USA > Pennsylvania > Schuylkill County > History of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, Vol. I > Part 5
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In November of this fatal year the Indians again appeared in this locality and took prisoners the wife and three children of Adam Burns. The youngest child was but four weeks old. These atrocious crimes were all committed within the present boundaries of Schuylkill county, though at the time the territory belonged to Brunswick township, Berks county.
Previous to the organization of Berks county, however, some dastardly outrages were committed by the Indians upon the white settlers of that region. In 1757 they murdered one Adam Trump, sometimes called Drum in works relating to the event, and carried his wife and son away as captives. His son escaped and reported to Captain Morgan at Fort Lebanon. From 1755 to 1763, the scatter- ing settlements throughout the southern portion of this county were especially harassed, and the people were driven from their homes into the more thickly populated sections of Berks county. (The following additional names of victims of savage atrocities is gleaned from the Pennsylvania Archives and Captain Henning's Tales of The Blue Mountains.)
About six miles from Fort Lebanon Jacob Fincher's house, barn,
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hay, etc., were burned by a party of Indians; and about one mile from the Fort a searching party under Captain Morgan found Martin Fells, his wife's sister and her mother killed and scalped. Mrs. Fells and two children were taken prisoners. Sixty women and children sought refuge in the fort, and many other families moved back into the more populous settlements .. The rescuing party drove the Indians back through the gap "where the Schuylkill passes through, and to which point they usually retreated with their captives when pur- sued."
In 1757, near Fort Henry, John Frantz' two daughters were mur- dered, and one of them burned in her home, the other being mortally wounded and scalped, but still able to tell the horrible tale. In the same year Lawrence Dieppel's two children were murdered in the vicinity of Fort Henry.
In September, 1763, John Fincher, a Quaker, who resided north of the Blue mountains, and his wife and three children, were all most cruelly murdered. They met the Indians at the door and asked them to come in and eat, but they came only to satiate their thirst for blood! In the same month the family of Philip Marttoff met the fate of many of their neighbors, the wife, two sons and two daughters being killed and scalped, and all their earthly belongings burned.
About this time Frantz Hubler was wounded, three of his children killed, and his wife and three children carried away in captivity. In a family named Miller, four children were murdered, and two taken captives; but the pursuers were so close upon the Indians that they abandoned their prisoners, and they were restored to their parents.
The descendants of these hardy and fearless pioneers, who endured so much to open the New World to civilization, can have no just conception of the trials, dangers and privations of their ancestors in laying the foundation of this great commonwealth. Besides internal troubles and great discouragements met on the frontier, two devastating wars with the mother country were fought and won during the colonization period. These drew heavily upon the men and resources of the colonies, and weakened the forces for home protection against the incursions of the relentless savages. Many of the settlers were soldiers in the Revolution, and some of them served in the second war against Great Britain. Thus was early established that element of patriotism which has characterized the American citizen throughout all time. The sturdy children of the early settlers have honored their ancestors on every battlefield of the Republic, and evinced the safety and perpetuity afforded through a citizen soldiery.
CHAPTER III.
LAND-TITLES-FIRST SETTLERS AND THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS-WATER- WAYS-LUMBERING AND RAFTING-SCHUYLKILL NAVIGATION- THE UNION CANAL.
