Twentieth century history of Altoona and Blair County, Pennsylvania, and representative citizens, Part 21

Author: Sell, Jesse C 1872-
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Publishing
Number of Pages: 1036

USA > Pennsylvania > Blair County > Altoona > Twentieth century history of Altoona and Blair County, Pennsylvania, and representative citizens > Part 21

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).

At Curry the special was warmly greeted by the tillers of the soil in that section. Will- iamsburg and vicinity furnished a big crowd at 1:50 o'clock, when the train reached that place, and the day's lecturing ended at Alex- andria, where the agriculturists were greeted and received by an interested crowd.

(From Altoona Gazette Feb. 23, 1910. )

The experiment conducted yesterday by the Pennsylvania railroad company in con- veying expert lecturers on agricultural sub- jects through the farming section of the country, where addresses were made to the tillers of the soil, was a great success, judg-

146

HISTORY OF BLAIR COUNTY

ing from the crowds attending and the in- terest manifested. The railroad officials and the state college authorities deserve the highest praise in their efforts to help the farmers and the latter will appreciate it.

The gentlemen who accompanied the train and spoke to the farmers were not mere theorists trying to tell the husband- men something concerning which the latter know more about than they do themselves. Their knowledge has been acquired through careful and practical experiments along sci- entific lines and good results cannot help but follow their efforts, for farmers, as a rule,

are willing to learn. There are few occu- pations in which mankind is engaged in which there is more to learn and in which intelligent and well-directed effort is more needed. And . in view of the fact that one of the greatest problems confronting this nation is that of feeding its population at a reasonable cost, the importance of the efforts along these lines to all classes of people can be readily appreciated.

It is to be hoped that the experiment of yesterday will have the effect of stimulating interest in the farmers' institutes that will be held shortly at a number of places in the county.

CHAPTER VII.

MINERALS AND MINING.

The Lead and Zinc of Sinking Valley-Expedition of Gen. Roberdeau-The Keystone Zinc Company-Coal Measures, Mines, and Companies-Manufacture of Coke-The Limestone Industry.

THE LEAD AND ZINC OF SINKING VALLEY.

As early as the Revolutionary war, the attention of the colonial government was invited to the lead ore of Sinking valley. How much work was then done in mining or manufacturing is not now definitely known. Various accounts in the shape of vague and unreliable stories exist among the present inhabitants of the valley; but aside from these it is evident from the fre- quent allusions made to the subject in the Pennsylvania state archives (vols. 6, 7, 8 and 9.) as well as also from the old pits and excavations in the neighborhood of the Fleck farm, that the undertakings of this early period were extensive for their day, and especially so when it is considered that the region at that time was an almost un- broken and trackless forest, traversed by roving bands of unfriendly Indians, and far removed from every important settlement.

It is, however, definitely known that in April, 1778, an expedition of considerable strength and under the command of Gen- eral Roberdeau (or Roberdean) started from Carlisle for the Sinking valley, where a lead mine was subsequently opened and worked. (See letters of General Roberdeau, April 17, 1778. Penn. archives, vol. 6, p. 422.) Small reducing works were likewise built close by in which the ores were treated as fast as they were mined, and the metal so obtained

was most likely shipped in flat boats down the Juniata river at the time of high water.

The mining developments of this period were doubtless mainly, if not entirely, con- fined to the southern portion of the valley, near the so-called "kettle," where the ores contain a much larger precentage of lead. The old adit near Birmingham at the north- ern end of the valley, though begun in the last century, belongs to a later date than the pits on the Fleck farm, and was made under different auspices.

The Roberdeau expedition, though it con- tinued work for some time, was in the end a failure. Various exaggerated notions as to the probable yield of these mines were en- tertained by those who had the work in charge; nor was the enterprise finally aban- doned without some protestation on the part of General Roberdeau against the slender support and assistance rendered him by the government authorities; a sup- port, moreover, which seems to have been guaranteed to him at the outset of his un- dertaking. (Penn. archives. vol. 8, p. 15.) But even with such assistance it is obvious from what we now know, that lead could have been obtained here only at great ex- pense, as the ores are too lean to be profit- ably treated for that metal alone, while the veins in which galena figures to any extent are among the smallest in the valley. Hence the failure of the enterprise may perhaps be

148

HISTORY OF BLAIR COUNTY

ascribed as much to the expense of mining and treating the ores as to the causes as- signed to it by General Roberdeau.

