USA > Pennsylvania > Tioga County > History of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations, portraits and sketches of prominent families and individuals > Part 13
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" Miners, you are friends; you are patrons of the In- dustrial Register, which was established for the purpose of promoting the interests of all who are engaged in in- dustrial pursuits, and we feel it our duty to warn you of the threatened danger that awaits you. You are not aware of the many indirect and subtle influences which are being brought to bear upon you by those interested in stopping the mining and production of coal in this northern coal region. We positively know it has been done heretofore, and we have every reason to be- lieve that there are emissaries among you now for the purpose of making you discontented, and to incite you to a strike or suspension of work in order that a particu- lar coal region of this State may profit by your misfor- tune. You are men of sense; will you suffer this trick to be played upon you?"
These articles were read with interest, some regarding them in the true light, as being calculated to set before
" It will be seen by extracts from the state of the an- thracite coal trade, to be found in another column, that the anthracite dealers are confidently anticipating a strike in the bituminous coal regions on Monday next. Miners of northern Pennsylvania, can you not see the object of those who are inducing you to strike? They want to profit by your calamity. They want to make catspaws of you, as it were, for the purpose of promoting their interests. They want to stop the production of bituminous coal to obtain a market for their coal where Blossburg coal has usually been sold. If they once get a foothold in our northern markets and displace our semi-bituminous coal the miners of this region can take a long rest; for the northern coal companies will not be able to renew their contracts. As will be seen in another column, the new rates for anthracite are $3.40 for fur- nace lump; steamer lump, grate and stove, $3.45, and chestnut $3.85, in New York. These prices have been made in anticipation of a strike in this region. Last week there were over forty thousand car loads of anthra- cite standing on the track, ready to be sent in any direc- tion when there was an opening. In their haste to rush into market and cut rates they find themselves in a po- sition where they have been obliged to put their men on half time in order to get rid of their surplus coal. If our miners stand firm and work for their own interests they will do nothing to stop the production in this sec- tion of the State. It is a critical point in our mining his- tory, and we earnestly hope that our miners will act wisely. Two months more of steady work at present prices will bridge us over the critical point and enable the companies to make contracts that will insure the miner an advance in the price of mining.
" By another circular, which we have received since writing the above, we are informed that the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company are selling pea coal at Port Richmond for $2.25 per ton. With the great amount of surplus coal on hand they can readily invade our market, and with an understanding with their miners either to work three or six days per week just as circumstances require they expect to control and influ- ence the market, both in the east and in our northern regions. We hope they will be disappointed in their an- ticipations of a strike. They will be if our miners con- sult their own interests."
It seemed that all that could be said or done could not prevent the miners of Tioga county from striking. The miners at McIntyre, Barclay and Carbon Run, how- ever, took a different course. They remained at work, and the mines were run to the fullest capacity. The closing of the mines in Tioga county was of great ad- vantage to the Lycoming and Bradford county miners, and they reaped a rich harvest.
The coke ovens of the Blossburg Coal Company were
THE MINERS' STRIKE OF 1880-THE LUMBER BUSINESS.
57
in full blast when the strike commenced, and the fires were allowed to go out, involving a loss of two or three thousand dollars. The suspension of mining threw a large force of railroad men and coal yard men out of em - ployment all along the line of the Tioga and Elmira State Line Railroad and its connections; also along the Corning, Cowanesque and Antrim and Syracuse, Geneva and Corning railroads and their connections, besides the laborers at the mines.
On the 28th of February 18So F. N. Drake, president of the Blossburg Coal Company, submitted to the miners the following propositions, which were subsequently con- curred in by the Fall Brook Coal Company and the Mor- ris Run Coal Mining Company: Ist, the present price of coal will not warrant an advance in the price of mining or other labor connected therewith; 2nd, the several above named companies propose the present price for mining and other labor necessary and the present price of coal as a basis upon which to regulate prices of labor for the future; 3d, if the price of coal shall rise in the future then the price of labor to advance, and if it shall fall then the price of labor to fall correspondingly; 4th, that a committee, or other persons duly authorized by miners and other laborers connected with mining operations, shall meet with Mr. Drake and others, and make the necessary arrangements to carry out the above propo- sitions; 5th, the above proposed arrangement to go into effect as soon as the same can be perfected; 6th, these propositions to be withdrawn in case work is suspended on the part of the men.
