USA > Pennsylvania > Schuylkill County > History of Schuylkill County, Pa. with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 8
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The area of this formation in Schuylkill county is large, as it borders the outcrop of the conglomerate of No.
XII. Beginning at the western end of the county, it forms a continuous valley to the east, known under the local names of Indian run and Tumbling run, between Sharp and Second mountains, forming the foothills of the latter, and outcropping high up on the south flank of the former.
At Mauch Chunk it swings around the end of the southern coal field and again enters this county, form- ing Locust valley. Near Lebanon county, west of Gold Mine Gap, it follows the conglomerate, surrounding the prongs of the coal basin, and appears again in the county at the head waters of Wiconisco creek, and still further north, in the valleys of Long Pine creek and Deep creek, south of Mahantongo mountain. Sweeping still northward, it forms the valley of the Little Mahanoy creek. North of the Mahanoy mountain, it shows in the valleys of the Catawissa and its tributaries. Small patches of it also are brought to the surface in Broad Mountain, by rolls in the conglomerate.
The fossils of this formation are mainly of marine plants, though some footprints of marine animals have been found. Mr. Isaac Lea, of Philadelphia, has de- scribed, in an elaborate memoir, the footprints of a Saw- ropees Primaerus found at Mount Carbon.
No. XII. (Seral Conglomerate, Rogers; Pottsville Con- glomerate, Lesley; Millstone Grit, England.)-This for- mation, immediately succeeding the red shales of No. XI, is very important, as it forms the base of the coal measures of Pennsylvania and contains the lowest work- able beds. Its thickness of hard conglomerates and sandstones, underlying the soft and friable coal slates and shales, has formed the barrier which protected our wonderful deposit of anthracite coal from erosion. It is so easily recognized that it furnishes a basis for intelli- gent search for coal. It is composed, as before indi- cated, of massive gray quartzose conglomerates, inter. stratified by bands of brown sandstones, and a few thin streaks of coal slates, which, in some localities, develop into well defined and profitable coal beds. The char- acter and thickness of this formation vary somewhat in this county from east to west along Sharp mountain. At Tamaqua it is eight hundred feet thick, and the massive beds of coarse silicious conglomerates, contain- ing pebbles from the size of an egg, or larger, down to that of a pea, predominate over the beds of coarse and fine sandstone. At this point it contains two or three imperfect coal beds. At Pottsville it reaches the maximum thickness of ten hundred and thirty feet. here the massive conglomerates are thinner and near the top of the mass, while the sandstones, espe- cially the argillaceous layers, have thickened. Several thin beds of coal slates and at least one bed of impure coal are embraced within its limits. At Lorberry Gap it is reduced to a thickness of six hundred and seventy- five feet, and consists of five or six ribs of coarse conglomerates, separated by beds of coarse sandstone, and three or four seams of poor coal. In the western portion of the county in Stony mountain, and western extension of Broad mountain, the poor coal beds develop
38
HISTORY OF SCHUYLKILL COUNTY.
into the_ celebrated Lykens valley red ash coals, so extensively worked at the Wiconisco, Williamstown, Brookside, Kalmia and Lincoln collieries. In the Ma- hanoy valley, at Ashland, this formation is exceedingly conglomeritic, the pebbles being large and silicious. It measures, from the lowest coal to the red shale, six' hun- dred feet, or, including a bed of egg conglomerate over- lying this coal, eight hundred feet. At Trevorton, at the west end of the Shamokin basin, it consists of a series of conglomerates and sandstones, with four bands of slate and shale, each of the latter bearing a valuable coal bed. The above descriptions, taken from Rogers's report, give the reader a general idea of the construction of this sili- cious mass. As this formation is the bed rock of the coal fields, the tracings of its outcrop will define the coal basins of this county.
From the Lehigh almost to the Susquehanna, a distance of fifty miles, this conglomerate mass, standing vertical in Sharp mountain forms the southern boundary of the Pottsville or southern coal field. Descending to a depth of at least three thousand feet at Pottsville, it rises, after making a series of subordinate rolls, and appears again in the beautiful anticlinal flexure of Mine Hill, only to disappear again beneath the Heckscherville and New Castle basin. Coming to the surface it makes the wide conglomerate area known as Broad mountain, and further east the narrow ridge of Locust mountain. West of Tremont, the steep, dipping rocks of Sharp mountain, after making a narrow synclinal, appear in Stony mountain, and then follow round the fish tail of the western end of the coal field, till it merges into the conglomerate outcrop of Broad mountain, forming Short and North mountains. Farther north this conglomerate includes in its deep fold the Second basin, bounding it on the north by Mahanoy mountain, and beyond the Catawissa creek forms the Green and Spring mount- ains.
