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 25
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 25
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At this time he went into the Canal Company as Superintendent of the Coal Department, and in 1864 was made General Superintendent of the Delaware & Hudson, in all of its extensive rami- fications. In 1867 he was elected Vice-Presi-
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THE LACKAWANNA VALLEY.
dent. and in 1869, President, a position which he still retains. Such a business career is re- markable in no small degree. and few instances are found which can compare to it in magnitude of interest. When he took charge of the Canal Company, the operations were confined north of Olyphant, and the entire production never ex- eeeded a half million tonnage. The transporta- tion to tide water was by canal exclusively, and passengers were moved by stages between Car- bondale and Scranton. Since that time, and under Mr. Dickson's faithful administration the increase has been regular, until the present pro- ductive capacity is about 4.000,000 tons per an- num, and the mining operations extend from Carbondale on the north, to Plymouth on the south.
The first year after being President, the com- pany obtained by lease the perpetuity of the Albany & Susquehanna Railroad, stretching from Binghamton to Albany, with all of its branches, and in the subsequent year the Rensselaer & Saratoga Railroad and its branches, together with the line of steamers on Lake Champlain, and for the purpose of connecting the entire railroad system, obtained by purchase, the Union Railroad between Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, constructed the road between Scranton and Carbondale, and obtained a control over the Jefferson Branch to Susquehanna, and from thence to Nineveh by construction again, connecting the coal fields with the railroad system north and east into New Eng. land.
At present the company is building the New York & Canada road, on the west shore of Lake `Champlain, connecting with the Rensselaer & Saratoga road at Whitehall, and with the Grand Trunk at the Canada line. The road is now open to Port Henry on Lake Champlain, and will be completed to Rouse's Point during the present season (1874-5), making in all, railroad connec- tion from the mines to Montreal.
The Delaware & Hudson Canal Company thus has an ownership of seven hundred miles of rail- way, one hundred and eight miles of canal, and the Steamer lines on Lakes Champlain and George.
The first improvement between Scranton and
Carbondale was a plank road, and was constructed under the supervision of Mr. Dickson. He was one of the original parties in the organization of the Moosic Powder Company ; was one of the parties in the organization of the First National Bank of the City of Scranton, and now a Direc- tor ; was also one of the parties in the organiza- tion of the Scranton Trust Company aud Savings Bank, of which he is now an officer; he fur -- nished the machinery, and was an original stock- holder in the Gas and Water Company of Scran- ton, now a Director ; at one time was a Director in the Pittston Bank ; is a stock holder and Di- rector in the Lackawanna Iron & Coal Company ; a stock-holder and Director in the Oxford Iron Works of New Jersey ; he is a Director in the New York Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, the largest and most extensive in the country ; also occupies the same relation to the Merchants & Manufacturers Insurance Company of Newark, New Jersey. He is also interested as a Director in a couple of furnaces at Albany, the Alcott Iron Manufacturing Company, as well as in a coal road and Iron Mining Company in southern Illinois, and the railroad connecting with the Mississippi river, and in some of the western railroads as a stock-holder. He owns also what is known as the Dickson Tract, an ad- dition to the City of Scranton, extending from the Lackawanna river to the Borough of Dun- more, which has been surveyed into lots, and which is, in itself, at Scranton real estate figures, a fortune of no ordinary magnitude.
In the year 1872, Mr. Dickson, accompanied by his wife and son made a journey around the world, gathering in with his practical eye in- formation and knowledge which would have escaped a tourist of less expanded ideas. Since his return he has contributed by Lectures on " Round the world" and "What I saw in India," to choice audiences in the Opera House in Scranton, the proceeds going to charitable por- poses.
When he returned from Great Britain, after an extensive inspection of its mineral resources and manufacturing interests, and knowing well the comparative resources of our own country, he proceeded to Lake Champlain and became
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THOMAS DICKSON.
interested in the purchase of twenty three thou- sand acres of iron-ore lands, organizing a com- pany with one and a half million dollars capital, about three hundred thousand dollars of which stock is held in Scranton. Two furnaces have been erected which are in successful operation, and fifteen miles of narrow-guage railroad has been built connecting the mines with the lakes, and the New York and Canada road ; the com- pany has in addition, demonstrated that the ore is suited for Bessemer Steel purposes, being equal to the best English pig, indeed it is con- ceded by English experts and iron-masters that the Crown Point ores are fully equal to any of the Bessemer ores to be found on the Island of Great Britan ; and that they have none better and very little equal to it.
