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 23
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 23
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company or individuals. to reseue the living. or to recover the bodies of the dead, the remains of a few have never yet been found. One man was discovered some time afterward in a standing position, his piek and his dinner pail bearing him company, while the greater portion of the flesh upon his bones appeared to have been eaten off by rats. Others, without water, food. or light, shut in from the world forever by the appaling wall of rock, eoal, and slate around them, while breathing the seanty air, and suffer- ing in body and mind, agony the most intense, clenched tighter their pieks, and wildly labored one night that knew no day. until exhausted they sank, and died in the darkuess of their roeky sepulehres, with no sweet voiee to soothe, no kind angel to cool the burning temples, or catch the whispers from the spirit land."
Mr- John Hosie, now an enterprising eoal operator in Scranton, at present working the Fairlawn Colliery, was assistant superintendent of the mines at that time, and was one of the inmates at the time of the dreadful eatastrophe. He barely escaped with his life. Creeping through the remaining erevices in the break upon his hands and knees, feeling his way along the blackness of midnight, where all traces of the general direction of the mine had disappear- ed, he often found himself in an aperture so nar- row, that to retreat or advance seemed impossible. Once he was buried middle deep by the rubbish as he was digging through. Another convulsion lifted up the mass and relieved him. After being in the mines two days and nights, he emerged into the sunlight, the flesh being worn from his finger bones in his efforts to escape from the tomb-like captivity.
The year 1846 was one of continued prosperity for the Canal Company. The usual statement of the year's business showed a net profit of over twenty per cent. on the capital stoek paid in. Repairs for this year occasioned considerable ex- pense, as the breaking up of the Delaware River, the month of March, swelled the water higher than during the great flood of 1841.
It was during the year 1845 that James Areh- bald, Esq., the engineer in charge of the mines and railroad submitted his first suggestions in re- lation to the alterations, improvements, and ex- tension of the railroad. This great work was the result of his genius and forecast. A more
formal report was made by him, dated Carbon- dale, February 5th, 1847. During this year, also, a more important event occurred, in refer- ence to the commencement of a railroad by the Washington Coal Company, which was intended to eonneet the lower part of the Lackawanna coal fields with the eanal of the Delaware and Hudson Company, about ten miles below Hones- dale. The enlargement of the canal having sub- sequently been decided on, with the intention of having it ready for the rceeption of the largest class of boats by the spring of 1850, it was ob- viously inexpedient for the Washington Canal Company to build boats of any other description than those best adapted to the condition of the eanal at that time. They accordingly contracted for such, to commence their operations in the shipment of coal down the eanal with vigor in the spring of 1850.
In the early part of the season of 1848, high floods in the Delaware River retarded the pass- age of boats across the stream at the mouth of the Laekawaxen. But the most serious and permanent embarrassment to transportation on the canal, arose from the apprehension of injury on the part of boatmen and others engaged in the business, in consequence of careless or reek- less blasting of roeks by the contractors on the New York and Erie Railroad, along the Penn- sylvania shore of the Delaware River, opposite the works of the company ; and from violent personal attacks made upon boatmen by laborers in the employment of the contraetors, in which some injury was sustained by some of the boat- men. Great alarm spread among them from these oceurrenees-apprchending, as they did, that they might be waylaid by the lawless men who had committed the assaults, and being hourly exposed, as they were, to danger from the blasting, large fragments of roek having fre- quently been thrown aeross the river into the canal, and, in some instances, into the boats while passing.
The evils resulting from these violations of both common right and positive prohibitory statute, became at length intolerable; and all amieable appeals and remonstranees addressed to the railroad company being found of no avail,
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THOMAS DICKSON.
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DELAWARE AND HUDSON CANAL COMPANY.
measures were finally taken to restrain the opera- tions of the Erie Company and its contractors within the limits of the law, by an injuntion. Some of the chief rioters in the affray were also apprehended and thrown into prison, and a strong police force established on the canal for the pro- tection of the boatmen. Many of them, how- ever, had already abandoned the boats, in conse- quence of these difficulties, and engaged in other pursuits, and the boating season was so far ad- vanced, that the efforts made by the officers of the company to supply their places, were, for that year, ineffectual.
