USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > The history of Erie County, Pennsylvania, from its first settlement > Part 10
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40
At the risk of losing " the thread of the discourse," a few remarks will be introduced on the subject of the salt trade. Vessels leaving Buffalo for the West, from 1805 to 1810, were freighted principally with salt. In 1808, 6,000 barrels were registered at the custom house at Erie, and it is said 18,000 were at another season. It was the currency of the county.
. 109
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
In Mr. H. Russel's journal we find, "January, 1808, ex- changed a pair of oxen for eight barrels of salt." In the Erie Mirror, dated January, 1809, is a well-written letter, signed "An Old Salt-hauler." It had been questioned whether the salt trade was beneficial to the county ; that perhaps it inter- fered with the cultivation of farms. In reply, he says the farmers were obliged to haul salt to procure the comforts, if not necessaries, of life, such as sugar, tea, coffee, wearing apparel, etc., as salt seemed to be the current medium of trade during the existence of the embargo. Indeed, it was the only commodity they had for market or exchange, and in propor- tion to the increase of the traffic the farmers of the county progressed in the improvement of the soil. Freightage from Buffalo to Erie was 872 cents per barrel, and 122 cents was the charge for storage ; 12,000 barrels, in 1809, had been landed, according to the collector's books, which would amount to $12,000. The price of hauling from Erie to Waterford had been hitherto $1.50, amounting, on the same quantity, to $18,000. One dollar more was paid to convey it by water to Pittsburg. These several items made the aggregate receipts to the transporters of the county $42,000 in one year. The newly-finished turnpike diminished the cost of transporta- tion to 50 cents per barrel : but it facilitated the carriage pro- portionably, as a team on the road could transport thirty-two barrels in the same time, and with greater ease than it formerly had done six. Salt was ordinarily from four to six months on the road from Salina to Pittsburg, and of one hundred barrels leaving the springs, seventy-five were re- quired to pay the charges. Boats were built at Waterford expressly to float it down the river, and their construction was such as to prevent their return-this did not, however, add to the expense, as families removing still farther down were glad to purchase them:
The opening of the salt wells on the Kanawha and Kiski- minitas, about 1813, by affording a supply to that region, after a time, materially affected transportation here.
In Pennsylvania Historical Collections we find the follow- ing : "Gen. James O'Hara at an early day entered into a con- tract to supply Oswego with provisions, which he supposed
110
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
could be furnished cheaper than from the settlements on the Mohawk. He had obtained correct information in relation to the manufacture of salt at Salina, and had in his contract an eye to supplying the Western country with salt.
" This was a project few would have undertaken, and fewer still carried out. The means of transportation had to be created : boats and teams must be constructed to get the salt from the works to Oswego, a vessel built to land it below the falls, wagons to carry it to Schlosser, and boats provided to carry it to Black Rock ; there another vessel was required to convey it to Erie. The road to the head of French Creek had to be improved, and the salt carried across the portage in wagons ; and, lastly, boats built to float it to Pitts- burg.
"Mr. O'Hara packed his flour and provisions in barrels suitable for salt, and these were reserved in his contracts. Two vessels were built-one on Lake Erie, and another on Lake Ontario. The plan succeeded : salt of a fair quality could be sold at four dollars per bushel-half the price charged for that packed over the mountains. The vocation of packers was gone. Soon after, Onondaga salt was sold at twelve dollars per barrel of five bushels."
A duty of four cents per bushel was paid the State of New York, and it was forbidden by law to sell at the works for more than sixty cents per bushel.
The journey from Erie to Buffalo by land was much dreaded even to the completion of the railroad ; previous to 1815 or 1820 it was absolutely dangerous. Travelers finding the land road through Cattaraugus woods almost impassable for wagons, would be induced, if the weather was not very boisterous, to pass around the point of rock projecting into the lake. Many fatal instances are recorded of persons unacquainted with the country being overwhelmed by the waves. The nature of the soil through the woods would scarcely admit of a good road, and a journey once made was scarcely forgotten, for passen- gers felt that then and there, they escaped narrowly with their lives. In "December, 1829, the road from Buffalo to Fredonia (in some places having been turnpiked late in the season) was so bad that two yoke of oxen were attached to the
111
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
stage to draw it through, and all the male passengers worked their passage. The mail was three hours-more than a mile an hour-coming from Buffalo."
