GUIDE-BOOK
OF THE
LEHIGH VALLEY
RAILROAD
AND
ITS SEVERAL BRANCHES
AND CONNECTIONS;
WITH AN ACCOUNT, DESCRIPTIVE AND
HISTORICAL
OF THE
PLACES ALONG THEIR
ROUTE;
INCLUDING ALSO
A HISTORY OF THE COMPANY FROM ITS FIRST
ORGANIZATION AND INTERESTING FACTS CONCERNING THE ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF THE COAL
AND IRON TRADE IN THE LEHIGH AND WYOMING REGION.
HANDSOMELY ILLUSTRATED FROM RECENT
SKETCHES.
PREFIXED TO WHICH IS
A MAP OF THE ROAD AND ITS CONNECTIONS.
PHILADELPHIA:
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.
1873
BEAVER MEADOW
Excerpt pp. 127 - 129
This
town (pleasantly situated on elevated ground, 16oo feet above tide-water) was
first settled about 1833, although at that time the original house, built in 1804,
was still standing, It derives its name from, Beaver Creek (running near by),
upon which a dam is said to have existed, built by the beavers.
In
1806, the Susquehanna and Lehigh Turnpike, running from the Nesquehoning Creek
and above to the Susquehanna, was completed and opened to the public.
Coal
was taken away from Beaver Meadow as early as 1812, being conveyed to Berwick
and Bloomsburg, where it was used in blacksmithing. Subsequently to 1826, it
was also hauled to the Landing Tavern (just above Mauch Chunk), and sent thence
by arks to Philadelphia, and sold at eight dollars per ton.
The
Beaver Meadow Railroad and Mining Company was incorporated in 1830, and built
the first road from its mines to Parryville (where the coal was tran-shipped to
the canal-boats) about forty years ago, the first extensive opening of the mine
being in 1831. The first President of the company was Mr. Samuel D. Ingham,
Secretary of the Treasury under General Jackson. The trains in those primitive
days consisted of fifteen cars of small tonnage, and were drawn southward by
small engines, carrying on the down trip several mules to aid in the return.
The business of the road gradually increased from year to year, until from
being the means of transporting a small quantity of coal for the company's own
mines at this point, in 1837, amounting to 33,617 tons, it became the outlet
for numerous operations in the neighborhood, carrying nearly 750,000 tons of
coal in 1859.
Since
the removal to Weatherly of the machine- and car- repair-shops, formerly
located here, the business of the place is almost exclusively that connected
with the mining of coal in the neighborhood. At these shops there were built,
under the superintendence of Hopkin Thomas and Aaron H. Van Cleve, some of the first
four-wheeled and six-wheeled locomotives ever constructed in the State. It may
be interesting to note in this connection that Mr. Thomas was the first to
introduce the burning of anthracite coal in locomotives. There are churches
belonging to the Presbyterians and Methodists. The population is 6oo.
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Rev. April 2010