History of the counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pt. 2, Part 60

Author: Mathews, Alfred, 1852-1904; Hungerford, Austin N., joint author
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Everts & Richards
Number of Pages: 948

USA > Pennsylvania > Carbon County > History of the counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pt. 2 > Part 60
USA > Pennsylvania > Lehigh County > History of the counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pt. 2 > Part 60

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" November 25th .- Examined Mr. Covell's new flat- bottomed boats for floating coal down the river.

" November 26th .- Examined some timber on the mountain and marked it."

Mr. Chapman then returned to Wilkesbarre, and during the winter visited Chenango Point, and found that "Mr. Whitney had given up the coal business."

Early in February, 1815, in company with a Mr. Weston, of Susquehanna County, who at Mr. Chap- man's request had agreed to take part in the project, or at least in superintending the cutting of timber and making plank and boards for arks, Mr. Chap- man returned to Lausanne.

The journal continues :

" Thursday, 9th .- Cut some timber for boat plank. This day thirty-five loads of coal were taken from the bed, and during the last eight days twenty-two teams from the country below have been up for coal.

" Wednesday, 15th .- Assisted Mr. Peck in his prep- arations for getting off his ark, which is lodged on the roeks opposite an intended village of 'Coalville.'

" Thursday, 16th .- Spent the day assisting Mr. Peck. This morning the Freeman's Journal brought us the first and certain news of peace.

"Saturday, 18th .- Messrs. Cist and Miner set out for Wilkesbarre. Spent the day making runners for sled.

" Tuesday, 21st .- Mr. Weston arrived with two loads of goods, with Capt. Case in company. Took posses- sion of the ' White House.'

" Thursday, 23d .- Mr. Weston went to the Water Gap for hay. I worked on the log sled.

" Friday, 24th .- Mr. Horton came with Mr. Weston.

" Wednesday, March 8 .- Spent the day getting a white-oak log to the mill, and in finishing a log-way for boats. (This ' mill' was a short distance above the mouth of Nesquehoning Creek.)

" Thursday, 9th .- Spent the day preparing a place for building boats for coal. . . .

"Saturday, 25th .- Spent the forenoon in carrying plank, ete., to the river, and in the afternoon went down with some hands and floated my ark bottom down to Weiss' landing, Mr. Weston with me."

This landing was probably near the mouth of Maueh Chunk Creek, as we read elsewhere that Hil- legas, Cist, and Weiss had some years before formed the "Lehigh Coal-Mine Company," and taken up eight or ten thousand acres of unlocated land, and that about 1806 William Trumbull had an ark con- strueted at Lausanne, which brought down two or three hundred bushels. In a communication to the Historical Society, Mr. Erskine Hazard says that they, the "Lehigh Coal-Mine Company," "opened the mine where it is at present worked," which would be at Summit Hill, and "made a very rough road from the mine to the river," at Manch Chunk.

After detailing the work of himself and others at entting timber, sawing plank, shoeing oxen, cte., the journal continues :

" Wednesday, April 12, 1815 .- Employed two men, Ely and Miner, to finish the ark. Spent the day with them at Weiss's.

" Friday, 14/h .- Had a number of men to assist me. in turning the ark bottom at Weiss's. Did not suc- eeed in turning it.

" Saturday, 15th .- Rallied more men from the sur- rounding country, and succeeded in turning the ark bottom."

From this date to the 26th the journal details the occupation of Mr. Chapman and Mr. Cist, among other things, "examining the new coal-mine; ascer- tained that there is undoubtedly a large quantity of coal." The Nesquehoning was for many years called "The New Mine." By the 26th it would seem that the ark was loaded, as on that day Mr. Chapman "went up Mahoning Valley to engage hands for run- ning the ark," and on " Monday, May 1, 1815, walked to Lehighton to engage men for running boats at the 'Training' there to-day."

Whether he succeeded in getting men, or whether he sent the ark down the river, the journal does not state, but during the month of May he details the work of cutting timber, making plank, building and loading boats; and in June the journal continues :

" June 10, 1815 .- Proceeded to Maueh Chunk to take care of my boats. Loaded one.

" Monday, 12th .- At work loading my boats at Mauel Chunk.

" Wednesday, 14/h .- Finished lower boat.

" Thursday, 15th .-- Attended to loading upper boat. "July 23, 1815 .- Rode to Lansanne. Visited my boats.

661

BOROUGH OF MAUCH CHUNK.

"August 5th .- Walked to Lehighton and took the required oath as postmaster of Lausanne before Justice Pryor. Appointed Samuel Weston my assistant.

