History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers, Part 16

Author: Munsell, W.W., & Co., New York
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: New York, W.W. Munsell & co.
Number of Pages: 900

USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers > Part 16
USA > Pennsylvania > Lackawanna County > History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers > Part 16
USA > Pennsylvania > Wyoming County > History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers > Part 16

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).

The following extracts from the records of Westmore- land for 1772 show what action was afterward taken concerning the construction of this road. At a meeting held in Wilkes-Barre October 2nd, 1772, it was voted "that Mr. Durkins of Kingstown, Mr. Carey of Locka- worna, Mr. Goss for Plymouth, Mr. Daniel Gore for Wilkesbarre, Mr. William Stewart for Hannover, are ap- pointed a comtee to Draw subscriptions & se what they Can Git sighned by ye adjourned meeting for ye making a Rode from Dilleware River to Pitts-town." This meet- ing was adjourned to the 5th of the same month, when it was " voted that Esq. Tryp, Mr. John Jenkins, Mr. Phil- lip Goss, Mr. John Durkins, Captain Bates, Mr. Daniel Gore, Mr. William Stewart are appointed Comtee-men to mark out ye Rode from Dilleware River to Pitts-town," etc. October 19th, 1772, it was "voted that Esq. Tryp is appointed to oversee those persons that shall from time to time be sent out from ye severall towns to work on ye Road from Dilleware River to this & so that ye work be Done according to ye Directions of ye Comtee, that was sent out to mark ye Road." The wages paid to laborers on this road would hardly be considered remun - erative now. "Esq. Tryp," the overseer, was allowed " Five Shillings Lawfull money pr. Day." For the others it was "voted, that those Persons that shall Go out to work on ye Rode from Dilleware River to ye westermost part of ye Great Swamp Shall Have three sillings ye day Lawfull money for ye time they work to ye Exceptance of ye over seors; and from ye Great Swamp this way, Shall Have one shilling and sixpence pr. day and no more."

The fine road, six rods in width, which runs parallel with the river through Kingston was laid out in 1770; and about that time, or soon afterward, a road was estab- lished between Wilkes-Barre and Pittston, at both of

which places ferries were established. Another was also constructed through Kingston, connecting with this across the Susquehanna just below Wilkes-Barre.

In 1779 a road from the Delaware at Easton to the Susquehanna at Wyoming was opened for the passage of General Sullivan's army. Improvements were after- ward made on this, which was long known as Sullivan's road, and it became the main thoroughfare between this entire region and Philadelphia.

Another connection between the Susquehanna and Delaware was established by the construction, from 1787 to 1789, of the State road from Nescopeck Falls to the Lehigh river. These roads were constructed according to the circumstances and fashions of those times, and bore very little resemblance to the macadamized car- riage drives of the present day. One feature of them, which is rarely seen now and which will soon cease to be known, was the corduroy that was used for making cros- sings over marshy spots or swamps. This was made of small logs laid across the track, close together. Although the passage way thus made over the swamps was dry it was anything but smooth.

The first roads through Wyoming county, although they followed the general course of the Susquehanna river, along which settlements were first made, ran over the hills a short distance from the river, especially where " narrows " occur. The construction of roads along the river through these passages where room could not be found for a path without excavating was then considered too expensive, and the hills were surmounted to avoid those places.

These primitive roads were little more than paths, which wound through the forest to avoid trees and other obstructions, with marked trees to indicate their course and here and there a tree cut away to clear the path of an unavoidable obstacle. While the settlements were limited to the shores of the river and its larger tributaries the necessity for improved highways was less urgent than afterward; for the early settlers soon became very expert in the management of canoes, and much of their busi- ness, such as marketing, milling, etc., was done over the river. At that period the river was also utilized as a highway in the winter, and temporary roads were often made through long distances on the ice.

At the commencement of the present century, by rea- son of the large increase of population and productions, an urgent necessity for better facilities for communica- tion and transportation between this region and commer- cial centers was apparent. To supply this demand the Easton and Wilkes-Barre turnpike company was char- tered in 1802; and the road, a large portion of which occupied the old Sullivan road, was completed about four years afterward, at an expense of about $75,000. Not only was a great desideratum supplied by the con- struction of this road, but liberal dividends were paid on the stock. The success of the enterprise gave an addi- tional impulse to the turnpike mania which arose about that time.

On the 30th of March, 1811, the Legislature passed "an

HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

act to enable the governor to incorporate a company for making an artificial road from the northern boundary of this State, at the most suitable place near the twenty- eighth mile stone, to the place where the seat of justice is located for the county of Susquehanna; and thence by the best and nearest route to the borough of Wilkes- Barre, in the county of Luzerne."

