The following is excerpted from M. S. HenryÕs History (1860) of the Lehigh Valley (pp. 382 – 394). The article covers a period starting in the years 1813 – 1814 after many unsuccessful attempts by others to economically transport coal to Philadelphia. This excerpt covers the activities of Josiah White and Ebenezer Hazard regarding the formation of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Co.
As
we have before remarked, during the war Virginia coal became very scarce, and
Messrs. White & Hazard, then engaged in the manufacture 6f iron wire at the
Falls of the Schuylkill, having learned that Mr. J. Malin had succeeded in the
use of Lehigh coal at his rolling-mill, procured a cart-load of it, which cost
them a dollar per bushel. This quantity was entirely wasted, without getting up
the requisite heat. Another cart-load, however, was obtained, and a whole night
was spent in endeavoring to make a fire In the furnace, when the hands shut the
furnace door, and departed from the mill in despair. Fortunately, one of them,
who had left his jacket In the mill, returning for it in about half an hour, observed
the door of the furnace to be red-hot, and, upon opening it, was surprised to
find the interior at glowing white heat. The other hands were summoned, and
four separate parcels of iron were heated by the same fire, and rolled, before
renewal. The furnace was then replenished, and as letting the fire alone had
succeeded so well, that method was tried again, with a like result. Thenceforth
Messrs. W. & H. continued the use of anthracite coal, which they procured
from Schuylkill County in wagons, and occasionally in flats by freshets, and
also from the Lehigh in one of Messrs. Minor & Co.'s arks.
Thus
instructed in the invaluable properties of anthracite, and finding in 1817 they
could not obtain it as cheaply from the Schuylkill region as they were led to
believe it could be procured from the Lehigh, they determined that Josiah White
should visit the Lehigh mines and river, and obtain the necessary information
on the subject. In this visit he was joined by George P.A. Hauto. Upon their
return, and making a favorable report, It was ascertained that the lease on the
mining property was forfeited by non user, and that the law - the last of six which had been passed
for the improvement of the navigation of the river - had just expired by its
own limitation. Under these circumstances the Lehigh Coal Mine Company became
completely dispirited, and executed a lease to Messrs. White, Hauto, and
Hazard, for twenty years, of their whole property, on the conditions that,
after a given time for preparation, they should deliver for their own benefit
at least forty thousand bushels of coal annually in Philadelphia and the
districts, and should pay, upon demand, one ear of corn as an annual rent for
the property.
Having
obtained the lease, these gentlemen applied to the legislature for an act to
authorize them to improve the navigation of the Lehigh, stating in their
petition their object of getting coal to market, and that they had a plan for
the cheap improvement of river navigation, which they hoped would serve as a
model for the improvement of many other streams in the State. Their project was
considered chimerical, the improvement of the Lehigh particularly being deemed
impracticable, from the failure of the various companies who had undertaken it
under previous laws, one of which had the privilege of raising money by
lottery. The act of 20th of March, 1818, however, gave these gentlemen the
opportunity of Òruining themselves," as many members of the
legislature predicted would be the result of their undertaking. The various
powers applied for, and which were granted in the act, embraced the whole scope
of tried and untried methods of effecting the object of getting Òa navigation
downward once in three days for boats loaded with one hundred barrels, or ten
tons," with the reservation on the part of the legislature of the right to
compel the adoption of a complete slackwater navigation from Easton to
Stoddartsville, should they not deem the mode of navigation adopted by the
undertakers sufficient for the wants of the country.
Messrs.
White and Hazard, having leveled the river from Stoddartsville to Easton, in
the month of April, 1818, with instruments borrowed of the Delaware and
Schuylkill Canal Company (the only Instruments at that time to be met with in
Philadelphia), and having also taken the levels from the river to the
coal-mines, to ascertain that a road could be constructed altogether on a
descending grade from the coal to the navigation, and having ascertained, from
the concurrent testimony of persons residing In the neighborhood, that the
water in the river never fell, in the driest seasons, below a certain mark in a
rock at the Lausanne landing, were satisfied that there would always be a
sufficiency of water in the river to give the depth and width of water required
by the law, if the water were confined by wing dams and channel walls in its
passage over the Òriffles" from pool to pool. This plan was therefore
decided upon for the improvement of the navigation, as well as the use of
fist-bottomed boats, to be constructed for each voyage from the timber lands
which were purchased for this purpose on the upper section of the Lehigh.
