USA > Pennsylvania > Pennsylvania, colonial and federal : a history, 1608-1903, Volume Three > Part 27
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Slocum Hollow, 1840
The site of the present city of Scranton. From an old print
entirely by Luzerne and Lackawanna counties. A small area in the extreme eastern end extends into Wayne and Susquehanna counties.
5. The Loyalsock and Mehoopany Field, within the areas drained by the headwaters of the Loyalsock and Mehoopany creeks, is included in Sullivan and Wyoming counties. This field is from twenty to twenty-five miles northwest of the western end of the northern field. Its geological structure closely resem- bles that of the bituminous field, in which it has until recently been included, although the composition of much of its coal entitles it to rank with that of the anthracite region generally.
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Natural Resources
The geographical divisions of the anthracite coal fields above mentioned are also, for trade purposes, sometimes grouped as fol- lows: The Wyoming, embracing the whole of the northern and Loyalsock fields; the Lehigh, embracing all of the eastern and part of the southern field ; the Schuylkill, embracing the western and part of the southern field. The Wyoming is by far the most important of these regions, fully 50 per cent. of the total output of anthracite coming from it. The Schuylkill provides 35 per cent. of the output and the Lehigh region 15 per cent. The fol- lowing table shows the relative importance of the different coun- ties of the anthracite region to the coal trade by giving the num- ber of tons and percentages of coal produced in each county for the years 1883 and 1884:
1883
1884
County.
Production in tons.
Per- centages.
Production in tons.
Per cent.
Susquehanna
30,945
0.09
77,058
00.24
Lackawanna
7,022,24I
20.68
7,093,190
21.73
Luzerne
14,176,487
41.75
13,382,912
41.00
Sullivan
84,376
00.25
86,018
00.26
Carbon
1,007,419
2.97
1,155,916
3.54
Schuylkill
7,758,81I
22.85
7,165,532
21.96
Columbia
774,755
2.28
745,826
2.28
Northumberland
2,497,80I
7.36
2,331,108
7.14
Dauphin
602,996
1.77
603,939
1.85
At the time indicated in the preceding table the area of anthra- cite deposits was supposed to be something less than one thou- sand square miles, but more recent investigations have shown that this coal abounds throughout a territory of about seventeen hun- dred square miles. The table shows nine counties in which an- thracite was produced in 1884, whereas, at the present time, Wayne is to be added to the list as a considerable factor in the production, there having been mined within its borders in 1901 the aggregate of 329,877 tons of coal.
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Pennsylvania Colonial and Federal
In its supervision of the mining properties of the State, the legislature, by an act passed June 8, 1901, directed the chief of the bureau of mines to rearrange the anthracite inspection dis- tricts on the basis of the number of mines engaged in coal produc- tion, number of employes and the number of accidents, as shown by the report of the bureau for the year 1900. Under the act the districts were comprised as follows :
First District-Luzerne and Sullivan counties. Second Dis- trict-Lackawanna, Wayne and Sullivan counties. Third Dis- trict-Carbon county. Fourth District-Schuylkill county. Fifth District-Northumberland county. Sixth District-Co- lumbia and Dauphin counties.
The following table, prepared by the secretary of internal affairs, shows the number of tons of anthracite produced in each of these counties during the last ten years. Taken in connection with what is said elsewhere in this chapter, the table furnishes an interesting study relating to the importance of coal production in our Commonwealth.
Production of anthracite coal in tons by counties from 1892 to 1901, inclusive :
Counties
1892
1893
1894
1895
Carbon
1,427,542.55
1,510,289.50
1,589.395
1,577,146
Columbia
889,489.85
741,990.74
510,537
493,042
Dauphin
639,879.00
640,723.17
699,607
712,856
Lackawanna
11,410,553.95
11,667,550.25
11,859/382
Luzerne
17,548,598.00
18,253,144.75
11,170,382 17,243,928
19,143,10I
Northumberland
3,724,233.70
3,731,404.63
3,893,660
4,573,144
Schuylkill
9,564,534.60
9,992,208.97
9,985,092
11,495,388
Sullivan
76,209.65
70,418.00
152,14I
Susquehanna
475.622.30
571,956.19
413,578
840,904
Wayne
Total
45,858,371.00
47,179,563.20
45,506,179
50,846, 10.4
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Natural Resources
Counties
1896
1897
1898
1899
1900
1901
Carbon
1,488,550
1,327,235
1,043,663
1,630,595
1,673,961
1,659,392
Columbia
443,330
481,453
569,175
895,061
875,643
1,080,23I
Dauphin
702,335
66.2,842
667,460
729,757
695,656
741,582
Lackawanna
11,638,479
11,946,87I
11,588,801
13,248,949
12,282,108
15,409,040
Luzerne
17,964,900
17, 141,809
18,195,398
19,899,742
19,179,573
21,396,312
Northumberland
4,117,569
3,774,667
3,519,305
4,339,547
4,188,343
4,849,009
Schuylkill
11,092,772.
