History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 96

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1216

USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 96

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The Barr Mines were opened in 1863 by J. D. Johnson & Co., and are now owned by the Allegheny Savings-Bank. They have not been in operation since 1871.

Black Diamond Mines are located a short distance below Grant's Run. The coal belonging to these mines was bought by the Black Diamond Coal and Mining Company. This company was organized and chartered under the general mining laws of the State with a capital stock of $300,000, divided into 30,000 shares of $10 per share; 5000 shares were to be used for working capital, and 2500 shares were to be used for a contingent fund. The officers of the company were Nicholas Schneider, president; Charles Seibert, treasurer; Christian Seibert, secretary ; Pittsburgh. Lorenzo Hoffman, superintendent of mines; T. Bos- well Phillips, general business superintendent ; Phil- adelphia, Pa. Directors, Charles Seibert, Lorenzo Hoffman, Joseph Reymann, Christian Seibert, T. Boswell Phillips, Philip Eichenlaub, Joseph Seibert, and Jacob Dressel, with their principal office at No. 89 Water Street, Pittsburgh.

The operations of this company continued until 1869, when with the death of Christian Seibert they ceased to work the mines and sold them to William H. Brown, who made large improvements both in and William H. Brown, in 1875, they have been held by his heirs and operated under lease by Louis Staib. This coal is run by water. Ventilation is produced by furnace-power. They are able to run about eight thousand bushels of coal per day.

Abe Hayes Mine is owned and operated by Abra- ham Hayes as a river mine. This mine was opened ' up and put in running order in 1863 by Robert Robi- son (since deceased), who owned the property, since which time it was sold by Robison's heirs to the pres-

ent owner. It is a drift mine, ventilated by furnace, and runs about eight thousand bushels of coal per day. Thomas Hutchison is the superintendent.

The Victory Mines were owned and opened up by Rodgers, Rea & Co. about 1860, and were continued to be worked until 1874, since which time they have been suspended. They are drift mines, and the coal was run to the river, and thence to Southern and Western markets.

The Harlem Coal-Mines were owned and opened up for the late Judge Thomas H. Baird by H. H. Fin- ley in 1844. They have been operated successively by Judge Baird, Harrison Nelson, and Greenarch, Thomas H. Baird, Jr., and until the present year by the Harlem Coal Company. The coal is all mined out and the mines are now abandoned. This was a drift mine, and the coal run by river.

Stockdale Mines were put in operation by John Stoaf and Charles Cokain under lease from Richard Stockdale, the owner, about 1875. They are now owned and operated by Jacob Toomer and Michael McKinley. The coal is run to the river by an inclined tramway. The mine is ventilated by furnace-power, and produces seven thousand bushels daily.

The Gilmore Mines were owned and opened up by Mr. Bissell, who was succeeded by the present owner, Capt. John Gilmore. These mines were exhausted two years ago. The coal was run by river.

Clipper Mines, owned and operated by the Clipper Coal Company, are situated near Allenport. They are drift mines, and produce about four thousand bushels daily.

American Works are owned and operated by F. H. Corson. They are drift mines, and the coal is run to the river. They run about four thousand bushels daily. Ventilation is produced by furnace-power.

Wood's Run Mine was formerly operated by Lead- beater & Co., but at present by W. H. Gregg & Co. They produce four thousand bushels daily, which is transported to market by the river. The mine is ventilated by furnace-power. It is owned by William Thompson.

Champion Mines are owned by William Thompson, and operated under lease by Morgan, Dixon & Co. They produce three thousand bushels of coal daily, which is shipped by river. Furnace ventilation.

Eclipse Mine is operated by Jordan S. Neel. It is a drift mine, and runs ten thousand bushels per day.

outside of the workings. And since the death of ! The coal is shipped by river. Furnace ventilation.

Caledonia Mines are owned by William Thompson, and operated under lease by Thomas J. Wood & Co. They ship by water. About three thousand five hun- dred bushels is produced here daily.

Globe Mines are owned and operated by Crowthers, Musgrove & Co. This also includes the Dexter mines at this time. The coal is transported by river, except what is supplied to the locomotives on the railroad. They produce eight thousand bushels of coal daily. The mines are ventilated by furnace-power.

370

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Neel's Mine is owned and operated by Jordan S. Neel. The coal is shipped by river, and about ten thousand bushels is produced daily. This is a drift mine; furnace ventilation ; located at Greenfield.