The following advertisement is found in the Erie Gazette for - September 15, 1820 :
"Proposals will be received at the General Post-office for carrying the mail on the following route, until the fourteenth day of October next :
"From Buffalo, by Hamburg, Hanover, Fredonia, Portland, Westfield, Ripley, and Northeast, to Erie, Pennsylvania, once a week, ninety miles.
"Leave Buffalo every Saturday noon, and arrive at Erie the next Monday by six o'clock in the afternoon. Leave Erie every Tuesday at six a. m., and arrive at Buffalo the next Thursday by noon."
The mail to Pittsburg and by Philadelphia was more sure for the East. This, too, came in but once a week. The day this was due, people were seen standing in the street looking for " McGill," who, at first, with his mail came on horseback ; afterward, the increased weight required a horse for the mail alone, which he led by his side. On one occasion the eager expectants looked and looked in vain ; a bear had crossed the carrier's path, and the frightened mail horse fled to the woods, where, after a search of two or three days, he was found.
In the Erie Gazette for December, 1820, we find the follow- ing, being something new : that a stage for the conveyance of passengers as well as the mail would run regularly once a week from Erie to Buffalo and back, after the first of January. It would leave Erie every Tuesday, and arrive at Buffalo on Thursday ; leave Buffalo on Saturday, and arrive at Erie on Monday. The proprietors (Messrs. Bird & Deming) did not expect to make money in the business ; the convenience of the public seemed to require the experiment to be made, and if it met with support was to be continued and enlarged.
January 8, 1824, we find a stage had commenced running twice a week between Erie and Cleveland. Arrangements were also making for carrying the mail twice a week.
February 10, 1825, the mail coach commenced running
1
112
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
through in a day from this place to Buffalo. This may be said to terminate the ancient history of highways and convey- ances in Erie County.
In the Erie Gazette, July, 1826, is an article intended to arouse Pennsylvanians to the importance of a canal, and it was well adapted to the purpose. It speaks of the wondrous improvement in this region in the previous thirty years. "Then the site of the village was a wilderness, and the path of the Indian the only guide for the daring traveler. Now it has upwards of a thousand inhabitants, and roads leading to Buffalo, Cleveland, and Pittsburg, three great points of intercourse equal to any in the western part of the Union. From these three places we have twenty-seven arrivals of stages every week, all of which remain here over night. From Buffalo there are fourteen arrivals, from Cleveland ten, and from Pittsburg three. Three years ago we had three arrivals : once a week from Cleveland, in a one-horse wagon ; once a week from Buffalo, in a two-horse wagon ; and once from Pittsburg, in a hack. Now there is not a vehicle enters our village for the conveyance of travelers but post-coaches, with teams equal if not superior to any in Penn- sylvania.
"In addition to this, three steamboats for the conveyance of passengers enter and leave our harbor every week, and in a few days there will be five. There are also from two to ten schooners which enter and clear our harbor each week. What an important point this would be to Pennsylvania, if she would do her duty ! This unexampled increase of travel and business owes its existence entirely to the New York Canal. . Pennsylvania is waiting for experience. She will soon have more of it than she wants in contrasting Philadel- phia with New York."
There was much delay in prosecuting the Erie extension of the Pennsylvania Canal, for the want of decision as to the route ; one of the first efforts at settling the question was the appointment in 1823, of Thomas Forster, of Erie, James Her- rington, of Crawford, and William Marks, Jr., of Allegheny, commissioners to explore the different routes, and report to the Governor.
1
1
-
113
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
In 1825 a survey was made by Major Douglass, of the army.1 In 1835 an appropriation of $200,000 was made, and a loan of $150,000 authorized should the appropriation be expended be- fore another could be had. In 1837 the Governor borrowed $200,000, at an interest of four and a half per cent, authorized by the resolution of 1835. In 1838 two appropriations were made : January 9, one of $100,000, and April 14, one of $300,- 000. July 4, 1838, the breaking of ground for the canal was united with the celebration of American independence. A procession was formed under the direction of Capt. Dobbins, consisting of the orator of the day (J. H. Walker), the clergy, ' and committee of arrangements, forty or fifty of the earliest settlers with plows, wheelbarrows, spades, shovels, etc., and a large concourse of citizens. The breaking of ground was by one of the pioneers, Capt. M. Strong, who had resided in Erie County since 1795, and who related some very interesting facts and reminiscences.
