History of Luzerne County Pennsylvania, H. C. Bradsby, Editor, S. B. Nelson & Co., Publishers, 1893, Chapter 11, Part B
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History of Luzerne County Pennsylvania
H. C. Bradsby, Editor
S. B. Nelson & Co., Publishers, 1893
CHAPTER XI. - Continued
COAL.
[p.297] Fortunes have been sunk and millions lost in the early efforts to
develop the mines and introduce anthracite coal to the various uses to which it
is now indispensable. Few of the pioneers lived to enjoy the fruits of their
labors and enterprise. Few of the living even now comprehend the value of
anthracite, either the cost value, the "exchange value," or the far greater
value as one of the necessaries of life, without regard to ratio, or exchange or
price in open market. In the scramble for control of markets it has come to be
regarded as a mere item of tonnage, by which to estimate income to rival lines
of transportation. The next generation will be able to estimate it from a point
of view gained through bitter experience, and will understand its full pecuniary
value. The loss of life and the almost countless accidents, resulting in the
loss of limbs and health, have added fearfully to the cost, which can not be
estimated.
If the estimate which places the limit of production below 35,000,000 tons per
annum shall prove correct, and experience to the present hour seems to confirm
this, then will the money value soon be ascertained in the market price.
Following closely upon the opening of Pardee's collieries about Hazleton were
the mines of George B. Markle & Co., at Jeddo.
Coxe Bros. & Co. started up their works at Drifton in February, 1865, and
shipped their first coal in June following. Their second breaker at Drifton
commenced work in 1876. In 1879 they started the mines in Black Creek valley,
and developed the Gowen, Deringer and Tomhicken collieries. In 1881 opened the
Beaver Meadow, and at Eckley in 1886; at Stockton in 1887, and about the same
time at Oneida. Commenced shipping coal at the latter place in 1891. The firm
commenced building its belt railroad in the spring of 1890, and completed
between fifty and sixty miles of single track, connecting all their collieries
with main railroads tapping this coal field.
The geological position of the coal seams in this region is as follows: B or
Buck mountain, then Gamma or the G vein, then the Wharton, the Parlor, and E or
the Mammoth, and then the Primrose. The average of the veins actively worked
here is thirty feet in depth or thickness. The earth's disturbances have
sometimes split the coal seams, and sometimes the Wharton and Parlor are one,
and then in a short distance they again separate. Miners only know approximately
the corresponding veins as they open them, even in closely adjacent localities.
Hon. Eckley B. Coxe bears a family name that is closely connected with the
Eastern Middlecoal fields, and one that carries our history back to the early
annals of the American colonies, their settlement and early struggles, defeats
and triumphs in the new world.
In 1795 Hon. Tench Coxe, of Philadelphia, published his book called "A View of
America." In the sub-title it says "the whole tending to exhibit the progress
and present state of civil and religious liberty." In his book he speaks of our
coal deposit and says: "Of this useful fossil Providence has given us very great
quantities in our middle and western country. The vicinity of Wyoming and
Susquehanna is one bed of coal of the open burning kind and the most intense
heat. On the headwaters of the Schuylkill and Lehigh are some considerable
bodies. At the head of the western branch of the Susquehanna is a most extensive
body which stretches over the country southwesterly. All our coal has hitherto
been accidentally found on the surface of the earth or discovered in the digging
of common wells and cellars."
He states that at that time and earlier coal was carried from Virginia in ships
as ballast. In 1810 he published another book, "A Statement of the Arts and
Manufactures of the United States of America for the Year 1810." George S. White
in his "Memoirs of Samuel Slater" called him the "father of American
manufactures," and says, "Mr. Tench Coxe has been an harbinger of light on this
subject." [The development of the cotton industry, then the one supreme article
of importance to [p.298] manufacture.] Continuing, he further says: "The
writings now extant of Tench Coxe prove emphatically that these were his great
views as a statesman who was, advocating principles that were to be the
foundation of new empires, and of ameliorating, the conditions of mankind." Then
adds the significant sentence: "It is not saying too much when we claim for him
the appellation of the father of the growth of cotton in America."
In White's Memoirs of Samuel Slater is the following additional reference to the
Coxes:
"The American branch of the family of Coxe. The first ancestor of the Coxe
family connected with America was Dr. Daniel Coxe, who was physician to the
queen of Charles II., of England, and also to Queen Anne. He was [by purchase
from the king] principal proprietor of the soil of West Jersey, and sole
proprietor of the government, he having held the office of governor to him and
his descendants forever."
"At the request of Queen Anne he surrendered the government to the crown,
retaining the other proprietary rights. [This historical incident may be
consulted in. the old folio edition of the laws of New Jersey.] A member of the
Coxe family was always appointed by the crown, while there was a resident member
in the province, as a member of the royal council of New Jersey until the
Revolution." Gov. Coxe was called "The Great Proprietor." [See Smith's history
of New Jersey.] Here also is an account of his son, Daniel Coxe, the first
ancestor who resided in America. Further along in Mr. White's valuable book we
learn: "Dr. Coxe was also proprietor of the extensive province of Carolana [the
early spelling] an account of which is given in full in an octavo volume written
by his son, Col. Daniel Coxe, entitled the "History of Carolana," - a copy of
which is in the library of congress, the Philadelphia library and also the
Atheneum of Philadelphia. The writer had the pleasure of examining a copy of
this book in the library of Hon. Eckley B. Coxe, of Drifton. The king's charter
to Dr. Coxe was in extent of territory and vested powers the most comprehensive
ever granted by the crown to a subject. The family eventually released it, the
king conferring in lieu thereof the fee to 100,000 acres of choice land in New
York. Dr. Coxe was also a large proprietor of land in Pennsylvania, and in other
of the American colonies. To his eldest son, Col. Daniel Coxe, he gave all his
American possessions - the gentleman who is mentioned above as the first
resident. He arrived here in 1702; intermarried with Sarah, the only child of
John Eckley, a judge of the supreme court of Pennsylvania, and left issue among
others, William Coxe, who married Mary, daughter of Tench Francis, attorney-
general of the province of Pennsylvania. Tench Coxe was the son of this William
and Mary Coxe; born in Philadelphia, May 22, 1755, died July 17, 1824.
Summarized the genealogy of the Coxe family is: Dr. Daniel Coxe of London,
governor of West Jersey, etc., born in 1640, died in 1730; his son Col. Daniel
Coxe, born 1663, died April 25, 1734; his son William Coxe, born May 8, 1723,
died October 11, 1801; his son, Hon. Tench Coxe, born May 22, 1755, died July
17, 1824; his son, Hon. Charles S. Coxe, of Philadelphia, born July 31, 1791,
died November 19, 1879; this was the line of lineal descent that brings us to
the present Hon. Eckley B. Coxe, of whom more anon.
In a valuable book, "First Century of the American Republic," pp. 160, a chapter
on "Progress of Manufactures" by the Hon. David A. Wells, is the following:
"In an address before the Pennsylvania society for the encouragement of
manufactures," August, 1787, by Mr. Tench Coxe (afterward assistant secretary of
the treasury under Alexander Hamilton) the great progress in agriculture and
manufactures since the late war was particularly dwelt upon." Mr. Wells than
quotes numerous passages and statistics from the address showing the status of
American growth in all parts of the country and awards to Mr. Coxe the highest
[p.299] authority of his time on the subject. He further states that when the
convention to form the constitution of the United States met at Philadelphia Mr.
Coxe, by his earnest and able presentation of the subject to the members of that
body, induced the southern representatives on their return to encourage the
raising of cotton fiber, and it is truthfully said that many of them made
personal efforts in that line.
Alexander Hamilton in his famous report of manufactures in 1791 says of coal:
"There are several mines in Virginia now worked and the appearance of their
existence is familiar in a number of places." His attention had been called
thereto by his assistant, Mr. Coxe. It was about this time that Mr. Coxe
published his views on inter-state commerce - a paper in importance second only
to that of Jefferson's Declaration of Independence. He proclaimed the doctrine
of "free trade between the States" and forever crushed the clamor of a party
then rising up with all the specious pleas for regulating the commerce that
crossed State lines.
Again of him Alexander Hamilton said*: "In examining, American writers on the
subject I find no individual who commenced so early, and who continued with such
unswerving perseverance in the patriotic promotion of the growth of cotton as
the only redundant staple which this country could produce; in the commencement
and forwarding the cotton manufacture under really disadvantageous and great
embarrassments, I find no one appearing at the head and front of thess measures
equal to Tench Coxe."
*See Memoirs of Samuel Slater.