10,971,943
11,980,700
12,226,938
11,606,160
13,640,766
Sullivan
151,758
164,046
147,533
163,555
209,922
I 36,165
Susquehanna
474,637
476,488
423,139
624,125
496,432
663,487
Wayne
275,955
19,520
329,877
Total
48,074,330
46,947,354
47,145,174
54,034,224
51,217,318
59,905,95I
As before stated, it is estimated that the anthracite coal sup- ply will last from eighty to one hundred years. Mr. Joseph Harris, in an article in Vol. XIII of "The Forum," says that there are 5,329,451,404 tons yet to be mined. Mr. A. D. Smith com- putes the amount yet to be mined at 6,512, 167,703 tons, and Mr. William Griffiths, the mining engineer, says in the "Bond Record" in 1896 that there are 5,073,786,000 tons yet available. While it may be true that the life of anthracite coal in this country will not extend beyond the period above mentioned, there is consolation in the fact that we have practically an inexhaustible supply of bituminous coal. The late Professor Tyndall, of England, in a letter to Mr. Jervis, wrote as follows :
"I see no prospect of any substitute being found for coal as a source of motive power. We have, it is true, our winds and streams and tides, and we have the beams of the sun. But these are common to all the world. We cannot take lead against a nation which, in addition to those sources of power, possesses the power of coal. We may enjoy a multiple of their physical and intellectual energy, and still be unable to hold our own against a people which possesses abundance of coal, and we should have, in my opinion, no chance whatever in a race with a nation which, in addition to abundant coal, has energy and intelligence approxi- mately equal to our own."
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Pennsylvania Colonial and Federal
Professor Tyndall had America in mind, no doubt, when he wrote the above letter, and the inferences drawn from it are so obvious that it is not necessary to mention them here.
"America, with her immense coal fields, is destined to become eventually the great coal-producer of the world," is the predic- tion made a few years ago by Mr. Simonin, an eminent French engineer.
Mr. William Jasper Nicholls, in his work, "The Story of American Coals," gives the following table showing the world's progress in the production of coal during the past fifty years :
1845
1895
Great Britain
34,754,750
184,044,890
United States
3,763,013
182,352,774
Germany
6,500,000
103,851,090
France
4,141,617
28,862,017
Austria
700,000
28,037,678
Belgium
4,447,240
21,590,448
Russia
600,000
7,621,969
Canada
100,000
3,719,170
Japan
100,000
3,400,000
Spain
50,000
1,688,820
New Zealand
1,000
673,315
Sweden
60,000
421,155
Italy
10,000
326,340
Total
55,227,620
566,589,666
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Anthracite coal was discovered' in the Wyoming valley in 1766, and soon afterward James Tilghman of Philadelphia sent samples of the article to Thomas and William Penn, in London,
1Anthracite was discovered in Rhode Island and also in Massachusetts about 1760. Since that time similar discoveries have been made in Virginia, Arkansas, Ore- gon and New Mexico, while Kansas has laid claims to small deposits in several
localities. In 1840 Virginia produced 200 tons of anthracite, but during the next twenty years the total output from that State was only about 20,000 tons. In 1860 anthracite was mined for markets only in Rhode Island and Pennsylvania, the former
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Natural Resources
with the remark : "This bed of coal, situated, as it is, on the side of the river, may some day or other be of great value." In acknowledging receipt of the package, Thomas Penn said: "We shall have it examined by some persons skillful in that article and send their observation on it."
In 1768 two brothers named Gore, who were early settlers in the Wyoming valley, are said to have been the first persons to use coal in these regions. They were blacksmiths, and used it in their forges. An account published in 1770 tends to show that coal deposits were known to extend into the northern portions of Mahanoy and Shamokin, but no mining of consequence was done in those localities until 1834. Philip Ginter, a hunter, is said to have discovered coal near the site of Mauch Chunk in 1791.