It
may not be uninteresting to state the situation of the country along the
Lehigh, as they found it at this period. From Stoddartsville to Lausanne, a
distance of thirty-five miles, there was no sign of a human habitation;
everything was in the state of nature. The ice had not yet left the shores of
the river, which runs for almost the whole of this distance in a deep ravine
between hills from four hundred to one thousand feet high, and so abrupt that
but few places occur where a man on horseback can ascend them. The adjacent
country, though in many parts well covered with timber, had only a nominal
value, as all hope of getting it to market was extinguished by the repeated
failures of all attempts to improve the navigation, which was now considered
impossible. The fall in this part of the river was ascertained to be, from
Stoddartsville to Mauch Chunk, nine hundred and ten feet, or, on the average,
about twenty five feet to the mile. Above the gap in the Blue Mountain there
were but thirteen houses, including the towns of Lausanne and Lehighton, within
sight from the river. Below the gap the country was improved. Rafts were sent,
during freshets, from Lausanne downward, but no raft had ever come from above
that point. From Mauch Chunk to Easton the fall was three hundred and
sixty-four feet, making the whole fall from Stoddartsville to Easton twelve
hundred and seventy-four feet.
The
great first and second anthracite coal regions were then entirely unknown as
such. Coal had been found on the summit hill, and also at the Beaver Meadows;
but there was then no knowledge that there were in each location continuous
strata of coal for many miles in extent, in each direction from these two
points. Indeed, the old Coal Mine Company for some years offered a bonus of two
hundred dollars to any one who should discover coal on their lands, nearer to
the Lehigh than the Summit mines, but without its being claimed. The use of the
coal from these locations was confined to the forge fires of the neighboring
blacksmiths and the bar-room stoves of the taverns along the road. Wood was
almost the only fuel used in Philadelphia, and that and bituminous coal supplied
the fire-places of New York and eastern cities. The only canal in Pennsylvania,
at that time in navigable order, was one of about two miles in length at York
Haven, on the Susquehanna, and one made by Josiah White at the Falls of
Schuylkill, with two locks, and a canal three or four hundred yards long.
It
was under these circumstances that the legislature of 1818 granted the
privileges of the "act to improve the navigation of the river
Lehigh," to Josiah White, George F. A. Hauto, and Erskine Hazard, which
are now considered of such immense magnitude that they ought never to have been
granted, and that those gentlemen were at that time pointed at as extremely
visionary, and even crazy, for accepting them.
Having
obtained the law, the lease on the coal-mines, and the necessary information
respecting them, and decided upon the plan of making the improvements, the next
step of the pioneers was to raise the necessary capital for carrying on the
work. Preliminary to this they published, in pamphlet form, a description of
the property, and the privileges annexed to it, and proposed to create a
company to improve the navigation and work the coal-mines.
The
stock of this company was subscribed for on the condition that a committee
should proceed to the Lehigh and satisfy themselves that the actual state of
affairs corresponded with the representation of them. The Committee consisted
of two of our most respectable citizens, both men of much mechanical experience
and ingenuity. They repaired to Mauch Chunk, visited the coal-mines, and then
built a bateau at Lausanne, in which they descended the Lehigh and made their
observations. They both came to the conclusion, and so reported, that the
improvement of the navigation was perfectly practicable, and that it would not
exceed the cost of fifty thousand dollars, as estimated, but that the making of
a good road to the mines was utterly impossible; "for," added one of
them, "to give you an idea of the country over which the road is to pass,
I need only tell you that I considered It quite an easement when the wheel of
my carriage struck a stump instead of a stone !" This report, of course,
voided the subscription to the joint stock.
It
very soon appeared that there was great diversity of opinion relative to the
value of the two objects. Some were willing to join in the improvement of the
navigation, but had no faith in the value of the coal, or that a market could
ever be found for it among a population accustomed wholly to the use of wood.
On the other hand, some were of the opinion that the navigation would never pay
the interest of its cost, while the coal business would prove profitable. This
gave rise to the separation of the two interests; and proposals were issued for
raising a capital of fifty thousand dollars, on the terms that those who
furnished the money should have all the profits accruing from the navigation up
to twenty-five per cent., all profits beyond that to go to White, Hauto, and
Hazard, who also retained the exclusive management of the concern. The amount
was subscribed, and the company formed, under the title of the "Lehigh
Navigation Company," on the 10th of August,1818. The work was immediately
commenced, the managers taking up their quarters in a boat upon the Lehigh,
which moved downwards as the work of constructing the wing-dams progressed. The
hands employed had similar accommodations.
