USA > Pennsylvania > Carbon County > History of Carbon County, Pennsylvania; also containing a separate account of the several boroughs and townships in the county, with biographical sketches > Part 14
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About the year 1750 a few families settled within the present limits of the township, but all removed a few years later when the Indians took the war path and bade fair to exterminate all the whites who re- mained along the border.
It appears that the first permanent settlement in Franklin township was made by the Solt family, and their descendants are still to be found in the district. Before the close of the Revolution, John, David and Daniel Solt lived here.
John Arner was of the family who came into this region soon after the war of Independence. The people of that name have now become so numerous that they have formed a family association, holding annual reunions in the township that bring hundreds together from various sections of the country.
Jost Dreisbach was also of an old family who came to the township before 1800. At about the same time
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
George Walk settled on Saw Mill creek, where he car- ried on lumbering operations for many years.
Jacob Houseknecht was a landholder here in 1781, his farm including the present site of the Harrity hotel.
In 1826, David Heimbach, Sr., of Lehigh county, pur- chased two tracts of land in what is now Franklin township-one of eighty-six acres from Martin House- knecht, and another of forty-three from Henry Thomas. In 1809, he had built the furnace called "Hampton," in Lehigh county, while, about 1817, he and his son David built a forge on the Aquashicola creek, near Little Gap.
The next year after the purchase of this property, or in 1827, the elder Heimbach erected on the present site of Harrity, along the bank of the Poho Poco creek, a furnace which he called "New Hampton." He placed his son, John, in charge of it. John Heimbach re- mained in charge of the furnace until 1834. David Heimbach, the elder, died at his home in Allentown during that year, and his sons, David and John at- tended the funeral. David at the time was the owner of the "Clarissa" forge on the Aquashicola creek. Upon their return to Carbon county, both men were stricken with typhoid fever, of which they died,-one at night and the other on the morning of the next day.
In 1836 the property was acquired by William Mil- ler, by whom the name was changed to "Maria," in honor of his wife.
The furnace was operated under various owners until January 1, 1859, when it was blown out, its fires never to be rekindled.
The ore that was used at this operation was brought up from the iron region on the Lehigh Canal.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
James and Daniel Laury, in the year 1849, erected a forge on Pine run, near the point where that stream empties into Poho Poco creek. It was carried on but a few years.
The history of the boat yard which the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company conducts at East Weissport dates back to the year 1832, when Lewis Weiss com- menced building boats on the bank of the canal for the Morris Canal and Banking Company and the Le- high Coal and Navigation Company.
Practically all the boats used on the Lehigh Canal are built and repaired at this yard. About twenty men are employed, A. T. Koch being the foreman.
The fence factory, located at Phifer's Corner. was established by Landon B. Wagner, who still owns and operates it. Formerly he also manufactured stone- ware and pottery, but this branch of the business has been abandoned.
The fish hatchery, located on a small tributary of the Poho Poco creek, a short distance from Harrity, was established by Charles Wolters, Sr., of Philadelphia, in 1899. Mr. Wolters has since died, and the place is now owned by his son, Charles Wolters. This is pro- nounced by fish experts to be the most successful hatch- ery in the United States. Its success has largely been due to the intelligent efforts of Henry H. Wert, who superintended the construction of the plant and who has been in continuous charge since that time. East Weissport has two wagon and carriage building estab- lishments. The first was started by Stephen Ziegen- fuss in 1890 and is now conducted by his son, John A. Ziegenfuss. The other is that of H. R. Kreidler, es- tablished by him in 1892.
The first school in what is now Franklin township was opened in 1822. Anterior to that time the children
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
of the district attended a school kept on the site of the Gnadenhütten mission. The school that was then opened, however, was conducted in the German lan- guage, being taught by Lewis Schnell. The only books used were the primer, the Psalter, and the Bible.
In 1827 the school was removed three miles south, to the homestead of Rev. Charles Eickenberg. James Kuehner and John Keifer were among those who taught this school. The first named had a reputation as a good disciplinarian, and is said to have laid espe- cial stress on having the children commit to memory hymns and prayers, which were regularly repeated be- fore recitations.
In 1836, Towamensing township accepted the free school law, and as has already been said, Franklin was then a part of Towamensing.