" Monday, 7th .- Raining in the morning. Ran my boats to Manch Chunk.

"Saturday, 26th .- Procured a box of coal from the 'Ground Hog Vein' for trial below. Explored the hill for more coal.

" Friday, Sept. 29, 1815 .- Arrived about sunset at Lausanne from Wilkesbarre, where I had been to engage workmen to build Flats.

" Friday, October 13th .- Engaged Ely, Sinton, and Eick to build boats; Sinton and self getting logs down the river from Turnhole, Eick and Ely building boats.

* X * * " Thursday, November 2d .- Spent the day reeaulk- ing my boats at Maneh Chunk.

" Tuesday, 7th .- Spent the day with Mr. Weston, opening the Ground Hog Vein, up Rhume Run."

The work during November and December appears to be that of opening the mines, making roads, getting out timber, etc. On the 13th of January, 1816, Mr. Chapman arrives by " stage-sleigh" at Philadelphia, where he saw " Mr. Wallace, Dr. Jones, Dr. Parke, ; Mr. Shober, Mr. Mifflin, and Dr. James," the two latter by appointment, and "made arrangements relative to Lansanne lands."

"Friday, 19th .- Rode to Allentown to breakfast, thence to Lausanne. Found the Lehigh had been very high. Ice suddenly gone out, and carried away all of my flats and arks exeept one at Mr. Weiss's. Thus has gone the fruits of almost a year's labor and expense."

Notwithstanding this misfortune, Mr. Chapman commenced at once the building of other boats, work- ing all of that winter and spring, and the journal continues as follows :

" Monday, 27th May, 1816 .- Set out down the river with two flats loaded with coal ; went to Easton.

" Tuesday, 28th .- Arrived at New Hope. Con- tracted with Jacob B. Smith for all the coal, more or loss, at $18.50. For the first ten tons, cash down ; remainder at same price, ninety days' credit.

" Wednesday, 29th .- Weighed the coal, and found the whole amount twelve tons, three quarters (fifteen hundredweight).

" July 3, 1816 .- Set out for the Lehigh to make ar- rangements relative to my boats and arks. . . .

"Jan. 4, 1817 .- Set out for the Lehigh at Lausanne to attend to the business of my boats and coal at that place. Returned on the 11th, having been absent one week.

" March 1st .- After examining the situation of my flats, proceeded down the river to Mr. Balliet's. Stayed with Gen. Craig.

" March 28th .- There having been rain, returned to Lausanne, but could not get a pilot, as all were engaged. Attended to my boats ; got them frec.

" Sunday, April 27, 1818 .- Proceeded in the morn- ing (after breakfast at Mr. Harman's) toward the landing at the Lehigh. Stopped a short time at the Beaver Meadow, at Quakake Valley, and arrived at Klotz's, at Lausanne, about 33 p.M. Here being in- formed that the gentlemen who have undertaken the improvement of the Lehigh navigation were at Le- highton, I proceeded to that place and found them at Hagenbuch's. Spent the evening in conversation with Messrs. White, Hazard, and Hauto, on the subjeet of the Lehigh navigation."

Here ends that part of the diary which pertains to the operations of Miner, Cist, and Chapman. It will be noticed that in the last entry which we have quoted Mr. Chapman speaks of meeting and consulting with . the men who afterwards successfully mined coal where he and his partners through adverse eireum- stances had failed. We shall presently show how the attention of those men was drawn to the field through the operations of their predecessors. Mr. Chapman was destined to again labor in the field he had first visited in 1814. Hle entered the employ of the Le- high Coal and Navigation Company as their engi- neer, and died in Manch Chunk in 1827. The imme- diate eanse of his sickness was a cold taken while en- gaged professionally in llackelbernie tunnel.

Josiah White and Erskine Hazard, who were en- gaged in making wire at the Falls of Schuylkill, bought most of the coal shipped by Miner, Cist, and Chapman, which reached Philadelphia safely (three out of the five arks they had intrusted to the turbu- lent Lehigh being wrecked), and it cost them twenty- one dollars per ton. White and Hazard had been induced to try anthracite by learning that Joshua Malin had successfully used it in his rolling-mill. Their first experiment was a failure. Another was tried, "and," says Hazard in his communication, from which we have already quoted, "a whole night was spent in endeavoring to make a fire in the fur- nace, when the hands shut the door and left the mill in despair. Fortunately, one of them left his jacket in the mill, and returning for it in about half an hour, noticed that the door was red-hot, and npon opening it was surprised at finding the whole furnace at a glowing white heat. The other hands were sum- moned, and four separate pareels of iron were heated and rolled by the same fire before it required renew- ing. The furnace was then replenished, and as let- ting it alone had succeeded so well, it was concluded to try it again, and the experiment was repeated with the same result."

