The Register of Pennsylvania : devoted to the preservation of facts and documents and every other kind of useful information respecting the state of Pennsylvania, Vol. IX, Part 50

Author: Hazard, Samuel, 1784-1870
Publication date: 1828
Publisher: Philadelphia : Printed by W.F. Geddes ;
Number of Pages: 440

USA > Pennsylvania > The Register of Pennsylvania : devoted to the preservation of facts and documents and every other kind of useful information respecting the state of Pennsylvania, Vol. IX > Part 50

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The elevation from the Delaware, at Easton, to Mauch Chunk, is three hundred and forty-nine feet, which gives fifty-eight lifts of six feet each, with a frac- tion of one foot.

Fifty-eight lifts, at one and one-third cent a lift, is se- venty-seven three-tenths, add toll for the fraction of one foot, and the whole amount of the toll, from Easton to Mauch Chunk, or from Mauch Chunk to Easton, is se- venty-seven and a half cents, which is twenty-two and a half cents less than the tolls now charged. The words " up and down," are perhaps ambiguous, and may ad- mit of different constructions; and how it happened that such a mode of expression was used in an act so skilful- ly and cautiously worded, it may not be easy to imagine. It is, however, still more difficult to suppose, that the legislature would have enacted in plain words, that an article going to market, should pay toll for the privilege of returning, or that all produce and merchandize should pay double toll for once passing through the ca- nal. It does not appear reasonable to give the words such a construction, if they fairly admit of any other. What passes down should pay for going down; that is to say, it should pay for all the benefit it has derived from the use of the canal. In like manner for going up; and no article should be required to pay for returning, unless it does return. This seems to be the common sense and justice of the matter. Illegal or excessive tolls are injurious, not merely because they arrest im- provement, and, in this case, exclude from market one of the finest coal regions in the state, and diminish the revenues of the commonwealth on the Delaware canal, but the deleterious consequences are felt by the whole community from Mauch Chunk to Bristol, a distance of one hundred and six miles. One or two facts will make this matter manifest. At New Hope, on the Delaware, sixty miles by water above Philadelphia, Mauch Chunk coal has been sold, this last season, at higher prices than it was, at the same time, selling for in Philadelphia, where it is met by competition with the Schuylkill coal. In the valley of New Hope there are eighty lime kilns, which it is estimated will burn about eight thousand tons of anthracite coal a year. A competition in the coal trade would reduce the price of the article in that district, so as to make a saving to that community, in the single article of lime burning, of a sum probably ex- ceeding eight thousand dollars a year. Extend this ex- amination into the other extensive lime districts on the Delaware and Lehigh, into the different manufactories and fire sides of the community, from Mauch Chunk to Bristol, and the loss to the community, from the ab- sence of competition in the coal trade, will be found to

If they have such a right, it will become an interesting question whether it was competent for the legislature I be a grievance of great magnitude. The extension of

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PENNSYLVANIA CANAL, &c.

179

a rail-road from the Beaver Meadow coal region to Eas- ton, will effectually remove this grievance, by furnish- ing the means of competition. That such competitiun would be effectual in reducing prices, is evidenced by the fact, that the tolls are assessed on the Lehigh canal for the avowed purpose of preventing the competition.

It may perhaps be useful to examine this question of tolls, in comparison with other canals.

The Schuylkill canal was commenced in eighteen hundred and fifteen, and finished in eighteen hundred and twenty-five. This company were the pioneers in inland navigation, and to them is due all the credit of commencing works of this nature. Owing to the want of experience in the country in the construction of such works, they encountered many difficulties, which those who followed were instructed to avoid, and in conse- quence have been put yearly to great expense for re- pairs, and probably will continue to be for a year or two longer. The length of the Schuylkill canal is one hundred and eight miles; cost of construction, nearly two millions and a half of dollars; lockage five hundred and eighty-eight feet; toll on canal for one hundred and eight miles, one dollar per ton on coal. This company posessses no cool privileges, or other immunities that do not properly belong to canal operations.

The Lehigh Coal and Navigation company, having all the advantages derivable from the experience of the Schuylkill company, began their canal in eighteen hun- dred and twenty-two, finished in eighteen hundred and twenty-nine, and have constructed it so well, that it has required, and it is believed it will require inconsiderable repairs.