In the matter of the development of American industries it has been fashionable,
to name Samuel Slater as the "Father of American Manufactures." But history
should rectify this. Tench Coxe was the great economist; the author of the
American Samuel Slater, as he induced that young Englishman to come to America
and was his guide, friend and mentor. Tench Coxe's writings in the foundation of
our nation were as beacon lights shining out upon the troubled waters. He was a
great statesman in the full, broad sense of a term that is so often misapplied
nowadays. He, lived and advanced at least half a century before his age and
time. And to-day his every idea and doctrine of government and the promotion of
the welfare of the, people are as sound as they were at the dawn of the century
and of our glorious republic. He was the cotemporary, and, with due
deliberation, the peer of Adam Smith. As a historical fact of no slight
significance it may be stated that he owned the first copy of Adam Smith's
Wealth of Nations, that was ever brought to the United States. This man, greater
than his time, would enlarge the liberty of the people by developing every of
the great resources of the country. His ideas of political economy were as broad
as is the true welfare of man. And like all correct principles, they were not
confined by State lines, nor by mountains and seas, but as everlasting truths
were for all time. Such minds only can reach to that high eminence that
constitutes the true statesman as distinguished from the politician - or even
the successful office seeker. The truth is always when found eternal, immortal -
yesterday, to-day and forever; its discoverers, the patient slaves of genius,
are the real sons and daughters of history, who will, because they richly
deserve it, live forever. There was nothing, "brilliant" or "magnetic," as the
parlance of the day has it, about Tench Coxe. He was far too great for that. His
life and work in the young growth of the world's great republic was the strong
and enduring foundation on which rests the present greatness and glory of our
civilization. His modest little book, "View of America," published in the other
century, attracted the profound consideration of the best men in every country
of the old world and was translated into several different languages.
Here was another of this race of remarkable men. We have already referred to
Col. Daniel Coxe, who married Sarah Eckley and was the author of a book
published in 1741 - a description of Carolina. The headlines of the opening
chapter says: "A description of the great and famous river Meschacebe"
(Mississippi). In [p.300] the preface of this book may be found what was
undoubtedly the first suggestion that ever appeared in print of the
confederation of the colonies of North America and that substantially
foreshadowed the immortal work of our Revolutionary fathers, as follows:
"The only expedient I can at present think of or shall presume to mention (with
the utmost deference to his majesty and his ministers) to help and obviate those
absurdities and inconveniences and apply a remedy to them is that all the
colonies appertaining to the crown of Great Britain on the northern continent of
America be united under a legal, regular and firm establishment over which it is
proposed a lieutenant or supreme governor may be constituted and appointed to
preside on the spot, to whom the governors of each colony shall be subordinate."
There was a fitness, little known to the average American voter, in the election
during the latter years of his life of Gen. George B. MacClellan as governor of
New Jersey. His election was but a recurrence, most fittingly so, of a chapter
in American history - Gen. MacClellan and Hon. Eckley B. Coxe were full cousins.
The connection of Tench Coxe with the great coal industry was but a natural
sequence of his keen foresight in the coming America. When he knew of the
discovery of coal near where is now Mauch Chunk he promptly turned his attention
in that direction. The geology of the subject at that time, it should be kept in
mind, was but little' understood compared to now. He knew if there was coal at
that point that then the vein must extend for miles in some direction and so he
purchased nearly 80,000 acres of land and so arranged it that these encircled
the point where it was known that coal existed. He knew all these lands were not
probably coal bearing, but he reasoned well that some of them certainly would
be. In this way be secured the coal lands that are now operated by the house of
Coxe, Bros. & Co.
This, as briefly as possible, is something of the ancestry of Hon. Eckley B.
Coxe the head of the house of Coxe Bros. & Co., of Drifton, one of the largest
coal producors of any private house in the world. A word more here as to the
family name of Eckley, and the romantic manner in which it came into such close
connection with that of Coxe, may well be produced.
In Watson's "Annals of Philadelphia," we read that: "Col. Coxe, the grandfather
of the late Hon. Tench Coxe, made an elopement in his youth with an heiress,
Sarah Eckley, a Friend. What was singular in their case was that they were
married in the woods in Jersey by firelight by the chaplain of Lord Cornbury,
the then governor of New Jersey."
Sarah Eckley, of whose match (as quoted by the annalist) one Margaret Preston,
evidently a member of the Society of Friends, writes in 1707, as follows: "The
news of Sarah Eckley's marriage is both sorrowful and surprising, with one Col.
Coxe, a fine, flaunting gentleman, said to be worth a great deal of money, a
great inducement, it is said, on her side. Her sister Trent was supposed to have
promoted the match. Her other friends were ignorant of the match. It took place
in the absence of her Uncle and Aunt Hill, between 2 and 3 in the morning, on
the Jersey side, under a tree by fire-light. They have since proselyted her and
docked her in finery."
It will soon be 200 years since this pleasant little romance struck such terror
to the female friends of the family of Mr. Eckley of Philadelphia. And yet how
freshly is this ancient history accentuated by the prominence and presence of
the great-great-grandson and bearer of the two names of that runaway match.
Judge Charles S. Coxe was many years one of the eminent members of the bar of
Philadelphia, and for a long period filled with distinguished ability the office
of judge of the district court of that city. He being purely a lawyer, realized
his inefficiency in the matter of developing the great coal property that was
the immense inheritance of the Coxe family. He would not sell any of the
inherited coal lands, being well impressed with the wisdom and foresight of his
eminent father, Tench [p.301] Coxe. He leased some of the mines, but the lessees
were, as pretty much all others of that day, mere experimenters in the unsolved
problem of mining, transporting, and then creating a market for the coal of the
anthracite regions. Some mines had been opened in the Coxe lands, but had hardly
been worked at all, and lapsed into neglect and mostly disuse. He determined to
make amends in this respect in the education of his children.
The Engineering and Mining Journal, of June 27, 1891, in giving sketches of the
prominent men in the mining industry of the United States, in a brief sketch of
Mr. Coxe, said this much of the man on the scientific and technical side of big
education and equipments as a master in this journal's specialty:
"No man could be selected as a better representative of the great coal mining
industry of the United States than Hon. Eckley B. Coxe, of Drifton, Luzerne
county, Pa. This gentleman, with big brothers, inherited large coal estates in
Pennsylvania, and was consequently educated with the special object of preparing
him for their management. The ability which he has displayed in the management
of extensive works and his familiarity with the literature of the profession
have won him a world-wide reputation as an expert in this difficult branch of
engineering.
"Mr. Coxe was born in Philadelphia, June 4, 1839. His father was the late Judge
Charles S. Coxe, and big grandfather, Tench Coxe, well known as a statesman,
financier and author, who was commissioner of internal revenue in Washington's
administration. Eckley B. Coxe graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in
1858, and after completing a course in the scientific department of that
institution, and spending six months in the anthracite coal region of
Pennsylvania engaged in topographic geological work, he went abroad in 1860 to
continue his studies. The next two years were spent at the Ecole des Mines, in
Paris, and then a year in the Bergakademie, at Frieborg, Saxony, after which he
passed nearly two years in visiting the mines of England and the continent to
study their practical operation.
"Upon his return to the United States in 1865, Mr. Coxe, in company with his
brothers, under the firm name of Coxe Bros. & Co., began the business of mining
anthracite coal in the Lehigh region, upon property which had been inherited
from their grandfather, Tench Coxe. Since that time he has been engaged in the
operation of his company's collieries, which are now among the largest producers
in the anthracite region of Pennsylvania, their output in 1890 having been about
1,500,000 tons. It is in the management of these mines that Mr. Coxe has won the
high reputation which he enjoys, as one of the most progressive, able and
honorable of the representatives of the great coal-mining industry of this
country.
"For many years Mr. Coxe has resided at Drifton, Pa., near the mines and the
homes of the many thousand miners and workingmen whom the firm employs. Between
the firm and its employes have always existed the most cordial and pleasant
relations, which is noteworthy in comparison with the feelings between operators
and miners in some parts of the State. It has always been a matter of pride,
however, on the part of Mr. Coxe and the firm which he represents, to spare no
pains in improving the condition of the workingmen in their employ."
He has long been a prominent member of the American Institute of Mining
Engineers, of which body he was president from 1878 to 1880, and he is an active
member both of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers and of the American Society
of Civil Engineers, of the former of which he has been a vice-president. He has
frequently lectured on scientific subjects, and in 1872 he published a
translation of Weisbach's Mechanics of Engineering and Construction of Machines.
This is brevity itself when applied to what he has done in the way of developing
one of the most important industries of the country. To tell of this fully would
require far more space than it is possible to here give. When he took control of
the active operations it was at the time of the original organizations of the
labor [p.302] societies throughout the country, and the real beginning of this
"conflict of labor and capital," to use an expressive term, that has gone on
with a constantly growing strength on all sides. On one side labor combined, and
the other capital or employers combined. Just here this statement of a simple
fact is the widest and strongest comment possible to make on the life and
services to mankind of Mr. Coxe: In his shops, mines and railroad are thousands
of employes - among the largest in this line of any firm in the country, and yet
in fact in the bloodless but persistent war he has stood between the men and the
vast corporations, the unconquerable champion of the rights of all. He has
fought the battles of labor and the producer, we may well say, with far more
success than have any of the great organizations themselves, and at the same
time has championed with equal success the rights of capital against its own
errors. Both sides to this sometimes bitter contention have made most hurtful
mistakes, and as often as this has occurred, they have found this man their
fearless and strongest adversary.
