USA > Pennsylvania > Lackawanna County > The Wyoming Valley, upper waters of the Susquehanna, and the Lackawanna coal-region : including views of the natural scenery of northern Pennsylvania : from the Indian occupancy to the year 1875 > Part 15
USA > Pennsylvania > Susquehanna County > Susquehanna > The Wyoming Valley, upper waters of the Susquehanna, and the Lackawanna coal-region : including views of the natural scenery of northern Pennsylvania : from the Indian occupancy to the year 1875 > Part 15
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"The superior density, irregular fracture, and general appearance of antliracite are distinguish- ing features to common observation ; while water and ash take the place of hydrogen and oxygen, or biturrinous matter. But anthracite which contains only 80 per cent. carbon, with 20 per cent. water and ieenmbustible matter, is the low- est grade of commercial coal and of little value as fuel.
"The constituents of anthracite, as determined by ordinary analysis, and generally published, are only aproximate. They are generally made from picked specimens, by many men and many
94
THE WYOMING VALLEY.
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methods, each giving widely diverse results even from the same coal, and the mere aggregates of carbon, volatile matter, rnd ash, while the distin- guishing features and chemical constituents arc seldom given. The change frem anthracite to semi-anthracite is gradual and imperceptible in the coal fields. There is no fixed point at which the one terminates orthe other commences. The same uncertainty is manifest in all published analysises of minoral coal. No commonly adopt- ed limit is assigned to the varions gradations. Those called semi-anthracite in one place are termed anthracite in others and vice versa. The same Indefinite relations are observable between semi-anthracite and semi-bituminou, and between semi-bituminous and bituminous coals ; while the gradations of all carbon compounds are alike indefinite and unsettled, down through cannel coal, bitumen, asphaltum, petroleum, naphtha, and carburetted hydrogen gases. The uncertain- ty, however, exists in the mean and not the extreme varieties. Hard, dense anthracite could not be mistaken for any other class; and while light, volatile semi-anthracites might be readily termed seini-bituminous, it could not be mistaken for anthracite."
Prof. H. D. Rogers explains the formation of anthtacite by supposing it to be the result of altered bituminous coal metamorphosed by in- tense heat, and of course by heat induced subse- quent to the formation of the bituminous beds ; and he further explains the escape of the volatile portion of the latter as gas through cracks and openings caused by the plication of the anthra- eite strata. This plication follows closely the general type of the eastern palæozoic rocks, which are intensely crushed and folded near the contact of their edges with the igneous or gran- itie rocks, and much less plicated and distorted in a western direction. This fact undoubtedly led to the above theory, which seems as natural as it is igneous ; but the facts do not sustain the theory. Ist. The upper beds and strata arc more dislocated, distorted, and crushed than the lower beds, as plainly demonstrated by the pli- eation of the strata on the apex of the leading antielinals in the southern field. 2d. The meas- ures are more plicated and crushed at the west-
ern extremity of this field, in the Dauphin or sonth prong, than at the eastern extremity : yet the coal of the latter is a dense, hard anthracite, while that of the former is a semi-bituminous. 3d. The heat must have been most intense during the carly rtages of coal formation. In view of these facts, it has recently been contend- ed that true anthracite is not a metamorphosis of bituminous coal, but as much a normal creation as the bituminous variety itself from a combina- tion of its constituents under superior heat, how- ever the original elements were produced.
"The faults and irregularities of the anthratcie beds and strata arc the result of crust movements and the plication of the distorted and crushed rocks indicate contraction, both lateral and per- pendicular, as the cause. The effects of a com- bined lateral and perpendicular movement arc simply those which are evinced in the plieation of the antheraite beds of the southern Pennsyl- vania fields, and their accompanying shales ; but the crust movements have been slow and uni. form, bending rather than breaking the strata, except in cases of sharp foliation of anti-clinals and synelinals.
"Where the folding has been most abrupt the strata are inverted, aud the coal is crushed and partially destroyed. The coal beds thus distort- ed are always subject to faults of the peculiar character described in the New England and New River coal fields, as well as those of Penn- sylvania. Such faults are more frequently met with in the upper than in the lower beds of the latter. The dislocations of American coal beds are rarely vertical, and never to any great extent, as in the English fields, where this form of fault is peculiar. The nearest approach to this in the former is a 'slip' which may slide one portion of a bed over the other, or remove it a few feet up or down. In the anthracite fields, however, faults are much more numerous than in the bi- tuminous fields of England or the United States. but these are generally of the characteristic form peculiar to highly plicated strata before described. There are, however, other less frequent fornis of fault, such as the occurrence of large areas of' soft carbonaceous shale in place of the coal; long ribbon-like streaks of roek or slate in the
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ANTHRACITE-NORTHERN COAL FIELD.
