USA > Pennsylvania > Schuylkill County > History of Schuylkill County, Pa. with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 76
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The chur ches now in use were all erected within the eight acres of land for church and school purposes,
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HISTORY OF SCHUYLKILL COUNTY.
which to-day is worth ten fold what it would be under any other circumstances. Upon this land was erected a log church, which in early days was used also as a school- house. This log building, having become useless, was torn down about 1878 by a parcel of boys.
The Seeley tunnel was intended to be driven through Big Lick mountain to Rausch Gap, where William H. Yohe now resides, in Hegins township. It was driven for upwards of eighty yards and then abandoned. It is within the bounds of the present village of Tower City.
The Harrisburg parties had obtained a charter in the name of "The Williams Valley Railroad and Mining Company," subsequently changed to "Schuylkill and Dauphin Improvement Company." Owing to the fact that the original warrants located in this region had been cov- ered by later warrants and surveys in other names, the company became involved in litigation which finally ruined it. The location of its railroad (a very desirable one) was from the tunnel southwestwardly down Clark's valley to the Susquehanna. The fact that the Philadel- phia and Reading Coal and Iron Company has already taken out several millions of tons of coal in the imme-
diate vicinity shows clearly that these pioneers had a good and clear idea of what they were about.
TOWER CITY.
Tower City was laid out in June, 1868, by and upon the lands of C. Tower, then of Pottsville, now of Philadelphia; Johnstown in 1869, by and upon lands of John Dietrich; Reiner City in 1869, by and upon lands of George Rei- ner; Sheridan in 1870, by and upon lands of Alexander Thompson. Ostermnville, named in honor of H. J. Osterman, of Tremont, who superintended the coal opera- tions of Henry and William J. Schmorle, who claimed the land, was surveyed in 1864.
There are two burying grounds in Porter, the older of which is at Johnstown, the other at Tower City.
The following local organizations of secret societies hold regular meetings at Tower City:
Washington Camp, No. 54, Patriotic Sons of America; a lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; a lodge of Knights of Pythias; William Thompson Post Grand Army of the Republie. Sketches of them in de- tail have not been furnished for this work.
RAHN TOWNSHIP.
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AHN township was formed out of West Penn in 1860. It is a coal township, though some timber tracts are still within it, and in the Owl Creek valley a few farms indicate an at- tempt at agriculture. The population was 1,227 in 1870, and 2,131 in 1880.
Berkhard Moser was the original settler .. Togeth- er with one Houser he took up a track of 2,000 acres, which was partially brought under cultivation. The first discovery of coal was made where Greewood slope in now located.
Greenwood breaker property was opened successfully about 1838, and up to 1860 the output was nominal. Charles F. Shoener and William T. Carter became the owners in the latter year, and Mr. Shoener, purchasing the entire concern, made extensive improvements, costing $1,000,- 000, which returned him during the year fifty thousand dollars a month, and sold in 1866 for $500,000. In the days of its greatest prosperity 700 men and boys were employed, and 100 cars of coal a day shipped to market. The breakers were burned down in 1874 by the Mollie Maguires and have never been re built. Their partial ruins are standing to-day.
Number eight tunnel, at Coal Dale, was commenced in 1846, and coal was struck in 1849. The first contractors were Creedam, Peckham and Steele. The next contract- or was Cortright. Since 1868 the Lehigh and Wilkes-
barre Coal and Navigation Company have had charge. Four hundred men and boys are employed.
Number ten tunnel was started in April, 1861, and to- day is one of the most profitably worked of all the com- pany's collieries. There are employed some 500 men and boys. A new breaker, built during the winter of 1880 and 1881, will greatly increase the shipments, and be the first breaker in the Panther Creek valley from which coal was sent direct to market. This colliery is on the Mammoth vein, which is here an average of sixty feet in thickness, and its tracks under ground are ten miles in length.
The Dry Hollow breaker, or number eleven, very near number ten, was opened in 1875.
COAL DALE.
Coal Dale is a scattered village, almost exclusively of framed buildings. The first dwelling houses were erected in 1846 and were composed of six blocks, two in each, standing were number eight culm banks now are, and known as Bugtown. Houses were erected in 1848 at old Coal Dale, twelve double blocks on the Summit Hill road. New Wales, or New Coal Dale, began to receive attention in 1868 and 1869. The blocks on the line of Schuylkill and Carbon counties were put up in 1870.
The Evangelical church was organized and its chapel completed in 1869. It is connected with the Barnesville circuit.