Length of Lehigh canal from Mauch Chunk to Eas- ton forty-six miles, cost of construction less than one million and a half of dollars. Lockage three hundred and forty-nine feet. Toll on Lehigh canal for forty-six miles one dollar and four cents, making the toll on the Lehigh canal for forty-six miles, four cents more than it is on the Schuylkill canal for one hundred and eight miles; rated by miles about one hundred and fifty per cent higher than on the Schuylkill; and three hundred per cent higher than on the Delaware canal.

It has been said, that as the Lehigh canal is more ca- pacious than the others, the freight on it will be less, and therefore the tolls may be higher. This is not a consequence, nor does the principle of a fair comparison of tolls depend at all upon the capacity of the canal. A canal may have little water, but, by reason of the difficulty and expense of construction, be fairly entitled to assess higher tolls than another, more capacious, of casy construction, and abundantly supplied with water. But the fact is, that, for all boats which are destined to pass through the Delaware canal, the larger dimensions of the Lehigh are of no advantage, but rather a detri- ment. The locks are not so soon filled, and the boat when in them is nut so conveniently managed. The pretence that two hoats can be locked together side by side, and thus conveniently pass through the locks, and on the canal, it is believed experience has proved to be a sheer assumption.

In considering this question of tolls, reference ought to be had to the probable trade, in connexion with the privileges of the company. In their report seventh January, eighteen hundred and thirty-two, page three, they say "a number of boats, laden chiefly with coal from Mauch Chunk, a portion of the contract for fifty thousand tons mentioned in our last report," were pass- ed through the Morris canal, and that it is completed and in successful operation, and in page fifteen, "promises a large m'Irket for coal along its banks." The Delaware canal is ready to accommodate their coal trade, and in report, page six, they expect " that at least one hundred thousand tons of coal will be shipped from Mauch Chunk fur the supply of the coming season," yielding a revenue under the denomination of tolls on coal on the Lehigh ca- nal of one hundred and four thousand dollars-more than seven per cent. on its cost-andin same report page four-

teen, " if we don't do a greater coal business than all our neighbours put together, it will be because we are less industrious or manage worse than they do, nature having done so much more for us, I don't mean by these remarks to say, that our neighbors are not well off, but only to say we are better off."

Report page seventh, "the prospect of speedily reab- zing a handsome profit by the sale and improvement of water powers and town lots is highly encouraging. There are probably noscites in the country offering ad- vantages to enterprizing individuals, for the location of manufactories and other large establishments equal to those which will be found on the Lehigh. All these ad- vantages are more particularly evident at South Easton, a new town, recently laid out by this company; at that place the whole power of the river may be applied un- der a head of twenty-three feet; it is situate at the junc- tion of the Lehigh canal with the Delaware and Morris canals. A number of town lots have been sold at Nes- quehoning." These and other parts of their reports would justify the citizens of the commonwealth in ex- pecting, and the Legislature in insisting, that the tolls on the Lehigh canal. should on all articles be fair and rea- sonable, but whatever might be their condition, how- ever adverse and discouraging, if at their new mines they had but little coal and that of a poor quality, and their old mines failing, nevertheless they would not be at liberty, it is against the spirit of all our institutions, that they should be permitted to better their condition through the ageney of excessive tolls imposed for the purpose of creating for themselves the benefits to be derived from a monopoly of the coal trade.

The petitioners against the grievance, pray that the Legislature would assist the Beaver meadow Rail-road and Coal company, to make a rail-road from the Beaver meadow coal mine to Easton.

This would open a communication to the coal region and surrounding country, cut off from market by the conduct of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation company, relieve the citizens from injurious and oppressive mo- nopoly, and secure to the commonwealth a large in erease of revenue on the Delaware eanal.

This company was incorporated to make a rail-road to the river Lehigh, above Mauch Chunk, on the April, eighteen hundred and thirty. The applicants for the act, desired to have the right of extending the rail-road to Easton; but on assurances given by the agents of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation company, in Senate chamber, that the tolls on the Lehigh canal should be reduced to fair and reasonable rates; the Senate made an amendment, by which the road was re- stricted to end at the Lehigh, above Mauch Chunk. They having refused to reduce the tolls on the Lehigh canal, a supplement passed the last session of the legis- lature, empowering this company to extend the rail- road to Easton. .

