that he had seen a canoe made from a poplar tree which carried four tons of bricks. The Smally canoe must have been one of this size, if not larger.

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HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

them and necessarily injured the business and success of the fishermen. Hence, they com- plained. But the farmers, who lived up the river, also claimed the right of navigating in and through its waters for the purpose of con- veying merchandise to the market at Philadel- phia, and they were determined to exercise this right. Nothwithstanding these difficulties in the way of each class, the fisherman continued his fishing and the farmer continued his navi- gation, the one losing fish and the other risking cargo and life. Six years passed, how- ever, before they culminated in proceedings at law-for the farmers had in this time suffered such marked inconveniences and losses that patience ceased to be a virtue, and they accord- ingly lodged complaints before George Boone, Esq. (a justice of Philadelphia County, in Oley township), and obtained a warrant for removing the obstructions in the river and the arrest of their assailants. This warrant was placed in the hands of the constable of Amity township (William Richards), on the 20th day of April, 1738 ; and, with deputies to accompany him, he proceeded down the river to execute the same. But the fishermen had no fears for the law and the constable who had visited them to execute its mandate. They defended their wears and dams, and their opposition resulted in a riotous demonstration. The facts relating to it are detailed in the following interesting deposition of the constable, taken on the 27th of April following : 1

"That, on the twentieth day of this instant, April, he received a warrant requiring him to take to his as- sistance such persons as this deponent should tliink proper, and go down the Schuylkill and remove all such obstructions as should be found in the said river. In obedience to which warrant he took several per- sons, inhabitants of the said county, as his assistants, and together with one Robert Smith, constable of Oley, who had received a warrant to the same pur- pose, went down the said river in three canoes to Mingo Creek, where they found a large number of racks and obstructions in the said river, and saw four men upon an island near the said racks ; that this de- ponent and company removed the said racks without receiving any opposition. Thence they proceeded down the river to the mouth of Pickering's Creek, near which they found several racks, which extended

across the said river to an island, which racks this de- ponent and company also removed. Then immedi- ately about the number of two hundred men came down on both sides of the river, and were very rude and abusive, and threatened this deponent and his company, and expecting from the ill language and threats given that some mischief or a quarrel would ensue, he took his staff in his hand and his warrant, and commanded the said men, in the king's name, to keep the peace, and told them that he came there in a peaceable manner and according to law to move the racks and obstructions in the river, upon which some of the said men damned the laws and the law-makers, and cursed this deponent and his assistants ; that one James Starr knocked this deponent down in the river with a large club or stake, after which several of the said men attacked this deponent and company with large clubs, and knocked down said Robert Smith, the constable, as also several of his assistants; that one John Wainwright, accompanying him, was struck down with a pole or staff, and lay as dead, with his body on the shore and his feet in the river; that this deponent and company, finding that they were not able to make resistance, were obliged to make the best of their way in order to save their lives; and they to- gether after this proceeded down the river, in order to go to Philadelphia to make complaint of the ill usage they had received. As they came near Perki- omen Creek they found another set of racks, which were guarded by a great number of men. That this deponent and company requested the said men to let them go down the river, and, if they would suffer them to pass, they would not meddle with their racks. Upon which the said men abused and cursed this de- ponent in a very gross manner, and said that they should not pass by them. One of the said men called out aloud, and offered five pounds for Timothy Mil- ler's head, the said Timothy being one of deponent's assistants, and another of the said men called out to the said Timothy to make haste away. And after- ward the said men pursued this deponent and com- pany, who, for fear of being murdered, made the best of their way with their canoes to the mouth of the Perkiomen Creek, and there went ashore, and left their canoes there, with some clothes, which are since reported split in pieces and the clothes turned adrift in the river."

Benjamin Milliard, one of Richards' assis- tants, a resident of Chester County, deposed on the same day that the statements made by Richards, in his deposition, were true.

