USA > Pennsylvania > Northampton County > History of Northampton County [Pennsylvania] and the grand valley of the Lehigh, Volume I > Part 14
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Though the assembly granted a petition in 1745 for a road to run from Bethlehem to a point where the Lehigh river enters the Delaware river, which was to connect with a ferry for New Jersey, it was several years before the road was built. The German settlements in Macungie township were, in 1746, connected with the Lehigh river opposite Bethlehem with a high- way running in a northeasterly direction. The assembly granted a petition in 1746 to lay a road from the Saucon creek by way of Bethlehem to Mahon- ing creek beyond the mountains, but it was several years before it was sur- veyed. On the petition of divers inhabitants of Bucks and Northampton counties, in 1752, the right of way for a road was granted from what is now Zionsville to Slatington, and David Schultz surveyed for a road to connect Easton with Reading. It will be seen that in projecting the main arteries of travel that the common center point was the town of Bethlehem, which at that time was more populated than other towns in the county. It would be well to bear in mind that the mere granting and surveying for a road did not accomplish its completion. The Macungie Settlements' road to Bethle- hem was a bridle path for fifteen years, and it was after 1760 before it be- came in any sense a wagon road. The road from Martin's Ferry to the mouth of the Lehigh river was not even surveyed for seven years after the petition was granted, and it was not until years later that it was completed for the passage of vehicles. Thus it will be seen that in 1763 there was
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not really a good public highway in the boundaries of Northampton county. The best, however, was the "King Road" from Philadelphia to Bethlehem ; the Durham road, which struck the Lehigh river at Easton was, to all intents and purposes, impassable. These highways were, however, the forerunners for the internal communications that brought the settlers residing in the outmost limits of the county in touch with a common center for intercourse and commerce.
The rivers and streams before the coming of the white man had been forded or the passage made in Indian canoes. The settlement of the whites called for public crossings and even before 1739 Peter Raub conducted a ferry at the mouth of the Po-Pohatcong creek, which connected with two roads that met at this point, one leading from Brunswick, New Jersey, the other from Trenton and South Jersey. It was in 1739 that David Martin received rights for a ferry at the Forks of the Delaware. This country was rapidly filling up with settlers, and the traffic for transportation across the river increased largely. David Martin died in 1744, and the ferry was after- wards conducted by his heirs. At the time of the surveying for the site of Easton, in 1752, the river front on the Lehigh river was reserved for a new ferry. This was a creation of William Parsons. The two ferries were con- solidated by the purchase from the Martin heirs of the property on the Jersey side of the river and the foreclosure of that portion on the Pennsyl- vania side, which was held only by lease.
Parsons conducted the Lehigh ferry and the one crossing the Delaware river he leased to Nathaniel Vernon. The latter had been ferryman for the Martin heirs, through whom he had acquired some rights in the ferry prop- erty, which Parsons ignored, and he brought suit for ejectment. A verdict was rendered in favor of Vernon, the legal war between the two contestants continuing until the death of Parsons. The executors of Parsons' estate finally made a settlement with Vernon and the two ferries were again con- solidated and leased to Louis Gordon for £50 per annum, the tenant to keep boats in repair. Gordon sublet to Daniel Brodhead for four years, then later conducted it himself with Jacob and Peter Ehler as ferrymen, who, in 1778, leased the property from Gordon. After the Revolutionary war the Penns sold the ferry rights to Jeremiah Piersoll, who employed Abraham Horn and Jacob Shouse as ferrymen. They, in 1790, acquired the rights. Abraham Horn finally became the sole owner of the ferry on the Lehigh river, which he conducted with profit for a number of years. In 1795 he conceived the scheme of discontinuing the ferry and constructing a bridge. At this time he was county commissioner and abutments on each side of the river were constructed, and in 1797 Horn was given the contract to erect the bridge. The plan of the bridge was original with Horn, who assumed all responsibility for its success. The design was in the form of an arch of one span 280 feet long. This was not intended to be its only support, as there was included in the contract for the abutments an anchorage for chains. A few days after the completion of the bridge it collapsed, just after a four horse team had crossed over it, which barely reached the opposite side in safety. Horn replaced the bridge, which remained for less than ten years, when it was destroyed by a freshet. A new bridge was not constructed
FERRY HOUSE OF NATHANIEL VERNON
FERRY HOUSE OF DAVID MARTIN, 1739
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until 1811; this was known as the "Chain Bridge"; it was in three spans on two stone piers, 423 feet in length, 25 feet wide. This bridge withstood several freshets, but began to weaken in 1837, and was replaced with a wooden structure. The latter finally succumbed in the freshet of 1841, and two years later another bridge was constructed, which was carried away bodily by the great freshet of 1862, and was replaced by a bridge of iron tubing. This was condemned as unsafe in 1889, and another iron bridge erected; it was made of heavy iron and it was discovered that it was of such a weight that it was liable to collapse. It was frequently condemned as unsafe and in 1912 it was replaced by the present modern bridge of reinforced concrete.