Hon. P. M. Osterhout, of Tunkhannock, said of this turnpike in an article published by him in 1879:

"The road was to be commenced within three years, and finished with- in ten. The first payment on account of stock was made by Matthias Hollenback, the father of George M. Hollenback, of Wilkes-Barre, which was June 30th, 1812. Jesse Fell was then treasurer of the company. The road was located on the west side of the river until it reaelied Tunkhan- noek-from Wilkes-Barre-where it erossed the river .. When the sur- veyors eaine to the mountain at Swartzwood's quite a controversy arose whether they should eross the river by ferry at that point, or go over the mountain to Asa Keeler's and from thenee to Tunkhannock, and eross the river there. The Hardings, the Millers, the Lees and the Jen- kinses wanted the road located on the west side of the river until it reached Tunkhannock ; on the other hand the Osterbouts, the Mareys, the Averys, the Sherwoods, Robertses and others desired the crossing should be at Keeler's ferry. Finally a bet was made as to the distance between the two routes, and as there was not much money in the eoun- try at that time the wager was made in cattle -- young stock-and the different routes chained. The west side of the river won and the turn- pike was located there. While the turnpike was being made the people . on the east side of the river, to counteract the effeet of the turnpike, determined to have a continuous road on their side of the river from Pittston to Tunkhannock. There was then no road along the river through the Falling Spring narrows, the narrows above Gardner's ferry, and the narrows below Butterinilk Falls-the mountains coming elose to the river's edge in these localities. It was a hard place to build a road and required a great deal of labor. The people said it would save the expense of erossing the river at Wilkes-Barre and Tunkhannock, and also the tolls on the turnpike, and they were determined to have a road. The principal men interested had a consultation and it was finally agreed upon that the Pittston people should build the road through the Falling Spring narrows; that Captain John Gardner, an old settler and prominent eitizen living on the flats above Falling Spring, should see to and superintend the building of the road through the narrows above Gardner's ferry ; and that David Osterhout should see to the building of the road through the narrows below Buttermilk Falls.

" These roads were built by the gratuitous labor of the men in the neighborhood, without tax or expense to the townships. The people turned out voluntarily as they would to a stone or logging bee, and worked without fee or reward."

The road which had been constructed between Nesco- peck and the Lehigh was converted into the Susquehanna and Lehigh turnpike. The Susquehanna and Tioga turn- pike, from Berwick to Towanda, passed through Fair- mount and Huntington. A turnpike was also established between Blakely and Dundaff.

The Philadelphia and Great Bend turnpike (commonly known as the Drinker turnpike), which connected with the Easton and Wilkes-Barre road at Taylorsville, was chartered in 1819 and completed in 1826. It was an im- portant thoroughfare. Hollister says: "It promised as it passed through Providence, with its tri-weekly stage coach and mail, to land passengers from the valley in Philadelphia after two days of unvarying jolting. This road was the first highway through Cobb's Gap." The three villages through which this road passed were Brick- town (now Dunmore), Razorville (now Providence), and Clark's Green. It was an important avenue of transport- ation for produce and droves of animals to Philadelphia via Easton, and for merchandise back.

Some of these roads were constructed at great expense, but after a time they were abandoned. The Easton and Wilkes-Barre road continued in operation longer than any of the others.

Plank roads were first introduced into the United States in 1846, and at once the plank-road mania became even more prevalent than the rage for turnpikes had been be- fore. In 1851 the Wilkes-Barre and Providence Plank Road Company was chartered, and the road constructed as far as Pittston, eight miles.

The 'Scranton and Carbondale Plank Road was con- structed in 1853 and 1854, and since that time the Provi- dence and Waverly, the Bear Creek and Lehigh, and the Gouldsborough Plank Roads have been built, but they have met the fate of these roads generally throughout the country. Like many enterprises which are entered on in the midst of excitement, without careful consideration and prudent foresight, these have proved to be bad in- vestments for the stockholders, though they were bene- ficial to the country.

According to Pearce the first post route in this region was established in 1777, between Wyoming and Hartford, Conn., and the mail was carried once in two weeks by Prince Bryant, who was paid by private subscription. The conveyance of mails in the colonies had been provided for by the British government in 1692, and at the commence- ment of the Revolutionary war the control of the post- office system was, of course, taken in charge by the fed- eral government.