The Executive Council having been informed of this obstruction to legal process and this attack upon the constable and his assistants, they, on the 25th of April, 1738, recommended to the justices of the counties of Philadelphia

1 1 Pennsylvania Arch., 553-554.

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INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

and Chester to issue their warrants for appre- hending all such persons who were concerned in the said riot and outrage.

The fishermen were doubtless arrested, for the sheriff's of the said counties were " enjoined and required, with sufficient assistance, if need be, to cause the warrants to be duly executed," and the farmers of Amity township were enabled to carry their wheat, etc., by canoes on the river to Philadelphia without any further trouble from their opponents.

There was no trouble along the Schuylkill above the mouth of the Manatawny, in ref- erence to wears and dams. And yet fishing was carried on to a great extent, especially by the citizens of Reading. There were two fish- pools which were particularly famous for their supplies of fish,-" Levan's" and "Lntz's," the former at the foot of Neversink, and the latter a short distance above. Fishing was continued successfully for seventy years in these pools till the construction of the " Little Dam" in the Schnylkill Canal, and this forced their abandonment. Fishing with nets was common. It was a regular pursuit with some people. After the canal began to be constructed fisher- men turned to the river for sport with the rod and line rather than for profit with nets.

FORDS OVER SCHUYKILL IN 1778 .- The following fords over the Schuylkill River from Reading sonthwardly to the county line were reported in 1778 :

Miles from Reading. Depth of water.

.. Kern's

9 in.

... Frederick Micket's 12 in.

.. Henry Bingaman's 15 in.

.. Stock Falls.

10 to 15 in. rocky

2 Callopey Stream

18 in. rocky

Lewis' Ferry [12 to 15 in. very rocky

.. Cow and Calf. 12 in.

6 Lewis' Falls. [5 to 7 in. long and rocky

7 Postion, Murry Island. 10 to 12 in.

... Leonard Lappoe's Shoals 8 to 12 in.

8 Green Tree Ford. 5 to 6 in.

9 Baichel Shoals 8 to 12 in.

11 Jacob Hewit's Ford. 3 in.

14 Campbell's Ford. 6 to 7 in.

15 David Davis' Ford. 7 to 8 in.

17 White Horse Ford, Gerlin's ... 12 in.

... Abraham Wanggert's Ford ... ...

15 in.

NAVIGATION ENCOURAGED BY LEGISLA-

TION .- The Schuylkill River forms the western boundary of Reading. In its natural state, be- fore it was contracted on both sides by the construction of the Schuylkill Canal along its eastern bank, and of the Union Canal along its western, it was over six hundred feet wide. Its bed was capable of carrying a large body of water. Before 1800 the quantity of water which flowed daily through its meandering channel was considerable. It occupied a very important relation with Reading in its early history, much more than since the introduction of the canals and railways. It was not only in- dispensable in receiving and carrying away the drainage of the town, but also useful for navigation, in the transportation of merchan- dise by boats to Philadelphia. Spring was generally selected as the time when shipment by water could be most conveniently and satis- factorily made. Then the water was higher than during the other seasons of the year. Heavy cargoes on flat-boats would float down the river with ease, requiring only proper and careful steering. The steersmen were expert in keeping the boats in the channel, and very seldom failed to reach their destination success- fully. Besides the long paddle at the stern of the boat, for guiding purposes, there were pole- men, with long, stout poles, who were stationed at the bow, and there directed the boat to the right or left, as necessity required. Poling was not generally required to propel the boat with the current ; this labor was practiced in returning against the current. And what a labor it must have been ! we cannot imagine the strength, energy and persistence which it required. Horse-power could not be intro- duced. There were no tow-paths.

The improvement of the river, to facilitate navigation, was a subject of consideration by our early inhabitants, both of the county and county-seat, for many years. Its agitation be- gan at an early period. An enterprising citi- zen of the county addressed an interesting letter to the Pennsylvania Gazette, at Philadel- phia, on March 24, 1760, in reference to clear- ing the river from obstructions, expressing the opinion that their removal would encourage transportation of produce, etc., by water, and

428

HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

be of inconceivable benefit, as well to Phila- delphia as to the county of Berks.1 The matter was of such importance as to gain the attention of the Provincial Assembly, and obtain appro- priations for the improvement of the channel.