The bridge across the Delaware river connecting Easton with the New Jersey shore was formally opened in 1807. It had been commenced in 1797, the delay being caused by the lack of funds. The structure when completed was strong and substantial, and reflected great credit on its architect, Cyrus Palmer of Newburyport, Massachusetts. It was the only bridge above Trenton, New Jersey, that was left standing in the great flood of 1841. The principle of its construction was arch and truss combined. Its length be- tween the abutments was 600 feet, embraced on three spans, divided and supported by two massive stone piers in the river. Its width was 34 feet, the total cost being $61,854.57. The bridge was made free to pedestrians on November 1, 1856. In the course of time it gave place to the present bridge which connects Phillipsburg, New Jersey, with Easton.
The pioneer of the stage lines in Northampton county was George Klein of Bethlehem. He made his first trip in September, 1763, between Bethlehem and Philadelphia. He ran regularly, making weekly round trips, leaving the Sun Tavern in Bethlehem on Monday and the return trip on Thursday from an inn called the King of Prussia, located on Race street in Philadelphia. The distance covered was nearly fifty-three miles.
Easton, by its geographical position and the commercial character of its population, early established by stages intimate relations not only with Philadelphia but with many of the surrounding towns in its near vicinity, also at a great distance. The first to establish a stage route from Easton was Frederick Nicholas in 1796. The route was via Doylestown to Phila- delphia. There was another route via Bristol, Pennsylvania, to Philadelphia. At the commencement a weekly trip was made and the mail was carried; each passenger was allowed fourteen pounds of baggage; the fare was three dollars from Bethlehem to Philadelphia, and way passengers were charged at the rate of six cents a mile. Stages were dispatched from Wind Gap and Allentown, which connected at Bethlehem with the Philadelphia stage. The stage routes did a lucrative business. In 1810 Mr. Nicholas made another step forward by advertising that his line would make a trip every two days. This schedule continued until 1815, when the people of Easton were elated by the announcement of a daily line to Philadelphia.
The famous opposition line was established in 1825 by William Shouse, the proprietor of the Green Tree Tavern in Easton, in connection with Colonel Reeside of Philadelphia, one of the most extensive stage and mail contractors in the United States. No expense was spared to make the new stage line attractive to the traveling public. Troy coaches, elegantly painted
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and equipped with perfectly matched swift team horses, were purchased. The proprietors determined that to win success they would sacrifice every- thing to the convenience and comfort of their patrons. This competition led to one of the most fiercely contested stage wars ever known in Penn- sylvania. Both lines had magnificent horses, fearless drivers, and the time to Philadelphia was reduced to fifteen hours; eight hours was nothing remarkable, the distance being made a number of times in six hours. The relay stations were Bucksville, Doylestown and Willow Grove. The oppo- sition fight while it lasted was bitter, though neither company gained the ascendancy. Finally Colonel Reeside, through his influence with the adminis- tration, obtained the mail contract with a specification that he should offer to buy the stock of the old line at a fair valuation. His offer was accepted by the old line proprietors, and the opposition war was ended.