The first public school house in Franklin was con- structed of logs that were furnished by Daniel Solt, having been taken from an ancient building that was erected before the Revolution. The second building was located at Weissport. That portion of the town- ship lying along the east bank of the Lehigh Canal gradually outgrew the rest of the district, and in 1890 was organized as the Franklin Independent School Dis- trict. This district has a high school and five graded schools. The township proper has seven school houses, containing eight rooms.
Among the villages of Franklin township the first in importance and population is East Weissport, which is only arbitrarily separated from the borough, of Weissport, and to which its history more properly be- longs. This village has many of the conveniences and improvements of modern life. It has an excellent water supply and is electrically lighted by the plant of Lehighton borough.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
Rickertsville is also situated on the east bank of the Lehigh Canal. The land on which the settlement is lo- cated was formerly owned by Joseph Wintermuth, a brick maker. He sold eight acres, in 1864, to Emanuel Reinhart, who, in turn, sold most of the land to J. K. Rickert, who made a plot and sold lots that have since been used for building purposes.
The principal cause that led to the building up of this place was the character of the ground, it being higher than the land about Weissport, and, therefore, not liable to devastation by flood.
Phifer's Corner has grown up in the last quarter of a century. It lies on the line of the state road running from Lehighton to Stroudsburg, being but a short dis- tance east of Weissport. It derives its name from Alexander T. Phifer, who conducted the first store here, and who was instrumental in securing the settle- ment and upbuilding of the place. Most of the homes here are neat and new, and are owned by those who occupy them.
Harrity, about a mile farther east on the state road, is the namesake of William F. Harrity, who was a Philadelphia business man and a prominent Demo- cratic leader. It was at this point that the Maria fur- nace was located. There is now a hotel, a store, grist mill and several dwellings in the place.
Walksville is in the northeastern part of the town- ship. The Price Paint Company conducted an ochre mill here for a number of years, but it was removed many years ago.
At Beltzville, which is now the home of David Beltz, John Bauman years ago erected a hotel, at which the elections for old Towamensing were held. Later, Mr. Beltz conducted a hotel and store here, but he now confines himself to agricultural pursuits.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
There are two rural mail routes through the town- ship, both having been established on September 1, 1903. They start from the Weissport postoffice. Gordon Kresge and Joel H. Boyer have been the car- riers on these routes since the inauguration of the service.
The line of the Indian Ridge Rural Telephone Com- pany, connecting with the Bell system at Lehighton, and that of the Consolidated Telephone Company also cover the township.
There are at present three Lutheran, four Evan- gelical, and one Reformed church in the district. A union Sunday school is maintained at Walksville.
St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran congregation at Big Creek was organized in 1841 by Rev. F. W. Meendsen. He was born in Denmark in the year 1780, emigrating to America in 1808. He was an indefatigable worker, and was one of the best known preachers of his church in all Pennsylvania.
KIDDER TOWNSHIP.
Strange as it may seem to-day, Kidder township, which is as undeniably a portion of Pennsylvania as is the land on which Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are built, was for years claimed and actually governed by Connecticut.
Under the terms of her charter, given in 1662, and antedating that of William Penn by a score of years, Connecticut claimed a strip of land as wide as herself and extending westward to the Pacific ocean. It was admitted by the claimant that New York presented a barrier; but overleaping this, the strip began at the Delaware river and embraced the whole northern sec- tion of the state. The southern boundary line was formed by the forty-first parallel, which crosses the
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
state at Stroudsburg, and this line took in all of the present township of Kidder and a small fraction of Penn Forest.
With this claim as a foundation, the Susquehanna Company, numbering eight hundred proprietors, was formed to buy of the Indians and settle a large tract of land in northeastern Pennsylvania.
In 1753, at the treaty of Albany, eighteen Indian chiefs, representing the Six Nations, gave a deed, con- veying to the New Englanders the desired territory, in exchange for a few inexpensive presents.
At that time the governor of Pennsylvania had not acquired any title to this soil from the aborigines.
However, in 1768, a treaty was negotiated with the Indians, under the provisions of which the proprie- taries became possessed of the land which had pre- viously been sold to the Susquehanna Company.
