Indiana County, Pennsylvania, her people, past and present, Volume I, Part 18

Author: Stewart, Joshua Thompson, 1862- comp
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 930

USA > Pennsylvania > Indiana County > Indiana County, Pennsylvania, her people, past and present, Volume I > Part 18

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The Foster mine is owned by the Saltsburg Coal Company and was reopened in the fall of 1903 after standing idle a number of years. The coal is hauled down the run and around the face of the river bluff to the tipple ou the railroad by a narrow-gage steam locomotive. In December, 1904, this mine was producing 750 tons per day. At the Edri mine, which is situated on the hill east of the station of that name, the cars are brought out by mules. and lowered about 200 feet to a tipple on a spur from the railroad. A double-track grav- ity incline is the method for lowering and raising cars. About fifty men are employed and the daily output is 200 tons. This mine is operated by the Edri Coal Company.

The Bowman Coal Mining Company, S. J. Robinson, superintendent, operates a mine near the southern extremity of the field on the hill about three fourths of a mile south of Edri. The company employs sixty men and ships from 200 to 250 tons daily. Mules are used for hauling the coal from the breast out accurate measurements of the seam can easily

The Conemangh Coal Company, of Blairs- ville, Pa., F. M. Graff, superintendent, in 1903 opened a mine a half mile east of the Bowman Company mine. There were one hundred men on the pay roll in December, 1904, and they were getting about 7,000 tons per month. Al- most 1,000 feet of heading per month were being driven in the fall of 1904, and it is ex- pected that an additional capacity of 1,000 tons will soon be developed. A large tipple has been built over a railroad spur at the sheet-steel mill and cars are handled on the incline by steam power.

The Pittsburg Gas Coal Company has started a new coal town on Harper run, about one and a half miles south of Elders Ridge. This company began operations in the sum- mer of 1903 by building a dam across the run, erecting power houses, and starting six headings on the coal. Three of these head- ings are on the east side of the run and have natural drainage. The other three, on the west side of the run, are down the dip of the rocks, so a heading is being run almost due west to Big run to give natural drainage to all the workings in that part of the mine. Electric haulage and all modern improve- ments, both inside and ontside, are used at this mine.

The company erected 350 to 400 houses on its town site, known as Iselin. In March, 1905, according to John Reeds. assistant general manager, the town had a population of 2,000. and the company was employing 400 men and producing 1,850 tons of coal daily. Now there are 1,600 men and the daily production is 6,000 tons.

The Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburg rail- way has been extended from Creekside, In- diana county, to Iselin. It began hanling coal from this mine in August, 1904.

Thickness of the Pittsburg Coul .- The Pitts- burg coal bed in the Elders Ridge field is slaty and much parted in some places; in others it is clean and almost unbroken. It varies in thickness, including its partings and roof coal, from 7 to 10 feet. Generally the roof coal is not taken, being so much parted by thin hands of shale that it has little value. Moreover the shales over the roof coal are so soft and friable that the coal has to be left to support them. The bed has been opened . at a great many places in this basin, but there are hardly more than twenty localities where

HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

be made. A few measurements are given in owns a bank. The coal in this bank shows the detail to show the character of the seam.

Northern Block .- That portion of the El- ders Ridge field which lies east of Whisky run is the smallest of the three blocks into which the field is divided. The small outliers of a few acres in extent which are seen near Coal West Lebanon are the most northern rem- Shale nants of the great Pittsburg coal bed. Be- Coal yond this point the bed would be carried above the present surface by the rising axis of the Elders Ridge syncline if projected beyond the outerop.

About two thirds of a mile north of West Lebanon Holsten Brothers own a coal bank which was opened many years ago, but has been worked actively only since 1900. The coal dips southeast and is practically free from partings and horsebacks. The section is as follows :

Section at Holsten Brothers coal bank

Ft. in.

Coal

Shale and coal

Coal

Shale

1/2

Coal

2 2

Total 7 11/2

In a small outlier of the coal, a short dis- tance east of West Lebanon, Wilson Blakely

following thickness.

Section at Wilson Blakley coal bank

Ft. in.

1 8

0 11

Shale

Coal (seen)

1 3

Total

7 10

In the fall of 1903 this bank was delivering 2,500 bushels a month to the steam shovels working on the Buffalo, Rochester and Pitts- burg railroad cut near Parkwood, and the Madison Craig bank was working on a similar order.

