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PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA 



A RECORD OF THE 



REMARKABLE INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT OF 

THE KEYSTONE STATE, 



WITH 



SOME ACCOUNT OF ITS EARLY AND ITS LATER 

TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS, ITS EARLY 

SETTLERS, AND ITS PROMINENT MEN. 



BY 

JAMES M. SWANK, 



BBCRBTART AND GENERAL MANAGER OP THE AMERICAN IRON AND STEEL ARSOCIATION POR 
THIRTY-SIX TEARS, FROM 1872 TO 1008. AUTHOR OF A HISTORY OP THE MANUFAC- 
TURE OP IRON IN ALL AGES AND OF OTHER HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS. 



• • !: * ? 



Remember the days of old ; consider the years of many generations ; ask thy father 
and he will shew thee ; thy elders and they yy\\\ tell thee.—- Deuteronomy, xxxii. 7. 
I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.— Psalms, Ixxvll. 5. 



PHILADELPHIA: 
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. 

1908. 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1908, 

BY JAMES M. SWANK, 
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



• • 



Printed by 
* J. B. Lippincott Go. 
The Washington Square Press. 
Philadelphia. 



.*■•. 



PREFACE. 



QD 



This volume contains my final contribution to the industrial history 
of our country and particularly of my native State. My long connection 
with the work of the American Iron and Steel Association has made me 
acquainted with many important facts relating to the industrial develop- 
ment of Pennsylvania, including its systems of transportation, which are 
not to be found in any of the accepted histories of the State but which 
are abundantly worthy of preservation. These I have recorded in the 
following pages. In the arrangement of these facts I have conceived it 
to be necessary to present first a background of the leading incidents in 
the early history of Pennsylvania. In compiling these incidents I have 
given prominence to some features of the early history of the province 
which in my opinion deserve wider recognition than they have received. 
These include the presence of settlers on the Delaware long before the 
g^nting of Penn's charter ; the text of important parts of the charter 
itself ; the people who settled Pennsylvania after the granting of the char- 
ter, including the large number of redemptioners ; the existence of negro 
slavery in Pennsylvania and when and by whom the agitation for its abo- 
lition was set on foot ; the text of the act providing for this abolition, a 
much overrated measure; the cause of the estrangement of the peaceful 
Delaware- Indians ; the physical characteristics of Pennsylvania ; and the 
animal life of the province. After the presentation of these and other 
features of the early history of Pennsylvania I have possed to the means 
of transportation that were employed by the pioneers and by those who 
came after them — the early roads, flatboats, keel boats, ferries, bridges, 
turnpikes, canals, steamboats, and railroads, and these details are followed 
by several chapters which deal with the great productive industries of 
the State. Included in these chapters I have given the early history 
of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's industrial centre and the world's industrial 
wonder. The prominence of Pennsylvania as the leading industrial State 
of the Union is presented in connection with some account of the lead- 
ing industries of the whole country. A chronological chapter follows 
which gives a record of many notable industrial events in the history 
of both the State and the country^ This chapter reaUy embodies a vast 
amount of information the value of which would have justified its pre- 
sentation in more elaborate form. The book closes with a number of 
chapters that are devoted to biographical sketches of some eminent 
Pennsylvanians, most of whom have been prominently identified with the 
history and development of Western Pennsylvania, and some of whom 
have not been honored by their fellow citizens as they have deserved. 

This volume deals with exact statements. My long familiarity with 
the compilation and analysis of industrial statistics has impressed me 
with the value of statistical methods in the presentation of historical 
facts. Hence in the preparation of this volume my aim has been first 
to secure exact information upon such subjects as were deemed worthy 



IV PREFACE. 

of coDsideration and next to present this information in a form as con- 
densed as possible and always in logical and chronological order. Neces- 
sarily at the outset severe limitations had to be placed upon the subjects 
to be treated. The book was not intended to be in any sense a history 
of Pennsylvania — not even an exhaustive history of its leading industries. 
The purpose and scope of the book are fully stated in the title-page. 
Such important subjects as the military history of Pennsylvania and the 
history of its schools of learning, all of which shed lustre on the whole 
history of the State, have been passed over because they were not really 
essential to the proof of the proposition that Pennsylvania is a great 
industrial and every way progressive State. 