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COAL DALE AND GEARYTOWN-BEGINNINGS AT TAMAQUA.
The Welsh Congregational church of Coal Dale was organized November 20th, 1871, with thirty members. Its pastor from that time to the present has been Rev. David E. Hughes. The neat framed church was built in 1876, and dedicated in January, 1877. The present membership of the church is 50. The Sunday-school was organized about 1860, the first superintendent being Rev. Mr. Hughes.
Coal Dale was created a post village in 1871, with Charles F. Goslie as postmaster, D. E. Hughes taking the place one year later and holding it ever since. Mr. Hughes is a useful man in his community, serving the people as a justice of the peace, postmaster, storekeeper and preacher. Few men wield a better influence than he does among his countrymen.
GEARYTOWN.
Gearytown was first brought to notice in 1866. A dwelling was erected in October of that year, and occu- pied by Richard Boyd. The town was named in honor of the then Governor, John W. Geary. The Bull Run houses were put up by the company in 1864. Shortly after the mines began working the population rapidly in- creased, and many blocks of houses were built, all by the company.
The Primitive Methodist church, Rev. E. Davis pas-
tor, was organized and St. John's chapel built in 1877, when Rev. Daniel Savage was the pastor. It is a modest framed edifice at the valley and summit cross roads, costing some $700.
EDUCATIONAL AND OTHER INTERESTS.
The school interests of Rahn are carefully looked after by a board of directors annually elected. There are five school-houses, nine schools and nine teachers.
In Coal Dale and vicinity, Bull Run, Gearytown, Centreville, Spring Tunnel and Dry Hollow there are about 355 dwelling houses, 380 in the whole township, and about 370 families. Over 100 dwelling houses have been built since 1869.
The merchants in Coal Dale are W. S. Hobart & Co., (company store), Thomas Downs, E. G. Zern, and T. E. Powell. Since 1873 the Central Railroad of New Jersey has run regular passenger trains east and west each day, and the old stage line is abandoned.
The Mollie Maguires ran riot for many years through the Coal Dale end of the district, and in common with other sections for a time the law had no force; but the rightful state of things returned in 1875, with the check brought to bear upon the organization of murderers, and peace and order are now the rule, and not the | exception.
TAMAQUA BOROUGH.
I N 1799 Berkhard Moser, of Northampton county-now Lehigh-a German, to better his condition and provide for the wants of a growing family, left his home and directed his steps to this narrow valley of Tamaqua, and settled at the junction of Panther creek and Little Schuylkill river. In September of the same year he built a saw-mill, the first building of any kind in the borough, and in 1801 a log house, which stands to- day at the base of Dutch hill, and is occupied by the Naphf family. He was accompanied by his son Jacob, born in 1790 and still living, and by John Kershner, a daughter of whom, Mrs. B. F. Heilner, resides on Dutch hill, near the original settlement.
Mr. Moser was an industrious man, clearing the forest around his mill and laying out a farm, never dreaming that beneath his fields lay the great seams of coal, the mining of which was in future years to open employment to tens of thousands. February 15th, 1822, Mrs. Moser died. This was the first death of an adult person in the place. In April of the same year John Kershner passed away. The first business relied upon to support the in- fant town was agriculture, which, with the manufacture of lumber, was the principal industry for twenty years.
For this purpose the elevated sloping land east of the borough, as well as that upon the immediate north, was chosen by Moser.
In 1817 anthracite coal was discovered by Berkhard Moser and his son Jacob. For a number of years the quantity mined, consumed and marketed was very incon- siderable; first sales being made to blacksmiths, and some was taken over the Blue mountains in sacks and sold at seven to twelve cents per bushel. Sales increased until in 1832, when the record first begins, they amounted to 14,000 tons.
Greenwood was the spot of the first discovery, and the last coal mined at Tamaqua was there, in 1874, when the extensive breakers were burned and the mines ruined, at a loss of $1,500,000. Up to 1874 Tamaqua alone had given to the markets 23,000,000 tons.
Mrs. Barbara Whetstone, who died January 12th, 1879, was a daughter of Berkhard and Catharine Moser, born July 22nd, 1796, in Lynn, Lehigh county. She was married to John Whetstone, December 25th, 1820, in the old log hut, where she lived one year, and where now her niece resides. Hers was the first marriage in the place. The first birth was that of Mary Kershner, in 1808. She was a sister of Mrs. Heilner.