Successful Opening of the Mines and Improve- ment of the River .- Josiah White, having gained a practical knowledge of the value of the Lehigh coal, made inquiry into their ownership and eondi- tion, and determined to visit them to see if anything could be done there. He started out with William Briggs, a stone-mason, who had been working for him, and George F. A. Ilauto, who had been an oc-

662

HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

casional visitor at the Falls of Schuylkill, and the little party reached Bethlehem on Christmas-eve, 1817. They stayed at Lausanne and Lehighton, as the places nearest the mines, where they could board while visiting them. After a week spent in examina- tion, White returned home favorably impressed with the practiceability of mining coal and of improving the river so that it could be carried to Philadelphia. " It was concluded," he says, " that Erskine Hazard, George F. A. Hauto, and myself should join in the enterprise. I was to mature the plan ; Hauto was to procure the money from his rich friends; Hazard was to be the scribe, he also being a good machinist and an excellent counselor." We will remark here that Hauto never fulfilled his part in this plan, and that, being a less desirable character than the other pro- jeetors had supposed him, his interest was bought by them at a heavy sacrifice in 1820.

Josiah White, in his communication to the His- torical Society, says, "We three at once set about getting a lease of the Lehigh Coal-Mine Company's lands,-ten thousand acres for twenty years, for one ear of corn a year, if demanded; and from and after three years to send to Philadelphia at least forty. thousand bushels of coal per annum on our own ac- count, so as to be sure of introducing it into the mar- ket, by which means we hoped to make valuable what had hitherto proved to be valueless to the Coal- Mine Company ; our intention being to procure the property of the mine and river, which by our plan (of navigation) was to support itself. We soon ob- tained the grant of a lease, as mentioned, which re- quired two or three weeks to perfect, and during this time Erskine Hazard wrote out the law on the prin- ciples mentioned, and then we all posted to Harris- burg to procure its passage through the Legislature, in which we succeeded on the 20th of March, 1818, entitled an act to improve the navigation of the river Lehigh."

Seven laws had before been procured for this purpose (in 1771, 1791, 1794, 1798, 1810, 1814, and 1816), and a company had been formed under one of them which spent nearly thirty thousand dollars in clearing out channels, but the work was relinquished because of the formidable character of the slate ledges about seven miles above Allentown.

White, Hazard, and Hauto now proposed, after two failures in working the mines and at several in im- proving the river, to undertake those two enterprises and push them to a successful completion. Their project was considered chimerical, the improvement of the Lehigh particularly being deemed impracti- cable because of the failure of the various companies who had undertaken it under previous laws, one of which had raised money by lottery. Messrs. White and Hazard came to Mauch Chunk in April, 1818, and having made a survey of the river for the pur- pose of carrying out their plan of navigation, they also bought the tract of land on Mauch Chunk Creek

to enable them to make, as they supposed they could, an unbroken plane for a road from the great coal- mine to the river of two feet in deseent in the one hundred. But in laying it out it was found that the fall in the creek for two and a half miles at the lower end was too great, and they were therefore obliged to make a variation in the plan from one foot to about four and a half to the hundred. White and Hazard made the location of this road themselves, and it is said to have been the first "laid out by an instru- ment, on the principle of dividing the whole descent into the whole distance as regularly as the ground would admit of, and have no undulation." Upon this road the coal was, at the commencement of the work, hauled from Summit Ilill to Mauch Chunk.

During the year 1818 the plan for the organization of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company was arranged on the basis of a capital of two hundred thousand dollars in two hundred shares of one thou- sand dollars each, of which White, Hazard, and Hauto were each to have fifty, leaving fifty to be subscribed for by others, who were to have all that was made up to eighteen per cent., and the principal proprietors the residue. But there was a diversity of opinion about the relative profits of the two interests, -mining and navigation,-some having faith in the success of one and some in that of the other. There- fore it was considered expedient to form two com- panies.

The Lehigh Navigation Company was organized Aug. 10, and the Lehigh Coal Company on Oct. 10, 1818. White, Hazard, and Hauto were the leading men in both companies. In the spring of 1820 they were consolidated, and on Feb. 13, 1822, incorporated under the title of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. The first election of officers of which there is any record preserved occurred on the 23d of May, 1821, when John Cox was chosen president ; Jonathan Zell, treasurer; Jacob Shoemaker, seere- tary ; and Messrs. White and Hazard acting managers. Prior to the consolidation work had been carried on by the separate companies with many difficulties and under the disadvantage of seanty funds.

