History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 118

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1314

USA > Pennsylvania > Fayette County > History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 118

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Company). There are in process of construction and in contemplation upwards of fourteen hundred more. Reference to the firms engaged in the business, to- gether with details of their operations, will be found following :

ANCHOR COKE-WORKS.

These works, located near Dunbar village (and known until very recently as the Henderson Coke- Works), are now carried on by Morgan, Layng & Co. In June, 1878, H. C. Frick & Co. came into con- trol of one hundred ovens, built here in 1870 by R. Henderson & Co., and two hundred acres of adjacent coal lands. Frick & Co. employed in their Dunbar coke business about one hundred men, mined six thousand bushels of coal daily, and for a similar pe- riod produced one hundred and fifty tons of coke.

The main slope in this coal-mine extends fifteen hundred feet. The investment in ovens and lands represents over $200,000. Thomas Lynch has been in charge of the works since June, 1878.

MAHONING COKE COMPANY (LIMITED).

In 1872, Messrs. Paull, Brown & Co. bought the coal right to one hundred acres of coal lands, and built one hundred ovens just south of Dunbar vil- Jage. Their total investment aggregated $83,000. In 1878 they were succeeded in the proprietorship by the Mahoning Coke Company (Limited). The chartered capital was $40,000. They employ an average of sixty men, mine two hundred tons of coal, and produce one hundred and thirty-seven tons of coke daily. The main slope is 1700 feet in length, and is at an angle of about twenty-three degrees. The officers of the company are Charles L. Rhodes, chairman; F. H. Mathers, secretary and treasurer; N. F. Sanford, manager and agent. Mr. Sanford has been in charge of the works since 1875.

COLVIN & CO.'S WORKS.

In April, 1880, Messrs. S. Colvin & Co., of Pitts- burgh, acquired control of eighty-four acres of coal lands (formerly a portion of the R. Henderson & Co. tract), and erected eighty ovens. They have but one opening, which is a slope twelve hundred feet in length. They employ sixty men, take out 4500 bushels of coal, and manufacture 120 tons of coke daily. Their in- vestment is about $45,000. W. A. Blythe is the super- intendent.

The Dunbar Furnace Coke- Works are noticed else- where in the history of this township, in connection with the account of the operations of the Dunbar Furnace Company.

UNIONDALE COKE-WORKS.

In 1869 Messrs. Watt, Taylor & Co. bought the coal right to one hundred and five acres of coal lands near Dunbar village, and built upon it forty coke- ovens. Soon afterwards they added twenty ovens, and were succeeded by Watt, Byers & Co., who were followed by T. W. Watt & Co. In 1878 Reid

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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Brothers bought the interests of Watt & Co., and built sixteen additional ovens, making the present complement seventy-six. Their main slope reaches twelve hundred feet from the opening. They employ usually seventy-five men, mine five thousand bushels of coal daily, and produce each day one hundred and twenty tons of coke. They have invested in the business about $100,000.

CAMBRIA IRON COMPANY'S WORKS.

In 1880 the Cambria Iron Company, of Johnstown, Pa., leased of the Connellsville Gas-Coal Company a large traet of coal lands near New Haven, together with one hundred coke-ovens and appurtenances, pre- viously used by the last-named company. The Cam- bria Company added four hundred ovens and other appointments for meeting their immense require- ments, at a total cost of $228,000. Their lease on the property runs twenty years. They have two mine openings, take out from nine hundred to one thou- sand tons of coal, and ship about seven hundred tons of coke daily. Their employés number about five hundred. These live near the works, where the com- pany has provided a well-stocked store and one hundred and fifty-six tenement-houses for their ac- commodation. The office of the company is at No. 218 South Fourth Street, Philadelphia. E. Y. Town- send is the president; Charles S. Wurts, vice-presi- dent; and John T. Kille, treasurer. The superin- tendent of the coke-works is John McFadden. The two works of the Cambria Company in Dunbar are known as the " Morrell" and " Wheeler" Coke-Works.

CONNELLSVILLE COKE AND IRON COMPANY.