For the space of twenty-five years from the first settle-
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HISTORY OF SCHUYLKILL COUNTY.
ment in 1799 but few dwellings were erected. The town was laid out from parts of West Penn and Schuylkill townships in 1829, at which time the population was about 150. The design was to name it Tuscarora, but some enterprising person arose too early in the morning for the pioneers and gave that Indian name to the village four miles west. As the waters of the Tamaqua, re- christened Wabash, the west branch of the Little Schuyl- kill, passed through the tract, it was decided to name the infant with the name of the creek, Tamaqua, which is Indian for running water.
In 1832 the town was incorporated. The popula- tion was 300, and rapidly increasing July 26th, 1833, the first borough officers, having been then recently elected, were formally organized as follows: John Frank- lin, chief burgess; David Hunter, president of council; Charles D. Cox, William Caldwell, William George, John N. Speece, and Lewis Audenreid, councilmen.
Improvements were rapid in 1846-47. New or Hunter street was laid out, many miners' houses were built, two large brick stores were erected by J. and R. Carter and James Taggart. There was a large influx of enterprising men. The business interests in 1846 were represented as follows: Merchants, 7; agents, 4: blacksmiths, 5; cabi- net-makers, 2; butchers, 3; hucksters, 2; miners, 65; hotel-keepers, 5; carpenters, 12; tailors, 2; shoemakers, 4; boarding-house keepers, 6; clerks, 4; laborers, 44; physicians, 5; watchmakers, 1; tinsmiths, I.
The principal coal operators at that time were J. and R. Carter, Heaton & Carter, Harlan & Henderson, R. Rad- cliffe & Co., William Donaldson, and James Taggart. In 1862 there were Charles F. Shoener, J. Donaldson & Co., H. Dintinger, George W. Cole; later, E. J. Fry, George Wiggan, Henry L. Cake, Gideon Whetstone, Richard Winlack, William T. Carter. The collieries operated in the vicinity were known as the East Lehigh, the Green wood, the Alaska, the Newkirk, the East-East, the Buckville, the Reevesdale.
Under the act of 1851, a petition was presented De- cember 7th, 1851, praying for a charter; which was granted by the court March 22nd. 1852.
Concerning the formation of the new borough govern- ment the records are singularly silent. John A. Smith was the chief burgess in 1852, followed by Michael Beard. There are no records of the councilmen. From 1865 to 1879 Herman B. Graeff was clerk of the council; the present incumbent is Samuel Beard.
The borough government, January, 1881, is composed as follows: William Priser, chief burgess; Robert C. Sleath, high constable; H. A. Weldy, Edward F. Shindel, Daniel Shepp, John Horn, Thomas D. Boone, Charles Steigerwalt, councilmen; George Kneiss, supervisor. In 1840 the population was 464; in 1850, 3,080; in 1860, 4,919; in 1870, 5,960; and in 1880, 5,751. This decrease is owing chiefly to the idleness of all the coal works since 1874.
In September, 1832, the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, claiming a parcel of land in that part of the town near the hotel of John Zehner, now the Washing-
ton House, Pine street, which rightfully belonged to the Kershner family, employed a company of men to erect a log house upon it and place a tenant there, so that they might obtain the benefit of possession. They did it in twelve hours, but high constable Binnan came along at the close of the job, armed with both warrant and rifle, and marched the party off to Orwigsburg. The whole matter was amicably settled, however.
Up to the time of the erection and laying out of the town, in 1829, but little had been attempted at improve- ment, either in the intellectual or moral condition of the people. Rev. Mr. Schellhart lived with John Kershner and taught his and other children. Early in 1830 a school-house was erected upon the lot now occupied by the residence of Mrs. H. L. McGuigan, Broad and Nes- copec streets. That house was afterward called the " little school-house," being some 18 by 20 feet in size, although it served for many years as a school-house, an election place and for religious worship and public meet- ings generally. The stratagem by which the vote of the district including Tamaqua was, in 1834, carried for free schools is spoken of on page 93. Early teachers were John Sims, who received $35 a month, Miss Rhoda Dod- son, Miss Van Dusen and Miss McCaffy. The present directors are Lucian H. Allen, C. B. Dreher, A. H. Glassmire, Philip Stein, Philip A. Krebs and E. S. Solli- day. R. L. Ditchburn, borough superintendent, has been connected thirty years with the schools. Professor E. A. Ehrhart is principal of the high school.
Tamaqua schools number 16, kept in three buildings valued at $40,000. The scholars attending number 1.351; the school term is nine months; cost per capita to educate scholars 42 cents; the average salary to male teachers is $65; to female teachers, $25.07. The school tax levied in 1880 was rated at 6 mills; the total receipts paid were $35,047.85; the expenditures, $32,481.70.
