USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, a history, Volume I > Part 2
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45
'The canal first sank into desuetude when the use of steam opened up a new era of public improvement. The construction of railroads speedily followed until Montgomery county became almost a gridiron of iron rails. The county is traversed by two great systems-the Pennsyl- vania, and the Philadelphia & Reading, with their subsidiaries. Then came electric power, with the result that there are but few communities in the county that are not connected more or less directly by trolley roads. The Philadelphia & Western railroad, which runs between Norristown and 69th street in Philadelphia, is a third-rail electric system that rivals in speed and comfort the steam trains. While steam and electricity are now the main sources of power for the operation of the county's many great industries, the surface elevations and topographical structure of the district in the early days and even up to a comparatively recent period was greatly contributory to the growth and development of the region by utilizing its flowing waters for the purpose of pro- pelling mill wheels.
With great precision the true latitude and longitude of Montgomery county was ascertained by David Rittenhouse and his distinguished scien- tific contemporaries at some period between 1769 and 1770. The astro- nomical observations which preceded the terrestrial measurements were made taking the Norriton Observatory as a place of beginning. The extraordinary importance attached at the time to the work of these
8
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
learned men, and the high standard of authority conceded to them by their successors, renders some account of their labors and the circum- stances connected with the event, of interest to the historical investigator.
By judicial proceedings in 1730, Norriton township was created, at that time becoming a geographical subdivision of Philadelphia, and enjoyed at the time a worldwide celebrity in having had situated within its borders the "Norriton Observatory," at which place astronomical observations were made and reported as "An Account of the Transit of Venus over the Sun's Disk, observed at Norriton, in the County of Phil- adelphia and Province of Pennsylvania, June 3, 1769."
It was at the point where then stood the Norriton Observatory that David Rittenhouse, assisted by Archibald McKean and Jesse Lukens, met on July 2, 1770, to commence the work of surveying a line from the Observatory to the State House Square in Philadelphia. Mr. Rit- tenhouse having ascertained the latitude and longitude at the point with acknowledged precision, and his reputation for exactness in all astro- nomical observations and calculations being duly credited in scientific and official circles in this country and in Europe, he was elected to report the difference of latitude and longitude between the Norriton Observa- tory and the State House Square at Philadelphia, and harmonize the work with that of Mason and Dixon's observatory at the south point of that city.
The first description and catalogue of the plants of Montgomery county was effected by Dr. P. Y. Eisenberg, and was given in full in Bean's "History of Montgomery County" (1884), found in any public library. There the Doctor classified more than seven hundred species of flowering plants, and thirty-three species of the flowerless plants. This work makes a highly interesting and authentic study of the county's plant life.
The animal life or zoology of Montgomery county has only been thoroughly handled by William J. Buck, whose catalogue of quadrupeds contains thirty-five species, embracing eight kinds of bats, three of shrews, five of squirrels, the wild-cat, the rats come in for seven species ; the red fox, weasel, mink, otter, skunk, raccoon, and opossum. Mr. Buck gives us in his catalogue two hundred and thirty-two species of birds and embraces thirteen kinds of hawks, two of eagles, eight of owls, two of cuckoos, eight of woodpeckers, six of swallows, seven of herons, nine of fly-catchers, four of thrushes, twenty-one of warblers, eight of wrens, ten of sparrows, three of plover, five of snipe, five of sandpipers, four of rails, fifteen of ducks, three of geese, three of gulls, three of grebes, two of blackbirds, two of crows, two of orioles, two of robins. He also has in his list of birds of this county, the turkey buzzard, hum- ming bird, whip-poor-will, kingfisher, pewee, blue bird, great shrike, or butcher bird, creeper, nuthatch, red bird, yellow bird, linnet, finch, indigo bird, cow bird, meadow lark, wild pigeon, turtle dove, pheasant, par-
9
TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOGRAPHY
tridge, snake driver, killdeer, turnstone, swan, coot, loon, and pelican. Of reptiles is given thirty-three species known to be common here. The rattlesnake and copperhead are quite common, or were in earlier years, but now fortunately are rapidly becoming extinct. Mr. Buck names a dozen kind of snakes, eight of turtles, eight of frogs, two of lizards, and six kinds of salamanders. Of fishes are given twenty-five, including the sunfish, bass, perch, trout, chub, roach, sucker, catfish, carp, eel, and lamprey.
