History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming counties, Pa.; with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers, Part 18

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 18
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 18
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 18

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).

Mr. Gordon was one of the lads on board the stranded ark who stripped nearly naked to stop the rush of water through the hole stove in the bow, and got a good wetting, of which he seems none the worse.

In 1879 Lehigh coal sold at Port Johnson for $2.50 per ton. Lackawanna coal sold as low as $2 per ton on the Hudson river. The vast expenditure of money re- quired to purchase lands, to develop mines, and to con- struct lines for transportation of coal to market, which makes possible this comparison of prices between coal delivered on the Lehigh in 1815 and at tidal points in 1879, constitutes a portion of the indebtedness of com- panies, the interest on which must be added to the cost of production in estimating the economic or the com- mercial value of anthracite as a fuel.

Let those who complain of the grasping avarice of coal dealers, or of " soulless corporations," carefully compute the saving effected in cost by the sacrifices of time and money on the part of the pioneers, and rest satisfied with

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ORIGIN OF THE LEHIGH COAL TRADE.

yet higher prices than were charged in 1879. For the increased comfort to the domestic circles in thousands of homes, and the prosperity so widely spread through the land by rendering cheap and abundant an article of such prime necessity, bless those whose labors and enterprise have produced the change, rather than revile them for imputed faults.

The early efforts of the Lehigh Coal Mine Company were said to have resulted in the transportation of a small quantity of coal to Philadelphia, which the manager of the water works purchased for use under the boiler of a steam engine in Centre Square. Erskine Hazard, in a communication to the Historical Society, says the pur- chaser thought it "only served to put the fire out, and the remainder was broken up and spread on the walks, in- stead of gravel."

Messrs. Daddow and Bannan, in their book on " Coal, Iron and Oil," say that a Mr. William Morris took a wagon load of coal from near Port Carbon, in Schuylkill. about the year 1800, without finding a market; and Mr. William Trumbull was unsuccessful with an ark load taken to Philadelphia in 1806 from Lehigh.

A few paragraphs quoted from the book will interest the reader. All the history of the Lehigh Coal and Nav- igation Company belongs to the trade of the Wyoming coal field, and every effort to introduce anthracite to the Quaker City and other markets as an article of commerce was directly in our interest.

"In 1812 Colonel George Shoemaker, of Pottsville, loaded nine wagons with coal for Philadelphia. Two loads he disposed of at eost of trans- portation, one to Messrs. White & Hazard, at their nail and wire works at the falls of the Schuylkill; and the other to Messrs. Mellon & Bishop, of the Delaware county rolling mill. The other seven loads he either gave away, or disposed of for a trifle, to blacksiniths, or others who promised to try it. But the colonel was not to get off so easily. Thoughi he lost time and money, and had the trouble of his attempts to introduce a fuel which has since made Philadelphia one of the most wealthy and prosperous cities in the world, the very men to whom he had given his coal obtained a writ from the authorities of that city for his arrest as an impostor and swindler.

"In the meantime Mr. White, who was anxious to succeed in burning this eoal, with some of his men spent a whole morning in trying to ignite it and raise a heat in one of their furnaces. They tried every possible expedient which skill and experience in other fuels could suggest. They raked it, and poked it, and stirred it up, and blew upon the surface through open furnace doors with perseverance and persistent determination ; but all to no purpose. Colonel Shoemaker's rocks would not burn, and the attempt was abandoned. Dinner time arrived, and the mnen shut the furnace doors in disgust, heartily tired of the stones, or stone coal, if such it was.

" Returning from dinner at the usual time, all hands were astonished at the phenomena which they beheld. The furnace doors were red hot, aud the whole furnace in danger of being melted down with a heat never before experienced. On opening the doors a glowing mass at white heat was discovered. So hota fire had never before been seen in the fur- nace. From this time anthracite stone eoal found friends and advo- cates in Philadelphia, and the motto 'let it alone' became a recipe for its use."