The mines are now open to an extent that gives a productive capacity of 300,000 tons per annum, and it is expected that the new steel works now being established by the Lackawanna Iron & Coal Company will use these ores largely, if not exclusively.
To form a proper appreciation of the dutics which devolve upon Mr. Dickson as President of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company. let it be understood that the Lackawanna Valley pro- duces about twelve millions of tons of coal per annum, and the company referred to can produce about one-fourth of it. In the Wyoming Valley twenty-eight breakers are owned or controlled by the company, and in the working of all these, in addition to his railroad studies, Mr. Dickson is thoroughly familiar. His early life and its practical experience qualifies him to meet these burdensome duties, in an eminent degree. It is a common saying by the multitudes of people in the Lackawanna Valley, " I'd give more for Tom Dickson's opinion on coal matters than any other railroad man in Northern Pennsylvania."
It cannot be denied that he is certainly master of his grand tasks, and as sound in theory as he has been tested by practice. Under his present administration, the company is doing its utmost to stretch its arms out into regions where the whistles of the locomotive has never been heard, thus making an outlet for the coal, which it is in the power of the Delaware & Hudson Canal
Company to produce. As a rule, Mr. Dickson informed the writer. in opening up a new country by pushing a railroad into it, it is calculated that the company will be able to sell in each town one ton to an inhabitant per year; thus, in the United States there is consumed each year forty millions of tons, both hard and soft eoal. A corporation, like an individual, must keep pace, or fall be- hind, and as will be gathered from the facts already given, no efforts have been spared since the commencement of his presidential career, to reach New England and Canada. His chances of observation in Great Britan and on the con- tinent gives him broad and expanding ideas in railroad building. which are of material benefit to the company. In relation to the so-called com- bination, his opinion, in summary is as follows : During the war the production of coal was stim- ulated by the heavy demands made by the manu- facturing and other interests which were incident to the times, and at the conclusion of the struggle the companies found themselves with a produc- tive capacity of more than sufficient for the demand. The effect, of course, was apparent- supply in excess of demand-ruinous prices, fol. lowed by strikes and coal famines. One instance is related by him when coal in the spring sold at three dollars per ton, in the fall of the same year for thirteen dollars. In 1872. money was lost by all companies, in consequence of an over production, and with a view of regulating the supply to the demand, an arrangement was entered into in order to meet the exigencies, and the price of coal has been maintainaned at an average of five dollars per ton at tide water, dur- ing the past two years, thus proving in reality a benefit to both consumer and producer.
In the difficulties which oecasionly occur in mining regions, wherein labor pits itself against capital, the Delaware & Hudson Company have ever been fortunate in possessing such a spirit as Thomas Dickson to adjust the matters at varianee. He has a hold upon the affeetions of the miners which is marvelous, and in no instance do they ever disregard his counsel There have occured occasions in which his timely suggestions have relieved the minds of the people along the whole Valley, such for instance, as the matter in dis-
-
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THE LACKAWANNA VALLEY.
pute concerning the titles to the miner's lands in Carbondale a short time ago.
As a citizen, Mr. Dickson stands prominent in the hearts of the people for all that ennobles and elevates manhood. Always liberal, he is never known to disregard an appeal which embodies the least degree of merit. As an exemplary christian, and a supporter of his church -- the Presbyterian, he stands in the front rank, com- manding the respect of all who are associated with him. He is still in the vigor of manhood, and with the great resources which yet remain to be developed, the country could illy afford to loose his services for years to come.