The title to Schuylkill county soil dates from the discovery of Delaware bay by Henry Hudson, or from the time-seven years later-when Skipper Cornelius Hendrickson ascended the Delaware river as far as the mouth of the Schuylkill. By reason of priority of discovery, the Dutch claimed both political jurisdiction and the title to the soil, but the English set up a counter claim because the first discoverer, Hudson, though in the service of the Dutch, was born in England. Both nations acted upon the assumption that the Indians, who possessed the country by prior occupancy, had no rights which civilized men were bound to respect. It is still an unset- tled question in the minds of thinking people as to the authority of King Charles II. of England to sell this territory without first becom- ing the rightful owner of it; and it is very true that William Penn and his successors considered the king's charter as nothing more than a conveyance of the right to preemption. Their subsequent honorable treatment of the Indian claims fully verifies this view. The title of the aborigines was extinguished by purchases and treaties at different times, as the settlements required. On the 22d of August, 1749, a deed was executed by the representatives of the Six Nations, and the Delaware, Shamokin and Shawnee Indians of Pennsylvania, which transferred to the Pennsylvania proprietaries all of the terri- tory now embraced within Schuylkill county, except the northern part of Union township, which was included in the purchase of 1768. The consideration paid for the tract purchased in 1749 was 500 pounds, "lawful money of Pennsylvania." Previous to this purchase, how- ever, there were two large tracts acquired in contiguous territory by John, Thomas and Richard Penn. The first of these deeds con- veyed the land "lying on or near the River Schuylkill or any of the the branches, streams, fountains or springs thereof," between the "Lechaig hills" and the "Kekkachtananin hills" (the Blue or Kitta- tinny mountains), and between the branches of the Delaware on the eastern and those of the western side. A large tract of territory
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was acquired by the same proprietaries in 1736 which included the Susquehanna river and all lands on both sides of it, "eastward as far as the heads of the branches or springs which run into the said Susquehanna, and all the lands lying on the west side of said river to the setting of the sun, and to extend from the mouth of said river northward up the same to the hills or mountains called in the language of the said Six Nations Tyannuntasacha or Endless hills, and by the Delaware Indians the Kekkachtananin hills."
Soon after the beginning of the Revolutionary war the inhabitants of the province of Pennsylvania discarded the proprietary govern- ment and adopted a state constitution in 1776. By the provisions of a series of acts, the last of which was passed on the 28th of Septem- ber, 1776, the estates of the proprietaries under the charter became vested in the commonwealth, and the feudal relation which the charter created was entirely sundered. This act was similiar in character to the Declaration of Independence, and, like that declaration, its force and applicability depended upon the success of the Revolutionary war. In fact the provisions of this law were based upon the action of the Continental congress which advised that all colonies should form new governments that should be independent of the English crown and foreign proprietaries. It is not certain that John Penn, then Governor of the province of Pennsylvania, was favorably im- pressed with the action of congress, in that he was notified that he must not attempt to embarrass or interfere with public affairs, under penalty of disastrous results to himself and the interests of his family. It appears that manorial lands had been held and trans- ferred in this county prior to the Revolution, and that individuals had acquired titles to other lands from the proprietaries; but nearly all of the lands in the county were obtained from the state by procur- ing warrants through the office of the surveyor-general who trans- mitted the warrants to the deputy surveyor of the district and author- ized a survey of the lands described in the applications for the warrants. On final compliance with all of the prescribed conditions, patents were granted, conveying the title in fee simple, to the patentee. The number of acres which might be acquired by one person was limited to four hundred, but this provision of the law was evaded by specu- lators, who often made applications for warrants under different names, transferring the title afterwards, thus acquiring titles to large tracts for speculative purposes. People frequently came into possession of lands which were considered worthless, owing to the topography of the country and the more inviting prospects in other localities. The vast mineral wealth of this mountainous region had
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not then been dreamed of; and lands were occasionally sold for delin- quent taxes of a few cents an acre which are now worth thousands of dollars.
The region south from Blue mountain-now Berks county-had many settlers prior to the extinguishment of the Indian title in 1736. Pioneers of civilization have always pushed forward in advance of treaties, even at their own peril, when advantages of soil, climate, or other circumstances seemed to invite. That portion of Schuylkill county which lies between the Blue mountain and Second mountain is known to have been settled by many white pioneers before the land was purchased in 1749. This trespass upon neutral soil was the occasion of complaint from the Six Nations, as mentioned in a previous chapter. The territory north of Second mountain presented no attractions to settlers, except to an occasional adventurous hunter, during the period of early settlement. The existence of coal in the region was unknown, and though there was abundance of choice timber, neither the timber nor its product could be marketed, while the surface was too mountainous for successful farming.