coal from the top of the bed, apparently to fill a crack in the same ; or the interposition of rock and slate between the strata of a bed, diivding it so as to render valueless sometimes one or both divisions. The preceding are such as are strictly denominated faults in the Pennsylvania fields ; but the ever varying dip of the strata, the change of strike incident thereto, and the general irreg- ularities of both coal bed and accompanying strata would be denominated faults in the great bituminous fields of the United States or Eng- land.
temperatures, and its consequent maintenance of a steady uniform steam power. For the econom. ical combustion of anthracite a strong draught rather than an abundant supply of air is required. In common use, however, where chimney draught is ordinarily employed, these two re- quirements are antagonistic, as far as economy is concerned. To obtain a draught strong enough to pass sufficient air through the coals, a high and hot chimney is required, which absorbs and carries off the largest proportion of caloric from furnaces as commonly constructed.
"The use of anthracite as a common fuel is "The coal is rarely burned to carbonic acid by direct combustion in this manner, but rather to carbonic oxide, which is lost, and more than half of the fuel is thus wasted. The first or direct combustion, producing carbonic oxide, generates about 1300 ° C., while the carbonic oxide is ca- pable of producing over 2100 ° C. of heat in ad- dition ; but when anthracite is burned to carbon- ic acid dircet in properly constructed gas-burning furnaces, the temperature is increased to 2400 ° C. The volume of heat or total heating effect is, however, in favor of carbonic oxide as fuel, and it would be much more economical and generally useful to convert anthracite or bituminous coal to carbonic oxide before using it as a fuel. In the blast furnace, however, where anthracite is preeminent, the coal must be used in its solid condition ; but here, in well constructed furnaces, the total effect of the coal is utilized. But it cannot be claimed that anthracite is a superior fuel for all purposes, because bituminous coal can be used in all cases, while anthracite in the pres- ent state of the arts for the production of illumi- nating gas, where a long hot flame is required, as in puddling furnaces, hydrogenous coal is more available ; and for welding heats, where hollow fires are desirable, the latter class of coal is also used. But under proper combustion, anthracite, as the purest form of carbon available for fuel, will yield a higher temperature than any other kind of fuel. recent. It was long supposed to be an inferior kind of coal, and the creation of an earlier peri- od than the true carboniferous ; even now there are a few professional men who adhere to this exploded theory. The first attempts to use it as a fuel were as a substitute for wood or the free burning bitum'nous coals, where a draft of air through the mass is not absolutely necessary as in the case of anthracite. On account of this difficulty of ignition, and the prevailing igno- rance in regard to the best means of using it, anthracite was slow to be appreciated. In 1813 it was considered inferior in Wales, and was but little used for any purpose ; and although known and tested as a valuable fue! in the United States arsenal at Carlisle, Pa., in 1776, and by smiths on the Susquehanna generally even at an earlier date, it was only in 1812 that it was successfully used in Philadelphia, and there the mode of burning it was discovered by accident. The general trade only commences with a few tons in 1820. At first the increase of consumption was slow, but so soon as its use and advantages be- came generally understood it assumed the first place in the list of combustibles. For household purposes it is preferred not only on account of its cleanliness and the abscence of smoke and the peculiar odor of bitumen, but also on account of its durability and long continued and uniform heat. For war steamers, where the conspicuous smoke of the bituminous coal is exceedingly ob- "The earliest record of the use of anthracite for the production of iron is in 1826, when a small furnace built under the direction of Messrs. White and Hazard, of the Lchigh Coal Com- jectionable during hostile movements, anthracite has been fully tested and found superior, not only because of the absence of smoke, but of its steam producing qualities, (its duration at high - pany, near Mauch Chunk, Pa., was tried with
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THE WYOMING VALLEY.