Knob Mines are located one mile above West Brownsville. The coal here lies below water-level, and is reached by a slope. It is operated by the Knob Coal Company. They have a furnace and ven- tilating shaft sixty feet deep. About five thousand bushels of coal is produced daily, and sent to market by water.

Sand-Works .- Although the sand of the Monon- gahela Valley had been used as a material for the manufacture of glass for at least half a century, its general introduction was chiefly brought about by the Speers family in and about Bellevernon. The sand deposit of this region extends on the same plane from the Youghiogheny River, near Perryopolis, to its out- cropping on both sides of the Monongahela at Belle- vernon. The sand deposit at the works of Capt. S. C. Speers is the most extensive on the river, and of a very superior quality, as the following analysis, made by Otto Wuth, chemist, of Pittsburgh, will show :

Silicic acid

= 99.104 per cent. .332

Peroxide of iron ==

Alumina

.104

Lime -

= .417

Magnesia S

99.957

It has been many years since L. M. Speers, in his primitive mode, washed and otherwise prepared this sand for market. The process consisted in a screen and box about eight by three feet. The box was filled with water, and passing through the screen the sand was divested of all pebbles. It was then well stirred, and finally settled in the bottom of the box by a system of mauling the box on its sides. The ; water was then drawn off, and the sand laid away in | the sand-pen ready for market.

This primitive works was erected at a small stream of water near the Baptist Church in the year of 1858. A short time after this he erected, at the ravine above where is the glass wareroom of R. C. Schmertz & Co., another works run by horse-power, in which he pre- pared sand for market. The demand for sand being on the increase, he invented and put in operation at the river a steam screen-washing machine, by which from forty to fifty tons of sand could be washed per day. By a patent dated June 4, 1867, issued to James French, a new and superior washer came into use. The necessary machinery for its operation was erected. at the river below the ferry by the Clipper Sand Company, consisting of J. W. Clark, S. C. Speers, and James French. This company opened and oper- ated a sand-bank on the farm of S. C. Speer, and found the quality of this sand to be superior to that washed by L. M. Speer in the upper part of the sand field.

In 1872 this company purchased all the right and interest of L. M. Speer in the former works.

In 1880, S. C. Speers bought out the interest of J. W. Clark and James French, and has since then been the sole proprietor of sand operations in this region. From five thousand to thirteen thousand tons of sand has been run per annum from these works. The sur- face soil is first removed from the sand-bank, and the sand is conveyed to the washer at the river by a nar- row-gauge railroad, where it is washed and run into boats on the river or cars at the railroad.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

ROADS-THE NATIONAL ROAD-TURNPIKES-NAVIGATION- RAILROADS.

THE first step in the direction of public internal improvements in all new and undeveloped sections of country, except such as are located on navigable waters, is the opening of highways or practicable routes of travel to and from the cabins and clearings of the newly-arrived settlers. These, in the pioneer- ing days of Western Pennsylvania, were often mere bridle-paths or cartways through the woods, which afterwards were either abandoned or improved to passable roads when the country became more thickly populated; but through some sections roads had been opened and built at the public expense long before the coming of white settlers. This was not, strictly speaking, the case within the limits of Washington County, yet her eastern boundary had been reached by a good practicable road (for those days) from the Potomac River, east of the mountains, nearly ten years before it became the highway of the first set- tlers who came to make their homes on the west shore of the Monongahela. This was the military road built in 1755 by Gen. Braddock for the passage of his army from Fort Cumberland over the Allegheny Mountains and Laurel Hill, and its extension, built four years later by Col. Burd, from a point near the foot of the latter range westward to the Monongahela where the town of Brownsville now stands.

Five years before the march of Braddock, Col. Thomas Cresap, of Oldtown, Md., was employed by the Ohio Company to select and mark a route for their proposed traffic between their base of operations at Wills' Creek (Cumberland), Md., and their objective- point at the site of the present city of Pittsburgh ; and so, in execution of this mission, he set out from Wills' Creek in the year mentioned, with the old Delaware chief Nemacolin as a principal guide, and assisted by several other Indians, and proceeded north- westwardly over a route not materially different from that afterwards traversed by Washington and Brad- dock in their respective campaigns, until he reached

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INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

the west base of the Laurel Hill, in what is now Fayette County, from which point, instead of turning northeast as the later military road did, he proceeded down the valley of Redstone Creek to its mouth, where his work ended, for it was proposed at that point to abandon land carriage and take transporta- . tion down the Monongahela to its confluence with the Allegheny.

