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 6
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On the eventful day of his finding coal, he was mak- ing his way over Sharp mountain in a despondent frame of mind. The family larder was bare, and his search for game had been entirely unsuccessful. With a drizzling rain beginning to fall, and the shades of night forming about him, he bent his course homeward. Suddenly he stumbled over an object which, by the im- pact of his foot was driven before him; there was enongh light remaining for him to distinguish that the object was black, and as it was traditionary that coal existed in the vicinity, it occurred to him that this might be a portion of that "stone-coal" of which he had so often heard.
Taking the specimen with him to his cabin, he carried it the next day to Colonel Jacob Weiss, who lived at what was then known as Fort Allen, now Weissport.
Taking a keen interest in the matter, Colonel Weiss immediately took the specimen with him to Philadel- phia, submitting it for inspection to John Nicholson, Michael Hillegas and Charles Cist, the last-named being an intelligent printer, who ascertained its na- ture and properties, authorizing the colonel to satisfy Ginter for his discovery upon his pointing out the exact spot where the coal was found.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
Ginter readily agreed to this proposal, accepting in exchange the title to a small tract of land, upon which he afterwards built a mill, and of which he was unhap- pily deprived by the claims of a prior survey.
In the beginning of the year 1793, Hillegas, Cist, Weiss and others formed the Lehigh Coal Mine Com- pany, but without being incorporated. They pur- chased from Jacob Weiss the tract of land upon which Summit Hill is now situated, afterward taking up, under warrants from the commonwealth, about ten thousand acres, embracing most of the coal lands now owned by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company.
Coal was found in unmistakable quantity at the point of Ginter's discovery, and all that remained necessary to the most triumphant success was a market and the facilities of transportation. But here was the great difficulty. The public knew nothing about the new fuel; wood was then plentiful and low-priced, while there was a total lack of highways or navigable streams leading to the region. Small quantities of coal were mined, but people were slow to appreciate its value, and it required vigorous exertions to induce them to attempt to use it. Its very appearance was against it, and the majority of persons approached were entirely incredulous as to its being anything else than a stone, incapable of being burned by any inherent qualities it possessed. Not only the coal but the fact that it was coal had to be discovered. Even as late as the year 1812, when it was sought to secure an act authorizing the improvement of the Schuylkill river in order to convey coal to Philadelphia, the representative of Schuylkill county in the state senate declared there was no coal in his district; that there was a kind of black stone that was called coal, but that it would not burn !
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
The Lehigh Coal Mine Company expended the sum of ten pounds in Pennsylvania currency on the con- struction of a road from the mines to the Lehigh, a distance of nine miles.
After many fruitless attempts to get coal to market over this nominal road, and by way of the river, which, in seasons of low water, in its unimproved state. de- fied the floating of a canoe over its rocky bed, and after calling for money from its stockholders until calling was useless, the company became tired of the experi- ment, suffering its property to lie idle for several years.
Notwithstanding the inauspicious circumstances which involved the company, Colonel Weiss deter- mined that the coal should, at least, be introduced to the acquaintance of the public. Filling his saddle bags from time to time, he rode around among the black- smiths of the lower country, earnestly soliciting them. to try it. A few accepted the proffered supplies, using the coal with partial success.
In the year 1806, William Turnbull had an ark con- structed at the mouth of the Nesquehoning creek which took to Philadelphia about three hundred bushels of coal. A portion of this cargo was sold to the managers of the water works, located in Center Square, where the city hall now stands. Upon trial there, it was deemed rather an extinguisher of fire than anything else, was rejected as worthless, and was broken up to be spread on the walks of the surrounding garden in place of gravel.
The company, anxious to have its property brought to notice and developed, leased its mines to different individuals in succession for varying periods of years, finally adding the privilege of taking timber from its lands for the purpose of floating coal to market.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
During the war of 1812, bituminous coal became very scarce and high-priced. At this time Jacob Cist, Charles Miner and John Robinson held the lease of the mines on the Lehigh, and taking advantage of the fa- vorable opportunity offered, made a valiant attempt to bring anthracite into general use in Philadelphia.