In selecting the subjects to be considered in this volume our iron 
and steel industries, the greatest of all the manufacturing industries of 
the State, have received special attention. In dealing with this subject 
I have made free use of my previous historical investigations, particu- 
larly as they are recorded in Iron in AU Ages. I have done this not 
only because that antiquarian volume is but little known to the pres- 
ent generation, making appropriate the reproduction of such of its lead- 
ing facts as relate to Pennsylvania, but because some of the historical 
facts which it records must necessarily be republished in condensed form 
if later details which bring the record of the iron and steel achieve- 
ments of the Commonwealth down to the present time are to possess 
their full significance. 

In "Authorities Consulted" I have given credit to the large num- 
ber of historical and statistical publications that have helped me in the 
preparation of this volimie, quoting freely, with proper credit, from some 
and but slightly if at all from others. The treasures of the library of 
the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and of other Philadelphia libraries 
have been generously opened for my examination. I am also indebted 
to many friends for letters containing historical data of great value. A 
General Index and a Personal Index will assist the reader in his search 
for any particular information. 

As would naturally be supposed by the reader, the utmost pains 
have been taken to prevent the insertion in the following pages of any 
errors affecting dates, proper names, or other historical details. If any 
such errors should be observed, or any serious omissions of historical 
facts, the blame can not be laid to haste in composition. It is simply 
impossible in a work which embraces thousands of names and thousands 
of dates that every one should be correctly given. In the preparation of 
the copy for the book and in the proof-reading I have had the bene- 
fit of valuable suggestions and other help from every member of my 
clerical stafif, an obligation which I cheerfully acknowledge. The tail- 
piece illustrations are reproduced from pen and ink sketches by Miss 
Anna M. Wirth, aU but one being original studies. My thanks are due 
to the J. B. Lippinoott Company for the excellent manner in which the 
book has been printed and bound. j. m. s. 

Philadelphia, No. 261 South Fourth Street, October 1, 1908. 



AUTHOEITIES CONSULTED. 



The Life of William Penn. By Samuel M. Janney. 1852. 

William Pemi. By Augustus C. BueU. 1904. 

Life of John Heckewelder. By the Rev. Edward Rondthaler. 1847. 

Washington and the West. By Archer Butler Hulbert. 1905. 

Washington After the Revolution. By William S. Baker. 1892. 

An Account of the Remarkable Occurrences in the Life and Travels of 

Colonel James Smith. 1799. 
Journal of William Maclay. 178^1791. 1890. 

Memorial of Thomas Potts, Junior. By Mrs. Thomas Potts James. 1874. 
Historical Collections of the State of Pennsylvania. Sherman Day. 1843. 
Early History of Western Pennsylvania and the West. I. D. Rupp. 1846. 
A C^etteer of the State of Pennsylvania. By Thomas F. Gordon. 1832. 
The Dutch and Quaker Colonies in America. By John Fiske. 1901. 
The Making of Pennsylvania. By Sydney George Fisher. 1896. 
Pennsylvania, Colony and Commonwealth. By Sydney George Fisher. 1897. 
The Story of the Palatines. By Sanford H. Cobb. 1897. 
Two Centuries of Pennsylvania History. By Isaac Sharpless. 1900. 
A Quaker Experiment in Government. By Isaac Sharpless. 1902. 
Continental Sketches of Distinguished Pennsylvanians. By D. R. B. Nevin. 
Pennsylvania Dutch and Other Essays. By Phebe Earle Gibbons. 1882. 
The Germans in Colonial Times. By Lucy Forney Bittinger. 1901. 
German Religious Life in Colonial Times. By Lucy Forney Bittinger. 1906. 
The Huguenot Emigration to America! By Charles W. Baird, D.D. 1885. 
Memorials of the Huguenots in America. By Rev. A. Stapleton. 1901. 
The German Sectarians of Pennsylvania. By Julius Friedrich Sachse. 1895. 
The Fatherland. By Julius Friedrich Sachse. 1897. 
German Emigration to America. By Rev. Henry Eyster Jacobs, D.D., 

