History of Schuylkill County, Pa. with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 62

Author:
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell
Number of Pages: 604

USA > Pennsylvania > Schuylkill County > History of Schuylkill County, Pa. with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 62

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In 1844 the Welsh Baptist society of Pottsville estab- lished the Seren Orllewinol (Western Star), a dollar monthly magazine, with Rev. J. G. Harris as editor. It was published from the Journal office. In 1867 Richard Edwards published it from No. 9 Market street, and in the following year it was sold to Rev. A. J. Morton, of Scranton.

The second experiment at English journalism in Potts- ville was in 1830, when Hart & Mckinsey undertook for two or three years the publication of a Whig paper called the Pottsville Advocate.

The Pottsville Emporium and Democratic Press was the first English Democratic paper printed in Schuylkill county. Its establishment was not wholly an individual enterprise, for the managers of that party saw the neces- sity of a publication to oppose the vigorous policy of Mr. Bannan's Whig paper. John S. Ingraham, as editor and nominal proprietor, issued the first number of the Emporium in May, 1838. During the following year Judge Strange N. Palmer purchased it, and it was pub- lished by him and his son, Robert M., until some time in 1854, when it was united with the Mining Record. Its last editor, the late Hon. Robert M. Palmer, who had editorial control during the last ten years of its career, was speaker of the Pennsylvania Senate in 1860 and 1861, was subsequently appointed by President Lincoln minis- ter to Equador and died on his return voyage.

The Anthracite Gazette and Schuylkill County Advocate was the first formidable Whig rival of the Journal. Its weekly publication was begun May 4th, 1844, by Francis M. Wynkoop and Frank B. Kaercher, in Lippincott & Tay- lor's building, corner of Centre and Mahantongo streets. Politically allied with the Whig party, it earnestly advo- cated the election of Henry Clay in 1844. The Mexican war took both proprietors from Pottsville, and September 6th, 1845, Mr. Wynkoop, having previously purchased his partner's interest, sold the whole to Alfonso McDonald, who removed the office to North Centre street, opposite the town hall, and engaged John K. Clement as writing editor. The paper during their management became an advocate of native Americanism, and in the first issue in 1847 John M. Crossland appeared as proprietor, J. W. Brewer as editor and publisher. Their management was a failure, both editorially and financially, and in April, 1847, Evan O. Jackson bought the remains of the con cern and removed to Market street. Democratic funds gave some new life to the paper, but after one campaign it collapsed, and the material was bought by R. M. Palm- er, of the Emporium.

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HISTORY OF SCHUYLKILL COUNTY.

The Mining Register and Schuylkill County Democrat was established January 12th, 1850, by Charles M. IIall. It was edited by P. S. Dewald, a former foreman on the Emporium, and published from the old Daniel Phillips building in North Centre street. During its first year Garret L. Vleit became a partner with Mr. Hall and suc- ceeded Mr. Dewald as editor. In 1854 the Emporium above mentioned was united with it, and the name made a sub-title to the Register. After one year Henry L. Cake bought the business, changed the title to Mining Record, and removed the office to Coal street, where the Pottsville House now stands. J. A. McCool was associate editor on this paper during the most of Mr. Cake's owner- ship, and made the paper very successful as a local and general newspaper. August 14th, 1858, the office was burned, and the paper was afterward issued temporarily from a private house in East Norwegian street. In 1861 Henry R. Edmonds became the proprietor, and the fol- lowing year it was discontinued. Its attaches had en- listed until there was only one compositor left to edit and print the last issue.

In 1854, about the time the Record and Emporium be- came unreliable as a Democratic organ, Hon. William L. Dewart furnished capital to establish the Pottsville Gazette. It was printed in the second story of A. Grogan's store on Centre street, and edited by Abram Deyo. It was is- sued weekly through two political campaigns, then semi- weekly for about a year and a half, when the editor, sud- denly turning his attention from journalism to matrimony, eloped, and the paper stopped. The Gazette was devoted during its short life to the interests of Mr. Dewart, its founder, the Democratic candidate for Congress, while its contemporary the Register and Emporium supported Joseph W. Cake, an independent candidate. An effort was made by John C. Nevill, backed by Democratic funds, to revive the paper in the fall of 1856, but it was too dead, and after running as a campaign sheet for a short time the material was sold to Henry L. Acker.

