USA > Pennsylvania > Clearfield County > Twentieth century history of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, and representative citizens > Part 26
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 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112
In October, 1873, Messrs. Wooster & Lull built a tannery in Osceola Mills, which they shortly afterwards sold to W. S. White & Son, who in turn sold to J. B. Alley & Com- pany of Boston, Mass., who conducted the tannery for a number of years, until it was finally abandoned.
The Summit Tannery was built at Cur- wensville by W. S. White & Son and was com- pleted in May, 1877. On April 3, 1878, it was purchased by J. B. Alley & Co., of Bos- ton, Mass., which firm was succeeded on Jan- uary 1, 1887, by Alley Brothers & Place, who continued to operate the tannery until it was taken over by the U. S. Leather Company in 1894.
In the year 1879, Hoyt, Fairweather and LaRue erected a large tannery at Clearfield, which they conducted for a number of years, until it passed under control of the U. S. Leather Co., in the year 1894.
In 1881 Mckinstry & Clearwater erected a tannery at Penfield in Huston township, which they sold to Thomas E. Proctor in 1882. This tannery was operated until bark became scarce, when it was abandoned.
In 1886 a large tannery was built in Ma- haffey. It is owned by A. B. Mosser & Con ?- pany and is still in operation.
In 1883 a tannery was built at Irvona by N. WV. Rice & Company. This tannery is now owned by the U. S. Leather Company and is still running.
DuBois and VanTassel Brothers built a large tannery in DuBois in 1884. This tan- nery is now owned by A. R. VanTassel and does a large business.
WVm. F. Mosser, now deceased, constructed a large tannery at Westover in the year 1889. This tannery is still in operation and is owned
232
HISTORY OF CLEARFIELD COUNTY
by the Wm. F. Mosser Company of Boston, Company manufactures "Upper Leather," Mass.
In 1894, after the sale of the tannery of Alley Bros. & Place, at Curwensville to the U. S. Leather Company, that firm in connec- tion with Fred J. Dyer, erected a new tannery .at that place, which unfortunately was de- stroyed by fire in the year 1899, but the firmn erected a still larger tannery on a new location in Curwensville, which tannery was subse- quently sold to the Penna. Hide & Leather Company, and is still operated on a large scale.
The tanneries controlled by the United States Leather Company manufacture what is known as "Union Crop" sole leather. The tannery of the Pennsylvania Hide & Leather
which is finished at their plant in Curwens- ville.
Owing to the fact that the supply of bark, within a reasonable distance, has about given out, it is probable that the number of tanner- ies in Clearfield county will become less, as the years go by.
At the present time, a large amount of "Extract," which is made at works in the Southern States, where available timber is still plenty and cheap, is shipped to the tan- neries in this county and used in lieu of that much of the bark formerly required, but even advertisement states that the signers to the industry, it has passed its greatest develop- ment in this county.
CHAPTER XIX
FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS
Banking in the Early History of the County-Private and State Banks-Special Act of the Leg- islature Necessary to Incorporation Before 1860-The Act of 1860-Unreliability of the State Banks-Passage of the National Banking Law-Banks of Clearfield County- Officers and Directors.
In the early history of the county, the bank- ing was done by the merchants who received the money of their customers for safe keeping and either sent it or took it to the eastern cit- ies, where they kept accounts and where they usually went once or twice each year to pur- chase goods.
About the year 1858 Leonard, Finney & Company conducted a private bank at Clear- field, the partners in this enterprise being James T. Leonard, William A. Wallace, D. A. Finney and A. C. Finney.
Prior to 1861, the banking business in Pennsylvania was transacted either by private partnerships or by banks chartered by the State by authority of special Acts of the Legislature, a separate Act of the Legislature being re- quired to authorize the incorporation of each bank.
The "Raftsman's Journal," published at Clearfield, Pa., in its issue of August 31, 1859, contains an advertisement of an application for a bank charter for a bank to be called the "Clearfield County Bank," to be located in the Borough of Clearfield, Pa., with a capital of one hundred thousand ($100,000.00) dollars
with the privilege of increasing it to two hun- dred thousand ($200,000.00) dollars. This advertisement states that the signers of the application were J. F. Weaver, Thomas J. Mccullough, Isaac Johnson, C. D. Watson, D. F. Etzweiler, James Alexander, Jona Boyn- ton, M. A. Frank, Richard Mossop, A. K. Wright, W. F. Irwin and S. B. Row.