The Navigation Company, as soon as it was organ- ized, began the work of making the river a safe water- way, with thirteen hands, under Josiah White, at the mouth of Nesquchoning Creek. The number of em- ployes was soon increased to seventy, and afterwards to a much larger mmmber. They rigged two scows, about thirty-five feet long by fourteen feet wide, for lodging- and eating-rooms for the men ; also one seow for the managers' counting-house, store-house, and dwelling, and one for kitchen and bake-house. I these four boats, as the work at one point was fin- ished, they floated down to another at which opera- tions were to be commenced. White says, "The im- provement being in a wilderness country, the work- men came from many nations, and were strangers to us. We kept but little cash abont us, paying the men

RESIDENCE OF THE LATE HON. H. E. PACKER, MAUCH CHUNK, PA.

663

BOROUGH OF MAUCH CHUNK.

in cheeks, which were not to be paid by the banks unless signed by two of us. Thus we offered no in- ducements for them to connnit any violence on us in the wilderness, for we were known to have no money on our persons. We were each (himself and Hazard) elad in a complete suit of buckskin clothes, and were sometimes ourselves looked upon as suspicious persons in the country around."

The improvement consisted at first of wing dams, as the company could not then raise sufficient incans to make a slack-water navigation, and they did not know that the market would take from them a sufh- cient quantity of coal to justify the expense of a more perfeet system of improvement. In their report to the stockholders, Dee. 31, 1818, the managers said that they had " made dams amounting in length to about thirteen thousand feet, and supposed to contain up- wards of sixteen thousand perches of stone. By these dams the parts of the lower section that were eonsid- ered the worst have been made navigable at all sea- sons of common low water, and a fresh dam of four hundred and fifty feet long is nearly finished, which they trust will accommodate the publie with a navi- gation to Easton the coming season." The following year, however, they found that they had been misin- formed in regard to the lowest point reached by the river, and that the natural flow of the Lehigh was insufficient to give eighteen inches and a width of twenty-five feet, as was required by law, and hence they were obliged to resort to the plan of producing artificial freshets. For this purpose a peculiar sluice was needed, and Josiah White devoted himself for several weeks to the work of constructing one, finally producing what came to be known as the " Bear Trap." He built a miniature experimental sluice in Maueh Chunk Creek, about where Concert Hall now stands, and the name " Bear Trap" was given to it by the workmen, who were annoyed by the inquiries of the curious as to what they were making.1

During the year 1819 twelve of these dams and locks were built, and the managers fully proved their ability to send to the market, by the artificial naviga- tion, such a regular supply of coal as would supply the demand. The improvement of the river was ex- tended to the Lehigh Water Gap, ten miles below Mauch Chunk. The company, notwithstanding it had spent all of its eapital, employed as many men during the winter of 1819-20 as they could find work for, and kept their financial condition a secret from the public. It would have been ruinous for them to have disbanded their men, " and," says White, " would have confirmed the public in what they had predicted,- another failure."

In the year 1820, the two companies having been united, as heretofore described, further improvements were made in the loeks and dams, and the first an-

thracite coal sent to market by artificial navigation, the whole quantity being three hundred and sixty-fire tons, which proved more than enough for family supplies in Philadelphia, and the company being indebted to the rolling-mills for taking the surplus. The price was $8.40 per ton. In 1821 the amount sent down the river was one thousand and seventy-three tons. In 1822 and 1823 the descending navigation was perfected. In the former year two thousand two hundred and forty tons of coal were shipped, and in the latter five thousand eight hundred tons, of which one thousand tons was left and soll the next spring. In 1824, " with many misgivings," says Josiah White, "there was sent down the enormous quantity, as it was thought, of nine thousand five hundred and forty-one tons." The predictions that were made that not half of it would be sold did not prove true, for people finding that the supply was likely to be permanently adequate, and the price kept at $8.40 or less, began to use it more generally for domestic purposes. The turning-point in the use of anthracite had been reached. In the year 1825 the company sent to market twenty-eight thousand three hundred and ninety-three tons of coal. Here we take leave of the oldl system of navigation, of which a further account will be found in the chap- ter on internal improvements, as well as the history of the more advanced canal navigation which sue- ceeded the river improvement.