A year afterward (March 14, 1761), an act of Assembly was passed which provided as follows :

" Whereas, The river Schuylkill is navigable for rafts, boats, and other small craft in times of high freshes only, occasioned by the obstruction of rocks and bars of sand and gravel in divers parts of the same;

" And whereas, The improving the navigation of the said river, so as to make it passable at all times. will be very advantageous to the poor, greatly conducive to the promotion of industry, and beneficial to the inhabitants residing on or near said river, by enabling them to bring the produce of the country to the market of the city of Philadelphia, and thereby increase the trade and commerce of the province ;

" And whereas, Divers of the inhabitants of this province, desirous to promote the welfare of the pub- lic, have subscribed large sums of money for the purposes aforesaid, and, by petition to the Assembly, have requested that commissioners may be appointed by law to take, receive, and collect the said subscrip- tions, and such others as shall hereafter be given or subscribed, and to apply and appropriate the same for and towards the clearing, scouring, and rendering the said river navigable as aforesaid ;

Therefore be it enacted, That Joseph Fox, John Hughs Samuel Rhoads, John Potts, William Palmer, David Davis, Mordecai Moore, Henry Pawling. James Coultas, Jonathan Coates, Joseph Millard, William Bird, Francis Parvin, Benjamin Lightfoot, and Isaac Levan shall be, and hereby are, constituted and appointed commissioners for clearing, scouring and making the said Schuylkill river navigable : * *

* with full power the moneys collected and received to lay out, appropriate and employ for and towards making the said river navigable and passable for boats, flats, rafts, canoes and other small vessels, from the ridge of mountains, commonly called the Blue Mountains, to the river Delaware."

The commissioners were authorized to en- large, straighten and deepen the channel of the river, in any part or place which should appear most convenient. And persons were forbidden to erect, build, or set up, or maintain any wear, rack, basket, fishing-dam, pound or other device within said river, or to fix or

fasten any net across the same, whereby the fish may be obstructed from going up the said river, or to take, destroy or spoil any spawn, fry or brood of fish, under the penalty of twenty pounds, or six months' imprisonment.

The last four commissioners named in the act were residents of Berks County, and men of large wealth and great influence. But they did not succeed in their projected enterprise, though they doubtless proceeded, to a certain extent, in removing obstructions, etc., in the river. In 1773 a supplement was passed to the act mentioned, whereby new commission- ers were appointed 2 to execute the provisions of said act, and the surviving previous com- missioners were required to pay over to them the moneys collected and remaining unappro- priated.

In the "Potts Memorial," the authoress (Mrs. James) states (p. 140): "In 1769 it (the navigation of the Schuylkill) seems to have been a perfect battle-cry; and the news- papers of that date are full of notices and descriptions of contending interests. Parties ran high upon this local project, and more prominence is given to it in the newspapers than to the oppressive acts of Parliament, which were soon to sever the colonies from the mother- country."

And the latter commissioners did not ar- complish anything worthy of special mention.3

2 From Berks County-Mark Bird, James Star, Jacob Kern and John Pawling, Jr.

" A new and third act was passed 24th March, 1781. Thirteen commissioners were appointed for same purpose. From Berks County - Mark Bird, Baltzer Gebr, George Douglass and John Hiester.

And a fourth act passed 15th March, 1784, owing to previous laws being inadequate. Twenty-two commission- ers were appointed altogether.

Those from Berks County, and for districts in 'Berks, along Schuylkill River, were as follows: From Berks County line to Beidler's Mill, Abraham Lincoln and Mordecai Miller; thence to mouth of Tulpehocken, Johu Bishop and George Gardiner ; thence to mouth of Maiden- creek, John Mears ; tlrence to mouth of Tamaguay Creek, Charles Schoemaker and George Miller: thence to coal- mines on Schuylkill at Basler's saw-mill, Henry Haller, Samuel Baird and Frederick Cleckner.

