USA > Pennsylvania > Carbon County > History of the counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pt. 2 > Part 63
USA > Pennsylvania > Lehigh County > History of the counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pt. 2 > Part 63
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E. A. Douglass came here in 1835, as engineer on the canal, and surveyed for and had charge of the work from Mauch Chunk to White Haven. From 1843 until his death, in 1859, he was the superin- tendent and engineer of all the company's works, and a most efficient man in the place.
His brother, still a resident of Mauch Chunk, was also an engineer on the canal, and in 1843 engaged in coal-mining at Nesquehoning with Asa Packer. He carried on that business with various partners until 1865.
Ilon. A. G. Brodhead came here in 1841, and has ever since been identified with railroad enterprises. He was made superintendent of the Beaver Meadow Railroad in 1850, and has filled the position with ability ever since, the name of his office changing with the ownership of the road, and now being super-
intendent of the Beaver Meadow Division of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. He has been prominently identified with the movements which brought the gas- and water-works into existence, and with other local enterprises, and in 1869 was elected to the State Senate. His father, Garret Brodhead, came to Mauch Chunk some years after his own settlement and died here, and his brothers, Andrew, Abram, and Daniel, also became residents in the valley.
Charles O. Skeer made Mauch Chunk his home in 1841, and two years later engaged with Asa Paeker in the mercantile business. He succeeded Mr. Packer in the coal business at Nesquehoning, and is now a member of the firm of Linderman, Skeer & Co., oper- ating mines at Stockton.
Early Merchants .- After the town had been opened to individual enterprise the various minor industries sprang up, and the mercantile business passed into the hands of a number of active men, who, through competition, gave the people better advantages in trade than they had enjoyed when the company store was the only one in existence. Jesse K. Pryor, who had begun the manufacture of cabinet furniture prior to 1829, continued it through the next deeade, and James W. Allison followed the making of hats at the same period.
The first general store was opened in 1833 by Asa L. Foster, who had been the company's store-keeper, in connection with Dr. Benjamin Rush McConnell and James Broderick, and was located where the Lehigh Valley Railroad building now is. The inter- ests of his partners were soon taken by Mr. Foster, and in 1837 he sold out to Asa and R. W. Packer. They carried on the store until about the middle of the next decade, when they abandoned the mercantile business to enter upon coal-mining, as their prede- cessor, Mr. Foster, had done. They were succeeded by Hiram Wolf, Harry Wilbur, and David Treharu, under the firm-name of Wolf, Wilbur & Co. After several changes in the firm it finally passed out of existence, and Mr. Treharn is left to do business alone in the fine building erceted on the site of the old store. Other firms doing business in Mauch Chunk during the first ten years after the company store was closed were Nathan Fegley & Co., Caspar Christman and James Speer, and John Kent & Co. John Leisenring was a prominent merchant from about 1840 to his death, in 1854. Hle built a store where Mr. Heberling's now is, and rebuilt after the fire of 1849. The oldest merchants now engaged in business are David Treharn, Leonard Yeager, W. H. Stroh, C. M. Eberhart, and D. G. Bertsch, the latter having been uninterruptedly carrying on his present line of merchandising for thirty years.
Manufacturing-Early Experiments in making Iron with Anthracite .- In the year 1826 the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company erected a blast-fur- nace where the abandoned Salkeld Foundry now is, and in connection with it a tilt-mill or forge, which
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BOROUGH OF MAUCH CHUNK.
was originally used for breaking the stone that was put upon the coal road. During the first year, as is shown by the company's books, the sum of eleven thousand dollars was expended on this furnace and tilt-mill. Messrs. Hazard & White made experiments here with anthracite coal, endeavoring to smelt ore with it, and during the first year Mr. White conceived an imperfect idea of the hot blast, to produce which lie passed a current of air through a room heated with a number of common stoves,-the principle being the same, though in rudimentary form, as that by which success was finally achieved, though it was a failure in this instance. The furnace was abandoned and a larger one built on adjoining ground, in which char- eoal was used.
