USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Plymouth > Reminiscences of Plymouth, Luzerne County, Penna.; a pen picture of the old landmarks of the town; the names of old residents; the manners, customs and descriptive scenes, and incidents of its early history > Part 5
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The use of arks for the transportation of coal was probably abandoned about the year 1840. I have in my possession an old account book which was kept by my father, in which there is a credit of $24.00 given to Adnah Atherton for "building an ark" in 1838, and in 1839 a credit of $25.00 was given to Daniel Gardiner for a like service. In February, 1841, is a record of "boat sides" being hauled by Samuel Vanloon, and an- other of "slitting railing for boat" by Alba Bangs, and also of "boat plank" having been purchased.
In April of that year begins the first record of coal being shipped by boats. The average boat load was sixty tons and was shipped to Bloomsburg, Danville, Harris- burg, Columbia, Lancaster, Marietta, Milton and other points, the principal market, however, being Danville, to Peter Baldy for his furnaces.
The coal industry during the 40's evidently did not yield enormous dividends. The miner received 4373 cents a ton for digging, and about the same price was paid for boating service to Danville. A cargo of 60 tons delivered there in 1841 was sold for $2.25 a ton, or $135. The cost of the same was :
For Mining $26.00 Boating Service 26.55 Canal Tolls 16.31 $68.86
Apparent profit
$66.14
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But in that apparent profit no account is taken of roy- alty for coal, the cost of carting from the mine to the river, or the loading into boats; so the net profit was considerably less than 50 cents a ton.
On a cargo of 57 tons sent to Harrisburg, the cost of boating was $87.74 or $1.54 a ton, and the canal tolls were $70. On another cargo of 58 tons to Marietta, the cost of running was $1.00 a ton, and the tolls $53.54.
During those years there seemed to be no stable or fixed price for coal in the markets. The operators ap- parently were glad to sell their production at whatever price they could get for it. Thus, in 1841, while the cost of mining and delivery remained the same, it was sold at Bloomsburg for $1.50 a ton. From about 1842 to 1846 it sold in Danville for $1.871/2 and $1.75, at Columbia for $1.25, and Marietta for $1.80 per ton, and in many instances was largely paid for in general merchandise, horses and buggies, pork, pigs, iron pots and kettles, earthenware, whiskey, in fact in almost any or everything that could be utilized in the ordinary process of living. Those indeed were strenuous times of living. The State government had embarked in the banking business and in internal improvements, the building of canals and rail- roads almost indiscriminately, and for which purpose loans had been negotiated, the interest on which was provided for by further loans.
In 1839 David R. Porter was installed as Governor, and he found the government at the mercy of wily poli- ticians and dishonest contractors. The country was flooded with State banknotes, many of which would not stay good over night. Monies obtained by loans for pro- jected improvements and necessary repairs thereto, had been ruthlessly squandered or stolen, and the purposes for which the money had been borrowed, ignored or
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neglected, with the treasury bankrupt, and in 1843 the State was unable to pay the interest on her loans.
Wages of workmen from about 1839 to 1848 ranged from 50 to 75 cents a day, and they received their pay mostly in household necessaries, which were largely sup- plied from the private family stores of the employer.
Prices of flour during this period ranged from five to eight dollars a barrel; coal at retail $1.56 a load de- livered; a load estimated at one and a quarter tons; coffee 15 to 17 cents a pound; tea, $1.1212 a pound; salt and smoked meats, 10 cents; butter, 17 cents; sugar, II to 121/2 cents; molasses, 621/2 to 75 cents; whale oil, 65 to 75 cents a gallon; powder, $2.75 a keg; potatoes, 25 to 3I cents a bushel; wheat, $1.121/2, and corn, 56 cents a bushel.
CHAPTER VIII.
Early Coal Operators and Mines-Choke Island-Broderick and Conyngham's Troubles-Exit of Individual Operators and the Entrance of Corporations-Capture of Fugitive Slaves-Bru- talities of the Fugitive Slave Law-Uncle Tom's Cabin.