A sufficient quantity of the stock has not been sub- scribed to justify the company in commencing the undertaking; and this, it is believed, has been owing to the sinister and selfish opposition of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation company.

If the Lehigh company, consulting what they will certainly in the end find to have been their best inter- ests, should exert themselves to extend, as speedily as possible, the navigation of the river Lehigh, the Beaver Meadow rail-road would connect with the navigation at the mouth of the Quacake, and would be immediately constructed without additional privileges, or any assist- anco from the legislature, provided the tolls on the canal were fixed at specified and reasonable rates. If, however, the considerations which ought to impress themselves upon the minds of the stockholders of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, shall continue to fail of their effect, justice, the rights and interests of the community, and the honor and dignity of the com- monwealth, require at the hands of the legislature, ef- ficient and effectual aid to an undertaking, which will

[MARCH

PENNSYLVANIA CANAL &c.

relieve the citizens from burthensome impositions, and essentially promote the general prosperity. Such aid, it is believed, can be effectually given, without being subject to a single objection, and in a way which will command the assent and support of all who are deter- mined, and thorough in their determinations, to break down or overcome such monopoly.

It is therefore proposed,

Ist. To grant to the stockholders of the Beaver Meadow company, the right to have a preference in subscribing to a part of the stock of any new bank or banks, which may hereafter be established in the city of Philadelphia. Such preference will not at all inter- fere with the bonus which the state may require, nor in any respect connect the operations of the banks with those of the Beaver Meadow company. The stock- holders, in common with other citizens, would have the right of subscribing to such banks; and such a prefer- ence, in effect, is granting to them no greater privileges than what are virtually given to the commissioners in every bank bill, the mere right of subscribing. If the banks would be otherwise auctioned, subject to the bo- nus, it is in such case giving the premium produced; but such money would appear to be well bestowed, inas- muchas it would free the commonwealth from the odium of permitting a monopoly to exist through the agency of its own laws, and return to the state annually proba- bly many times the amount in tolls on the Delaware canal.

2d. Assess such tolls per ton per mile on the Dela- ware canal, on all coal coming from the Mauch Chunk mines, or other mines, owned or used by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation company, as shall equal the charge of tolls on the Lehigh canal per ton per mile. On con -. sideration of all the circumstances, this does not appear a harsh measure, nor is it doing more than requiring from the Lehigh Coal and Navigation company that they assess tolls on all articles for reasonable revenue, and not for monopoly. The trade on the Lehigh canal will exceed that on the Delaware, and greatly exceed it, as is distinctly shown in their report. The tolls on both should be assessed upon the same principles, for reve- nue to be derived from the encouragement of trade, and not from its depression. If, therefore, their tolls are reasonable, they cannot complain that the above rule operates hardly upon them; if they are unreasonable and oppressive, they are made to pay for their unrea- sonable and oppressive conduct, and in due proportion, according to the principles of retributive justice. The right and justice of the proposed measure appears to be unanswerable; and it only remains to inquire if it can be made effectual.

It has been said, that in case of such an assessment, the Mauch Chunk coal will avoid the Delaware canal, and go to market by the way of the river, or through the Raritan or Morris canals.

This will depend altogether upon the consent of the commonwealth. Coal boats of a considerable burden cannot descend the Delaware at any season of the year, and if they could, there is no way of return, except through the Delaware canal. The same toll assessed on a return boat which went to market by the way of the river, as would have been assessed in case the boat had gone and returned by the canal, will easily and ef- fectually prevent this evasion.

The remedy in the other case is as easy and quite as effectual. The state took the mouth of the river Le- high for a feeder to the Delaware canal, in the same manner and subject to the same rights as in other cases, where private property was taken for public nse. There is nothing more sacred in the property of a company than in that of a private individual-both may be taken for public use when the public interest requires it to be done. The gate, therefore, at the mouth of the Lehigh, belongs to the commonwealth, and the Legislature may regulate the passage of boats through it upon such terms and conditions as to their wisdom shall seem ex- pedient.