In all his vast and complicated affairs he has never reversed a deliberately
formed judgment. This exemplifies the two sides of his nature, his combativeness
and strong will, governed by a broad and generous education and a comprehension
of economic subjects that most fitly illuminates the wise precepts that came to
him from his grandfather, Tench Coxe. When the private mine owners of the
country found themselves enmeshed in the coils of the railroads, and their very
life being squeezed out of them, when the last ray of hope had nearly gone, this
man, single- handed and alone, stepped forth, took up the gauge of battle,
dragged the offenders into court, took them before the Inter-State railroad
commission,and won a most signal victory. More than all this: When this titanic
struggle was on, he brought to bear his own resources, and built his own belt
railroad, nearly sixty miles of track, connecting his mines with all the
different roads tapping this coal district - routing his strong enemies and
compelling them to his terms more effectively than did his great victory in the
courts. Thus he fought the battle and gained a signal victory for every private
operative in the land, and humbled the proudest and most powerful corporate
combine in the world. The victory was for all our people - the humblest miner in
the deepest shifts, as well as for every householder in the land compelled to
buy fuel - the universal and great necessity of us all.
Illustrating the point now in hand, the writer when at Drifton wandered over the
grounds and shops, and among the workmen, and incognito talked to them of their
employment and treatment. Chance threw him in company with a recently crippled
laborer, who was just able to be out and was carrying a badly injured arm in a
sling. He was able to give the minutest details of the men's treatment; telling
of the hospital for the employes close at hand, with all its conveniences and
elegancies of appointment, and the surgeons, nurses, as well as a large free
library for the employes, etc., maintained by the company. Further he gave all
the particulars of the very generous monthly allowance in case of misfortune -
especially so where there was a widow and children in the case. He summed the
case fully with the remark when he said: "Oh, every one knows that he will
always be provided for." The writer asked the man finally the opinion of the
employes of Mr. Coxe, leaving a slight impression on the man's mind that he was
inclined to find some fault with every capitalist. His reply was very
significant: "Mr. Coxe is rather a peculiar man; he pays only the common wages
to his men; if he once forms an opinion as to what is best for himself and his
men, he will tell them, and will never back down from one of his opinions.
Generally, I think his opinion right, but sometimes I think him wrong, but he
stands as strong by a wrong opinion as by a right one." This workman in his own
language was correct, in his estimate of Mr. Coxe's tenacity of purpose. The man
told of the strike of a few years ago; said that the miners at Drifton were
ordered out and had to obey. They had an interview with Mr. Coxe and he frankly
told them what would be the outcome; that they could not drive him; that he
could afford to stop [p.303] all work at Driftion far better than they could
afford to be idle; that in the end they would have to go to work at probably
less wages; that he could live if his property at Drifton was all at the bottom
of a Noah's flood, etc. The men mostly knew that all he told them was the truth,
but they had to obey orders, and after six months of idleness and all its
consequent suffering, were glad to resume work at less wages.
To the genius and thorough education of Mr. Coxe as a mine engineer and in
experimental mechanics and chemistry the world owes some of the most valuable
improvements in use to-day in mining. He built the first iron and steel breaker
ever erected and filled this with many valuable devices as labor savers. This
breaker is in full view as the cars approach Drifton, and until he completed his
new iron and steel breaker at Oneida, the one at Drifton was the finest in the
country. In and about any of these breakers is the most expensive machinery and
in the one point of security from fire, if there were no others, he has settled
the problem of future breakers and how to build them. He has now machinery that
does the work of the coal pickers. At his Drifton shops he builds his own
machinery of all kinds from the simplest tools to the great iron breakers,
stationary and railroad engines, cars, etc. The company's road is the Delaware,
Susquehanna & Schuylkill railroad, connecting the ten mines operated by the
company - nine of these mines are in Luzerne county in addition to the one at
Oneida. The new steel breaker at Oneida and its vast and improved machinery is
one of the finest in the country. As Mr. Coxe said: "We did not want to build
our railroad, but the railroads drove us to it and we built it," at an expense
of over a million dollars. As a sample of what such pluck and energy may do, it
should be stated that before the belt road was completed the roads hauled down
their colors and said to all the private miners, we will take your coal at the
mine and allow you a fair rate according to the market for it. And the
contention was at once over. The company have supply headquarters at New York,
Philadelphia, Boston, and for the Northwest at Chicago. The first three named
are all connected by telephone with the office at Drifton, thus permitting this
busiest of busy men to personally supervise even the details of this company's
affairs at all these points, except Chicago, the same as if he were constantly
in his office at Drifton. When he visited Europe a few years ago as vice-
president of the mining congress held in Paris at the Exposition of 1889, he was
cordially received by the most eminent scientists and men of varied culture
wherever he went. He is to-day better known across the waters than to many of
his immediate neighbors of Luzerne county.
Mr. Coxe has for many years been a prominent member of the American Institute of
Mining Engineers, of which he was president from May, 1878, to February, 1880,
and has been a frequent contributor of papers to its transactions. He has made a
special study of the preparation of anthracite coal and surveying in collieries,
and among the papers which he has presented have been several upon these
subjects. Mr. Coxe is also a member of the American Society of Mechanical
Engineers, having been its vice-president from April, 1880, to November, 1881,
and is also a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. He has also
published a translation of the first volume of the fourth edition of Weisbach's
Mechanics of Engineering and Construction of Machines (New York, 1872).
As marked in the most practical affairs of life as is this head of the firm of
Coxe Bros. & Co., on the side of his scientific attainments, yet the man is best
to be known in his library and workshop; premising this paragraph with the fact
that the Latin German and French languages are familiar enough to him to readily
translate the most technical books on his favorite subjects. Adjoining his
private office is a large two-story building that is pretty much all windows,
and on inquiry the writer found here Mr. Coxe with a corps of assistants, has
his chemical and mechanical engineering experimental works, where are worked out
his ideas of now machinery and every [p.304] labor-saving device of use in his
mines, mining and shops. This is the most interesting spot, and the writer can
now far better understand the expressed wish of Thomas A. Edison, who recently
visited Hazleton, that he would be able while in the vicinity to visit Drifton
and meet Mr. Coxe. In this experimental workshop such a man as Edison would find
much to interest him deeply.
But a few steps from this building in company with Mr. Coxe, the writer - a
blessed "tenderfoot" in this interesting workshop - was invited to enter a fire-
proof one-story building that is his scientific library room, presided over by
his assistant in the workshop, Mr. John R. Wagner. Here is gathered the finest
technical library on these subjects that are a specialty to Mr. Coxe in the
world to-day. This is saying a good deal, but it is simple truth. Over 12,000
volumes and nearly 5,000 rare manuscripts and pamphlets, mostly in English,
French and German, but some rare old books that would set ablaze the eyes of a
true bibliomaniac. Such is the admirable arrangement of the whole that Mr.
Wagner can hand to Mr. Coxe any paper, magazine article, pamphlet or book and
page that he may chance to want in a moment.
By this time, to the writer - a stranger to Drifton and the firm of Coxe Bros. &
Co., the individual he had set for himself the pleasant task of "writing up" -
had passed from the phase of one of the more than sixty millions of Americans to
that of an institution - one of the remarkable institutions of our country. Such
lives are rare indeed in this world; such a combination of practical and
scientific attainments, backed by a capital so ample, all driven toward the one
purpose of developing the natural resources of our continent, enriching mankind
and pushing forward civilization should mark an era in history.
If the reader will keep in mind that this is a part of the chapter on mines and
mining, and in no sense an attempt at biography, then he will understand that
the only attempt so far is to present the salient points on this part of the
subject of the life work of the head of the house of Coxe Bros. & Co. The
details, the lesser lights and shadows of biography, would make a most
interesting volume indeed. That, however, is the work of the future biographer
and when it falls to the hand equal to the undertaking, the world's literature
will be immeasurably enriched. And yet we can not refrain in closing this
paragraph from a brief reference to a well-known circumstance that so fitly
illustrates another side of this gentleman's character.
In the way of completing the many-sided picture of the man, the following is
summarized from the current newspaper literature of the day:
"Mr. Coxe has always been a consistent and ardent Democrat, and in 1880 was
elected to the State senate from the twenty-sixth senatorial district, composed
of the lower part of Luzerne county and part of Lackawanna county. He did not
take his seat as senator, however, because he declined to take the oath of
office prescribed by the first section of article VII, of the constitution of
the State; and on January 4, 1881, issued to his constituents the following
address, in which he tersely gave the reasons for his action:
"'TO MY CONSTITUENTS: I deem it my duty to state to you simply and clearly the
reasons which force me to refuse to take the oath prescribed by the constitution
as a necessary prerequisite to entering upon my duties as senator, knowing, as I
do, that this refusal forfeits my seat. The required oath is: "I do solemnly
swear (or affirm), that I will support, obey and defend the constitution of the
United States and the constitution of this commonwealth, and that I will
discharge the duties of my office with fidelity; that I have not paid or
contributed, or promised to pay or contribute, either directly or indirectly,
any money or other valuable thing to procure my nomination or election (or
appointment), except for necessary and proper expenses expressly authorized by
law; that I have not knowingly violated any election law of this commonwealth,
or procured it to be done by others in my behalf; that I will not knowingly
receive, directly or indirectly, any moneys or [p.307] other valuable thing for
the performance or non-performance of any act or duty pertaining to my office,
other than the compensation allowed by law."