A MONG the early coal operations in Plymouth, the Gaylord mine and railroad has already been de- scribed. There was another similar railroad extending to the river which is now known as the Bull Run Rail- road, and on which the cars were propelled by gravity from the old mine now owned by the D. & H. Co. and located in Poke Hollow. This mine, I think, was first operated by William Patton, and afterwards by David Levi, who also conducted a store near the mine, and whose first stock of merchandise was negotiated for by my father. Later, Messrs. Charles Bennett, A. J. Davis, and a man from New Jersey named James Martin, came
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into control under the firm name of Bennett, Davis & Co., and they were succeeded by Mr. J. C. Fuller. The old "mud tunnel" up the road leading to "Jersey Hill" was operated a short time, I think, by the Turners. In 1846 there was an operation somewhere here, conducted for a short time by E. Bulkley, Caleb Shonk and Draper Smith, and called the Draper Smith tunnel. I have been unable to locate that mine unless it may have been the one just above the first French tunnel on Coal Street, or the mud tunnel which was in operation on a small scale about that period. A little way southwest of the mud tunnel was the Ransom coal bed, which was abandoned before my remembrance. Michael Shonk was killed in this mine in 1846 (the father of John J. Shonk).
The Jersey coal mine, which is now under lease to the D. L. and W. R. R. Co., was first opened by Joseph Wright, and was later operated by my father until the late 50's when it was operated by Robert Love and the Hutch- inson brothers as Robert Love and Co. They built a rail- road and plane on which cars were run by gravity down to Chutes near the L. & B. R. R., at a point on the main road a little way below, or west of present Wright slope and fan house. It was from those Chutes that the first cars of coal were hauled over the L. & B. R. R. from Plymouth, about 1855 or 1856.
One of the early coal mines to be opened in this locality was the famous "Grand Tunnel" mine opened by Freeman Thomas-Col. Wright says-about 1828. It is located at the place named from it-Grand Tunnel.
About the year 1852 or 1853 this mine began to be operated by Mr. William L. Lance, who later became one of the most progressive and prominent citizens of Plymouth. The coal from this mine was run into Chutes on the river bank near by, and then loaded into
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boats. In the river, about opposite the mouth of this mine, there was a small island formed, which Mr. Lance desired to utilize in his operations, but Jamison Harvey, whose coal mine was on the land adjoining the Grand Tunnel, claimed the ownership of it. They met on the island, and after wrangling over the matter, Mr. Harvey seized Lance by the throat and ejected him. The island thereafter was known by the name of "Choke Island."
Mr. Lance continued to operate this mine for several years when he was succeeded by a firm or company styled the New England Coal Co., whose manager was a man named Brown, from Boston, and who kept a bachelor's hall while here, in the old Samuel Ransom homestead.
This mine property later came into the possession of the Susquehanna Coal Co., and the coal therefrom being removed through other openings, the Grand Tunnel was abandoned. The Jamison Harvey mine, next adjoining the Grand Tunnel property, was operated in the same manner by Mr. Harvey for a number of years, when it also passed into the possession of the Susquehanna Coal Co.
The Nottingham shaft, owned mostly by the Rey- nolds heirs and members of the Nottingham Coal Co., was sunk, and the large breaker built during the middle sixties, under the management of Mr. Bryce R. Blair, who was formerly connected with the L. & B. R. R. This mine was first operated by Messrs. Thomas Brod- erick and Thomas D. Conyngham of Wilkes-Barre. They struggled along for several years until they were com- pelled, by reason of the troublesome and petty annoy- ances caused them by their employes, to sell out their interests to the L. & W. B. Coal Co. Strange as it may appear, those obstructive tactics on the part of the em- ployes who were receiving generous wages, were engi-
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neered largely, if not entirely, by men "to the manor born," whose former lives had been one of constant struggle with the hardships, privations and environments of dire poverty, but had, under the vicious teachings and influence of demagogues and dangerous labor agitators, become imbued with the idea that the servant should be master and rule with autocratic power. Almost every day at that mine a strike would be inaugurated, based on some trivial and ridiculous cause, and when that was lack- ing, when the employes would assemble in the morning, it is a notorious fact that often a stone, wet on both sides, would be tossed up to decide whether or not they should resume work for the day, the wet side winning. Mr. Broderick, the manager, a very honorable and fair- dealing man, would almost invariably grant every conces- sion demanded, only to learn the next day that some new grievance would arise, and it became proverbial for him to inquire each morning, before arriving at the mine, "what new grievance is there to settle to-day."