working best, two tons of iron were made per day, but the manufacture was not commercially successful.1
The First Anthracite Stoves made in Mauch Chunk .- In connection with the use of anthracite there are some interesting facts concerning the manu- facture of the first stoves in which it was used as a fuel. John Mears, a sheet-iron and tin-plate worker, established himself in the town during the first de- cade of its existence, and very soon engaged in making stoves in which the fuel so abundant in the neighbor- hood could be utilized for heating and cooking. Asa L. Foster, a man of much mechanical genius, spent a great deal of time in experimenting to perfect coal stoves, and many of his plans were carried out by Mears. Apropos of early stove manufacture in Mauch Chunk, we make some extracts from a letter written by Jolin -Mears to Thomas L. Foster :
During the fall and winter of 1837, Messrs. Joseph Baughman, Julius Quiteau, Henry High, of Reading, and F. C. Lowthrop made their first experiments in smelting ore with anthracite, in the old furnace " PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 20, 1879. erceted by White & Hazard, which was temporarily " .. . I remember well all the efforts that were made at an early day in regard to stoves, and their subsequent failures, but you give me undue credit in reference to the contrivances which were made to perfect thic art of cooking with (anthracite) coal, two or three of which you mention. Your father was the inventor of these things, while I only did the work, and he spent much time and money upon them, with the success that commonly attends ingenious men, though, as nothing is lost, the ideas he suggested were carried out by others, some of whom have made fortunes and gained fame through different patterns of stoves, some of them of value and some not. I pre- sume that John Wilson, who so much delighted to be called 'John Wulson the tinker,' a man of rough habits and manners, but a good-hearted soul, never- theless, made the first stove that ever was used for burning anthracite coal. This John was one of the fitted up for the purpose. They used about eighty per cent. of anthracite, and the result was such as to surprise those who witnessed it, and to encourage the persons undertaking it to go on with the work. In order, therefore, to test the matter more thoroughly, they built a small furnace just below Mauch Chunk, by the weigh-lock, which was completed during the mouthi of July, 1838. Its dimensions were: stack, twenty-one and a half feet high, twenty-two feet square at base, boshes five and a half fect across, hearth fourteen to sixteen inches square, and four feet nine inches from the dam-stone to the back. The blowing apparatus consisted of two cylinders, each six feet in diameter, a receiver of the same di- ameter, and about two and a half feet deep; stroke, eleven inches, each piston making from twelve to fif- teen strokes per minute. The power was derived from an overshot water-wheel, with a diameter of | first eighteen workmen who came up with Josiah fourteen feet. Blast was applied in this furnace White and Erskine Hazard from the Falls of the Schuylkill in 1818, and commenced operations at Mauch Chunk. The stove was a plain, round, sheet- iron cylinder, such as you may have seen since, with fire-door, tearing-door, ash-pit, with drawer to carry off the ashes, and a sereen under the grate, made also of sheet-iron, with holes punched in it. I have made several of them. John Wilson also made the first : baking-stove I ever saw. This was an improvement, or rather an addition, upon the other stove, by which an oven was placed on the top, and flues to carry off the coal-gas and lead it up the pipe. This was a rude article, but answered the purpose. I also made sev- cral of them, but with a square oven instead of round, and they were good bakers. Samuel Lippincott after- wards tried to utilize the old-fashioned ten-plate stove by putting an additional story on the lower part, in order to make space for the coal-furnace. This was only a partial success, and did not last long. The August 27th, and kept up until September 10th, when they were obliged to stop owing to imperfections in the apparatus for heating the blast. Several tons of iron of No. 2 and 3 quality were produced. The fuel was not entirely, but was principally, anthracite. The temperature did not exceed 200º Fahrenheit. A new and better apparatus for heating the blast was procured, and the furnace was again put in operation in November, 1838, and worked remarkably well for five weeks exclusively with anthracite, when the cour- pany was obliged for want of ore to blow out on Jan. 12, 1839. The largest amount of iron produeed was about one and a half tous per day of Nos. 1, 2, and 3 iron. The average temperature of the blast was about 400º Fahrenheit. The following season the furnace was improved, and on July 26th again put in blast, and continued until Nov. 2, 1839, when the firm having dissolved, it was blown out. For about three months no other fuel than anthracite coal was used, and after the improvement of the furnace, when i 1 See Appendix B.
