EXCERPTS FROM RUPP 1845
Rupp, Daniel I., History
of Northampton, Lehigh, Monroe, Carbon and Schuylkill Counties, G. Hills, Lancaster,
Pa., 1845, p. 261
Tamaqua,
a post town and village, laid out by the Little Schuylkill Railroad Coal and
Navigation Company in 1830, is situated in the valley between Sharp and Locust
mountains, on the Tamaqua, or Little Schuylkill river, ten miles from where it
rises, an twenty above its junction with the main stream, an sixteen from
Pottsville. At present it is quite a brisk place. Like many of the coal towns,
the houses are not built hard by each other‑rather in straggling:
clusters, numbering in all one hundred and lift dwellings, some of which are
substantially built. It contains six taverns, seven stores, one Catholic church
one Methodist Episcopal, one German Reformed and Lutheran, and are about
erecting a church to be called the Primitive Methodist; a car and coach manufactory.
Population 1000.
The
inhabitants mainly depend on the coal trade; for anthracite coal is abundant
here, found in large veins, and of excellent quality. The coal lands in the
vicinity are principally owned by the Little Schuylkill Company. The coal
mines' worked here are above water level. The veins of coal are alphabetically
enumerated; several of them have been successfully mined. Vein D, on the east
side of the Little Schuylkill, or Tamaqua river, has a drift into it 40 feet in
length, from which one hundred and fifty tons of coal are taken daily. From the
same vein, on the west side of the river, sixty or seventy tons are daily taken
out‑one of which is worked by the Little Schuylkill Company, and the
other by Messrs. Ratcliff & Johnson. Vein E, on the east side of Tan qua,
has a drift of 2500 feet, out of which one hundred and fifty tons are daily
taken. Vein F has a drift of 2500 feet, worked on the east; veins E and F are
worked by Messrs. J. & F. Carter. Vein F has a drift of 2500 feet, worked
on the west side by J. Taggart. Vein E is at present worked on the west by the
company. Veins A, B and C, higher up the Tamaqua, have not been very
extensively worked. Veins 0, P, Q and R, are south of the village; Q is the
only one worked south of the village‑by Messrs. Anderson & Dennison
on the east side of the river, on lands belonging to the Lehigh company‑
a three feet vein of red ash coal, of excellent quality, on the cast side of
the river, on lands belonging to Mr. S. Laird & Co., by W. W. Cansled &
Co. There is a railroad from Tamaqua to Port Clinton, over which the coal is
transported, a distance of twenty miles. Seven coaches arrive at and depart for
Tamaqua daily, making it quite a thoroughfare.
The Schuylkill Company's works here are
managed by enterprising gentlemen -- Messrs. J. K. Smith and Wm. Donaldson. Mr. Smith is the patentee of the self-acting
brake and door fastening, and various other improvements in the mining
operations.
Those
who delight in mountain scenery, will be fully gratified in a ride on this
railroad, which runs its whole distance by the side, or in the neighborhood of
hills, lifting their tree-crowned summits high into the clouds.
A
continuation of this railroad from Tamaqua, to connect with the Quakake and
Cattawissa railroad, has been projected, but never made. A stage road connects
Tamaqua with Mauch Chunk, Hazleton, and Pottsville, on each of which two lines
run daily.
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