These propositions were not accepted by the miners, and they were withdrawn and the strike went on. It was but the repetition of the old programme. . Notices were served on the miners to vacate the houses; no ejectments were made so far as we were able to learn, but a large number left the mines, among them quite a number of single men, who were very officious in bringing on the strike, and, this object accomplished, left and found em- ployment in other localities, leaving the men with families to bear the burden of the strike. There was a provision in the contracts of the company which released it from fulfilling them in case of a strike, and therefore they had no contracts to fill. But they had been in the habit of supplying numerous foundries, rolling-mills and other in- dustrial establishments with coal, and other and riva] companies from the Clearfield, Bradford and Lycoming coal districts were getting their customers, and the Tioga county coal companies were suffering a great loss of trade and the miners a loss of work by the suspension.
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During the months of March and April committees were appointed by the miners and Knights of Labor to confer with the companies. A few days previous to one of these conferences a committee called on the editor of the Industrial Register and desired him to republish a communication which had appeared in a newspaper at Wellsboro, concerning a miners' meeting which had been held more than a month previous, which he agreed to do. But on the very day of publication a conference was be- ing held with every prospect of a final adjustment; and
after consultation with a prominent miner he decided not to republish the article, as it might jeopardize the negotiations.
The strike continued. A committee of miners was ap- pointed to solicit donations of money and provisions, and another committee was appointed to take charge of the stores and deal them out to the needy. Supplies were purchased by the car load and shipped in, and there was not as much suffering as in 1873 or 1865, for the strike did not last so long. Still there was enough. The first of May finally arrived, the time at which the com- panies had assured the miners their contracts would be renewed and an advance given them if possible; and work was resumed, to the gratification of all concerned.
CHAPTER VII.
LUMBERING AND TANNING.
HE lumbering business of Tioga county can be divided into two eras. The first extended from ISoo to 1865 and we shall denominate it the White Pine era. The first lumbering to any extent was carried on at or near Lawrenceville, on the Tioga, and on the Cowan- esque at the same place, and at Beecher's Island, Elkland, Knoxville and other points on the latter river. The first saw-mills were of course rude, and were in- tended only to supply the demand of the settlers in their erection of dwellings and barns. But only a few years elapsed before the enterprise of those owning pine lands along the banks of the Cowanesque and Tioga Rivers began to extend their trade. The Tioga was navigable for rafts as far south as the mouth of Mill Creek, and small rafts were even run as far south as Mansfield. The navigation of the Cowanesque enabled the lumbermen to gather into the stream the timber as far west as Knox- ville. The lumber thus manufactured up to the year 1840 found an outlet by the way of the Tioga, Chemung and Susquehanna to market at Harrisburg, Middletown, Marietta, Columbia and Baltimore. Lumbering gradually extended up the valley of Crooked Creek to Middlebury, and in time to Delmar and on to Pine Creek. A large force of men was required in the fall and winter in fel- ling trees and cutting saw-logs for the mills; and when the spring rains swelled the streams the lumber was rafted in and floated to market. A hardy and jolly set of men were engaged in this work, and when they arrived in towns in central and southern Pennsylvania they were looked upon with awe and suspicion by the Penn- sylvania Dutch, who termed them "wild Yankees," from the " Wildcat district of Tioga." But the Tioga lumber- men were not daunted by these epithets, and found equally significant names for their down-the-river-friends.
Those from the western and southwestern portion of the county who descended Pine Creek reached the west
7
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HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.
branch of the Susquehanna near Jersey Shore, and met their friends from the Tioga and Cowanesque at North- umberland; also hosts of rivermen from the Canisteo, Conhocton and east branch of the Susquehanna, as well as those from the Lycoming, Loyalsock, Bald Eagle, Kettle Creek, Clearfield and Sinnamahoning. A thou- sand raftmen were frequently seen distributed among the various towns of the lower Susquehanna during raft- ing season, and then, in common parlance, "the Dutch had to stand down the hall." Many young men would take a "trip down the river " then with the idea first of replenishing their stock of pocket money, and second to see the "shows " and have a good time generally. In these days to ride two or three hundred miles and have to walk back savors too much of the play of boys who draw their sleds to the top of a high hill in order to ride down. However, there were many pleasant incidents connected with such a trip.
