USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Braddock > The unwritten history of Braddock's Field (Pennsylvania) > Part 4
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Of the classified freight in the commerce of the Monongahela, salt occupied a large place, as immense quantities were brought from the salt works in New York. Whiskey, butter, lard, cheese, flour, oats, sand, ap- ples, hoop poles, nails, tobacco, wool, feathers, bacon, pork, staves, brick, ginseng, and beeswax were staple articles of commerce. Pittsburgh con- tinued to be the distributing point. The Monongahela proved to be a val- uable feeder to the State canals. Of the 80,000 barrels of flour, which came down it in 1851, more than nine-tenths were reshipped eastward by the Pennsylvania canal; and other items in like manner.
Braddock's contribution to the commerce on the Monongahela be- gan early. On June 12, 1839, Messrs. Corey and Adams, of Braddock, be- gan quarrying stone above Mckeesport for the construction of Lock and Dam Number Two, which was to have been placed at Braddock's lower riffle, but by reason of changing the height of the dams to eight feet Lock Number Two was eventually located at the head of Braddock's riffles above the mouth of Turtle Creek. This Lock was completed by Corey and Adams and opened for navigation on October 18, 1841. The tolls for the succeeding two months of that year amounted to $1,000 per
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THE UNWRITTEN HISTORY OF BRADDOCK'S FIELD.
month. In 1845 the tolls at this Lock amounted to almost $3,500, while in 1870 they made the amazing total of almost $82,000. In 1893, despite the growing competition of the railroads, the tolls exceeded $53,000.
The operation of the Edgar Thomson Plant of the Carnegie Steel Company increased the importance of the Monongahela's commerce to a marked extent, although the greatest tonnage was that of coal shipped to the southern markets. In the years 1844 to 1872 a little less than 400 millions of bushels was shipped from Pool Number Two. A better idea can be had of this great amount when it is remembered that in one acre of coal there is about one hundred thousand bushels.
One of the best remembered events connected with the history of the Locks in the Braddock district was the breakup of the ice pack in Feb- ruary, 1867. The engineer of the Navigation Company describes it as making a noise like distant thunder, and striking the dam with such force as to shake the lock walls and rattle the windows in the houses in the vil- lage of Port Perry.
Of all the workers on Lock Two, the name of one stands out clear-Michael Hart. He had been employed in its construction, and was continued as a lock tender for more than twenty-five years after- wards. He was regarded as the most active and speedy lock-tender on the River at that time. The boatmen had a maxim, "We will have a quick passage through the lock, old Mike is on watch".
It is not to be thought that the improvement of navigation in the Monongahela was secured by the harmonious co-operation of the Valley, or that its practical operation was materially helped by the shippers. "It is a remarkable fact," says the engineer, Sylvanus Lothrop, in his report to the President of the Company, January 4th, 1847, "that with so many unanswerable arguments to recommend it to, and enforce it upon, the public attention, no work in the country has ever encountered greater ob- stacles than this. Instead of being, as it ought to have been, fostered by our citizens, and hailed by the inhabitants of the Monongahela Valley as a blessing to themselves, it met with nothing but the most chilling regards from the one, and with either the most violent prejudice, or the most de- termined hostility from the other." Protests were made against the toll charges, and in 1848 the Valley was aflame with the cry that the locks should be cut down to a height of four and one-half feet so that in times of freshet the boats might float, unhindered by locks, to the Ohio. Much difficulty was encountered in securing rapidity of movement through the locks. Rival coal crews fought, in the face of definite regulations, for
.
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THE UNWRITTEN HISTORY OF BRADDOCK'S FIELD.
precedence in passing through the locks. The Company early established rules, in vain. The State legislature (1851) passed special legislation to facilitate passage, and later (1864) made the penalties more severe, yet many times the locks for hours at a time were idle while the fighting crews blocked the entrance, and the prosperity-carrying Ohio "rise" re- ceded below the boating stage.
