History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 42

Author: Mathews, Alfred, 1852-1904. 4n
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co.
Number of Pages: 1438

USA > Pennsylvania > Monroe County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 42
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 42
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 42

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Upon these cross-ties were placed wooden rails of hemlock timber, generally six inches in thickness and twelve inches in height, and either twenty or thirty feet long, so as to extend across two or three of the spaces between the cross-ties. These rails were made fast to the cross-ties by wooden keys, or wedges, and in

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such position that the space between the rails should be just the width of the gauge adopted, which was about four feet three inches. Upon the top and at the inner edges of these rails, flat bars of iron, two and a half inches wide and half an inch thick, were laid and made fast by large screws through holes for that purpose in the iron bars. After a little experience the hemlock rail was found to be too soft for a firm bed for the iron bars, and strips of beech two inches thick and three to four inches wide were spiked to the top of the hemlock rail, and the iron bars fastened upon those beech strips. After a very little time the use of screws to fas- ten the iron bars was discontinued, and iron spikes used instead.

A stationary steam-engine was used for a motive-power at each of the five long planes on the western side of the mountains, which, by means of a long chain extending the entire length of the plane, drew up three to five loaded cars, and at the same time let down a like num- ber of empty cars.

The three planes descending toward Hones- dale were worked by gravitation, without the use of steam,-by having the descending load- ed cars draw up the ascending empty cars at- tached to the other end of the chain, and the velocity of their motion was controlled by the use of friction brakes upon the shaft of a large upright fan-wheel.

It was originally expected to make use of locomotive power on the three long levels, known as " Summit Level," "Six-mile Level" and "Four-mile Level," and to use horses on the other levels between the planes.

Three locomotives were made for the com- pany in England under directions of Horatio Allen, and brought to New York to be so used, but on the trial of one of them, the track was found too weak to admit of their use with safe- ty ; and the use of horses was thus made ne- cessary on those levels also.

On the Summit Level one horse could not draw more than two loaded cars at a time.

On the Six-mile Level (between Waymart and Prompton) the grade was such that loaded cars descended by gravity, and cars were provided for a sufficient number of horses to ride, with

each train, to draw the empty cars back-one horse being thns able to return four empty cars. These horses became so accustomed to riding down the grade that when, by reason of ice on the rails, the cars required force to propel them, some of the horses clearly showed an un- willingness to go upon the track and draw the cars in that direction.

On the Four-mile Level (between Prompton and the canal basin) the grade was snch that one horse could draw five loaded cars down, and the same number of empty cars back.

The Four-mile and the Six-mile Levels had snch a branch or side-track for a short distance near the centre, so that cars moving in one di- rection could pass those going in the oppo- site direction, and at these branches were the boarding-honses for the car-runners. One of these boarding-houses was near the present residence of Jacob L. Keen, and was kept by Warren Dimock, and the other was oppo- site the present residence of Henry L. Phillips, and was kept by George M. Keen.

A very few years' experience with the use of chains for conveying the loaded cars npon the planes convinced the managers of the road that some material, less liable to break than the chains then in usc, must be substituted for them. Each train of loaded cars passing over the road was liable to be wrecked by the fail- ure of any one of some one hundred and fifty thousand links composing the chains upon the several planes, and many such accidents oc- curred. To remedy this, heavy hemp ropes, the strands of which had been saturated with tar, were introduced, instead of the chains, and thereafter such accidents were very infrequent. This short experience also demonstrated that the use of horses to draw loaded cars up so heavy a grade as that of the short section ex- tending from the mine to " Plane No. 1" was unnecessarily expensive.

To remedy this, a plane to be operated by water-power was constructed in 1837, fonrteen hundred feet long, and ascending from the mouth of the mine nearly eighty feet, and from the head of this plane a new track fifteen hun- dred fcet in length, to the foot of Plane No. 1, was laid on a grade descending one foot in two

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

hundred and fifty. This improvement reduced the cost of transportation on that short section at least two cents per ton.

