USA > Pennsylvania > Clearfield County > History of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 22
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83
gorges, eroded in the hard rocks, forming the Conglomerate series No. XII. The high land back from these streams commonly contains about two hundred feet of coal measures, and the higher knobs probably take in the Mahoning sandstone."
Messrs. Chase & Van Dusen have opened up a mine on Little Clearfield Creek, which shows four feet six inches of Bed E. This mine rises southeast, towards Clearfield Creek.
A little further up the Little Clearfield the O'Shanter Coal Company have built a railroad about two miles, along a run, at right angles to the creek, and have opened up and are now shipping from Bed E. This mine rises towards the southwest. The bed here is capped by about one foot to eighteen inches of cannel, of the same quality as that mined near Woodland, and is shipped and sold separate from the other coals. The remainder of the bed measures from three feet two inches to three feet six inches, making the total width of the bed from four feet two inches to four feet six inches.
Between Curwensville and Bloomington, Bed D has been opened up in a number of places, and furnishes a bright black, shining columnar coal, with only a small amount of sulphur, and yielding a small amount of ash-in other words, a fuel of high order.
In the region between Bloomington and Little Clearfield creek a strong northwest dip pervades the rocks, so that the coal is here more than a hundred feet higher than when opened near Curwensville. This rise to the southeast continues over into Knox township, and near the Pleasant Ridge school-house on the "Barrens" road the Mahoning Sandstone is seen at an elevation of 1650 feet, more or less, above tide.
A large number of country banks have been opened on beds A and B in the neighborhood of Curwensville, but they rarely found more than two and a half to three feet of coal, and that of rather poor quality and often very sul- phurous. These workings have, therefore, been abandoned, the banks have long since fallen shut and the beds cannot be measured.
The line of greatest elevation of the first anticlinal axis passes through the northwestern part of Bigler township, lifting the top of the Conglomerate No. XII about 240 feet above Clearfield Creek in the hills near the mouth of Lost Run. The prevailing dip is north of west towards the central line of the Second Basin, but local dips to the southeast are occasionally observed. The northwest dip is very strong in the vicinity of the head-waters of Potts Run. Some of the high land between Potts and Lost Runs takes in all the produc- tive measures, but the area underlaid by the Freeport Beds is comparatively small. Limestone occurs near the Cove Run school-house, and a bed of coal five feet thick is found on the Irvin estate on Lost Run.
Throughout the southeastern part of Jordan township the coals are elevated by this uplift of the first anticlinal axis, but the prevailing dip is gently to the
2II
GEOLOGY OF CLEARFIELD COUNTY.
northwest towards Ansonville. On the road from Glen Hope to Ansonville and Gazzam, the Mahoning sandstone is seen capping the summits of the hills. In the vicinity of Ansonville this rock does not out-crop prominently, but its place is about 200 feet lower down than where seen near Glen Hope, showing a dip to the northwest.
Going northwest into Ferguson township, we find the Mahoning sandstone 125 feet higher on Campbell Run. This fact locates the central line of the Second Basin near Ansonville. In the extreme western corner of this town- ship the Mahoning sandstone lies 150 to 175 feet higher than on Campbell Run, which helps to prove where the trough of the basin may be found.
The coal is opened and worked very extensively in and around Gazzam by the Clearfield Bituminous Coal Corporation, and finds its way to market over the Beech Creek Railroad. The bed worked is the E, and varies from three feet six inches to four feet. The coal is clean, bright, shining, columnar, and with an almost inappreciable amount of sulphur, and is low in ash.
Bed E is opened up near Pennville, though no shipments are made from there. The coal is about five feet thick, and resembles the coal mined in the First Basin from that bed.
A three foot bed was opened about three miles above Bellville. The coal was not of good quality, and appeared as if it was taken from Bed B. This, however, is not certain. Future developments may change the whole charac- ter of this coal.
" Three beds of limestone have been found in the hills south of the river, Greenwood township. They are probably the Freeport Upper and Lower Limestones and the Johnstown Cement Bed, and this is the only locality at which the presence of all three beds are known or even suspected. The coals are opened up, but the upper beds are all thin, barely reaching three feet, but one of the lower beds (probably Bed B) is quite thick. In the absence of openings that may be examined, the thickness and character of the coals in this township must be judged from openings in the adjoining townships.