anthracite and cold blast ; but, though several pigs of anthracite iron were made, the furnace chilled and the attempt proved a failure. Sev- eral other experiments were made both on the Lehigh and the Schuylkill, which were success- ful in the production of anthracite iron, but failed of practical results. Attempts had been made prior to this time to use anthracite for the production of iron in the blast furnaces of Wales ; but nothing definite is given in regard to the date of these experiments until after the intro- duction of the hot blast by Neilson in 1831, or its more general use in 1833. Mr. David Thom- as then conceived the idea of using anthracite with hot blast, and induced his employer to try the experiment. A coke furnace was according- ly altered in 1836, and provided with a hot blast arrangement, and in February, 1837, anthracite iron was successfully made in Wales for the first time. In 1837, the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, attracted by the success of the Welsh furnace, sent one of their directors to Wales, who engaged Mr. Thomas to start a furnace on the Lehigh, which was successfully accomplished in June, 1839. The 'Pioneer Furnace' at Potts- ville, built by Williamn Lyman, of Boston, had been put in blast a few months previous. after the directions of Mr. Thomas. For this Mr. Lyman was awarded a preminm of $5,000, which had been offered by Burd Patterson, of Pottsville, and Nicholas Biddle, of Philadelphia, for the pro- fitable production of anthracite iron, and whichi was paid at a banquet given at Mt. Carbon early in 1840. Since then the Thomas and Crane iron works on the Lehigh have grown to mammoth establishments, and are now capable of producing 100,000 tons of pig iron per annum ; and tlie total annual production of anthracite iron, has now (1873) reached 865,000 tons."
The northern coal field is naturally divided in- to two regions, the Lackawanna and the Wyom- · ing, and these into several districts. The Laeka- wanna region includes the districts of the Lacka- wanna river, which empties into the Susquehan- na at Pittston.
Each distriet in the coal region carries with it a local term by which it is designated-thus the Lackawanna, meaning the old or original district
which was included in that term, meant at and around Carbondale, because around this centre the early developments of the Lackawanna region were made, and collieries clustered through the agency of the Delaware and Hudson Company's canal and railroad; the Seranton district is that farther down the river, which was brought to developement by the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western railroad, in 1854; and the Pittston dis- trict still lower down, which was opened and worked by the Susquehanna Canal in 1843, and the Pennsylvania Coal Company's railroad in 1850.
The production of the Wyoming or northern coal field in 1871 was 6,481,171 tons. Of this amount 2,867,598 tons was sent from the Wyom- ing region, and 3,613,573 from the Lackawanna. There are now nine railroads and two canals em- ployed in transporting coal from these regions.
The coal lands in the upper end of the North- ern coal fields are mainly owned by large com- panies, prominent among which are the Pennsyi- vania Coal Co., Delaware, and Hudson Canal Co .. Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Co.,' the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Co., and numerous others, which are combinations of ir- dividuals and'capital.
The product of the three companies first named is sold as coming from the Lackawanna Coal re- gion, although each company has a distinctive trade name for its coal, "Lackawanna" being that shipped by the Delaware and Hudson Canal Co .. at Rondout, N. Y. The Pennsylvania Coal Co., ships to Newburgh, N. Y. under the name of " Pittston Coal," while the Delaware, Lackawar- na and Western Railroad Company makes ship- ments under the name of "Scranton Coal" 10 Elizabethiport and Hoboken, N. J., in New York Harbor.
The following material facts are taken from " The Coal Trade" by Frederick E. Saward, edi- tor of the Coal Trade Journal :
" The first shipment made from this region was by the Delaware and Hudson "Canal Co .. 7,000 tons being sent in 1829.
In 1850 the Pennsylvania Coal Co. commeneed and did a business of 111,014 tons in that year.
In 1854 the Delaware, Lackawanna and West-
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ANTHRACITE-NORTHERN COAL FIELD.
ern Railroad Co. commenced and did a business of 133,965 tons in that year.
From their organization these companies have received :
D. & H. C. Co.
P. C. Co.
D. L. & W.
1829.
.7,000
.. ....
. .
1840 to 1849. .2,S97,981
1850 to 1859
.4,938,855
4,834,723
2,629,564
1860 to 1869. . 10,098,69 L
7.249,820
13,343,126
1ST0.
.2,039,722
3,0$6,008
2,348,097
1871
1,366,471
802,039
1,916,456
1872.
.2,930,767
1,213,473
1,507,483
The outlets to market from this region are as follows : The Pennsylvania Company's is sent by gravity railroad from Pittston to Hawley, thence by the Erie railroad to Newburgh.
The Delaware and Hudson Company's is car- ried from Carbondale, Archibald,and other places, by rail to Honesdale, thence by their Canal to Rondout, on the Hudson River.
The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western rail- road coal goes to tide by their own railway from Scranton to Elizabethport and Hoboken.
The prices for these coals vary ; the first two sell to contractors, who take a certain quantity at rates fixed before the first of each month. The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Company sell at auction.
Owning their outlets to market, or having con- tracts with others, it is almost impossible to give a rate of transportation, but it has been stated to cost one and a half cents per ton per milc.
WYOMING OR WILKES-BARRE.
About the centre of the Northern coal field is the property of the Wilkes-Barre Coal and Iron Co. ; there are also several individual mining concerns, and this part of the region is what is known more particularly as the Wyoming re- gion.