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
first attempt at warming by heated air was, I think, made by my father, at No. 3 Broadway, where we then lived. This was effected by a chamber baek of the open grate in the parlor, and a hot-air pipe passing from the same to the chamber above. . . .
"I ought to mention in this connection that after this Josiah White had a more elaborate concern at his house on the hill, made also by John Wilson, and it worked well, as I believe, while it lasted, which was not long, for being made of thin iron it soon rusted away, and was abandoned.
" Before I close this subjeet I ought perhaps to tell you how we improvised a fire lining for the primi- tive stoves. A wooden drum was made two inches less the diameter of the stove, with slats nailed round ; a short distance from each other, and large auger- holes bored in each end. This drum was filled with shavings and chips, then put in the stove, and well mixed sand and clay rammed down between the iron and wood. When all was finished fire was applied to the cotton, and, when partially burned, other wood was put in, and then the coal. This was the kind of ' cylinder' used in Mauch Chunk for many years, and, I believe, lasted as long as most of those of modern manufacture .. ..
" I am your friend, as ever, " JOHN MEARS."
Foundries .- The Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company established a foundry where now are the dismantled and unused works on Broadway, last op- erated by Jacob II. Salkeld & Son. John Fatzinger rented this foundry about 1830, and purchased it a little later. He and Jacob H. Salkeld carried on the establishment for many years, and supplanted the original building with the present substantial brick structure. They made the machinery for the Mount Pisgah planes, In 1851, Fatzinger & Salkeld leased the foundry to William Butler and Samuel Bradley, who operated it for the first five years, or until 1856, with such suecess that they were obliged to employ from sixty to one hundred men. Mr. Fatzinger dying, Salkeld, in partnership with Mr. Roberts, carried on the works for about five years, subsequent to which the firm became Salkeld & Son, and so remained until work was suspended. The buildings at the present writing stand vacant, and offer a good location to some enterprising worker in iron.
The Mauch Chunk Iron-Works, at present owned by W. H. Stroh, were started by Edward Lippincott and Elias Miner in 1845. They began a general foundry business in a small way, and also built cars, but soon increased the capacity of the works, and then put in blast an old furnace, which had been erected by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Com- pany. Lippincott & Miner also built a foundry at White Haven, in company with Samuel Hayden. This was burned, but was rebuilt by the enterprising owners, who then took into partnership William An-
thony as a third partner. They carried on the White Haven foundry about five years. In the ownership of the Manch Chunk works Edward Weiss became associated with the original firm. Not long afterwards they failed, and were succeeded by the Mauch Chunk Iron Company, which met with such poor success that bankruptcy ensued. The works then passed into the hands of Gen. Charles Albright, who retained an in- terest in them as long as he lived. William H. Stroh became his partner in 1863, and since Gen. Albright's death, in 1881, has carried on the business alone. The superintendent is George Schmauch, and the foreman of the foundry Amos Stroh. From seventy- five to one hundred men have employment here. The power is derived both from steam and water, there usually being no necessity for resorting to the former. The water-wheel, said to be the largest in the State, is forty feet in diameter. The output of the Match Chunk Iron-Works consists of steam-engines, mite and quarry machinery, car- and bridge-castings, coal- gigs for anthracite and bituminous coal, iron fronts for buildings, and all kinds of architectural iron- work, steam-pumps, grate bars, and, in addition, gen- eral fonndry-work. The furnace, which was the un- profitable part of the works, and caused the ruin of the former owners, was abandoned many years ago.