He then proceeds in detail to point out the particular meaning of the law, as
well as itemize the amounts he had contributed to the committee, and the purpose
for which he specified it should be expended. On this the editor of the
Philadelphia Times commented as follows:
"No one who knew Mr. Coxe doubted for one moment his assertion that he did not
lay out $1 to procure his nomination, and that although he had used money for
expenses not expressly authorized by law, not one cent was spent with his
knowledge or consent for any improper or fraudulent purpose; and while many of
his friends thought he was over-nice and sensitive in adopting a construction of
the law which, if followed generally, would have left both branches of the
legislature without a quorum, all admired that scrupulous integrity and high
sense of honor which are the crowning traits of his character, and which led him
to retire from the position to which he had been elected rather than take an
oath to any fact about which the strictest constructionist could have suggested
the slightest doubt.
"His constituents accepted the explanations of his address in the same spirit as
that in which they were given, and in 1881 he was re-elected to the senate by a
majority over three times as large as that which he had received the previous
year. He served his term in the senate with honor to himself and with great
benefit to the State. His intimate acquaintance with the great industries of the
commonwealth, his knowledge of practical business, his unquestioned integrity of
character and his honesty of purpose made him a model senator, and extended his
reputation over the entire commonwealth. His name was presented during a few
ballots in the convention of 1882 for the nomination of governor, and his many
friends throughout the State urged him to make a contest for the honor,
believing that in the struggle between Pattison and Hopkins he would have
carried off the prize as an acceptable candidate to all sections of the State.
As Mr. Coxe bad previously stated in private that he was in favor of the
nomination of Mr. Pattison, he only permitted his name to remain before the
convention until the vote given him added to that for Mr. Pattison were
sufficient to nominate the latter, when he withdrew as a candidate, and
subsequently worked earnestly for the election of Gov. Pattison.
"For many years Mr. Coxe has made his home in Drifton, Luzerne county, near to
his mines and to the homes of the many thousands of miners and working- men whom
his firm employs. He has been celebrated and justly praised not only for the
admirable methods of his mining department, and the character and efficiency of
its plant, but also, and even more notably, for the kindly and pleasant
relations which have existed between him and the men employed at his collieries.
It is doubtful whether at any other place in this country, or even in the world,
an employer of labor has taken more pains and more pride than have been taken by
Mr. Coxe and the other members of his family at Drifton to minister to the wants
and laudable ambitions of his workingmen, and to establish those cordial
relations of respect, confidence and friendship which should always exist
between labor and capital.
"Like most other coal operators, however, Mr. Coxe has had his share of strikes
and labor troubles; but he deserves the credit of having conducted the contests
in such manner as to retain the respect and confidence of his men. His mines
were idle during the late disastrous strike in the Lehigh region; but,
notwithstanding this fact, when he reached Drifton upon his recent return from
Europe, in the month of October last, he met with a most enthusiastic reception
from some 5,000 of his employes and neighbors.
Since the expiration of his term as senator Mr. Coxe has always taken an [p.308]
active part in the work of the Democratic party. He has filled no public
position, however, except that of a member of the State committee, and a
recognized and trusted leader of his party; and chairman, in 1884, of the
Pennsylvania delegation to the national convention in Chicago that nominated Mr.
Cleveland.
"He is placed in the gubernatorial gallery of the Times, not that he is himself
in any manner an aspirant for the place, but because many prominent members of
his party consider him an available candidate, and among those who do not covet
the honor or aspire to the position, there is no one in the State who would
better fill the office - who has more friends and fewer enemies - or whose
occupancy of the high position would confer more honor upon the commonwealth."
George Bushar Markle is a name closely linked with this great anthracite coal
region. Like Pardee Haydon and others who pioneered the way in this line, he
came here a young man, with no other capital than his bare hands, resolute soul
and a clear eye to the coming future and its possibilities. He was the son of
John and Emily Markle, and was born in Milton, Pa., July 1, 1827. In his native
village he had more than the average school facilities at the schools of Steele
and of Kirkpatrick, where as a very young pupil he received those primary
lessons in his education that he carried with him during his whole life. At
these schools he was the junior companion of better grown lads, some, indeed
many, of whom in after years rose to eminence and a wide celebrity. His father
was a poor man and the lad, when very young, came to the full realization that
his future depended upon himself. It was thus he gained that great lesson so
important to every youth of self-reliance, a heritage after all that poverty can
give its children, yet really worth more than all the jewels of Ophir and Ind.
At the age of fourteen young Markle had learned surveying tolerably well, but
the financial affairs of his parents made it imperative, and so he went to
Philadelphia and in a carpenter's shop commenced to learn a trade, where he
spent some time and made rapid progress. But all our lives apparently are
results of trivial circumstances. In this country where everything is on a
gigantic scale; where, when a neighbor's pig rooted up a hill of potatoes of
another neighbor and this incident in time turns the election for President, and
the President's success settles the question of a great war with a foreign
nation, that perhaps ends in re-mapping the world, you may see that even a
trivial circumstance may culminate in great results. Young carpenter Markle had
a fall from a trestle and for quite a while could not follow his trade. He
returned, in consequence, to Bloomsburg, where his father had in the meantime
removed, and learned, with his father, the saddler's trade - work that he could
do. He had now reached the age of twenty; was an expert saddler and harness
maker and his hand had not forgotten its cunning with the carpenter's tools; was
clerk in store; and connected with a foundry a short time. His exhibition of his
faith in himself is given by at that time joining in wedlock with Miss Emily
Robinson. Of this union were nine children - five of whom are living: Clara,
Ida, George B. Jr., John and Alvan, and when he was twenty-two, with his young
wife, came to Hazleton and made his life home, finding his first employment as a
clerk in Pardee's store, being by marriage related to Mrs. Ario Pardee. First
clerk, book-keeper and at the same time was superintendent of store. In this
employ he remained nine years, soon having superintending charge of the store
and from that was made the responsible head of this great firm, as general
superintendent of its collieries, etc. In an incredibly short time after his
last promotion he became a master among the mine operators and was a most
valuable aid to Mr. Pardee. Mr. Markle was a born mechanic and here his genius
found full play. He introduced many valuable improvements in mining machinery.
His quick eye detected defects in the old machines and his ready wit would then
solve the problem by the substitution of a better way of doing it. Thus he could
make himself invaluable. He introduced changes and made inventions on every
hand, enough to revolutionize the coal industry. He was the designer of the
present form of "breaker" now in universal use in the anthracite districts.
[p.309] Anthracite coal as it comes from the mines is not marketable. The "run
of mine" can not, as in the case of bituminous coal, be sold. Anthracite, being
very compact and practically free from volatile combustible matter, burns only
at the surface, and it is, therefore, deemed important to have lumps as nearly
of a uniform size as possible, so that between them a large amount of surface
will remain exposed to the action of the air without checking the draught too
much, or allowing enough air to pass to cool the coal below the ignition-point.
In other words, if the pieces of coal of the size of a chestnut and smaller are
mixed with lumps of the size of an egg they fill the air-passages and prevent a
free draught. It has long been recognized, therefore, that one of the most
important points in preparation is to have a uniform sizing, and also to make as
large a number of different sizes as can be produced without too great expense.
It is also essential to remove all dust, which is of little or no use at
present, and depreciates the value of coal in the market.
Mixed with the pure coal large amounts of slate, "slate coal" and "bony coal"
generally occur. The term "slate-coal" is used to designate lumps composed
partly of coal and partly of slate, in which the pure coal occurs in such large
masses that, by re-breaking, pieces of pure coal of marketable sizes can be
obtained economically, and "bony coal" to designate lumps in which the coal and
slate are so interstratified that they can not be separated economically by
mechanical preparation; also coal in which the impurities are present in such
high percentages as to destroy or greatly diminish its market value. In other
words, slate coal is coal from which, by breaking and preparation, a certain
amount of pure coal can be obtained: bony coal is coal which can not be
economically rendered more pure by mechanical preparation, although it may be
used for certain purposes in its crude condition.
The problem is to remove the impurities as completely as possible. Of course,
when the slate occurs in separate pieces it should be eliminated without further
breaking. But the slate coal must be broken into smaller pieces to separate the
slaty portion from the coal. It is generally impossible to sell all the larger
lumps which come from the mines, and machinery must be provided for breaking
them up into such sizes as the market requires.