This company, now pushing rapidly forward the greatest single coal-mining and coke-manufacturing interest in Dunbar, was chartered in March, 1880, with a capital of $1,000,000. Hon. John Leisenring, of Mauch Chunk, is president; W. B. Whitney, of Philadelphia, secretary and treasurer ; and E. K. Hyndman, of Connellsville, general manager. The company owns eight thousand acres of coal lands, lying in the townships of Dunbar, Franklin, and North Union, the greatest portion being in Dunbar. At the new town of Leisenring, three miles and a half southwest from Connellsville, the company have two hundred coke-ovens in operation, and to that number they are now adding two hundred more, which are nearly ready to be put in operation. In addition to these, the building of three hundred more is contemplated, making seven hundred in all.

At this place a shaft has been sunk three hundred and seventy-five feet deep. The Pennsylvania Rail- road Company has constructed a branch road, known as the "Opossum Run Branch," from New Haven to Leisenring, and as the coal company develop their lands, will lengthen it. The purpose of the coal com- pany is to sink shafts and build coke-ovens at the most available points, and to use the utmost energy in utilizing the enormous supply of coal contained

within their possessions. They now mine about seven hundred tons of coal daily, and employ up- wards of four hundred people. They began to make coke for the first time in April, 1881. It is expected that the company will erect extensive furnaces on their lands in the near future.

THE TROTTER COKE-WORKS.

These coke-works, located within the township of Dunbar, are owned and operated by the Connells- ville Gas-Coal Company, which was organized Aug. 9, 1864, under act of April 21, 1854. Letters patent were issued Oct. 14, 1864. The capital stock of the company is $500,000. Their property consists of about three thousand one hundred acres of coal right and about four hundred and fifty acres in fee, situated in the vicinity of Connellsville. There are three mining vil- lages on the property, viz., Wheeler, Morrell, and Trot- ter, named after Charles Wheeler, vice-president of the Central National Bank of Philadelphia ; Hon. Daniel J. Morrell, general manager of the Cambria Iron Company, Johnstown ; and Charles W. Trotter, Esq., of Philadelphia, respectively. The first two villages consist of about one hundred and sixty tenement- houses, a large store building, and suitable buildings for coal-hoisting machinery, etc., all under the man- agement of the Cambria Iron Company, which has leased for a period of twenty years the five hundred coke-ovens connected with the same, and which are now in full blast.

The village of Trotter, recently laid out and built under the management and direction of the company's superintendent, Henry Wickham, has been described as follows : " A little more than a mile out the Opos- sum Run Branch from New Haven junction is the coke village of Trotter, where are located the exten- sive works of the Connellsville Gas-Coal Company. The town consists of about one hundred houses, of which the company own eighty-four, and is laid out with mathematical accuracy. The houses are neat and clean, and to each is attached sufficient ground for gardening purposes; the streets are wide and well drained; water-plugs are stationed along the streets at convenient distances, and through these the village is supplied with pure Youghiogheny River water, furnished by a pipe line to that stream, over two miles distant.1 A school-house of modern design adorns one of the thoroughfares; a large store supplies the employés with food and clothing; and, upon the whole, Trotter will compare favorably with any mining vil- lage in the region. The town is to be enlarged to the extent of forty more tenement-houses. A portion of the lumber for them is already on the ground, and the contract for their erection has been made. In addition to the modern improvements mentioned above, a telephone line has been constructed connect- ing the works with those of the Connellsville Coke

1 The same pumping apparatus supplies the villages of Morrell and Wheeler with water from the Yonghiogheny.

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF LEISENRING, PA.

E. L

14-414

Whinnery

Shaft, Boiler, and In_up Hvem

Interior of Engine Room.

View of Coke Ovens Looking up Valley.

CONNELLSVILLE GOKE AND IRON COMPANY'S WORKS, LEISENRING, P.A.

EEEE

EFES

Public School.

Store and Office Building.

Pike Street.

View of Broadway and Falls Avenue.

Broadway.

Coke Works and Shaft.

CONNELLSVILLE GAS COAL COMPANY'S WORKS AT THE VILLAGE OF TROTTER, PA.

CHAS. W. TROTTER, President.

SAML. W. WRAY, Secretary and Treasurer.

H. WICKHAM, Manager.

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DUNBAR TOWNSHIP.

and Iron Company at Leisenring, and with the resi- dence of Manager Wickham in Connellsville.