When the Monongahela River was about to be bridged at Smith- field street in Pittsburg, it was seriously proposed that the bridge be built so low that the boats could not pass under, thus necessitating the transfer of freights, and a profitable business for longshoremen.
Out of such strife and from such humble beginnings arose the mighty traffic which now yearly sweeps down the Monongahela through locks, augmented in number and increased in size, and now owned and operated without charge to the traffic, by the United States Government. No longer does the Ohio wait upon the "rise" of her tributary from the south, but rather is the waiting reversed, until such time as the United States shall have done her "perfect work" for "the beautiful river."
THE MUNICIPALITIES. BY J. E. LITTLE, ESQ.
The Borough of Braddock, Pa., was incorporated by the Court of Quarter Sessions of Allegheny County on the 8th day of June, 1867. The first set of officers elected comprises the names of men nearly all of whom have been prominent in local affairs for many years. The first set of officers were :-
Burgess, Isaac Mills, Sr. .
Council, George Fritz, William Redman, Joseph McCune, William McAdams, John Harrison.
Judge of Elections, Isaac Mills, Jr.
Inspectors, W. S. Packer, Jesse McCune.
Assessor, W. A. Holland.
Auditor, James A. Russell.
Justices of the Peace, Jas. McCleery, J. Gibson.
Constable, Washington McClure.
The names of the men who have served the borough as burgess since its incorporation, with the length of term of each are :-
*Isaac Mills, Sr 1867, 1868, 1869
*James Petty 1870
*George Fritzius 1871
*Samuel Motheral 1872, 1873
*Thomas J. Dowler
1874, 1875, 1876
*M. G. Corey 1877
+J. G. Dowler* 1877
*Peter Sewald
1878
*Thomas W. Sharp
1879
*John M. Frederick
1880, 1881
*Jesse P. McCune
1882
*Wm. Sherwin
1883, 1884
*Isaac Mills, Jr.
1885
*Thomas W. Sharp 1886, 1887, 1888
H. C. Shallenberger 1889, 1890
Jas. A. Russell 1891
Thos. G. Aten
1892
H. C. Shallenberger
1893, 1894, 1895, 1896
Peter F. Emmert
1897, 1898, 1899
*John Brennan
1900, 1901, 1902
*James Purcell
1903, 1904, 1905
J. E. Little
1906, 1907, 1908
* John Brennan 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913
Finley K. Whitfield 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917.
1
*Deceased.
#Finished term of M. G. Corey.
·
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THE UNWRITTEN HISTORY OF BRADDOCK'S FIELD. .
The borough authority in 1917 is vested in the following :- Burgess, Dr. Finley K. Whitfield.
Borough Clerk, William P. Conway. Superintendent of Public Works, W. H. Williams.
DR. F. K. WHITFIELD,
Burgess of Braddock.
H. B. MILLER,
Burgess, North Braddock.
A. P. RODERUS,
Burgess of Rankin.
L. F. HOLTZMAN, ESQ.
President of Braddock Council.
Health Officer, Jas. E. Wills. Borough Solicitor, George Weil, Esq.
Council, L. F. Holtzman, Esq., President; W. S. Lowman, Wm. J. Dixon, E. D. Nugent, T. L. Howard, Jas. L. Alexander, Jas. A. Morgan, E. B. Schafer, Michael Verosky, D. M. Kier, J. W. Milligan, John Shields.
Chief of Police, Jas J. McCarthy.
Chief of Fire Department, Thos. K. Martin.
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THE UNWRITTEN HISTORY OF BRADDOCK'S FIELD. .
List of Burgesses of Rankin Borough from the time of its incorpora- tion in 1892 to the present :
George A. Sloan, appointed
June, 1892-March, 1893
Thos. M. Cain, elected 1 year, March, 1893-March, 1894
Fogel G. Bishoff, elected 3 years, March, 1894-March, 1897
Thos. B. Brown, elected 3 years, March, 1897-March, 1900
Lowrey H. Bishoff, elected. 3 years, March, 1900-March, 1903
John S. Donnellan, elected 3 years, March, 1903-March, 1906
Peter J. Traynor, elected 3 years, March, 1906-March, 1909
J. Knox Milligan, elected 4 years, March, 1909-Jan'y, 1914
Albert P. Roderus, elected 4 years, Jan'y, 1914-Jan'y, 1918
The officers and Council of Rankin for 1917 are :-
Burgess, A. P. Roderus.