LL.D. 1898. 
German Exodus to England in 1709. By Frank Ried Diffenderffer. 1897. 
German Immigration into Pennsylvania. Frank Ried Dififenderffer. 1900. 
The Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania. 1899. 
The German and Swiss Settlements of Colonial Pennsylvania. By Oscar 

Kuhns. 1901. 
Recollections of Persons and Places in the West. By H. M. Brackenridge. 
The Revolutionary Movement in Pennsylvania. By Charles H. Lincoln. 
The Old National Road. By Archer Butler Hulbert. 1901. 
Historic Highways of America. By Archer Butler Hulbert. 1904. 
The Ohio River. By Archer Butler Hulbert. 1906. 
History of The People of the United States. By John Bach McMaster. 
Pennsylvania. Pioneer and State. By Albert S. Bolles, Ph.D., LL.D. 1899. 
Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania. By John F. Watson. 1857. 
Old Redstone. By Joseph Smith, D.D. 1854. 
Pioneer Outline History of Northwestern Pennsylvania. By W. J. Mc- 

Knight, M.D. 1905. 
History of American Manufactures. By J. Leander Bishop, M.D. 1861. 
Iron In All Ages. By James M. Swank. 1892. 



VI AUTHORITIES CONSULTED. 

Pennsylvania, Colonial and Federal. By Howard M. Jenkins. 1903. 

Hazard's Gazetteer of Pennsylvania. 

History of Pennsylvania. By Robert Proud. 1798. 

History of Pennsylvania. By William H. Egle. 

Presbyterian Centenary Memorial. Pittsburgh. 1876. 

The Moravian Manual. By Rev. E. De Schweinitz. 1859. 

A History of Bethlehem, Pa. By Bishop Joseph Mortimer Levering. 1903. 

History of Braddock's Expedition. Edited by Winthrop Sargent. 1855. 

The Old Northwest. By B. H. Hinsdale, Ph.D. 1898. 

American Animals. By Stone and Cram. 1902. 

Mammals of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. By Samuel N. Rhoads. 1903. 

The Olden Time. By Neville B. Craig. 1846. 

History of Pittsburgh. By Neville B. Craig. 1851. 

The French in the Allegheny Valley. By T. J. Chapman. 1887. 

Old Pittsburgh Days. By T. J. Chapman. 1900. 

Pennsylvania and the Centennial Exhibition. Official Report. 1878. 

Old Westmoreland. By Edgar W. Hassler. 1900. 

History of the Coimty of Westmoreland. By George Dallas Albert. 1882. 

History of Westmoreland County. By John N. Boucher. 1906. 

The Scotch-Irish. By Charles A. Hanna. 1902. 

The Scotch-Irish in America. Scotch-Irish Society of America. 

History of Somerset County. By WiUiam Welfley. 1906. 

Diary of David Zeisberger. Edited by Eugene F. Bliss. 1885. 

Fort Pitt. By Wm. M. Darlington. 1892. 

History of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. By W. B. Wilson. 1895. 

Fiftieth Anniversary of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. 1896. 

The Monongahela of Old. By James Veech. 

Old and New Monongahela. By John S. Van Voorhis, A.M., M.D. 1893. 

The Old Pike. A History of the National Road. By T. B. Searight. 1894. 

The Oil Regions of Pennsylvania. By William Wright. 1865. 

State Book of Pennsylvania. By Thomas H. Burrowes. 1847. 

Historical Sketch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. 1853. 

Canals and Railroads of the United States. By Henry S. Tanner. 1840. 

Tunneling. By Henry S. Drinker. 1878. 

Transportation Systems in the United States. By J. L. Ringwalt. 1888. 

History of American Steam Navigation. By John H. Morrison. 1903. 

History of the Lumber Industry of America. By James E. Defebaugh. 

History of Fayette County. By FrankHn Ellis. 1882. 

History of Crawford County. 1888. 

History of Bedford, Somerset, and Fulton Counties. 1884. 

History of Cambria County. By Henry Wilson Storey. 1907. 

History of Bucks County. By William W. H. Davis. 1905. 

Cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong Counties. 1891. 

Essays and Speeches of Jeremiah S. Black. By Chauncey F. Black. 1886. 

Historical and Biographical Sketches. By Samuel W. Pennypacker. 1883. 