CHAPTER II. GEOLOGY, MINING, ETC.
From time to time at various places throughout the county, various precious metals have been found, but in such small quantities that their discovery never attained a commercial possibility. Their presence therefore savors more of scientific interest than of practical value to the community. Gold, for instance, has been found by geologists throughout the county, but mainly in what the scientists call the Azoic rocks, the most antique formation known to the student. Particularly has the presence of this metal been detected in the river sands or alluvial deposits which have been formed by the disintegration of these old formations.
The lower end of the county from the Philadelphia city line to Con- shohocken is made up almost entirely of strata of these oldest rocks, but only slight traces of gold have been found therein, although, according to tradition, many years ago a number of attempts were made by the "get-rich-quick" promoters of the day to capitalize these finds. Accord- ing to Bean's history, Dr. Charles M. Wetherill found traces of gold on the property of a Mr. Yoder, in Franconia township. The gold was found in quartz rock and in iron pyrites. In the sand and gravel thrown out while digging a well he found brilliant scales of gold. From an analysis he found that every hundred pounds of gravel contained gold worth 261/2 cents.
Of silver, like gold, only traces have been found, associated with a sulphide of lead. This lead ore holding silver was found at the Ecton mine, Shannonville, about four miles from Norristown, but this mine was abandoned about the time of the Civil War. The ores from this mine when they were assayed for silver, yielded only from five to ten ounces of silver per ton of ore.
It was at this mine and the vicinity that the greatest traces of copper have been found. As early as 1800 it was known that copper ore existed in this locality. Neither tradition nor documentary evidence tells with any degree of certainty who first discovered the ore or who it was who sunk the first shaft or mined the ore in this vicinity. On the well known Wetherill estate, ore was first discovered by some teamsters, it having been turned up with the mud by the wheels of their heavy wagons. Stephen Girard, one of the pioneer exploiters of the day, became inter- ested in these surface indications and he had a shaft sunk, but the effort was without practical value. Some ore was taken out, together with some lead ore, but neither in quantities to warrant the continuance of the operation. With similar results, so far as practicality is concerned, Samuel Wetherill sunk shafts along the Perkiomen creek near Wether-
12
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
ill's mill. Of the only extensive operation to mine copper in the county, and the only one that gave even a promise of profitable results, Bean's history interestingly narrates :
From time to time copper ore had been found in considerable quan- tities at Shannonville, along the creek which empties into the Perkiomen. Several parties became interested at different times in these deposits. At last the ore was found in such abundance and the indications were so promising, that the attention of practical miners was directed to this locality. About the year 1829, John and Robert Rowe, who were Eng- lish miners from the Cornwall mines, became interested in these mines and sunk shafts. They obtained copper ore of a good quality. The mines changed hands several times during the next twenty years. The Ecton mine was managed by the Ecton Consolidated Mining Company, who sunk a shaft two hundred and forty feet deep, and drove a few levels.
The Perkiomen mine was managed by the Perkiomen Mining Asso- ciation, who sunk a shaft over three hundred feet deep and mined much more successfully and extensively than the Ecton company. They erected Cornish pumping engines of great value, and were provided with all the necessary running machinery. These two companies were finally bought out by a new company, known as the Perkiomen Consolidated Mining Company. They purchased the real estate, mines, machinery and other property of the Perkiomen Mining Association for the sum of $109,000, and the property of the Ecton Association for $111,000. This new company carried on mining operations very extensively.