Col. Cresap, however, neither built nor opened any part of the proposed road, but merely selected its route, and indicated the same by blazing and mark- ing trees, and occasionally rearing piles of stones as landmarks at prominent points. But in 1753 the Ohio Company sent out a party of pioneers, who "opened the road,"1 though they made it little more than a bridle-path for the passage of pack-horses. A few months later (in January, 1754) Capt. William Trent, with a small company of men, in the employ of the Ohio Company, marched over the road, and further improved it as they passed. At its western terminus, the mouth of Redstone Creek, they built the " Han- gard" store-house for the company, and then passed on down the river to commence building a fort at the Forks of the Ohio.

In 1754, Washington with his little army, on the campaign which ended in the surrender of Fort Ne- cessity on the 4th of July in that year, passed over the same road, and improved it so that it was passable for wagons and light pieces of artillery to the west side of Laurel Hill. "In 1754," he says, "the troops whom I had the honor to command greatly repaired it as far as Gist's plantation, and in 1755 it was widened and completed by Gen. Braddock to within six miles of Fort Du Quesne."

In the latter part of the summer of 1759, Col. Henry Bouquet, military commandant at Carlisle, Pa., ordered Col. James Burd to inspect the defenses and stores at Fort Cumberland; thence to march to the Monongahela, there to erect à fort and to con- struct a road from it to the most practicable point on Braddock's road ;2 the proposed fort being intended

1 Washington, in advocating this route in preference to the more north- erly one through Bedford for the passage of Forbes' troops in 1758, said, " The Ohio Company in 1753, at a considerable expense, opened the road," etc.

2 The substance of Col. Burd's orders, and his procedure under them, are explained in a journal kept by him at the time, which is found in the Pennsylvania Archives, and from which the following entries are extracted, viz .:

" Ordered in August, 1759, to march with two hundred men of my bat- talion to the mouth of Redstone Creek, where it empties itself into the river Monongahela, to cut a road somewhere from Gen. Braddock's road to that place, as I shall judge best, and on my arrival there to erect a fort in order to open a communication by the river Monongahela to Pittsburg, for the more easy transportation of provisions, etc., from the provinces of Virginia and Maryland. Sent forward the detachment under the command of Lieut .- Col. Shippen, leaving one officer and thirty men to bring our five wagons. . . . When I have cut the road and finished the fort I am to leave one officer and twenty-five men as a garrison, and march with the remainder of my battalion to Pitts- burgh. . . .

"10th Sept .- Saw Col. Washington's fort, which was called Fort Ne- cessity. . . .

as a base of supply for Fort Pitt, while the road to be built from it to Braddock's road would afford the means of continuous communication from Fort Cum- berland to a convenient point of embarkation on the Monongahela River. After concluding his inspection at Fort Cumberland, and having previously sent for- ward a small detachment under his chief engineer officer, Lieut .- Col. Shippen, Col. Burd set out with the remainder of his force (leaving his little wagon- train to follow), and passed over the same route taken by Braddock years before to Gist's, now Mount Brad- dock. This was the end of his travel over the route pursued by the ill-fated expedition of 1755. At Gist's he ordered his men to commence work in opening a road thence northwestwardly towards the Mononga- hela, following the route which Capts. Polson and Lewis had partially cut through for about eight miles from Gist's, at the time when Washington was in- trenching at that place in June, 1754.

Having thus set his men at work on the road from Gist's to the Redstone, Col. Burd, with Col. Thomas Cresap (who was with him as a guide, having previ- ously explored this region to some extent), Col. Ship- pen, and probably Lieut. Grayson, of his command, rode forward through the woods to the Monongahela, striking the valley of Redstone Creek, and following it down to where it enters the river. It seems to have been in contemplation to build the fort at the mouth of this stream, where Capt. Trent's men had con- structed the old "Hangard" store-house four year before, but the orders of Col. Burd left it in his dis- cretion to select the site which he might regard as the most eligible. So, after viewing the ground at the mouth of the Redstone, and not finding it to suit his ideas as the site of a fortification, he proceeded up the river until he came to the mouth of Nemacolin's or

"11th Sept .- Marched this morning; two miles from hence we found Gen. Braddock's grave, about twenty yards from a little hollow, in which there was a small stream of water, and over it a bridge. We soon got to Laurel Hill; it had an easy ascent on this side, but on the other very steep. . . . We continued our march, and got to Guest's [Gist's] place; here we found a fine country.