The Democratic Standard was founded by Henry L. Acker in 1857. It was a weekly of moderate pretensions, and its name indicated its party affiliations. The first number was issued August 9th from the old Gasette office in East Market street. Subsequently it was printed in the building now occupied by Frey & Sons, Centre street, and in 1861 was removed to the rear of D. L. Esterly's building. Thomas J. M. McCamant, an editorial writer of considerable ability, was engaged on this paper. Mr. Acker was an aspirant for political honors, but in 1862, after failing to secure the nomination to Congress, he abandoned his political hopes in Pottsville and sold his paper to a Mr. Barclay, who moved the office to the corner of Mahantongo and Centre streets, the old Anthracite Gasette office. Mr. Barclay's sons, Cyrus N. and N. Clark, now editors of the Altoona Sun, soon succeeded their father, and in the spring of 1865 removed the office to the old armory building on Norwegian. street.

They employed J. Warren Conard, now editor of the Reading Daily Eagle, as principal writer for three years;

admitted J. E. Eicholtz as partner, enlarged the paper, and changed the name to Pottsville Standard. This dropping of the party name from the title of the sheet aroused the suspicions and alienated the support of some staunch Democrats, who had not yet forgotten the course of a former paper professing to be a party exponent. In April, 1869, Hendler & Schrader, then publishing the Jefferson Demokrat, bought the Standard, retaining C. N. Barclay as local editor for a few months. This firm dis- solved early in 1873, and Frank A. Burr became a partner with Mr. Schrader in April. Mr. Burr was an able writer, but his ideas of business management did not please his German partner, and in two months a dissolu- tion and division took place.

In February, 1873, William P. Furey, a former em- ploye of Hendler & Schrader, began the publication of the Evening Transcript, a daily paper of some merit, but it never reached a paying basis, and in the following May was bought by Frank A. Burr, who continued the publication of the Standard as a weekly after the dis- solution above referred to. Mr. Burr changed the name of Mr. Furey's daily to the Daily Standard, and pub- lished it as a daily edition of the Pottsville Standard. At this time began the famous career of the Daily Standard. It was enlarged to eight pages and a corps of writers em- ployed sufficient to produce a metropolitan daily. Sev- eral such persons as Audubon Davis, George Lawson, and Charles Crutchfield were on the editorial staff. Fourteen cases of compositors were given employment, and the reading public might easily have inferred that the New York Herald had come to Pottsville in disguise. Every department of the paper, except the temperance column, was ably conducted; but there was not sufficient demand for such a paper to support it. The concern became involved with Yuengling & Son and others who had furnished the sinews of editorial warfare, and after absorbing the Schuylkill Free Press, a daily established hy F. B. Wallace & Charles Schubert, its publication was suspended, and that of the Weekly Standard also. As a literary venture it was a brilliant affair, and Pottsville never need hope to see its like again; but it was a fail- ure financially, and that is the test by which the most of man's endeavors stand or fall.

Some months after the death of the Standard several gentlemen combined under the firm name of The Stand- ard Publishing Company, for the purpose of resurrecting the Weekly Standard. Henry J. Hendler was made busi- ness manager and William Kennedy editor. They suc- ceeded in reviving at least the name of the paper that had passed away, and on the first Saturday in August, 1874, published the first number of the new series of the Pottsville Standard. Since that time the paper has been regularly issued as a Democratic weekly, and under the able editorship of Mr. Kennedy has secured a circula- tion and standing which seem to assure for it a long life.

The Chronicle Publishing Company was organized in the spring of 1875, and on the 17th of April the first number of the Evening Chronicle appeared, as a one cent daily, edited by Solomon Foster, jr. It was the design

271

POTTSVILLE PERIODICALS-BREWERIES-IRON WORKS.

of Mr. Foster, who was the dominant element in the company, to give the Democratic party in the county a daily organ, and furnish Pottsville with an evening paper. The Chronicle company soon disappeared, and as early as 1876 Mr. Foster appeared as sole proprietor and edi- tor; and June 11th, 1877, the business was purchased by the Standard Publishing Company. About this time Channing Shumway succeeded Mr. Hendler as business manager, and Solomon Foster, jr., came into the firm as editor in charge of the Evening Chronicle, which the company has since continued to publish as its founder originally intended. In editing the daily Mr. Foster, who is an energetic writer himself, is ably assisted by George F. Helms, local editor, who keeps the paper reliable as a daily chronicler of all that is desirable.

The officers of the Standard Publishing Company are: Thomas F. Kerns, president; C. Shumway, treasurer; and A. W. Schalck, secretary.