THE "STOURBRIDGE LION" -- THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVE IN AMERICA .- The first locomo- tive that ever turned a wheel in America was placed upon this railroad and made its trial trip on August 8, 1829 (as heretofore mentioned). Horatio Allen (still living-1886-and a resi- dent of South Orange, New Jersey, aged eighty- six years) was directly instrumental in causing the locomotive to be built and brought to the railroad of the Delaware and Hudson Company, and he was its engineer on the occasion of its trial trip.

Numerous accounts have been written of this locomotive and its initial trip, all differing in

LION

THE "STOURBRIDGE LION."

some minor detail, but agreeing in essentials. The one which we here present is founded in the main upon an article which appeared in the Honesdale Citizen in 1881, and was writ- ten upon information received from Mr. Allen, and authoritatively indorsed by him when com- pleted. The article alluded to states that Mr. Allen " was a civil engineer by profession, and had been engaged in the survey of the Dela- ware and Hudson Canal-first on the 'sum- mit' division, and afterward between the Dela- ware River and Honesdale. Having completed his duties, he resigned his position and quitted the theatre of the company's operations. He had heard of the success of George Stephenson with the locomotive, and was convinced that the transportation lines of the future would be

operated with the new motor. He accordingly decided to visit England and master the methods there employed in constructing and operating railways. John B. Jervis, chief engineer of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, learning of his purpose, commissioned him to purchase in England the iron for the railroad between Honesdale and Carbondale, the chains to be used on the inclined planes, and three locomotives to be run on the railroad levels. The rails were to be flat, with oblong, counter- sunk spike-holes. Their manufacture was a new industry. Mr. Allen devised a mode. of making the rails, but most, if not all, of the iron-workers in this country to whom he sub- mitted his plan pronounced it impossible of execution. In England, fourteen of seventeen iron-masters also declared it imprac- ticable. He finally contracted for the manufacture of , the rails at Merthyr-Tydvil, in South Wales. When offered for delivery, however, they were in an unfinished condi- tion, and so ill adapted to the pur- pose that he refused to receive them, maintaining that they were not in conformity with the contract. The manufacturers, on the other hand, contended for a different construction of the contract, and declined to do anything further to them. Mr. Allen thereupon went to Wol- verhampton, in England, and made a new contract with a manufacturer at that place. Here he presented his plan of manufacture; it was approved and adopted, and in a short time the rails were finished, complete in every par- ticular. In due time they were shipped, and formed the first track of the Delaware and Hudson Railroad. The English manufacturers continued to use Mr. Allen's method of manu- facture ; and though the inventor might have secured all its advantages by taking out a patent, he was content to give it to the world without any reward. The chains for the railroad planes were made in Liverpool, and after being tested under Mr. Allen's supervision were sent to Honesdale and put into use. They failed, how- ever, to answer the purpose satisfactorily, giv-

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ing way so often as to cause considerable dam- age, and making it necessary to keep portable forges passing along the line of the road to repair the broken links. They were finally superseded by Manilla ropes, and the latter in turn gave place to the wire cables now in use.

" It was in the autunin of 1827 that Mr. Allen went to England. The leading purpose of his visit was the investigation of the railway system and the locomotive. Various experi- ments had been made during the previous quarter of a century, resulting in the gradual improvement of the locomotive and track. In 1804 a steam carriage, designed by Richard Trevetliick, was tried on the tramway at the Merthyr-Tydvil iron-works, five miles in length. It was found incapable, however, of ascending anything beyond a very moderate inclination. In 1811 a locomotive was placed on the Wylam colliery tramway, near Newcastle, which suc- ceeded in overcoming a somewhat heavier grade. Up to this time it was considered necessary, in ascending an inclination, to employ a cog-wheel on the locomotive, working in a toothed rail on the road-bed, to secure the necessary hold and prevent the driving-wheels from slipping on the track ; but the increased friction coun- terbalanced all the supposed advantages of this niethod. The experiment of constructing an engine with levers projecting behind, and strik- ing the ground alternately, like a pair of legs, was then tried, but proved unsuccessful. In 1814 George Stephenson, who was then en- ployed at Killingworth Colliery, built a loco- motive which ran successfully withi smooth tires ; and the next year he built another, to which he added the steam blast, thereby greatly increas- ing its steam-making power. Other improve- ments were devised, and the working parts materially simplified during the year following. A few years later he constructed a railway, eight miles long, for the Hetton Colliery, which was opened in 1822, stationary engines being employed at the heavy grades, and locomotives on the remainder of the road. Immediately afterward, Stephenson commenced the construc- tion of a railway for the transportation of coal from Darlington, in Durham, to the shipping port of Stockton-upon-Tees, a distance of six-