From 1825 to 1830 there were in all ten stage routes leaving Easton in various directions ; first in importance was the route from Easton to Philadel- phia. which was fifty-six miles in length. The next of importance was the line between Easton and Newark, New Jersey, established in 1830 by William Shouse, associated with J. J. Roy of Newark, Colonel McCurry and N. B. Lull of Morristown, and James Anderson of Andersontown. This line passed through Washington and Morristown, New Jersey, and was sixty-two miles in length. The route to New Brunswick, Clinton and Somerville via Blooms- bury, New Jersey, was forty-five miles in length; passengers took the steamboat at New Brunswick for New York City. The line was operated by William and Samuel Shouse and Richard Stout of North Branch, New Jersey. The Wilkes-Barre route via Nazareth, Wind Gap, Ross Common and Pokono was sixty-five miles in length, and was operated by Andrew Whitesell of Nazareth, James Ely of Ross Common, and Josiah Horton of Wilkes-Barre. The line via Stockertown, Wind Gap and Tannersville was eighty-one miles in length, and was along the "North and South Turnpike." It was operated by William and Samuel Shouse of Easton, James Ely of Ross Common, and Daniel Kramer of Allentown. The stage line to Berwick via Bath, Cherryville, Lehigh Gap, Lehighton, Mauch Chunk and Beaver Meadow was sixty-five miles in length, and the sole proprietor was John Jones of Berwick. In 1820 John Adam Copp opened a stage line from Easton via Bethlehem, Allentown, Kutztown and Reading to Lancaster, one hundred and six miles in length. This route carried the mail between Easton and Lancaster; in 1826 the contract was awarded to the lowest bidder, and the route was parcelled out to a number of parties and instead of remaining a continuous route was broken up into short distances from station to station.
The route to Milford via Richmond, Water Gap and Stroudsburg was sixty miles in length; it was operated by Benjamin Depue of Centersville and William Dean of Stroudsburg. By the river stage route to Philadelphia via Durham to Bristol the passengers took a steamboat at the latter place for the remainder of the journey to Philadelphia. This was not a very profitable line; its operators were William Shouse of Easton, John Johnson of Monroe, Dr. Jenks of Newton, New Jersey, and John Bissanett of French- town, New Jersey. The Bethlehem line to Philadelphia, also its extension to Nazareth, was owned by Andrew Whitsell of Nazareth; it was the most
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Earlier to to build.
DRAUGHT OF THE MORAVIAN HOUSE AT EASTON
GLANZ & KUEBLER LAGER BEER BREWERY
A SECTION OF THE OLD DELAWARE FERRY ROAD ABOUT 1860 IN REAR OF BREWERY, EASTON
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popular route to the capital city. The stage line from Easton to Newton, New Jersey, was forty miles in length; it was operated by Simeon Mains of Newton, New Jersey, and the principal intermediate points were Belvidere and Hope, New Jersey. This line was not very enterprising and was the only one not using Troy coaches and four horses. Thus ended the days of stage coaching as a vital factor in the internal improvements of the county. The iron horse was heralding its advance to lessen the time consumed between the productive centers of the county and the marts of merchandise.
In the early pioneer days the rivers were used for rafting logs. Accord- ing to a newspaper account, the first that navigated a run of logs was one Skinner. This was in 1746; he was assisted by one Parks, and on reaching Philadelphia they were given the freedom of the city. Skinner was created Lord-High-Admiral of the Delaware, which title he bore to his death. The first raft of logs consisted of six pine trees, seventy feet long, to be used for masts of ships then building in Philadelphia. There soon appeared on the rivers, as rivals of the Indian canoes, a flat boat, and what was known as the Durham boat. The flat boats were made square above the heads and sterns, sloping a little fore and aft; they were generally forty or fifty feet in length, six to seven feet wide, and about three feet deep. When loaded they drew twenty to twenty-two inches of water and could carry from five hundred to six hundred bushels of grain. Freight from Easton to Phila- delphia was twenty shillings per ton for iron ; seven pence a bushel for grain ; two shillings six pence for a barrel of flour. The Durham boat was shaped like an Indian canoe, but was wide and long. It came into use fifty years be- fore the Revolutionary War and probably got its name from freighting iron from the Durham Furnace. The boat was about sixty feet long, seven and a half feet wide, and thirty inches deep, with a fifteen-inch running-board on the inner sides. The boats floated down the stream with the current, and were propelled upstream by "setting" with long poles shod with iron.
The navigation of the Lehigh river was a subject of discussion as early as March 9, 1771, when an act was passed by the assembly declaring it a common highway and appointing commissioners to improve the navigation of the stream. The Lehigh Navigation Company was authorized February 27, 1798, to secure subscriptions to its stock, also to raise by lottery ten thousand dollars to be used for the improvement of the river. The Lehigh Coal Mine Company had been organized February 13, 1792; it had secured ten thousand acres of land, the greater part of which contained coal deposits. The mines remained neglected until 1806, when the Ark, a rough lumber boat, sixteen feet wide, twenty feet long, was built, which conveyed two hundred to three hundred bushels of coal to Philadelphia. This ark was duplicated, and when they reached Philadelphia they were taken apart and the lumber sold. Large boats of this pattern were afterwards built and they were con- tinued in use until 1831. "Bear trap" dams were built to form pools of water, which overflowed and filled the river-bed below to its ordinary flow ; the sluice gates were then let down and a current was created that would move the arks collected in the pool down the artificial flood. Twelve of these dams and sluices were built in 1819.