One of the first settlers in that part of Schuylkill county which lies south from Second mountain was George Godfried Orwig. In 1747 he with his wife, Gloria, emigrated from Germany, and located their home at Sculp Hill near the present site of Orwigsburg. This village, which figures prominently in the early history of the county, was established by Peter Orwig, in honor of the family name, in the year 1796. Peter Orwig was a son of these early pioneers, and the name is an honored one in the annals of Schuylkill county. Thomas Reed located in the vicinity of the Orwigs as early as 1750, and a family named Yeager came to that neighborhood about 1762. Mar- tin Dreibelbies erected a saw-mill and grist-mill at the present site of Schuylkill Haven just prior to the Revolutionary war. Maj .- Gen. Balsar Gehr operated a saw-mill at Pottsville prior to 1800, and George Orwig established a similiar industry near Saint Clair, but did not make his residence there. Probably other mills of this charac- ter were established in the early days, in anticipation of the lumber trade, which soon became the principal industry of the county and remained such until the development of the coal business and the introduction of improved methods of transportation during the early part of the last century.
At the time of the Revolutionary war there were but few settlers in the county north of the Blue mountain, and the history of that period has not been preserved with reference to this locality. Except the Indian depredations previously mentioned, Schuylkill county
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was not a scene of hostile operations. The "Tory Path," which traversed the county from southeast to northwest, may have been an old Indian trail, but its title is rather suggestive of its use for other purposes during the Revolution.
Within fifty years after permanent settlements were made in the county, more than a hundred saw-mills were in constant operation. Every stream which afforded suitable water-power was utilized in the preparation of this staple commodity. The cutting and hauling of logs furnished employment to hundreds of men, while the operation of the mills gave additional and fairly remunerative employment to many others. The timber which constituted the original forest to the south of South mountain was principally the chestnut and white oak varieties, though beech, birch, maple and gum were also found, the varieties mentioned being those usually covering the valleys and hills. In the mountainous regions farther north, the valleys were covered with spruce or hemlock and a thick undergrowth of laurel, while the mountain sides, to about half their height, were covered with white pine; and above this came chestnut, white-oak and other varieties of hardwood. The crests of the mountain ridges were usually covered with yellow or pitch pine. In the process of "culling," the varieties sought as the most valuable for lumber were white pine and hemlock; but the desirable timber of all varieties has long since disappeared from the mountain sides except as Nature has reproduced it in the later growths.
The lumber was "rafted" on the banks of the streams within reach of the high-water stage, and there awaited the coming of the spring freshet, when it was floated away to the markets below. The rafts were constructed by placing layers of lumber of the length and width desired, and crossing these with similar layers until the desired thick- ness was reached, when the corners were bored and firmly pinned, and the different sections comprising the raft were lashed together by means of hickory withes pinned to abutting ends. The rafts were usually between sixteen and twenty inches in thickness, hence they floated well above water, thus avoiding hidden obstructions in the stream. Often some light material, as shingles and lath, was transported on top of the lumber-fleet; and, by means of an oar at each end of the fleet, two men were able to guide it in the channel with comparative ease and safety. The rapidly flowing Schuylkill, under the inspiration of a freshet, often carried rafts from the vicinity of Pottsville to Reading in seven hours, hence much skill and care was necessary in the management to avoid grounding or striking rocks and snags. For many years after this region became the habi-
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tation of white men, lumber was the principal article of export. It was prepared and marketed under circumstances which would have been discouraging to a less progressive and resolute citizenship than that of the American pioneers. But for the existence of these valu- able timber lands, the settlement of Schuylkill county would have been long delayed, since the narrow valleys and the rocky, rugged mountains did not present an inviting prospect for agricultural pursuits.
The Schuylkill Navigation company was incorporated by an act of the assembly, on the 8th of March, 1815. The purpose of the company was to utilize, by the combination of a system of canals and slack-water navigation, the water of the Schuylkill river between Philadelphia and this region for the transportation of lumber, mer- chandise, produce, etc. People of optimistic views also anticipated that the canal would sometime become useful in transporting coal, which they thought would become an important article of commerce. The law which established the incorporation also appointed the mem- bers of a commission to open the books and receive subscriptions to the stock of the company. These were James McFarland, John Pott, Daniel Graeff, George Dreibelbies and John Mullowney, all residents of Schuylkill county. The act further provided that the books should be opened in Orwigsburg and kept open for ten days, or until one thousand shares of fifty dollars each were subscribed.