As time advanced improvements were made in the character of the saw-mills. Steam took the place of water as the motive power, and mulay, gang and circular saws were invented and more capital invested in the manufacture of lumber. The pine forests in the town- ship of Jackson, along the valley of Seeley Creek, were invaded by a class of lumbermen who made sad havoc among the evergreens of that region. The lumber manu- factured in that vicinity generally found a market at Elmira, and was hauled on wagons to that point, there shipped by canal for Albany, and thence to New York by the Hudson River.
which had it been properly husbanded would have brought twenty millions. But perhaps it was better for our fathers to thus dispose of their lumber than to have left it to their posterity, who might not have appreciated their generosity and foresight. A few scattering groves of pine still remain, with here and there a patriarch, whose evergreen boughs chant a sad requiem over his departed companions.
THE ERA OF HEMLOCK.
We have said that the era of the white pine extended from 1Soo to 1865. The time since the latter date we shall denominate the era of Hemlock. Although hemlock lumber had been used to a considerable extent in various portions of the county, and had been shipped to market, bringing unremunerative prices, before the year 1865, it was about that year that it began to grow in favor with builders and those who desired a cheap class of lumber. It was also about that year that in commercial circles it was learned that the white-grained hemlock of Tioga county was equal and in many cases superior to white pine lumber for building purposes; and we recollect distinctly what credulity an old lumber merchant of New York manifested when in the year 1863 we informed him that a large proportion of the hemlock of Tioga county, and especially that in the southern portion, was so straight-grained that shingles could be rived and made from it. "If such is the case," said he, "it will go up in the market, and I desire to purchase hemlock lands." He did purchase some and has since regretted that he did not purchase more.
Up to the year 1845 the battle against the pine of Tioga county had been confined to a few localities, but Tanning was to some extent carried on in the county before 1865, and very much of the hemlock from which the bark was obtained was allowed to remain in the forest and decay. The increased demand for hemlock leather both in this country and Europe has had a ten- dency to stimulate the tanning business. Luckily the demand for hemlock lumber has kept pace with the de- mand for hemlock-tanned leather. The hemlock belt of the United States was narrowing down to the Penn- sylvania counties of Sullivan, southern Bradford, north- ern Lycoming, southern and western Tioga, southern Potter, Mckean, Elk and Forest, and tanners from the eastern sections of the United States were looking for desirable locations for the establishment of tanneries. Happily for the citizens of Tioga county, at a period when they had nearly exhausted their supply of white pine timber an opportunity was presented for rendering valuable a timber which they had hitherto looked upon with indifference. So great is the present demand for hemlock lumber and bark that there are about seventy saw-mills in the county, two-thirds of which are mann- facturing hemlock lumber exclusively; and the produc- tion of hemlock lumber for the year ending July 31st 1882 will reach the enormous amount of one hundred from that year the war was waged with unceasing energy all along the line in every portion of the county until the year 1865, when, after a twenty years siege, the pines had succumbed, with only here and there an exception, where they were preserved by strong land owners like Phelps & Dodge, and the Bingham estate and a few others. In the sixty-five years crusade, according to the most reliable estimates of old lumbermen, there must have been manufactured and taken to market one thou. sand million feet of white pine lumber, besides the mil- lions of feet used for building purposes. Then there were millions of feet which were allowed to go to waste, or burned to clear the land of the pioneer who desired to cultivate the soil. It is safe, therefore, to estimate that in the year 1800 there stood within the limits of Tioga county 1.500,000,000 feet of white pine lumber, about two thirds of which was sent to market. The average price obtained for the lumber during the sixty- five years would not reach more than eight dollars in market, for there was a period of forty-five years when five dollars was esteemed a round price per thousand for clear stuff, and it was only in the last fifteen years of the crusade that the price began to reach beyond ten dollars, though in the closing years of the war, when and fifty million feet. This vast amount of lumber only there was not much to sell, the price ranged beyond that. Here then was a product of the forest which brought our fathers seven or eight millions of dollars,
represents the timber cut to keep the tanneries of Tioga supplied with bark for tanning purposes. It remains to be seen whether our people will become as prodigal of
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LUMBERING AND TANNING.
their hemlock lumber as their fathers were of pine. At the present rate of consumption in fifteen years the era of hemlock will practically close in Tioga county.