On
the 21st of October of the same year "The Lehigh Coal Company" was
formed, for the purpose of making a road from the river to the mines, and of
bringing coal to market by the new navigation. The capital subscribed to this
company was fifty-five thousand dollars, and was taken on the same plan with
that of the Navigation Company; but the managers were to be entitled to all the
profits above twenty per cent., they conveying the lease of the coal mine
company's land, and also several other tracts of land which they had purchased,
to trustees, for the benefit of the association. The road which now, for seven
miles, constitutes the grading of the railroad to the Summit mines, was laid
out in the fall of 1818, and finished in 1819. This is believed to have been
the first road ever laid out by an instrument, on the principle of dividing the
whole descent into the whole distance, as regularly as the ground would admit of,
and to have no undulation. It was intended for a railroad, as soon as the
business would warrant the expense of placing rails upon it. A pair of horses
would bring down from four to six tons upon it, in two wagons.
Everything
was thus making satisfactory advances towards the accomplishment of the object,
when, late in the season of 1818, the water in the river fell, by an
unparalleled drought, as was believed, fully twelve inches below the mark which
has been mentioned as shown by the inhabitants to be the lowest point to which
the river ever sunk. Here was a difficulty totally unanticipated, and one which
required a very essential alteration in the plan. Nature did not furnish enough
water, by the regular flow of the river, to keep the channels at the proper
depth, owing to the very great fall in the river, and the consequent rapidity
of its motion. It became necessary to accumulate water by artificial means, and
let it off at stated periods, and let the boats pass down with the long wave
thus formed, which filled up the channels.
This
was effected by constructing dams in the neighborhood of Mauch Chunk, in which
were placed sluice-gates of a peculiar construction invented for the purpose by
Josiah White (one of the managers), by means of which the water could be
retained in the pool above, until required for use. When the dam became full,
and the water had run over It long enough for the river below the dam to
acquire the depth of the ordinary flow of the river, the sluice-gates were let
down, and the boats, which were lying in the pools above, passed down with the
artificial flood. About twelve of these dams and sluices were made in 1819,
and, with what work had been done in making wing-dams, absorbed the capital of
the company (which, on the first plan of improvement, would have been
adequate), before the whole of the dams were completely protected from ice
freshets. They were, however, so far completed as to prove, in the fall of that
year, that they were capable of producing the required depth of water from
Mauch Chunk to Easton.
The following
letter from Geo. F. A. Hauto, to a member of the legislature, relative to the
improvements, will be found interesting.
MAUCH
CHUNK, Northampton County, PA., December 19,1819.
ÒYou know, I believe, the ground between
this and our principal coal mine, and that it would hardly be possible to find
a more unfavorable one for the construction of a good road-so much so, that
when we determined on making it, many of our friends doubted our being compos
mentis. The perpendicular
elevation from the river (at this place, where it ends) to this mine, is 1000
feet - the distance from it to the river is upwards of eight miles. Down it,
and following the windings of the mountain, which runs nearly at right angles
to the river, we constructed, in about three months, and most part of it in the
winter season, a road having a regular declination of two and a half feet in
every hundred feet, and which is acknowledged by those who have seen it, not to
have (for its distance) its equal in the confederacy. On it, one horse can draw
four tons with ease.
ÒThis mine, at our arrival, had quite an
inconsiderable opening, like a moderate-sized stone quarry; since which we have
uncovered about two acres of coal land, removing all the earth, dirt, slate,
&c. (about twelve feet deep), so as to leave a surface for the whole of
that area, of nothing but the purest coal, containing millions of bushels. We
cut a passage through the rooks, so that now the teams drive right into the
mine to load. The mine being situated near the summit of the mountain, we are
not troubled with water, and the coal quarries very easy. We have worked the
stratum about thirty feet deep; how much deeper it is, we do not know; probably
Captain Symmes will find the end of it worked by our brethren within, when he
gets under Mauch Chunk. At any rate, ocular demonstration proves it to be
sufficient for the utmost consumption of centuries to come. The effect of our
road has already been, that it enables us to sell the coal at the landing here,
where we have a large quantity, cheaper than the price our predecessor (Mr.
Cist) had to pay for the hauling only. On this road we have now a sufficient
number of teams to haul several thousand bushels of coal per day. We employ at
present mostly oxen and large carts, except a few horse wagons, each of which
loads nine tons. We are constructing a steam wagon contrived by Mr. Hazard,
which will be ready in a week (as a substitute for cattle), to draw our coal.
Should we succeed in this experiment, the second one, on a larger scale, will
be immediately put on the stocks, and followed by others, so as to have a
sufficient number for our spring operations. All the works for the steam
engine, except some rough castings, were made and finished on a spot which was,
twelve months ago, a wilderness,
and where, within the period of a generation, the Lenape filled the air with their war-whoops.