"13th Sept .- Determined, if the hunters should not return before noon, to begin to open the road along some old blazes, which we take to be Col. Washington's. At noon began to cut the road to Redstone ; be- gan a quarter of a mile from camp; the course N. N. W. The course of Gen. Braddock's road N. N. E., and turns much to ye eastward. Opened this afternoon about half a mile. Marked two trees at the place of beginning thus:

"' The road to Redstone, Col. J. Burd, 1759.

"' The road to Pittsburg, 1759.'

"22d Oct .- This morning I went to the river Monongahela, recon- noitred Redstone, etc., and concluded upon the place for the post, being a hill in the fork of the river Monongahela and Nemocalling's Creek [af- terwards called Dunlap's Creek], the best situation I could find, and re- turned in the evening to camp. The camp moved two miles, to Coal Run. This run is entirely paved in the bottom with fine stone-coal, and the hill on the south of it is a rock of the finest coal I ever saw. I burned about a bushel of it on my fire.

"23d Oct .- Continued working on the road. Had sermon to-day at 10 A.M. At noou moved the camp two and a half miles to the river Monongahela. No bateaux arrived.

" 28th Oct .- Sunday. Continued on the works; "had sermon in the fort."

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Dunlap's Creek, about one and one-fourth miles farther up, and determined to erect his fort just below the mouth of that stream, on the high ground (now Brownsville) commanding the Monongahela, the val- ley of the creek, and the country for some distance to the rear; this being, as he said in the journal, "the best situation I could find." There, during the months of October and November, he built the fort, and to it from Braddock's road he constructed a new road, six- teen and a quarter miles in length, which was called " Burd's road." Five or six years later it began to be used by a few emigrants from the East bound to the valley of the Monongahela, and it was traveled by nine-tenths of all those who came to settle within the present limits of Washington County prior to the Revolution.

The first road petition to any court west of the Allegheny Mountains was a petition of inhabitants of Springhill township, presented at the April term of the Court of Quarter Sessions of Westmoreland County in 1773, on which John Moore, Thomas Scott, Henry Beeson, Thomas Brownfield, James McLean, and Philip Shute were appointed viewers upon a road " to begin at or near the mouth of a run known by the name of Fish-Pot Run, about two miles below the mouth of Ten-Mile Creek, on the west side of Monon- gahela River (it being a convenient place for a ferry as also a good direction for a leading road to the most western part of the settlements), thence the nearest and best way to the forks of Dunlap's path and Gen. Braddock's road on the top of Laurel Hill." The viewers appointed on this road were John Moore, Thomas Scott (the first prothonotary of Washington County), Henry Beeson, Thomas Brownfield, James McClean, and Philip Shute. At the October sessions, in the same year, viewers were appointed to view a road " from the southwest side of the Monongahela River, opposite to the town of Pittsburgh, by Dr. Ed- ward Hand's land on Chartiers Creek, to the settle- ments up said creek, supposed to be at or near the western boundary of the province of Pennsylvania."

At January sessions, 1774, Andrew Pierce, Moses Brady, Morgan Morgan, David Allen, Henry Taylor, and John Kennon (doubtless John Canon) were ap- pointed viewers, on the petition of divers inhabitants of Springhill and Pitt townships, " to view a road to begin at Thomas Guess's (Gist's), from thence to Paul Froman's mill near the river Monongahela, and from thence to another mill of the said Paul Froman on Chartiers Creek." This last mill was in North Stra- bane township, now Beck's Mills.

At April sessions, 1774, "upon the petition of a number of the inhabitants of Tyrone and Menallen townships, setting forth that they are under difficult circumstances for want of a public road leading into Braddock's road on any part of the mountain ; and further we would observe to your worships that from the natural situation of the country we, at present, who live on the west side of the Monongahela River

are obliged frequently to carry our corn the distance of twenty miles, to the mill of Henry Beeson, near Laurel Hill, and in all probability at some seasons of the year will ever have to do so; and praying your worships would be pleased to grant us a public road to begin on the east side of the Monongahela River, near the old fort (Brownsville), thence to Henry Bee- son's mill, and thence to intersect Braddock's road near the forks of Dunlap's road and said road on the top of Laurel Hill." Richard Waller, Andrew Linn, Jr., William Calvin, Thomas Crooks, Henry Hart, and Joseph Grayble were appointed viewers, and the road was afterwards ordered laid out.