A mule driver in the Anthracite coal mines in the year 1837, and President of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company, one of the largest rail- road and transportation companies on the Ameri- can continent in 1869, affords a striking contrast indeed; but in importance as a subject for
thought, it is powerful in its application to republican institutions. From the Westminster Review, to the editorials of the provincial papers, students of political economy traverse the vexed question of capital and labor, and expend their fulsome theories in vain to solve the never- ending controversy, but as a practical solution of the entire subject, we present herewith a man who concludes the argument by affording an ex- ample strictly in point. The elaborate articles of magazine literature will drift to this point in spite of syllogisms scattered over acres of white paper. Thomas Dickson made himself, and every citizen, though the higher plane occupied by him may not be reached, can do the same. He started from nothing and is where he stands to- day. The same chance is open to all, and when seized upon in the proper spirit, the struggle between capital and labor will end.
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CHAPTER XXX.
JAMES ARCHBALD.
" With man, as with his friend, familiar us'd" To sit indulgent."
James Archbald was born in Ayrshire, in the West of Scotland, and on the shores of the At- lantic. This part of Scotland approaches near the North of Ireland, and communication between being frequent, the character of the Northern Irish somewhat resembles that of their Scottish neighbors. Here by the sounding sea, swept by the rude gales of the Western Ocean, and remote from the busy haunts of trade, the boyhood of young Archbald was passed. His father was one of the staunch yeomanry of a past era, a class of men peculiar to Scotland and rare now even there, a man of few words and much thought, who passed his life in the quiet pursuits of agriculture. His mother, however, was of a different character. Descended from that Wod- row, whose voice as a minister of Christ was heard raised in the stormiest period of Scottish church history, a grandchild of Wodrow the historian, and daughter of the minister at Eastwood, her mind was stored with rare knowledge, while she possessed grace and refinement of culture, and from the grand scenery of the coast drew that poetic inspiration shown in the artistic pursuits of her whole life. The subject of our sketch passed his early childhood, as most Scotch lads do, varying the care of the parental flock with driving his boat amid the restless currents of the Frith, or daringly swimming through the surfs and around the crags which line the coast, very much after the manner of Hugh Miller, at Cre- marty. When about twelve years of age his father emigrated to America, and purchased a farm in the charming Mohawk Valley, in the
State of New York, where amid new-made friends and some valued Scottish acquaintances he passed the short remainder of his life.
No railroads nor canals then afforded means of transportation, and the great Mohawk Valley turnpike was the main artery of travel. At the age of fourteen years, young James to whom thus early was committed the transactions of such bus- iness, might be seen driving his wagon load of wheat down the turnpike to Albany, some forty miles distant, where he sold his grain with the good judgment of maturer years. As he ad- vanced toward manhood he became engaged in the varied pursuits of farming, lumbering, and finally trading to the then far distant Canadian line. While there he received an offer from the Northwest Fur Company, which he came near accepting, which would have entirely changed the course of his life.
It must not be supposed that while thus ac- tively engaged the cultivation of his mind was entirely neglected. He eagerly seized every op- portunity for reading and study, became an ardent admirer of poetry, and could recite, even latterly, lengthy quotations from Burns and By- ron, as well as most of the British poets. He was also a musician, and his inherited taste for fine arts made him a competent critic on artistic matters.
At this time the Erie Canal was commenced. This great work, which has linked to imperish- able fame the name of Dewitt Clinton, its pro- jector, opened a new field to Mr Archbuld's energies. He became a contractor, and built
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THE LACKAWANNA VALLEY.
that section of the canal which destroyed the symetry of his own beautiful farm, and, by the way, the old homestead was yet in his possession, and kept up with the reverence due the home of his parents and his own early days. His work as a contractor was well done; much to the sur- prise of the engineer, there were none of those attempts at cheating so common on politically managed improvements. The engineer in charge was the celebrated John B. Jervis, who, feeling pleased with the young man's faithfulness and capability, offered him a position on his engineer- ing corps. Mr. Jervis was soon after offered the charge of the newly begun Delaware & Hudson Canal, and iu the year 1825 Mr. Archbald was employed by him on it. He was placed under Mr. - , an engineer somewhat noted for his fast qualities, who not finding any congeniality in the straightforward plodding assistant, asked his removal, on the ground that he would never make an engincer. Mr. Jervis at once assented, and to the general surprise made him Resident Engineer, in charge of that Division. Poor consequently became his subordinate, but Mr. Archbald, truc to his natural character, allowed no prejudice to prevail, but treated him kindly as long as he remained. In 1829, the newly opened mines and railroad at Carbondale being in their incipient stages of existence, the . Directors elected Mr. Archbald as Superintend- ent, and since that time his life was princi- pally passed in our valley.