" The works at present consist of two hundred com- pleted ovens, which are in active operation, turning out eight thousand tons of first-class coke per month. The entire plant contemplates four hundred ovens, and already seventy more are under contract. The remaining one hundred and thirty will be built in the near future. One hundred and seventy-five men find employment here, and from the bowels of the shaft, three hundred and fifteen feet from the surface of the ground, are hoisted eleven thousand tons of raw coal per month. The ovens are of the size now regarded as the standard of the region, and known as the twelve- foot oven. The coke turned out at these works is of a superior quality, the coal of this company lying near the centre of the basin, where it is best for coking purposes." The coal vein found in the Trotter shaft averages nine feet workable, and an analysis recently made by Prof. Charles P. Williams, of Philadel- phia, shows it to be about three per cent. higher in fixed carbon and coke yield, and about two per cent. lower in sulphur and ash than any coal yet found in the Connellsville region, thus proving the generally accepted theory that the Connellsville coking coal is purest where it has most cover.

The works of the company embody the latest im- provements. The cages are hoisted and lowered by a one hundred and twenty horse-power engine, manu- factured by Hayden, of Luzerne County. This en - gine also runs a fan, which supplies the mine with a constant current of fresh air. The main heading is five hundred and seventy yards in length and nine feet in width. The works are supplied with a black- smith- and carpenter-shop in addition to the other buildings. The whole is under the management of Henry Wickham, well known as a coke man in this region. His corps of assistants comprises the follow- ing: John I. Munson, assistant superintendent; Elijah Parker, pit boss; George Kelley, yard boss ; George Whetzell, engineer ; Samuel Dinsmore, machinist in charge of repair-shops. The store is in charge of James C. Munson, senior member of the firm by whom it is owned, Munson & Co. The mining engineer at present in charge of the Trotter shaft is Mr. George C. Hewitt, recently connected with the Westmoreland Coal Company at Irwin Station.

The entire plant of this company, exclusive of the coal, cost, in round numbers, $225,000. Their coal lands embrace two thousand one hundred acres, exclusive of a thousand acres leased to the Cambria Iron Company, together with their old works on the Fayette County Branch. The latter, both works and coal, revert to the Connellsville Gas-Coal Company in twenty years.

FORT HILL COKE-WORKS.

of Cleveland, Ohio, purchased of A. J. Hill the coal right in a farm of three hundred and thirty-six acres, located upon the Youghiogheny River just below New Haven, and has built upon it eighty-cight ovens, which number is to be increased to three hundred. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company has spanned the river with a fine bridge one mile below Connellsville, and constructed a branch road to the Fort Hill Coke-Works. It is the intention of the railway company to ultimately push their extension to Wheeling. Mr. Rainey will have a force of fully five hundred employés, for whom he will erect tenements on the opposite side of the river, with which he will establish communication by means of a substantial bridge. When his enterprise gets fairly in operation he will have at the Fort Ifill works and surround- ings an investment of about $200,000. Daily ship- ments of coke are expected to average about five hun- dred tons. Mr. A. J. Hill has been in charge of the works from the outset. Back of the river, in Dunbar, Langhlin & Schuhenberger and Graff, Bennett & Co., two Pittsburgh firms, have about fifteen hundred acres of coal lands that are likely to be developed within the near future. The probabilities as well as the possibilities of the coke interests in Dunbar point to vast business interests and a steady increase over the present production of coke.

BLISS & MARSHALL'S FIRE-BRICK WORKS.

About a half-mile south of Dunbar village, Messrs. Bliss & Marshall have, since 1872, been engaged in the manufacture of fire-brick for coke-ovens. This was the first and is the only enterprise of a similar char- acter known to Dunbar township. About five acres of land are occupied, and from twenty-five to sixty men employed at the works. There are four kilns, that produce about 4,500,000 bricks annually. Messrs. Bliss & Marshall have about $20,000 invested in the enterprise.

HARPER'S WOOLEN-MILL.

Daniel Harper has on Dunbar Creek, near Dunbar, a woolen-factory, wherein he mannfactures blankets, flannels, yarns, etc. It was built about 1821, by Jacob Lowry, who before that had a carding-machine and fulling-mill attachment in his stone grist-mill. His son William succeeded him in business and im- proved the woolen-mill. In 1840, James Hankins and Thomas Rankin became its owners. In 1850, Hankins was sole owner, and in 1862 Daniel Harper came into possession of the property. Since then he lias carried on the mill.

NEW HAVEN BOROUGH.