The Settlement of Germantown. By Samuel W. Pennypacker. 1899. 

Year Books of the Pennsylvania Society. By Barr Ferree. 

The St. Clair Papers. By William Henry Smith. 1882. 

Andrew Carnegie. The Man and His Work. By Barnard Alderson. 1902. 

Reports of the United States Geological Survey. 

Reports of the United States Census. 

And many others. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER PAGE 

1. The Lack of Civic Pride in Pennsylvania 1 

2. The Founding of Pennsylvania 11 

3. The People Who Settled Pennsylvania 26 

4. Redemptioners and Other Bonded Servants 43 

5. Negro Slavery in Pennsylvania 54 

6. The Delaware Indians 70 

7. Physical Characteristics of Pennsylvania 75 

8. Animal Life in Pennsylvania 88 

9. Buffaloes in Pennsylvania 96 

10. Eariy Transportation in Pennsylvania 102 

11. Early Navigation in Pennsylvania ... 114 

12. Early Steamboats in Pennsylvania 124 

13. Early Canals in Pennsylvania ^ 130 

14. The Building of the Pennsylvania Canal 139 

15. The Pennsylvania Canal in Operation 149 

16. Early Railroads in the United States 156 

17. Early Railroads in Pennsylvania 165 

18. The Great Industries of Pennsylvania 174 

19. The Early Iron Industry of Pennsylvania 185 

20. The Manufactiu« of Iron and Steel Rails 202 

21. Cornwall and Other Iron Ores 216 

22. Coal and Coke in Pennsylvania 224 

23. Industries Developed by Pennsylvanians 229 

24. Industries Created by Pennsylvanians 240 

25. Early Chain and Wire Bridges 248 

26. The Early History of Pittsburgh 255 

27. Chronological Record of Important Events 267 

28. The Muhlenberg Family of Pennsylvania 289 

29. General Arthur St. Clair 298 

30. Albert Gallatin 312 

31. A Man of Letters 316 

32. Two Men from Somerset 331 

33. A Champion of Protection 342 

34. Other Noted Western Pennsylvanians 349 




PEOGEESSIYE PENNSYLVANIA. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE LACK OF CIVIC PRIDE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 

Prominent Pennsylvanians have repeatedly and forci- 
bly called attention to the lack of civic pride in Pennsyl- 
vania; and they have had good reason for their criticism. 
It has been truthfully said that we even neglect to claim 
for our military heroes the honors that are their due. The 
winter at Valley Forge, which marked the supreme crisis 
of the Revolution, and the battle of Gettysburg, which de- 
termined the fate of the Southern Confederacy, are events 
in the history of Pennsylvania to which its people might 
point with greater pride than they do. The achievements 
of eminent Pennsylvanians in war and in peace are not 
taught to the children of the State in their school-books 
or commemorated to any considerable extent in monu- 
ments, or statues, or bronze tablets, so that the present 
generation of Pennsylvanians and succeeding generations 
may be reminded of the deeds of these great men and 
be inspired to noble deeds themselves. The story of the 
founding of Pennsylvania by that great man,William Penn, 
is inadequately told in our school histories. The geography 
and the history of Pennsylvania are so imperfectly taught 
in our schools and colleges that many Pennsylvanians 
who are supposed to be liberally educated do not know 
how many capitals the State has had or where and when 
the important battle of Bushy Run was fought. It is not, 
therefore, to be wondered at that a Philadelphia newspa- 
per writer not long ago said that York, Pennsylvania, is 
farther away from Baltimore than Philadelphia. Yet York 
is one of the oldest and one of the most noted cities in 
the State. The Continental Congress sat at York for nine 
months during the Revolution, from September 30, 1777, 
to June 27, 1778, and two signers of the Declaration died 



2 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

and are buried there, Philip Livingston, of New York, and 
James Smith, of Pennsylvania. 

The pioneer settlers of Pennsylvania endured many 
hardships and privations, but their sacrifices and services 
are not conspicuously recognized in our day. Only in a 
mild way do we observe the scriptural injunction: "Re- 
member the days of old; consider the years of many 
generations; ask thy father and he will shew thee, thy 
elders and they will tell thee." The Chinese and all other 
people who worship their ancestors are more to be com- 
mended than the people of Pennsylvania who forget the 
pioneers who laid the foundations of a great State. In 
very few counties in Pennsylvania are there to be found 
societies for the preservation of local history or museums 
for the preservation of historical relics. 