HARD WOOD.
Tioga county originally possessed some very excellent hard wood timber, especially on the ridges and highlands. Much of the beech and maple has been cut down and destroyed in various portions of the county, and yet a large amount remains. In the mining regions these woods have been used for props and other purposes about and in the mines. No great demand has been made for the timber, and hence it has been cut down by farmers, who desired to clear the land. There is quite an amount of black and yellow birch, black cherry, white ash and chestnut still standing in the county, and a limited quantity of white and black oak. There were originally some very fine tracts of white oak in the north- ern portion of the county, also of hickory and walnut; but they have principally been cut down.
It will be seen from the reading of the preceding pages that the white pine of the county is nearly ex- hausted; while the great forests of hemlock are being swept away at the rate of one hundred and fifty million feet per annum, which in the estimation of the writer will close the trade in that kind of lumber in fifteen years. There is but a small portion of yellow pine left, and while there is a moderate supply of hard wood which has escaped the farmer and the coal operator there is no very great demand for that class of timber. There is room to hope that the portion remaining will be utilized in the manufacture of articles at home which we now import. But it is only fair to state that a very large proportion of the whole amount of timber in the county is held by coal companies, tanning firms, etc., which exercise control over one-fifth of the whole area of the county. The lum- ber interest therefore will hereafter be confined to saw- ing and shipping hemlock, unless we go into the manu- facture of agricultural implements, carriages and wagons and small articles, for which not much timber is required.
TANNING.
We have icidentally alluded to the subject of tanning in connection with the hemlock lumber trade. The annual production of sole leather in the county for several years has amounted to between 500,000 and 600,000 sides. A huge tannery, the largest in the world, has just been completed at Babb's Creek, in Morris township, by Hoyt Bros., of No. 72 Gold street, New York. Its capacity is said to be one thousand sides per day. Here then is added to the already large production the sum of 313,000 sides, swelling the aggregate produc- tion for the year 1882 to the enormous number of 900,000 sides of hemlock-tanned sole leather. This will require the use of bark from 190,000,000 feet of hemlock, to say nothing of the amount required to tan 25,000 sides of harness and rough upper leather.
There are now of every grade and description nineteen tanneries in operation in the county. Some are small,
however (but a few years ago they were thought to be large, while the bulk of the tanning is confined to establishments tanning from 25,000 to 300,000 sides an- nually.
The business of tanning gives employment directly in the several tanneries in the county to one thousand men, at an average of $1.50 per day, including foremen and bosses, the total wages amounting to $450,000 per year. During the time of bark-peeling (seventy days) there are a thousand men more employed, at the average rate of $1.75 per day, making $122,500 more. The bark is worth on the tree, less the cost of peeling and hauling, $250,000 or $300,000 more, say the latter figures; the cost of haul- ing, at a low figure, is 875,000-for some of it is drawn six or eight miles-and the tanneries have already paid out for labor and bark the handsome sum of $947,500. The lumberman then takes the work in hand to get rid of the trunks of the hemlock trees, and by the time he has them sawed into logs, skidded, hauled to the saw-mill and manufactured into lumber ready for market $450,- ooo more has been expended in labor, on the basis of 150,000,000 feet, and on the basis of 190,000,000 feet the sum of $570,000; making a total for labor in these two industries of $1,517.500. The greater part of this money remains in the county. After allowing the laborer and manufacturer 8570,000 for their labor the owner of the timber has for his share an amount a little in excess of these figures, providing he makes a sale of his lumber advantageously. If he sells it at $7 per thousand he has $760,000 to pay him for the use of his mill, breakage, interest on the money invested, etc. Putting these ag- gregates together our figures reach $2,277,500. Finally add the amount received for the 900,000 sides of sole leather, less the cost of bark and other materials used, and the reader can comprehend the vast business direct- ly and indirectly growing out of the tanneries of Tioga county.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE FARMING INTEREST-AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES AND FAIRS-PRINCIPAL PRODUCTS.