No. XIII. (Coal Measures.)-This is the most im- portant formation of this county, as well as of Pennsyl- vania. The conglomerate, as already described, serves as the floor upon which the three thousand feet or more of coal bearing strata have been deposited, is the protecting mass which has preserved to us our black diamonds, and in some places may be considered really a part of the coal measures. The rocks enclosing the coal beds and coal slates consist of gray and bluish silicious and argillaceous sandstones, shales and slates, with some massive conglomerates. The shales often con- tain nodules of silicious iron ores, and the slates at times enclose bands of carbonate ore, resembling the famous " Blackband," of Scotland. The slates accom- panying the coal beds contain numberless impressions of ferns, Stigmaria, Sigillaria and Lepidodendron, and are the records of the ancient life in the Carboniferous age. Pro fessor Leo Lesquereaux's memoirs, in the collection of the Pottsville Scientific Society, contain a list of all the known species of the coal flora of the coal fields. Evidences of animal life are rare, only a few mollusc shells having been found.
The coal beds are not always compact masses of pure carbon, but are composed of layers of coal separated into benches by bands of slate or bony coal. The beds are usually underlaid by a tough, sandy slate or fire clay, which was the ancient soil upon which the plants and forests grew.
Owing to the many flexures and squeezings in the soft rocks of these formations, it is difficult to arrive at an exact measure of their thickness. In the Southern basin, which is the deepest, it is estimated at least three thous- and feet and includes perhaps thirty coal beds, of which fifteen are workable and over three feet thick. The series can be separated into three divisions, by the
color of the ash of the coals: a lower or white ash group, middle or gray ash and an upper or red ash. Including the beds in the conglomerate, we have a still lower group of red ash coals.
The accompanying section gives the order and succession of these workable beds, from highest to lowest, together with their average thickness and color of ash :
Sandrock bed, red ash, 3 feet.
Interval.
Gate
7
Interval.
Little Tracy bed, "
3
Interval.
Big Tracy
6 “
Interval.
Diamond
6 "
Interval.
Little Orchard" ¥
. 3
Interval.
Orchard
6
Interval.
Primrose " grey ash, . IO
Interval.
Holmes " white ash, . 5
Interval.
Seven-Foot
7
Interval.
Mammoth
25
Interval.
Skidmore 66 66
6
Interval.
Buck Mountain bed, "
¥
Interval.
Lykens Valley, upper bed, red ash, 8 " Interval. Lykens Valley, lower
3 Conglomerate.
"
Total coal, 107 feet.
The two intra-conglomerate beds, known as the Lykens Valley coals, are very free burning and much valued for domestic and other uses. The next bed
. 9
66
39
THE SCHUYLKILL COAL BEDS.
above, a white ash, known as the Buck mountain, is a very hard and rough coal, and has been developed and worked extensively throughout the county. The Skid- more lies next above this. These two have proved of greatest value for smelting purposes, being less liable to break or fly into pieces like other anthracites, when subjected to the heat of the furnace. Next above is the famous Mammoth bed, often a single layer forty feet in thickness, or at times separated by rock into two or three splits, the most important of which is the upper one, called the "Seven-Foot." Directly above the Mam moth, and sometimes embraced in it, is the so-called Seven-Foot bed, often ten feet of excellent white ash coal of the purest quality.
The Holmes bed occurs about one hundred feet above the Mammoth, and is from four to six feet of hard, compact, short-grained white ash, suitable for furnace purposes. One hundred yards above the Mammoth there is the celebrated Primrose coal. It is a nine feet bed of grey ash coal, being the transition from the red to the white ash. In irregular distances above these beds occur, in their regular order, the several red ash coals, known in the locality of Pottsville as the two Orchards, Diamond, Big and Little Tracys, Gate and Sandrock beds, ranging from three to six feet in thickness of good red ash coal. These were the first developed coals and first introduced into market from this county. The workings were abandoned when exhausted above water level, when the larger and more productive lower coals were found.