Carbondale at this time was a new settlement. The nearest village of importance was Wilkes- Barre, on the Susquchanna, and between them lay Razorville (Providence) and Pittston Ferry. Slocum Hollow (Scranton) was nothing, and lay too far off the main road to be visited. The whole Lackawanna Valley was a partial wilder- ness. Blakely was a good lumber region, through which a miserable road led south, and the mineral wealth of the valley was generally unknown. Money was scarce in the beach woods, and the fact that the company paid it out liberally for their work, led to a large settlement at Carbondale. The Irish population was small and were generally a contented and hard-work- ing people, having every confidence in the
liberality and justice of Mr. Archbald, whose cars were ever open to their wants. Some of the most influential of the foreign population of this section owe their rise to his kindness and appreciation.
Some seven or eight years after this, Wm. C. Bouek, Canal Commissioner and afterwards Democratic Governor of the State of New York, offered Mr. Archbald the position of Engineer in charge of that portion of the Erie Canal enlarge- ment lying between Troy aud Utica, a distance of 100 miles. This he accepted, and left Car- bondale, much to the regret of the company and of the citizens of the place. But he did not stay long away. The strife and trickery of politics which prevailed among the canal author- ties disgusted him, and at the earnest solicitation of the President of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company he once more took charge of the road.
In 1847, the Pennslyvania Coal Company commenced building their railroad from Pittston to Hawley, and this, too was placed in charge of . Mr. Archbald, and constructed upon his plans. This road has been run with few changes since he left it, and is considered a model for the economical transportation of coal.
About this time Carbondale was made a city, and the citizens thereof, to show their respect and attachment, elected him Mayor, which office he filled for four successive terms, and until he removed from the place.
In 1854, Mr. Archbald was chosen Vice-Pre- sident of the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana railroad, and he once more and finally dissolved his connection with the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company and the Pennsylvania Coal Company, and took personal charge of the Western road. His stay in the West, however, was limited to a year, when he received his final recall to the scene of his early labors.
A new railroad was in progress, and mighty changes were taking place in the valley. The extension of the Delaware and Hudson Railroad had built up the village of Archbald, the busi- ness of the Pennsylvania Coal Company had made Dunmore, and now Slocum Hollow trans- formed into Scranton, has become the center of
JAMES ARCHIBALD.
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.
JAMES ARCHBALD.
the coal trade of che valley. The Hon. G. W. Scranton was compelled by ill health to abandon his position in the employ of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Company, and by the general voice of the Directors, Mr. Archbald was appointed General Agent. He now moved his residence to Scranton, leaving Carbondale (after a sojourn of about thirty years) much to the regret of her people, and followed by the good wishes of the entire population. Since 1858 Mr. Archbald was Chief Engineer of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western . Railroad, and also President of the Lackawanna & Bloomsburg Railroad, both of which positions he held at the time of his death. He had a competency-the proceeds of a life of industry, not a dollar having been made in speculation- but his active habits of life still forbade his retiring from his customary pursuits until near , his death he possessed the elasticity and industry of younger days, rose with the early dawn, and on a tramp over the mountains could not be tired aut by any man in Luzerne county.
Esteemed most by those who knew him best, Mr. Archbald. had the entire confidence and affection of the railroad managers and employes.
The simplicity of his character, the purity of his life, and the uprightness of his dealings, have made his name a synonym for honesty.
He never failed in his word; he never refus- ed a favor, nor harbored an enmity ; he never solicited an office.
In 1866, Mr. Archbald reluctantly accepted the unanimous nomination of the Republican party for Congress, but was defeated by the
boldest naturalization frauds ever witnessed in this county. Personally, Mr. Archbald's ineli- nations were averse to running the gauntlet of this campaign, but the clamorous entreaties of his friends overbore his better judgment.