On the 23d of December, 1872, Charles F. Garrett and Charles Spencer began the publication of the Pottsville Evening Advertiser. It was designed primarily as an ad- vertising sheet, but before the completion of its first year the publishers began to insert more of local and general news. Some time in August, 1873, Mr. Spencer having retired, the sheet was issued as a penny daily. There was nothing particularly brilliant in its career, and its soul, if it had any, went up in the gunpowder smoke of the fourth of July, 1874.

The Legal Chronicle was published by Solomon Fos- ter, jr., a member of the Schuylkill county bar, as editor and proprietor from January 11th, 1873, to December 25th, 1875. It was designed originally as the official court organ of the county.

The Legal Record, the present court paper, is edited by Arthur J. Pilgrim. It was begun in January, 1879, by Mr. Pilgrim, assisted by Mr. Heilner.

The Workingman was a periodical devoted to the in- terests of the Miners and Laborers' Benevolent Associa- tion. It first appeared in 1873, and during its brief ex- istence John Siney and C. Benjamin Johnson were con- nected with its publication.

In April, 1874, John Boland, a gentleman prominently identified with the Emerald Benevolent Association, be- gan the publication of the Emerald Vindicator, a monthly quarto devoted to the advancement of that fraternity in the United States and Canada. The following year it was doubled in size, and it has since been issued as a folio,

The Sunday-school Helper, a monthly magazine pub- lished by the Sunday-school Association, was in some sense the exponent of the Schuylkill county association. It was ably edited by Charles M. Wells. In this maga- zine they published the National Berean Sunday-school Lessons. These were edited for this work by Rev. A. H. Semboyer, of Reading, for a time, and then by Rev. George A. Peltz, of Newark, N. J. The first number of of this magazine was issued in January, 1872; the last in April, 1875.

MANUFACTURING INTERESTS.

BREWERIES.

In the year 1829, when American brewing was a busi- ness in its infancy, the late D. P. Yuengling established the Eagle Brewery at Pottsville. He was an enterprising gentleman, of good business ability, and he established a reputation throughout the State for the uniform excellence of all goods which he put on the market. In 1832 his buildings were entirely destroyed and were then rebuilt in substantial manner, as they now stand, on Mahantongo street, although they have been enlarged at various times since.

The present managing proprietor, Frederick G. Yueng- ling, was admitted by his father as a copartner in 1873, when the firm name, D. G. Yuengling & Son, was adopted.

At the death of the senior Mr. Yuengling, in Septem- ber, 1877, his widow, by the provisions of his will, suc- ceeded to his interest in the business, and the firm name remains the same. The present capacity of production is about 175 barrels per day of porter, ales, brown stout and lager; and the actual production is fully half of the whole amount manufactured in this Congressional district. The Eagle Brewery has been the training school for sev- eral of the most successful men who are now in the busi- ness. The well known Mr. Betz, of Philadelphia, D. G. Yuengling jr., and Henry C. Clausen of New York, each acquired their practical knowledge in the Eagle Brewery at Pottsville.

The Orchard Brewery was first operated by A. S. Moore, about 1830. George Lauer became the owner five years later, and following him was Frederick Lauer, who sold it to Henry B. Lauer & Co. It is now leased by Lorenz Schmidt.

The Market Street Brewery .- In 1865 Charles Rettig and John Leibner started a small brewery on the Port Carbon road, near the eastern boundary of the borough. Three years later the business required more room, and demanded a better location. Accordingly they erected the Market street brewery at Nos. 818, 820 and 822 Mar- ket street, and occupied it before the close of 1868. Mr. Leibner continued in the firm until 1878, since which time Mr. Rettig has been sole proprietor. The business employs eight men. The annual product is about two thousand barrels of lager beer, ale and porter.

COLLIERY IRON WORKS, GEORGE W. SNVDER PROPIETOR.

These works were established by the present proprie- tor and the late B. Haywood in the year 1835, for the manufacture of mining machinery in the then compara- tively new anthracite coal region, and they may be said to be the parent of nearly all the similar establishments in this part of the State of Pennsylvania. The changes in the character of the machinery needed for mining pur- poses are well illustrated by a comparison between the older and newer drawings and patterns to be seen here, furnishing an interesting record, typical of the growth of the coal trade.

Beginning with single engines of about 20 horse power

272

HISTORY OF SCHUYLKILL COUNTY.

then deemed adequate to raise the coal and pump the water from a mine of full capacity, one is now shown double winding engines, varying from 200 to 300 horse power, capable of raising coal at the rate of 1,000 tons per day from a single mine. In the pumping machinery too, the same remarkable contrast is presented.