The borough of New Haven lies in a bend of the Youghingheny River, directly opposite the borough of Connellsville. Its population in July, 1880, was four hundred and forty-two. Up to 1873 the town was a manufacturing point of considerable conse-

In the summer of 1880, W. J. Rainey, prominently identified with the Cleveland Rolling-Mill Company . quence, but since then it has been devoid of special

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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

interest in that direction, and a diminution in its prosperity has ensued. The near proximity to Con- nellsville checks New Haven's progress. As an evi- dence of this it may be noted that although New Haven was laid out as a village in 1796, no post-office was established there until 1878, the people of the place being obliged to go to Connellsville for their mails. The Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad tra- verses the village, and crosses the river at that point. Communication with Connellsville is likewise maiu- tained by means of a substantial wire suspension bridge, built and opened in 1862 by the Youghio- gheny Bridge Company. Its entire cost was about twenty thousand dollars. Previous to 1862 the river at New Haven had been spanned by three bridges, The first one fell in 1816, the second was washed away in 1831, and the third in 1860.

Upon or just below the site now occupied by New Haven a settlement was commenced by Capt. Wil- liam Crawford in 1765, on the bank of the river, at the point where Gen. Braddock forded the stream on his way to the fatal battle-field of the Monongahela in 1755. That point is called " Braddock's Ford" to this day. Stewart's Crossing, sometimes confounded with Braddock's Ford, is farther up the river, and near the suspension bridge. It was so called because, in 1753, one William Stewart lived there on the south bank of the river. The Indian troubles of that period drove him away.

Evidence that Capt. William Crawford commenced his settlement improvements at Braddock's Ford in 1765 is found in his own affidavit, taken at the house of John Ormsby, in Pittsburgh, before the Virginia commissioners, in the year 1780, which is given on page 1 of this volume. In that affidavit he says he began his improvements on the Youghiogheny in the fall of 1765, and moved his family to his new home in 1766. The patent for his land was not issued until 1769. For some reason best known to himself he did not take it out in his own name, but caused it to be issued to his son John. The original survey was made in 1769, and included 376} acres. This tract embraced all of what is now New Haven bor- ough. The description of the lands was as follows : "Situated on the south side of the Youghiogheny River, and includes what is generally called Stewart's Crossing, in Cumberland County. The new purchase, surveyed the twenty-second day of September, 1769, by order of survey No. 2309, date the third of April, 1769. By N. Lane, Deputy Surveyor."

Not only for the reason that Capt. William Craw- ford was the original purchaser of the land now the site of the borough of New Haven, but because he was in his time one of the most prominent and influ- ential men in the country west of the Alleghenies, and still more because his fearful death by Indian torture has made his name historic, a somewhat ex- tended sketch of his life is here given :

William Crawford was a native of Virginia, born

of Scotch-Irish parentage in the year 1732, in that part of the county of Orange which afterwards be- came Frederick, and is now Berkeley County. His father, who was a farmer of respectability, died in 1736, leaving two sons, William and Valentine, of whom the first named was the elder. Their mother, Honora Crawford, was a woman of great energy of character and of unusual physical vigor, kind and affectionate in disposition, and devoted to the welfare of her children. Remaining but a short time in wid- owhood, she married for her second husband Richard Stephenson, who died about ten years afterwards, leaving six children of their marriage, viz .: John, Hugh, Richard, James, Marcus, and Elizabeth Ste- phenson,-five half-brothers and a half-sister of Wil- liam and Valentine Crawford. The seven sons of Mrs. Stephenson were all remarkable for their size and unusual physical strength, and they were all living with their mother when, in the year 1749, the young surveyor, George Washington, then seventeen years of age, came to the neighborhood and took lodgings at Mrs. Stephenson's house while engaged in running lines in the vicinity for Lord Fairfax. Here he remained for a considerable time, and during his stay became much attached to the sons of his hostess, particularly to the eldest, William Crawford, who was of the same age as himself, and to whom he always remained a steadfast friend until death sev- ered the tie, after an acquaintance of thirty-two years.