The mine at Summit Hill had, of course, been vig- orously worked to supply the quantities of coal which we have seen were shipped from 1820 to 1825. The coal was taken out as stone is quarried. Hauto, writ- ing of it in December, 1819, says, ". . . We have un- covered about four acres of coal, removing all the earth, dirt, slate, etc. (about twelve feet deep), so as to leave a surface for the whole of that area of nothing but the purest eoal, containing millions of bushels. We cut a passage through the rocks, so that now the teams drive right into the mine to load. The mine being situated near the summit of the mountain we are not troubled with water, and the coal quarries very easy. We have worked the stratum about thirty fect , deep, and how much deeper it is we do not know." In an address, published by the company in 1821, the mine was described as appearing "to extend over some hundreds of aeres of land, covered by about twelve feet of loose, black dirt, resembling moist gun- powder, which can be removed by eattle with scrapers, and thrown into the valley below, so as never to im- pede the work. The thickness of the coal is not known, but a shaft has been sunk in it thirty-five feet without penetrating through." Professor Silli- man, in his journal, nine years later, described the mine as follows: "The coal is fairly laid open to view and lies in stupendous masses, which are worked in open air exactly as in a stone-quarry. The excava- tion being in an angular area, and entered at different points by roads ent through the coal, in some places quite down to the lowest level, it has much the ap-

1 The terin was afterwards upplied to the locality where the sluice was constructed, and is still sometimes used to designate it.

664

HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

pearance of a vast fort, of which the central arca is the parade-ground, and the upper escarpment is the platform for the cannon." Mining coal from the open ent was practiced almost exclusively at this point until 1844, when, owing to the dip of the veins, the uncovering became too heavy to be profitably carried on, and was, therefore, abandoned and under- ground work resorted to. Prior to 1827 all of the coal taken from the Summit Hill mine was sent to Mauch Chunk in wagons down the turnpike road, which has been described, but this method of transporting it was superseded by a better one, which bore strong testimony to the enterprising and far-seeing nature of the managers.

The First Railroad, the "Back Track" and the "Switchback" or Gravity Road .- In May, 1827, the railroad from the mines to Mauch Chunk was be- gun. This was the first railroad ever constructed for

TWO-MILE TURN ON THE SWITCHBACK.

the transportation of coal, and, with one or two trifling exceptions, for any other purpose.' For many years it attracted the attention of travelers as a most won- derful novelty. This road was placed mainly on the

route of the old wagon-road. The distance to the river from the mines is about nine miles. The elevation of Summit Hill above the river at the point where the coal was delivered into boats is nine hundred and thirty-six fect. The railroad made this descent by an irregular declivity, finally passing the coal down long chutes into the boats on the water. The whole was completed under the superintendence of Josiah White, who had conceived the idea, in about four months. The rails were of rolled bar-iron, about three-eighths of an inch in thickness and one and a half inches inches in width, laid upon a wooden foundation. The sleepers were four feet apart, and rested upon stone. The loaded cars or wagons, as they were at first called, each carrying about one and a half tons of coal, were connected in trains of from six to four- teen, each attended by a couple of men, who regn- lated their speed. They made the descent entirely by the force of gravity, and being quickly un- loaded at the chutes, were returned on the same track to the mines, being drawn by mules. They descended with the trains in cars made expressly for the purpose, afford- ing a novel spectacle. The descent was made in about thirty minutes, and the mules, each pulling three or four cars, made the laborious back trip in about three hours. The length of the road, including " turn-outs" and branch roads to and into the mines, was twelve and a half miles. It was built at a cost of about three thousand and fifty dollars per mile, or, to be exact, a total of thirty- eight thousand seven hundred and twenty- six dollars. The managers said, in their annual report, "One hundred and forty-six railroad wagons have been made, and the utility of the road proved by transporting 27,770 tons of coal, at a saving over the turn- pike of 612 eents per ton, and has produced a saving this year of over $15,000. In mining the coal and in the boating depart- ment sixteen cents per ton have been saved, and the cost of the coal was thus reduced eighty cents per ton." The whole amount of coal sent to market during the year was thirty-two thousand and seventy-four tons, for the transportation of which nearly fifteen miles of boats were constructed from seven million four hundred and twelve thousand one hundred and eighty-three feet of lumber, taken from the forests up the river.

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History of the counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pt. 2, Part 60

Author: Mathews, Alfred, 1852-1904; Hungerford, Austin N., joint author Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Everts & Richards Number of Pages: 948

Author: Mathews, Alfred, 1852-1904; Hungerford, Austin N., joint author
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Everts & Richards
Number of Pages: 948