Coal was discovered at Plymouth in 1805, by John and Abi- jah Smith, brothers, who had come from Connecticut a short time before. In 1807 they shipped the first boat load of coal to Columbia, but as anthracite was not understood at that time as being suitable for fuel in an open grate, they accompanied the load and also took with them a stone-mason and the tools neces- sary to set up plates in the houses to show its qualities for heating purposes. In Columbia several houses were supplied with grates in which stone coal, as anthracite was then called, was used for fuel, and only after a struggle of several years were the Smiths able to derive any profit whatever from their enterprise.
In 1808 Judge Jesse Fell of Wilkesbarre became possessed of the idea that stone coal could be made to burn in an open grate, and to that end he reasoned that if it would burn sufficiently well to destroy a wooden grate he would feel justified in constructing one of iron. His experiment proved successful, and, encouraged by his effort, he made an iron grate, shaped it after the fashion
State producing a very small proportion of the total output, and that inferior in quality in comparison with the coal production of our own State. For more detailed state- ment of the early history of coal produc-
tions in general the reader is referred to the various works on that subject written by Mr. James M. Swank, by Mr. William Jasper Nicholls, and also to the writings of their contemporaries.
397
Pennsylvania Colonial and Federal
of grates now in use, and did succeed in kindling a good fire. His achievement at that time was regarded as bordering on the mar- velous, and the good judge himself, elated with the success of his performance, made note of the wonderful event on a fly-leaf in a volume of "The Free-Mason's Monitor," in these words: "Feb- ruary II, of Masonry 5808. Made the experiment of burning the common stone coal of the valley in a grate, in a common fire- place in my house, and find it will answer the purpose of fuel, mak- ing a clearer and better fire, at less expense, than burning wood in the common way.
(Signed) JESSE FELL .. "Borough of Wilkes-Barre, February II, 1808."
Local history in the anthracite region abounds in interesting reminiscences of the early attempts to burn hard coal, and some tales are related which indicate that those who then advocated the use of that commodity as a fuel substitute for wood, and offered it for sale as such, were regarded as impostors and frauds upon the public; but within the brief space of a score of years after Judge Fell accomplished his miraculous feat, stone coal as a fuel began to come into use, and some small shipments thereof to eastern markets were made. Previous to about 1820 all attempts to bring anthracite into general use were simply a part of what may be termed the formative period, a period of uncertainty and doubt to which all the great reform movements of whatever kind must be subjected before their results become accepted by the people who have, in all ages, constituted our great American brotherhood.
Authorities seem to agree that the first shipment of anthracite coal in the United States was that sent down the Susquehanna in 1776 from mines at Wyoming to Harrisburg, and thence trans- ported in wagons to the federal armory at Carlisle, where it was used throughout the war in the manufacture of firearms. In 1803 five arks, containing 200 tons of coal, were shipped by way of the Lehigh and Delaware rivers to Philadelphia, but on the passage down three of the arks were wrecked, and when the remaining two reached their destination their cargoes found no sale in the
398
Natural Resources
market, and were consequently thrown away, for the people could not make use of fuel coal at that time.
In 1812, according to a contemporary writer, Colonel George Shoemaker of Pottsville took nine wagon-loads of coal to Phila- delphia, and, with much difficulty, succeeded in selling two of the loads, but gave away the remaining seven. He was denounced as an impostor in attempting to sell stones to the people under the pretense that it was coal, and only with much difficulty did he escape from the city without arrest. In 1815 William and Morris Wirtz sent an ark-load of coal through the Lackawaxen and Del- aware rivers to Philadelphia, and there made a sale of it at prices varying from ten to twelve dollars per ton. In 1823 the first cargo of anthracite was shipped around Cape Cod and delivered at the Boston iron works, where it was regarded as superior to the Rhode Island coal. In 1825, at Phoenixville, in this State, anthracite was first successfully used for generating steam. Nu- merous instances of attempts, successful and otherwise, to make use of anthracite coal for domestic and manufacturing purposes are found in various published accounts, but the above will suf- fice to show something of the difficulties encountered in introduc- ing that commodity during the early years of the last century.