All attempts at evasion, will therefore be found to be useless, nor ought it to be supposed by any one, that\ the Legislature has transferred to the Lehigh Coal and Navigation company the power of regulating trade within the borders of the commonwealth.

The sole intention of the Legislature was to benefit the country through the agency of a company. It cer- tainly was not foreseen and perhaps could not have been charitably anticipated, that the great privileges which were granted to secure the improvement of the navi- gation of the river Lehigh, should come to be the chief obstacles in the way of improvement. The waters of the Lehigh were bestowed, corporate privileges were granted, that the navigation of the river might be im- proved as speedily as possible, and all the citizens of the commonwealth admitted to enjoy upon fair and rea- sonable assessments of tolls, the beneficial use of the improvement.

From the foregoing considerations, the committee have instructed me to report the following resolutions:

Resolved, That the canal commissioners be, and they are hereby required and directed to assess such rates of tolls on the Delaware canal, on all anthracite coal pass- ing down the Delaware canal as shall equal, per ton, per mile, the rate of toll charged on the Lehigh canal, so that the tolls be the same per ton, per mile, on the Delaware canal that they amount to on the Lehigh ca- nal, until the tolls on the Lehigh canal are reduced, and do not exceed per ton, per mile, the usual and custom- ary tolls charged per ton, per mile, on the Delaware canal.

Resolved also, That it is expedient to allow each of the stockholders of the Beaver Meadow Rail-road and Coal company, a preference to the amount of his stock, in subscribing upon the same terms which are allowed to others, into the bank stock of any new bank which may hereafter be established in the city of Philadel- phia.

COUNTER REPORT

Of the minority of the committee to whom was re- ferred the memorials of a number of the citi- zens of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, praying that the same rates of toll may be charged on the Delaware division of the Pennsylvania canal as are charged hy the Lehigh Coal and Navigation company for the use of the Lehigh canal; and praying that ad- ditional privileges may be granted to the Beaver Mea- . dow Rail road Company. Read in Senate, February 25, 1832, by Mr. Kerlin.

A minority of the committee, to whom was referred the petitions of sundry citizens of this commonwealth, praying that the same rates of toll may be charged on the Delaware division of the Pennsylvania canal as are charged by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation company for the use of the Lehigh canal, and praying for addi- tional privileges to be granted to the Beaver Meadow Rail-road and coal company: Report, That the origin and progress of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation com- pany appears to have been as follows:

In the year 1817, Josiah White and Erskine Hazard were manufacturing wire at the falls of Schuylkill, near Philadelphia, and finding the use of anthracite coal, which they were then hauling by land, indispensable to their business, they concluded if the Schuylkill Naviga- tion company would agree upon some reason: ble toll to be assessed upon the article, that they would purchase a mine in Schuylkill county, and supply, not only them- selves but others with coal. Upon application for this purpose to the president of that company, they were told that the law had fixed the toll, and the company could not alter it. They found that this toll would amount to thirty cents a bushel, and told the president that it would come cheaper than that down the Lehigh.

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Josiah White was immediately despatched to that river, to judge of its situation, and ascertain the state of the mines, and G. F. A. Hauto, who was disengaged, offer- ed to accompany him: they found that the whole coun- try from Lehighton to Stoddartsville, was a complete wilderness, there being only those improvements in the whole, and that there had been five laws passed by the legislature for the improvement of the Lehigh by incor- porated companies, one of which granted them lottery privileges, and the general appropriation bill allotted thirty thousand dollars for a subscription by the state to the last corporation that was authorized. This last act had expired by its own limitation, a short time previous- ly, and the idea of improving the navigation on the Le- high was entirely abandoned, after much money had been expended by the different companies formed un- der the above mentioned acts. The mines now owned by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation company, were at that time owned by an association formed in the year 1792, who had expended all their capital in endeavoring to get the coal to market; and a lease they had granted to Charles Miner, Esq. (of the Village Record, ) Jacob Cist, of Wilkesbarre, and a Wm. Robinson, for ten years, on the sole condition that they should send from the mines to Philadelphia, for their own benefit, 10,000 bushels of the coal each year, had been forfeited by non-user, as had also been two previous leases, on the same favorable terms, to other persons. Under these unpropitious circumstances, these three individuals, (White, Hazard, and Hauto, ) determined upon apply- ing to the association for a lease of the mines, and to the legislature for a law to improve the navigation of the Lehigh, both of which were obtained.