This statement is made necessary to give the reader outside of the anthracite
region some idea of the functions and importance of the "breaker" - those black,
tall, open, camelopard-looking structures the traveler on the cars sees in
passing through this section for the first time, and wonders what they and their
great culm piles have to do in the coal getting. These ungainly-looking affairs
each, of themselves, have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. We are assured
that the late George B. Markle may be called the "father of the breaker" in its
present form. He had learned the coal business while with Mr. Pardee, and, after
nine years' experience with him, resolved to commence business for himself, and
in 1858 formed the firm of G. B. Markle & Co., the partners being J. Gillingham
Fell, Ario Pardee and William Lilly. Mr. Markle was the senior and entire
manager and they opened the Jeddo colliery. Then was laid the firm foundation of
the vast fortune that awaited this man of tireless energy and keen foresight.
Mine operating was still an unsolved problem. The world was unused to the
absolute necessity of the common use of hard coal. The operators were working
under many disadvantages, chiefly that of imperfect machinery about their
breakers. Mr. Markle realized all this fully, and, as said, his experience had
taught his remarkable mechanical mind that here was where improvement must
commence. He conceived a plan for the improved breaker, called to his side the
best mechanical skill he could find, and attempted to convey to them his idea
and was ready to build one on his new plan. After many efforts to convey his
ideas to the minds of these mechanics he realized they could not fully
understand him from drawings and specifications, and so, with his pocket- knife,
he whittled out a breaker - a model, perfect in proportions and with every piece
of timber in its proper place, and then the builders could not err. That model,
[p.310] made with a knife only, is substantially the exact breaker now in
universal use, and from that has come the great impulse that has extended this
industry to its present bewildering proportions. His son, John Markle, the
present head of the house in the coal business, gives the history of that
whittled-out model, and, with regret, informs us that it was carelessly given to
the children as a toy, and was by them finally totally destroyed. What a
misfortune! It would have been, if preserved, to-day one of the most interesting
contributions to the Columbian Fair at Chicago in 1893. Mr. Markle was an
inventor of marked ability. "The Markle pump," now so extensively manufactured,
and in use in the collieries, was his sole invention. It has no rival in its
line of work. His improvements in the coal crushers, the jig and much of the
other machinery that he never thought it worth while to patent, are, by their
common use, ever-living testimonials of his mechanical genius.
That this man became first in importance in this part of the coal fields is much
as a matter of course. He had many of the elements of a born leader. Original
and daring in conception, and yet every faculty perfectly balanced. When the
"labor troubles" came and the whole business of mining was in jeopardy; when the
coolest heads among employers were becoming much confused; then it was, that, by
a common impulse, all turned for guidance and counsel to him, and soon the word
was passed from one to the other: "We will all agree to whatever Mr. Markle
agrees to with his men." And upon this basis the threatened calamity was
generally safely tided over.
In 1876 Mr. Markle's health became seriously impaired, and this continued to
grow until 1879, when he retired from active life and went to Europe, where he
spent a year, returning in 1880, when he completely severed all personal
supervision even largely as advisor of his now vast affairs and resigned himself
to the care of his physician and family. He consulted the most eminent
physicians attainable, visited many of the world's most noted health resorts,
but in vain. August 18, 1888, he passed peacefully from earth. His widow,
helpmate and mother of his children, survived but a brief month after his death.
This, briefly, is Mr. Markle as he was intimately linked with the anthracite
coal industry and its development. Great as it was it was but a part of the man.
In his social and financial life he was equally a central figure. This article
will conclude with a brief enumeration of some of the leading facts in his case.
In 1868 he founded the banking house of Pardee, Markle & Grier. It soon was
widely known as one of the soundest money institutions of the country. He was a
large stockholder and director in the Lehigh Valley Railroad company; director
and stockholder in the Highland Coal company; the same in the Rock Hill Iron &
Coal company, the East Broad Top Railroad company; was chairman of coal land
purchasing committee of Lehigh Valley railroad; director of the Union
Improvement company; was the general coal land purchasing agent of the Lehigh
railroad; and was extensively interested in the iron industry, holding large and
valuable shares therein.
Jeddo Tunnel is one of the most important improvements so far introduced into
the coal industry in the anthracite regions, its daring projector being John
Markle, who is president and chief engineer of the company. Like most of the
world's advances, it is the creature of a commanding necessity, and had its
origin in the following: On June 20, 1885, about twenty-eight acres of ground
over the Harleigh mine caved in. This extended close to the Ebervale workings.
About a year afterward, for fear that the immense body of water would crush the
barrier between the two mines, the Ebervale Coal company drilled six holes
through the barrier to release the water into the Ebervale mine, from whence it
was pumped to the surface. The workings were profitably mined from that time on
to January, 1886, when one of the heaviest rain storms flooded nearly every mine
in this section. The immense amount of water passing through the new canal on
the south side of [p.311] the coal measures was filled to overflowing, and the
backwater began running into the old channel and from there into the Harleigh
mine. The water rapidly rose to the level of the old gangway connecting with the
Ebervale workings and began pouring into the latter, submerging the pump beneath
forty feet of water.
The operator of the Harleigh mine at this time was M. S. Kunmerer, and the
operators of the Ebervale mine were Van Wickle, Stout & Co. This incalculable
wealth was thus locked securely against man's efforts to reach it and these
important mining industries were practically abandoned. Skillful engineers were
called for, and yet but little light came as to the way out. Broad Mountain, as
its name suggests, is not a narrow mountain range that can readily be drained
from either side. The scheme of driving a tunnel, commencing in Butler Valley
and penetrating the hill and draining all that rich district was that of Mr.
John Markle, who had given the subject much consideration, John Markle then
acquiring the property for the G. W. Markle Coal company. If he could figure out
this as a feasible undertaking, it was the evident solution of a most important
problem. Calling to his aid the resident engineer of the Tunnel company, Thomas
S. McNair, after a full preliminary examination, the enterprise was determined
upon. Thereupon the Jeddo Tunnel company, limited, was organized in December,
1890, and the following officers chosen: President and chief engineer, John
Markle; resident engineer, Thomas S. McNair; secretary and treasurer, William H.
Smith, Jr.; board of managers, E. P. Wilbur, William Lilly, John Markle, William
H. Smith, Jr., and Alvin Markle. The entire work when completed will be 360 feet
short of five miles, striking the foot of the mountain a short distance east of
the Mountain View house, and the main tunnel passing under the mountain a
distance of three miles, being thirty feet under the bottom of the Ebervale
mines. The greatest depth under the surface is 700 feet, passing under the
Latimer mine at a depth of 260 feet below the bed of the Lattimer mine. Before
reaching the Ebervale mine, the tunnel changes its direction almost at a right
angle, running north a distance of about two miles to Jeddo slope No. 4 (Mammoth
vein). The two tunnels are A and B.
Tunnel "A" is to be constructed from Butler valley in Butler township to near
the bottom of Ebervale Mammoth vein slope No. 2, a distance of about three
miles. This tunnel is to be 8x8 feet in the clear.
Tunnel "B" is to be built in a vein beneath the Mammoth vein from the bottom of
Ebervale slope No. 2 to a point opposite Jeddo No. 4 slope and about right
angles from this point to near the bottom of Jeddo Mammoth vein slope No. 4.
This Tunnel B will be one and seven-tenths miles long and will be 5x6 feet in
the clear.
The slope and airway will be sunk on a vein underlying the Mammoth at Ebervale.
The size of the slope will be 9x7 feet and about 1,000 feet long. The airway is
to be 5x5 feet and 1,000 feet long.
Tunnel "A" is to be built with three headings, two from the bottom of the
proposed slope and the other from the Butler Valley side, so that the water will
run from the tunnel as the work proceeds.
The estimated cost of the work is over $500,000 and it is to be completed in
1895.
The official figures as gleaned from the government official reports in
reference to the collieries in Luzerne county, their location and their
operators are given below.
The anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania are situated in the eastern part of
the State, and extend about equal distances north and south of a line drawn
through the middle of the State from east to west, in the counties of Carbon;
Columbia, Dauphin, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Northumberland, Schuylkill, Sullivan,
and Susquehanna, and known under three general divisions, viz.: Wyoming, Lehigh,
and Schuylkill regions. Geologically they are divided into five well-defined
fields or basins, which are again subdivided, for convenience of identification,
into districts, as follows: [p.312]
Geological Fields or Basins. Local - Districts. Tade - Regions.
Northern Carbondale Wyoming
Scranton
Pittston
Wilkes-Barre
Plymouth
Kingston
Western Northern Bernice Wyoming
Eastern Middle Green Mountain Lehigh
Black Creek
Hazleton
Beaver Meadow
Southern Panther Creek Lehigh
Southern East Schuylkill Schuylkill
West Schuylkill
Lorberry
Lykens Valley
Western Middle East Mahanoy Schuylkill
West Mahanoy
Shamokin
PRODUCTION OF ANTHRACITE COAL OF ALL GRADES, BY COUNTIES, IN 1899
DISPOSITION OF TOTAL PRODUCT.