In relation to the expense of early and more recent transpor- tation, it may be said that the cost to Colonel Shoemaker in haul- ing his first nine wagon loads of coal from Pottsville to Philadel- phia was $28 per ton; to-day the cost of transportation by rail between the same points is $1.70 per ton. All early efforts in tak- ing coal to market by wagon were unprofitable, while boat navi- gation on the rivers, although less expensive than wagon trans- portation, was hazardous, and shippers frequently calculated on the loss of some of their boats and cargoes. A little later canals were built, at great cost, and while they afforded comparatively safe shipping facilities, and for many years did an immense busi- ness, they failed to give entirely satisfactory results, and eventu- ally were superseded by the railroad. Sixty years ago, under
399
Pennsylvania Colonial and Federal
favorable conditions, the journey from Scranton to Philadelphia required almost three days; to-day the same distance is traveled in a little more than four hours. In early times coal from the
telse Fell
Burned anthracite coal in grate, 1808. Repro- duced by courtesy of Oscar Jewell Harvey
Lackawanna and Carbondale districts was sent to New York by the Delaware and Hudson canal from Honesdale to the Hudson river, 108 miles; by railroad, 18 miles, and by river navigation, 91 miles; total, 217 miles. From the Wyoming district ship-
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Natural Resources
ments were sent down the Susquehanna to tide water at Havre de Grace, a distance of 194 miles.
In 1846 as many as 643 miles of water-ways had been opened to convey anthracite coal to market. The State of New York aided the Delaware and Hudson and Pennsylvania helped other companies to build canals. The cost of transportation on the canal was, in 1826, 1.5 cents per ton mile; in 1843, 1.25 cents ; in 1845, I .cent per mile. In 1833, complaint having been made of the high price charged for the transportation of coal by the canal companies, the State attempted to limit their powers in either mining or transporting coal, but this attempt brought no saisfactory results.
"Watson's Annals" says that "no regular sale of anthracite coal was effected in the Philadelphia market till the year 1825." In 1820 the old Lehigh Coal Company sent 365 tons to Philadel- phia, "as the first fruits of the concern," and, "little as that was, it completely stocked the market and was sold with difficulty. It increased each subsequent year up to 1824, making in that year a delivery of 9,541 tons. In 1825 it ran up to 28,393 tons, and kept along at nearly that rate until 1832, when 70,000 tons were deliv- ered. From that time it went regularly on increasing, until now, in 1839, it has delivered 221,850 tons. And now that it has got its momentum, who can guess where it will end?"
Another well-known writer says that "up to 1820 the total amount of coal sent from Wyoming is reckoned at 8,500 tons," and also that Colonel Washington Lee mined and sent to Balti- more 1,000 tons of coal, which were sold for $8 a ton.
In 1831 the North Branch Canal was completed to the Nanti- coke dam, and John Coons sent the first boat, the "Wyoming," with a load of anthracite, some flour and other merchandise to Philadelphia. The route of the Wyoming was down the Sus- quehanna to Northumberland, where it entered the Pennsylvania Canal, and thence by way of the Union and Schuylkill canals to Philadelphia.
3-26
40I
Pennsylvania Colonial and Federal
The early use of anthracite in industrial pursuits is thus re- ferred to in the geological survey of Pennsylvania : "The first use of anthracite in connection with the manufacture of iron dates from 1812, when White & Hazard purchased one of nine wagon loads from the Schuylkill region at the cost of transportation, and successfully used the coal in heating the furnace of their nail and wire mill at the Falls of Schuylkill. The first successful use of anthracite as an exclusive fuel in the blast furnace was at the Pioneer furnace, built during 1837 and 1838, at Pottsville, by William Lyman of Boston. The first successful blast was blown in at this furnace on October 19, 1839. In recognition of the results obtained in this furnace, Mr. Lyman was paid a premium of $5,000 by Nicholas Biddle and others, as being the first person in the United States who had made anthracite pig iron continu- ously for 100 days. As early as 1824 attempts had been made to use anthracite mixed with charcoal in charcoal furnaces. These and many subsequent attempts prior to 1839 seem to have all met with failure. On July 3, 1840, David Thomas successfully blew in a furnace which he had built for the Lehigh Crane Iron Company at Catasauqua, on the Lehigh river."
In treating of the' introduction of anthracite and bituminous coal in the manufacture of pig iron, so good an authority as Mr. Swank1 says that this "innovation at once caused a revolution in the whole iron industry of the country," and that "a notable result of the introduction of mineral fuel was that, while it restricted the production of charcoal pig iron in the States, which, like Pennsylvania, possessed the new fuel. it did not inju- riously affect the production of charcoal pig iron in other States. Anthracite was the first to be largely used in American blast fur- naces, and for many years after its adaptability to the smelting of iron ore was established it was in greater demand for this pur-
1In another chapter of this work Mr. Swank treats at length of the iron and steel industry in Pennsylvania, and therein
he discusses the introduction and utility of coal in the production of those commodi- ties.