ÒWe have erected about forty buildings
for different purposes, amongst which is a saw-mill driven by the river, for
the purpose of sawing stuff for the use of the navigation. It has a gang to
which twenty-four saws belong, cutting about 20,000 feet per day, on one side,
and a circular saw on the other. One other saw-mill, driven by the Mauch Chunk;
a grist-mill, a mill for saving labor in the construction of wagons, &c.,
also driven by the creek - smitheries, with eight fires - workshops, dwellings,
shipyards, wharves, &c. &c. We have cut about 15,000 saw-logs, and
cleared four hundred acres of land.
ÒOn the river, notwithstanding the
extreme low water, which prevented our floating the timber used in the
construction of our dams, to the spots wanted, we have constructed fifty dams
(measuring 38,500 feet, or about seven and a half miles), and thirteen locks.
The locks are the invention of Mr. White, and will be found, in every respect,
superior to those now in use. Should it be desired, I will send you a
description of them. Our brave boys worked in the river till the ice drove them
out last week.
ÒJust before the winter set in, we had
the satisfaction to ascertain, by taking a couple of our coal boats down loaded
as far as our improvements extended (the water being ten inches under the
common low water mark), that the plan of creating artificial freshets in time
of extreme low water, which formed the basis of our plan of improvement, is
correct, and answers fully our expectations, and would have enabled us, had the
river kept open a few days longer, to take all our arks down to the city. To
complete the improvement of the lower part of the river, will take us, should
the season be any way favorable, till some time in June next, when we shall
apply for inspection, and commence the upper section of the river.
"As everything that relates to
internal improvement is viewed with great interest by us, we beg that you will
take the trouble to communicate to us, at an early hour, anything in that line
which may come before the legislature. And as the Delaware - being part of our
turnpike to an ultimate market - interests us more particularly, we would thank
you for the earliest information respecting any offer for its
improvement."
In
the spring of 1820 the ice severely injured several of the unprotected dams,
and carried away some of the sluice-gates. This situation of things, of course,
gave rise to many difficulties. It was necessary that more money should be
raised, or the work must be abandoned. A difficulty also arose among the
managers themselves, which resulted in White and Hazard making an arrangement
with Hauto for his interest in the concern, on the 7th of March, 1820. On the
21st of April following, the Lehigh Coal Company and the Lehigh Navigation Company agreed to amalgamate their interests,
and to unite themselves into one company, under the title of the "Lehigh
Navigation and Coal Company,"
provided the additional sum of twenty thousand dollars was subscribed to the
stock by a given date. Of this sum nearly three-fifths were subscribed by White
and Hazard. With this aid the navigation was repaired, and three hundred and
sixty-fire tons of coal were sent to Philadelphia, as the first fruits of the
concern! This quantity
of coal completely stocked the market, and was with difficulty disposed of in
the year 1820. It will be recollected that no anthracite coal came to market
from any other source than the Lehigh before the year 1825, as a regular
business.
The
money capital of the concern was soon found to require an increase. The work
was done, with the exception of one place at the Òslates," where the
channel and wing walls were made over the smooth surface of slate ledges, which
projected alternately from one side of the river nearly to the other, and rose
to within four inches of the surface of the water for a considerable distance
along the river. From the nature of the ground, it was impossible to make the
wing walls remain tight enough to keep the water at the required height, and it
was evident that a solid dam must be resorted to, to bury the slates
permanently to a sufficient depth below the surfaces This, it was estimated,
could not be erected at a less cost than twenty thousand dollars. To raise this
sum, in the circumstances of the Company, was a difficult task. The small
quantity of coal which had been brought down. having so completely filled the
market, and the inexperience in the use of that species of fuel having excited
so many prejudices against it, that many of the stockholders doubted whether it
would be possible to introduce the coal into general use, even if the
navigation were made perfect. While this difficulty was in the process of
arrangement, the work was kept alive by the advances of one of the managers. At
length on the I1st of May, 1821, a new arrangement of the whole concern took
place, by which all the interests became more closely amalgamated. The title of
the Company was changed to "The Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company."