Mr. Hazard in a communication published in the proceedings of the Pennsylvania Historical Society says that Mr. Joshua Malin told them that he had succeeded in using Lehigh coal in his rolling mill, and that White & Hazard procured a load of it which cost one dollar per bushel. It was entirely wasted without getting up heat. Another cart load was obtained and a whole night spent in endeavoring to make a fire in the furnace, when the hands shut the furnace door and left the mill in despair. Fortunately, one of them left his jacket in the

mill, and returning for it in about half an hour noticed that the furnace door was red hot, etc., etc.

This makes the fact of the experiment and its success clear. The parties narrating were interested in different mines of the same long, narrow basin of coal now known as the southern anthracite, which extends from near the Lehigh almost to the Susquehanna.

A very interesting "Memoir of Josiah White " by his son-in-law Richard Richardson, now living in Arch street, Philadelphia, published by J. B. Lippincoit & Co., 1873, furnished many facts in connection with Mr. White's efforts to improve the navigation of the Lehigh river and introduce coal to market. It says that coal was known to exist in large quantities near the head waters of the Schuylkill river, and they procured some from there; but the price was enormously high, forty dollars a ton, brought to their works in wagons. They concluded to apply to the Legislature for the privilege of making the Schuylkill navigable and supply their own coal at a cheaper rate. It certainly would seem more reasonable than the Lehigh scheme, but the application in 1812-13 was met with ridicule of the idea of using coal as a fuel. The member from Schuylkill county affirmed to the Legislature that although they had a black stone in their county it would not burn. They were unsuccessful.

Erskine Hazard in an article in Hasard's Register says that, their application as individuals having failed, they called a public meeting and made a more formal applica- tion for a charter, which was the commencement of the pre- sent Schuylkill Navigation Company, incorporated in 1815.

Josiah White, George F. A. Hauto, and William Briggs, a stone mason. visited the Lehigh on horseback in 1817, reaching Bethlehem on Christmas eve. Mr. White says: " Upon returning home with favorable impressions of the practicability of the project [of improving the river and mining coal], it was concluded that Erskine Hazard, George F. A. Hauto and myself should join in the enter- prise. I was to mature the plan; Hauto was to procure the money from his rich friends; Hazard was to be the scribe, he also being a good machinist and an excellent counselor." The pamphlet history of the company says:

"Upon their return and making a favorable report it was ascertained that the lease on the mining property (the lease to Miner, Cist & Rob- inson) was forfeited by non user, and that the law, the last of six which had been passed for the improvement of the navigation of the river, had just expired by its own limitation. Under these circumstances the Lehigh Coal Mine Company became completely dispirited, and executed a lease to Messrs. White, Ilauto and Hazard, for twenty years, of their whole property, on condition 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 districts, and should pay, upon demand, one ear of corn as an annual rent upon the property."

So Miner, Cist & Robinson, like the poor hunter Gin- ter, gained but a loss by their enterprise and labors, their. lease having been forfeited by non user ! It is the fate of nearly all who wander ahead of their kind in search of wealth or knowledge to lose or to be lost. Genera- tions which follow profit by such losses. In this con- nection pardon will be granted by the kind reader for the use of space in quoting from the interesting lectures referred to in earlier pages. Mr. Maxwell, after noticing the many abortive attempts to introduce coal into Phila- delphia, says :

HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

"The fact was, the Philadelphians and the people of the Lehigh were behind the times ; they did not take the Wyoming newspaper, and suffered the natural conse- quences of such a blunder ! I have been greatly inter- ested in turning over their old files. Politics and the stirring events of the European and American wars fur- nished ample materials for their columns ; but home subjects were not forgotten.

"In 1813 Mr. Miner was publishing The Gleaner in Wilkes- Barre; and in a long editorial article from his pen, under date of November 19th and the head of 'State Policy,' he urged with great zeal the improvement of the descending navigation of the Susquehanna and Lehigh rivers. He then said: 'The coal of Wyoming has already become an article of considerable traffic with the lower counties of Pennsylvania. Numerous beds have been opened, and it is ascertained beyond all doubt that the valley of Wy- oming contains enough coal for ages to co ... e.' He then goes on to speak highly of its quality, aud says further: 'Seven years ago our coal was thought of little value. It was then supposed that it could not be burned in a com- mon grate. Our smiths used it, and for their use alone did we suppose it serviceable. About six years ago one of our most public spirited citizens made the experiment of using it in a grate, and succeeded to his most san- guine expectations.'