'The coal area of the county is confined to the Southern and Middle coal fields, and a few isolated patches on the Broad, Green and Spring mountains, covering some two hundred and ten square miles. The greater part, or about two-thirds of this area, lies in the southern field, which, like an ill-shaped shark, with its nose resting on the Le- high, at Mauch Chunk, extends southwestward as a great valley, bounded by Sharp mountain on the south and Locust and Broad mountains on the north, gradually in- creasing in width, until, west of Tremont, it subsides into two prongs, the northern one reaching westward to Wic- onisco, in Dauphin county, and the southern one to within six miles of the Susquehanna, at the town of Dauphin. Its length in the county is about forty miles, its width from two to five miles and the total area in this county one hundred and forty-three square miles.
The portion of the Second or Middle coal field within Schuylkill county extends eastward from Ashland, bounded by Broad and Mahanoy mountains for twenty miles, and embraces an area of sixty-three square miles.
The depth of this coal field is much less than that of the first, and consequently the upper or red ash coals are confined to the centers of the deep basins.
Between the two basins, and separating them, lies the elevated conglomerate-covered Broad mountain, which carries in some of its synclinal rolls small areas of coal measures. The principal one of these small basins is that of New Boston, six miles in length and less than one-half mile in width. The coals are those of the lowest group,
including the Mammoth, Skidmore and Buck mountain beds.
The small isolated basins in the northern part of the county, about the headwaters of Catawissa creek, are part of the Lehigh system of basins and are included in the middle coal field. They are shallow and hold only the lower coals.
The formations of that part of the county south of Sharp mountain, although including in other portions of the State valuable deposits of iron ore, seem here to be of little or no economical value, aside from that of fur- nishing a soil fitted for agricultural purposes. It is to the coal bearing strata, covering so much of the northern part, we must ascribe our economic importance and our posi- tion as one of the most populous and wealthy counties of our State.
The southern coal field, as has been already mentioned, contains the greater part of the coal area of the county, and also includes the greatest number of coal beds, and consequently the greatest aggregate thickness of coal.
The southern wall of this field in this county is broken by four gaps, through which flow the Little Schuylkill, the main and west branch of the Schuylkill and the Swatara, which receive not only the surface drainage but also that of the nines. The railways run through these narrow passes, and follow the streams and their tributaries to the very openings of the mines.
The details of structure, embracing the description of the many subordinate anticlinals and synclinals, the variations in the several coal beds, the thickening and thinning of the rock intervals, cannot be discussed in a paper of this length, and for these the reader is referred to Professors Rogers and Lesley's reports on this basin. The main points of the structure, however, can be indi- cated. Sharp mountain forms the southern boundary of this coal field, extending from the west end of the county to beyond Middleport, in almost a straight line, its rocks having in this distance a vertical or overturned north dip. Beyond this point, however, the mountain swings to the north in three distinct flexures, and then continues to Tamaqua, and beyond, as a steep, vertical monoclinal ridge. The coal measures flank the mountain, conforming to the dip of the conglomerate; then, making a deep and sharp basin, roll away to the north in distinct flexures, lessening in depth, crop out on the south side of Mine Hill, and next appear in the narrow north Mine Hill basin.
The basin, as a whole, may be regarded as one deep synclinal, enclosed by the converging dips of Sharp moun- tain on the south, and Broad on the north, with an un- dulating bottom forming parallel subordinate basins. The vertical, or, at times, overturned dips of the coal measures on the north side of Sharp mountain, make a deep and narrow synclinal whose south dip is formed by an axis, which runs from the bend in the mountain, east of Middleport, west to where it splits the basin into two prongs beyond Tremont. The State survey recos- nized between this and the axis of Mine hill at least seven distinct anticlinal axes, running in a gene ally
40
HISTORY OF SCHUYLKILL COUNTY.
parallel direction, most of them marked by a line of narrow hills. These axes, it will be noticed, do not con- sist of straight, but of a series of broken lines, having the same general direction.
Mine hill is an arm of Broad mountain, which separ- ates from the main ridge west of Forestville, and extends as far eastward as Patterson, in the Schuylkill valley, a distance of sixteen miles, where it dies away. The basin of North Mine hill, is bounded by this ridge on the south, and is practically distinct and separate from the main southern field, only merging into it at its eastern extremity.