In the ycar 1849, the two wire suspension aqueducts over the Delaware and Lackawaxen werc brought into use. An arrangement was also entered into that year with the Pennsyl- vania Coal Company by which the Delaware & Hudson Company were to receive and market all their coal on tide water, charging them with a proportionate amount of all expenses, and a commission on sales ; such an arrangement was deemed beneficial to the interest of both parties.
In 1850 in two several instances, the princi- pal mines of the company were completely inun- dated, and on a line of the canal several con- siderable breaches occurred, but by the prompt and vigorous adoption of extraordinary measures, and by a large though guarded and careful ex- penditure of money, the year's business still re- sulted in a net profit of twelve per cent on the average capital during that time.
The year 1851 did not exhibit so flourishing a statement. The two companies through whose works the coal of the Schuylkill region was brought to market, entered into a violent con- tention for business, which finally settled down into important allowances and drawbacks on the one part, and at a rate of tolls hardly more than ยท nominal on the other. In 1852, the grow- ., ing requirements of consumers, augmented as they were by the unusually flourishing condi- tion of the iron, as well as the general manufac- turing interests of the country seemed to give new impulse to the vast machinery of the cor- 'poration. It must be kept in view, also, that . the rapidly increasing demands of sea-going steamers, for whose use the Lackawanna Coal
was so especially adapted, was no small item in the statements published annually.
By the 18th Section of the Act, entitled " An Act to improve the navigation of the River Lackawaxen," under the provisions of which, with its supplements, this company made and held its canal in Pennsylvania, that State re- served the right, at the expiration of thirty years from the passage of the act, namely, the 13th day of March, 1823, to resume the rights, liberties, and franchises thereby granted, on certain terms and conditions specified in the 18th Section. The thirty years expired on the 13th day of March, 1853. In anticipation of that day, to wit, on the 3d of April, 1851, the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania passed a resolution appointing three of its members a committee to sit during the recess of the Legis- lature, to take testimony, and generally to inves- tigate the affairs of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company, with reference to this reserved right of the State, and to report to the next Legislature.
The committee met, and in pursuance of the object of their appointment, sought information from the officers and agents of the company, on various points. Although not recognizing the reservation in the section above referred to, as applicable to this company, and at any rate re- garding the inquiry as premature, yet the Board of Managers did not hesitate to grant to the committee any light or information that it desired in relation to the subject matter of its appointment. The officers and agents of the company appeared before the committee and an- swered all such inquiries as were propounded to them, and the books and vouchers were freely offered for their inspection.
On the 8th of January, 1852, the committee presented its report to the House of Representa- tives, stating as the conclusion to which it had arrived, that "if the Commonwealth shall assume the Pennsylvania section of the Delaware & Hudson Canal, the sum of $1,246,437.63 must be paid to the company, that being the differ- ence between the amount of tolls received and the cost of construction and repairs."
In this conclusion the Board of Managers by
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THE LACKAWANNA VALLEY.
no means concurred ; on the contrary, even sup- posing the right of resumption to exist on the part of the State, still, according to the views of the Board, the right could not have been exer- cised without the payment of a much larger sum to the company. An account made up to February 28th, 1851, showing the views of the Board as to the amount up to that date, was sub- mitted to the committee on behalf of the com- pany, and accompanied the report to the Legis- lature.
The subject became one of consideration and discussion in that body ; and finally, on the 30th day of April, A.D. 1852, a bill was passed which enacted :
"That the 18th Section of an Act entitled ' An Act to improve the navigation of the River Lackawaxen,' passed the 13th day of March, 1823, which provides for the resumption by the State of the improvements of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company, known as the Pennsyl- vania Section of the Delaware & Hudson Canal together with the corresponding stipulations, if any, ir. the supplements to said act, be, and the same are hereby repealed, and the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company are hereby authorized to conduct their business as they have heretofore done, according to their charter, and maintain and use their works and appurtenances as here- tofore, without liability to account and surrender as provided for in the said 18th Section of the aforesaid Act passed on the 13th day of March, 1823."