" Again, in the same paper, issued on the 31st of De- cember, 1813, in an article headed 'The Prosperity of Philadelphia,' Mr. Miner wrote of the objects to be accom- plished for her advantage: 1, The connection of the waters of the Chesapeake and the Delaware-since accomplished; 2, The connection of the Schuylkill with the Swatara- since much more than accomplished by the Union Canal; and 3, The opening of a communication from the Susque- hanna to Philadelphia by a road or railway from Wilkes- Barre to the Lehigh, and thence by that river to the Delaware, and thence to Philadelphia. 'I have visited,' he said, 'Lausanne and a number of other places on the Lehigh, having particularly in view to ascertain the real situation of its navigation.' Then, in the next issue of the same paper, there is another editorial by Mr. Miner, headed ' Navigation of the Lehigh,' and occupying two and a half colums of the paper. In it he wrote earnestly and at length as to the merits of our coal, as well as to the improvement of the Lehigh. Upon this point he printed in italics the following sentence: 'I say with great confi- dence, this is the course pointed out by Nature for the connection between the Susquehanna and the Delaware;' and experience has since verified its truth. He then urged upon the public the improvement in question, on the ground of the comparatively small expense it would re- quire. He was not too sanguine, as the event has proved. On the contrary, he then said: 'Our public im- provements must grow with our growth and strengthen with our strength. We cannot expect in this young country, having so many points to im- prove, to equal the old and more populous countries of Europe. I appeal to the judicious men who have wit- nessed the failure of our grandest plans, if they have not

miscarried because they were disproportionate to the necessity and the ability of the country;' and he closed this part of the subject by saying. 'I hope our grand- children may live to see a complete railway from this place to the Lehigh, and a canal from thence to Philadelphia.'

"This is an interesting passage. It would be interest- ing to know just how many of Mr. Miner's readers under- stood at that day what a railway was. There was not then a railway in existence,-save the 'tram roads' in and about the mines of Newcastle,-and to those who understood this how much like the merest vagaries of the imagination must Mr. Miner's confident hope have seemed. And yet it has been more than realized. His grand-children have indeed not only lived to see that very railroad and canal completed, but he has lived to see it himself, finished and in use; and more than this,- he has lived to see rot only that particular railway and canal, but also five other railroads and two other canals diverging from this valley to the great coal marts of the country! [And since the above was written a railroad has been made north by the side of the canal; two others south to the seaboard cities and beside the Lehigh canal; and the construction of two others has also been commenced, leading into the valley from different directions and by new routes. ]

"But the result of Mr. Miner's investigations, and of his explorations of the Lehigh at that early day, was the hope that even then coal could be got down the Lehigh river to Philadelphia in arks from Mauch Chunk; and in December of 1813 he, in company with Messrs. Cist and Robinson, of Wilkes-Barre, leased the mines at Mauch Chunk and made arrangements to try the experi- ment. Mr. Robinson withdrew early from their company. "Of Mr. Miner I need hardly speak in this commu- nity. For a number of years he represented old Luzerne (then embracing all of northeastern Pennsylvania) in the Legislature of the State. Subsequently he represented Lancaster, Chester and Delaware counties in Congress; having for his colleague James Buchanan, now President of the United States. In 1832 he returned to his early home, and is still with us, enjoying happily, at his Re- treat, the evening of a long and well spent life; the valued friend of all about him; and all are friends of his in return.

"Jacob Cist, Esq., who was associated with him in their Mauch Chunk enterprise, was the son of Charles Cist, who with Robert Morris and others had formed the Lehigh Coal Mine Company. He came to this

valley in his youth, and commenced the mer- cantile business in but this town; he was devoted to scientific studies and held a wide correspond- ence with scientific men. He understood better than any other gentleman of his day the geology of this region. Highly appreciating its coal, and clearly forseeing its im- portance, he was ever ready to promote its appreciation abroad; and great reason have his respected descendants in this valley to bless his honored memory, his sound judgment and far-seeing forecast, verified in his short life by his wise and ample provision for them in the pur- chase of coal land.

IMPROVEMENT OF THE LEHIGH.