The Wilkes-Barre Coal and Iron Co. are fast absorbing the properties in this part of the coal regions, and we give place to their business from 1870 to date.
1870 .769,225
1871.
.950,754
1872 .1,168,716
The coal from the Wilkes-Barre Coal and Iron Co., and the individuals of this region is carried by the Lehigh Valley Railroad and New Jersey Central Railroad to tide water at New York.
The transportation on coal from this region is forty per cent. of the average price obtained for coal at tide water.
The accidents in the Lackawanna and Wyom- ing regions in 1872 resulted in the death of 107 persons ; and the injury of 306.
As showing the comparative production of the three coal fields, we append the following table :
Year.
Schuykill.
Wyoming.
Lehigh.
1860.
.3,270,516
2,941,817
1,821,774
1861
2,607,489
3,055,140
1,738,377
1862
2,890,599
3,145,770
1,351,054
1863
. 3,443,265
3,759,610
1,984,713
1864
3,642,21S
3,960,836
2,054,669
1865
3,735,802
3.256,633
1,822,535
1866.
4,633,487
3,736,616
2,128,S67
1867
4,334,820
5,328,322
2,062,446
186S
4,414,356
5,990,513
2,507.532
1869
4,148,960
6,068,365
1,929,583
ISTO ..
3,720.403
7,599,902
3,040,303
1871.
5,124,TS0
6,481,171
2,249,356
1872.
5,107,451
9,191,171
3,610,674
To give a fair representation of the quantity shipped by the three leading companies, the fol- lowing statistics of last year's trade will fully set forth the amount :
LACKAWANNA COAL TRADE.
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad.
Report of coal tonnage for the year ending Dec. 31, 1873.
Year.
Shipped North 986,619 09
46 South
2,149,737 07
Total. .3,136,298 16
Same time in 1872. .. 2,840,585 CS
Delaware and Hudson Canal Company.
Report of coal mined for year ending Dec. 31, 1873.
Year.
Forwarded North .2,582,176 01
South. 170,419 10
Total .. 2,752,595 11
Same time in 1872 .2,930,767 04
The coal mined by the Delaware and Hudson
Canal Co. to Dec. 31, was distributed as follows : By Delaware and Hudson Canal. 1,358,652
Railroad East. 433,809
West. 574,464
South. 170,420
Total this year. .2,537,345
To same period last year. 2,725,105
Pennsylvania Coal Company.
Report of coal mined for the year ending Dec. 31, 1873.
Total. . .1,239,214 05
Same time 1872. .1,213,478. 05
1830 to 1839 .846,333
.... ..
CHAPTER XXI.
THE PIONEERS OF THE COAL TRADE.
"Of man's miraculous mistakes, this bears The palm, 'That men are about to live,' Forever on the brink of being born : All pay themselves the compliment to think They one day shall not drivel, and their pride On this reversion takes up ready praise ; At least their own; their future selves appland."- Young.
Col. H. B. Wright, author of "Historical Sketches of Plymouth, Luzerne Co., Pa.," in the chapter on Coal Trade and Coal Men, gives the following as his version of the pioneer trade :
" In the fall of the year 1807, Abijah Sinith purehased an ark of John P. Arndt, a merchant of Wilkes-Barre, which had been used for the transportation of plaster, for the price of $24 00. This ark he floated to Plymouth, and loaded with some fifty tons of anthracite coal, and late in the same season he landed it safely at Columbia, Lan- caster County, Pa.
"This was probably the first cargo of anthracite coal that was ever offered for sale in this or any other country. The trade of 1807 was fifty tons ; that of 1870, in round numbers, sixteen millions ! It may be fairly estimated that the sale of 1880 will reach twenty-five millions.
"Abijah Smith, therefore, of Plymouth, was the pioneer in the coal business. Anthracite coal had been used before 1807, in this valley and elsewhere, in small quantities in furnaces, with an air blast ; but the traffic in coal as an article of general use was commenced by Abijab Smith, of Plymouth. The important discovery of burning eoal without an air blast was made by IIon. Jcs- se Fell, of Wilkes-Barre, one of the Judges of the Luzerne county courts, on the eleventh day of February, 1808, and less than six months after the departure of the first cargo from the Ply- mouth mines. This important discovery, which led to the use of coal for culinary and other do- mestic purposes, enabled Mr. Smith, in the year
succeeding his first shipment to introduce it into the market. But even then, as is the case in most new discoveries, the public were slow in coming to the conclusion that it would answer the purpose of fuel. Time, however, has fully demonstrated its usefulness; and the rapid in- crease of its consumption, from fifty tons annual- ly, to sixteen millions, in a period of little more than fifty years, is one of the wonders of the nineteenth century.