The Pamphlet Laws of Pennsylvania do not contain any special Act of the Legisla- ture, incorporating the "Clearfield County Bank." The reason for this probably being because the Legislature, by an Act approved March 31, 1860, to be found in the Pamph- let Laws of that year, at page 459, entitled "An Act to establish a System of Free Banking in Pennsylvania and to secure the public against loss from Insolvent Banks," provided that banks could be incorporated thereunder, without the necessity of having special Acts of the Legislature passed as had before been necessary.
Under this Act of 1860 and the supple- ments and amendments thereto, many state banks were organized, but they were prac- tically without supervision by the State and
233
231
HISTORY OF CLEARFIELD COUNTY
their notes, except in the localities where ($8,000,000.00) and are conservatively and the banks were located, could usually only carefully conducted. be used at a heavy discount.
With the passage of the National Bank- ing Law by the United States Congress and its approval by President Lincoln, in 1863, the banking business of the country was for the first time placed upon a substan- tial basis and National Banks were soon es- tablished at various points in the county. The first one being at Clearfield and known as the "First National Bank of Clearfield," and the next at Curwensville, known as the "First National Bank of Curwensville."
With the growth of population and busi- ness of the county, various financial institu- tions have been established and at the pres- ent time (1911) the following are in exist- ence, to-wit :
County National Bank, Clearfield, Pa.
Clearfield National Bank, Clearfield, Pa. Clearfield Trust Company, Clearfield, Pa.
Farmers' & Traders' National Bank, Clearfield, Pa.
Curwensville National Bank, Curwens- ville, Pa.
Deposit National Bank, DuBois, Pa.
Union Banking and Trust Company, Du- Bois, Pa.
DuBois National Bank, DuBois, Pa.
Bituminous National Bank, Winburne, Pa
Mahaffey National Bank, Mahaffey, Pa. Madera National Bank, Madera, Pa.
First National Bank, Houtzdale, Pa. First National Bank, Osceola Mills, Pa. First National Bank, Coalport, Pa.
These institutions have aggregate de- Clearfield, Pa.
posits of nearly eight millions of dollars
The following is a list of the officers and directors of the financial institutions of the county from the latest information fur- nished to us, and an examination of the same will convince any one who is ac- quainted with the citizens of Clearfield county that these institutions are under the control of the leading business men of the several communities in which they are lo- cated.
The County National Bank of Clearfield, Pa.
H. B. Powell, President; A. B. Shaw, Vice-President ; J. L. Gilliland, Cashier.
Directors-F. G. Betts, G. W. Jose, W. A. Porter, A. B. Shaw, H. F. Bigler, H. A. Kratzer, W. B. Potter, J. P. O'Laughlin, H. L. Forcey, H. J. Patton, H. B. Powell, A. K. Wright.
The Clearfield National Bank, Clear- field, Pa.
James Mitchell, President; H. S. White- man, Vice-President and Cashier.
Directors-James Mitchell, H. A. Ken- nedy, John Dimeling, Thos. H. Murray, A. E. Lietzinger, W. H. Patterson, W. I. Betts. W. P. Hopkins.
The Clearfield Trust Company, Clear- field, Pa.
R. A. Shillingford, President : A. W. Lee, Vice-President ; P. T. Davis, Treasurer.
Directors-G. R. Bigler, H. W. Croft, F. G. Harris, F. B. Kerr, Chas. T. Kurtz, A. W. Lee. R. A. Shillingford, Clement W. Smith, S. I. Snyder, E. E. Lindemuth.
Farmers' & Traders' National Bank,
A. E. Woolridge, President; G. B. Pass-
Pennsylvania Ilide & Leather Co., Curwensville
Bickford Fire Brick Co. Works. Curwensville
Y
我時限出
The New B. R. & P. R. R. Trestle, Curwensville
Elk Tanning Co. Tanneries, Curwensville
237
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS
more, Vice-President; Isaac Straw, Vice- President; E. O. Hartshorne, Cashier ; A. K. Staver, Assistant Cashier.