The Lehigh Navigation Company was organized August 10, 1818. On
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October 2Ist of that year the Lehigh Coal Company was formed, and on April 21, 1820, the two companies were consolidated under the title of the Lehigh Navigation and Coal Company, and later this corporation was em- powered to commence a slack water navigation upon the Lehigh river. Work on a canal commenced in 1827 with thirteen hands, at the mouth of the Nesquehoning creek. The employes were soon increased to seventy, subsequently further increased. This method of transportation was com- menced while the country north of the Lehigh Gap was still a wilderness. The canal was completed in 1838 from the headwaters of the Delaware river to Easton, a distance of forty-six miles, there being fifty locks in that division. The Lehigh canal from Mauch Chunk to Easton was opened for navigation in June, 1829, when boats passed through the canal to Easton, then went to New York City by the way of the Delaware river, entering the Delaware and Raritan canal at Bordentown, New Jersey.
Three years later the Delaware Division canal was opened from Easton to Bristol, Pennsylvania, a distance of sixty miles. The canal, however, was badly constructed; it was several years before the boats of large capacity could navigate on its waters. There were eight miles of the canal in Northampton county. It was forty feet wide, five feet deep, with twenty- three locks, ninety feet long, eleven feet wide, and from six to ten feet high. The cost of construction and rights of way was $1,374,744. There was built in 1854 an outlet lock at New Hope, Pennsylvania, and boats crossed the Delaware river to Lambertville, New Jersey; from this point then the course was down the feeder of the Delaware and Raritan canal to Trenton, New Jersey, thence to New Brunswick, New Jersey, then via the Raritan river to New York City.
The heavy and incessant rains which fell in torrents caused the streams to rise rapidly, and on November 4, 1840, the Lehigh river, fed from its tributaries among the mountains, was a roaring body of water. A new dam that was being constructed at the mouth of the river was considerably dam- aged ; a fireproof brick building of four stories, below the dam, was entirely demolished. Two months later, on January 8, 1841, the Delaware and Lehigh rivers, on account of long continued rains and thawing of the snow in the mountains, were at high water mark. The Delaware river rose to a maximum height of thirty-five feet above low water mark, and the freshet carried away houses, barns, fences, animals and grain. On the Lehigh, every bridge below Lehigh Gap was swept away. The dwellings along the banks of the river were inundated, filling the lower stories with water and causing extensive damage to furniture and movables. Another disastrous flood caused by a steady fall of rain occurred on the Lehigh on June 3d and 4th, 1862. The rise of the water was equal to that of the flood of 1841, but it was more disastrous, owing to the large amount of improvements that had been made in the valley. Early on the morning of June 4th the river was discovered to be literally covered with floating timber, boats, houses, stables, bridges, furniture and articles of every kind used in civilized society. All the bridges from Mauch Chunk to Easton were either wholly or in part gone. There were over fifty persons drowned; in some cases whole families perished.
The navigation of the Delaware river by steam propelled vessels became
STAGE COACH BETWEEN EASTON AND PHILADELPHIA
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an important question on the opening, February 26, 1851, of the Belvidere and Delaware Railroad from Trenton to Lambertville, New Jersey. In 1852 the side-wheel steamboat Major C. Barnet made regular trips between Lambertville and Easton, connecting with the trains. The change in the height of the water and the rocky rapids in the river interposed such difficulties that the Barnet was changed for the Reindeer, a small stern-wheel boat. The Barnet attempted an excursion trip to Easton in the late fall, but, failing to pass Howells Falls, the boat returned to Lambertville and went into winter quarters. The regular trips to Easton were begun in the spring, and on April 19, 1852, the Barnet brought from Easton one hundred and twenty persons to Kossuth's reception at Trenton, New Jersey. There is no record of the discontinuance of the Barnet's trips. The first trip of the Reindeer from Lambertville to Easton was made April 28, 1852, but the enterprise was soon abandoned.