In 1838 the route from Conneaut Lake was not determined, the commissioners insisting that the Legislature decide. Shortly after the western one was chosen.
The Erie Canal Company was incorporated in 1843, and accomplished the work which united the Ohio and the lakes, and which had been talked of a quarter of a century. The State had expended upon it upwards of $4,000,000, and but $211,000 was required to complete the one hundred and thirty- six miles, which was the shortest connection that could be made between the Ohio and the lake, and which opened to the market immense fields of coal of a superior quality.
The stockholders elected for managers of the company were R. S. Reed, President ; T. G. Colt, Wm. M. Watts, B. B. Vincent, J. A. Tracy, Erie ; M. B. Lowry, Crawford ; James M. Power, Mercer ; C. M. Reed, Treasurer ; and Wm. Kelley, Secretary.
1 The latter part of October, 1825, while the surveyors of the canal route were engaged in sounding the lake off the mouth of Elk Creek, a mel- ancholy accident occurred. The boat, having in it four persons, was much dashed by a fresh breeze, and began to fill. Mr. Cranch, a son of Judge Cranch, of the District of Columbia, being an expert swimmer, for the purpose of lightening the boat deliberately plunged into the lake, having first with care placed an elegant gold watch, which he highly valued, be- tween his teeth, to prevent its being injured by the water. He had gone a few perches from the shore when he suddenly sank. He was immedi- ately taken out, but could not be resuscitated.
-
1
-
114
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
December 5, 1844, the first boats came through to Erie. First the R. S. Reed, Capt. Drum, laden with Mercer County coal; next, the packet boat Queen of the West, Capt. Arm- strong, her deck and spacious apartments literally crowded with a dense mass of human beings, each desirous of being numbered among the first passengers by canal packet to the lake.
When the Queen entered the harbor, the deep-mouthed cannon gave out its thunder tones, and a shout, long, loud, and hearty, went up from the multitudes. To W. Milnor Roberts, chief engineer, special thanks were due for the early comple- tion of the work after its abandonment by the State. The Wayne Greys paraded the streets during the day, and a ball at the Reed House concluded the celebration.
In December, 1840, two tons of bituminous coal were brought from Evansburg, Crawford County, a distance of forty miles, partly by canal, and sold at five and a half dollars per ton, at which it was thought cheaper fuel than wood at one dollar per cord. The amount of coal received at Erie by canal is as follows :
In 1845.
15,000 tons.
In 1853.
123,031 tons.
# 1846
.27,000
1854.
95,611
# 1847
51,000
16
1856
1857
126,159
" 1850.
57,741
=
44
1858
99,924
66
1851
72,943
4.
1859
128.856
-
1852
76,650
=
1860
129,807
66
1855.
141,184
1848 70,000
112,811
66
“ 1849.
.79,613
The first coal ever sent to this city, by way of the canal, was two boat loads, containing about one hundred tons, shipped some twelve or fifteen years ago by William Fruit, Esq., from a mine near Clarksville, Mercer County. It being a new article of traffic, says the Meadville Republican, Mr. Fruit found it difficult to dispose of his small cargo ; but after running about, from one dealer to another, for two days, he finally disposed of it to Gen. C. M. Reed, at less than cost, taking a " slow note " for pay.
The officers of the Canal Company, 1860, were C. M. Reed, President ; J. C. Marshall, A. Scott, P. Metcalf, D. McAllister, J. A. Tracy, J. Hearn, Directors ; D. McAllister, Treasurer ; A. H. Caughey, Secretary ; William W. Reed, Superintendent.
1
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
115 -
Tolls for 1858. $ 52,968 38
1859 68,574 65
1860 $104,336 12
Water rents 975 32
Total receipts for 1860. $105,311 44
Expenditures for repairs and supervision $ 45,783 70 Building a new aqueduct over Walnut Creek. 17,039 60 Salaries of secretary, treasurer, superintendent, and collectors .. 6,370 50
Incidental expenses, including legal services, print-
ing, rent, etc.
1,185 38
Expenditures for 1860. $70,379 18
By a resolution of the directors, $25,000 were appropriated to the payment of three per cent interest on the bonds and interest certificates of the company for the year ending January 1, 1861.