It was a stock company. George Cadwalader, of Philadelphia, was president, and Samuel Wilcox secretary. The directors were George Cadwalader, Charles Macalester, David Longacre, of Lancaster, and Sam- uel F. Tracey and Horatio Allen, of New York. The company was organized in 1852, and they issued fifty thousand shares of stock; the par value of each share was six dollars. At the Perkiomen shaft there was some valuable machinery-a fifty-inch cylinder Cornish pumping engine of one hundred horse-power; at the Ecton shaft a one hundred horse-power high-pressure pumping engine, twenty and a half inch cyl- inder. Besides these pumping engines there was a whim engine at both these mines. Powerful crushers were in the mine, and other machinery at the surface, such as tram roads and wagons, capstans and shears, whims and whim chains, pulley stands, etc. The value of the machinery at the surface was $30,212; the value of the underground machinery- plungers and drawing lifts, main rods, bobs, ladders, bucket rods, etc .- was about $9,842.
The Perkiomen mine was located on low ground near the creek, while the Ecton mine was situated on high ground about eighteen hun- dred feet distant. The method of mining was to sink shafts and then to drive levels in the direction of the ore. When a bed of ore was reached it would be taken out, and this would leave an open chamber of rock known as a stope. After the main shaft of the Perkiomen mine had been sunk two hundred and forty feet, and the main shaft of the Ecton mine had reached a depth of three hundred and thirty feet, it was determined to connect these two shafts by a level or tunnel which would be eighteen hundred feet in length. This level was afterwards completed, and the mines were connected underground.
13
GEOLOGY, MINING, ETC.
But few lodes or mineral veins were found in the Ecton mine. The miners were Englishmen who had been brought over from the Cornwall mines in England. In 1852 about two hundred men were employed at the mines. The miners were not under a regular salary by the week or month, but a number of them would club together and agree to extend a level or a stope so many feet for a certain sum. This method of work- ing sometimes proved profitable to the men, but occasionally they would be losers by the contract. The men went to work in the mines with candles in their hats, which is a rather primitive mode of illumination. One great difficulty they had to contend with was the water which accu- mulated in the shafts and interfered with their mining. The pumping engines at both shafts were kept at work draining the mines. The farmers in the vicinity, also, were sorely tried, as their wells were drained dry, and no water could be procured unless it was pumped from the mines.
Charles M. Wheatley, who was manager in 1851, says that "all per- sons acquainted with mining operations that have examined the work- ings at Perkiomen have expressed astonishment at the regularity, size, strength and productiveness of the veins, and the high percentage of copper ore obtained from them. The Perkiomen is the first regular copper lode opened in this country, and bears a true resemblance to the Cornish system."
Professor H. D. Rogers, former State Geologist, in speaking of the mines says: "I hesitate not to declare that I entertain a very firm belief that your region is destined to become an important mining district and that ores of lead and copper will return remunerative profits upon the exercise of skill and prudence. The remarkable regularity and parallel- lism of the lodes is an excellent indication of their consistency. Another fact is the exceedingly well defined character of these mineral lodes, which do not spread or lose themselves or their ores in the adjoining strata, but insulate themselves from the rocks of the country by plainly marked parallel walls, between which all the metallic ores of the region and associated gauge stones are found. The veins are true and regular metalliferous lodes. A very important features is the gradation in pass- ing downwards from the outcrops of these veins. First we have only the vein stones, the metals being weathered out or dissolved ; then at a few fathoms below the surface we find mingled with these vein stones those metallic ores of lead, copper and zinc which are readily vaporized by heat ; and deeper still the same vein stones containing the sulphurets and other permanent ores of copper."
There were no smelting furnaces at the mines and none of the copper ores were smelted in the neighborhood, but were sent to New York and Baltimore for reduction. The ore was first sent to Umpstead's landing at Green Tree, and thence to Philadelphia by canal boats and from there to New York. During the year 1853, 143 tons were raised, and sold for $9989.39. *
The mines were worked until the year 1858, when they were closed -not enough ore being taken out to meet the running expenses. The shafts had been sunk much deeper, that of the Perkiomen mine being over four hundred and eighty feet in depth, while that of the Ecton was over six hundred feet deep. The mines from the time they were opened until they were closed never paid the amount of money invested in them. Many interested in the mines were heavy losers. It is said that George
14
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
Cadwalader, of Philadelphia, who was president of the company in 1851, invested one hundred thousand dollars, and many others invested large sums in the enterprise. It seems to be the general opinion that the mines were managed extravagantly and without prudence, and that there were too many needless officers drawing high salaries. In 1856 a quantity of refuse ore was worked at a profit by C. M. Wheatley, of Phoenixville, and Captain Cocking, of Cornwall, England.