It was agreed that the capital stock should be increased by new subscriptions,
and that in consideration thereof, and of certain shares of the stock to be
given to them, J. White and E. Hazard would release to the Company all their
reserved exclusive rights and privileges, and residuary profits, and convey to
trustees, for the use of the Company, all their right to the water power of the
river Lehigh, and come in as simple stockholders; the Company, at the same
time, assuming the settlement of Hauto's claim upon White and Hazard. It was,
however, agreed that the subscribers to the new stock should have the benefit
of all the profits up to three percent semiannually; then the original
stockholders became entitled to the profits until they derived semi-annual
dividends of three per cent.; and, finally, any excess of profit beyond these
was to go to the stock allotted to J. White and E. Hazard, until the profit in
any six months should be sufficient to produce a three percent dividend on all
the stock. From that time all discrimination in the stock was to cease, and all
the owners to come in for an equal share of the profits in the proportion of
shares of stock held by them.
The business
of the Company was to be carried on by five managers, two of whom were to
reside at Mauch Chunk, under the title of acting managers, and superintend the
navigation and coal department, while the others took care of the finances.
After
this agreement was made, a number of the stockholders and their friends visited
the works and property of the Company, and although they expressed themselves
agreeably disappointed in the appearance of things, yet the doubt of the
possibility of getting a market for the coal induced a timidity in subscribing
to fifty thousand dollars of new stock, which was only overcome by J. White and
E. Hazard transferring, as a bonus to those who would subscribe, an amount of
the stock held by them equal to twenty per cent, on the amount of the new
subscription. In this way the whole fifty thousand dollars was subscribed. The
dam and lock at the slates were erected, and one thousand and seventy-three
tons of coal were sent to Philadelphia in 1821.
The unincorporated
situation of the Company, now that its operations were becoming more extensive,
caused uneasiness among the stockholders with regard to their personal
liabilities, and necessarily operated as a check to the prosperous extension of
the business. In addition to which, the whole property and interests of the
concern were virtually mortgaged to the holders of the fifty thousand dollars
of new stock, which would render any extension of the capital excessively
difficult. To remedy these difficulties, application was made to the
legislature, who, on the 13th of February, 1822, granted the act of
incorporation under which the Company are now operating. In this year the
capital stock of the company was increased by new subscriptions amounting to
$83,950, and two thousand two hundred and forty tons of coal were sent to
market.
The
boats used on this descending navigation consisted of square boxes, or arks,
from sixteen to eighteen feet wide, and twenty to twenty-five feet long. At
first, two of these were joined together by hinges, to allow them to bend up
and down in passing the dams and sluices, and as the men became accustomed to
the work, and the channels were straightened and improved as experience
dictated, the number of sections in each boat was increased, till at last their
whole length reached one hundred and eighty feet. They were steered with long
oars, like a raft. Machinery was devised for jointing and putting together the
planks of which these boats were made, and the hands became so expert that five
men would put one of the sections together and launch it in forty-five minutes.
Boats of this description were used on the Lehigh till the end of the year
1831, when the Delaware division of the Pennsylvania Canal was partially
finished. In the last year forty thousand nine hundred and sixty-six tons were
sent down, which required so many boats to be built, that, if they had all been
joined in one length, they would have extended more than thirteen miles. These
boats made but one trip, and were then broken up in the city, and the planks
sold for lumber, the spikes, hinges, and other iron work, being returned to
Mauch Chunk by land, a distance of eighty miles. The hands employed in running
these boats walked back for two or three years, when rough wagons were placed
upon the road by some of the tavern, keepers, to carry them at reduced fares.
During
the low water upon the Delaware, it was found necessary to improve several of
the channels of that river, and in this way about five thousand dollars were
expended by the Lehigh Company, under the authority of the commissioners
appointed by the State, for the improvement of the Delaware channels, whose
funds were exhausted.
The
descending navigation by artificial freshets on the Lehigh is the first on
record which was used as a permanent thing; though it is stated that in the
expedition in 1779, under General Sullivan, General James Clinton successfully
made use of the expedient to extricate his division of the army from some
difficulty on the east branch of the Susquehanna, by erecting a temporary dam
across the outlet of Otsego Lake, which accumulated water enough to float them,
when let off, and carry them down the river.
The
descending navigation of the Lehigh was inspected, and the Governor's license
to take toll upon it obtained on the 17th of January, 1823, it having been in
use for two years previous to the inspection. No toll was charged upon it till
1827.
The
great consumption of lumber for the boats very soon made it evident that the
coal business could not be carried on, even on a small scale, without a
communication by water with the pine forests, about sixteen miles above Mauch
Chunk, on the upper section of the Lehigh. To obtain this was very difficult.