teen miles. So slight was public confidence in the capabilities of the locomotive at this time that it was with great difficulty that the act of Parliament authorizing this road was so modi- fied as to permit the use of locomotives through- out its whole length, instead of stationary en- gines, as at first contemplated. The road was opened September 25, 1825, and Stephenson's locomotives were found to surpass all expecta- tions.

"Mr. Allen spent several weeks on the Stock- ton and Darlington Railway, examining every point, and becoming thoroughly acquainted with the construction of the locomotive. The engines there used, though in advance of any- thing previously built, were still very imperfect. The fire-box consisted of a cylinder inside the boiler, with a flue passing through to the smoke- stack. Nothwithstanding Stephenson's success, the battle in behalf of the steam carriage was by no means won. While Mr. Allen was in England, the Liverpool and Manchester Rail- way was in process of construction, and whether it should be operated by locomotives or station- ary engines was a question still hotly debated. The most eminent engineers pronounced against the locomotive, and a committee appointed to consider the subject reported in favor of station- ary engines. It was resolved, however, to make a practical test, and a reward was offered for a steam carriage that should meet the require- ments of the road. Pending this controversy, Mr. Allen decided on locomotives for the Dela- ware and Hudson road, and three were built under his direction, with some improvements on existing engines, among which was the rc- moval of the fire box from the boiler, and its location underneath.

" In the autumn of 1828 Mr. Allen returned to America. Shortly afterward one of the locomotives arrived. This was set up in New York, its body resting on blocks and its wheels elear ; and in this position its working was ex- hibited to the directors of the company, by E. Dunscomb, on Water Street.1 In due time the

I The arrival and exhibition of the locomotive in New York was thus commented upon by the Morning Courier and New York Enquirer : ... "We yesterday attended the first exhibition of a locomotive engine called ' The Lion,'

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

others arrived. In the following summer, the canal being opened, and the railroad to Carbon- dale in operation, one of the locomotives built at Stourbridge, England, by Foster, Rastrick & Co., and named the " Lion," was forwarded by boat to Honesdale. On its arrival it was placed on the railroad track alongside the canal, and prepared for running, under the direction of Mr. Allen. It was a large and cumbrous affair, compared with the engines of the present day of the same power. The locomotive and tender were both four-wheeled, with spokes and felloes of wood, and iron tires and wheel centres. The locomotive was without a cab, the cylinders were upright, and a walking-beam on each side ap- plied the motive-power to the wheels. The first trip was made August 8, 1829, in presence of a large crowd, which had assembled to witness the novel spectacle. Predictions of failure were not wanting ; the breaking down of the track, which was built largely on trestles or piles, was es- pecially apprehended ; and there was little in- clination on the part of those present to trust themselves on the new vehicle. Mr. Allen, declaring that if there was any danger he was ready to meet it, and that it was not necessary to sacrifice any other life than his own, took his place alone, and set in motion the first locomotive ever run in the western hemisphere. The point of departure, as testified to by eye-witnesses of the trial trip, who have since resided in Honesdale

imported by the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, to be used upon their railway. On Wednesday the engine just imported was placed upon exhibition, and was unan- imously attended by gentlemen of science and particular intelligence. The steam was raised by the Lackawaxen (Lackawanna) coal, and sustained (although there was no friction) at between forty and fifty pounds to the inch. Pleased as we were, however, with the engine, we were much more pleased with the practical demonstration offered of the importance and usefulness of the coal which the company propose to bring to market. It is now reduced to a certainty that the Lackawaxen (Lackawanna) coal will generate steam in sufficient quantity to answer all the purposes to which it is applied, and this fact is not only of great importance to the company, but it is worth millions to our State."