Borough Clerk, A. J. Argall.
Borough Engineer, U. G. Duvall.
Health Officer, Reynolds Johns.
Borough Solicitor, Jos. F. Mayhugh, Esq.
Council, J. Knox Milligan, President; C. B. Guttridge, Thos. Kane,
W. C. Watkins, W. H. Johns, T. B. Brown, George Miller.
Chief of Police, Emil Mura.
Chief of Fire Department, Samuel Johns.
Burgesses of Borough of North Braddock from the time of its in- corporation as a borough in 1897 to date:
Henry L. Anderson, May 24, 1897. Died, March 22, 1899.
F. K. Leighton, appointed by court and sworn in April 1, 1899. Re-elected for full term, March 4th, 1901.
A. T. Reid, March 4th, 1903.
George B. Whitfield, March 5th, 1906.
James A. McWilliams, March 2nd, 1909. Died, May 7th, 1910.
John F. McCune, appointed by court and sworn in June 6th, 1910, and served until July 7th, 1911.
William V. Hyland. President of Council, served as Acting Burgess until the appointment of A. L. Best, November 13th, 1911.
A. L. Best, served until January, 1914.
H. B. Miller, January 5th, 1914 to date.
The borough authority for the year 1917 is vested in the fol- lowing :-
Burgess, H. Blair Miller.
Borough Clerk, John O. Jones (also acts as Health Officer) .
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THE UNWRITTEN HISTORY OF BRADDOCK'S FIELD.
Street Commissioner, Sheridan Newton.
Borough Engineer, George Seifers.
Borough Solicitor, Jos. F. Mayhugh, Esq.
Council, Harvey R. Hunter, President; John Phillips, Morgan Har- rity, Robert S. Sadler, Dr. B. M. Bartilson, C. R. Baldridge, John Krohe, Wm. R. Aites, A. Heverly.
Chief of police, I. N. Hummell.
The three boroughs represent a large concentration of wealth in small space. It is said that one reason for the Pittsburgh desire for ex- pansion, is the vast amount of taxable property that would be added to the city by the absorption of these and some forty other boroughs. These three boroughs have a combined valuation of nearly thirty-two million dollars, according to the 1917 duplicate, excluding the assessment on oc- cupations, divided as follows :-
Braddock, $11,668,460.00.
North Braddock, $13,284,980.00.
Rankin, $7,074,280.00.
The number of persons (or corporations) owning real estate is :- Braddock, 2,058.
North Braddock, 2,362.
Rankin, 622.
One person in eight owns real estate.
These figures seem to call for a word of explanation. It may be wondered why North Braddock has more assessables and greater valua- tion than Braddock. The answer is the same that in the final analysis is the active cause of every condition in all municipalities, that is, the physi- cal geography of the locality. Braddock occupies the level ground between the foot hills and the river. It has the stores, the banks, the offices, in fact, is the business center, in addition to a number of industrial plants. And it is from these sources that it derives the greater part of its taxable values. North Braddock occupies the hill sides, with their summits and valleys. It is the residence section. This accounts for the number of taxables. This explanation would seem to give Braddock the wealth and North Braddock the population. So it would but for the further fact that the entire Edgar Thomson steel plant which represents about half of the valuation and pays a corresponding proportion of the tax of the upper borough, is situated entirely within the corporate limits of North Braddock.
Similar causes give to Rankin, one of the wealthiest boroughs in
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THE UNWRITTEN HISTORY OF BRADDOCK'S FIELD.
proportion to area to be found anywhere, its vast wealth as compared with the number of taxables. Here are located the enormous Carrie furnaces, the Rankin Wire mill, and the McClintick-Marshall plants, as well as other works of less magnitude.