Directors-A. E. Woolridge, E. C. Davis, D. R. Woolridge, G. B. Passmore, Jesse Williams, Dorsey Bailey, W. T. DeHaas, Isaac Straw, F. A. Walker, C. G. McNaul, M. D.
The Curwensville National Bank, Cur- wensville, Pa.
C. S. Russell, President ; Hugh M. Irvin, Vice-President ; L. W. Spencer, Cashier ; Anthony Hile, Assistant Cashier.
Directors-C. S. Russell, Sam'l P. Ar- nold, J. S. Graff, C. A. Woods, Geo. L. Ben- ner, H. M. Irvin, Fred J. Dyer, Roland D. Swope, I. B. Norris, C. M. Porter, M. A. Caldwell, Peter Gearhart, H. J. Patton, Geo. F. Kittelberger, C. E. Patton.
Deposit National Bank, DuBois, Pa.
R. H. Moore, President ; M. I. McCreight, First Vice-President; D. L. Corbett, Sec- ond Vice-President; B. B. McCreight, Cashier ; J. Q. Groves, Assistant Cashier ; W. D. I. Arnold, Assistant Cashier.
Directors-R. H. Moore, W. H. Cannon, Walter Hatten, D. L. Corbett, J. H. Pifer, C. P. Munch, Rembrandt Peale, Austin Blakeslee, R. W. Beadle, M. I. McCreight.
The Union Banking and Trust Company of DuBois, Pa.
A. R. Van Tassel, President ; A. T. Spran- kle, Vice-President; B. M. Marlin, Secre- tary and Treasurer; Jos. F. Sprankle, As- sistant Treasurer.
Directors-A. R. Van Tassel, J. E. Mer- ris, B. M. Marlin, Thos. W. Kennedy, H. S. Knarr, A. T. Sprankle, J. B. Henderson, F. W. Prothero, C. L. Hay, William Osborn, F. G. St. Clair.
The DuBois National Bank, DuBois, Pa.
John E. DuBois, President; J. A. Greg- ory, Vice-President: Geo. A. Lukehart, Vice-President ; S. C. Bond, Cashier; W. G. Brown, Assistant Cashier.
Directors-John E. DuBois, J. A. Greg- ory, Geo. A. Lukehart, William Wingert, A. S. Moulthorp. F. A. Tozier, S. C. Bond.
Bituminous National Bank, Winburne, Pa.
James L. Sommerville, President : Berten Merritt, Vice-President ; J. Malcolm Lau- rie, Cashier.
Directors-Jas. L. Sommerville, A. O. Sommerville, Jacob Smutzinger, Berten Merritt, R. H. George, E. F. Harvey, R. H. Sommerville, Dr. H. G. Jones.
Mahaffey National Bank, Mahaffey, Pa. A. B. Mosser, President ; Thomas Bellis, Vice-President ; H. N. Widdowson, Cashier ; W. B. Clark, Assistant Cashier.
Directors-Thomas Bellis, A. B. Mosser, Geo. L. Fletcher, B. W. McCracken, H. N. Widdowson, W. H. Thomson.
Madera National Bank, Madera, Pa.
J. E. Kirk, President ; S. J. Miller, Vice- President ; H. B. Swoope, Vice-President ; E. B. Mahaffey, Cashier.
Directors-S. J. Miller, W. C. Park, Jo- seph Alexander, J. H. Moore, H. B. Swoope, J. E. Kirk, Clark Hileman, J. C. Root, E. B. Mahaffey.
First National Bank, Houtzdale, Pa.
Lewis W. Beyer, President ; Julius Vie- bahn, Vice-President: Geo. W. Ganoe, Cashier.
Directors-John Beyer, Samuel Kirk, John Benson, Julius Viebahn, Jas. H. Minds, Harry Boulton, Michael Burns, A. D. Stew- art, Lewis W. Beyer.
238
HISTORY OF CLEARFIELD COUNTY
First National Bank of Osceola, Osceola Mills, Pa.
Directors-John McLarren, Chas. R. Houtz, E. C. Blandy, W. A. Gould, Frank Craig. James S. Moore, H. W. Todd.
First National Bank of Coalport, Pa.