On 13th April, 179], an act was passed appropriating twenty five hundred pounds to improve the Schuylkill, from the lower falls to Reading.

1 The communication was signed by G. J. I could not ascertain his name.

429

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

The river, notwithstanding these efforts, re- mained about the same in respect to navigation. The only practicable and expensive improve- ments in and along the river were effected fifty years afterwards, by the construction of the Schuylkill Canal, during which time the in- habitants of the county transported their grain and merchandise on boats and flats, in the same manner as they formerly had done, twice a year, generally in the freshets of spring and fall.

When the Revolution began in earnest, the subject of improving the river for navigation was apparently forgotten. The citizens felt that they were taxed sufficiently for the one great purpose of carrying on the war for inde- pendence. After its successful conclusion, they directed their attention again to business affairs and to the development of such local improve- ments as tended to facilitate intercourse be- tween the people of the several sections round- about them. Over ten years elapsed before the fruits of agitation were realized ; then, however they began to manifest themselves in directing public attention to the necessity, utility and ad- vantage of bridges, and turnpikes and canals.

FIRST BOARD OF TRADE .- The navigation of the river induced the organization of the first Board of Trade at Reading. A number of prominent business men of the borough as- sembled on March 13, 1807, and considered the subject of the navigation of the Schuylkill ; and then they formed a society under the name of "The Society for Promoting the Clearing of the River Schuylkill." The men who constituted this society were James May, William Moore, Gabriel Hiester, Jr., John Birkinbine, Lewis Reese, Samuel D. Franks, Joseph Hiester, Benjamin Davis, John Witman, Isaac Addams, Matthias Ludwig, Peter Nagle, George De B. Keim, John Spayd, William Stahle, Daniel Oyster.

It is not known, however, what practical im- provements these men effected in carrying out the object of their existence as a society, for nothing has been preserved to show what steps they took in the matter beyond their organiza- tion. It is probable that the society died shortly afterward, especially after the agitation of the

subject of a canal for the same purpose, and its subsequent construction. Fifty years of thought in this matter had not brought the river into such a state as to encourage transportation by sailing-vessels. The channel was evidently too difficult to master, and the water supply was too small to sustain a grand succession of dams. Hence it must have been regarded as impracti- cable. But within twenty years afterward, the difficulty was solved by the construction of an artificial narrow channel for slack-water, withı numerous locks whereby to overcome grade and detain the water in certain levels to facili- tate navigation.

FRESHETS .- Numerous freshets have swept down the Schuylkill and its tributaries, entail- ing great losses upon the adjoining property-, holders. By evidence from various sources, I am able to refer to them for a period extending back nearly one hundred and thirty years. The. inhabitants of Reading were the principal suf- fercrs from the sweeping waters which found an angry escape to the sea.

Freshet of 1757 .- The first reference to a freshet which I could find is in the journal of Jacob Morgan, which he kept whilst commander at Fort Lebanon, during the French and Indian War. On the 15th of July, 1757, he states that there was a heavy rain-fall all of that . day, and that the creeks were so high that the . Schuylkill rose perpendicularly fifteeu feet in nine hours' time, being considerably higher than was ever known in these parts. This is all that was reported. No damages were mentioned. Then there was not a bridge across any of the streams in the county, and Reading was not laid out in that portion lying between Third Street and the river.