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Natural Resources
pose than bituminous coal, coked or uncoked. In recent years the relative popularity of these two fuels for blast furnace use has been exactly reversed. The natural difficulties in the way of the successful introduction of anthracite coal in our blast furnaces were increased by the fact that up to that time when we com- menced our experiments in its use, no other country had suc- ceeded in using it as a furnace fuel."
The railway appears to have become a factor in the produc- tion and shipment of coal in 1827, when a gravity road was con- structed from Mauch Chunk to the Summit mines, a distance of nine miles, and with an average descent of one hundred feet per mile from the mines to the river. At first mule power was em- ployed in drawing coal cars back to the summit, but on the down trips this primitive "motive power" was transported in cars set apart for that purpose; and well authenticated accounts assert that the mules, true to their kind, having once enjoyed the pleas- ure of a ride down the gravity road, could not afterward be per- suaded to make the trip afoot. This gravity road is still in opera- tion, although mule power was soon replaced with stationary engines at each terminus. In 1831 a steam railroad was con- structed to the eastern extremity of the company's works, where fourteen seams were developed in 1830, with an aggregate of 240 feet of coal.
1
In 1837 the construction of the Susquehanna and Lehigh Railroad from White Haven to the Wyoming valley was begun, and was completed in 1845. The first shipment of coal, 5,886 tons, over the road was made in 1846. The Beaver Meadow Railroad, opening an outlet from the Beaver Meadow coal basin, and the Hazleton Railroad to the basin of the same name, were in operation in 1840. The Buck Mountain Company's road was nearly finished in the same year. The Lehigh Valley Railroad was opened in 1855, transporting 9,003 tons of coal in that year and 1,295,419 tons in 1864.
In treating of the methods in use in the transportation of
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Pennsylvania Colonial and Federal
anthracite coal from the Schuylkill region in 1829, the excellent work entitled "Coal, Iron and Oil," says :
"It was not until 1827 that rails were used in the mines, and previous to 1829 the coal product was carted over common mud
O
Breaker in the Anthracite Coal Region
Engraved for this work from an original photo- graph
roads from the mines to the canal. Abraham Potts of Port Car- bon, was the first to build a model railroad in the Schuylkill region. It led from his mines to the canal, a distance of half a mile. In 1829 the Mill Creek Railroad was built from Port Carbon to the Broad Mountain, about on the site of the present town of St. Clair, a distance of about three miles, and at a cost of $3,000."
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Natural Resources
William Jasper Nicholls, in "The Story of the American Coals," says that Abraham Potts's "railway was made of wooden rails laid on wooden sills and was successfully operated in carrying coal, which, previous to that time, was hauled in wagons to the canal, and thence to market. In 1829 the directors of the Schuylkill Canal came to Pottsville and viewed this primitive road in opera- tion. They were surprised when they saw 13 railroad cars loaded with one and one-half tons each, and they were amazed when Mr. Potts, the projector of this corduroy railroad, asserted that in less than ten years a railroad would be in operation along the line of their canal. After events proved that he was right in everything except as to time, for it was not until 1842 that the first train passed over the extension of the Philadelphia and Reading Rail- road from Mount Carbon."
In 1896, according to Mining Engineer William Griffiths, 96.29 per cent. of the anthracite mines of Pennsylvania were owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by the railroad com- panies or their auxiliary corporations, the coal companies. Since that year their operations have been extended still further, and to-day five of the largest companies control fully 90 per cent. of the entire anthracite coal fields. These vast corporations, in some instances consolidations of interests of lesser companies, are in great part the natural outgrowth of trade conditions, and in an almost equal degree the result of the later-day tendency toward concentration of corporate management in all the activities of business life. The effects of this movement upon the public wel- fare are subjects of wide discussion, and many arguments are put forth in their favor and against them. It is unquestioned, how- ever, that the pooling of interests on the part of the mining and transportation companies, so far as it is known to exist, has been of benefit to the general public.
The following railroad companies ( whether as such or in the allied capacity of mining companies ) now own coal lands and are engaged in the transportation of coal productions: Delaware,
405
Pennsylvania Colonial and Federal
Lackawanna and Western; Delaware and Hudson; Erie; New York, Ontario and Western ; New York, Susquehanna and Schuyl- kill; Pennsylavnia; Central of New Jersey ; Lehigh Valley; and Philadelphia and Reading. Each company has branches from its main line which extend to the collieries operated. The products of the mines, under normal conditions, constitute about 63.2 per cent. of the gross tonnage of the companies, and therefore the mining and transportation of coal has been to all of them in their capacity as operators and common carriers a principal source of revenue.
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