'It appears that after the organization of Luzerne county a weekly mail between Wilkes-Barre and Easton was es- tablished, and in 1797 Clark Behe was the carrier, and advertised to carry passengers during good sleighing. A weekly mail was sent by the postmaster at Wilkes-Barre during this year to Nanticoke, Newport and Nescopeck, to Berwick, and back by way of Huntington and Plymouth. The mail matter was left at such private houses as the postmaster designated, for Wilkes-Barre was the only post town in the county.

A fortnightly mail was established between Wilkes- Barre and Great Bend in 1798, and another, once a week, between Wilkes-Barre and Owego, N. Y., in 1799. The names of Jonathan Hancock, Charles Mowry and a Mr. Peck are recorded as mail carriers in 1800 and 1803.

The Providence post-office was the first in the Lacka- wanna valley. It was established at Slocum Hollow in 1811, and Benjamin Slocum was appointed postmaster. The mail was carried by Zephaniah Knapp, on horse- back, once a week, or in bad travelling once in two weeks. The route was from Wilkes-Barre, via Slocum Hollow, to Wilsonville then the county seat of Wayne county; returning via Bethany, Belmont, Montrose and Tunkhannock. In 1824 the office was removed from Slocum Hollow to Providence, and another established at Hyde Park, with William Merrifield postmaster. Hol- lister says that an old gentleman who discharged the duties of mail boy from 1811 to 1824 relates many anec- dotes of his adventures, and his encounters of humanity in its "most amusing aspects " at the stopping places on his route.

"At one point," writes our informant, " the office was kept in a low log bar-room, where, after the contents of the inail pouch were emptied on the unswept floor, all the inmates gave slow and repeated motion to each respective paper and letter.

EARLY MAIL ROUTES-THE BEGINNING OF MINING.

"Sometimes the mail boy, finding no one at home but the children, who were generally engaged drumming on the dinner pot, or the house- wife, unetuous with lard and donghi, lolli-bye-babying a boisterous child to sleep, was compelled to act as carrier and postmaster himself.

"At another point upon the route the commission of postinaster fell upon the thick shoulders of a Dutchinan, remarkable for nothing but his full round stomach. This was his pride, and he would pat it in- cessantly while he dilated upon the virtues of his . krout ' and his ' frow.' It would have been amazingly stupid for the department to have ques- tioned his order or integrity, for as the lean mail bag came tumbling into his door from the saddle, the old eomical Duteliman and his de- voted wife carried it to a rear bed room in his house, poured the con- tents upon the floor, where at one time it actually took them both from three o'clock one afternoon until nine the next morning to change the mail. Believing, with Lord Baeon, that ' knowledge is power,' lie de- tained, about election time, all political documents directed to his op- ponents. These he carefully deposited in a safe place in his garret until after election day, when they were handed over with great liberality to those to whom they belonged, provided he was paid the postage.

"At another remote place where the office was kept, the mail bag be- ing returned to the post-boy almost empty led him to investigate the cause of this sudden collapse in a neighborhood inhabited by tew. The prolific numberof ten children, graduating from one to twenty in years, all called the postmaster ' dad,' and as none could read, letters and papers came to a dead stop on arriving thus far. As these were poured out on the floor among pans and kettles each child would seize a package, ex- claimning, 'This is for me!' and ' This for you !' and that for somebody else, until the greater bulk of mail matter intended for other offices was par- celed out and appropriated, and never heard of again."

The first regular stage, a two-horse vehicle, was es- tablished between Easton and Philadelphia in 1806 by Messrs. Robinson and Arndt. The trip was made weekly and required a day and a half for each way. Conrad Teter is still remembered by some of the oldest citizens as one of the earliest stage proprietors. He carried the mail in his stages weekly between Sunbury and Painted Post, by way of Wilkes-Barre, Tunkhannock, etc., from 1810 to 1816. Pearce says of him: "He was a large fat man, of a jovial disposition and desirous of making a favorable impression on strangers. He drove stage, his own stage, up the river. He took pleasure in pointing out his farms to the passengers. He frequently informed them as he passed the large residence and farm of Colonel Benjamin Dorrance, in Kingston, that he was the owner, and if asked why he drove stage would reply that he loved to rein four horses but had no taste for farming."

In 1816 three brothers named Horton. established a line of four-horse coaches over this route, and during eight years carried the mails between Baltimore and Owego, Wilkes-Barre and Montrose.