There is no record of the total amount of metal produced at this time in Sinking val- ley, nor of the cost of it, nor of the time when the work was finally abandoned. But under date of May 29, 1779, more than a year after the expedition set out from Car- lisle, mention is made of an order from Gen- eral Roberdeau for 500 pounds of lead; and subsequently, in November of the same year General Roberdeau in a communication to President Reed of the council, speaks of the deferred payment on a thousand pounds of lead. These are the only figures connected with this branch of the subject to be ob- tained from the state archives. It is hardly reasonable to suppose that they together represent the entire product of the mines at that time, or even the greater portion of it; for under such circumstances General Rob- erdeau after a whole year's work could scarcely advised its continuance. After the abandonment of this enterprise nothing was done with the zinc and lead deposits of Sink- ing valley for several years.

But that work on them was resumed be- fore the close of the eighteenth century is shown by an agreement between John Mus- ser and Robert Morris, who were "equally concerned in a lead mine situated in Ty- rone township, in the county of Hunting- don, in Pennsylvania." By the terms of this agreement, which is dated August 4, 1795, Musser was to drive a "level," for drainage purposes, through to a certain shaft on which some work had already been done, but in which the miners had been prevented from going deeper on account of water.

The third period is represented by the operations of the Keystone zinc company. This was the period when the mineral de- posits of the valley were most fully explored and developed; indeed it was the only pe- riod when anything of importance was done.

The Keystone zinc company was incor- porated in 1864; it had a comprehensive

charter and abundant capital, and work was begun by it on an extensive scale. The min- ing operations of the company were mainly directed to the so-called "bowlder deposits," near Birmingham, at the northern end of the valley.

Several thousand tons of ore were mined and large reducing works with all the mod- ern appliances were erected at a consider- able expense on the south bank of the Juniata river, near Birmingham. Zinc oxide was made in these works. However, a portion of the ore was brought hither from a distance. The company finally became embarrassed financially and in 1870 sus- pended operations. Since then the mines have been idle and are now shut. The works were dismantled and removed ; a few tenement houses alone mark the site.

During the period covered by the opera- tions of the zinc company, other property holders of the valley took active steps towards developing their lands. Holes were drilled to the depth of hundreds of feet, ~ but the results were not such as to encour- age following up the work with regular shafts for mining.

More than two thousand tons of ore were taken from the shafts during the time the Keystone company operated them. The in- dustry will never be revived unless richer veins are found.

COAL.

The coal measure rocks touch only a part of the western edge of Blair county, and that part only included between the old abandoned Portage railroad on the south, and the Buck Horn tavern on the north. This comprises an area barely nine miles long.

If the line dividing Blair from Cambria on the west had pursued a straight course north- eastward from where it starts at the Blair- Cambria and Bedford corner at the south, it would have allowed no coal measures at all in Blair ; they would liave been entirely west of the line, in Cambria. But following, as this line partly does, the highest summits of the

149

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

Alleghany mountain, it has an irregular zig- zag course, advancing west a few points, or receding as many to the east as the case may be, until at the old Portage railroad it curves westward on to a high inner crest which ex- tends from the Portage railroad as above stated northward to the Buck Horn tavern. This inner crest is composed of the coal meas- ures of Blair county.

The crest of the Allegheny mountain is the eastern edge of the great bituminous coal basin of western Pennsylvania. And it hap- pens that nowhere on the Allegheny mountain can the rocks and coal veins be better observed than in the neighborhood of Bennington in Blair county, where by means of natural and artificial exposures all the strata of the lower productive system may be examined and meas- ured.

Counting the different coal beds, large and small, in the lower productive coal measures, there are usually seven such seams in this group, namely : the Broodville, Clarion, Kit- tanning Lower, Kittanning Middle, Kittaning Upper, Freeport Lower and Freeport Upper. These are all represented at Bennington, be- sides an additional small seam between the Kittanning Lower and Middle. The only ones of importance at Bennington are the Brook- ville, Kittanning Lower, and Freeport Upper.

The Freeport Upper seam is nearly always about five feet thick throughout the Blair county basin. But in this measurement are included a slate parting and much bony coal near the roof, both of which seriously inter- fere with the value of the seam. Besides, in other respects, it is vastly inferior to the Kit- tanning Lower bed with which it can not suc- cessfully compete at all, so that few mines have been opened on it, and those begun have never been very vigorously followed up.