HE pioneer settlers of Tioga county came here for the purpose of securing themselves homes, and clearing up farms that would produce wheat, corn, buckwheat, oats, pota- toes, beef, pork, butter, wool and flax suffi- cient for their own use and to leave a surplus for marketing. This they soon accomplished; for the soil, which for ages had been receiving the falling foliage of the forests, was quick to respond to the tillage of the husbandman. Their implements of husbandry were simple and rude, but the alluvial soils of the valley under the culture of intelligent hands soon gave them a comfortable living and kept want from their doors. This
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HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.
condition of things continued for twenty years, when the spirit of public improvement pervaded the land. The great pines which skirted the rivers of the county, and which had hitherto only been utilized for building pur- poses, now became a merchantable commodity; and when cut down, instead of being rolled into huge heaps for burning, they were drawn to the saw-mill-which if not already erected the pioneers caused to be built- there manufactured into lumber of various kinds, made into rafts and floated to a southern market. The settlers then had a double occupation, that of farmers and lum- bermen. Ready money was what they needed; this could be obtained by cultivating the soil in summer, lumbering in winter, and in the spring harvesting the fruit of the winter's labor in the ports along the waters of the lower Susquehanna.
Later settlers purchased large tracts of timbered lands and gave their whole attention to lumbering, entirely neglecting the tillage of the soil. This of course created a home market for those who did produce grain, pork, mutton and butter. Railroad and mining operations about this time began to attract to the valley of the Tioga a large class of men engaged in these pursuits. A
large portion of them came from countries beyond the seas, the Irish, Scotch and Welsh, who for a long time confined themselves to the building of railroads and mining coal in the Blossburg coal regions. This state of things existed for several years, until the home agricul- tural productions were not equal to the home consump- tion and many thousand dollars' worth of grain and pro- visions was shipped into Tioga county from the adjoining counties in New York.
One would have supposed that with an excellent home market for everything produced on the farm the farmers would have stuck to their plows; but they did not. They caught the lumbering fever, neglected their farm- ing, and in many instances purchased the provisions and grain which they should have raised. In their new oc- cupation they handled more money, but that they saved more is very questionable.
In order to encourage farming a number of public spirited gentlemen residing in the various townships of the county organized
THE TIOGA COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY
in the year 1854. We are unable to give the names of the first officers, but those for 1855 were: William B. Clymer, president; Daniel L. Sherwood, George McLeod, B. C. Wickham, Ira Bulkley and J. S. Kingsbury, vice- presidents; F. E. Smith, corresponding secretary; G. D. Smith, recording secretary; John F. Donaldson, treasurer; Robert G. White, A. E. Niles, H. M. Gerould, Lawson Copley, H. W. Calkins, L. D. Seeley, J. W. Guernsey, W. B. Metcalf, Henry Sherwood, Robert Campbell, John V. Swan, R. Toles, Nelson Whitney, D. S. Shore, C. H. House, Moses S. Baldwin, T. J. Soper, D. Ellis, E. T. Bentley, J. Riberolle, Chester Robinson, John Dickin- son, Homer V. Elliott and James Leonard, executive committee. The society therefore was composed of
many of the most prominent business men and farmers of the county, who desired that the agricultural interests of Tioga county should be fostered and encouraged. The amount received by the society from membership, dues, State appropriation etc. for the year 1854 was $450.47, and the amount of disbursements was $282.37, leaving a balance in the treasury of $168.10. Here then was a beginning. The society held a fair, which was moderately well attended. It had hitherto been believed that with the present temper of the people, whose minds were engaged with lumbering, mining or railroad schemes, an agricultural society could not be sustained or a fair held. The next year the society held a fair, and the gross receipts showed a more lively interest. The re- ceipts for 1855, with the balance from the year previous, aggregated $1,036.96, and the expenditures $736.76, leaving a balance in the treasury of $300.20. The ad- dress before the society in 1854 was delivered by Dr. Murdock, and that in 1855 by Hon. F. E. Smith, of Tioga.
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