During the stay of Washington young William Crawford became his assistant, and learned the busi- ness of surveying, which he afterwards practiced iu connection with his duties as manager of the farm until the year 1755, when he entered the military ser- vice, receiving from the Governor of Virginia a com- mission as ensign, which had been procured for him by the intercession of his young surveyor friend of six years before, who was now called Colonel Washington. It has been stated in some biographical account of William Crawford that he marched with the army of Gen. Braddock on the ill-fated expedition for the re- duction of Fort du Quesne, taking part in the disas- trous battle and defeat of the 9th of July, 1755; but that such was not the case is shown conclusively by his own affidavit, to which reference has already been made, and in which he distinctly states that he never saw the country west of the mountains until the year 1758. Prior to that time, for about three years, he had been engaged in frontier duty along the line of the Potomac and at Fort Cumberland, and during that time had been advanced to a lieutenancy. In the year mentioned, when the army under Gen. Forbes was preparing to march westward for a second attempt against Fort du Quesne, he received promotion to a captaincy on the recommendation of his friend, Col. Washington, who was then in command of all the Virginia troops destined for the expedition. On re- ceiving his commission Capt. Crawford recruited a

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DUNBAR TOWNSHIP.

full company of frontiersmen,1 and at their head marched with Washington's regiments to join the forces of Gen. Forbes.

In this campaign, which resulted in the occupation of the French fortress (Nov. 25, 1758), Crawford ac- quitted himself with gallantry and great credit. Three years longer he continued in the military service, and at the end of that time quitted it to resume his voca- tions of farmer and surveyor in the Shenandoah Val- ley. There he married Hannah Vance, a sister of John Vance, who settled in Tyrone township, Fayette Co., and remained in the quiet of domestic life on the old Virginia farm until the summer of 1765, when he mounted his horse and turned his face westward to cross the Alleghenies and select a location for the future home ot his family beyond the mountains, in the new country which he had seen and admired while on his march with the army of Forbes.

1 " The rendezvonsing of Crawford's company, preparatory to march- ing his men to join the force under Washington, disclosed the fact that there was a want of transportation. Here was a dilemma. Fortunately, however, there Imppened to be at the place where the company was en- camped a teamster who had stopped to rest and feed his horses. In such an emergency Crawford felt no hesitancy in pressing the wagoner into his service, and accordingly announced to the stranger bis deter- mination. The owner of the team was in no humor to submit to what he coosidered an oppressive act. But how could it be avoided? He was alone in the midst of a company of men who were ready and strong enough at a word to enforce their captain's orders, Remaining a short time silent, looking sullenly at the armed men, as if measuring their strength with his own weakness, he finally observed to Crawford that it was hard to be forced into the service against his will; that every man ought to have a fair chance, and that he was taken at a great dis- advantage, inasmuch as the odds agaiost him were so great as to deprive him of the power of self-protection.

" Ile thought the captain was taking advantage of circumstances, and he would now make a proposition, which the commander was certainly bound in honor to accede to. 'I will fight you," said he, 'or any man in your company. If I am whipped I will go with yon cheerfully. If I conquer you must let me off.' From what has been said of Capt. Craw- ford's personal activity und strength it will not be a matter of wonder to learn that the challenge of the doughty teunister was at once accepted. Both began to strip; the men prepared to form a ring, determined to show fair play and to see the fun. At this moment a tall young man, who had lately joined the company, but a stranger to most of them, and who had been leaning carelessly against a tree, eyeing the scene with apparent unconcern, now stepped forward aud drew Crawford aside. "Capit.sin,' said the stranger, 'yon minst let me fight that fellow ; he will whip you, and it will never do to have the company whipped.' A few additional words of like import, overheard by the men, with the cool, collected, and confident manner of the speaker, induced them to suggest to Crawford that perhaps it would be prudent to let the stranger try his hand. The captain, having done all that policy required in accepting the challenge, suffered himself to be persuaded by his men, and it was agreed that the youth should be sub-tituted in his place.

" By this time the wagoner was stripped to the buff and ready for the fight. He was big, muscular, well filled out, hardened by exposure, and at adept in pugilistic encounters, His air was cool and professional, his mien defiant and confident. When the youthful-looking stranger, therefore, stepped into the ring, clad in his loose hunting-shirt, and looking slender and a little pale, the men had not the utmost confidence in his success. However, there was fire in his eye, and as he threw nside his garments a stalwart frame was disclosed of enormous bones and muscle. The spirits of the company immediately revived.

" Preparations being finished, the word was given. The youth sprang npon his antagonist with the agility and ferocity of a tiger. The blood flowed at every blow of his tremendous fists. The contest was short and decisive. The teamster was completely vanquished. The hero of this his first fight for his country was afterwards Maj .- Gen. Daniel Morgan, of Revolutionary fame."-Butterfield's " Expedition against Sandusky."

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History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 118

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885 Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 1314

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1314