They succeeded in getting several arks to their des- tination in safety, while others were wrecked upon the rocks which obstructed the channel of the Lehigh. The coal was sold for twenty-one dollars a ton, but even that high price was insufficient to fully defray the cost of mining and transportation.
The return of peace found these men in the midst of their enterprise, and with the return of normal condi- tions they were compelled to abandon it because of their inability to compete successfully with the pro- ducers of bituminous coal.
Soon after this failure, Josiah White and Erskine Hazard, who were engaged in the manufacture of wire at the Falls of Schuylkill, having obtained good re- sults in their experiments with the coal they had pur- chased from Cist, Miner and Robinson, secured control of the entire property of the Lehigh Coal Mine Com- pany under the terms of a lease for twenty years. George F. A. Hanto joined them in the venture, and was largely depended upon to secure the necessary financial assistance to make the property productive. Under the conditions of the lease, it was stipulated that, after a given time for preparation, they should deliver for their own benefit at least forty thousand bushels of coal annually in Philadelphia and the sur- rounding districts, and should pay, if demanded, one ear of corn as a yearly rental.
After these preliminaries, the next step necessary was to procure an act for the improvement of the Le-
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
high river; on this project the various parties previ- ously operating the mines had expended many thou- sands of dollars under successive acts of the legisla- ture.
During the month of April, 1818, White and Hazard surveyed the river from Stoddartsville, above White Haven, to Easton, using instruments which they had borrowed from the Delaware and Schuylkill Canal Company, there being no others to be found in Phila- delphia at that time.
Following this, these enterprising pioneers began to solicit stock subscriptions for the purpose of raising the capital needed to carry forward the work they were about to begin.
In view of the disastrous termination of all previous attempts to put the property on a paying basis, the project was generally viewed as chimerical, and they encountered many difficulties and discouragements. The leading capitalitsts of the day were appealed to, among the number being Stephen Girard, who replied laconically that he formed no partnerships.
Joseph Bonaparte, in a reply by letter through his secretary, respectfully declined joining in the enter- prise.
One confessed, after being polite enough to listen to the promoters, that he was unable to appreciate their remarks; another agreed to give them a hearing on the subject for five minutes by the watch. Still another appointed an evening for a conference, but, when called upon, had gone to a party.
Finally, some were found who were willing to join in the improvement of the river, but had no faith in the value of the coal. Others were of the opinion that the river improvements would never pay the interest of their cost, while the coal business would prove
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
profitable. This diversity of opinion gave rise to a separation of the two interests.
On August 10, 1818, the Lehigh Navigation Com- pany was formed, and two months later the Lehigh Coal Company was organized. Their combined capital stock amounted to two hundred thousand dollars, and White, Hazard and Hanto were the dominant figures in both companies. Hanto was soon found to be an im- postor, however, and after some difficulty, together with a heavy pecuniary sacrifice on the part of the other two, he was, during the spring of 1820, elim- inated. Immediately thereafter the two companies were merged, under the title of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. It was not until February 13, 1822, that a charter was secured.
The improvement of the Lehigh was begun at the mouth of the Nesquehoning creek, during the summer of the year 1818, under the personal supervision of Josiah White. The plan adopted was to contract the channel of the river in the form of a funnel, wherever it was found necessary to raise the water, throwing up the round river-stones into low walls or wing dams, thus providing a regular descending navigation.
But it soon became apparent that the carrying out of this plan would not insure sufficient water in seasons of drought to float a loaded ark or boat, and the success of the whole enterprise hung in the balance.
In this contingency, Josiah White, who was a man of great resourcefulness and mechanical ingenuity, resorted to the expedient of creating artificial freshets. Dams were constructed in the neighborhood of Mauch Chunk, in which were placed sluice-gates of peculiar design, invented for the purpose by White, and by means of which water could be retained until required for use. When the dam became full and the water
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
had run over it long enough for the river below to regain its ordinary depth, the sluice-gates were let down, while the boats, which were lying in the pool above, passed down with the artificial flood. In this manner the difficulty was overcome.