While Mr. Archbald was in charge of the Delaware & Hudson Railroad at Carbondale he conceived the plan of raising the road at the head of each plane, and lowering at the foot of the next, and in this way making a slight de- cline from the head of one plane to the foot of the next. As the road was before that con- structed it was perfectly level between the planes and the cars were drawn back and forward from one to the other by horscs. Mr. Archbald's plan was to make avail of the force of gravity by a slight inclination, so that the cars would run of themselves after being drawn up the planes by the stationary engines. He laid his proposition before the managers of the company, and with difficulty succeeded in getting permission to try it between planes Nos. 4 and 5. But so success- ful was this change when tried, that it was not only at once adopted along the whole line, but it was decided by Mr. Wurts, the President, not to mention the matter in his annual report, that the company might have full enjoyment and monopoly of the invention. This simple plan has been in use by the company ever since, and in 1847, when Mr. Archbald took charge of the constructions of the Pennsylvania Coal Com- pany's road, he laid it out in the same way. He died at Scranton, August 26th, 1870. His remains were deposited in the cemetery at Dun- more.
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1
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CHAPTER XXXI.
JOSEPH J. ALBRIGHT.
"Creation's tenant, he is nature's heir."
Joseph J. Albright, of Scranton, Pa., was born amongst the Moravians, at a place called War- wick, Lancaster county, Pa., Sept. 23d, 1811. This picturesque little town was the native place of his immediate ancestors, who, as may be sur- mised, were of the German origin. His parents appear to have occupied a comfortable position, but had not sufficient wealth to warrant their son in leaning upon them for more than an education wherewith to begin life. His early impressions of Warwick were only such as could be acquired in the first five years of his career, as in 1816 his parents removed to Nazareth, in Northampton county, and placed him in due time under the tuition of the principals of the hall which took its name from the town. Having completed his studies at this place, it was his father's desire that he should learn a trade. His father's, how- ยท ever, (that of gun making,) had no attractions for him, and desiring to master one the acquisi- tion of which would not occupy much time, he selected tin smithing, and so apt a scholar did he prove that in three months he started business in this honest Moravian village (of which society he was a member,) on his own account, bought a dozen boxes of tin plate, some tools, etc., from Phelps & Peck, now Phelps, Dodge & Co., N. Y. With these necessary adjuncts a shop was started and in about six months he turned out more tin- ware than the village and surrounding popula- tion used for years. His stock accumulating on his hands, he obtained a horse and wagon and peddled it round the country. Having no incli- nation to thus spend or waste his time, and hav- ing about arrived at maturity, an offer made was
accepted by him to go to Oxford Furnace, N. J., as assistant manager with Henry Jordan & Co. Here he remained three years, showing, as in other cases, his quickness in mastering all that pertained to the business. At the expiration of his period, unsought on his part, an offer was made by some of those good Moravians to take sole charge of one of the most extensive manu- facturing establishments in Eastern Penna., viz : Catharine furnace, forge, &c., situated near Naz- areth, under an agreement with him for the ben- efit of its creditors. His age at this time was only twenty-three, but by his tact and business management they were saved from bankruptcy. Here he successfulis introduced the first hot blast applied to making iron in the United States, and also bought and brought the first magnetic iron ore from New Jersey to Pennsylvania, via : Morris canal, which ore was purchased from Gov. Mahlon Dickinson, and obtained from his cele- brated Succasunna mines, Morris county, N. J. At the expiration of three years from the time of taking charge of these works, he became the owner by purchase at Sheriff's sale of what was then known as Clarissa Iron Works, (Heinboek's) forge, furnaces, etc., on Aquanshicola creek, near the Lehigh Water Gap, Carbon county, Pa., and with a thousand dollars in his pocket, which was borrowed at the rate of 3 per cent. per annum, together with some which he had saved, launched out, a full and complete Ironmaster. Here, how- ever, he was overtaken by a sad catastrophe, and a man of less energy and will might easily have been prostrated thereby; in 1841, when the great flood upon the Lehigh and its tributaries
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