Some years ago, however, at the time the Portage railroad was operated, Mr. Lemon worked this coal by a shaft situated a few hundred yards west of the head of Plane 6. The shaft was sixty feet deep, and being a convenient shipping point, besides supplying the plane engine with fuel, a considerable

amount of coal was taken from the shaft dur- ing the years it was operated. But it was not a good quality of coal for fuel and its ready sale at the time, was on account of the less active competition of that period.

During the time of the operation of the Old Portage railroad the Kittanning Lower bed was quite extensively worked by Messrs. Mil- ler and Shoenberger in the neighborhood of Plane No. 6. The mines were situated near the top of a hill south of the railroad, with which latter they were connected by means of a tram road and an incline plane. It was from these developments that the bed acquired the local name of the "Miller seam" by which it is yet widely known throughout both Blair and Cambria counties. The old openings were long since abandoned and are now shut, the supply of coal easily obtainable from this point of attack having doubtless been nearly exhausted.

North of Plane No. 6 and close to the turn- pike is an old drift now shut. Then behind the hilltop at the east of the plane there were opened at different times, by different individ- uals, among whom we have Bergoon, Walls, and Woodcock. Considerable quantities of coal are taken out during the winter months, at which time it supplies a large local trade. The roof and floor of the bed are excellent, which insures clean, dry coal. As the loaded cars issue from the mine they are run over a tram road 1,000 feet in length to a self-acting incline plane 150 feet in height, by means of which the cars are lowered to the old Philadel- phia and Pittsburg pike. " This mine has no railroad connection.

In the vicinity of Bennington on the line of the Pennsylvania railroad was located the mine of the Kittanning Coal company. The tipple was connected with the Pennsylvania railroad so that it had every facility for large shipments of coal. The mine was quite ex- tensively operated for a time, but for a num- ber of years has been inactive.

Close by was another mine operated by Dennison and Porter. They worked on a seam that lay about 125 feet below the sur-

150

HISTORY OF BLAIR COUNTY

face. The bed was three feet thick and was underlaid with a grayish fire-clay. The coal came out in an excellent condition, hard, firm and dry. It broke away easily under the pick and needed no blasting. They for a time worked the mine extensively. Most of their coal was shipped to eastern markets.

MANUFACTURE OF COKE.

The Blair Iron and Coal company had sev- eral mines also near Bennington. They ope- rated extensively and most of the output of their mines was made into coke in the ovens near by.

At first the coking was done in open air pits, an extravagant and destructive method requiring considerable time for the process- some eight or ten days-and involving a loss of twenty-two per cent of the carbon con- tained in the coal. Later on they erected close to the mines a bank of 100 bee-hive ovens the daily output of which is 160 tons. The bank of ovens was 750 feet long with wharf and railroad siding on each side. A large dump was erected capable of holding three days' supply of coal, and of sufficient height to discharge its coal in larries on tracks underneath. These larries received five tons and discharged them through their hopper into the oven. The ovens were put in blast October 8, 1878, and during the month of December of that year and January of 1879, 10,223 tons of coal were coked, yielding 6,548 tons of coke of a good quality.

The Baltimore Coal and Coke company opened and operated a mine with considerable vigor at Glen White about two miles north of Bennington. Some of the coal was coked, some of it found a market in Altoona, and still another part of it was carried in its raw state to the seaboard. A branch ravine extending southeastward down the flank of the moun- tain enabled a railroad to be cheaply built to Kittanning Point, where it intersected with the Pennsylvania railroad.

Dr. Baker's mines are situated on the top of the moutain top about one mile northeast from Glen White. They are connected with the

P. R. R. at Kittanning Point. The connect- ing road is of narrow gauge, ascending the mountain flank by long detours. It is built on the gravity plan and the loaded cars, as they come from the mines, start directly on their journey to the tipple at the Point, being im- pelled by their own momentum.

The coal from this mine seemed to be as good as any mined in this region but it was all shipped away in its raw state.

Beyond Dr. Baker's mines the coal seams bend westward, which quickly carries them across into Cambria county. The final out- crop of the coal in Blair county is in the north- ern part near the Buck Horn tavern. There is a mine opened here called the McNellius. Of the extent of its operations or the quality of its coal we have no data.

CHARACTER OF BLAIR COUNTY COALS.