While the work of improving the river was going forward a wagon road was also being built from Mauch Chunk to the mines at Summit Hill, and the promoters of the undertaking had at their command the largest force of men that had until that time been engaged in a private enterprise in the wilderness of Pennsylvania.
The line of this road had been surveyed in 1818 by White and Hazard, and is believed to have been the first ever laid out by an instrument, on the principle of dividing the whole descent into the whole distance, as regularly as the ground would admit of, and having no undulation. A pair of horses could haul from four to six tons of coal upon it with ease.
While the descending navigation of the Lehigh was not perfected until 1823, three hundred and sixty-five tons of coal was sent to Philadelphia in 1820. This quantity stocked the market, and was disposed of with great difficulty. The price asked therefor was eight dollars and forty cents a ton. Two years after this the Schuylkill region was opened, while it was not until 1829 that the coal trade of the Wyoming region began.
In 1821, one thousand and seventy-three tons were sent down the Lehigh, and in 1824 the quantity shipped by this route reached nine thousand five hundred and forty-one tons. This year marked the turning point in the use of anthracite coal. People were now be- coming accustomed to the new fuel, and prejudice against it was fast dying out.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
During 1825, more than twenty-eight thousand tons of coal from the Lehigh reached Philadelphia, and the trade which has since reached such enormous propor- tions was firmly established.
The coal at Summit Hill lay close to the surface, being simply quarried in the open until about 1844, when, owing to the dip of the veins, the uncovering became too expensive to be profitably conducted, and was, therefore, abandoned and underground work re- sorted to.
The boats used during the early years on the Le- high consisted of square boxes, or arks, from sixteen to eighteen feet wide, and about twenty-five feet long. At first two of these were joined together by means of hinges, to permit of the undulations produced in passing the dams and sluices. As the men became more expert in their work and as the channel was straightened and improved, the number of sections was increased till, finally, their whole length reached one hundred and eighty feet. They were steered with long oars, like a raft.
Boats of this description were used on the Lehigh to the end of the year 1831. During that year more than forty thousand tons of coal passed down the river, which required the building of so many boats that, had they all been joined in one length, they would have extended over a distance of more than thirteen miles.
These boats made but one trip, being broken up in Philadelphia, where the planks were sold as lumber, while the iron work was returned to Mauch Chunk by land, a distance of eighty miles.
The men employed in running the boats walked back for several years, when rough wagons were placed on the road for their accommodation by some of the tavern-keepers along the route.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
It soon became evident that the traffic could not be extended as fast as the demand for coal increased while it was necessary to build a new boat for each load of coal that was sent down; besides, the forests of the Laurytown Valley, where most of the lumber came from, were fast disappearing. Under these cir- cumstances, it became apparent that the time had ar- rived for the introduction of slackwater navigation on the Lehigh.
Accordingly, in 1827, the building of the Lehigh Canal, extending from Mauch Chunk to Easton, a dis- tance of forty-six miles, was begun. The engineer in charge of the work was Canvass White, who had taken a prominent part in the construction of the Erie Canal across the state of New York.
The canal was completed in 1829, costing about eight hundred thousand dollars. During the ensuing quarter of a century, or until the building of the Le- high Valley Railroad, it commanded all the traffic of the Lehigh region, in the development of which it was a vital factor. In 1838, under the supervision of E. A. Douglass, the canal was extended from Mauch Chunk to White Haven, from which point it was connected with Wilkes-Barre by railroad.
From this time forth until 1862, when the upper section of the canal was destroyed by flood, never to be rebuilt, it carried a considerable portion of the out- put of the Wyoming coal field.