The buildings cover one entire block and portions of two additional blocks, and the equipment is adequate for the construction and handling of the heaviest work.

In the years 1838 and 1839 Mr. Snyder built the blow- ing machinery for the Pioneer furnace, where the experi- of making pig iron with anthracite coal was first made a commercial success. In the years 1844 and 1845 he constructed the machinery for the Monitor Iron Works at Danville, Pa., where it is claimed the first T rails made in the United States were manufactured.

In 1852 the works were enlarged to the present capacity, embracing foundry and machine shop, smith and boiler shops, pattern and car shops.

THE PIONEER FURNACES.

Near the spot where the old furnace and forge were erected in 1807 William Lyman, in 1839, manufactured the first pig iron by the use of anthracite fuel. His blast furnace was purchased, in 1853, by Atkins Brothers, and rebuilt and enlarged. They built their second furnace in 1865, and still another in 187 2. The business is now giving employment to 250 men, and, by the annual con- sumption of 50,000 tons of anthracite and 85,000 tons of limestone, reduces 70,000 tons of ore to pig iron.

SCHUYLKILL COUNTY STEAM SOAP AND CANDLE WORKS.

This industry, which was established in 1844, by Charles F. Kopitzsch, has come to be an important and profitable manufacturing business. The famous brand of "Ocean Soap" is made here; and a score of others, each favorably known in the trade, together with his various brands of wax, sperm and adamantine candles, have mode the name of this enterprising German known as widely as that of any manufacturer in Schuylkill county. The present factory buildings were erected in 1878.

THE ORCHARD IRON WORKS.

This business is located in that part of the borough which has taken a local name in allusion to the orchard which John Pott set out there, soon after he came to the place in 1810. The iron works were founded here by John L. Pott, in 1848. The principal business is building machinery for iron mills, and in this branch of machine work the proprietor is well known in all the iron produc- ing States. To operate the works to their full capacity would require the labor of 100 men, and in some urgent cases as many as 140 have been employed. Some of the best machinery in use in the county was built here.

SIMON DERR'S STOVE WORKS.

present proprietor became his partner. The partnership continued until 1864, when Joseph Derr retired and built the foundry which is occupied by the Adams Brass Works, at corner of Norwegian and Coal streets. While Joseph's venture proved disastrous after eleven years' trial, his brother, who remained in the stove business, conducted it safely and successfully through the perilous panic that closed nearly every similar manufactory in the country. Since becoming the sole owner Mr. Derr has enlarged the capacity and size of the works, and is now making twenty different patterns of common stoves. On this corner, now occupied by these works, was once a morocco tannery, carried on by Elias Derr and William Brick. As early as 1836 there was a small foundry on what is now also a part of Mr. Derr's grounds. In 1853 the Derr Brothers made the first portable double-heater ever known, and several were successfully used in Potts- ville and Philadelphia. The ones sent to Philadelphia evidently led to the appearance of the celebrated Vulcan heater, patented in 1855.

NOBLE'S BOILER WORKS.

John J. Noble and James Noble started in the steam boiler business October roth, 1852, in the old foundry on the island, which they rented of Mr. Andrew Russell. In 1854 they built the boiler shop on Railroad street, opposite the freight depot. In 1857 John T. Noble and James Noble dissolved partnership. James Noble went to Rome, Ga., and John T. Noble kept the boiler works on Railroad street. The business done in the shop aver- aged about $25,000 per annum.

SPARKS, PARKER & CO.

Jabez Sparks, formerly superintendent of the Wren Iron Works, bought land of the Greenwood estate in 1855, and in company with his brother, John Sparks, and Edward Greathead, began the boiler works on Coal street, manufacturing boilers, smokestacks, ventilating stacks and mine fans. A few workingmen with but little capi- tal soon built up this business to $100,000 per annum. Mr. Greathead was killed in 1857, and John Sparks re- tired in 1860. Five years afterward Mr. Sparks took into the partnership his son William and his son-in-law, Hiram Parker. The firm then carried on business under the name of Parker, Sparks & Co., Mr. Jabez Sparks be- ing a silent partner. In 1.879 the land was sold to the Philadelphia and Reading Company for $42,000, and the business was afterward removed to the Joseph Derr property, corner of Coal and Norwegian streets.

HARDWARE HOUSE OF L. C. THOMPSON.