We are all supposed to be patriotic, but patriotism 
and civic pride are not convertible terms. To love one's 
country and to fight for it if necessary is one thing ; to be 
proud of its pioneers, its past history, its great men, its 
industrial achievements, its hospitals and other charities, 
its schools and churches, and the intellectual and moral 
progress of its people is an entirely different thing. Civic 
pride also implies a watchful regard for the good name of 
the town or city and the State in which we have our home. 

New England is noted for its civic pride, and its peo- 
ple are deserving of the highest praise for the veneration 
they constantly show for the memories of their ancestors. 
In its periodical publications, in public addresses, and in 
other ways the history of the early settlement of New 
England, the part it has played in the development of 
the country, and the work of its great men and women 
in the learned professions and in the arts are never for- 
gotten. New England is thus being constantly advertised 
to the outside world and commended to its own people 
for what it has done and for what it is. The literary spirit 
has always been cultivated in New England and it has 
been largely fed by the inspiration of local themes. All 
its great writers have found in its history and customs 
and traditions attractive and inspiring subjects for their 
fertile pens. 



THE LACK OF CIVIC PRIDE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 3 

The civic pride which is found in the Southern States 
is more notable than that of New England. Without 
it there could not have been a four years' war for the 
dissolution of the Union. The great sacrifices which the 
people of the South made in support of the Lost Cause 
could not have been possible but for their pride in them- 
selves and in their ancestors. Almost as one man they 
united in its support. "The first families of Virginia" was 
not in its day an empty phrase ; the people who used it 
were typical of a large class. It illustrated the sentiment 
of intense loyalty to the South and to Southern traditions. 
In the old days Virginians were proud to say that their 
State was the mother of Presidents. And how proud they 
are to-day that General Robert E. Lee was a Virginian ! 
The neighboring State of Ohio has shown far more civic 
pride than Pennsylvania, although^ if the history of the 
two States be closely studied, it has not one-half as much 
to be proud of as Pennsylvania. But see how its people 
have developed a State pride that never ceases to honor 
the men who were born on its soil! 

Abraham Lincoln's ancestors, on both his father's and 
his mother's side, were long residents of Pennsylvania, 
and the name of one of his kinsmen, also named Abraham 
Lincoln, is honorably associated with its history. General 
Grant could trace both his paternal and maternal lineage 
through the blood of Pennsylvanians ; indeed this blood 
was the dominant strain in his veins, his father's mother 
having been Rachel Kelly, of Westmoreland county, Penn- 
sylvania, and his own mother, Hannah Simpson, having 
been born in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. And yet 
very few Pennsylvanians know anything of the Pennsyl- 
vania ancestry of Lincoln and Grant. Both Rachel Kelly 
and Hannah Simpson were of Scotch-Irish extraction. 
The Muhlenberg family of Pennsylvania is one of the 
most distinguished in our country's history, contributing 
as many really great men as any other family in any 
colony or State, but Pennsylvanians are not so familiar as 
they should be with the achievements of these eminent 
Pennsylvania Germans. 

In the literary history of Pennsylvania we have had 



4 PKOGKB88IVB PENNSYLVANIA. 

Bayard Taylor, Thomas Buchanan Read, George H. Boker, 
Henry Charles Lea, the eminent historian, and other writ- 
ers of prominence, but Pennsylvanians do not have that 
regard for the productions of these writers that the peo- 
ple of New England have for the creations of their own 
great writers. We have had our great judges — Wilson, 
and Tilghman, and Gibson, and others, but many Pennsyl- 
vanians do not know that such men have ever lived. If 
they had lived in New England the whole country would 
have heard of them. Bunker Hill monument has no coun- 
terpart in Pennsylvania, although great deeds were done 
on its soil in colonial and Revolutionary days. There is 
a statue of Dr. Benjamin Rush, the distinguished Phila- 
delphian, in Washington City, but none in Philadelphia. 
It was only within the last few years that a creditable 
statue of Franklin was erected in Philadelphia, the gift of 
a private citizen. 