The main basins, as well as the subordinate ones, are not equally deep at all points of their synclinals, but ex- hibit the canoe-shaped structure, the bottoms rising grad- ually towards the eastern and western extremities. The deposit of the coal measures is very thick in the region about Pottsville, but westward the thickness decreases, so that at the western end of the field, the upper red ash coals have disappeared, and the lower coals alone occupy the comparatively shallow troughs. The same feature is noticed to the eastward. Thus at the deep shafts of the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Co., near Potts- ville, the Mammoth bed lies at a depth of nearly two thousand feet below the surface, or some thirteen hun- dred and fifty feet below tide, while west, at Tre- mont, it is not over one thousand feet, and east, at Mauch Chunck, it is much less. On account of this depth, the early workings in this county were confined to the thin upper or red ash veins, which crop out in the gaps and hill sides, easily worked above water level. Then the Mammoth and other lower veins were attacked in the northern part of the field, where the gradual rising of the measures towards Broad moun- tain brought them near enough to the surface to be worked with profit. Later, the opening up of the Second basin, with its more accessible veins, transferred the greater part of the mining industry north of Broad mountain. Although the southern basin covers a much greater area, yet it contains but fifty-three collieries. But the day is not far distant when this field will be the busy one. After the more shallow basins are exhausted, the millions of tons of Mammoth and other coals, held in re- serve in its deep folds, will be brought to the surface, and forwarded to market. Anthracite is now a necessity and here is its greatest store house.
The Second or Middle coal field, as already described, lies in this county between Broad and Mahanoy moun- tains, enclosed by them on the north, south and east, thus completely surrounded by a massive rocky barrier, only broken by the gap at Ashland, through which gateway flows Mahanoy creek to the Susquehanna. This stream rises in the extreme eastern end of the basin, flows west- erly through Mahanoy valley, and with its branches drains all of this basin within the county limits. Shenandoah creek, its main tributary, rises on the Mahanoy mountain, flows southeasterly and joins it at Girardville. These streams, penetrating the field in all directions, furnish the outlets for the railways connecting the mines with the
markets. Bear ridge, rising five hundred feet above the streams, runs parallel to the trend of the basin, separa- ting Mahanoy and Shenandoah valleys, forming a promi- nent feature in the topography.
The structure of this region is very complicated, and there remain many problems of interest for the geologists to solve. This portion of the field, in general, consists of three separate parallel basins: the Mahanoy basin, a deep, sharp synclinal, bounded by Bear ridge and Broad moun- tain; a broad, middle trough, and finally the most north- ern or the Shenandoah basin.
The Mahanoy basin is remarkably uniform, its north and south dips being very nearly equal, and runs without a break or turn to beyond Girardville, where, the Bear ridge axis dying away, it merges into the Ashland basin. Between this basin and the middle one the rocks seem to have been crushed together in a narrow, over- turned flexure, occupying the north flank of Bear ridge.
The Middle or Ellangowen basin narrows at Turkey run, and then, to the west, becomes the William Penn basin.
The Shenandoah basin is comparatively shallow, with a gentle south dip and steep north one, which, at times, is folded back, so that it appears as a south dip. Several miles west of Shenandoah the rise of this basin brings its bottom to the surface and it ends there; but still further west it appears again.
West of Girardville some of the minor axes become more prominent and change the details of structure. In this coal field the lower or white ash beds are especially well developed and are the ones principally worked. The great Mammoth bed is often a solid stratum forty feet in thickness, and at times appears in two or three splits, separated by fifty feet or more of rock. The Buck Moun- tain, Skidmore, Seven-Foot, Holmes and Primrose are all worked, and more extensively as the Mammoth is ex- hausted.
This region, now full of thriving towns and collieries, with their ponderous machinery for bringing the coal to the surface and preparing it for market, thirty years ago was covered with forests of pine and hemlock.
The position of this field relative to the outlets of the southern one, its mountain barrier, pierced by so few natural outlets, were some of the obstacles to its early development. Stephen Girard, in 1830, commenced his railroad of planes and levels into this basin, under the direction of Moncure Robinson, but aban- doned it in 1836, after a shipment of but 13,347 tons. In 1854 the Mine Hill Railroad was continued across Broad Mountain to Ashland; and in 1856 Messrs. Patter- son, Bast and Conner shipped the first coal, 178 tons, from this region. The building of this road was the result of the great labor of Schuylkill county's promi- nent citizen Burd Patterson, whose energy also urged to completion the East Mahanoy railroad and tunnel, and also the Broad Mountain Railroad, under George B. Rogerts, its chief engineer. Now the many branches of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad and Lehigh Valley roads on the east tap all parts of this district.