By the act of 20th March, 1818, White, Hauto, and Hazard were invested with a fee simple in the river Le- high, with liberty to collect certain tolls, provided, with- in the time limited by the act, they completed a" de- scending navigation once in three days, for boats carrying ten tons, or 100 barrels, and if that kind of navigation was deemed insufficient, the legislature might give them notice to convert the same into a slackwater navi- gation. Under this act, White and Hazard went to work and levelled the river and a road to the coal mines. An attempt was then made to form a Navigation and Coal company. A deputation of persons disposed to subscribe went to see if things were properly repre- sented, they reported that the river might be improved on the plan proposed by White and Hazard, and that there was plenty of coal; but that the country was so rough it was impossible a good road could be made to it, which of course put an end to that association. A suc- cessful attempt was then made to get up the Lehigh Navigation company, and a capital of $50,000 subscrib- ed. In August of that year they commenced opera- tions, by improving the channels, which were continued with every appearance of success, till the summer of 1819, when the water became so low that it was appa- rent a different plan of improvement must be resorted to. In the mean time the Lehigh Coal company had been created, and a portion of their capital expended in making a turnpike to the mine. It was now evident that the capital would be insufficient for the purpose of con- structing dams and gates to hold a sufficient quantity of water to make artificial freshets in the improved chan- nels, as often as the law required, and the two compa- nies, after much difficulty, agreed to unite under the name of the Lehigh Navigation and Coal company, provided $20,000 of additional capital capital could be subscribed. Of this sum White and Hazard, (they having previously purchased Hauto's interest, ) were obliged to subscribe $12,000, as the public had no con- fidence in the undertaking. This amount was also found insufficient. It was necessary to increase the capi- tal stock by the admission of new subscribers, and the style of the association was changed to the Lehigh coal and Navigation company; but in order to induce a new subscription of $50,000 to the stock, White and Hazard

found it necessary to offer the subscribers a bonus of $10,000 out of their private funds, which they actually paid. -

It was at length found impossible for an un-incorpo- rated institution to raise the amount of money necessary to complete the navigation, and the legislature in 1822, granted them a charter by which the riglits formerly vested in White, Ifauto and Hazard, were confirmed to to the company. For this grant the company yielded the right of charging two-thirds of the toll, which they were authorized to charge under the act of 1818. Un- der these acts a canal has been constructed which does honor to the state, and has been spoken of in terms of high commendation by all who have seen it. It extends from Easton to Mauch Chunk, a distance of 463 miles, and within one mile of the highest point on the Lehigh, to which the canal could be extended, under the exist- ing acts of Assembly.

The Ichigh canal has produced a complete revolu- tion in the country through which it passes. Since the year 1818, it has caused a constant stream of wealth to flow into the adjoining counties, amounting in the whole to upwards of three and a half millions of dollars; and this stream will never be checked or turned while the neighbouring mountains continue to contain coad. The people of those counties, from a state of almost bank- ruptcy, have risen into opulence; all can procure employment and a ready market for whatever they pro- duce. The lands along the Lehigh, which at the com- mencement of the improvement could be purchased at from 6 to 10 cents an acre, now command as many dol- lars; and the Beaver Meadow coal mine, the specula- tors in which are now so clamorous, owes its whole va- lue to the navigation, for previously it was beyond the profitable reach of man. Your committee arc of opi- nion that the memorialists were misled by the represen- tations of the Beaver Meadow company, when they state that the present tolls on the Lehigh operate as a prohibition to any other coal passing on it than that be- longing to the Lehigh Coal and Navigation company, as the following calculation will show that it can be ta- ken to market at a handsome profit, viz:

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The Register of Pennsylvania : devoted to the preservation of facts and documents and every other kind of useful information respecting the state of Pennsylvania, Vol. IX, Part 50

Author: Hazard, Samuel, 1784-1870 Publication date: 1828 Publisher: Philadelphia : Printed by W.F. Geddes ; Number of Pages: 440

Author: Hazard, Samuel, 1784-1870
Publication date: 1828
Publisher: Philadelphia : Printed by W.F. Geddes ;
Number of Pages: 440