Geo. D. Benn, President ; A. L. Hegarty,
John McLarren, President : H. W. Todd, Vice-President; A. P. Silverthorn, Cashier. Vice-President : E. C. Blandy, Cashier.
Directors-Geo. D. Benn, J. E. Mc- Dowell, John McNulty, A. L. Hegarty, C. D. McMurray, W. H. Denlinger, W. W. Hegarty, F. P. McFarland, F. V. Perry.
-
CHAPTER XX
AGRICULTURE
The Patrons of Husbandry, "Grange"-Object of the Society-When Founded-The First Grange Founded in Clearfield County-Other Branches of the Society in Clearfield County -The Clearfield County Agricultural Society.
THE PATRONS OF HUSBANDRY-GRANGE
At the city of Washington, D. C., on the 4th day of December, in the year 1868, O. H Kelley and William Sanders, both of whom were then connected with the national depart- ment of agriculture, took the initial steps and laid the foundation for this vast organization, and brought into existence the National Grange. In each State are societies subordi- nate to the national order, and which are known as State Granges. Auxiliary to the State Grange, are County, Township and Dis- trict Granges.
As the name implies, the aim, object and purpose of the society is to improve the condi- tion and advance the interests of all persons, and their families as well, who may be en- gaged in agricultural pursuits ; not only to im- prove their condition through a free inter- change of opinions in social gatherings where subjects pertaining to agriculture may be dis- cussed, but by thorough organization and hon- est, open, determined effort to bring about such action on the part of the general govern- ment, and also that of each State, as will ef- fectually and permanently overthrow all op-
pression from monopolists, unwise and unfair discrimination on the part of railroad corpora- tions, and the .exorbitant and needless charges of commission men in every department of trade.
So rapid, indeed, has been the growth of membership of the Grange throughout the land that it now numbers among the millions. In the year 1875, the movement reached this county, and on the 13th day of April of that year, the enterprising farmers of Penn town- ship met at the residence of Samuel Widemire, where, through the district deputy, O. S. Cary, of Punxsutawney, the first Grange organiza- tion was perfected. Although in point of sen- iority, Penn Grange is entitled to first men- tion, it is but a district or township Grange, yielding to Pomona Grange the first place, as that although of more recent organization, is a county institution, to which the others are subordinate.
Pomona Grange, P. of H., No. 33, was or- ganized January 1, 1879, with the following charter members: J. R .. Read, Mary W. Read, William L. Read, O. D. Kendall, E. M. Ken- dall, Catharine Davis, George Emerick, R. L. Reiter. Hettie Reiter. A. Rankin, M. C. Ran-
239
240
HISTORY OF CLEARFIELD COUNTY
kin, J. L. McPherson, Leander Denning. Eliza Denning, W. P. Read, James Spackman, Mary E. Spackman, W. P. Tate, Martha C. Tate. At the time of its organization the fol- lowing officers were elected: Master, George Emerick; overseer, Elisha M. Davis : lecturer, Leander Denning: steward, A. Rankin: chap- lain, W. P. Read; treasurer, James Spack- man; secretary. W. P. Tate: assistant stew- ard. O. D. Kendall; gate-keeper, R. L. Reiter; ceres, Catharine Davis : pomona, Sister Spack- man: flora, Sister Kendall: lady assistant steward, Mrs. L. Denning.
Penn Grange No. 534, P. of H., was organ- ized April 13, 1875, by District Deputy O. S. Cary, with twenty-five charter members. The first master was Samuel Widemire; secretary, Miles S. Spencer.
Lawrence Grange, No. 553, P. of H., was organized by Deputy O. S. Cary, on the 12th day of May. 1875. with twenty-one charter members. This Grange is located in Law- rence township, from which its name is de- rived.
Goshen Grange, No. 623. P. of H., was or- ganized November 18, 1875. with a charter membership of eighteen persons. Its first mas- ter and secretary were H. H. Morrow and J. A. Fulton, respectively. This Grange is lo- cated in Goshen township, on the road leading from Shawsville to Clearfield.
Troutdale Grange No. 677. P. of H., was organized by Deputy J. B. Shaw, on the 15th day of March, 1876, with twenty-nine charter members. This is an organization of Bell township.