These northern banks in the Elders Ridge field furnish a large part of the local supply in the Crooked creek valley. Being compact and hard, the Pittsburg coal comes out of the mine in firm blocks, which in spite of their impurities are preferred by the farmers for use in stoves and grates to the softer coal from the Upper Freeport seam as mined on Crooked creek.

CHAPTER VIII

CHANGES IN THE SYSTEM OF WEATHER

Great changes have taken place in our sys- but naked rocks. The mills were not expected tem of weather since the settlement of the to do any grinding after the latter end of western country, yet these changes have been May, excepting for a short time after a thun- so gradual that it is no very easy task to recollect or describe them. At the first set- tlement of the country the summers were much cooler than at present. For many years we scarcely ever had a single warm night during the whole summer. The evenings were cool and the mornings frequently uncomfort- ably cold. The coldness of the nights was due to the deep shade of the lofty trees which everywhere covered the ground. In addition to this, the surface of the earth was still fur- ther shaded by large crops of wild grass and weeds, which prevented it from becoming heated by the rays of the sun during the day. At sundown the air began to become damp and cool, and continued to increase in cold- ness until warmed by the sunshine of the day. This wild herbage afforded pasture for our cattle and horses from spring till the onset of winter. To enable the owner to find his beasts, the leader of each flock of cattle, horses and sheep was furnished with a bell sus- pended to the neck by a leathern or iron collar. Bells, therefore, constituted a con- siderable article of traffic in early times.

One distressing circumstance resulted from the wild herbage of our wilderness. It pro- duced innumerable swarms of gnats, mos- quitoes and horseflies. These distressing in- sects gave such annoyance to man and beast, that they may justly be ranked among the early plagues of the country. During that part of the season in which they were pre- valent, they made the cattle poor and lessened the amount of their milk. It was customary to build large fires of old logs about the forts, the smoke of which kept the flies from the cattle, which soon learned to change their position with every change of wind, so as to keep themselves constantly in the smoke.

dergust; our most prudent housekeepers, therefore, took care to have their summer stock of flour ground in the months of March and April. If this stock was expended too soon there were no resources but those of the hominy block or handmill. It was a frequent saying among our farmers that three good rains were sufficient to make a crop of corn, if they happened at the proper times. The want of rain was compensated in some de- gree by heavy dews, which were then more common than of late, owing to the shaded con- . dition of the earth, which prevented it from becoming either warm or dry, by the rays of the sun, even during the warmest weather. Frost and snow set in much earlier in former times than of late. The corn in this district of the country was mostly frostbitten by Sep- tember 22d. Such early frosts of equal sever- ity have not happened for some time past. Hunting snows usually commenced about the middle of October. November was regarded as a winter month, as the winter frequently set in with severity during that month, and sometimes in the early part.

For a long time after the settlement of the country there was an abundance of snow in comparison to the amount we usually have now. It was no unusual thing to have snows from one to three feet in depth, and of long continuance. The people became tired of see- ing the monotonous aspect of the country so long covered with deep snow, and "longed to see the ground bare once more." The labor of opening roads through those deep snows, which fell in a single night, to the barn, spring, smokehouse and cornerib, and espe- cially that of getting wood, was in the high- est degree disagreeable. A tree, when fallen, was literally buried in the snow, so that the length of his arms into it to get the log chain

Our summers in early times were mostly driver of the horses had to plunge the whole very dry. The beds of our large creeks, ex- cepting in the deep holes, presented nothing around the butt of the tree to haul it home.

HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

The depth of the snows, the extreme cold and length of our winters, were indeed distressing to the first settlers, who were but poorly pro- vided with clothing, and whose cabins were mostly very open and uncomfortable. Get- ting wood, making fires, feeding the stock, and going to mill, were considered sufficient em- ployment for any family, and truly those lab- ors left them little time for anything else.

As our roads, in early times, did not admit of the use of sleighs, the only sport they had in the time of deep snow was that of racing about on the crust of its surface. This was formed by a slight thaw succeeded by a severe frost. On this crust they could travel over rear of winter's frost," frequently fails of at- logs, brush and, owing to great drifts of snow taining its ultimate perfection. in many places, over the highest fences. From this history of the system of the These crusts were often fatal to the deer. weather of our early times, it appears that our Wolves, dogs and men could pursue them seasons have already undergone great and im- without breaking through the crust. The portant changes. Our summers are much deer, on the contrary, when pursued, owing warmer, our falls much milder and longer, and our winters shorter by at least one month, and accompanied with much less snow and cold than formerly. What causes have ef- fected these changes in our system of weather, and what may we reasonably suppose will be the ultimate extent of this revolution, already so apparent, in our system of weather ? to the smallness of their hoofs, always broke through it unless it was uncommonly hard. The hunters never killed the deer in the dead of winter, as their skins and flesh were then of little value. Taking advantage of them in the time of a erust they held to be a dishonor- able practice, and always relieved them from the pursuit of dogs and wolves whenever it fell In all countries the population of a desert by civilized and agricultural people has had a great effect on its climate. in their way to do so. Foreigners, however, who were not in the habit of hunting, often pursued and caught them on the crust for the sake of informing their friends in the old country by letter that they had killed a deer.