This Act was a total and unconditional release by the State of Pennsylvania of the right of re- sumption, if any she had, on any terms, and made the franchises and privileges which the Company holds in Pennsylvania perpetual .:
In 1854 it was the misfortune of the company to be deprived of the invaluable services of one of their fellow members, Maurice Wurts, Esq., whose decease occurred on the 29th day of December of that year. The name of Mr. Wurts had been identified with the history of the company during the whole term of its exis- tence ; its earliest inception originated with him ; he was unceasingly and faithfully devoted to its interests, both as an executive officer and a manager, and, until the period of his last illness, the company never failed to derive profit from his astute counsels and active and energetic ex-
ertions. He had seen the first shipment of Lackawanna coal to market leave the mines on rude sledges and rafts ; at the time of his death, the aggregate amount sent to market from dif- ferent regions footed up 5,763,369 tons, of which his own company shipped from Honesdale, 438,406 tons. His career had been a busy onc, a trying one, and the descendants of this truly wonderful man have been negligent in putting him before the world in his deservedly proper light, as one of the greatest minds of the day in which he flourished.
In the report of Wm. Musgrave, Vice-Fresi- dent for the year 1854, we first find mention of strikes and turn-outs on the part of the men engaged as laborers. This valuable officer died in April, 1856. The vacancy caused by that event was filled by the appointment of Mr. Robert Soutter, as his successor.
The year 1857, in view of the extraordinary financial troubles, and the consequent complete stagnation in every department of industry and trade which marked the latter portion of that year, had its effect upon the company, but to no serious degrec.
On the 15th of March, 1858, Mr. John Wurts, after twenty-seven years of devoted ser- vice, resigned his office as president of this com- pany. His resignation was accepted by the board with the greatest reluctance, and only because they were convinced that the state of his health imperatively demanded an entire withdrawal from the anxieties and toils incident to the office. The following resolutions, expres- sive of the sense of the board on the occasion, were unanimously adopted and ordered to be published in the report :
" WHEREAS, Mr. John Wurts has significd to this board his wish to retire, on account of the feeble state of his health, from the position he has so long held as President of this Company, be it therefore
"Resolved, That this Board have learned with feelings of sincere regret the determination of Mr. Wurts to retire from the presidency of this company, and though the reasons which he gives for coming to this decision are such as forbid us, in justice to him, from seeking to change his purpose, they cannot, in accepting his resigna- tion, forbear to put on record their profound ap-
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DELAWARE AND HUDSON CANAL COMPANY.
preciation of the singular ability and self-sacrifi- cing zeal with which he has discharged the duties of President for a period of twenty-seven years. And in thus expressing their sense of the value and faithfulness of his services, they would at the same time most cordially congratu- late him on the fact that having been placed at the head of the company at a time when its affairs were in extreme embarrassment, and its credit almost gone, he is now able to withdraw, leaving it in a state of great prosperity, and possessing in an extraordinary degree the public confidence, a result, as they think, in a very large measure owing to the wisdom and devotion with which he has labored in its service.
"Resolved, That it is the earnest hope of this board that, being released from the cares and labors of office, Mr. Wurts may speedily recover his former health and vigor, and be long sparcd to give to the company the benefit of his advice and counsel.
" By order of the Board,
" GEO. TALBOT OLYPHANT, President. "New York, March 30, 1858."
Mr. Wurts still retained a position in the board as one of the managers until 1861.
The year 1858 was depressing in character, following the revulsion of 1857. A very large sum, exceeding in the aggregate $600,000, was claimed to be due from the Pennsylvania Coal Company, under the agreement of 1847, for ad- ditional tolls, which had accrued since the com- pletion of the canal enlargement, in 1853. The exact amount was put in course of judicial ascer- tainment. The company's railroad during 1858, had been extended from Archbald, six miles down the valley, to lands belonging to the com- pany not before worked, and which were found to be even richer than had been anticipated, in a coal of very superior quality.
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It is on this tract that the enterprising and populous town of Olyphant now stands, named in honor of George Talbot Olyphant, the presi- dent at that time.
A report went abroad during that year, and was extensively circulated, representing the lands of this company to be exhausted of coal. No in- terruption, however, of the prosperity of the company occurred from it.