Total product of Loaded at Mines Used by employes Used for
heat
coal of all grades for shipment on and sold to local and
steam
for year 1889 railroad cars trade at mines at
mines
COUNTIES Long Tons Long Tons Long Tons Long Tons
Susquehanna & 351,842 319,126 5,820
26,896
Sullivan
Lackawanna 8,939,621 7,823,694 588,535
527,392
Luzerne 16,607,177 14,892,324 446,036
1,268,817
Carbon 1,210,973 1,080,544 19,592
110,837
Schuylkill 9,052.619 7,837,369 181,893
1,033,357
Columbia 628,695 539,273 15,663
73,759
Northumberland 3,176,740 2,770,914 57,857
847,969
Dauphin 697,485 553,632 14,184
129,669
Total 40,665,152 35,816,876 1,329,580
3,518,696
The total production of anthracite coal in Pennsylvania during the calendar year
1889 was 40,665,152 tons of 2,240 pounds (equal to 45,544,970 tons of 2,000
pounds), valued at the mines at $65,718,165, or an average of $1.61-3/5 per long
ton, including all sizes sent to market. In the above 35,816,876 tons are
included unsalable sizes temporarily stocked at convenient points near the mines
and tonnage loaded into cars but not passed over railroad scales, as well as
waste in rehandling in the various processes of cleaning the smaller sizes. The
quantity reported by the transportation companies as actually carried to market,
which is the usual basis for statistics of shipments, was 35,407,710 tons during
the year 1889; 1,329,580 tons were used by employes and sold to local trade in
the vicinity of the mines, and 3,518,696 tons were reported as consumed for
steam and heating purposes in and about the mines. The item of colliery
consumption, however, is somewhat indefinite, the coal being taken either from
the current mining, or from screenings and used where needed, often without
preparation, and rarely included in the accounts of the operator, being reported
to the census office in most instances as "approximated." For these reasons it
has been excluded from the basis of valuation of the product at the mines.
The average number of days worked during the year 1889 by all collieries was
194. The suspension of mining, during periods aggregating about one-third of the
year, was caused mainly by the inability of the market to absorb a larger
product. [p.313] The number of persons employed during the year, including
superintendents, engineers and clerical force, was 125,229. The total amount
paid in wages to all classes during the year was $39,152,124. The total number
of regular establishments or breakers equipped for the preparation and shipment
of coal was 342, nineteen of which were idle during the year. Besides these
there were forty nine small diggings and washeries, supplying local trade. There
were also eighteen new establishments in course of construction.
The statistics of anthracite coal in Pennsylvania compiled for the tenth census
were based upon the year ending June 30, 1880, and thus covered the last six
months of 1879, and the first six mouths of 1880. The present census covers the
calendar year 1889. The following items from the previous census are herewith
given to show the developments which a decade has made in this industry:
Total production for 1889, including all coal shipped to
market and sold to employes and local trade about the mines,
exclusive of culm (long tons) 25,575,875
Equal to (short tons) 28,640,819
Value of product at mines $42,172,942
Average price of all grades per long ton at mines $1.68
Total shipment for census year (long tons) 24,566,822
Total shipments for calendar year 1879 26,142,689
Total shipments for calendar year 1880 23,437,242
Total number of collieries 275
Total amount of wages paid in the year $22,664,055
Total number of employes, all grades 70,669
The largest actual shipment during any year in the history of the trade was made
in 1888, being 38,145,178 tons of 2,240 pounds. The largest actual shipment for
any one mouth was 4,187,527 tons, in October, 1888. The largest actual shipments
ever made in each of the months of and year to December, 1889, inclusive, are
given in the table below, and show that, if the mines should be operated as
actively in each month of the year as they ever have been in that mouth, the
product for the year would be a little less than 4O,OOO,OOO long tons. The
shipment of 1889 was, therefore, ninety per cent. of the maximum shipments
practicable under existing conditions.
LARGEST SHIPMENT FOR EACH MONTH OF ANY YEAR.
Years. Months. Tonnage. Years. Months. Tonnage.
1889 January 2,622,529 1888 August 4,097,563
1887 February 2,551,003 1888 September 3,916,326
1887 March 2,911,272 1888 October 4,187,527
1888 April 2,856,593 1888 November 3,718,652
1889 May 3,016,531 1887 December 3,068,079
1889 June 3,038,216
1889 July 3,627,522 Maximum shipment practicable 39,611,813
Average monthly tonnage based upon largest shipments ever made 3,300,984
Average annual shipments during ten years ending with 1889 31,551,301
Average annual shipments during five years ending with 1889 34,390,868
DISTRIBUTION OF ANTHRACITE COAL FOR 1889.
Sections. Long tons. Per cent.
Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey 22,314,331 63.02
New England States 5,407,357 15.27
Western States 4,922,076 13.90
Southern States 1,613,120 4.56
Pacific Coast 20,900 0.06
Canada 1,094,736 3.09
Foreign 35,190 0.10
Total 35,407,710 100.00
[p.314]
SHIPMENTS OF ANTHRACITE COAL SINCE 1820.
SCH'KL REGION. LEHIGH REGION. WYOMING REGION.
YEARS. Long tons. Per ct. Long tons. Per ct. Long tons. Per ct.
From 1820 to 1859 inclusive 44,049,622 52.54 17,755,009 21.18 22,031,210
26.28 83,835,841
From 1860 to 1869 inclusive 44,769,022 41.80 20,035,073 18.71 42,288,823
39.49 107,092,918
From 1870 to 1879 inclusive 68,237,040 34.87 35,683,152 18.23 91,794,184
46.90 195,714,376
From 1880 to 1889 inclusive 96,428,369 30.56 55,016,850 17.44 164,077,794
52.00 315,523,013
Total 253,484,053 36.10 128,490,084 18.30 320,192,011
45.60 702,166,148
The initial lines of transportation from the anthracite coal fields are operated
by the following companies:
Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad company.
New York, Susquehanna & Western Railroad company.
New York, Ontario & Western Railroad company (in construction).
Delaware & Hudson Canal company.
Erie & Wyoming Valley Railroad company.
Central Railroad Company of New Jersey.
Lehigh Valley Railroad company.
Pennsylvania Railroad company.
Philadelphia & Reading Railroad company.
New York, Lake Erie & Western Railroad company.
A directory of the mines and operators of mines in Luzerne county is as follows:
NAMES OF MINES. Local district. Township, etc. Nearest station. Name.
Ewen Breaker Pittston Jenkins Tp. Pittston
Pennsylvania Coal Co.
Shaft No. 4 Pittston Jenkins Tp. Pittston
Pennsylvania Coal Co.
Breaker No. 6 Pittston Jenkins Tp. Port Blanchard
Pennsylvania Coal Co.
Breaker No 10 Pittston Marcy Tp. Pittston
Pennsylvania Coal Co.
Breaker No 14 Pittston Jenkins Tp. Port Blanchard
Pennsylvania Coal Co.
Barnum Pittston Marcy Tp. Pittston Junction
Pennsylvania Coal Co.
Annora No. 1 Pittston Jenkins Tp. Laflin Annora Coal
Co.
Avoca Pittston Pittston Tp. Avoca Avoca Coal
Co. Ltd.
Langcliffe Pittston Pittston Avoca Langecliffe
Coal Co.
Twin Pittston Pittston Pittston Newton Coal
Min'g Co.
Ravine Pittston Pittston Pittston Newton Coal
Min'g Co.
Seneca Pittston Pittston Pittston Newton Coal
Min'g Co.
Mosier Pittston Marcy Tp. Pittston Newton Coal
Min'g Co.
Hunt Pittston Kingston Tp. Wyoming D., L.& W.
R.R. Co.
Hallstead Pittston Marcy Tp. Duryea D., L.& W.
R.R. Co.
Butler Pittston Pittston Tp Pittston Butler Mine
Co. Ltd.
Everhart Pittston Jenkins Tp. Yatesville Butler Mine
Co. Ltd.
Schooley Pittston Exeter Tp. West Pittston Butler Mine
Co. Ltd.
Columbia Pittston Marcy Tp. Duryea Old Forge
Coal Co.
Babylon (b) Pittston Marcy Tp. Coxton Babylon
Coal Co.
Consolidated Pittston Pittston, Tp. Moosic H. C. & I.
Co.
Clearspring Pittston West Pittston West Pittston Clearspring
Coal Co.
Elmwood Pittston Pittston Tp. Avoca Florence
Coal Co. Ltd.
Fairmount Pittston Pittston Tp. Pittston W.& J.
O'Neill
Keystone Pittston Plaines Tp. Will Creek Keystone
Coal Co.
Stevens Pittston Exeter Tp. Exeter Stevens
Coal Co.
Mount Lookout (b) Pittston Exeter Tp. Exeter M. L. C.
Co. Ltd.
Exeter Pittston Exeter Tp. West Pittston Lehigh
Valley Coal Co.
Heidelberg, No. 1 Pittston Pittston Tp. West Pittston Lehigh
Valley Coal Co.
Heidelberg, No. 2 Pittston Pittston Tp. West Pittston Lehigh
Valley Coal Co.