The wholesale and retail hardware house of Mr. L. C. Thompson, at the corner of Center and Market streets, Pottsville, an illustration of which is given, was establish- ed by Messrs. Stichter & Thompson in 1856. Ten years later, Mr. Thompson became the sole proprietor, and as such carried on the business for several years, until his brother, Heber S. Thompson, became associated with him

In 1848 Joseph Derr established this business at the corner of Norwegian and George streets, and in 1851 the and the firm was known as L. C. Thompson & Co.

POTTSVILLE BUSINESS HOUSES.

273

Later Heber S. Thompson retired from the business, which has since been conducted by L. C. Thompson. During a period of a quarter of a century this business has been successfully carried on at the same place with-

and inspected, affording exact information as to the na- ture, thickness and depth of coal, iron and other mineral deposits. Experience soon demonstrated that, while the diamond drill was far superior to any other drill for the

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out interruption, and during that time Mr. L. C. Thomp- son has been either a sole or partial owner and the active manager. It is one of the most extensive of its kind in the coal regions and is widely and favorably known.

THE PENNSYLVANIA DIAMOND DRILL COMPANY.

The diamond drill was introduced into this county about 18632by the inventor, Rudolph Leschot, of Paris, France. In 1869 the Pennsylvania Diamond Drill Com- pany was organized, under the management of Samuel E.

Pennsylvania Diamond Drill Co.'s Works, Pottsville, Pa.

purpose, it was yet quite imperfect, and after many ex- periences and a heavy expenditure of means the com- pany have succeeded in improving the various parts, until they now have the satisfaction of obtaining as many feet of "core" as they do of "boring" either in soft or hard rock. In boring for bituminous coal, which is especially liable to crumble, they are able to give a foot of "core" for a foot of "boring." All of the essential features of the machinery are protected by letters patent, to the number of thirteen. The drills in their improved condi- tion are excellent artesian well borers, boring them per- fectly round and straight, admitting a larger pump in proportion to the size of the hole than by any other means of boring; and the wells being straight the pumps and rods work to better advantage and with less wear than in crooked wells, the drills being so constructed that they pierce in an absolutely straight line, even in passing from hard to soft rock, or vice versa.

The Diamond Drill Company have bored tens of thousands of feet of prospecting holes and thousands of feet of blasting holes for driving tunnels and sinking shafts, by the new "long-hole " process, which consists of boring the desired number of blast-holes at once to their full depth or to the depth of 200 or 300 feet, filling them up with sand and extracting the sand to the depth desired to place the explosive charge, and firing all the holes simaltaneously by electricity. By this process half the time usually required in sinking shafts is saved. The two deep shafts sunk near Pottsville by the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company were sunk by this process, and with such rapidity that during some months they were put down roo feet. A short time after the organization of the company a small shop was rented, which was then as large as was demanded by the busi- ness. As orders increased facilities were added from

Griscom. The company at once turned its attention to prospecting mineral lands, the drill being especially adapted to that purpose, as by its use a " core " or cylin- drical section of the material bored could be obtained | time to time. The exhibition of this company at the

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274

HISTORY OF SCHUYLKILL COUNTY.

Centennial Exposition, in 1876, was so creditable that it resulted in the receipt of orders for drills from abroad, the first of which came from Australia. The foreign de- mand for the diamond drill has since then so greatly in- creased that they are in use throughout Australia, South America and Europe, everywhere giving unbounded satis- faction in prospecting for gold, silver, copper, lead, iron ore and coal.

Some of the principal improvements made by this company are in the mode of extracting the core from the hole and insure its extraction in considerable sections, enabling the proprietor to easily note the character of the various strata through which the drill penetrates. The first application of diamonds to the miner's art and prac- tical rock drilling was made in 1863 by Professor Ru- dolph Leschot, of Paris, France, the inventor of the dia- mond drill. There are two kinds of black diamonds used in pointing . drills, known as "carbons " and " borts;" the former resembling in shape small irregular pieces of gravel. The latter is the real diamond, which from its imperfections is unfit for jewelry. The stones are brought principally for American use from Brazil; some have been brought from Siberia and some, more recently, from South Africa. The part played. by the diamond drill in testing supposed mineral deposits and in other important enterprises can scarcely be over-esti- mated, but it can scarcely be realized except to those practically acquainted with mining with and without it.

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History of Schuylkill County, Pa. with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 62

Author: Publication date: 1881 Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell Number of Pages: 604

Author:
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell
Number of Pages: 604