Wire-Mill .- The Lehigh Coal and Navigation Com- pany wishing to make their own wire-ropc, established works for that purpose in the old grist-mill building on Susquehanna Street in 1849. E. A. Douglass was superintendent and G. W. Salkeld his assistant. The idea of manufacture was evolved by Erskine Hazard from an idea suggested by the French bobbin ma- chines, and was afterwards fully perfected in these works. Upon the machines devised by Mr. Hazard all of the wire-rope used by the Coal and Navigation Company for many years was manufactured. As the company was not empowered by its charter to make wire-rope for sale, the works were leased in 1852 by Fisher Hazard, son of Erskine, who carried them on very successfully until recent years, making great im- provements and enlarging the facilities for produc- tion by erecting a second stone building on Susque- hanna Street. In 1872 the Hazard Manufacturing Company was formed and the wire-rope industry transferred to Wilkesbarre, where many improve- ments were made in the method of manufacture and the business greatly enlarged. The wire-mill on Broadway in this place was established in 1858 by George W. Smith and Nathan Fegley for the purpose of making wire-screens by a peculiar process. It passed into the possession of Fisher Hazard by sheriff's sale in 1859, was burned and rebuilt, and is now operated by the Hazard Manufacturing Com- pany as a wire-mill, employing about fifteen hands.
Grist-Mills .- The first grist-mill (the stone build- ing in which is now the office of the Mauch Chunk Democrat) was built by the Lehigh Coal and Naviga - tion Company, the work being commenced in 1821, ,
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BOROUGHI OF MAUCH CHUNK.
and not fully completed until 1825. This mill, as well as one which was built about the same time at Laurel Run (now Rockport), was finished by Abra- ham Stroh, who was a practical millwright. The old stone mill was in operation for many years. For some time the water was carried by a race from the creek over the street and into the second-story build- ing, but this arrangement proving a great annoyance because of the dripping of the water on passers-by, was finally abandoned and a better one substituted.
In 1857, Alexander Robinson advertised that having completed his new steam grist-mill, he was prepared to do all kinds of grinding. This was the beginning of the present brick mill at the foot of Broadway.
Banking .- The pioneer banking institution was es- tablished July 24, 1852, by Rockwood, Hazard & Co., the senior member of which firm is now eashier of one of the Newark, N. J., national banks. The other members were Fisher, Erskine, and Albert B. Haz- ard, E. A. Douglass, and William Reed. The capital stock was fifty thousand dollars. This bank was in existence for a period of five years, when the part- nership expiring by its own limitation, business was suspended. The banking-house was originally where the First National Bank now is, and was afterwards on the spot where the express-office in the Lehigh Valley Railroad building now is.
The Mauch Chunk Bank, which was the predeces- sor of the First National Bank, commeneed business Oct. 1, 1855, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, in a building on the site of the present First National Bank. Hiram Wolf was president ; A. W. Leisenring, cashier ; and A. W. Butler, book-keeper ; and the directors were Hiram Wolf, O. H. Wheeler, William R. Otis, C. O. Skeer, George Belford, M. M. Dimmick, A. A. Douglass, James McLean, Jacob Bowman, Daniel Heberling, Tilghman Arner, Cam- eron Loekhard, and R. D. Stiles. Business was suc- cessfully carried on until 1865, when the First National Bank having come into existence, the affairs of the old bank were wound up.
The First National Bank of Manch Chunk com- menced business Ang. 1, 1864, with a capital of one ' his decease. These are the only deaths of members hundred thousand dollars, which was increased to| four hundred thousand dollars on April 1, 1865. William Lilly was the first president, and A. W. But- ler eashier, and the directors were William Lilly, Daniel Bertsch, George Belford, George Ruddle, C. O. Skeer, A. A. Douglass, and A. W. Butler. The present officers are A. W. Leisenring, president, and 1 A. W. Butler, cashier. The latter gentleman has been connected with the old bank and its successor, the present institution, for nearly twenty-nine years.