41
THE SCHUYLKILL COAL BELTS.
The development of the mines of Mahanoy and Shen- andoah valleys, in the few years of its history, has been wonderful, and its production of coal has increased at a very rapid rate.
A table accompanying Chapter IV shows the entire product of the Schuylkill and other districts, from their beginning to January, 1881.
The areas of the anthracite coal fields, confined to a few counties of our State, are so well defined that we need be in no doubt as to their extent; and this limited area admonishes us that we should carefully husband our inheritance, and not waste it. The fact is well es- tablished, that for every ton shipped to market, two are wasted. The loss in the operations of mining, the pil- lars left to support the roofs of the mines, the loss in preparation, each contributes to this great aggregate. How to prevent these losses, by use of improved ma- chinery, and by more thorough methods of working the mines, should be the study of our mining superintendents and engineers. Several suggestions, with a view to a partial remedy, present themselves.
First .- The owning of the land by the operators would make them careful to mine all the coals. As tenants for a limited term of years, their object is merely to take out that coal, and in such a manner as will cost them little, and bring them much.
Second .- If the lands are to be leased, the term should be long enough to enable them to mine all the coal beds covered by the lease.
Third .- The lease should contain clauses subjecting the methods of mining, ventilation and drainage to the supervision of the owner's mining engineers; limiting the lengths of " breasts," to seventy yards, or less; forbidding the use of monkey rolls, or the rebreaking of the coal; providing for the dumping in separate heaps of the coal dirt and the slate and rock.
Fourth .- We need larger collieries, and fewer of them, with perfected machinery, for hoisting, pumping and breaking.
Fifth .- More capital is required to open the mines for extensive and exhaustive working, by driving the gang- ways to the extreme ends of the territory, and then min- ing towards the outlet, so as to obviate the necessity of retracing our steps and robbing the pillars.
In Schuylkill county we are specialists. We are de- pendent upon one substance: coal is king. There is no gold, silver, lead, copper or other valuable metals. Though we have good iron ores, they are so dissemina- ted as not to furnish us one workable bed. Yet we largely help Pennsylvania to furnish nearly half the iron manufactured in the United States. We have a large farming area well cultivated by our industrious and fru- gal German farmers. Our convenient location to the great markets of the Atlantic seaboard, our canals and abundant railroad facilities, our great commodity, always give a promise and an attitude among the great coun- ties of our grand old commonwealth, which we are ever proud to realize.
CHAPTER V.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE COAL PRODUCTION AND TRADE IN SCHUYLKILL COUNTY.
BY P. D. LUTHER.
N the year 1749 the proprietaries of Pennsyl- vania obtained from the Indians, for the sum of £500, their title to the lands between Mahanoy creek, on the east side of the Sus- quehanna river, and the Delaware river north of the Blue mountain ; embracing in whole or in part the counties of Dauphin, Schuylkill, North- umberland, Columbia, Luzerne, Monroe, Carbon and Pike. The space comprehends the lands between the Blue or Kittatinny mountain range to the south, the Sus- quehanna river to the west, and a line drawn from the point of the mountain at the mouth of Mahanoy creek to the mouth of Lackawaxen creek, at the New York State boundary, and at the junction of that creek with the Delaware river: being one hundred and twenty-five miles long and thirty miles in average breadth. Within this territory of 3,750 square miles is comprehended the entire group of anthracite basins, usually styled the southern and middle coal fields.
In his work on "Statistics of Coal," R. C. Taylor gives the following eloquent description of the great deposito- ries of anthracite coal in Pennsylvania :
"The physical features of the anthracite country are wild; its aspect forbidding; its surface broken, sterile, and apparently irreclaimable. Its area exhibits an ex- traordinary series of parallel ridges and deep intervening troughs. The groups of elongated hills and valleys con- sist of a number of axes, all or nearly all of which range in exact conformity to the base of the Alleghany moun- tains. When viewed from the latter, they bear a striking resemblance to those long rolling lines of surf, wave be- hind wave in long succession, which break upon a flat shore. In the year 1748 a large portion of this region had received upon the maps the not unapt title of the wilderness of St. Anthony. Three-fourths of a century after, when the greater part of this area was still in stony solitude-when this petrified ocean, whose waves were sixty-five miles long and more than a thousand feet high, remained almost unexplored-a few tons of an unknown combustible were brought to Philadelphia, where its quali- ties were to be tested and its value ascertained."
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