A site for a coal depot and basin had been purchased on the Hudson River, at Weehawken, during 1858. The contract for the construction
of the docks was let. and the work was proceeded with at once. The area covered with the pro- posed improvements was about seventeen acres, affording an ample basin for the harbor of loaded boats at the close of navigation, and space on the docks for the deposit of all the coal which the company would need.
The probable introduction of steam as a motive power upon the Erie Canal, was an event at that time of sufficient importance to call for at least a passing notice. The experiments then being made had a measure of success which justified the hope that the anticipations of those engaged in them would soon be realized.
In the early part of 1859, a bill was passed by the Legislature of Pennsylvania, giving this company the right to purchase and hold 3,000 acres of land in addition to the 5,000 acres it was authorized to hold by the original grant, and also the power to construct all needful roads to connect the same with the then existing works of the company. Availing of this authority, a con- siderable body of valuable coal land was pur- chased during that year.
It was also deemed advisable to construct, without delay, an extension of the company's railroad, from its previous terminus to a point within one mile of Scranton, a distance of about four-and-a-half miles, which was completed by the spring of the next year.
In 1860, preparations had been made for a large increase of production, and the operations of the company were moving on steadily and sat- isfactorily until the 18th of June, when the work of mining was suddenly arrested by a general strike of the operatives. This strike continued for a longer or shorter period at the several open ings, averaging however for the whole work a duration of sixty-eight days, in that portion of the season best adapted for full and economical work.
The loss thus sustained was serious ; but large as it was, and great as must have been the disap- pointment occasioned thereby, the Board felt no doubt that it was a wiser policy to submit to the sacrifice, rather than by concessions to what they deemed unreasonable demande, is losing that command of their work what was essential to the
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permanent success of the company. President Olyphant stated in his report :
"While the company, under its present man- agement, will always aim to deal, not only justly, but generously with those in its employ, it will resist to the end and at any cost, any attempt, by combinations of workmen, to dictate the manner in which its business shall be conducted."
Political troubles in 1860, in consequence of the clouds of war which were gathering, and the derangement of the general business of the coun- try consequent thereupon, exerted an unfavorable influence upon the coal trade, in common with other interests, during the last few months of the year ; much uneertainty hung on the future ; but the indications were not, on the whole, un- favorable for the business which must of necess- ity have arisen.
1861 opened with low prices for coal-the lowest that had ever been known in the history of the trade. This state of affairs was not due to any falling off in the demand for coal, but simply to the unfortunate and mistaken policy of a rival company.
The war being in progress, and the demand being so great for coal in consequence of manu- facturing industries being stimulated to their ut- most, the business of the company was so great that the annual statement for 1863 showed a net profit of about 34 per cent. on the capital stock. The demand for coal throughout the year was greater than the producing and transporting companies had the power to supply ; and prices consequently ruled high. A decision was ren- dered that year in the suit against the Pennsyl- vania Coal Company for additional tolls, by which five cents per ton was awarded to the Del- aware & Hudson Company for every ton trans- ported on the canal since the 28th of July, 1853. The amount under this decision, with interest was about $350,000.
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In pursuance of a call made by a resolution of the Board of Managers, a meeting of the stock- holders was held at the office of the company on the 21st of April, 1864, at which an ordinance was enacted authorizing the increase of the cap- ital stock to ten millions of dollars.
On the first of January, of that year, Mr R. F. Lord resigned his position as Chief Engineer
of the company's canal. Mr. Lord entered the service of the company in the year 1826, and the Board felt it to be a pleasant duty to bear testi- mony to the zeal, ability, and faithfulness with which, for nearly forty years, he discharged every trust committed to him.
The company, during the year gave in aid of the Metropolitan Fair, for the benefit of the funds of the Sanitary Commission, $2,500, and the following resolution was offered by the Hon. Aaron Vanderpool :
"Resolved, That the action of the Board of Managers, in making sueh appropriation, be, and the same is hereby approved ; and that the stoek. holders hereby request the Board to make a fur- ther appropriation of $509 to the same object "
Which resolution being seconded, was adopted unanimously.