The statistical tables of the trade, which yearly appear in the public press, date the commenc- ment in 1820. It is put down in that year at three hundred and sixty-five tons, as the ship- ment from the Lehigh region to market.
"In this there is error, for thirteen years prev- ious to that time, as we have already stated, Mr. Smith had shipped coal from his Plymouth mine. But in fact the article had been put in the mar- ket long previous to 1820, by other persons than the Messrs. Smith.
"Charles Miner, Jacob Cist, John W. Robin- son, and Stephen Tuttle, all of Wilkes-Barre, had leased the old Mauch Chunk mines, and in Au- gust, 1814, had sent an ark load of it down the Lehigh. Mr. George M. Hollenback sent two ark loads down the Susquehanna, taken from his Mill Creek mines, in 1813. The same year, Jos- eph Wright, of Plymouth, mined two ark loads of coal from the mines of his brother, the late Samuel G. Wright, of New Jersey, near Port Griffith, in Pittston. This was an old opening and coal had been mined there for the Smith's
09
THE PIONEERS OF THE COAL TRADE.
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forge as far back as 1775. The late Lord But- ler, of Wilkes-Barre, had also shipped coal from his mines, more generally known of late years as the "Baltimore Mines," as early as 1814, and so had Crandal Wilcox, of Plains township.
"My object in making these references is to show that the coal trade actually began in 1807 and not in 1820, as is now generally believed.
"But while the persons I have named did not follow up the business, Abijah and John Smith, his brother, continued the business down to the period of their respective deaths ; and their chil- dren continued in the trade long afterwards.
"Abijah Smith came to the Valley in 1806,and in that or the following year he purchased some seventy-five acres of coal-land, on the east side of Ransom's creek, for about five hundred dol- lars. In 1807 he commenced mining ; and coal has been taken almost yearly from the opening he made down to the present period.
"In the year 1808 his brother John came to the Valley. He bought the coal designated in the deed from Win. Curry, Jr., as "Potts of Coal,"' on the adjoining tract of one hundred and twen- ty acres, for the consideration of six hundred dol- lars. This mine was soon after opened, and work- ings have been uninterruptedly continued ever sinee.
* *
*
" It is proper that we should examine into the details of the mode and manner of mining and transportation, as pursued by these early pioneers in the business. There are but few now engaged in the great trade who are aware of the troubles and sacrifices which attended it in its infancy. We will look at the child when in its swathing bands; it is now a giant, but fifty years ago it was in its infancy. The experiment which was perseveringly followed up, and beset on all sides by difficulties and hazards, resulted in a grand suceess.
" The annual trade at the eommenement was hundreds of tons, has now become tens of mil- lions of tons. The price of coal land of fire dol- lars an acre, in the days of the Smith purchase, is now a thousand per acre. What the future demand for the article may be-or the annnal production-the future alone ean determine, hu-
man foresight cannot ; nor can it be said that the field is inexhaustble. There is a limit to it; and those who will occupy our places five hun- dred years hence, will say that our prophecy is not entirely fiction.
"In the early process of mining there was no powder used ; this under the present system is the chief agency. It was all done with a pick and wedge. The miner did his labor by the day and received from fifty to seventy-five cents. The pro- duct of his day's labor was about a ton and a half ; his time was from sunrise to sunset. The coal was transported from the mine to the place of shipment, in carts and wagons, and deposited upon the banks of the river, to be put in arks, in the time of the annual spring freshets of the Sus- quehanna.
"The process of mining with the pick and wedge was too slow and too expensive. Mr. Abi- jah Smith, came to the conclusion that the ordin- ary, powder blast might be made available in mining. He must have some one, however, who is accustomed to the quarries. There was no onc here who understood the business.
"In the year 1818 he found he could get a man for the work. This man was John Flanigan of Milford, Connecticut. His occupation was quarrying stone with the powder blast. He wrote to Mr. Flanigan to come and make the ex- periment,-wc say experiment, because it was contended that coal had not enough of strength and consistency to be properly mined with a blast. That the explosion would not reach far enough, and loosen and detach a sufficient quan- tity to make the blast economical in mining. In March of that year, Mr. Flanigan came on. The result of the experiment was a success. We may therefore chronicle the name of John Flanigan as the first man who ever bored a hole and applied the powder blast in the anthracite coal of Penn- sylvania. An important era in the commenc- ment of a trade that has beeome so immense in later years."
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