"We speak of these gentlemen thus particularly be- cause their undertaking was depreciated at the time, and the gentlemen themselves subject to ridicule by those whom their foresight, courage and enterprise greatly benefited."

Mr. Miner lived to see, years after the lectures were read before the Historical and Geological Sociey, the whole of this splendid improvement upon the upper Lehigh swept away by a flood, with all his cherished the- ories of interior water transportation for articles of bulk and of small value; and railroads, cheapened by improved machinery, taking its place on both banks of the Lehigh, doing a business in amount far beyond the wildest of his early dreams. Mr. Charles Cist, the father of Jacob Cist, Mr. Richardson speaks of in his memoir of Joseph White as "an intelligent painter." It is not unlikely that he was both editor and painter, and from him his son inherited his genius and his taste for the fine arts. In early life Jacob Cist, while generously assisting a refugee from over the Atlantic, who was in ill health, came in possession of an old painting brought from abroad. After his decease his family discovered that it was of great value, probably the original of Rubens's "Susanna and the Elders." Exact copies of it are found among the engravings in foreign art galleries, but the original is nowhere else to be discovered. As an original Rubens it is almost priceless- the next in value to anthracite coal, to which we return.

In 1818 an act was passed by the Legislature to improve the navigation of the river Lehigh, granting to White, Hauto & Hazard (some members said, the opportunity of ruining themselves) privileges " now considered of such immense magnitude that they ought never to have been granted, and which those gentlemen were, at that time, pointed at as extremely visionary, and even crazy, for accepting." The history says :

" The stoek of this company was subseribed for on condition that a coinmittee should proceed to the Lehigh and satisfy themselves that the actual state of affairs corresponded with the representation of then. The committee consisted of two of our most respectable citizens, both men of mueh mechanical skill and ingenuity. They repaired to Maueh Chunk, visited the coal mines, and then built a batteau at Lausanne, in which they deseended the Lehigh and inade their observations. They both eame to the conclusion, and so reported, that the improvement of the navigation was perfectly practicable; and that it would not exceed the cost of $50,000, as estimated, but that the making of a good road to the inines was utterly impossible; for, added one of them, to give you an idea of the country over which the road is to pass, I need only tell you that I considered it quite an easement when the wheel of my car- riage struek a stump instead of a stone."

This report, of course, voided the subscription to the joint stock.

The Lehigh Navigation Company was organized on the roth of August, 1818, with a capital of two hundred thousand dollars, in two hundred shares of stock.

The Lehigh Coal Company was organized on the 21st of October following, for the purpose of mining coal, making a road to the river and taking the coal to market. This arose from a diversity of opinion as to the relative profits of the two interests.

It was thought and suggested that the trade of the Susquehanna could be diverted by land carriage over the turnpike already made from Berwick, only thirty miles distant, and turned to Philadelphia. These far-seeing

men already imagined the Danville, Hazleton and Wilkes- Barre Railroad, as well as the Lehigh and Susquehanna road. They said: "By the Susquehanna and Lehigh the western counties of New York will be nearer, in point of expense, to Philadelphia than to Albany, and consequently a large portion of the produce which now goes down the North river to New York may be calcu- lated on for the supply of Philadelphia."

Reaching the North river by the Danville, Hazleton & Wilkes-Barre Railroad, and the Eastern States by a bridge over that stream at Poughkeepsie, must certainly have been beyond their most acute mental visions. Yet the corner stone of that bridge was laid in 1873.

In soliciting subscriptions to stock, Stephen Girard said "he formed no partnerships," and declined. Joseph Bonaparte respectfully declined, by letter through his secretary. One wrote "that his Wilkes-Barre friends be- lieved we could not be in earnest in our navigation."

In the spring of 1820 the ice severely injured several of the dams and more money was needed. This resulted in the purchase of Hauto's interest by White & Hazard. In April the two companies amalgamated their interests and united under the title of The Lehigh Navigation and Coal Company; the navigation was repaired and three hundred and sixty-five tons of coal sent to Philadelphia, as the first fruits of the concern. This overstocked the market and was with difficulty disposed of.