There was an agitation in the summer of 1859 to navigate the upper waters of the Delaware. The Alfred Thomas, a small steamboat, was built in Easton to ply between Belvidere, New Jersey, and Port Jervis, New York. A company was incorporated under the name of the Kittatinny Improvement Company, with eight stockholders. The distance was about sixty miles. The steamboat was built by Thomas Bishop of Easton, and William R. Sharp and Richard Holcomb, both of Belvidere, and Alfred Thomas of Easton were deputized to oversee the construction of the boat. The dimensions of the steamboat were between eighty and ninety feet in length, fourteen feet in width, and it was about one hundred tons' burden. On the morning of March 6th, with an American flag flying from the upper deck and about one hundred passengers aboard, the steamer left her dock at Easton and proceeded up the river. At noon she had reached Keller's hotel, where all but thirty-three of her passengers disembarked; the remaining twenty were citizens of Easton. During the journey up the river the engineer, to effect the passage of the rapids, forced the pressure of steam to one hundred and twenty pounds a square inch. This was too great a strain on the boiler, and it exploded with a detonation that shook the towns and hills around as if by an earthquake. The fore part of the vessel was blown into fragments, human bodies were hurled forty feet in the air, others were torn to pieces, limbs were broken, and many shockingly bruised. Judge William R. Sharp and Richard Hol- comb of Belvidere, two of the original incorporators, George Schaeff, fireman, Samuel Schaeff, engineer, George Smith and Joseph Weaver of Easton, were killed; Valentine Schooley, Samuel Yates, Henry Mebler and Arthur Kessler, all of Easton, were mortally wounded. Peter Bercaw, William Diehl, Robert Burrill, Edward McIntire, Eugene Troxell and Richard Williams were either wounded or bruised. The coroner's jury, which convened at Easton on March 7, 1860, gave as their opinion that the disaster was caused by the overheating of the boiler, owing to a deficient supply of water, and that the boiler was improperly constructed, that the gauge-cocks were placed too low, the lower one being below the crown-sheet and the second lower than the first should have been; the boiler was constructed under the supervision of Samuel Schaeff, the engineer of the boat, and in the jury's opinion he did not exercise due care and skill.
One of the first charters granted in America for the building of a railroad
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was in 1819 to Henry Drinker, by the Pennsylvania legislature, for a railroad from the Delaware valley to the headwaters of the Lehigh river over the route now occupied by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad from the Water Gap to Scranton, Pennsylvania. This was before the days of steam and the motive power was horses or mules. It was on July 2, 1852, over the Central Railroad of New Jersey, that the first train of eight passen- ger cars left Elizabeth, New Jersey, and arrived at Phillipsburg, New Jersey, at two o'clock in the afternoon. The railroad bridge across the Delaware had not been completed, but Easton was recognized as the terminus of the road. This was a great day for Northampton county, as it heralded its rail- road connection with the eastern markets. The day was duly celebrated with music, a procession, feasting and speechmaking. Two years afterwards, on February 3, 1854, came the opening of the Belvidere and Delaware Railroad, now of the Pennsylvania system. Though this was entirely a New Jersey railroad, not entering at all on the Pennsylvania side of the river, its opening was regarded by the people of Easton as having particular significance for them and their borough. In 1855 the formal opening of the Lehigh Valley Railroad took place. This railroad was originally incorporated under the name of the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad Com- pany by an act passed by the legislature, April 21, 1846, at the request of James M. Porter, Peter S. Michler, Abraham Miller and others of Northamp- ton county, in connection with citizens of Lehigh county. Later James M. Porter was elected the first president of the corporation. The first survey for the road was made in 1850 by Roswell B. Mason along the Lehigh river to Mahoning creek. It was on March 10, 1851, the construction was started on the first sixteen miles, from the Delaware river to a point near Allentown. Asa Packer at this time became identified in the construction of the road, also as a stockholder. The road was completed September 24, 1855. The name of the corporation was changed on January 7, 1853, to the. Lehigh Valley Railroad Company. James M. Porter remained president of the rail- road until 1856, when the general offices being removed in that year from Easton to Philadelphia, he declined a re-election on account of his large legal practice. The Lehigh Valley Railroad became an avenue of great importance to the people, establishing at Bethlehem connections with Philadelphia and the southern portions of the country. These three main arteries of railroad transportation, with their different branches in the county, afforded the people intercourse with the great metropolitan cities of the United States. Branches of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad are also units in the commercial transportation of the county. One is the Morris and Essex road (now operated by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western), which runs to Phillipsburg, New Jersey, another from the Water Gap to Bangor and Port- land. The Lehigh and New England Railroad crosses the northern portion of the county.
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