The first dam built on this system of navigation was at Mount Carbon, in the spring of 1817, Lewis Wernwag, who constructed many of the first dams along the route, being the contractor. Some of the locks were built by employees of the company under the supervision of its engineer and superintendents. The excavations were usually opened by contract labor. During the summer of 1817 the canal and slack-water connection was made navigable be- tween Mount Carbon and Schuylkill Haven. Neil Crosby, John Curry, a Mr. Crowley, James Lanigan and George Duncan were con- tractors on this portion of the work. The spring freshet of 1818 carried away the dams and destroyed the inlet locks which had been constructed during the previous season, and a different method of construction was inaugurated under the supervision of an engineer named Cooley. The subsequent work along this line stood the tests of future freshets, though not in all cases without damage. The locks were built under the superintendence of Jacob Beck. Work was commenced along the entire line through the county in the sum- mer of 1818 and prosecuted with vigor. Some of the contractors whose names have come down to the present generation are Ritter,
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Christian and Klein, who excavated a section below Auburn; Chope and the three Judge brothers-Job, Sampson and Solomon-cut the tunnel near Auburn, an achievement in engineering then considered but little less than miraculous. Crowley, Lord, Archton and Peard also had contracts for various kinds of construction work in the vicinity of Auburn and Port Clinton.
During the season of 1821 the work was completed to the extent that flat-boats were run in both the canal and river as far as Hamburg and from there to Cooley's dam, five miles below Reading, they floated in the river (which was too shallow to carry canal boats); and below this dam, which was twenty-two feet high, they again used the river to Phoenixville, below which point the canal was com- pleted to Philadelphia.
The canal was in operation throughout its entire length in 1824, but the application of horse-power to the propulsion of canal boats was not considered in this locality until two or three years later. The boats were propelled through the water by two men on the shore, with a long line attached to the boat and a strong stick tied to the shore end, each man pushing against the stick, which was placed across his breast. In this tedious and laborious manner the trip from Mount Carbon to Philadelphia and return often required six weeks' time. The canal was completed and formally opened to traffic of all kinds in 1825, though it was found necessary to enlarge the locks, strengthen the banks and deepen the channel as the rapidly increasing business demanded. As an evidence that the magnitude of the coal trade was not anticipated in 1824, it is related that Abraham Potts took a boatload of twenty-eight tons to Philadelphia, and on offering to pay the toll at Reading, it was found that no rate on coal had been fixed, though every other marketable commodity, even to a bushel of hickory nuts, had a fixed rate in the schedule, of tolls. The work of extending the navigation to the mouth of Mill creek was commenced in 1827, and the extension was completed in the following year. In a pamphlet published with the sanction of the managers of the Navi- gation company in 1852, it was stated: "The works originally con- structed were, of course, in accordance with the supposed wants of the trade. The whole line of navigation was completed of sufficient capacity to pass boats of twenty-eight to thirty tons burden. In- crease of business obliged the managers afterwards to extend their plans. The canals and the slack-water pools were deepened from time to time; the locks originally constructed were replaced by larger ones and an entire double set was made, so that boats of eighty tons could pass freely through the whole line. This was substantially
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the condition of the work as early as 1832. The single item of coal tonnage had then increased to over 200,000 tons, and the annual receipts of the company to over $280,000. For the next ten years, from 1832 to 1842, the affairs of the institution were in the full tide of prosperity. The business gradually swelled to over 500,000 tons, and the annual receipts to four, five and six hundred thousand dollars. Ample dividends were made, and shares which cost originally $50 were sold as high as $175 and even $180." Another extensive en- largement of the canal was made in 1846, under the belief that "it costs just about as much to bring down a boat laden with eighty tons as it would to bring down one laden with a hundred and eighty or even two hundred tons."
The encroachment of railroads and the consequent division of traffic, together with the disastrous effects of two memorable floods in 1850, caused a downward trend in the affairs of the Schuylkill Navigation company. The legislature came to its relief in consti- tuting the president and managers of the company a board of trustees to protect the interests of the company's creditors. This system of navigation was for many years the only means of transportation between the anthracite coal fields and tide water, and, within the limits of the company's corporate power, it was able to control the transportation and influence the trade of the region. Frequent efforts were made to enlarge its corporate powers; but a strong conservative sentiment among the people of Schuylkill county guarded them against the encroachment of monopolies, which, in recent years, have absorbed or controlled nearly every important interest. For nearly fifty years the company sought to acquire certain corporate privileges which were denied, in whole or in part, justly or otherwise, until on the 21st of March, 1865, when they secured through legislative enactment, certain powers for which they had been so long striving. In 1870 the navigation was leased to the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad company for the period of ninety-nine years, and thereby one of the early landmarks to civilization went out of existence as a corporate organization, the canal having been abandoned north of Port Clinton.