In 1774 the general assembly of Connecticut passed an act erecting all of the territory to which claim was laid, from the river Delaware to a line fifteen miles west of the Susquehanna, into the county of Westmore- land, attaching to the county of Lichfield.
The territory in question comprised about five thou- sand square miles, equal in extent to one-ninth of the whole area of Pennsylvania. The town of Westmore- land, occupying the site of modern Wilkes-Barre, was made the seat of justice for the new county.
In accordance with the act of assembly, the governor of Connecticut issued a proclamation forbidding settle- ment within the limits of the territory in dispute, ex- cept under authority of that colony.
This was followed by a similar proclamation from the governor of Pennsylvania, asserting the authority of the proprietaries.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
Settlers from Connecticut in large numbers were al- ready on the ground and the influx steadily continued.
A miniature war followed, which centered around Westmoreland, now Wilkes-Barre. Forts were built and captured; prisoners were taken and held as host- ages, the intruding offenders being placed in jail at Easton. But the Pennsylvanians were worsted in the encounters. Connecticut exercised jurisdiction, and the county of Westmoreland regularly elected representa- tives to the assembly of Connecticut.
Finally the Continental Congress prevailed upon the contending parties to cease their efforts till a legal settlement could be effected.
The Revolutionary War interfered with this. At the close of that struggle, the question at issued was wisely submitted to arbitration, and the commission which was appointed to hear the case unanimously decided that the land in dispute belonged to Pennsylvania. Thus ended the struggle which for a generation had been in progress to determine the ownership of this large portion of our domain.
Kidder township was organized in 1849 from terri- tory previously embraced in Penn Forest, which formed a part of Monroe county until 1843, the year of the establishment of Carbon county. It was named after Judge Luther Kidder, who was then on the bench. It is bounded on the north and west by the Lehigh river, on the east by the Tobyhanna creek and Monroe county, and on the south by Mud run and the Dilltown creek, which separate it from Penn Forest.
Mud pond, Round pond, Grass lake and Lake Har- mony, formerly known as Big pond are situated in the western portion of the township. Black creek, Hays creek and Mud run flow westwardly into the Lehigh. The main line of the Lehigh Valley Railroad runs
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
parallel to the river along the western border of the township.
Dense forests of pine and hemlock formerly flour- ished here; but the district is now denuded of its heavy timber, and it is one of the most sparsely populated sections of the county.
Lumbering operations on an extensive scale were begun in the forties. One of the largest of the early landholders was Mahlon K. Taylor, of Bucks county, who owned over six thousand acres about the mouth of Hickory run, where he had a store and a wharf. About 1845 he sold a portion of his holdings to Israel Day and Samuel Saylor, of Easton, who were promi- nent among the lumbermen of the township for many years.
It was at one of the mills of Mahlon K. Taylor & Company, near Saylorsville, that a large dam gave way during a freshet in 1847, resulting in the loss of seven lives.
Among the best-known lumbermen along Hickory run were Isaac and Samuel Gould. A settlement, which came to be known as Hickory Run sprang up about their operations. A postoffice was here established, while a Methodist church and a school house were erected.
Saylorsville, another lumber camp on Hickory run, was named for Samuel Saylor, of the firm of Day & Saylor, who owned mills at this place.
Leonardsville, which to-day is only a name, grew up about the mills of John Burke, who became the owner of the land in the vicinity about 1850. The place de- rived its name from William Leonard, who was the owner's foreman.
Bridgeport dates back to 1856, when Keck, Childs & Company began cutting timber on a tract of several
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
thousand acres, purchased from George M. Hollenbeck, who had previously erected a small saw-mill at the mouth of Hays creek.
A portion of this tract was soon thereafter sold to Thomas Smull & Company, who built a large tannery thereon. This plant was greatly enlarged in 1860, giv- ing it a capacity of eighty thousand hides a year. This was then the largest tannery in the country. The vil- lage which was built about this establishment was named Lehigh Tannery. A postoffice was here estab- lished in 1866. The ownership of the tannery changed hands several times, being last operated by I. M. Hol- comb & Company. It was destroyed by fire in 1875, and the supply of bark in the vicinity having become prac- tically exhausted, it was not rebult. The inter-county bridge across the Lehigh at this point was built in 1868.