" At Lewisville the Johnstown Cement (limestone) Seam was opened and the product burnt some years ago, but as it was found to be very impure, the enterprise was abandoned and the kiln torn down. The seam lies about two hundred feet above the river.
" In the northern part of Bell township the land is very high, the crest of the divide between the waters of the Susquehanna River and Mahoning Creek often reaching a height (by barometer) of more than 2200 feet above tide. This high land marks the uplift of the Second or Chestnut Ridge anticlinal axis. It is capped by the Mahoning sandstone.
" From this ridge southwardly and southeastwardly towards the river we find the measures dipping rapidly, so that the place of Bed B is about three hundred and fifty feet above the river near McGee's.
212
HISTORY OF CLEARFIELD COUNTY.
" In the country drained by streams flowing west and northwest to the Mahoning, the dip is probably west or northwest towards the center of the Third Basin."-Report H. 7.
The Clearfield and Jefferson Railroad extends from Irvona to Chests. This road will be extended to Punxsutawney on the west and to Madera on the east, and will fully open up all this section of country.
The coal is not opened up enough either in Burnside or Chest townships to warrant any record of their quality or the thickness of the beds being given at this time. From what can be learned, however, it is safe to say that the beds are of moderate thickness. From local openings they have been found to be as high as six feet and as low as four feet in thickness. In Burnside township the No. XII Seral Conglomerate is above water level along the Susquehanna River, but passes beneath water level on either side of the river. The Mahon- ing sandstone is seen in place as a massive conglomerate capping the summits of the hills east of Cherry Tree.
" Going east towards Somerville's Mill, on Chest Creek, the summits reach a height of 400 feet above the river, and still show the Mahoning sandstone as a prominent cap-rock.
" Going north towards New Washington there are higher summits, but the Mahoning sandstone does not show prominently. It is possible that many of these hills are not quite high enough to catch this rock, but it is more probable that the rock here exists as a soft, shaly sandstone and does not make a well- marked outcrop. East of New Washington it is plainly seen in the high knobs overlooking Chest Creek."-Report H. 7.
The trough of the Third Coal Basin, within the county follows the line of the Low Grade railroad from Tylers southwest to within a few miles of Du Bois, and then apparently leaves the valley to run under the high land near or south of West Liberty. It is a continuation northeast of the Punxsutawney coal field.
The third anticlinal axis (or Boon's 'Mountain axis) crosses the extreme northwestern corner of the county, in a northeast and southwest direction. It is probable that only five miles of the axis lie within the county.
Within the third coal basin are all the mines that are worked along the line of the Low Grade division of the Allegheny Valley Railroad, from Du Bois on the west to Tylers on the east, and lying in Huston and Brady town- ships.
From West Liberty northward towards Du Bois the measures lie flat, so that, while the center of the basin is near West Liberty, the Freeport coals do not come above water-level until we reach Du Bois.
The coal worked west of the latter town, by the Rochester and Hildrup Companies, is the same that is worked at Reynoldsville, i. e., Bed E.
At the Rochester mine the bed shows very thick, in some parts of the
213
GEOLOGY OF CLEARFIELD COUNTY.
workings approaching seven feet, with a slate parting about two feet below the roof.
Coming eastward, up the Low Grade Railroad, towards the town of Du Bois, we find the Barren measures coming down to water-level. This accounts for the absence of this coal in the Du Bois hills-it there lies below water- level. This has been proven by several holes drilled for water in and near the town.
From Du Bois eastward to the Summit tunnel the cuttings on the railroad are all in Barren measure rocks, and at the tunnel there is a thickness of over two hundred feet of these measures.
Between Luthersburg and Rockton the hills are rarely high enough to catch the Freeport lower coal with sufficient mining cover. The lower coals have been opened on the head-waters of the Luthersburg branch of Sandy Lick Creek, but they are rather thin-commonly two and a half or three feet thick. The Freeport lower limestone outcrops in the road on the summit.
The Barren measures occupy the central part of this basin from near Win- terburn southwest to Brady township. The coal opened at Winterburn may be one of the higher beds, probably Bed F, and the same may be said of the openings made at Penfield, but at Tylers the bed worked has every indication of being Bed E. The coal in the mine at Tylers is nearly four feet thick, but is very sulphurous. The product of this mine is crushed, washed, and coked before being shipped.