Greenwood Grange, No. -. P. of H., was organized by Deputy J. B. Shaw. May 12, 1876, having a charter membership of twenty- three persons. First master. C. A. Thorp;
secretary, J. S. McQuown. It is located in Greenwood township.
Bloomington Grange No. 715, P. of H. was organized by Deputy J. S. Reed on the 26th of June, 1876, with thirty-three charter mem- bers. First master, James R. Norris; secre- tary, Mrs. Ella M. Bloom: located at Bloom- ington, in Pike township.
Sylvan Grove Grange. No. 765, P. of H., organized by Deputy W. P. Reed, October 24, 1882. Number of charter members, twenty. First officers: Master, O. P. Reese : secretary. B. F. Wilhelm; location of Grange, Kyler- town. Cooper township.
Laurel Run Grange, No. 769, P. of H., was organized March 10. 1883, by Dep- uties Davis and Bloom, with a charter. membership of fourteen. Adamı Kephart was elected its first master, and Elijah Reese, Jr., secretary. This Grange is located in Decatur township.
Fairview Grange, No. 783, P. of H., was organized May 2, 1884, by Deputies Elisha M. Davis and James C. Bloom, with twenty-three charter members. The first officers were: Master, W. A. Smeal; secretary, W. B. Bar- ger. The Grange is located on the Graham- ton and Deer Creek road, two and one-half miles south of Deer Creek bridge.
Girard Grange, No. 788, P. of H., was or- ganized September 16, 1884, by Deputies Elisha M. Davis and James C. Bloom, with eighteen charter members. The first officers elected were: Isaac Smith, master, and Louisa Shope, secretary.
Mount Foy Grange, No. 584, P. of H., was organized August 10, 1885, with twenty-five charter members. The first officers were: Master, J. B. Shaw: overseer, Matthew Og- den : secretary. J. B. Ogden. This organiza-
241
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS
tion is formed mainly of residents of the north part of Lawrence township.
Narrows Creek Grange, No. 796, P. of H., was organized by Deputy Elisha M. Davis, January 2, 1886, with fourteen charter members. The first master elected was W. H. Liddle, secretary, Isaac Hess; loca- tion of Grange four miles east of DuBois and two miles west of Summit tunnel on A. V. Railroad.
Union Grange, No. 802, P. of H .. was or- ganized by Deputy E. M. Davis June 3. 1886. with twenty-one charter members; first mas- ter, Henry Pentz; secretary, William Welty ; location of Grange, thirteen miles west of Clearfield, on turnpike leading to Luthersburg, at the village of Rockton.
Du Bois Grange, No. - , P. of H., was or- ganized October 20, 1886, by Deputy Davis, with a charter membership of sixteen persons. Its first master was S. C. Liddle; secretary, William Woods. It is located in the south
part of Sandy township, about two miles dis- tant from Du Bois borough.
CLEARFIELD COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY
The Clearfield County Agricultural Society was incorporated January 14, 1860. The pur- pose of this society is to encourage the devel- opment of agriculture in the county.
Notwithstanding the fact that there was very little attention paid to farming in Clear- field county for many years of the county's earlier history, yet this society for a number of years held annual fairs at Clearfield that were well attended and gave indications of the development of this much needed branch of industry. For the last few years, however, the society has not been holding fairs but is now offering prizes for the most successful efforts in various lines of agriculture, and in the breeding of fine stock. The present offi- cers of the society are: T. L. Way, presi- dent: R. E. Shaw, secretary.
CHAPTER XXI
COAL PRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT
Early Coal Shipments-Early Coal Mines and Railroad-The Moshannon Branch of the T. & C. R. R .- Coal Companies and Proprictors-Description of the Mines-Statistics.
The first shipments of coal from Clearfield county were made during the lumbering days. when the coal was loaded in what were called "Arks" and floated down the river to Lock Haven and Williamsport as early as the year 1822. About 1830 a mine was opened on what was known as the Goss farm in Decatur town- ship, and the coal was hauled to Spruce Creek on wagons. The coal transported by these crude methods amounted to a very small ton- nage, and it was not until the opening of the Tyrone and Clearfield Railroad to Osceola Mills and Philipsburg in 1864, that the real development of the coal industry in the county commenced. When we remember that prior to that year not a pound of coal had been shipped by rail from Clearfield county; that the production has grown from a few thou- sand tons to many million tons per year ; that "Clearfield" bituminous coal is known wher- ever this product is used in this country, and is exported to other countries, we can, in part, realize the great impetus that this industry has given to the progress and growth of the county.