The property was subsequently purchased by Richard Ricard, of New York, for $40,000. Plain traces of the mining operations can still be seen by the curious in the shape of piles of debris near the openings of the shafts and the latter themselves. The buildings and machinery, of course, long ago fell into decay.
Another copper mining operation of the early days but on a much smaller scale, was in upper Salford township. This vein of copper ore was found on Abraham Kober's farm, in the vicinity of Sumneytown. The ore was first discovered on the surface in a small outcrop, and these surface indications led to further developments. Excavations were immediately begun, and at a depth of fifteen feet a vein eight inches in thickness was discovered. Shortly after this discovery, the farm was leased by Samuel Milligan, of Phoenixville, who set a force of men digging deeper, and finally a rich vein of ore was reached, which at the beginning was only an inch in thickness, but which increased in width until a thickness of three feet was reached. About four tons of copper ore was taken out. Some native copper was also found in small quanti- ties. The mine was also finally abandoned, as the process was expen- sive, and the manifestation was merely superficial, no ore at all being found below a depth of thirty feet. Operations at this mine were first begun in 1878, and the mine abandoned in 1880. The old reports state that while the ore was of very fine quality, it did not exist in paying quantities. Another locality where copper was found but never mined commercially, was about one and a half miles below Norristown, along the line of the Pennsylvania railroad. This was but a small deposit in the limestone belt, and was thrown out by a dynamite blast when the railroad was being built.
There are but slight traces of tin in Montgomery county, and this was found before the Civil War in a native state of purity in the gravel of Franconia township. The largest pieces were found adhering to the gravel and forming a rounded mass of white malleable metal, which was analyzed and found to be pure tin.
The chief mineral mining industry of Montgomery county is, how- ever, and always was, the extraction from the earth of iron ore. No very important deposits of magnetic ore have been found in the county. At the soapstone quarries near Lafayette, now called Miquon, and on the opposite side of the river, near an abandoned soapstone quarry there have been found some slight deposits. In many of the creeks and in the
15
GEOLOGY, MINING, ETC.
Schuylkill at places have been found traces of the crystals. What is known as brown hematite is a common iron ore in the county, and many thousand tons of it have been mined. The ore occurs in the limestone belt from Edge Hill westward to the Chester county line. It is also found in extensive deposits of clay. It is said that the first ore ever dug in the county was near Spring Mill, on the farm of J. Kirkner, in 1828. From the mines near Marble Hall, immense quantities of ore have been taken. Other parts of the county were marked by iron ore deposits, but most of these have been worked out, and only the huge craters remain to tell the tale of what an important industry this once was.
The iron ore belt began in the neighborhood of Edge Hill and Ore- land. The next important deposits were in the vicinity of Marble Hall, and were owned by Daniel O. Hitner. The next neighborhood in the limestone valley where iron ore was dug in extensive quantities, was at the Tracey iron ore pit, about one mile east of Conshohocken. There is still one large open pit where the ore was formerly dug, which showed the crude way in which the ore was mined in the early days. Shafts are now sunk vertically, and when a deposit of ore is found, the opening is made in the direction in which the ore extends.
There was also a deposit of iron ore between Potts Landing and Har- manville, and one of the last big deposits to be opened there was in August, 1883. The ore was found a few feet from the surface, in the clay. Another mine that was opened in 1872 that gave more promises than performance was that on the property of William Wills, near the Ridge Pike, on the Plymouth railroad. Ore was first dug here in 1872, and the mines were shortly afterwards bought by the Phoenix Iron Company, who went to considerable expense in erecting machinery and engines. It appeared, however, that the project was not a paying one, and finally the place was abandoned.
West of the Schuylkill river, in Upper Merion township, are or rather, were, extensive deposits of iron ore, which were worked years ago. Be- tween Henderson Station and the Gulf Mills there are many abandoned ore pits which show the direction of the iron ore belt. A short distance from Henderson's marble quarries ore was at one time mined quite extensively. Engines, washers and screen were used, as the ore was mixed with a large amount of clay. It was screened and washed before being sent to the blast furnaces. Many of these pits are exhausted and practically all the remainder abandoned.