Clearfield County Fire Clays .- Fire clay is found and worked in the first and second coal basins in the county, and near the borders of the county in the third coal basin.
The fire-brick works at Retort and Sandy Ridge, about three and four miles respectively from Osceola Mills, are in Centre county, not far from the line. The clay worked ranges from four feet to six feet thick, averaging five feet or more ; but ranges in places from four feet to twelve feet in thickness.
The clay worked is in three layers, and these are kept separate, the differ- ent qualities of these layers making them specially valuable for different pur- poses. The top layer is said to be adapted for furnace bottoms; the middle layer, the hard clay, is used for bricks, and the third layer for making tiles and the in-walls of furnaces. The hard, sandy clay in the bottom is not worked. These clays rest upon the conglomerate (XII) and are therefore at the bottom of the lower coal measures.
Three miles west of Blue Ball station, on the Tyrone and Clearfield Rail- road, the Harrisburg Fire Brick Company have opened and are working an extensive fire-clay mine. The clay is shipped to Harrisburg, where it is man- ufactured into bricks. These bricks are used for heating and puddling fur- naces, and for the lining of blast furnaces, chiefly in the Schuylkill, Susque- hanna and Cumberland Valleys. The clay is also shipped to Pittsburgh, where it is made into pots for the use of glass works. 28
214
HISTORY OF CLEARFIELD COUNTY.
The clays worked are in three layers, called respectively the upper layer, or " shell clay ;" the middle layer, or " block clay," called the best of the three ; the lower layer, or "flag clay."
These clays, in their floor, cover, character, and size, resemble strongly the Sandy Ridge fire-clays, and give every evidence of being the same bed, altered but little in its passage underground from the Sandy Ridge mine, on the crest of the Allegheny Mountain, to this Blue Ball mine, where the clay is again raised high up and comes out to daylight near the summit of the first anticlinal sub-axis.
The Wallaceton Fire Brick Company have opened the clay bed at a point below Wallaceton, and are extensively working it. The Woodland Fire Brick Company have opened and are working the clay on both sides of Roaring Run Brook, about forty feet above the stream. The hill rises fifty feet above, cov- ered on the surface with sandstone lumps, usually of moderate size, without any pebble rock conglomerate.
The working face of clay exposed measured an average of about five feet of hard, good-looking clay, with softer or more impure fire-clay in roof and floor. While a part of this five-foot clay occasionally deteriorated temporarily in character, yet the general average of the bed, both in size and quality, is sustained with much regularity.
Another drift, about one hundred yards away, shows nearly the same thing, but with perhaps more of the inferior, and less of the valuable, clay showing in the working face.
The mine opened at Barrett Station, some years ago, was never worked to any great extent. In fact the clay was not worth much, and the mine was abandoned soon after its opening.
The mine opened in Clearfield town, east of the depot, according to Pro- fessor Platt, " showed a curious exaggeration of an ordinary fire-clay deposit," being mixed with coal, iron ore, sandstone, and black slate. There were eight layers of fire-clay, some impure mixed with shales, some mixed with sand, while others were mixed with nodular iron ore balls. There were, however, eight feet of fairly good clay in the mine at the beginning, but it soon dimin- ished in size and quality, and the mine was abandoned. The clay now used in the works is brought from around Woodland and Blue Ball.
R. B. Wigton & Sons have opened up the clay at the head of the Ashland siding on the Coal Run Branch Railroad. This clay is evidently the same clay that is worked at Sandy Ridge, as it also rests upon the conglomerate (XII) here, coming to the surface within a mile of the works, at the summit of the anticlinal axis.
A very fine bed of clay was exposed in a railroad cutting of an extension of the Moshannon Branch to Madera, on W. C. Dickinson's place. The clay showed up eleven feet, but at this present writing it has not been worked. It
215
REVIEW OF COAL INTERESTS.
is supposed to be the same bed worked elsewhere in the county, but this is not asserted, because so little of the bed has been exposed that it is impossible, as yet, to say that it lies on the conglomerate.
This fire-clay, no doubt, covers the conglomerate over a large area of the county, and future generations will be the parties who will have the pleasure of proving whether this is so or not.