Albrightsville lies about fifteen miles northeast of Mauch Chunk, being situated on the southern border of the township. In 1844 Joseph Serfass built a tavern here, which he kept until 1850. He also started a store in an adjoining building which was kept for many years. The tavern is now kept by Herbert Getz. David Snyder was the first postmaster at Albrightsville. The postmaster now is Emery Getz, who conducts a store just across the line in Penn Forest township.
Mud Run, situated at the junction of the stream of that name with the Lehigh river, is a station on the Lehigh Valley Railroad. Formerly there were many saw mills along the stream from this point to Albrights- ville.
Mud Run will long be remembered as the scene of one of the most disastrous wrecks in the history of railroading, entailing the loss of sixty-six lives, and costing the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, on the
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
line of which the catastrophe occurred, hundreds of thousands of dollars in settlement of damage claims.
The accident took place on the night of October 10, 1888, and those whose lives were thus suddenly and horribly snuffed out were chiefly residents of the Wy- oming and Lackawanna Valleys.
On the day in question the various Catholic temper- ance societies of the Scranton diocese held their annual parade in Hazleton, and excursion trains carrying thou- sands of people from Wilkes-Barre, Scranton and near- by towns were run over the road by way of Penn Haven Junction to the place of the pageant.
Returning, the first train left Hazleton at five o'clock in the evening, and other sections followed at intervals of ten minutes. The first four trains reached their des- tination in safety, while the fifth halted for a few minutes in obedience to orders at Mud Run. While this train was standing still on the track near the station, the sixth section, drawn by two locomotives which were in charge of Harry E. Cook, of Wilkes- Barre, and Thomas Major, of East Mauch Chunk, who failed to see any signal of warning until too late, ap- proached at high speed and crashed into the rear end of the forward train with appalling results.
The coaches of the stationary train were literally rent asunder by the terrible impact of the collision, while the scene of horror that ensued cannot be de- picted. When the onrushing train came to a stand- still, the pilot and boiler of the locomotive which was leading were heaped with the bodies of the dead and dying. To add to the misery of those who had escaped immediate destruction in the collision fire broke out amid the ruins of the wreck, and some were roasted to death. Fifty-seven people were killed outright, while nine others subsequently died from their injuries,
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
and many were maimed for life. Thirty-six of those killed were members of a boys' drill corps from Avoca, a town which then numbered but three hundred fami- lies, and which is situated midway between Wilkes- Barre and Scranton. The accident occurred at about eight o'clock, while the night was intensely dark, ren- dering the rescue of the wounded doubly difficult.
Cook and Major, the enginemen of the last section, were nearly crazed by the magnitude of the catas- trophe for which they no doubt feared they would be blamed, and they spent the night in hiding in the woods. An effort was subsequently made to fasten the respon- sibility for the wreck upon them. They were charged with criminal negligence, and were placed on trial at the April term of court in 1889; both were acquitted.
At the time of the accident, Major was a young man of about thirty-six years; so great was the mental strain under which he labored, however, that when he appeared in court at the opening of the trial, six months later, his hair was white as snow, and he walked with the feeble and tottering step of an old man.
Kidder township, in common with other nearby dis- tricts, suffered an irreparable loss in the destruction of its forests by the great fire of 1875. The fire broke out near the mouth of Mud run on the 14th of May, and at first burned but slowly. Eight days later, how- ever, driven by a strong west wind, it swept eastward into Monroe county with ruinous results, destroying not only the major portion of the standing timber in the territory visited by the flames, but reducing to ashes many homes, mills, and other improvements, besides large quantities of logs and sawed lumber. Of the land thus denuded of its timber, which was the principal natural resource of the district, but a small portion has since been improved or placed under cultivation.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
Where the forests formerly stood, huckleberries now grow in great profusion, and these are gathered and marketed on a scale of some importance. Numerous small birch and wintergreen distilleries have also grown up, their aggregate output equaling that of any district of similar size in the United States.
Game and fish are quite plentiful in the township, the sparse population making it possible for the bear and the deer to live here.
In 1903, the Hayes Creek Trout Company was formed by a number of men from Freeland, Pa., and a hatchery was established on the stream of that name, about three miles east of White Haven. The company owns 880 acres of land at this point. Fifty acres of this land is covered with small ponds, and other im- provements connected with the hatchery, while the re- mainder serves as a game preserve.