The river, in that distance, had a fall of about three hundred feet, over a
very rough, rocky bed, with shores so forbidding that in only two places above
Lausanne had horses been got down to the river. To improve the navigation it
became necessary to commence operations at the upper end, and to cart all the
tools and provisions by a circuitous and rough road through the wilderness, and
then to build a boat for each load to be sent down to the place where the hands
were at work by the channels which they had previously prepared. Before these
channels were effected, an attempt was made to send down planks, singly, from
the pine swamp, but they became bruised and broken by the rocks before they
reached Mauch Chunk. Single saw-logs were then tried, and men sent down to
clear them from the rocks as they became fast. But it frequently happened that,
when they got near Mauch Chunk, a sudden rise of the water would sweep them
off, and they were lost. These difficulties were overcome by the completion of
these channels in 1823, which gave rise to an increase of the capital stock, at
the same time, of ninety-six thousand and fifty dollars, making the whole
amount subscribed five hundred thousand dollars. In this year, also, five
thousand eight hundred and twenty-three tons of coal were sent to market, of
which about one thousand tons remained unsold in the following spring, there
being still a great prejudice against the domestic use of coal. This prejudice
was, however, on the wane, and very soon after this time became nearly extinct.
In 1825 the
demand for coal increased so much that twenty-eight thousand three hundred and
ninety-three tons were sent down the Lehigh, and the coal trade on the
Schuylkill now commenced by their sending down by that navigation seven
thousand one hundred and forty-three tons.
It
became evident that the business on the Lehigh could not be extended as fast as
the demand for coal increased, while it was necessary to build a new boat for
each load of coal; besides, the forests were now beginning to feel the waste of
timber (more than four hundred acres a year being out off), and showed plainly
enough that they would soon disappear, in consequence of the increased demand
upon them; while, at the same time, the Schuylkill coal region had an
uninterrupted slackwater navigation, which would accommodate boats in their
passage up as well as down, and, of course, admitted any extension of the coal
trade that might be deemed advisable. It should also be mentioned that almost
the whole of the shares of the stock of the old "Coal Mine Company"
had been purchased, so that the mines had become nearly the sole property of
the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. These shares represented fiftieth parts
of the whole property, and the purchase of them commenced at one hundred and
fifty dollars per share; the last was purchased for two thousand dollars, after
the slackwater navigation had been made. Under all these circumstances, it was
concluded that the time had arrived for changing the navigation of the Lehigh
into a slackwater navigation. The acting managers, who resided at Mauch Chunk,
formed a plan for a steamboat navigation, with locks one hundred and thirty
feet long, and thirty feet wide, which would accommodate a steamboat carrying
one hundred and fifty tons of coal. These looks were of a peculiar
construction, adapted to river navigation. The gates operated upon the same
principle with the sluice-gates in the dams for making artificial freshets, and
were raised or let down by the application or removal of a hydrostatic pressure
below them. The first mile below Mauch Chunk was arranged for this kind of
navigation. The locks proved to be perfectly effective, and could be filled or
emptied, notwithstanding their magnitude, in three minutes, or about half the
time of the ordinary lock. Application was then made to the legislature for an
act for the improvement of the river Delaware upon this plan, but the
commonwealth decided upon the construction of a canal along that river,
provided the estimate of the expense of its construction should not exceed a limited
amount per mile. This, of course, put an end to all thoughts of continuing the
steamboat plan upon the Lehigh. Had this plan been adopted, there can be no
doubt the transportation of coal upon it could have been effected at an
expense not exceeding four mills per ton per mile, and the same steamboat could proceed
(when the Delaware and Raritan Canals were done) to New York, Albany,
Providence, &c. &o., without transshipment.
The
large quantity of coal which had been brought to market and sold in the
previous year produced a profit which brought the semi-annual dividend fully up
to three percent on the 1st of January, 1826, and placed all the stock of the
company upon an equality from that time forward. In the previous years the
dividend account stood as follows: January 1, 1822, the first dividend made,
was confined to the preferred subscribers, who then received three percent on
their subscription of fifty thousand dollars, and the same dividend regularly
afterward. July, 1822, gave the original subscribers one percent, and from that
time they regularly received three percent, except in July, 1824, when the
dividend to them was omitted. On the stock allotted to J. White and E. Hazard a
dividend of one percent was made January, 1824, and two and a half percent
January, 1825. These were the only dividends in which they participated,
previous to the one which equalized the stock.