The Derby mine, about three-fourths of a mile west of Philipsburg, was opened in 1860 by George Zeigler, and the coal hauled on a tram road to Philipsburg and sold for local use. When the railroad reached that point in 1864 this mine was ready to ship. Its chutes were located nearly opposite the depot, and it
was the first mine in the county to ship its coal to market by railroad.
The Moshannon Branch of the T. & C. Railroad was commenced in 1864, and com- pleted as far as Moshannon in 1868, with a branch up Coal Run to the old Decatur mine. In June, 1866, a mine on the lands of the Moshannon Coal Company, on the south side of the railroad, was opened by the Moshannon Coal Company on the tract formerly known as the "John Anderson," and called "Mo- shannon." This mine ran until about 1880, when it was abandoned by its owners, a new one having been opened immediately opposite in 1876, and called "New Moshannon." Both of these mines were very successful ventures, and first brought to general notice the Clear- field coals.
During the summer of 1868, the Moshannon Branch Railroad was extended about two miles further west, and in the summer of 1869 the rails were laid upon the portion graded, and Sterling No. I was commenced August 1I. 1869, to add to the production. This colliery was opened upon the lands of .A. B. Long, formerly the Casper Haines tract, and in a very short time became the largest mine in the region.
During the year 1870, the Moshannon Branch Railroad was extended a quarter of a mile further, and the "Eureka" colliery opened
242
243
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS
and commenced to ship coal March 14, 1870. This colliery was owned by White & Lingle, and was situated on the lands of Dr. Houtz, of Alexandria, Huntingdon county. The coal in this mine proved to be the purest of any that had been opened up to that time, and the mine itself was without a "fault" from the be- ginning to the end. In 1874 the mine passed into the hands of Berwind, White & Company, and from them to the Berwind-White Coal Mining Company.
The Moshannon Branch was extended dur- ing the year 1875, three miles, to enable D. K. Ramey, of Altoona, who owned the lands at the then terminus, to get his lumber to market. The extension of this branch also opened the way to a very extensive coal field, and in the fall of 1874 William Kendrick commenced to sink a shaft two miles from Houtzdale, on lands of Mr. Ramey, for the purpose of prov- ing the "E Bed," which had dropped below water-level at that point. This shaft is sev- enty feet deep, and was the first in the region, if we except the Sackett shaft at Osceola Mills, sunk in 1866, to reach the "A" Vein, but which was never worked.
John Whitehead, Harned Jacobs & Com- pany and other parties opened up a large num- ber of collieries in the Houtzdale region. Most of these operations were purchased by Ber- wind, White & Company, now the Berwind- White Coal Mining Company of Philadel- phia, and they became the largest shippers in that region and continued so for a number of years.
In the year 1901, Roland D. Swoope, Esq .. of Curwensville, in connection with other own- ers of coal lands near Madera in Bigler town- ship, constructed a branch railroad from the Moshannon Branch of the P. R. R. to their
lands and opened up the "Bucher" Mine on the "B" Vein of coal. This proved to be a very successful operation and developed a new coal territory from which the largest ship- ments in the district are now made.
The Morrisdale Coal Company also opened a mine ' near Madera, but subsequently sold their interest at that point to the Sylvania Coal Company.
The White Oak Coal Company also opened up mines near Madera, and their mines were purchased by the Corona Coal & Coke Com- pany and are now being operated by that com- pany.
The coal near Karthaus, in the northeastern corner of the county was first operated by John Whitehead & Company in 1885. This mine was sold to the Berwind-White Coal Mining Company, who also opened the "Cat- aract" Mine in the same year, about six miles below Karthaus. The Beech Creek Railroad was completed as far as Peale in July, 1884, and to Gazzam in July, 1885. At Peale a large coal operation was opened by the Clear- field Bituminous Coal Company, and the same company operates the coal at Gazzam, and also the Grass Flat mines.
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.