All the wealth and prosperity of the community rests on the steel industry. In times of great business activity every person wanting work can easily find employment in these mills. And it has been well said that steel is the foundation of all industries. Persons who have lived here all their lives have little idea of the comparative prosperity of this region. True, times of depression have been seen and will come again. Many be- lieve it would be well to make a systematic and persistent community ef- fort to secure a greater diversity of industries. York, Pa., by the last census about the size of Braddock, has three times as many corporations. If half of our population depended on the textile manufactures, for in- stance, depression in steel would not prostrate our business life as it did in the panic of 1907.
From the foregoing, it is easily deduced that the three boroughs are one in everything except the matter of local government. This multi- plicity of administrative function has been the occasion at times of more or less friction between the several sections of the community. Particu- larly was this manifest in the matter of railroad crossings, when, for several years the abatement of the death traps was delayed pending united action of the separate councils. The subject of sewers is another source of controversy that is perennial. North Braddock can get an outlet for her sewers only by constructing them through Braddock borough, and who is going to meet the expense? This question has been discussed for a generation, and while it is being debated, the storms of every season cause damage that would go far towards paying for the sewers.
Duplication of activity is also seen in three sets of borough build- ings, three equipments of fire-fighting apparatus, and three sets of bor- ough officers.
Physically, each and all of the boroughs may be said to be well equipped. Every street and nearly every alley in Braddock is paved. The same is true of Rankin, and North Braddock is almost as well provided. Certain sections of all three boroughs have had for years, rigid building restrictions, no frame structures being permitted in the crowded localities.
None of the boroughs has an excessive bonded debt, and the tax- rate is not particularly burdensome in any. What bonded debts there are have been contracted in payment of valuable properties, the buildings now
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THE UNWRITTEN HISTORY OF BRADDOCK'S FIELD.
being worth much more than the value of the outstanding bonds. In the case of Braddock, the water works alone could be sold for enough to reduce the bonded indebtedness to an insignificant amount.
Immediately prior to the Civil War, the Pittsburgh and Connells- ville Railroad, which had been built from Connellsville to Port Perry, was extended through the Borough of Braddock to Pittsburgh. The right of way was given, therefor, by Isaac Mills, extending from Sixth Street to the West End of the Borough line. The railroad took possession of Halket Street from Ninth Street to Thirteenth Street, without authority from anyone. Halket at that time was the principal street of the town. For some years Ninth Street was the principal business street. Eventually business located on Braddock Avenue. The business center of the town, like the course of Empire, has moved steadily westward, along Braddock Avenue.
Since the early seventies (when the steel works were constructed), the town has steadily grown, both in population and in wealth. Most of . the working forces were brought here by Captain W. R. Jones. They were young men, away from home, without family ties, and many of them recently discharged from the army, in whom, the four years in the war, had bred a spirit impatient of restraint.
With this element, and every other house on Braddock Avenue a saloon, running full blast twenty-four hours in the day, Braddock had much the aspect of a Western Mining Camp. Women seldom went on Braddock Avenue on Saturday nights. Street fighting seemed to be a favorite and universal diversion. The Borough minutes show that J. Alex Speedy was elected Chief of Police in 1880. It was also his duty to "fill, clean, and light the street lamps". He was a brave, courageous man. He attempted to stop street fighting on Braddock Avenue, and he, more than any ten men, vindicated the right of the municipality, to have the Bor- ough free from street fighting. With fist or mace, he subdued the dis- orderly, and was a good rough and tumble fighter.
In the early days council met at the residences of the various mem- bers and occasionally in the school house. For many years the Burgess presided at the meetings of council.
Subsequently a municipal building was erected opposite the site of the present municipal building. One of the municipal officers chosen at the first election, was James A. Russell, Borough Auditor. So far as I know he is the only surviving member of the first set of officers elected.