By a new arrangement made the first of May, 1821, the title of the company was again changed, to the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company; the capital stock was in- creased and White & Hazard released to the company all their reserved rights in consideration of certain shares of stock given to them; the company assuming the set- tlement of Hauto's claim upon White & Hazard arising from the purchase of his interest the preceding year.

George F. A. Hauto, whose wealthy friends had been relied on to furnish capital, may not have been a capital- ist, but he was evidently a very shrewd man. Mr. Rich- ardson, in a note to his memoirs of Josiah White, says that " Hanto was a German, and had insinuated himself into their confidence by his pretensions to wealth and in- fluence. He had to be bought off at a considerable pecuniary sacrifice." The exact terms of his agreement at settling are not at hand. He was to receive a certain royalty per ton, or bushel. A letter from Mr. Richard- son conveys the following information upon this point: "I have aseertained from some of Josiah White's old documents that in the spring of 1820, to get out of the eoneern, White and Hazard agreed to give him a royalty of half a eent a bushel on all coal mined and sent to market, for his interest in their partnership. Hauto afterward at- tempted to formn what was called 'The Half Cent Company,' and issued shares of stock, of which lie sold in his lifetime 1,394 shares, which, as the par priee of his stoek was $50, would have amounted to $69,700. This stoek was given, it was said, in payment of his debts, and at a lieavy discount on the par value, probably at any rate the parties would take thein at, and it was thought he did not realize mueh on them. The com- pany afterward, in 1830, bought the royalty for a sum agreed upon be- tween them, but I do not know the figures. I think Hauto was then dead."

Assuming anthracite coal to average twenty-five bushels to the ton, the royalty would amount to one York shilling or 121/2 cents, which would give Mr. Hauto, upon the tonnage of the company reported for 1879, an income of

HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.

$87,250. If paid upon the total tonnage of the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad and Lehigh Canal in 1879, it would be $520,000, nearly.

The rocky and stumpy road to the summit mines is now the bed of the Switchback railroad, growing so famous among tourists and excursionists to the "Switz- erland of America." In 1826 it was decided to make a railroad along the turnpike as a measure of economy. The only railroad in the United States was one of three miles to the Quincy granite quarries. This road from Mauch Chunk was nine miles in length, completed in May, 1826, with a descent all the way from beyond the summit mines to the river. The empty wagons were taken back to the mines by mules, which rode down in special cars attached to the coal trains, running by gravity. He was a sturdy man who could prevent a mule from en- tering his pleasure car, which was also his dining car, when detached from the traces.

This improvement, increasing the facilities for produc- tion of coal, rendered further improvement of the naviga- tion desirable, and, the Delaware division of the Pennsyl- vania Canal having been decided upon, it was determined to construct a canal and slack water navigation from Mauch Chunk to Easton. Mr. Canvass White, whose reputation as an engineer stood high, recommended a canal of the ordinary size to accommodate boats of twenty- five tons. The acting managers wisely overruled this, arguing that the same number of hands could manage a boat carrying a hundred and fifty tons, requiring but one additional horse to tow it; the whole cargo being coal, which could always be furnished, and the expense per ton be very much reduced. The Delaware division unfortun- ately was but half the size, and when both were com- pleted two boats of the Delaware could pass the Lehigh locks. The company suffered by this short-sighted policy, which the managers, ascribing it to the "experience of Europe," said, "had thwarted a noble work by which sloops and schooners would, at this day, have taken in their cargoes at White Haven, seventy-one miles up the Lehigh, and have delivered them, without transhipment, at any of our Atlantic ports.

This "experience of Europe," acquired among the narrow and slow canals which had proved so profitable in England, operated against the early trade of the Dela- ware and Hudson Canal Company almost as disastrously, as will be seen in the history of our eastern trade. En- gineers and capitalists are, perhaps, still too prone to look back, if not now upon the "experience of Europe" yet upon the disastrous past, and only perceive when elevated upon the advancing tide of commerce of the present how limited were their vision and knowledge during the past years. There are, however, brilliant exceptions to all rules.

By act of the Legislature March 13, 1837, the com- pany was authorized to construct a railroad to connect their Lehigh navigation with the north branch of the Susquehanna at or near Wilkes- Barre, and the capital stock was increased to $1,600,000, at the same time re- pealing so much of the former act as required the com-

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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 18

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