The coals, in Blair county, from any and all the principle beds, are bituminous, and not semi-bituminous, notwithstanding their posi- tion at the extreme eastern edge of the basin and on the top of the Allegheny mountain. In point of the fact the amount of gaseous mat- ter in them vastly exceeds that in the coals at Johnstown, or the coals generally in Cambria county ; it exceeds even that in the coals of the second basin, the Ligonier Valley, and it is not until we have reached Pittsburg bed at Blairsville, in the third basin, that we find an equal amount of hydrocarbon gases. And moreover, if we extend our observations northeast along the mountain top towards Lloydsville, in Cambria county, or southwest into Somerset county, it is only to find a re- inforcement of the facts above recorded. Al- though it should be stated that nowhere ap- parently on the Allegheny mountain do the percentages of volatile combustible matter in the coals range so high as in Blair county.

LIMESTONE.

Blair contains vast quantities of limestone of a very superior quality. Its formation and location is very peculiar. The rock is of a bluish color and when the action of the

151

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

fire removes the carbonic acid it pulverizes into a mass as white as snow. The vein of rock traverses the county from north to south and juts out into bold prominence in many places. It keeps shy of the mountains except a vein along the base of Dunning. And while it does not exist in all parts of the county it is so distributed that it is no great distance from any part. It was used exten- sively as a flux in the smelting furnaces in their day and was always in close proximity to them.

At Tyrone the ledge is over 800 feet thick. At Hollidaysburg and out bv the old reser- voir it is about 900 feet thick. Along the great line of outcrop it can be cheaply at- tacked in numerous localities. Much of the rock contains ninety-five per cent. of pure lime. Kilns for burning were very numer- ous in former days in all parts of the county and vast quantities of the finest quality of lime was burned both for commercial and domestic purposes. But at the present time very few are in active service and many through neglect have fallen in.

The greatest quantity and perhaps the best quality of the rock is in the vicinity of Williamsburg. Here it is extensively quar- ried, and shipped to other points for various purposes. The business has grown to pro- portions that are little short of marvelous. Some of the operators pay to the owners of the land from one to one and three-fourths of a cent per ton royalty. One of the own- ers realized from this small amount $2,600 in one year from the shipments.

The following from the pen of Mr. C. E. McKernan was published in the Altoona Mirror, May 19, 1909.

"Piney creek is a small stream having its source in the southern end of Blair county and emptying into the Juniata river at Franklin Forge, two miles west of Williams- burg. Its waters flow through some of the best farms in the state in the beautiful Mor- rison Cove valley. Some four or five miles above Franklin Forge the creek meanders through a gorge-high, rocky hills on each

side, with not enough verdure to feed a goat. The land at one time was not considered worth the taxes.

In the spring of 1881, Mr. Frank R. Schmucker conceived the idea of burning lime and realizing the abundant quantity of limestone deposits in the hills, he erected a plant on the creek about two miles from Franklin Forge, and continued in the busi- ness for about three years truning out a superior quality of lime. At the expiration of that time it was found that the stone could be used to better success if pulverized for the manufacture of glass, and a company was formed, consisting of Messrs. F. R. Schmucker, S. R. Schucker and Calvin R. Fluke and the erection of a crusher and pul- verizing machinery was commenced.

A fortune was expended in perfecting the machinery and getting it in proper shape for doing the work. Pluck and perserverance conquered all difficulties, and ere long large quantities of ground limestone, and also crushed stone, were shipped to Pittsburg and other points, and they shortly after built another plant known as number two.

"In 1890 number one plant was entirely destroyed by fire, entailing a great loss, and about two years after number two share the same fate.

"In the meantime, about the time of the Johnstown flood (1889) high water caused much damage, and, taking all together the firm spent about $60,000 on the creek with- out much material benefit. Undismayed, however, they continued operations. Both plants were, rebuilt and prosperity at last was theirs.

"In 1895 Mr. A. J. Morris of Tyrone bought out the interests of Messrs. S. R. Schmucker and C. R. Fluke. Mr. F. R. Schmucker refained his interest and became manager of the works. They were then shipping an average of about twenty-six car loads of crushed limestone daily, having discontinued the grinding of stone in 1890. The vast quantity of rock contained in the tract on both sides of the creek clear down

152

HISTORY OF BLAIR COUNTY

to Franklin Forge was leased by Mr. Schmucker.

"Mr. Schmucker while sitting by a spring looking into the water detected a some- thing by the action of the water that proved to be a substance known as dolomite. It is limestone but contains about forty per cent. of carbonate magnesia. The common lime- stone contains only from one to two per cent. It is difficult to detect it until it is tested in a laboratory.