Spring Brook (a) Pittston Old Forge Tp. Moosic Whitney &
Kemmerer
Diamond, No. 1 Wilkes-Barre Wilkes-Barre Wilkes-Barre L.& W. Coal
Co.
Hollenback No.2 Wilkes-Barre Wilkes-Barre Wilkes-Barre L.& W. Coal
Co.
Empire No. 4 Wilkes-Barre Wilkes-Barre Wilkes-Barre L.& W. Coal
Co.
S.Wilkes-Barre No.5 Wilkes-Barre Wilkes-barre Wilkes-Barre L.& W. Coal
Co.
Stanton No. 7 Wilkes-Barre Wilkes-Barre Ashley L.& W. Coal
Co.
[p.317]
Jersey No. 8 Wilkes-Barre Hanover Tp. Ashley L.& W. Coal
Co.
Sugar Notch No. 9 Wilkes-Barre Hanover Tp. Sugar Notch L.& W. Coal
Co.
Wanamie No. 18 Wilkes-Barre Newport Tp. Wamamie L.& W. Coal
Co.
Alden Wilkes-Barre Newport Tp. Alden Alden Coal
Co.
Newport No. 1 Wilkes-Barre Newport Tp. Lee Newport
Coal Co.
Red Ash No. 1 Wilkes-Barre Wilkes-Barre Tp Ashley Red Ash
Coal Co.
Red Ash No. 2 Wilkes-Barre Wilkes-Barre Tp Ashley Red Ash
Coal Co.
Colliery No. 1 Wilkes-Barre Hanover Tp. Nanticoke Susquehanna
Coal Co.
Colliery No. 2 Wilkes-Barre Hanover Tp. Nanticoke Susquehanna
Coal Co.
Colliery No. 5 Wilkes-Barre Hanover Tp. Nanticoke Susquehanna
Coal Co.
Colliery No. 6 Wilkes-Barre Newport Tp. Glen Lyon Susquehanna
Coal Co.
Bennett Wilkes-Barre Plaines Tp. Mill Creek Thomas
Waddell
Warrior Run Wilkes-Barre Hanover Tp. Warrior Run A. J.
Davis.
West End No. 1 Wilkes-Barre Conyngham Tp. Monanaqua West End
Coal Co.
Maffett Wilkes-Barre Hanover Tp. Sugar Notch Hanover
Coal Co.
Abbott Wilkes-Barre Plaines Tp. Miners Mills Abbott Coal
Co.
Hillman Vein Wilkes-Barre Wilkes-Barre Tp Wilkes-Barre Hillman
Vein Coal Co.
Franklin Wilkes-Barre Wilkes-Barre Tp Ashley Lehigh
Valley Coal Co.
Enterprise Wilkes-Barre Plaines Tp. Port Bowkley Lehigh
Valley Coal Co.
Henry Wilkes-Barre Plaines Tp. Port Bowkley Lehigh
Valley Coal Co.
Midvale (a) Wilkes-Barre Plaines Tp. Port Bowkley Lehigh
Valley Coal Co.
Mineral Spring Wilkes-Barre Plaines Tp. Wilkes-Barre Lehigh
Valley Coal Co.
Prospect Wilkes-Barre Plaines Tp. Wilkes-Barre Lehigh
Valley Coal Co.
Dorrance Wilkes-Barre Wilkes-Barre Tp Wilkes-Barre Lehigh
Valley Coal Co.
Wyoming Wilkes-Barre Plaines Tp. Port Bowkley Lehigh
Valley Coal Co.
Mill Creek Wilkes-Barre Plaines Tp. Mill Creek Del. & Hud.
Canal Co.
Pine Ridge Wilkes-Barre Plaines Tp. Miners Mlls Del. & Hud.
Canal Co.
Laurel Run Wilkes-Barre Plaines Tp. Parsons Del. & Hud.
Canal Co.
Baltimore Slope Wilkes-Barre Wilkes-Barre Tp Parsons Del. & Hud.
Canal Co.
Bal.Red Ash No.2(a) Wilkes-Barre Wilkes-Barre Tp Parsons Del. & Hud.
Canal Co.
Baltimore Tunnel Wilkes-Barre Wilkes-Barre Tp Wilkes-Barre Del. & Hud.
Canal Co.
Conyngham Wilkes-Barre Wilkes-Barre Wilkes-Barre Del. & Hud.
Canal Co.
Delaware Wilkes-Barre Plaines Tp. Mill Creek Del. & Hud.
Canal Co.
Lance No. 11 Plymouth Plymouth Plymouth L. & W.
Coal Co.
Nottingham No. 15 Plymouth Plymouth Plymouth L. & W.
Coal Co.
Reynolds No. 16 Plymouth Plymouth Plymouth L & W. Coal
Co.
Avondale Plymouth Plymouth Tp. Avondale D. L. & W.
R. R. Co.
Woodward Plymouth Plymouth Tp. Kingston D. L. & W.
R. R. Co.
Dodson Plymouth PlymouthTp. Plymouth John C.
Haddock.
East Boston Plymouth Kingston Kingston W. G. Payne
& Co.
Parrish Plymouth Plymouth Plymouth Parrish
Coal Co.
Colliery No. 3 Plymouth West Nanticoke West Nanticoke Susquehanna
Coal Co.
Salem Plymouth Shickshinny Shickshinny E. S.
Stackhouse.
Boston Plymouth Plymouth Tp. Plymouth Del. & Hud.
Canal Co.
Plymouth No. 2 Plymouth Plymouth Tp. Plymouth Del. & Hud.
Canal Co.
Plymouth No. 3 Plymouth Plymouth Tp. Plymouth Del. & Hud.
Canal Co.
Plymouth No. 4 Plymouth Plymouth Tp. Plymouth Del. & Hud.
Canal Co.
Plymouth No. 5 Plymouth Plymouth Tp. Plymouth Del. & Hud.
Canal Co.
Pittebone Kingston Kingston Bennett D. L. & W.
R. R. Co.
Kingston No. 1 Kingston Kingston Tp. Kingston Kingston
Coal Co.
Kingston No. 2 Kingston Plymouth Tp. Kingston Kingston
Coal Co.
Kingston No. 3 Kingston Plymouth Tp. Kingston Kingston
Coal Co.
Kingston No. 4 Kingston Kingston Tp. Kingston Kingston
Coal Co.
Gaylord Kingston Plymouth Tp. Plymouth Kingston
Coal Co.
Harry E. Kingston Kingston Tp. Bennett Wyoming
Val. Coal Co.
Harry E. No. 2 Kingston Kingston Tp. Maltby Wyoming
Val. Coal Co.
Black Diamond Kingston Kingston Tp. Kingston John C.
Haddock.
Mill Hollow Kingston Kingston Tp. Bennett Thomas
Waddell.
Maltby Kingston Kingston Tp. Maltby Lehigh
Valley Coal Co.
Pond Creek Green Mount'n Foster Tp. Sandy Run M. S.
Kemmerer & Co.
Upper Lehigh No. 2. Green Mount'n Butler Tp. Upper Lehigh Upper
Lehigh Coal Co.
Upper Lehigh No. 4. Green Mount'n Butler Tp. Upper Lehigh Upper
Lehigh Coal Co.
Minesville Black Creek Hazle Tp. Hazleton Milnesville
Coal Co.
[p.318]
Latimer No. 1 Black Creek Hazle Tp. Hazleton Pardee
Bros. & Co.
Latimer No. 2 Black Creek Hazle Tp. Hazleton Pardee
Bros. & Co.
Latimer No. 3 Black Creek Hazle Tp. Hazleton Pardee
Bros. & Co.
Hollywood Black Creek Hazle Tp. Hazleton Calvin
Pardee & Co.
Sandy Run Black Creek Foster Tp. Sandy Run M. S.
Kemmerer & Co.
Highland No. 1 Black Creek Foster Tp. Highland G. B.
Markle & Co.
Highland No. 2 Black Creek Foster Tp. Highland G. B.
Markle & Co.
Oakdale No. 1 Black Creek Hazle Tp. Jeddo G. B.
Markle & Co.
Oakdale No. 2 Black Creek Hazle Tp. Jeddo G. B.
Markle & Co.
Deringer Black Creek Black Creek Tp. Deringer Coxe Bros.
& Co.
Drifton No. 1 Black Creek Foster Tp. Drifton Coxe Bros.
& Co.
Drifton No. 2 Black Creek Foster Tp. Drifton Coxe Bros.
& Co.
Drifton No. 3 Black Creek Hazle Tp. Drifton Coxe Bros.
& Co.
Eckley No. 5 Black Creek Foster Tp. Eckley Coxe Bros.
& Co.
Eckley No. 10 Black Creek Foster T. Eckley Coxe
Bros.& Co.
Gowen Black Creek Black Creek Tp. Gowen Coxe Bros.
& Co.
Tomhicken Black Creek Sugar Loaf Tp. Tomhicken Coxe Bros.
& Co.
Oneida (a) Black Creek Sugar Loaf Tp. Tomhicken Coxe Bros.
& Co.