During the latter part of 1827, the state began the construction of the canal along the Delaware, from Easton to Bristol. Its completion was delayed until 1831, obliging the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Com- pany to continue the use of temporary boats, which, owing to their peculiar design, were very expensively moved on the canal, but were the only kind that could
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
be used upon the channels of the Delaware, which were still necessary used to reach Philadelphia. This seri- ously impeded the development of the Lehigh region, and turned the attention of persons desirous of engag- ing in the coal industry to the Schuylkill field, causing Pottsville to spring up with great rapidity. In this manner the Schuylkill coal trade, thus early, out- stripped that of the Lehigh.
During the summer of 1827, a railroad was built from the mines at Summit Hill to Mauch Chunk. With one or two unimportant exceptions, this was the first railroad in the United States. It was nine miles in length, and occupied the route of the old wagon road most of the distance.
Summit Hill, lying nearly a thousand feet higher than Mauch Chunk, the cars on the road made this descent by gravity, passing the coal, at their destina- tion to the boats in the river by means of inclined planes and chutes. The whole of this plan was evolved by Josiah White, under whose direction it was con- summated in a period of about four months. The rails were of rolled bar-iron, three-eighths of an inch in thickness and an inch and a half in width, laid upon wooden ties, which were kept in place by means of stone ballast.
The loaded cars or wagons, as they were then termed, each having a capacity of approximately one and a half tons, were connected in trains of from six to fourteen, being attended by men who regulated their speed.
Turn-outs were provided at intervals and the empty cars were drawn back to the mines by mules. They descended with the trains in specially constructed cars, affording a novel and rather ludicrous spectacle. Thirty minutes was the average time consumed in
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
making the descent, while the weary trip back to the mines required three hours.
The cost of transporting coal in this manner was trifling as compared with the old plan, and the saving thus effected benefited producer and consumer alike.
In 1830, the Rhume Run Railroad, operated on the same principle as the other, and carrying the output of the Nesquehoning mines to Mauch Chunk, was begun.
By the spring of 1844, the demand for coal had in- creased to such an extent that improved facilities were demanded for its transportation from Summit Hill to Mauch Chunk. The idea of a back track from the river to the mines, which had for years been contem- plated, was now put into execution, under the super- vision of E. A. Douglass. This required a piece of bold engineering. In carrying out the plan, a plane was constructed from the head of the chutes at Mauch Chunk to the summit of Mount Pisgah, about nine hundred feet above the level of the river. Up this ascent the cars were drawn by means of stationary engines, and thence allowed to run by gravity to the foot of Mount Jefferson, six miles distant. From this point they were raised to the top of the mountain, as in the previous instance, traversing the remainder of the distance to Summit Hill by gravity. The back track was completed in 1845.
During the succeeding year, active operations were begun in the Panther Creek Valley. The coal produced by these mines was hoisted to Summit Hill on inclined places, similar to those of Mount Pisgah and Mount Jefferson. The use of a Y in the operation of the railroad in this valley gave rise to the term "switch- back," which designation has ever since been applied to the entire system.
With the opening of the Nesquehoning Valley Rail- road, the Rhume Run gravity road was abandoned,
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
while the Switchback ceased to be used for coal carry- ing purposes. The latter is still maintained and is operated under lease during the summer months for the accommodation of sightseers.
Great as has been the improvement in the facilities of transportation since the beginning of the coal trade, there has been a still greater improvement in the means and appliances employed in the mining of coal and in its preparation for shipment and use.
The large body of coal at Summit Hill, lying near the surface, materially simplified production there during the early days, enabling teams to descend to the quarry for their load.
In other localities, less favored, pits were sunk from which coal was hoisted in buckets by means of a com- mon windlass, operated by hand. Usually, at the depth of thirty or forty feet, the water became be- yond control, and the pit was abandoned and another sunk.
A little later, the gin, operated by horse power, was introduced for hoisting both coal and water, effecting a decided improvement and correspondingly increas- ing the output.