In
1826 there were thirty-one thousand two hundred and eighty tons of coal sent
down the Lehigh. The business was now becoming so large that it was difficult
to keep the turnpike to the mines in good working order without coating it with
stone, and it was determined that the best economy would be to convert it into
a railroad. The only railroad then in the United States was the Quincy
Railroad, about three miles in length, made in the fall of 1826. There had
previously been a short wooden railroad, not plated with iron, at Leiper's
stone-quarry, of about three-quarters of a mile in length, but this was worn
out, and not in use. The railroad from Mauch Chunk to the Summit mines was
commenced in January, and completely in operation in May, 1827. It is nine
miles in length, and has a descent all the way from the Summit mines to the
river. The road to continued beyond the summit about three-fourths of a mile,
and descends Into the mines west of the summit about sixty feet. With this
exception, the whole transportation of the coal upon it is done by gravity, the
empty wagons being returned to the mines by mules, which ride down with the coal. This, also, was an
arrangement made at the suggestion of Josiah White, entirely novel in its
character; and enabled the mules to make two and a half trips to the summit and
back, thus traveling about forty miles each day. Numerous branch railroads are
now constructed into the different parts of the mines.
In
February, 1827, the balance of the stock, amounting to five hundred thousand
dollars, was subscribed for; and, it having been decided that the Delaware
division of the Pennsylvania Canal would be made, it was determined to go on
with a canal and slackwater navigation upon the Lehigh, from Mauch Chunk to
Easton. Mr. Canvass White, whose character as a canal engineer stood as high as
any in the country, was invited to take charge of the work. He recommended a
canal to be constructed of the then ordinary size, to accommodate boats of
twenty-live tons. But the acting managers argued that the same hands could
manage a much larger boat, and the only additional expense for a boat of one
hundred to one hundred and fifty tons would be for a larger boat, and for an
additional horse or two to tow it. The whole lading being coal, which could
always be furnished in any quantity, there need be no detention for a cargo for
the larger boat, and the expense per ton would be very much lessened. It was at
last concluded that the engineer should make two estimates, the one for the
canal to be forty feet wide, and the other for a canal of sixty feet wide, each
with corresponding locks. The difference in the estimates for the two canals in
that location was so small (about 30,000) that the largest size was unanimously
adopted. The wisdom of this decision has been most clearly demonstrated, and
other canal companies in the United States have since followed the example. The
dimensions of the navigation were fixed at sixty feet wide on the surface,
and five feet deep; and the locks one hundred feet long, and twenty-two feet
wide, adapted to boats of one hundred and twenty tons. The work was at once laid out and let
to contractors, who commenced their operations about midsummer.
The
canal commissioners met soon after at Bristol, for the purpose of deciding upon
letting the Delaware division of the Pennsylvania Canal. They were applied to
construct it so as to correspond with the work going on upon the Lehigh ; it
was, however, insisted that the experience of Europe had proved that a
twenty-five ton boat was the size most cheaply managed; and that even upon the
New York Canal, which would admit of boats of forty tons, it rarely happened
that the packets carried more than twenty-five tons. The commissioners at
length concluded to make the locks of half the width and of the same length as those on the Lehigh, so
that two of the Delaware boats could pass at once through the Lehigh locks, and
thus save half the time in lockage. Had not the "experience of
Europe" thus thwarted a noble work, sloops and schooners would, perhaps,
at this day, have taken in their cargoes at White Haven, seventy-one miles
up the Lehigh, and have
delivered them, without transshipment, at any of our Atlantic ports.
The
Lehigh slackwater navigation, from Mauch Chunk to Easton, was opened for use at
the close of June, 1829, while the Delaware division was not regularly
navigable until nearly three years afterwards, although it was commenced but
about four months after the Lehigh. The contractors upon the Delaware division
were suffered to use improper materials, and, when finished by them, the canal
would not hold water. It was at length left to the care of Mr. Josiah White to
make it a good and permanently useful navigation.
The
want of the Delaware division, after the Lehigh was completed, caused the
failure of eight dividends to the Lehigh Company, as they were obliged to
continue the use of the temporary boats, which were very expensively moved on
the Lehigh navigation, but were the only kind that could be used upon the
channels of the Delaware River, which were still necessarily used to get to
market. This not only prevented the increase of the Company's coal business on
the Lehigh, but also turned the attention of persons desirous of entering into
the coal business to the Schuylkill coal region, which caused Pottsville to
spring up with great rapidity, and furnish numerous dealers to spread the
Schuylkill coal through the market, while the Company was the only dealer in
Lehigh coal. In this manner the Schuylkill coal trade got in advance of that of
the Lehigh.
The
capital of the Company being limited by the act of incorporation to one million
of dollars, which amount had been expended in the operations of the Company
prior to the completion of the slackwater navigation, it became necessary, in
1828, to consider the means to raise the necessary funds to carry on the work.