In 1849 William J. Harlan awakened the public mind to the desirability of having a system of water supply. At an expense of $23,000 Tamaqua constructed her first water works. On municipal improvements alone the borough has expended $850,000 to 1881, fully $150,000 of which has been upon the water supply. The Rabbit run and springs furnish the reservoir, located two miles from the town, at the farm of Henry Enterline, in the New England district of Walker township, and the ca- pacity is 15,000,000 gallons. The water supply is under the direction of the council.
JOURNALISM.
The newspaper history of Tamaqua covers a period of thirty-two years, and centers nearly in the office of the Tamaqua Courier. The Tamaqua Legion was started in July, 1849, by J. M. and D. C. Reinhart, the name be- ing altered in 1855 to the Tamaqui Gazette. In January, 1857, the name was again altered, to the Tamaqua An- thracite Gazette. The paper suspended publication two months in 1861, and was then sold to R. N. Leyburn, who changed the name to the Anthracite Journal. Cap- tain Leyburn joined the army a year later, and Fry &
TAMAQUA JOURNALS-THE GREAT FLOOD-POST-OFFICES-FIRE COMPANIES.
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Jones assumed proprietorship until his return. The pa- per was then sold to the Monitor Publishing Company.
Albert Leyburn published the Saturday Courier until it was sold to Eveland & Shiffert, in 1872. It was after- ward published by Eveland & Harris until 1873, when Eveland, Harris & Rich irds took charge, and the paper was renamed the Tam iqui Courier. A. S. R. Richards with- drew from the firm in 1875, and the remaining partners purchased the material of the Anthracite Monitor, a Labor Reform journal, started in March, 1871, and which at one time had an immense circulation and influence. They thus acquired the title to the old Legion and to all the honors of the first and only printing establishment Tam- qua ever had. Mirch 15th, 1878, Harris & Zeller took charge, Daniel M. Eveland retiring.
At one time (1875, 1876) Tamaqua had two daily pa- pers, the Item, published by Levi Huppert, and the Courier, published by Eveland & Harris; but they hardly started before they died. March 2nd, 1881, the partner- ship in the Courier office existing between Harris & Zel- ler was dissolved, the interest being purchased by Robert Harris, William H. Zeller retiring.
THE GREAT FLOOD OF 1850.
A gentle rain began Sunday evening, September Ist, 1850, and at daylight a freshet commenced which brought death and destruction on every side. At Newkirk the trestles of the tracks running into the mines were filled in with earth and a great dam was thus formed. This gave way, and the pent up waters rushed down the val- ley, meeting those of the swollen Schuylkill, and bring- ing a perfect deluge upon the borough. The generally accepted theory is that the flood was caused by a great waterspout which burst over the valleys. In the gorge on Burning mountain, a tree sixty feet up the side marks the height of the sudden flood.
The water extended from Beard's Hotel to the moun- tains. Everything on the flats was swept away. Dwell- ings, foundries and workshops were taken away by the waters. A double framed house, in which twenty-two persons had taken shelter, was torn asunder and all were drowned. The Rev. Mr. Oberfield was caught by the waters while in the act of rescuing a child and was drowned. It is said 62 persons in all were lost. Not a track of the Little Schuylkill Railroad remained. Tamaqua was without communication with the outside world for six days. A wagon load of provisions hurried on from Philadelphia by George Wiggan and Robert Ratcliffe saved many from starvation. September 2nd and 3d were sorrowful days to the desolated town. Everybody turned out to exhume and carry in the dead from down the river. One procession brought in eleven at one time. Many households mourned; the town was in deep gloom. Death claimed a victim in every other home it seemed, and the mourners truly went about the streets. There have been later floods-in 1862 and 1869-but the one of 1850 surpassed them altogether.
THE POST-OFFICE IMBROGLIO.
In 1830 Tamaqua post-office was established near the
present residence of Rowland Jones, with H. B. Ward as postmaster. In connection with this Isaac Hinkley per- formed the duties of mail carrier as well as stage driver, running a hack from Summit Hill and back, connecting there with the cars on the Switchback Railroad for Mauch Chunk.
About this time a sharp contest arose between the in- habitants of Dutch hill and the west end of town. The grand object was to secure the center of the town. Burd Patterson and his party actually procured, by some means, the establishment of a second post-office; so that Tamaqua in 1832 had two distinct post-offices, established by the government.