About the year 1822 the first stage ran between Wilkes- Barre and Dundaff. It was at first a two-horse vehicle, and was run by the brothers Daniel and John Searles. Two years later a four-horse vehicle replaced the first, and the route intersected the Milford and Owego Turn- pike at Carbondale. The Searles brothers were then the proprietors of the line.

Pearce records George Root as the veteran stage driver of this region, a title to which a service of forty years entitled him.

CHAPTER X.

THE HISTORY OF THE COAL TRADE IN LUZERNE AND LACKAWANNA COUNTIES.

CENTURY has passed since anthracite coal was first taken from the Wyoming valley to be used in the forges of the United States armory at Carlisle. It was quarried from outcropping veins on the banks of the Susque- hanna river, near Wilkes-Barre; floated in Dur- ham boats to Harris's landing and thence

drawn in wagons to its destination. A trade floating to market with the current, in boats which on the return trip must be towed or pulled up stream by the arms of sturdy boatmen, must have been small; but it was the be- ginning, and, continuing through the Revolutionary war, and through various stages of progress, it has reached giant proportions while yet, in 1880, scarce beyond its infancy.

. Volney L. Maxwell, Esq., in his interesting " Lectures on Mineral Coal," read before the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society in 1858, says that the old quarry above Mill creek, from which the first coal was taken, was explored by direction of its proprietor, Colonel George M. Hollenback, some years before, when traces of the ancient mining were found, overgrown with large trees. At that early day the presence of coal was only known by its appearance or outcropping at the earth's surface, few believing that it could follow, like the under crust of a pie, from one rim of the basin to the other. Long after, in 1837, a newspaper published by Messrs. Webb & Blackman, in Kingston, replied to the question, " Does coal run under all land in the valley ?" "Yes-certainly. At Carbon- dale they have followed the coal under ground about a mile." Even at this date there are people in the coal field who doubt its existence beyond the reach of vision. As a rule, the deeper it lies the better it is supposed to be. Near the old mine the Lehigh Valley Coal Company has now two shafts in full operation, the coal more than six hundred feet below the surface, from which sev- eral hundred thousand tons of anthracite may be raised annually; the mines extending not only under the lands of Mr. Hollenback, but under and beyond the river Sus- quehanna, taking coal from the farms of Colonel Charles Dorrance and others on the Kingston side.

The trade down the Susquehanna continued and in- creased after the war closed. The coal, quarried from the hill sides, hauled to the river in wagons and loaded into arks built for the purpose, of rough planks, floated off on the spring and summer freshets in search of a market. Teams of mine-owners and of neighboring far- mers found winter employment; labor otherwise unem- ployed had occupation in mining, cutting timber for the rude arks, and in manning them for the voyage. What jolly fellows were those arkmen and raftmen returning with pockets full of money from the annual frolic down the river. Few of them are left, but they insist upon their right of recognition as pioneers in the opening coal trade, earlier than 1820.

Mr. John B. Smith, senator from Luzerne in the Legis- lature of Pennsylvania and a son of Abijah Smith, one of the earliest operators of Plymouth and proprietor of one of the largest mines then known in the valley, wrote to the Wilkes-Barre Record of the Times October 27th. 1874: " I see you make a statement in your daily that the coal business opened in 1820, with 365 tons. Abijah Smith purchased an ark in Wilkes-Barre, of John P. Arndt, November 9th, 1807, and ran it to Columbia, loaded with fifty-five tons of coal. From that date Abijah Smith and John Smith ran several arks yearly to 1826, loaded with

HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

coal for market. In 1811 and 1812 they ran 220 tons of coal to Havre-de-Grace, had it re-loaded on a schooner named " Washington," consigned to Price & Waterbury, New York, who sold it on commission and rendered a statement February Ist, 1813. I think you should date the opening of the coal trade in 1807 instead of 1820."

Mr. Stewart Pearce in his full and usually faithful "Annals of Luzerne County " says that Colonel George M. Hollenback sent two four-horse loads of coal to Phil- adelphia in 1813, and that Mr. James Lee during the same year sent a four-horse load from Hanover to a blacksmith at Germantown.

The blacksmiths of this region early learned the use of anthracite coal. Obadiah and Daniel Gore were smiths, who came from Connecticut as early as 1768 and became owners of coal lands near Wilkes-Barre. Their experience in the use of the coal in their shops is said to have led . Jesse Fell to his experiment with coal in the open grate, to which we are indebted for our pleasant grate fires. Judge Fell was a mason, and left on a fly leaf of his copy of "The Free Mason's Monitor " this record:

"February 11, of masonry 5808 .- Made the experiment of burning the common stone coal of the valley in a grate in a common fireplace in my house, and End it will answer the purpose of fuel, making a clearer and better fire, at less expense, than burning wood in the common way.