Even coal has been found in Montgomery county, but never in work- able quantities. One deposit was found in Norristown years ago, on Elm street, near Markley, about twelve feet below the surface when the street was first graded. The vein was in what the geologists call new red sandstone, extended but a few feet, and was not very thick. Samples were sent to the University of Pennsylvania. It burnt very well, was of a deep black color, with a somewhat pitchy appearance, and was very
16
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
brittle. Similar traces of coal have also been found in Gwynedd and in Lower Providence.
Many fossil remains of plant and animal life have been found in the red shale and sandstone foundations. This rock covers the upper and middle portions of the county, and the remains are very interesting and instructive. The reptilian relics found in Montgomery county are the teeth and bones of large lizard-like animals which lived in the ancient seas. These remains have been found to a considerable extent in the Phoenixville tunnel. Specimens of coprolite have also been found in the same rock. The vertebral bones of these large lizard-like reptiles are slightly concave, or hollowed out at their articulating surfaces. Remains of fishes, belonging to the order known as ganoids, have also been found in this tunnel. These are fishes which have a cartilaginous skeleton, and are covered with enameled scales or bony plates. The sturgeons and gar-pikes are living examples of this ancient order. Batrician remains, such as bones and teeth, are found in this locality.
Specimens of coniferous wood, either petrified, or having the nature of coal, and still retaining the woody structure, have been found. This substance is technically known as lignite, and has been found in Ply- mouth creek, below Norristown. In the small coal vein previously referred to, on Elm street, Norristown, a piece of sandstone was found in the bottom of the vein, which bore the imprint of a fossil plant. Near Gwynedd was found on one occasion a bed of carbonaceous shale which contained vegetable remains.
Montgomery county has the honor, geologically speaking, of having given to science the oldest fossil remains yet found in Pennsylvania. It is known technically as Scolithus linearis, and was found in the Pottsdam sandstone at Edge Hill and in the vicinity of Willow Grove and Rubicam station. It consists of a straight, cylindrical, stem-like impression in the sandstone, usually smooth, but sometimes grooved transversely to its axis. Its diameter varies from one-eighth to half an inch, and its length from a few inches to two or three feet. Its position in the rock is perpendicular to the bedding, and from this fact many think that the impression was produced by the boring of a marine worm. The end of the fossil terminates in a head, which is always found at the upper sur- face of the sandstone enclosing it. The impression looks like a large pin.
The most notable find of fossil remains in the county was in the bone cave at Port Kennedy, four miles from Norristown. The following account of the cave is taken from the "American Journal of Science and Arts," Vol I, 1871, p. 235 :
Before the discovery of the remains in the Port Kennedy cave, nearly the whole of the walls had been removed in quarrying. A tooth of a mastadon having been found by one of the workmen, Dr. Quick, of Phoenixville, showed it to Mr. Charles Wheatley, and these two gentle- men immediately visited the cave and commenced the search for the
17
GEOLOGY, MINING, ETC.
remains. They found one end of the cave still remaining and having the form * *
* of an oval. * *
* The width at the top is about twenty feet; below it gradually expands to thirty feet, and then there is a rapid contraction downward until at the depth of about forty feet it is ten feet wide. The whole of the space above this level is filled with the debris of the adjoining mesozoic red shale, with occasional angular frag- ments of auroral limestone, without any trace of organic remains. Where the cave narrows to ten feet, the floor is composed entirely of a black clay eighteen inches thick, filled with leaves, stems and seed ves- sels of post-tertiary plants. Scattered all through this mass of vege- table remains, and also in a red tough clay underneath for six to eight inches, are found fossils.
The remains were subsequently identified and found to be numer- ous specimens of animal, insect, reptile and plant life of a prehistoric age. The remains of most of the animals were found in the tough red clay directly under the plant bed, but the remains of the rodents, snakes, tortoises, birds, plants and insects, were mostly confined to the plant bed.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.