The spring of the year in former times was pretty much as at present. It commonly be- gan with an open spell of weather during the latter part of February, denominated by some pawwawing days, and by others weather breeders. The month of March was com- monly stormy and disagreeable throughout. It was a common saying that spring must not be expected until the borrowed days, that is, the first three days of April, were over. Sugar was often made in the early part of April. It sometimes happened that a great part of April was but little better than March, with regard to storms and rain, snow, and a cold chilling air. One year there were forty frosts noticed after the first day of April, yet the fruit was not wholly destroyed that year. During these days they never failed having cold, stormy weather, with more or less frost.

to vegetation, as our latest springs are uni- formly followed by the most fruitful seasons. It is a law of the vegetable world that the longer the vegetative principle is delayed, the more rapid when put in motion. Hence those northern countries which have but a short summer, and no spring, are among the most fruitful countries in the world. In Russia, Sweden and Denmark, the transition from winter to summer occupies but a very few days ; yet a failure of a crop in these countries is but a rare occurrence; while in our lati- tudes vegetation prematurely put in motion, and then often checked "by the laggering

Italy, which is now a warm country, with very mild winters, was, in the time of Horace and Virgil, as cold and as subject to deep snows as the western country was at its first settlement. Philosophy has attributed the change of the seasons in that country to the clearing of its own forests, together with those of France to the north, and those of Germany to the east and north of Italy. The same cause has produced the same effect in our country. Every acre of cultivated land must increase the heat of our summer by aug-, menting the extent of the surface of the ground denuded of its timber, so as to be acted upon and heated by the rays of the sun.

The future prospect of the weather through- out the whole extent of the western country is not very flattering. The thermometer in the hottest parts of our summer months al- ready ranges from ninety to one hundred de- grees. A frightful degree of heat for a coun- try as yet not half cleared of its native tim- ber! When we consider the great extent of the valley of the Mississippi, so remote from mountains to collect the vapors, augment and

On the whole, although the same variable system of weather continues, our springs were formerly somewhat colder, and accompanied with more snow than they are now, but the any sea to furnish its cooling breezes, without change. in these respects, is no way favorable

HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

diversify the winds, and watered only by a seconds; length of total eclipse, 4 minutes, few rivers, which in the summer are dimin- 5 seconds." ished to a small amount of water, we have all the data for the unpleasant conclusion that the climate of the western regions will ulti- mately become intensely hot and subject to distressing calms and dronghts of long con- tinuance.

Already we begin to feel the effects of the increase of the heat of the summer in the nox- ious effluvia of the stagnant water of the ponds and low grounds along the rivers. These fruitful sonrees of pestilential exhal- ations have converted large tracts of our coun- try into regions of sickness and death, while the excessive heat and dryness of our settle- ments, remote from the large watercourses. have been accompanied by endemie dysen- teries in their most mortal forms. Thus the most fortunate regions of the earth have draw- backs from their advantages which serve in some degree to balance the condition of their inhabitants with that of people of countries less gifted by nature in point of soil. climate and situation.

The conflict for equilibrium between the rarefied air of the South and the dense at- mosphere of the North will maintain the changeable state of weather in this country, as there is no mountainous barrier between us and the northern regions of our continent.

GREAT ECLIPSE OF THE SUN, JUNE 16, 1806

As this remarkable phenomenon occurred at a time when the population of the county was very limited, there are few persons now living here, or elsewhere for that matter, who can give a correct description of it. As it

At Pittsburg many were troubled as to whether or no the end of all things had come. Some hitherto hardened sinners besought the Almighty to forgive them their past trans- gressions. Sermons were preached on the Sunday previous (15th), and the text, "re- pent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," used on that occasion with peculiar prophetic fervor, was duly appreciated on the morrow. This occasion, like many others, il- lustrated the old saying :

When the devil was sick, the devil a monk would be, But when the devil got well, devil a monk was he.

At Philadelphia, a total obseurity suddenly turned the day into night. Business ceased, and the sounds of merriment and bustle of the crowded streets were hushed.