"It will therefore, be observed that Mr. Schmucker was not only the pioneer of the limestone industry in this section of the county, but also the discoverer of the dolo- mite. From the small beginning the lime- stone business has grown into gigantic pro- portions.

"In 1899 Messrs. Morris and Schmucker sold out to the American steel and wire com- pany, and Mr. Harry A. Sparr who had been a clerk in the employ of Morris company be- came the superintendent of the works and has now rounded out twenty-three years in the limestone business, and today occupies a fine residence in Williamsburg.

"The following figures apply when the dif- ferent companies mentioned are running at their full capacity.

"The American steel and wire company ships thirty carloads per day and have enough, or rock in sight to keep them going for fifty years. They employ about 150 men.

"The Pittsburg limestone company oper- ates one quarry at Franklin Forge and all except one on Clover creek. These quarries extend from the mouth of the creek near Cove forge up to where the old woolen mill was located, which was operated for many years by the Schwab family. This company has for its superintendent William D. Libby

and gives employment to 500 men and ships 100 cars per day.

The St. Clair limestone company is on the old Patterson farm, on the opposite side of the river from Franklin Forge and is man- aged by William Bice. They employ 140 men, and ship twenty-five cars per day. The Blair four limestone company, a short dis- tance east of Mount Etna is also managed by Mr. Bice and this company employs 250 men, and ship twenty-five cars per day.

"The Josephine limestone company is lo- cated on the site of the Rock Dale foundry on Clover creek. Edward Lang is superin- tendent. Seventy men are employed and twenty carloads are shipped daily.

"These quarries commenced operations in a small way in 1881 and have grown till they now employ 1,200 men with a payroll of $2,000 per day and with a total out-put daily of 13,000 tons of limestone.

"According to geological calculations and the supply in sight there is nearly if not all together, a mass of limestone in Blair county which would amount to a block of ten cubic miles. To try to convey to the average reader what it represents is almost enough to cause the imagination to stagger. If this amount of stone was loaded into rail- road cars of fifty tons capacity it would re- quire 2,708,442,315 cars. Estimating 150 cars to the mile it would make a train 18,- 056, 282. This train would girdle the earth 722 times.

"The number of engines required to haul this train, allowing fifty cars to each, would be 54,168,846. Running at the rate of twenty-five miles per hour would take it eight and one-half years to pass a given point."

CHAPTER VIII.

MANUFACTURING.

Iron Works-Early Foundries-Furnaces in 1882-The Blair Iron and Coal Co .- Hollidays- burg Iron and Nail Co .- Bellrough Foundry-McLanahan & Stone-Peter Shoenberger -Rodman Furnace-List of Former Iron Industries-Bloomfield Mines-Limestone In- dustry-Axe Factories-Ganister Quarries-Other Miscellaneous Industries.

THE IRON INDUSTRY.

Although Blair county contained within its boundaries wonderful deposits of iron ore and limestone, and its surface was covered with a dense growth of timber and its divides were traversed with bold, dashing streams of water suitable for making power to drive machinery, no attempt was made to manufacture iron be- fore 1800. The first attempt appears to have been at Etna furnace and forge, built in 1805-6 by Canan, Stewart & Moore, and lo- cated in Catharine township, near the Juniata which was the first iron works within the present limits of Blair county. Tyrone forge was built by John Gloninger & Co., in 1805. Cove forge was built next by John Royer in Woodbury township in 1810 and was oper- ated continuously for more than seventy years. Allegheny furnace, near the present site of Altoona, was built in 1811 by Allison and Henderson, and later was owned and re- built by Elias Baker; Springfield furnace, in Woodbury township, was built by John and Daniel Royer in 1815; Rebecca furnace, by Dr. Peter Shoenberger in 1817, on Clover creek; Mary Ann forge built about 1830 by Edward Bell. & Son, and Elizabeth furnace in 1832 ; Antes forge at Tipton, 1828, by Dysart & Lloyd-three fires operated until 1855 and discontinued; the upper, lower and middle Maria forges in Freedom in 1828 to 1832 and

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.

Twentieth century history of Altoona and Blair County, Pennsylvania, and representative citizens, Part 21

Author: Sell, Jesse C 1872- Publication date: 1911 Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Publishing Number of Pages: 1036

Author: Sell, Jesse C 1872-
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Publishing
Number of Pages: 1036