By this time a total change had taken place in the views of the community
respecting the undertaking of the Lehigh Company. The improvement of the Lehigh
had been demonstrated to be perfectly practicable, and the extensive coal field
owned by them was no longer considered to be of problematical value. The
legislature of 1818 was now
censured for having granted such valuable privileges, and all the
Òcraziness" of the original enterprise was lost sight of. Hence
applications to the legislature for a change in their charter were thwarted by
the influence of adverse interests. With such opposition, it was in vain to
apply to the legislature for an increase of capital, as it was evident that
such a change could not be effected without a sacrifice of some of the valuable
privileges secured by the charter of the Company. Resort was therefore
necessarily had to loans, to enable the Company to complete the work required
of them by law, and these were readily procured, in consequence of the good
faith always evinced in the business of the Company, and their evidently
prosperous circumstances. The first loan was taken in 1828.
The
claim upon the Company arising from their assumption of the agreement of J.
White and E. Hazard with G. F. A. Hauto for the purchase of his interest,
before mentioned, was finally settled in 1830, by the purchase by the Company
of the remaining shares of the stock into which Hauto had converted his claim.
Upon the
completion of the Delaware division of the Pennsylvania Canal, the operations
of the coal business were very much simplified by the change from temporary to
permanent boats, and the consequent discharge of the host of hands required in
chopping, hauling, sawing, rafting, piling, and otherwise preparing the large
amount of lumber necessary for building, on the average of some years, eleven
to thirteen miles in length of boats sixteen to eighteen feet wide.
In
1831 the Company constructed a railroad, about fire miles long, from the
landing to the mines which had been opened along Room Run, which, like the one
from the Summit mines, operates by gravity, but has a more gradual descent
towards the river.
As
the time at which the original act granted to White, Hauto, and Hazard required
the navigation to be completed to Stoddartsville was now approaching, and the
attention of the public was awakened to the second, or Beaver Meadow coal
region, it became necessary to look to the commencement of that part of the
Company's work. It was evident that the descending navigation by artificial
freshets would not be satisfactory to the legislature, who had reserved the
right of compelling the construction of a complete slackwater navigation. The
extraordinary fall In the upper section of the Lehigh rendered its improvement
by locks of the ordinary lift impracticable, as the locks would have been so
close together, and would have caused so much detention in their use, as to
render the navigation too expensive to be available to the public. The plan of
high lifts was proposed by the managers as one that would overcome this
difficulty, and, in 1835, Edwin A. Douglas, Esq., was appointed as engineer to
carry it into execution. The work, as high as the mouth of the Quakake, was put
under contract in June, 1835, and from thence to White Haven in October of the
same year. The descending navigation above Wright's Creak was also put under
contract in the same year.
On
the 13th of March, 1837, the legislature passed an act authorizing the Lehigh
Coal and Navigation Company to construct a railroad to connect the North Branch
division of the Pennsylvania Canal with the slackwater navigation of the
Lehigh, and increasing their capital stock to one million six hundred thousand
dollars; at the same time repealing
so much of the former act as required or provided for the completion of a slackwater navigation between Wright's Creek (near
White Haven) and Stoddartsville. This act was accepted by the stockholders of
the Company on the 10th of May, 1837.
The whole
work of the navigation required by the acts of the legislature was completed,
and the Governor's commission given to the inspectors to examine the last of
it, on the 19th of March, 1838.
A
history of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, from its earliest infancy
clown to the completion of the canal and slackwater navigation, has thus been furnished.
To give a description in detail of all the improvements since that period would
require a large volume. We have heard this company, not inaptly, termed the
East India Company of the United States. It owns, beyond doubt, a very valuable
property, and owes much of its credit and good condition to the economical and
skilful conduct of its managers. To examine its present condition, and see its
immense property in coal and other lands, its navigation and railroads
penetrating the vast regions of timber, and coal, and iron ore, and limestone,
with abundant power for manufacturing them, there can be no doubt of such an
institution affording perfect security for the regular payment of all the
loan-holders, and amply reimbursing the stockholders for their investments. As
investment securities for the support of families, trust funds, etc., the loans
of this company are equal, if not superior, to any other in the market, as much
from the fact of the confidence of the public in the discretion and integrity of
the President, officers, and managers, as the fact that the interest periods on
them are quarterly - both important considerations.
The officers
of the Company are:
President JAMES
COX.
Acting Manager JAMES
S. COX.
Secretary and Treasurer EDWIN
WALTER.
Superintendent and Engineer E. A. DOUGLAS
Assistant Engineer DANIEL
BERTSCH, Jr.
About
the Hopkin Thomas Project
Rev. December 2009