The Dundaff Republican, on July 23, 1829, announced the arrival in Honesdale of " The Lion " in an enthusiastic editorial, saying among other things that the locomotive " would run four miles an hour " and that " in a few days the whole would be set in motion."

and maintained an acquaintance with the place through all its changes, was at a point opposite the old Methodist Episcopal Church building, and near the ' Beers' house. The track con- sisted of large hemlock timbers, laid on cross- ties, and with flat iron bars-subsequently known as the 'strap rail'-spiked next the inner edge. The reason which has for many years been accepted for the subsequent abandon- ment of the locomotive is that this track was found too light for it to run with safety. At the time of the trial trip, the timbers and ties, though securely connected, had become warped, and in some places raised from the ground, by exposure to the sun, and the track presented a surface somewhat irregular. As the 'Lion' passed over it, the weight pressed everything underneath firmly down to its place on the road- bed, with no little creaking and groaning. Be- yond this, however, Mr. Allen saw nothing to indicate that the track was unequal to the re- quirements of the locomotive. The 'Lion' proved to be all that the engineer had expected. After running at a fair rate of speed as far as Seelyville-the greater portion of the track then being on the northern bank of the Lackawaxen -the engine was reversed, and the 'Lion' re- turned to the dock at Honesdale, having met with no accident and encountered no difficulty. The trial trip was thus completed, and the locomotive was pronounced a success. 1

1 " On the 6th of October, 1829-less than sixty days after the trial of the 'Stourbridge Lion '-the competitive test of locomotives at Liverpool took place, four locomotives being entered for trial. On this occasion, the 'Rocket ' built by George Stephenson and his son, won the prize ; attaining an average speed of fourtcen miles an hour, and a maximum speed of twenty-nine miles under the most favor- able conditions. Less than a year later-Sept. 15, 1830- the Liverpool and Manchester Railway was opened ; and on this occasion Stephenson's ' Rocket ' ran fifteen miles at the rate of thirty-six miles an hour. This settled the railway question. Notwithstanding the cold shoulder given to the ' Stourbridge Lion,' it was obvious that the locomotive was to become, as Mr. Allen had foreseen, the railroad motor of the future. Experiments in this country rapidly followed. Mr. Allen, after leaving Honesdale, took charge of the construction of the South Carolina Railroad, connec- ing Charleston, S. C., and Augusta, Ga. Under his direc- tion a locomotive was built at West Point, N. Y., named the 'Best Friend of Charleston,' and placed on the road Nov. 2, 1830. This was the first one built, and the second

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" Mr. Allen remained in Honesdale for three weeks after this experimental trip, during which time he made some improvements in the loco- motive, and tested them on the track. After his departure, however, the 'Lion' was for some reason abandoned. Subsequently, the change in the road, by which the cars were made to run by gravity, rendered the locomotive no longer necessary ; and in the course of time the ' Lion' was dismantled and reduced to the state of scrap iron."

During the trial, or just after it had been made, a small cannon, a six-pounder, which had been captured from the British, was used to voice the enthusiasm of the crowd more em- phatically than was possible by other means. Upon its second discharge it shattered the arm of Alvah Adams, who was one of the gunners. This accident, so far as is now known, was the only one of the day.1

Some details of the construction of the " Lion" are given, not as of any particular value, but as information that may be of interest to the cu- rious.

The boiler of the locomotive is at an iron shop in Carbondale, and the tires of the wheels and the circles for stiffening and strengthening the spokes are in the office of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, in Honesdale. The tires are four feet in diameter, exclusive of the flanges, which project three-quarters of an inch on all sides. The breadth of the tire on the inner side, next to the felloes, is four inclies,

one placed on the track, on this continent. The South Carolina Railroad, one hundred and thirty-five miles in length, was opened in 1833. It was then the longest con- tinuous railroad line in the world ; and it is described by Mr. Allen as the first one ever constructed primarily for passenger travel-the pre-existing roads having been built mainly for the transportation of coal and merchandise. Railroads were at the same time projected and pushed forward in other portions of the country. On the 4th of July, 1828, the construction of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was commenced at Baltimore. In May, 1830, fifteen miles of the road were opened ; but it was nearly a year before the locomotive superseded horse-power in its operation."