Similarly, Mr. Broderick's unfortunate and disastrous experience has been that of many other individual oper- ators, until finally the management of the coal industry has generally passed into the control of powerful cor- porations able to combat all difficulties, and yet, some of those who were responsible for the change wonder why these soulless corporations are so stern and heartless in their control.
The Wadhams coal mine up Wadhams Creek was operated during the 50's by E. C. Wadhams and after- wards came into the possession of the L. & W. B. Coal Co., and until recent years was operated through other channels by the Parrish Coal Co., of which Mr. Charles Parrish was the founder and first president. The Dodson mine, so called from the men who sank the shaft located
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on Elm Hill, was owned mostly by John J. Shonk. It has been in operation under different managements for a number of years and is now in the control of Mr. J. C. Haddock under the title of the Plymouth Coal Co. The Gaylord mine has been under several different manage- ments. During the 60's a Mr. Langdon of Elmira-the father-in-law of Mark Twain-was in control, I think, under the name of the Northern Coal and Iron Co.
The preceding reference to Mr. Jamison Harvey, whose residence was located up on the hill just beyond the Grand Tunnel, recalls an incident of historic interest which occurred there not a very great while before the time of the Choke Island incident just related, and will be of interest in this connection. It concerns the capture there by a U. S. Marshal of a colored man in his em- ployment who was claimed as being a fugitive slave. That act was committed under the authority of an act of Con- gress which was passed in 1850 and known as the Fugi- tive Slave Law, one of the most infamous laws that was ever enacted. The law provided for the surrender to any claimant thereof, of any person they might choose to declare was a runaway slave, and all that was necessary to do under that law to prove ownership of the person so claimed was to make an affidavit before any commissioner appointed to take depositions, that the person so claimed was a slave who had escaped from his master, and upon the proper certificate from that official, without any fur- ther ceremony the accused persons were hurried off into slavery. Such persons being property, they were not per- mitted to testify, nor were they granted a hearing before a judge or jury. One of the obnoxious features of the law which was really in the nature of a bribe to the com- missioners, was his fee of $10 in case he directed a sur-
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render of the person of the accused, otherwise it was only half that amount.
In this case Mr. Harvey was, I believe, subjected to a fine for the efforts he exerted to save his man; whereas, under the benign provisions of the law he was in duty bound to aid in securing his arrest.
Another similar incident occurred at about the same time at the old Phoenix Hotel in Wilkes-Barre, which was located on the site of the present L. & W. B. Coal Company's office building on River Street. A mulatto waiter there was chased into the river by some slave hunters and fired upon with revolvers and badly wounded. He made his escape, however, and was later found hid- den in the weeds along the shore and cared for. His would-be captors having announced that "a dead nigger" would be of no use to them. The brutal enforcement of that iniquitous law was one of the primary causes which led up to the war of the rebellion, and yet there are people who place the responsibility for that war upon the Abolitionists.
Soon after the time of these occurrences there came from the press that historic novel of Harriet Beecher Stowe, "Uncle Tom's Cabin." It created a most pro- found sensation at the time and the story is familiar to nearly everybody throughout the North to-day. I have in my possession a copy of one of the first of the many thousand editions of that famous novel, which I loved to hear my grandfather read as we all sat around his fireside on winter evenings.
CHAPTER IX.
Reverie-Wild Pigeons-Swimming-Rafting-A Disappointing Experience-Traveling Inconveniences-Flood of 1852 and the Resulting Hardships-Flood of 1865-Incidents of the Flood-Early Military Organizations-The Shawnee Rang- ers-General Trainings-Martial Music-Black Jack-Later Military Companies-Top Heaviness of the Military Estab- lishment.
T THE sensations of a drowning person, it is said by
those who have been resuscitated after having nearly undergone that fate, are that the events and scenes of their whole lives-like a panorama-are flashed be- fore their mind's eye in a moment, and the forgotten memories and most trifling incidents of the past are vividly brought into view.
It is a sensation something like that which I experi- ence as I attempt to locate the almost obliterated land- marks of near a century ago; as the obscure evidence of their former existence brings them into view, old scenes and long-forgotten incidents connected therewith are vividly recalled and flash through the mind with light- ning rapidity, and in the effort to describe them I am at a loss how or where to begin. For instance, here stands an old tree that appears about the same as I remember it when a boy. It must be over a hundred years old; what precious memories it recalls.