The region about Lake Harmony has in recent years become quite popular as a summer resort. Numerous cottages or bungalows have been erected, principally by people from Mauch Chunk and Allentown, while many, lured by the cool breezes and quietness of the retreat, spend a portion of the heated term of each year as campers on the shores of the lake. The alti- tude of the locality is quite high, and the nights are always cool; the lake itself is over a mile in length, while at some places the water is very deep. It is drained by the Tobyhanna creek.
Kidder township has four schools, located respec- tively at Albrightsville, Hickory Run, Lehigh Tannery, and on Hayes creek, near the trout hatchery. There are three taverns-the American Hotel and the Wer- nett House at Albrightsville, and the Valley House at Lehigh Tannery.
ITHI NE
-
INSIDE THE MINES, NEAR LANSFORD,
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
St. Paul's Lutheran church at Albrightsville, was erected in 1882. Missionaries of that denomination preached in this vicinity as early as 1847.
The members of the Evangelical church also con- duct services here.
LANSFORD BOROUGH.
Lansford, the most populous town in Carbon county, is situated in the heart of the richest anthracite coal district in the world. It is located in the Panther Creek Valley, on the line of Schuylkill county, nearly midway between Mauch Chunk and Tamaqua, and is reached by the Central Railroad of New Jersey. It bears the middle name of Asa Lansford Foster, who was born in Massachusetts, and who was prominently connected with the development of the mining industry of the Le- high region. He was the leading spirit in the formation of the Buck Mountain Coal Company, and drove one of the first tunnels in the Panther Creek Valley, being one of the foremost authorities on the geology of the coal regions. His death occurred in 1868, in the sev- enty-first year of his age. An appropriate memorial marks his resting place in the cemetery at Mauch Chunk.
Lansford had its beginnings in two mining hamlets, known as Ashton and Storm Hill, and grew up as new operations were begun by the Lehigh Coal and Naviga- tion Company, which owns the mines through this val- ley. Storm Hill was so designated because a house built in the vicinity by a man named Peter Fisher blew over in a severe storm.
David Williams, a Welshman, who came from Hazle- ton, and who was an expert geologist, planned and supervised the driving of some of the first tunnels in this section. Operations were begun about 1838.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
Planes were built from the valley to the mountain top at Summit Hill, whence the coal was transported to Mauch Chunk over the Switchback Railroad. The first coal was carried up these planes in 1846, but it was not until a few years later that the tunnels in the valley produced much coal.
The growing importance of the new mines, the build- ing of the Nesquehoning Valley Railroad, early in the sixties, the driving of the tunnel through the mountain between Hanto and this place, furnishing easy access to the outside world, all contributed to the rapid growth of Lansford and operated to draw life away from the parent town of Summit Hill.
During 1870-71, the construction and repair shops and the offices of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Com- pany were removed from Summit Hill to Lansford, fur- ther emphasizing the tendency alluded to.
Land in the beginning was cheap, and lots were then sold for one hundred dollars which to-day, in some in- stances, are valued at more than twenty thousand dol- lars.
Some of the early residents of the place, realizing its possibilities and discounting the future, amassed snug fortunes through this tremendous increase in the value of real estate.
Those who first located here were principally of the Welsh, Irish and Scotch nationalities; but in later years, as in other towns of the coal regions, representa- tives of the countries of southern Europe have pressed in with increasing numbers.
For more than thirty-five years, William D. Zehner, who had his offices here, was the superintendent of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. He retired in 1906, being succeeded by Baird Snyder, Jr., who re- signed early in 1912.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
During the early days the stores here were conducted by the company, giving little scope to individual enter- prise in this direction. With the abandonment of the company stores, however, numerous and varied busi- ness establishments sprang up. Among the first to enter the field were: Albert J. Thomas, J. C. Edwards, C. C. Edwards, A. M. Neumiller, Charles Kline, Reese Watkins, Howell Evans, John Quinn, D. R. Davis, D. J. Mathew, D. R. Hughes, William Y. Evans, and E. War- ren & Company. Some of these are still among the prominent business men of the town.
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