1 The same cannon was used for firing a salute at the fun- eral of Captain Joseph Loeven, of the German Artillery (and of Company C, One Hundred and Twelfth Regiment, P. V. A.), in 1867, and bursting, wounded Benjamin Looris and Anthony Bocs.

and on the other side (or tread) three and one- quarter inches, exclusive of the flange, which is three-quarters of an inch. The tire is formed of two plates or bands of wrought iron, welded together, the inner one being one-half inch thick, the outer one three-quarters of an inch, making the entire thickness of the tire, exclu- sive of the flange, one and one-quarter inches. The tread of the tire is flat, not conical or taper- ing, as now usually made. The thickness of the felloes was not more than three and one-half inches, nor less than three inches. Each wheel had an iron circular plate surrounding the hub, placed on each side of the spokes,-the outer diameter of which was about twenty-six inches, the breadth of each plate generally two and one- quarter inches, but wider on one side, to receive the crank pin. These plates were connected by cross-plates five inches long, placed on each side of each spoke. The wooden spokes (twelve in each wheel ) were, where passing through that circle, five inches wide lengthwise of the hub, and two and one-eighth inches in thickness. An iron half-inch bolt passed through each spoke and both plates of the circle.

The crank pin, or journal, was attached to this stiffening circle, the centre of such crank pin being twelve and one-quarter inches from the centre of the hub, making the sweep of the crank twenty-four and one-half inches in diam- eter. The hubs, fellocs, spokes and filling be- tween the spokes, in the space where the crank pin was attached, were all of oak timber of best quality, and were painted a bright red.

The felloes were about four inches wide, and from three to three and one-half inches in thick- ness or depth, and the spokes were two and one-eighth inches thick, and five inches wide where the driving power was applied. The diameter of the hub was about ten inches, and the spokes about fifteen inches in length.

When the canal and railroad were both in perfect working condition the company had by no means overcome all obstacles. In 1829 they had to encounter an adverse feeling caused by the acknowledged inferior quality of the surface coal they had sent to market. This brought the Lackawanna anthracite into ill repute, and rival operators were not slow to take advantage

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of the situation and endeavor to crush the new rival by circulating stories that the whole de- posit in the Delaware and Hudson Company's lands was useless as a fuel. Much was said, too, of the perishable character of the road and canal, and the early bankruptcy of the corpora- tion was predicted. The company, under the pressure of these combined disadvantages, did, in fact, become scriously embarrassed, and all hopes of declaring dividends were abandoned for a time. " More than this, the cry of mo- nopoly was arrayed against the corporation at a time when the shares, first costing one hundred dollars each, had beeu six or seven years on the hands of the stockholders without yielding a single dividend, and had therefore in effect cost about one hundred and forty dollars per share, could actually be bought in the market at the time for about forty-eight to fifty dollars per share, or half what it had originally cost." For a time apprehension was rife, and the dissolu- tion of the company was ouly averted through the action of Philip Houe. With Messrs. Wurts, Holmes, Talbot, Tileston, Post, Hal- stead, Calder, Bryan, Chancellor Kent and other managers, he was called to attend an urgent meeting, to be held one Sunday, at the Old City Hotel, in New York, to determine whether the company should be dissolved or continue in its career. After mature delibera- tion it was decided that on the following morn- ing, no matter what the results might be, the company must close its doors. Mr. Hone, after the adjournment of the meeting, reflected upon the distress which the failure would bring, resolved, if possible, to avert it, and the next moruing before ten o'clock raised the whole sum necessary to save the company and handed it to the president without security.

The year 1831 did not open very auspiciously. The credit of the company was still depressed and the sale of coal was insufficient to advance its credit or snstain its expenses. John Bolton had succeeded Philip Hone as president and in 1831 he gave place at the annual election to John Wurts, a prominent lawyer of Philadel- phia and member of Congress. The other offi- cers chosen at that time were: Treasurer, John H. Williams ; Mauagers, Philip Hone, James

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History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 42

Author: Mathews, Alfred, 1852-1904. 4n Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co. Number of Pages: 1438

Author: Mathews, Alfred, 1852-1904. 4n
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co.
Number of Pages: 1438