, In 1885 the Water Works were erected. W. H. Williams, the first
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THE UNWRITTEN HISTORY OF BRADDOCK'S FIELD.
engineer of the Water Works, is now the Superintendent of Public Works. The first sewers were constructed on Eighth and Ninth Streets. At the time of the incorporation of the Borough, Braddock Avenue was a plank road and was first paved with cobblestones in 1883. At that time (in 1883) L. F. Holtzman was a member of council. He has served almost continuously since in that body.
In addition to serving as member of council for many years, a great part of the time acting as president of that body, Mr. Holtzman has, during an almost coincident period, held the office of Justice of the Peace. In this capacity he has distinguished himself for his good judgment and fairness. It is so common as almost to amount to a scandal, that in many petty courts, judgment is almost invariably rendered in favor of the plaintiff, the thought seeming to lie back of the decision, that this course produces business. Not so with Squire Holtzman. He listens to a case patiently and renders judgment according to law and evidence. Indeed, in many instances he induces parties to settle the matter in dispute out of court. Again, he will, by writing a letter to the offender, secure an abatement of the evil complained of before it reaches the critical stage.
In North Braddock for many years was a man, the counterpart of Mr. Holtzman in many respects, in the person of Mr. Fred W. Edwards, or "Freddie", or "Little Fred", as he was affectionately called. Justice of the Peace and Councilman, he early became identified with county poli- tics, serving several terms in various county offices, and recognized throughout the state as one of the forceful political leaders. Overwork in the interests of his friends cut him off in the midst of his usefulness.
Rankin, too, has had its own record of local politics. Indeed it has been said that "Rankin has more politics to the square foot than Chicago has". In Rankin's case it seems, to an outsider, to be for the pure joy of battle; for, while the courts have frequently been called upon to decide who was the duly elected councilman, or school director, or constable, no such criminal scandals and criminal prosecutions as have disgraced many cities and counties and even states, have ever been brought out in con- nection with Rankin elections. Men who have been active in Rankin affairs for many years for the pure love of the game are J. Knox Milligan, C. B. Guttridge, Gideon H. Jaquay, Esq., Chas. J. Carr, Esq., Jerry Lutz, A. P. Roderus, Ignatz Horr, Esq., J. S. Donnellan, Esq. The Colored Repub- lican Club and the Italian Mckinley Club, each of which votes as a unit in local affairs, add considerably to the complications at election time.
In all these boroughs, party politics is entirely overlooked, the ques-
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THE UNWRITTEN HISTORY OF BRADDOCK'S FIELD.
tion of alignment depending on the local problem that demands present consideration. The amusing part of it, to an onlooker, is, that the local leaders do not work together for any number of successive campaigns, and the men who are standing side by side this year may be in opposite camps at the next election.
A political factor that should be mentioned in this connection is Hon. Melville Clyde Kelly, though his activities have been State and Na- tional, rather than local. First elected to the state legislature at the age of 26 as the champion of local option, he put up a magnificent fight in that body for a losing cause. Not only did Mr. Kelly take the side of local op- tion, but he was always found working by voice and vote, in season and out, for every legislative enactment that he believed to be right, regard- less of what interests might be favored or injured; and the powers that be always found in him a force that had to be reckoned with.
The next election found Mr. Kelly contending with Hon. John Dalzell for the seat in the National Congress, which the latter had held for twenty-six years, where he was known as the champion of high tariff. Mr. Kelly was elected and to congress he carried the same fearless prin- ciples he had exhibited at Harrisburg. When the Sixty-fourth Congress was chosen, Mr. Kelly was elected to stay at home. That seemed to make no difference to him, and like the good loser that he was, by voice and pen he kept on delivering sledge hammer blows against evils and corruption wherever manifest.
In the campaign of 1916 Mr. Kelly was again candidate for con- gress against Hon. Wm. H. Coleman, who had defeated him in 1914. This time Mr. Kelly was elected and he is now serving his district and his Na- tion in the momentous events that are working out in these strenuous times of conflict.