In the city of New York, a sudden and dis- mal gloom overspread the face of nature; the thermometer indicated a fall of the quick- silver of eighteen degrees, and the atmosphere was sensibly cooler. Not a cloud was to be seen.

An old settler, speaking in regard to this subject, said: "I thought the day of judg- ment was at hand and I was scared. The chickens went to roost, and everything was as still as night." Another remarked, "I was working on the mountain, and all of a sudden it hecame so dark that I could not see my way down the ravine. I waited and waited, it seemed to me a whole day, before the sun shone again."

A Cooperstown (N. Y.) writer says: "The atmosphere at this place on Monday last was serene and pure. The sun was majestically was a "thing of terror" to many of the people hright, until fifty minutes past nine o'clock in those days, and for years was a topic of discussion, we append extraets from papers, books, etc., to show its appearance at other points, as the same characteristic obscuration extended throughout the houndaries of Ven- ango county, the eclipse being calculated to be total in such parts of New York, New Eng- land, Ohio and Pennsylvania as were situated between 41° 35' and 43º 5' north latitude. A. M., when a little dark spot was visible about forty-five degrees to the right of the zenith. The shade increased until fifteen min- utes past ten, when stars began to appear, and the atmosphere exhibited a gloomy shade. At twelve minutes past eleven, the sun was wholly obscured, exhibiting the appearance of a black globe, or screen, with light behind it, the rays only of which were visible, and which were too feeble to occasion sufficient light to form a shade. Many stars now appeared, though less numerous than are usually seen in clear evenings. There was now 'darkness visible,' a sort of blackish, unnatural twilight. The fowls retired to their roosts, and the 'doves to their windows.' The birds were mute, ex- tially cheered the gloom. The dew descended,

Gen. Simon De Witt, of Albany, in giving an account of the eclipse, observed : "Fortun- ately on the morning of that day, the atmos- phere was very clear. The eclipse began at 9 hours, 5 minutes, 12 seconds. A. M .; the beginning of the total ohseuration was 11 hours, 8 minutes, 6 seconds ; the end of total darkness, 11 hours, 12 minutes, 11 seconds; cept the poor whip-poor-will, whose notes par- and of the eclipse, 12 hours, 33 minutes, 8 6

HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

and nature seemed clad in a sad, sombre and something like a sable livery.

"At fourteen minutes past eleven, a little bright point appeared to the left of the sun's nadir, similar to the focus of a glass when reflecting the rays of the sun. Suddenly a segment of the circle of that glorious orb emerged, and seemed to say 'sit lux' and was oheyed immediately, 'lux fuit,' as quick as thought. A small pin could be discovered on the ground. A more wonderful and pleasing phenomenon can hardly be conceived. The doves left their retirement; the whip-poor- will's melody ceased; and the face of nature again smiled. But some stars were still vis- ible, and Venus displayed her beauty until twelve o'clock. At forty minutes past twelve, the sun shone in full splendor, and in turn eclipsed the moon and all other heavenly luminaries by its glorious effulgence."

Rev. Dr. Nott, president of Union College, in his account says: "At the instant the last ray was intercepted and the obscuration be- came total, a tremulous undulating shadow, a kind of indescribable, alternate prevalence and intermixture of light and shade, struck the earth, and played on its surface which gave to the most stable ohjects the semblance of agitation. It seemed as though the moon rode unsteadily in her orbit; and the earth seemed to tremble on its axis. The deception was so complete that I felt instinctively, and in spite of the instincts of my reason to the contrary, a tottering motion. Some who were present, I observed took hold of whatever was near them for support, while others leaned forward, and insensibly flung themselves into an attitude which indicated that they found it difficult to stand.

"The scenes described at the commence- ment of the total obscuration reappeared when the first rays of the sun were reappearing; the same apparent agitation of the surface of the earth ; the same apparent struggle between light and darkness; the same separation be- tween light and shade into distinct and alter- nate arches, and the same motion reversed; for now the arches of light seemed to crowd those of shade inward; and the whole move- ment was from the horizon towards the center, which continued about the same time, and dis- appeared in about the same manner, as above described."

COLD WEATHER

1816

The year 1816 is memorable for extreme cold weather. There were frosts in every month, and the harvest of wheat and potatoes was nearly a failure. The corn crop was destroyed at each planting, and a general gloom settled over the community. The farmers wore overcoats in the harvest field, and the weather was decidedly cool during the year. The snow was unusually deep in the winter of 1815-16, and for nearly three months the river was closed by ice. The flood of the spring, in height and destructive power, was nearly equal to that of 1806.