The mineral wealth of Clearfield county might be said to have been only touched so far. The vast deposits of coal that are known to lie within her terri- tory will give employment to thousands, and enlist the capital of moneyed men for hundreds of years to come. Though the woods are nearly cut down and the lumber industry might be said to be passing away, yet it is only to make room for the young giant now lying in swaddling clothes in the cradle of the present. This giant will, in a very few years, give evidence of its power, and the geologist of the future will know a great deal more than can be known or can even be dreamed of at present.
CHAPTER XIV.
A REVIEW OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE COAL INTERESTS OF THE CELE- BRATED HOUTZDALE-OSCEOLA-PHILIPSBURG REGION.
T HE coal production of the county has been developed in so short a time that, to the general reader not knowing the full facts, it may appear like a tale copied from the " Arabian Nights," or told by a second Munchausen.
Beginning in the year 1862, with only 7,239 tons output for that year, it has grown in the short time of twenty-four years to near four millions of tons in 1885. No comparison is made with the year 1886, for the reason that a three months' strike, which then occurred, limited the product some 330,000 tons, while the scarcity of cars for transporting the output must have cut off some 200,000 tons more, a total loss of about 530,000 tons in round numbers.
It is the purpose of this chapter to show how this great industry has been developed, and trace it, step by step, to the present time, and, as near as pos- sible, to make an accurate record of the several collieries comprising the now world-renowned Houtzdale-Osceola-Philipsburg region. So great, indeed, has been this output that it is deemed of sufficient importance to be made the sub- ject of a special chapter in this work. The other coal-producing localities will receive full mention in the several townships of which they form a part.
This region, geologically, is known as the first bituminous coal basin, and extends from Utahville in the southwest, to Peale in the northeast, of the
216
HISTORY OF CLEARFIELD COUNTY.
lower or southeastern part of the county, and embraces within its borders the Houtzdale, Osceola, and Philipsburg sub-regions. The south and east lines of the county having for its boundaries Cambria and Centre counties respectively , the first basin naturally extends over into these counties; but, with the excep- tion of four mines near to Osceola, that ore worked in Centre county, and the mines at Ansonville in the E basin, all the production passing over the rail- roads leading from the county is mined within its limits.
The first basin contains several workable veins or beds of coal; among the number being the celebrated "Moshannon vein," from which is taken, with one, or possibly two exceptions, all the coals known as the " Clearfield coals," and which has given this region its reputation. This Moshannon bed is known as " Bed E," and varies in thickness from two feet and under to over ten feet, but its normal thickness is from four and one half to five feet, and is generally without slate partings, but with a "bony" coal immediately beneath its top rock. That also varies in thickness-from three inches to one foot-but nor- mally about five inches, and has no parting from the coal.
At times, however, a parting of " bituminous shale," or false cannel, forms near the center of the bed, and in one instance at least this " cannel " became rock, over a foot in thickness. This is not general, however, and the bed is free from all impurities except the " bone " on its top, which is easily separated and cast away by the miner.
The coal from the Moshannon Bed early became noted for its freedom from sulphur and other impurities, and therefore its small percentage of ash. Very little of it was "coked," as it was too good to coke, and the coal was used in its raw state for the generation of steam (especially in locomotives and ocean steamers), for rolling-mills, and blacksmith forges, and for the making of glass, and other products requiring specially pure coals. Its freedom from sul- phur made it very desirable as a cargo for ocean-going vessels, and for the firing of ocean steamers, as there was no danger incurred from spontaneous combus- tion.
The coal is not screened for the market, but "slack" and "lump " is shipped together, and commonly known as the " run of the mine." True, there are one or two screens erected in the region, but these are not used to get the "lump," but on the contrary, the customer wants the "slack," without the lump.