But the pit or shaft was soon abandoned in favor of the drift or tunnel from the foot of hills, thus se- curing gravity drainage, as well as the application of that principle in bringing out the coal. For some years the wheelbarrow was the means of conveyance from the mines. This gave way to the mule and the underground railroad, and the mule has now in many instances been superseded by the electric motor.
The function formerly performed by the pick, wedge and hammer in cutting or loosening the coal now de- volves principally upon high explosives. The primi- tive breaker was a sledge in the hands of a brawny workman.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
A careful, intelligent supervision under state laws and legally selected officials was inaugurated years ago, and every mine in Pennsylvania is visited at stated intervals by the mine inspectors, whose famili- arity with mining in all its details renders them eli- gible for their important work.
In addition to this, mine foremen and superintend- ents are required to undergo an examination as to their competency, and the proficiency of every miner must be legally attested.
With all these precautionary measures, many acci- dents occur in this hazardous industry, and a trained hospital corps is employed to render "first aid to the injured."
For purposes of inspection, the state is divided into districts, to each of which one inspector is allotted. Carbon county forms the major portion of the Seven- teenth Anthracite District.
Normally this district now produces about four mil- lion tons of coal annually, the largest individual opera- tor being the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, which is credited with approximately three-fourths of the output of the whole district.
Since the beginning of the industry, the Lehigh region, which includes the mines of the Hazleton dis- trict, has shipped about three hundred million tons of coal to market.
As is well known, practically all the anthracite coal in the United States is confined to an area of five hun- dred square miles in eastern Pennsylvania. The total output of the entire region thus far has been about two billion tons, and, according to the estimates of the Pennsylvania geological survey, at the present rate of production the coal beds will be exhausted in less than one hundred years.
CHAPTER VII.
ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY.
The great county of Northampton, which in the beginning extended westward from the Delaware to the Susquehanna, and northward to the state line of New York, was separated from Bucks, one of the three original counties of Pennsylvania, in 1752.
Its territorial extent was nearly equal to that of the neighboring state of New Jersey.
Lehigh county was set off from Northampton in 1812; influenced by that act and the hardships under which they labored in being so far removed from Easton, the seat of justice, the people in the more northern portion of the valley began to agitate the project of forming another new county as soon as the termination of the second war with England allowed their thoughts to turn from military to civil affairs.
Several abortive attempts were made in this direc- tion, and it was not until March 13, 1843, that the long- desired legislation, providing for the establishment of Carbon county, was secured and approved by the gov- ernor.
As then constituted the county contained the town- ships of East Penn, Mahoning, Lausanne, Banks, Tow- amensing, Lower Towamensing and Penn Forest.
All of its territory was taken from Northampton county, excepting Penn Forest, then including Kidder, which was carved from Monroe. The boundaries of the county still remain as established in 1843.
John D. Bowman, Thomas Weiss, John Fatzinger, Abram Shortz and Samuel Wolf were the commis-
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY.
sioners to whom Governor Porter assigned the delicate duty of choosing the county seat.
Lehighton and Mauch Chunk were rival claimants for the honor, the latter being selected.
The commissioners were to a certain extent actuated in their choice by the offer of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company to provide a suitable court house and jail at their own expense as a special inducement to the location of the seat of justice at Mauch Chunk. The old stone storehouse of the company, occupying the site of the present court house, served the first of these purposes, while a small structure in the rear was converted into a jail. These buildings and the ground upon which they stood were formally deeded to the county in 1846.
In December, 1843, the first session of court was held, Judge N. B. Eldred presiding, and Asa Packer and Jacob Dinkey sitting as associate justices.
At this session, twelve lawyers were admitted to the bar of Carbon county.
Neither the court house nor the jail were of fire- proof construction, and both were destroyed in the fire which devastated Mauch Chunk during the sum- mer of 1849. Fortunately the county records were saved.
The jail was rebuilt during the succeeding year, but it was not until 1854 that the work of replacing the court house was completed.
After about a dozen years the former was found to be inadequate, and in 1869 the present prison of the county was begun.
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