Courtesy of JOHN J. TREVASKIS.
PORT PERRY AND TURTLE CREEK.
BY WM. S. HEATH.
INTRODUCTORY
At first glance, the reader will wonder why the history of Port Perry and Turtle Creek should be incorporated in this work, and why it in any way would be associated with the Fiftieth Anniversary of Braddock ; but in the perusal of the same, one will find that a history of Braddock would be incomplete unless this chapter were included, as both Port Perry and Turtle Creek are closely allied with, and associated in, the making of Braddock; so many of the former citizens of Port Perry now being Brad- dock residents.
It is a strange coincidence that Mr. George H. Lamb, Chairman of the Historical Committee, would select the undersigned for this im- portant task, I only having been a resident of this vicinity since 1898, and it naturally would seem to be the proper course to select a resident of each of these places to write the facts, or near facts, concerning their his- tory. Yet, the selection of myself to do this work, seems not inappropriate for the following reasons:
I was born in the Monongahela Valley, this county, as was also my father, Samuel J. Heath, my grand-father, Captain Samuel Heath, and my great grand-father, Robert Heath, who was the son of Samuel Heath, who acquired two tracts of lands from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania called "Battletown" and "The Dart". These papers I have in my possession. My great grand-father's brother, Samuel Heath, Jr., was born in Old Fort Pitt, (where the Indians had chased his father's family), on August 1st, 1773, and on the day he was twenty-one years of age, August 1st, 1794, he was with the crowd who mustered in Braddock's Field in the Whiskey Insurrection. My great great grand-fathers farm, (a portion of which we yet own), was near Monongahela City and Mingo Creek and Church, the very center of the Whiskey Rebellion.
I am indebted for much of my information in compiling these chapters, to the History of Allegheny County, as published by A. Warner & Company in 1889, and the Memoir and Recollections of J. B. Corey, our much esteemed fellow citizen, and to many kind friends, who have been unstinted in their efforts to aid me.
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THE UNWRITTEN HISTORY OF BRADDOCK'S FIELD.
PORT PERRY.
Versailles Township was one of the original seven townships into which the County of Allegheny was divided and it extended from the mouth of Turtle Creek along the Northerly side of the Monongahela River up to the mouth of the Youghiogheny River and thence up the Yough- iogheny River to Crawford's Run; Thence by the line of the County to the mouth of Brush Creek; thence down Turtle Creek to the mouth. The immediate cause of the division of Versailles Township was the growth of the two villages of Port Perry and Coultersville, at the opposite extremes of its territory, and in September 1869 by decree of Court, the Townships of North and South Versailles were erected out of Versailles Township. Later, viz: July 3, 1875, by decree of Court, the second precinct of South Versailles was erected into the Township of Versailles.
Port Perry is situated at the mouth of Turtle Creek in North Versailles Township on the Monongahela River. It was originally known as Pieriestown, so called after a man named Pieries who owned the land there, and laid out the first plan of lots. Colonel Miller afterwards bought the Pieries holdings and the Fritchman farm and laid out a new plan of the same place. The name was, in 1850, changed to Port Perry. I note (J. B. Corey's Memoir) that in 1840 there were eight families in the vil- lage of Pieriestown. One history states that while it is a comparatively old town, its appearance has not improved with age a truly as has been well said by George H. Lamb, Librarian at Braddock, Pa., Port Perry is a victim of prosperity. Towns usually improve with age, but Port Perry as a town has been practically obliter- ated by the growth of great industries as the years have gone by. In J. B. Corey's Memoir we find that his father brought his family to Port Perry on the occasion of having secured, in company with his brother, the contract to erect the lock and dam known as No. 2, for the Mon- ongahela Navigation Company, J. K. Moorehead being president of the Company. The work on the dam was started in the year 1840. J. B. Corey was then about eight years old. At the present time he is nearly eleven times that age and in comparatively good health. I saw him on the streets of Braddock as this was being written, greeting old and new acquaintances with a vim that was surprising in one of his great age.
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