These coals did not win their way into public favor without the usual drawbacks. It was not generally known that the purer the coal the finer would it be mined, and as there was and is very few lumps in this coal, and as it did not make the favorable appearance "on board cars," that screened bituminous coals generally does, it was condemned at sight, and before trial on locomotive engines that were used to draw the first of these coals to market; and they therefore burned coal brought from Westmoreland county, and the
217
REVIEW OF COAL INTERESTS.
engines, with one accord, agreed that the Clearfield county coal was worth nothing as a steam producer until after an exhaustive analysis, this coal, when it was found to contain more pure carbon than bituminous coal generally, and then the superintendents of the roads near the region concluded to try it in their locomotives, upon which it was found to be far superior to all other steam producers, not excepting anthracite coal, and at once it jumped public favor, and to-day all the important railroads in Northern New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine, use coal from these mines, while the great Pennsylvania road draws nearly all its supplies from the county for its system eastward of Tyrone; and many of the large ocean-going steamers derive their power from the wealth that once laid in the hills of this county.
The first shipment of coal over the Tyrone and Clearfield railway was made from the mine now known as the " Powelton," three miles south of Os- ceola Mills, and though in Centre county, yet its production is added in the total mined from Clearfield county, so that we will have to note it. The rail- road was finished to that point in 1862, and the mine shipped 7,239 net tons for that year. It was then owned by John Nuttal, afterwards by the Powel- ton Coal and Iron Company, who worked it for a number of years, and then leased it to W. J. Jackson, who named the mine " Black Diamond," and still works it.
There were sundry local openings on the bed made before this time, and the coal sold to the citizens about the locality, but none was carried any great dis- tance, with the exception of the coal from the Goss Farm, in Decatur town- ship, where an opening was made as early as 1830, and the coal conveyed to Spruce Creek by wagons. The Drane colliery is now working this ancient mine.
The Derby mine, about three-fourths of a mile west of Philipsburg, was opened in 1860 by George Zeiglar, and the coal hauled on a tram-road to Philipsburg and sold for local use. When the railroad reached that point in 1864 this mine was ready to ship; its schutes were located nearly opposite the depot, and it can justly claim being the first mine in the county to ship its coal to market over the new railroad. This mine is still being worked by the Barnes Brothers, but an extension known as the Derby Branch was built in 1870, and the coal is now loaded and shipped on that branch.
The next mine to ship was the " Cuba," immediately opposite Philipsburg. This mine was opened in 1863 by a Mr. Saltilda, and afterwards worked under the name of "Cody Ridge," by J. N. Cassanova, who owns the lands on which this and Derby mines are placed, and is now worked again under the name of " Cuba," by the Cuba Coal Company.
The year 1864 also witnessed the opening of a mine about half a mile east of Osceola Mills, and opposite the old Enterprise mine, by a Mr. Fulton, who only shipped a few cars, when he abandoned his enterprise, and retired from
218
HISTORY OF CLEARFIELD COUNTY.
the field. This mine was long known as " Fulton's Folly," why, it is hard to ascertain at this late date.
There was another mine opened during 1864 immediately opposite Osceola Mills, and just over the line in Centre county, and known as the "Smith," on the lands of A. G. Curtin, D. I. Pruner, and others. The lease was trans- ferred afterward to John Miller, and he conveyed it to William Wallace and John Tucker, who re-named the colliery the "Wallace." In the mean time the Osceola Company had acquired by purchase all the rights of Curtin et. als. in the lands, and that company was merged afterwards in the Moshannon Land and Lumber Company. On the 3Ist of July, 1873, the lease expired, and the mine reverted to the land owners, who subsequently leased it to Isaac Rose and Michael McHugh. They re-named the colliery the " Philadelphia," by which it still appears on the record, though not shipping much coal. The vein worked is the B.
The coal production had increased in 1863 to 24,330 net tons, and in 1864 to 65,380 net tons (and here it might be mentioned that in all computations of coal production, where tons are spoken of, it will mean net tons). In 1865, however, there was only shipped 60,629 tons, a decrease of 4,75 1 tons, though another colliery was opened during that year on the Crane estate, opposite which, in 1867, there was another mine opened, and both named "Enterprise." The " Enterprise " that was opened on the Crane property was in Clearfield county, and its coal was hauled across the creek on trestle work, and dumped into cars in Centre county. The mine ran for about five years, when it was abandoned. The "Enterprise " that was opened in 1867 on lands of Fred. Dale, in Centre county, is still running, the property now being owned by Judge Orvis and Colonel D H. Hastings. This mine has been operated by numerous parties, and under several names, but is now known as the "Phoenix," and operated by the Elizabeth Coal Company.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.