The "articles of association" of what is now the Second National Bank of Mauch Chunk were ac- knowledged by the shareholders on the 24th of May, 1864, and taken by Gen. Charles Albright to Wash- ington, where they were presented for the approval of
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the comptroller of the currency on the 3d day of June, 1864. A new banking law having been approved on that day, it became necessary to prepare and acknowl- edge new papers, and before this was completed per- sons connected with the " Mauch Chunk Bank" for- warded articles of association, which were approved, and thus received the title of the " First National Bank," to which the Second was, by reason of priority of application, entitled, and which it would have had except for the circumstances above related. The re- vised articles of association were signed and acknow !- edged by eighty-four shareholders, and approved by the comptroller on the 8th of June, 1864, the capital stock being one hundred thousand dollars, and the association to continue until Jan. 1, 1883. A few months after the organization the capital was in- ereased to one hundred and fifty thousand dollars (its present eapital), and upon the expiration of the origi- nal charter it was extended for twenty years longer, -to Jan. 1, 1903. The directors named in the arti- cles of association were Charles Albright, Fisher Hazard, Joseph Wintermute, D. K. Shoemaker, T. F. Walter, Joseph Obert, John C. Dolen, J. W. Smith, and William Carter. On the 19th of July, 1864, D. K. Shoemaker resigned, and the vaeaney was filled by the election of William L. Patterson. At the first eleetion for directors the following were chosen : Charles Albright, Fisher Hazard, T. F. Walter, Wil- liam Carter, John C. Dolen, Joseph Obert, J. W. Smith, A. H. Fatzinger, and A. L. Mumper. The present board of directors are John C. Dolen, La Fayette Lentz. N. D. Cartright, Charles O. Skeer, Christopher Curran, A. C. Prince, Leonard Yaeger, William H. Stroh, and Thomas L. Foster. In addi- tion to these above named, the following have been directors at different times since the organization of the bank : Daniel Olewine, J. C. Hayden, Thomas Kemerer, R. Q. Butler, Samuel Harleman, C. R. Potts, C. H. Diekerman, Solomon Dreisbach, and James M. Dreisbach. Solomon Dreisbach died Aug. 14, 1880, while a member of the board, and Charles Albright died Sept. 28, Isso, having been president of the bank from its organization until the time of of the board while holding that position since the organization of the bank. Of the others who have been directors, William Carter, A. L. Mumper, 'and Joseph Wintermute are at this time ( Dec. 24, 1883) deceased. The first officers of the bank were : Presi- dent, Gen. Charles Albright : Vice-President, Fisher Hazard: Cashier, Thomas L. Foster. During the absence of Gen. Albright in the army, Mr. Hazard attended to his duties as president, and upon his resignation as director, the office of vice-president was abolished. Gen. Albright, as above stated, was an- nually re-elected president until the time of his de- cease, when Thomas L. Foster, who had up to that time been the cashier, was elected president, and James M. Dreisbach was elected eashier, these gentle-
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HISTORY OF CARBON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
men being the officers of the bank at this time (De- cember, 1883). From Jan. 4, 1865, to June 11, 1869, this bank was a United States depository, and re- eeived and disbursed nearly eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars of internal revenue. At the time of the last semi-annual report its total profits since its organization were $299,093.16, of which it had paid its shareholders $260,791.55, leaving $38,301.61 un- divided profits and surplus fund. At this time it holds assets in United States and other bonds and stocks, and bills discounted and balances due from other banks $633,036.06, against liabilities, eircu- lating notes due depositors and banks, $40,543.19, showing excess of assets over liabilities of $192,492.87.