"Kind friends are gone but the old tree stands, Unharmed by the warring blasts."
Over there by the roadside stands the relics of an- other old veteran of the forest, from whose decaying branches I fired at a red squirrel with an old horse pistol from which part of the stock blew off with the explosion, and I have wondered whether the squirrel or I was the worse scared. On yonder ledge I have sat, and watched
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with admiration-where now are only to be seen un- sightly piles of culm-the shadows of the clouds as they passed over the waving fields of grain and meadow on the Shawnee Flats, presenting a scene of beauty far sur- passing the painter's art, and, in imagination, I can see the crows as they came, flying singly, or in pairs or flocks to their far away mountain homes. In yonder field, now covered with dwelling houses, is where we used to coast on the crusted snow on moonlight nights, on sleds made up of barrel staves which flew almost with the speed of the wind. On the brow of yonder hill I have stood with gun in hand, patiently waiting and hoping for a chance to shoot at the wild pigeons as they passed over, in flocks so dense as almost to obscure the light of the sun, but so high up that a Krag Jorgenson rifle could be scarcely able to reach them; and there, way down in that field yonder near the river, where I was sent to work, some idle boys would pass and holding up two fingers- an inviting sign to go swimming-was sufficient induce- ment to while the happy hours away in the comfortable waters at the mouth of Wadham's Creek, while my in- dulgent father-until, in the interest of my health Fuller Reynolds advised him otherwise-was fondly indulging the ridiculous belief that I was industriously hoeing corn.
Thus do "fond memories bring the light of other days around me," and the happy days of boyhood are again ยท lived over; but, like a tale that is told, naught remains but memories which will doubtless be of little interest here, and as garrulousness is said to be a characteristic of old people, that must be my excuse for the telling, if one is needed.
In the days of early spring for many years it was a common sight to see the river filled with rafts of lumber, and arks loaded with potatoes, or other articles of pro-
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duce coming from the headwaters of the river in New York State, pass by on the annual spring freshet. For days at a time these would pass almost continuously by hundreds. They would go through the chute by the side of the Nanticoke Dam and proceed on down to various points along the river from whence their crews-as often did canal boatmen-would return on foot to their homes.
I had long had a very ardent desire to have a ride on one of those lumber rafts, with their cosy looking little cabins in the centre, so one day I procured a skiff, and with a great deal of laborious effort rowed up stream about a mile, when I struck out to intercept one in the middle of the river, fondly expecting to enjoy a long and very pleasant ride, but alas! my painful exertions had strangely enough caused me to overlook the wonderful rapidity of the current, and as soon as I reached the cov- eted goal I looked around and to my amazement saw that I was far below my starting point. Without delay I pulled for shore and reached home with my hands badly blistered and a sadder and much wiser boy, and with the desire for rafting entirely gone.
There being no railroad conveniences, or other con- venient and expeditious means of travel in those days, pedestrian methods were quite commonly resorted to, and I have myself seen men with carpet bag in hand traveling to Bloomsburg and Danville in the prosecution of their business pursuits, and-I am almost afraid to tell it- sixty miles a day was not considered an extraordinary or unusual distance for a day's journey on foot.
These annual freshets, while they were usually antici- pated or expected, were often the cause of considerable trouble and expense in the destruction of fences, and in
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the removal of driftwood and other debris after the waters had subsided.
In the year 1852 I think it was, there came a rather unusual and unexpected flood in July, which caused much loss and damage and subsequent distress. Considerable of the grain on the flats had been cut and stood in shocks in the fields. The farmers worked at night with their teams in efforts to save their crops, but the river rose so rapidly that very little in that direction could be accom- plished, and what was saved was covered with mud and for a year afterwards gritty wheat flour was much in evi- dence, the only alternative being bread made from rye which was mostly grown on the uplands, or Johnny cakes, conditions, which to the fastidious palates of to-day would doubtless seem more appalling than the horrors of the present European war. The poor cattle and horses were probably the worst sufferers, for neither hay or grain could be handled without raising a smothering cloud of dust; but in the case of both man and beast, it was simply a question of eat or starve.