Freshet of 1786 .- A freshet visited the county in 1786, which, it is believed, was the highest, if not the greatest, that ever occurred in this vicinity. There was no newspaper pub- lished then at Reading, in which a description of its extent and character might have been preserved, and no letter of that day mentioning it has as yet been discovered. But tradition has brought it down through the passing gene- rations till now as having been extensive and also destructive of much property. The only partic-

430

HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

ular fact known in reference to it is that its wild waters were twenty feet seven and a quarter inches above low-water mark. It was commonly known for many years afterward as the "Pumpkin Freshet," owing to the great number of pump- kins which were then swept from farms adjoin- ing the river and carried down the stream. Reading was then a borough ; but the improve- ments of the place had not as yet reached the river. "Water-lots" had been laid out along both banks of the river over a decade before for the purpose of encouraging the erection of " . storage buildings upon them ; and doubtless . some of these were there then, because shipping and navigation were active, and buildings con- venient to the boats were necessary. This fresh- et occurred in the fall of the year.

Freshet of 1822 .- Nearly thirty years elapsed between the freshets of 1757 and 1786. This was a long while to be without serious rain- storms or sudden thaws which occasion freshets. But the timber-land still remained in almost its original state, for vast tracts extended many miles to the right and to the left of the river, and these detained the waters as they fell in rain from the sky or melted from the fallen snow. And this condition of the country above Reading required a very severe rain-fall or thaw in order to occasion a freshet worthy of special mention.

Thirty-six years elapsed before the next freshet occurred. During the middle of Feb- ruary, 1822, there was a snow-fall which ex- ceeded twelve inches. A mild atmosphere on the 20th of February caused it to melt rapidly, and the waters therefrom filled the creeks and river, which, in their onward course, washed down great quantities of ice. It was reported that an ice-gorge had been formed at the Schuyl- kill Dam, Philadelphia, which piled up the broken ice forty feet in height. The water in the Schuylkill at Reading, on the 21st of Feb- ruary, reached a point thirteen feet nine and one-quarter inches above low-water mark. The freshet did not occasion much loss along the Schuylkill; but it washed away numerous dams iu the several tributary streams, Tulpehocken, Maiden-creek, Antietam and Manatawny.

Freshet of.1839 .- A violent rain-storni set in

on Friday evening, 25thi of January, 1839, and continued without intermission till Saturday evening, at six o'clock, when the rain ceased falling and the weather grew suddenly colder, the thermometer falling below the freezing point. The water in the river at Reading rose to a point seventeen feet one and three-quarters inches above low-water mark, which was within two feet of the floor of the Harrisburg bridge. The freshet was reported as the most extensive that visited the community in fifty years, and certainly the most costly of all the freshets, the damages possibly surpassing the losses of all the previous freshets taken together. Among the numerous losses occasioned, the following were reported :

Smith & Reese's mill, large quantity of flour and grain damaged, loss not estimated ; Jones & Co., ma- chine-works flooded, loss $100; William Silvis, lime- house and boat burned through wet lime, loss $2000; Samuel Bell, Sr., boats washed away, loss $3000 ; John Getz, three boats washed away, loss over $2000; Dot- terer, Darling & Co., damage to castings, etc., $500; Thomas Jackson, damage to rope-walk, etc., $800; Keim, Whitaker & Co., coal and lumber washed away, $1500; fifty canal-boats washed down, loss at least $20,000; Lancaster bridge badly injured, esti- mated repairs $10,000; Poplar Neck bridge destroyed, loss $10,000.

Five bridges across Maiden-creek washed away, viz: Moser's, Greenawald's, Dreibelbis', Dunkle's, and at Friends' Meeting House. Total loss at Read- ing was over $40,000.

Freshet of 1841 .- A serious freshet occurred on Wednesday night, January 6, 1841. It was reported as "the greatest flood since 1786, the water at Reading having reached a point two feet higher than during the freshet of 1839." Several squares of buildings along the river were inundated. Many boats and a large quan- tity of coal and lumber were washed away. The damage to numerous properties was great. The total loss was not estimated.

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History of Berks county in Pennsylvania, Part 75

Author: Montgomery, Morton L. (Morton Luther), b. 1846 Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Peck & Richards Number of Pages: 1418

Author: Montgomery, Morton L. (Morton Luther), b. 1846
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Peck & Richards
Number of Pages: 1418