In the report for the year 1865, dated May 8, 1866, appears the name of Thomas Dickson, of Scranton, as Vice President. The operations of the company were seriously interrupted by a strike of the railroad men in the early part of the year, and of the miners in the summer-the work having been suspended in the latter case about seventy days, or fully one-third of the sea- son of canal navigation. The receipts were also largely diminished by the diversion of the busi- ness of the Pennsylvania Coal Company to the Erie Railway. Believing that the action of the former company was in violation of their agree- ment with the Delaware & Hudson Caual Com- pany, they instituted a suit in the United States Court for the recovery of tolls on the coal wrong- fully diverted from the canal. The amount of damages claimed in the year 1864 alone was over $600,000.
During the year 1867 there was a large falling off in the profits as compared with the results of the business of 1866, chiefly owing to the condi- tion of the trade, and the low and steadily de- clining prices for coal which prevailed. The close of the war in 1865, and the consequent stoppage of manufacturing industry had some effect also.
In the year 1866, a contract was made with the Union Coal Company, by which the Canal Company agreed to transport for them a large quantity of coal annually, on terms which were
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DELAWARE AND HUDSON CANAL COMPANY.
satisfactory to both parties. Subsequently it was deemed advisable to aid them in purchasing the valuable property of the Baltimore Coal Com- pany, near Wilkes-Barre, by a loan of $1,300,000 and to obtain the necessary means for this object, an issue of ten year seven per cent. bonds, to the extent of $1,500,000 were authorized. These bonds were all taken at par, chiefly by the stock- holders of the Canal Company.
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In January, 1868, the Union Coal Company became involved in financial difficulties, which would have probably resulted in the absorption of their entire property by this company, at a total cost, including the $1,300,000 loaned them as already mentioned of $2,650,000. The united properties of the Union and Baltimore Compan- ies embraced over 3,000 acres of coal lands in fee, and 1,000 acres under lease on favorable terms ; four breakers with all necessary appurte- nances, capable of turning out over 2,000 tons per day, seventeen miles of railroad, connecting with the Canal Company's line near Scranton, and equipped with four locomotives and 550 coal cars and about 100 canal boats.
About the close of 1867, an opportunity had offered itself to purchase another important coal estate, at Plymouth, nearly opposite Wilkes- Barre, which was purchased on the unanimous recommendation of the President and the Com- mittee of Managers, for the sum of $1,575,000. It embraced the following lands and improve- ments : 803 acres of coal lands in fee ; 225 acres of coal lands on favorable lease ; three mine openings ; one breaker, complete, and another in 'course of construction ; store and houses, grist mill, &c .; mine houses ; a first-class railroad bridge over the Susquehanna, and two miles of railroad connecting the property with the main line of traffic on the east side of the river.
By the acquisition of these two estates, the company was enabled to increase its supply of coal in the land to the extent of 100,000,000 tons. In making these additions to the real es- tate the company aimed to lay a broad and solid foundation for a steady and important increase in its future production of coal, and a great en- largement of the field of operations.
The company had therefore confined opera-
tions almost exclusively to the sale of coal at tide water, while competitors had sought other mar- kets where profits sometimes had been obtained which enabled them to meet the Delaware & Hudson Company at too great an advantage on their own proper ground. It was clear that they could not long afford to submit to such a state of things, and in their recent purchases, therefore, they had aimed to get into such a position, that they might be able, on equal terms, to reach any market open to their rivals. They had already begun to send coal down the Susquehanna to Baltimore, and along the lines of the roads con- necting Wilkes-Barre with Jersey City, and they expected they next year to have facilities for placing coal in the great and rapidly developing market of the west, on the most favorable foot- ing. The company was fully pursuaded that in the future as in the past, if their prosperity was to be maintained, their history must be one of steady growth and expansion. Ten years prior the annual productions was 500,000 tons. It had now reached 1,500,000 tons, and a prophecy was made that in ten years after, "it would cer- tainly rise to 3,000,000 tons, and it is perhaps not visionary when we consider the great enlarge- ment of our field of operations, to anticipate much higher figures." The ten years have not elapsed, and the capacity of the Delaware & Hud- son exceeds that amount.
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