Railroads .- In 1831 a railroad convention met at Fredonia, for the purpose of making arrangements for the construction of a railroad from Buffalo to the State line of Pennsylvania. Erie sent C. M. Reed, P. S. V. Hamot, and T. H. Sill, a dele- gation having been invited. The president of the convention was Thomas B. Campbell; secretaries, Oliver Lee and James Mullet. It was understood that their road should be met on the part of Pennsylvania.
In 1835 a railroad from Philadelphia to Erie was first talked of ; it was to be laid out by way of Harrisburg, West Branch, Clarion River, and Franklin, and it was thought to possess the great advantage of not requiring one inclined plane.
A macadamized road was petitioned for about this time, to connect Erie with the national road.
In 1836 books were opened, and the capital stock subscribed of the Erie Railroad Company. This was to connect with the Cassadaga Road, a branch of the New York and Erie, thirty- five miles in length, extending from the mouth of the creek, three miles from Jamestown, to the State line, three miles. from Wattsburg. The Erie Railroad would have been twenty- three miles in length, but the New York and Erie was not completed for many years, and consequently by that route there could be no connection with New York. The Erie and Northeast seemed to better meet the views of all parties.
In 1837 the Sunbury and Erie Railroad bill passed, and this road was to form the last link in the chain of improvements .
-
116
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
between Lake Erie and Philadelphia. From Harrisburg to Philadelphia was completed; from Harrisburg to Sunbury was incorporated. At Erie and Warren the event was the cause of rejoicings, and a new era seemed to dawn on Penn- sylvania. The stock necessary to secure the charter was taken by the United States Bank. During the years 1838 and 1839 a corps of engineers, under Edward Miller, explored the country between the points mentioned in the charter.
The whole distance from Sunbury to Erie is 270 miles ; from Erie to Warren, 66 miles ; Warren to Lock Haven, 136 miles ; Lock Haven to Williamsport, 28 miles ; Williamsport to Sun- bury, 40 miles. At this latter place three distinct railroads from New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore now converge.
This road is ninety miles less, in distance to the sea-board, than the New York and Erie, and the local trade of the road it is supposed will maintain it. An unsuccessful effort was made in 1852 to have the road terminate at Cleveland. -
In 1854 the City of Philadelphia subscribed $1,000,000, and shortly after doubled the subscription. The City of Erie subscribed $300,000 and 150 acres in water lots, and Erie County $200,000. The State of Pennsylvania conveyed her canals to the company for $3,500,000 of Sunbury and Erie Railroad bonds.
December, 1854, the completion of the road to Williamsport was celebrated by about five hundred citizens of Philadelphia, including the president of the road, Hon. James Cooper, the directors, city councils, etc. The party arrived at Erie via Elmira and Niagara, and were hospitably entertained by the citizens. At a ball and supper given them at the Reed House, Hon. James Thompson presided.
The rails used upon this road are from the Montour and Rough and Ready Mills at Danville, Pennsylvania, and the Lackawanna Mill at Scranton. Lock Haven is the site of the company's workshops.
1
The company in 1859 had just one half of the road (135 miles) ironed : eighty-one miles being on the eastern, and fifty-four on the western division. More than half the work on the remaining one hundred and thirty-five miles was finished, and sixty-eight miles actually graded and ready for
1
-
117
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
the superstructure. Liddell & Marsh, of the Erie City Iron Works, constructed twenty-five or thirty cars for the western division.
A celebration, numerously attended, was held at Warren, December, 1859, on the opening of the road from Erie to that place.
The earnings of the western division have equaled nearly $3,000 weekly, or six per cent on the cost of construction.
The discovery of petroleum in North western Pennsylvania has added materially to the receipts of the Sunbury and Erie Road, which has been a very great convenience in getting the commodity to market.
Receipts of oil at the Erie station for
1859.
November
21 barrels.
December.
304
1860.
January.
63
"
February
115
66
March.
414
¥
January
15,092
April
980
February
9,421
.6
May
1,159
March.
4,383 =
June.
772
July
1,432 barrels.
August
2,341
September.
2,227
October
2,775
November
3,069
December.
6,431
1861
April.
5,521
A bill supplementary to the act incorporating the Sunbury and Erie Railroad Company was passed in the spring of 1861. The first section changes the name of the company to the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad Company.