" JESSE FELL."

" Borough of Wilkes- Barre,

"February 11, 1808."

These experiments are sufficiently authenticated to pass into history, and it would be " biting a file " to attempt to deprive the memories of Daniel Gore and Jesse Fell of the credit and honor so long and so freely accorded by those who knew them best, and who often made their glasses of " flip" foam with the poker heated red hot between the bars of the original grate, before which they toasted feet and fingers during the cold winters.

Among the papers of Jacob Cist, preserved by a grand- son, Harrison Wright, Esq., of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., are certificates from several gentlemen who have made exper- iments at an early day in burning anthracite coal. One is from Mr. Frederick Graff, dated Philadelphia, May 13th, 1805, in which he says that in 1802 he had made trial of burning anthracite in a stove, and found it to answer exceedingly well. Mr. Graff signs as clerk of the water works of Philadelphia. This may have been some of the coal first taken out by the Lehigh Mine Company, with which many experiments were no doubt attempted besides the fruitless one described at the water works.

Another certificate is from Mr. Oliver Evans, February 15th, 1803, who says he had used anthracite coal in a stove, and in a small contracted grate in an open fireplace, producing a degree of heat greater than from any other coal he had known.

True the original draft of survey of the manor of Sun- bury, made by Charles Stewart for the proprietaries, on the west side of the Susquehanna had "stone coal" marked upon it ; but the date, 1768, is the same as given by Mr. Gore to Judge Fell as that of their success in using coal

in their shop fires, so stated in a letter printed in Haz- sard's Register ; and the surveyor, knowing of the use of coal for centuries in England, upon hearing of the use of it on the east side of the river would naturally suppose it to exist on the west side if he had seen it on the hill slope.

Judge Fell first made a grate of green hickory wood, in which he tried his experiments; then had one made of iron which he placed in the bar-room of his house.

There are many living yet who can remember when coal was shipped in arks from Plymouth, Wilkes-Barre and Pittston. Crandall Wilcox as early as 1814 sold coal from his mine (now operated by the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company, on Mill creek, Plains township) at $8.50 per ton in Marietta, Lancaster county, Pa. His sons at a much later date sent coal in arks to market by the river even after the canal was completed to Nanti- coke, 1830.

Colonel Lord Butler owned that wonderful develop- ment of anthracite, on Coal brook, a mile east of the borough, afterwards known as the Baltimore mine, which supplied Wilkes-Barre in early times. The coal was quarried and delivered at $3 per ton.

Colonel Washington Lee sent several hundred tons from his mines in Hanover in 1820, which sold in Balti- more at $8 per ton. This brings us abreast of opening trade on the Lehigh in 1820. Seeing its 365 tons and going it much better, Mr. Pearce states the total to this date from Wyoming at 8,500 tons.

In 1823 Colonel Lee and George Chahoon leased a mine in Newport and contracted for the mining and delivery.of one thousand tons of coal in arks at Lee's Ferry at $1.10 per ton-the coal selling at Columbia at a loss of $1,500.

In 1829 the Butler mine on Coal brook, near Wilkes- Barre, was purchased for Baltimore capitalists, and the " Baltimore Coal Company" was formed under a charter from the State of Maryland of February 17th, 1829, being originally incorporated as the " Baltimore and Pittsburg Coal Company." From this company the coal takes its name which has given a wide reputation as one of the finest veins of anthracite in the region. It first shipped coal

in arks.

The Stockbridge mine in Pittston sent coal down the river in arks in 1828, furnishing about two thousand tons in three years. Joseph Wright had shipped coal from Pittston in 1813. This was probably the son of Thomas Wright, who had a forge on the Lackawanna near the crossing of the main road to Providence and well under- stood the value of coal and coal lands. The place is still. known as " Old Forge." It was among the earliest tracts to change hands from original owners, having been sold by the heirs of Thomas Wright to a Mr. Armstrong, of Newburg, and Hon. Charles Augustus Murray, a gentle- man from England. It was said that the location of Scranton hung in the balance at one time between "Old Forge" and "Slocum Hollow," the latter with its blast furnace and iron ore beds securing the prize.

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History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers, Part 16

Author: Munsell, W.W., & Co., New York Publication date: 1880 Publisher: New York, W.W. Munsell & co. Number of Pages: 900

Author: Munsell, W.W., & Co., New York
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: New York, W.W. Munsell & co.
Number of Pages: 900