A PROPHECY IN 1835 *

THE APPROACHING COMET

Lieutenant R. Morrison, of the Royal Navy, has published a most interesting work upon this magnificent phenomenon which is ex- pected to be seen in the course of the year 1835, between the months of May and August, in the constellation of Ursa Major. Lieuten- ant Morrison states that it will be far more splendid than the one of 1811; some writers affirm that "it will afford a degree of light equal to a full moon, that its tail will extend over 40 degrees," and when the head of the comet reaches the meridian its tail will sweep the horizon.

The author says:

"Relying on the correction of our princi- ple of cometary influence, we venture to pre- dict that the summer of 1835 will be remarked for its intense heat, which may be expected to destroy the harvest in some parts of the world. That year will be noted for earth- quakes and volcanoes, and other similar phe- nomena. The end of 1835, or early in 1836, may be expected to he remarkable for some one or more extensive earthquakes, because the frequent internal changes which the com- hustion creates, must necessarily produce a derangement of electricity. And while the comet is near the earth, overcharged with

· From the Falmouth English Packet.

HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

electricity, if there be any internal cavity of the earth deficient of that fluid, it will rush into the earth at that spot. This we take to have been the cause in 1456 near Naples, when the sudden rendings of the earth destroyed 40,000 human beings."

1836

The summer of 1836 was nearly as cold as that of 1816. There were frosts in every month in the year; there were one hundred and seventy-eight days of east wind and rain, and the only summer weather occurred in the first fourteen days of September, when the mercury in the thermometer ranged up to ninety degrees.

METEOROLOGICAL RECORD, 1911 AND 1912 W. R. Wehrle

1911

Maximum

temperature

in degrees

Fahrenheit

Minimum

temperature

in degrees

Fahrenheit

Precipitation in inches

in inches

Jan. 14.

.59

Jan. 10 ...... 6

4.97

Feb. 17.

Feb. 11 ..... 10

1.70

73/4

March 12

.67

March 16 ... 31/2

2.25

51%

April 27

.79

April

May 5 .. ... 26

.55

June 11.

.96

June 15 .. . . . .46

4.57

July 4.

103

July 18

.. 46

1.85

Aug. 10.

Aug. 20

.. 42

4.10

Sept. 2 & 8

.88

Sept. 14.

.37

8.41

Oct. 4.

.79

Oct. 29

.23

6.66

Nov. 11.

.68

Nov. 13 .11

3.15

21/5

Dec. 10 ..

.68

Dec. 5.

. . . .11

5.13

61/

Total Precipitation for 1911 .. 47.93

The great frosts of June 5th and 12th, 1859, are worthy of mention. "The wheat and rye 1912 were just in blossom, and there was every Jan. 1. 51 Jan. 13 ... 21 .83 19 2.25 prospect of a bountiful harvest. But these March 19 Feb. 26 .50 Feb. 10 ... .10 8 .66 March 2 ..... 10 6.72 4 5 frosts smote the fields as with the besom of April 15 April 20. .. 21 .80 4.90 .88 destruction. The evening before, nature May 28. May 14 ..... 33 3.55 smiled, like Eden almost, with beauty and the July June 29. .90 4,23 .. 43 prospect of plenty ; but on the Sabbath morn- Aug. 13. July 28. .92 June 8 ...... 34 8,85 .85 Aug. 28. 5.67 .. 48 ing the fields were blasted, as though the Sept. 10. 93 Sept. 30. .33 8.62 4.60 breath of the Sirocco had swept over them. Oct. 27 Oct. 6. .84 61/2 1 A deep and heavy gloom settled over the com- Dec. 6. Nov. 29 .18 Dec. 13. 1.23 .64 .73 Nov. 6. .8 munity. The question of bread became ex- 5,42 .27 ceedingly practical, and the fear arose that Total Precipitation for 1912 .. 56.87 multitudes of our citizens would be obliged to leave their homes for a warmer sky and a The average annual rainfall in Indiana county is from 45 inches to 48 inches. more genial atmosphere. But the danger passed over. Corn was plenty in 'Egypt,' From the first of July, 1912, to the close means were found for purchasing it, and the of the year there were only fifty-seven clear next year brought good crops."

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Indiana County, Pennsylvania, her people, past and present, Volume I, Part 18

Author: Stewart, Joshua Thompson, 1862- comp Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 930

Author: Stewart, Joshua Thompson, 1862- comp
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 930