At the first session of Lord Dunmore's (Augusta County, Va.) court, held at Pittsburgh, Feb. 22, 1775, a number of viewers were appointed, among whom were Capt. William Crawford and Van Swear- ingen (first sheriff of Washington County), to view a road petitioned for, "to run from Providence Mounce's [Mount's] Mill, by Ausberger's Ferry, to Catfish Camp." And a road was ordered to be viewed from Gist's settlement to Paul Froman's, on Chartiers Creek ; also another from Fort Dunmore (Pittsburgh) to Paul Froman's, on the east branch of Chartiers. A road from the foot of Laurel Hill, by William Teagarden's ferry (on the Monongahela, in Washing- ton County), to the mouth of Wheeling Creek (Vir- ginia), was ordered by the same Virginia court, on the 17th of May, 1775.

The first petition for a road after the organization of the Washington County Court was made by inhab- itants of Strabane township at the October term of 1781, when Alexander Early, Thomas Hambleton, James Patterson, William Huston, Abraham Van Middleswarth, and Nathaniel Brown were appointed viewers, with instructions from the court, "if neces- sary, to lay out a road the nearest and best way from Catfish Camp [Washington] to the Presbyterian meet- ing-house in the forks of Chartiers Creek." At the same session Hugh Montgomery Brackenridge, Esq., represented to the court "that a road is much wanted from Catfish Camp to Pittsburgh," and the same with regard to "a road from John Canon, Esq., his mill, to Pittsburgh ; whereupon Henry Hulse, Andrew Hood, Moses Coe, Joseph Beelor, James Bradford, Jr., and John White, Jr., were appointed viewers of the first-named proposed route, and Robert Ballstone, William Long, Thomas Bracken, John Springer, John Henry, and Nathaniel Stokes of the latter."

At the January term in 1782 a petition was pre- sented praying for a road from Bassett Town (Wash- ington) to Redstone Ferry. Viewers were appointed, who reported favorably, with survey of route, at the succeeding April term, and the road was afterwards ordered laid out.

Also, at the January term in 1782, petitions were presented and viewers appointed for roads as follows : "a road from Rodgers' Mill to Fort Pitt;" "a road from John Canon, Esquire's, mill to Samuel John-

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INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

son's mill;" a road "from Bassett Town to Fort Decker, on the Ohio;" and a road "from Bassett Town to the mouth of a gut about forty perches below the mouth of Pigeon Creek." The last-named road was returned in March, 1784, as having been laid out thirty-three feet wide. Among the numerous other roads petitioned for in the early years (many of which, however, were never opened) the court records show the following :

1782, October term .- " Road from Bassett town by Leet's mill, and so forth." December term, same year, road "from Monongahela River, opposite Pees' mill, thence to intersect the road from the old Vir- ginia court-house to Pentecost's mill."

1783, July term .- " Petition being made by several inhabitants of this county setting forth that they la- bour under many inconveniences for want of a public road leading from Col. John Canon's mill to the Se- ceders' Meeting-house. The road having been for some time altered so that it is inconvenient to pass or get to the meeting-house, and praying the court to laid out. appoint proper persons to review the same, and if they see cause to alter the said road they do the same by courses and distances, the nearest and best way, the least injurious to private property, and most con- ducive to public utility." At same time, petition for "a road from Washington to Samuel Johnson's mill, Esq., on Raccoon Creek. This was returned as laid out in September next following. At December term, same year, a road was ordered "from James Crawford's ferry (above Brownsville) to Zephaniah Beall's."

1783, September .- Ordered to view "a road from Hyde's Ferry, on Monongahela River, to the town of Washington." Same term .- Petition for road "from Wells' mill, on Cross Creek, to Washington." Laid out and reported in following year. Same term .- "Petition for a road from Wells' mill, on Cross Creek, to Samuel Beelor's fort, on Raccoon Creek." Same term .- " Road from McKee's ferry, thence nearly past the meeting-house, and to intersect the Pittsburgh road at some convenient place near Peters Creek Meeting-House." Same term .- Return made of a road laid out by order of court "from the town of Washington to Jacob Bowsman's, opposite to Pitts- burgh." December, same year .- Petition for a road " from Cross Creek Meeting-House to Buffalo Meeting- House." Returned in March following as having been laid out thirty-three feet wide.

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History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 96

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 1216

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1216