Hazlebrook Hazleton Foster Tp. Hazlebrook J. S.
Wentz & Co.
Humboldt Hazleton Hazle Tp. Hazleton Linderman,
Skeer & Co.
East Sugar Loaf No.1Hazleton Hazle Tp. Stockton Linderman,
Skeer & Co.
East Sugar Loaf No.2Hazleton Hazle Tp. Stockton Linderman,
Skeer & Co.
East Sugar Loaf No.5Hazleton Hazle Tp. Stockton Linderman,
Skeer & Co.
Mt. Pleasant Hazleton Hazle Tp. Hazleton Pardee
Sons & Co.
Stockton Hazleton Hazle Tp. Stockton Coxe Bros.
& Co.
Cranberry Hazleton Hazle Tp. Hazleton A. Pardee
& Co.
Hazelton Hazleton Hazleton Hazleton A. Pardee
& Co.
No. 3 Hazleton Hazleton Hazleton A. Pardee
& Co.
No. 6 Hazleton Hazleton Hazleton A. Pardee
& Co.
Laurel Hill Hazleton Hazleton Hazleton A. Pardee
& Co.
South Sugar Loaf Hazleton Hazle Tp. Hazleton A. Pardee
& Co.
Beaver Brook Beaver Me'd'w Hazle Tp. Audenried C. M.
Dodson & Co.
Spring Mount'n No.4 Beaver Me'd'w Jeansville Jeansville J. C.
Hayden & Co.
a Idle in 1889.
b New establishment, no product in 1889.
Of the coal trade of 1891 and its prospects the Wilkes-Barre Record of October
30 says:
"In the meantime the anthracite coal trade is at its best this year in
production, price and demand. All the roads are shipping as much coal as they
can conveniently handle, and there are evidences that at least two of them are
working to their full capacity. These companies are the Delaware & Hudson, and
the Pennsylvania Coal company. The Lackawanna has a very heavy tonnage, and the
Jersey Central is doing all it can. The latter company, which has no western
outlet, is disposed to find fault with the Reading. In fact all racers for
tonnage find it fashionable to put the onus of the big tonnage on Mr. McLeod. It
can not be denied that Reading is doing a very heavy business, but all the
companies are doing the same thing. The Reading company has several outlets for
coal which it didn't have last year, and it is sending more coal west and south
than it did at that time. The line trade is also larger, but the competitive
tide shipments are very little, if any greater, than in 1890. The trade is,
apparently, taking all the coal which is going to market, and while this is the
case there can be no serious results. It is estimated that the shipments of coal
this month will foot up over 4,000,000 tons as against an allotment of 3,850,000
tons."
The using of the heretofore vast quantities of culm that are piled like
mountains about the mines is now successfully carried on in this county in three
places: Salem, by E. S. Stackhouse; at Swetland, by J. W. Davis, and Glen City,
by the Scotch Valley Coal company, limited.
[p.319] Avondale Disaster. - Monday morning, September 6, 1869, the civilized
world was startled by the news of the disaster at the Avondale mine, situated
one mile below Plymouth in this county, where 108 people perished. Fire broke
out in the shaft at 10 a.m. and soon passed up to the headhouse, and this and
the coal breaker and all the other buildings near the shaft were quickly wrapped
in flames, that first seemed to come up the shaft roaring, like a storm. This
explosion was the first notice the engineer, Alexander Weir, had of the fire,
and so rapidly did it spread in the buildings, that he barely had time to
arrange the machinery to prevent explosion of the boilers and escape without his
hat. The buildings extended 300 feet to the track of the Bloomsburg railroad. At
one time the rows of miners' houses were threatened, but the wind fortunately
carried the flames toward the mountain. The families of the men down in the mine
instantly realized the horror that came so suddenly, and the people for miles of
the surrounding country hurried to the spot. The telegraph called the fire
companies from every surrounding town to Scranton and these, too, hurried by
special trains to stay, if possible, the holocaust.
By the middle of the afternoon the combined fire companies had control of the
fire and a stream of water was poured into the shaft through a tunnel and the
mouth of the shaft cleared and soon preparations made to descend. A small dog
and a lighted lamp were first sent down at 6 o'clock and both came up all right.
Loud calls were made down in the hopes of a response from the men, and many in
that throng of thousands, excited and strung to utmost tension, imagined they
heard a feeble response and the heart-broken wails turned momentarily to
expressions of joy and hope. A volunteer to descend was now called for, and
Charles Vartue stepped forth, took his place in the bucket, and no man probably
ever was followed with more prayers and hopes than was this brave follow as he
descended. He had only gone half way down when he met obstructions in the shaft.
Two fresh men were now sent down. They found a closed door and pounded upon it
but received no answer; returned and reported, and now hope was gone from the
coolest-headed of the crowd; but the families of the imprisoned were wild with
fear and hope still. Two other men were sent down - Thomas W. Williams and David
Jones - a voyage of death to the poor fellows, The deadly gas was rapidly
gathering and had struck them down and they were brought up dead - the first of
the many victims whose bodies were recovered. Air was now pumped into the mine.
Parties of two were now sent down at frequent imtervals and after a few minutes
were hoisted up suffering greatly and many were resuscitated with difficulty.
The first bodies were found the Wednesday following at the stables. At 6:30
o'clock a.m. that day, R. Williams, D. W. Evans, John Williams and William
Thomas descended and made an extended search, and came to a closed brattice in
the east gangway and breaking this down, found the dead, sixty-seven, together,
all grouped in every position in this place where they had shut themselves in;
the others were found in groups and singly in other places of the mine, having
fled as far as possible from the burning shaft.
A relief fund for the families was set on foot and the willing charity of the
people in all parts of the country soon reached the figures of $155,825.10, and
the distribution committee met and agreed upon a plan of distribution. This
meeting was held September 13, following, and the first payment was made October
1, according to the regulations of the respective payments as formulated by the
executive committee, Hendrick B. Wright, George Coray and Draper Smith.
This shocking disaster called the attention of the country to the necessities of
putting up every possible protection for the miners. It was made evident by the
testimony before the coroner's jury that had there been a second outlet to the
mine the men might have been saved. And laws were passed to that effect, as well
as providing mine inspectors much as the laws are now. Still disasters follow,
and at this writing, December, 1891, but a few weeks ago, a quiet Sunday morning
thirteen lives, of the fourteen in the mine were sacrificed by a gas explosion
in a mine.
[p.320] Jeansville Disaster occurred February 4, 1891, and in some respects was
one of the remarkable ones in the history of mining. In the mine operated by T.
C. Hayden, seventeen men were suddenly entombed by the water, and all perished
except four, who in this darkness of horror survived twenty days and were
finally rescued and recovered from the dreadful experience. The mine is at
Jeansville, near the south line of the county and south of Hazleton, a little
over two miles. The protecting wall of a gangway gave way to the waters about 10
o'clock a.m. of that day, and, except the four, all were drowned. These fled to
the slope, where, by getting on a rock near the roof, they were out of reach of
the water, but completely cut off from the outside world. The news of the
disaster was carried around the civilized world, and after trying every possible
experiment and finding thirteen of the dead, in the face of hardly a shadow of a
hope the pumping of the water went on for eighteen days before further
explorations could be made. On the morning of the twentieth day the party heard
voices, and upon calling were answered and the names of the four given. It took
more than half a day to reach them and carry the poor fellows to the slope,
where were physicians, nurses, and every possible precaution to save the
sufferers. Twenty days without light, food or water and hardly room to move
their bodies. Human endurance, it seems, has nearly exhaustless fountains to
draw upon. The imagination can not even make an effort to picture the sufferings
of these poor miners. Less than one more day and all would have been dead.
Nanticoke Disaster, November 8, 1891. - About 4 o'clock of the quiet Sunday
afternoon a terrible explosion shook the ground for a distance around shaft No.1
of the Susquehanna Coal company, which is at the intersection of West Main and
Church streets, Nanticoke borough. The shaft is 1,000 feet deep and works seven
coal seams, and where the explosion occurred is 1,200 feet under ground. Here
fourteen men were at work, all carefully selected or well-known experts, engaged
in changing the air currents to meet new openings in the mines. But fourteen men
were in the mine, and that all feared danger is seen in the fact that Sunday was
selected, when the miners were all out. It is not known how the gas explosion
was caused, whether through a defect in some one of the lamps or otherwise. Of
the fourteen men twelve were instantly killed and the thirteenth mortally hurt,
and even the remaining one was seriously afflicted, though not immediately at
the point of explosion. From this shaft the seven seams worked are the Ross,
Hillman, Lee, Forge, Mills, Twin and George. It is well understood there is more
or less gas in all the mines in this vicinity. Three of the men killed were fire
bosses; Henry R. Jones, aged thirty two, married, two children; John Arnot, aged
thirty-seven, married, three children; and William Jonathan, aged thirty-five,
married, three children.
Lesser accidents from various causes, mostly however gases, are still frequent.
So frequent are fatalities reported that, until one reflects how many people are
delving in the mines, he is apt to conclude that here life is precarious.