The second section authorizes the company to issue five thousand bonds, not exceeding in amount the aggregate sum of one million pounds sterling or five millions United States currency. The bonds are to draw six per cent interest per annum, payable semi-annually, the principal to be paid in twenty years. The bonds are not subject to taxation, and as security for the payment of principal and interest the com- pany is authorized to execute in trust a mortgage of the whole line of its railroad, finished and unfinished, from Sunbury to the harbor of Erie, and its appurtenances, including all loco- motives and cars which may at any time be placed thereon, together with all its real estate, rights, and privileges. The mortgage to be delivered to trustees therein named, and re- corded in the several counties in which the property may be
118
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
situated, and shall remain the first mortgage on all the prop- erty therein described until fully satisfied, excepting the road extending from Sunbury to Williamsport, on which a mort- gage of one million dollars now exists.
The third section authorizes the company to issue forty bonds for $100,000 each, payable in forty years from the date thereof, bearing six per cent interest from and after January 1, 1872. A second mortgage on the road to be executed to secure the payment of said bonds, which bonds and mortgage the company are to deliver to the commissioners of the sink- ing fund, to be retained as collateral security for payment of the five per cent bonds for $3,500,000 now in the sinking fund. The Treasurer of the Commonwealth shall cancel and sur- render all the bonds belonging to the company and deposited in his office for safe keeping, under the provisions of the act for the sale of the State canals.
Section fourth extends the time for the payment of the $3,500,000, now in the sinking fund, till the maturity of the $4,000,000, which when paid will be in full satisfaction of the said $3,500,000 bonds : provided that the whole amount of principal and interest so to be paid by the company shall not be less than the debt now owing by the company to the State with the stipulated interest thereon till the time of payment.
When this and other railroads in progress are completed, it is expected that Erie will assume her true importance, so that the census of 1870 will find it a flourishing, noisy, and am- bitious city, rivaling in size and trade the two large cities of Cleveland and Buffalo, which have hitherto overshadowed it.
"Pennsylvania is blest in having three border outlets through ports on the three great water ways-the Atlantic Ocean, the Ohio River, and the great lakes. Philadelphia, Pittsburg, and Erie City are the portals of the Common- wealth, all other ways of ingress and egress being only as windows in the stately edifice. The public men of an earlier generation purchased and annexed the Triangle which made Erie City a harbor in Pennsylvania, and yet, down to this day, there is no direct communications between that lake port which was acquired and the seaport where the State was cradled, although a route to the lakes was one of the objects of
119
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
the acquisition." [The Sunbury and Erie was incorporated for this purpose, and in 1846, in the incorporation of the Pennsylvania Central, a branch was authorized deflecting to Erie.] "Here we have the proof that in the minds of men devoted to the consideration of commercial subjects, and to carrying lines, the thought was ever present, that the three custom house cities should have direct and unclogged railroad facilities, uniting each with the other, and opening from the interior of the State to its border cities a cheap and con- venient transit." In its unfinished condition the Sunbury and Erie Railroad is a double failure, for it fails to pay interest on the bonds held by the State, and fails to meet public ex- pectations inasmuch as it is not all open for traffic.
The Erie and Northeast Railroad Company was incorpor- ated April 12, 1842, with a capital of $5,000,000. March 11, 1846, the capital stock was reduced to $600,000. Books for subscription were opened October 19, 1846, and sufficient stock subscribed to secure the charter. Letters-patent on the charter were granted December 16, 1846. The first election was held January 22, 1847, and resulted in the choice of C. M. Reed, President ; William Kelley, Henry Cadwell, Smith Jackson, A. W. Brewster, M. Courtright, James Williams, Directors ; and G. Sanford, Treasurer.
In the spring of 1849 the road was surveyed under the direction of M. Courtright ; July 26, 1849, contracts were made for the construction of the road.
By an agreement entered into April 27, 1850, with the Dun- kirk and State Line Railroad, the Erie and Northeast agreed to lay a six-foot track, that the cars of the New York and Erie might run directly to Erie, and this city be virtually the terminus of that road. Previously the Dunkirk and State Line Road had adopted the Erie and Northeast to do their business on the same, and by this arrangement expected to have an advantage over their great rival, the New York Central.
This led to a warm controversy between the two companies, and a parallel road was contemplated, which was the Sheri- dan Road, with a six-foot track, to connect with the Erie and Northeast via Westfield and Fredonia, and stock sufficient to
120
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
secure the charter was taken. Finally, a compromise was effected by which it was intended that neither company should have the advantage, and a gauge foreign to both was adopted, viz., the four foot ten inches, being the gauge of the road constructing from Erie west to Cleveland.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.