The Union canal, which was designed to connect the waters of the Susquehanna and the Schuylkill, and through the latter to make a connection with the Delaware, was among the early chartered corporations of the state. In 1828 the plan was conceived of build- ing a dam across Swatara gap and thereby secure a reservoir for this canal. The project met with opposition from the residents along Swatara creek for the reason that the dam would destroy their facili-
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ties for rafting lumber to Jonestown, which was then their market for that commodity. In order to obviate this objection it was pro- posed to make a slack-water navigation in the Swatara from Pine Grove, and pass the dam through a series of locks. But upon further investigation it was found to be more practical to construct the canal along the Swatara in Schuylkill county, and this was done, with the exception of about two miles of slack-water construction near the county line. Work was commenced on the dam in the fall of 1828, and during the year 1829 operations were pushed forward along the entire line. The canal was so far completed that boats passed through it to Pine Grove on the 22nd of November, 1830, and on the 3d of December of the same year, the first boat left Pine Grove for Philadelphia. This canal, as at first constructed, was capable of bearing boats with a capacity of twenty-eight tons, which was sufficient to accommodate the trade of that time ; but as the coal trade developed, its capacity was increased (in 1851) to carry boats of eighty tons burden. The year previous to this enlargement of carrying capacity, or in 1850, the "great dam" was built across the Little Swatara, to form an additional reservoir for the canal. This dam was some forty-five feet in height, and an area of over seven hundred acres was inundated by it. A disastrous freshet in June, 1862, carried away all the dams and greatly damaged the canal, which was never restored to a navigable condition. Under the pro- visions of an act of the legislature, the canal was vacated, and the right-of-way was sold to the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad com- pany, which thus became possessed of two of the county's early thor- oughfares. This wealthy and ambitious corporation also controls the principal mining interests of the county, as will appear in later chapters of this volume.
CHAPTER IV.
TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY OF SCHUYLKILL COUNTY.
The surface features of Schuylkill county are peculiarly interesting. Beginning at the Kittatinny or Blue mountain, the crest of which bounds the county on the southeast, it consists of a succession of hills and valleys and mountain chains nearly parallel with each other, and ranging northeast and southwest throughout the entire extent of the county. Between the Blue mountain and the Second mountain there are no elevations of importance. Summer hill, below Schuyl- kill Haven, is a well-defined range extending for several miles. Lime ridge, crossing at Schuylkill Haven, easily traceable through the county from west to east, does not attain a considerable elevation at any place. Second mountain is one of the principal mountains of the county. It rises from five hundred to seven hundred feet above the beds of the streams which break through it, and is about thirteen hundred feet above mean tide at Philadelphia. In many places this mountain has two crests, caused by the eroding effects of springs near the summit, which precipitate the loose red shale into the streams which flow through the gap. Sharp mountain is the next considerable elevation, and it rises about six hundred feet above the streams which break through it. This mountain is rendered somewhat conspicuous, it being the southern boundary of the anthracite coal field. It represents an unbroken wall extending across the county from east to west, save where the erosion of the streams at its base have widened and deepened the original channels. From Sharp mountain to Mine hill, which is the next regular elevation, there are no ridges of importance, except the ridge known as Red mountain, which extends from the west branch of the Schuylkill to the western line of the county. Mine Hill is the great anticlinal axis of the Schuylkill coal field. At the gap north of Minersville a grand arch of conglomerate, extending from the southern to the northern base of the mountain, is observable. This is a point of great interest to sight-seers, and the location sought by picnicking parties who seek delightful surroundings as well as quiet repose. The Swa- tara, Middle creek, Little Swatara, Muddy branch, West branch, Mill creek and some smaller streams break through this solid wall
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