Abraham Rex was postmaster number 2, but the office did not long survive.
At this date George W. Baum made an effort to draw the center of the town around his residence, calling the place Wittemberg, but it failed. The Little Schuylkill Railroad Company endeavored in 1827 to build the town upon the beautiful level running out from Dutch hill, and they had erected the first stone building, intended for a hotel, now occupied by Rev. I. E Graeff and Bodo Whitman, and Market and Union streets were laid out. The center of business and extension remained in the valley, however.
THE FIRE DEPARTMENT.
Many years expired before Tamaqua established its present well equipped fire department. The first attempt resulted in a single hose carriage in 1852, housed in a barn. A house was built a year later and stood near the Pines bridge until 1879, when it was removed. This was the beginning of Perseverance Hose and Steam Fire Engine Company, No. 1, which numbered in its old list of membership the leading citizens of Tamaqua of twenty- five years ago. B. T. Hughes was president of this company twenty-eight years. In 1879 the town council caused to be erected the present admirable edifice, built of pressed brick with sandstone trimmings, two stories in height, with a mansard roof. The first and only steam fire engine in town was bought in 1875. The Persever- ance company entered their new home in October, 1879. Connected with their organization is the Matthew New- kirk library, of some 1,500 books, and their parlor is classed as among the best furnished in the county. Their property at present consists of one steamer, two hose carriages and 1,500 feet of gum hose, valued at $6,500. The membership of the company is 35. The president is David Morgans; the secretary, William H. Zeller; the treasurer, J. G. Schod; the engineer, Joshua Morgans.
American Hose Company, No. 1, housed in a frame building at Mauch Chunk and Pine streets, was re- organized January 17th, 1878, upon the remains of the old Reliance Hook and Ladder Company, which was in existence from 1860 to that time. The present members (all young, active men) number 28. The property con- sits of equipments, one carriage and 1,000 feet of hose. The president is Hon. William C. Felthoff; the secretary, F. R. Krell.
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HISTORY OF SCHUYLKILL COUNTY.
The chief engineer of the fire department is Frederic rank among the most complete of their kind in the coun- Beliner; the assistant chief engineer, Harry Myers.
COAL INTERESTS AND MANUFACTURES.
Though distinctively at one time a mining town, Tam- aqua to-day enjoys the reputation of being quite a man- ufacturing center, being one of the few towns in Pennsyl- vania located in the coal regions that have almost com- pletely turned from the pursuit of mining into that of manufactures. The restrictive policy of the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company causes the mines to be idle. Shortly after the lease of the Little Schuyl- kill Company lands in 1869, and about 1874, mining al- most entirely ceased in this section. Two of the largest breakers (the Buckville and the Greenwood) were burned to the ground by the Mollie Maguires, and were never rebuilt. There was no prospect of safety to property in those days (1869-1875) were the company to rebuild, and when the leading outlaws and murderers were brought to the bar of justice, and thence to the gallows, it was too late to retrieve the lost industry. The period of severe business prostration had swept like a whirlwind over the country, and no venture was safe. Then, too, a coal com. bination of the leading producing companies had been formed and, the production being limited to an exact quota, collieries that were in operation were closed and none were built. Largely for these reasons the, coal fields at Tamaqua-classed as the most valuable of all the possessions of the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company-cased to be worked ten years ago (1871) and the capital of the town drifted into other in- dustrial investments.
West Lehigh Breaker .- This breaker is an old property on the New England road, at the southern borough line, and has been worked since 1845. It is the only breaker standing of all the many that ten and fifteen years since dotted the country at and around Tamaqua. The Don- aldsons, Burlack & Whetstone, and the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company successively operated it, and after standing idle for years it was leased in July, 1878, to Wood & Pearce, old and practical miners. The number of men and boys employed outside is 36; inside, 26. l'he capacity of the breaker is 800 tons per week, and 100 tons per day is the present output.
East Lehigh Breaker .- This breaker stands at the end of the vein in Sharp mountain, now worked by the Le- high Coal and Navigation Company, and on its present site a slope had been sunk and a mammoth breaker put in operation about 1850. Its passing away is a sample of Mollie Maguire means of vengeance, for the property was destroyed by them about twelve years ago. A peniten- tiary breaker was built there by Samuel Randall in 1876, and operated by him until the spring of 1880, when Mitchel & Symons leased the property, enlarged and im- proved the breaker and trebled the capacity. Their trade is largely local; the production is about 400 tons weekly, and twenty-five men find employment.
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