The most appalling flood, however, occurred on St. Patrick's Day, March 17th and 18th, 1865. The weather was clear and pleasant and the ice had all passed out of the river, and people were congratulating themselves that all danger from floods had passed. However, there had sprung up a warm south wind which melted the heavy snows on the mountains and along the headwater sheds of the river and brought the waters down with a rush. On the 17th there was a township election being held in the upper schoolroom of the Academy and in the after- noon the tardy voters from the upper end were obliged to make use of the fence between Mr. Gaylord's resi- dence and the Wadhams' residence in order to reach the polling place. Late in the afternoon I rowed a boat up
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to the door of the schoolroom and took the election board to dry land. The water rose to cover the tops of the counters in Wadhams' store. Manny Wharram had hastily built some boats for service on the occasion, and on the 18th I rowed one of these into the front door en- trance of Mr. Wadhams' residence and took on board his family, they stepping into the boat from the second or third step from the bottom of the hall stairway. The wind was blowing almost a gale and the boat was un- wieldy. We sailed over the top of the garden fence. I lost my cap in the perilous voyage but managed to land the cargo safely at the foot of the hill somewhere near the upper end of Gaylord Avenue. Later I removed the family of Rev. J. G. Eckman from the old Methodist parsonage to a place of safety. In passing one of their children to me in the boat, before I could get a secure hold the boat gave a lurch and the kid dropped into the water. That same kid is now, I believe, or was, the pastor of one of the largest churches in New York City. If perchance he should ever read these lines I wonder if he can remember the incident of his immersion.
While there was much damage and suffering caused by this flood to many of the people of Plymouth, yet there were also many comical and laughable incidents connected with it. Nearly everybody appeared to take the situation philosophically and in good nature, and in fact, many seemed rather to enjoy the unusual novelty and excite- ment incident thereto. In the upper end of town it seemed as though nearly all of the outhouses of the neigh- borhood had a penchant for eddying in or near the main street, and that ever jovial and irrepressible Tom Dod- son, having marooned a keg of liquor, he established a free bar in one of them, and it was said that nearly every- body in the neighborhood got drunk.
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The earliest, and in fact the only remembrance I have of any military organizations in Plymouth, and that is very indistinct, is that of the "Shawnee Greens," although there was some kind of a military system in vogue in the State in early days whereby the military subjects were required to arm and equip themselves. I remember of hearing my father speak of being required, in obedi- ence to orders of the Brigade Inspector, to report some- where for muster, when the men would appear armed with sticks or cornstalks for guns. Where or when these inspections were held I am not aware, nor do I recollect having ever seen any military drills or parades in Ply- mouth.
The "Shawnee Greens," so named from the color of the gorgeous uniforms they wore, was organized by Francis J. Smith probably about the year 1842 or 1843. The officers were Francis J. Smith, captain, and Fuller Reynolds and Draper Smith, lieutenants. Their green uniforms consisted of frock-tailed coats with a profusion of round brass bell buttons, tasseled epaulettes and hel- mets with gorgeous plumes which might have excited the envy of Henry of Navarre.
I don't think this formidable arm of national defense was very large, or that it survived very long, for I re- member when about seven or eight years of age, while living in Kingston, where Captain Smith also at that time lived in the old stone house on the corner, that we boys got access to a room where the uniforms were stored, and helped ourselves to brass buttons and gilt trimmings.
I have often heard of general training days which I think occurred in the spring months, and an important feature of which was ginger cakes and cider. I think these military displays generally took place either at Kingston or Wilkes-Barre. The only ones which I can
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recall were at Kingston when uniformed troops from Wilkes-Barre paraded and I think they wore white trousers which were held down with leather straps under the boots. These all made an appearance which to the juvenile mind particularly was very formidable and awe- inspiring.
On these, as on all similar occasions, perhaps the most attractive feature of the display was the music. For martial music I don't believe there ever was or probably can be, when properly executed, anything more inspiring or calculated to arouse the highest pitch of patriotic ardor, than the fife and drums. In this particular on all military or civic occasions, "Shawnee against the world," Plymouth was without a peer. There was Henderson Egbertson, with his tenor drum; his brother Jim, famil- iarly known as "Bucksy," with the bass drum, and Black Jack, with the fife, and whenever they paraded, as they sometimes did through the main street of an evening, they always attracted an audience.
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