G. B. Linderman & Co. established themselves in the banking business in 1867, and conducted affairs prosperously under that title until the Linderman National Bank was organized, Dec. 30, 1882. The officers of this bank are : President, James I. Blakslee ; Vice-President, A. G. Brodhead, Jr. ; Cashier, S. S. Smith ; Directors, James I. Blakslee, A. G. Brodhead, Jr., Charles O. Skeer, W. C. Morris, Jr., John A. Mayer, J. H. Wilhelm, H. Sondheim, A. P. Blakslee, and John Taylor.
The Newspaper Press .- The first newspaper issued here was the Lehigh Pioncer and Mauch Chunk Courier, which made its initial appearance on Saturday, May 30, 1829, bearing the name of Amos Sisty at its column heads. The salutatory contained the following :
" The place in which we have located possesses many attractions and peculiar objects which are cal- culated to interest and gratify the minds of the curious. To give an account of the transactions of the place; the improvements which are being made or contem- plated, and the curiosities with which it abounds will be one of our chief objects, and demand our particular attention."
This paper really owed its existence to the enter- prise of Asa L. Foster, one of the most energetic, able, and progressive characters, who came at an early day to Manch Chunk in the employ of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. Mr. Foster purchased a press and materials for a printing-office early in 1829. and secured the services of Sisty, a young acquaint- ance, whom he knew to possess the requisite literary and mechanical skill, by paying his master for the unexpired time of his apprenticeship, and arranged that the paper should be conducted under his (Sisty's) name. For years Mr. Foster devoted his spare time and surplus energies to writing for this little sheet published in the new coal settlement, and his efforts being well supplemented by young Sisty's, the Pioneer not only contained valuable matter, instructively and entertainingly written, but presented a very creditable appearance. The paper was in fact far in advance of what might be expected at that carly time, and in so primitive and rude a community as was the Mauch Chunk of 1829 and 1830.
Originally issued as a five-column folio, the Pioneer
was made in the second year of its publication an ex- eecdingly neat quarto. In typographical appearance the files1 of this period compare favorably with mod- ern newspapers of similar form. On Dee. 15, 1832, the paper again appeared as a folio, with four broad columns, and the words .Lehigh Pioneer were dropped from the title, leaving it simply the Mauch Chunk Courier. At this time J. W. Chapman assumed edi- torial charge of the paper, and was connected with it until November, 1834, when it was for some reason suspended. In November, 1835,-the Courier was re- vived by Mr. Foster and M. H. Sisty (a brother of the first publisher), and under their management it con- tinued to appear until January, 1838, when, with the beginning of the eighth volume, John Painter became associated with Mr. Sisty in its publication, under the firm-name of Sisty & Painter. Mr. Sisty soon with- drew, and the paper was then carried on by John & W. P. J. Painter until 1841, when John Painter be- eame the sole manager. During all these years Mr. Asa L. Foster had been the owner of the paper which he founded, and in 1842 he assumed personally its management. The following year, however, he sold the Courier to J. H. Siewers, Esq., who changed its name to the Carbon County Transit. In 1844 the original owner again secured the property, restored the time-honored name, and after a short period placed it under the management of Samuel Taylor and his sou, Thomas L. Foster, now president of the Second National Bank. To them succeeded the firm of Thomas L. & C. E. Foster, prior to 1847, and after- wards the Courier was successively managed by Taylor & Foster and Taylor & Meacham, by the latter firm being changed to the Mouch Chunk Gacette. Samuel Taylor purchased the office and material, and in May, 1857, sold out to E. H. Rauch (now of the Mauch Chunk Democrat), a native of Lancaster, who had for three years been the editor of the Lehigh Valley Times, at Bethlehem. He carried on the Gazette alone until 1860, when, being elected clerk of the Ilouse of Rep- resentatives, he took as a partner Sammuel Higgins, who retired, however, about a year later.
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