Philadelphia has not erected any monument, or statue, 
or tablet to the memory of its great publicists whose 
watchful care of its manufacturing and other industrial 
interests has greatly contributed to its prosperity as well 
as to the prosperity of the whole country. Mathew and 
Henry C. Carey, William D. Kelley, and Samuel J. Randall 
are especially worthy of being gratefully remembered 
by a city which they so faithfully served and so highly 
honored. In the same class we may also place Stephen 
Colwell, whose great work on The Ways and Means of 
Payment and his other publications should cause Phila- 
delphians to hold his memory in honored remembrance. 
But few Philadelphians know that this man ever lived. 
New England would have thought itself honored if all 
these men had Uved within its borders. 

There is a particularly noticeable lack of civic pride 
in that part of Pennsylvania which lies west of the back- 
bone of the Allegheny mountains and is properly desig- 
nated as Western Pennsylvania. This section of the State, 
embracing over one-third of its territorial extent, possesses 
a history that is rich in great achievements and in great 
men, although settled a full century after the eastern 
section. Its inhabitants, particularly the descendants of 



THE LACK OF CIVIC PRIDE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 5 

its early settlers, have good reason to be proud of its 
prominent place in the industrial world, proud of its con- 
spicuous share in opening to settlement the vast region 
lying west of its own boundaries, proud of its patriotic 
record, proud of its men of renown who have passed to 
the other side and of others whose work is not yet done. 
But these citizens of Western Pennsylvania are singularly 
backward in claiming for their section the honors to which 
it is justly entitled. Their annals are incomplete and dis- 
jointed; there is a lamentable lack of interest in histor- 
ical subjects in all Western Pennsylvania — a greater lack 
than is noticeable in the earlier settled parts of the State. 
There is not published to-day within its borders a single 
historical magazine or other historical periodical. It has 
few public libraries, and those that are worthy of special 
mention have been established in recent years through 
the liberality of one man, and he is not ''native here 
and to the manner born." Its schools of learning and its 
charities have not been generously endowed by its rich 
men, except in one notable instance, in which the munifi- 
cence of the pubUc-spirited citizen already referred to has 
established and endowed a scientific school of wide scope 
and great usefulness. 

Pittsburgh, the second city in Pennsylvania, has no 
monument to the great Pitt, after whom it was named, 
or to Washington, who visited its site in 1753, when he 
wrote in his journal that the point at the junction of the 
Allegheny and Monongahela rivers was ''extremely well 
situated for a fort." Washington's early military experi- 
ence was acquired in efforts to prevent the French from 
seizing and holding the point between these rivers where 
Pittsburgh now stands. There is no memorial stone or 
monument to mark the site of Fort Necessity, in Fayette 
county, which Washington surrendered to the French in 
1754, or to mark the site of Braddock's defeat in 1755, 
or to mark the general's grave on the line of his retreat. 

Among the few Indian relics in Pennsylvania was a 
large flat stone on a farm in Washington county, upon 
which had been carved various curious Indian hieroglyph- 
ics that had attracted wide attention from Revolutionary 



6 PKOGKESBIVB PENNSYLVANIA. 

times. This stone was blown up recently with dynamite 
by the owner of the farm to rid himself of the annoyance 
caused by so many visitors to the stone. With the frag- 
ments he built a smokehouse. 

The trouble with Pennsylvania in all its extent, from 
the Delaware river to the Ohio border, is traceable to 
many causes. In the first place it has a population that 
was originally composed of elements that were not homo- 
geneous, like that of New England and the Southern 
States, which were settled chiefly by people of English 
birth, and that were not even as homogeneous as the pio- 
neer population of Ohio ; hence a certain absence from the 
beginning of what may be termed local pride such as pre- 
vails among a people with a common origin. This lack of 
homogeneity is illustrated in the glorification of the Scotch- 
Irish by Pennsylvanians of Scotch-Irish ancestry and by 
the organization of a strong society composed exclusively 
of descendants of the early German settlers of Pennsylva- 
nia. Notwithstanding many intermarriages these leading 
strains of blood in the settlement of Pennsylvania have 
not yet been thoroughly mingled, nor are they likely to 
be. Then, too, we had the Quaker settlers of English and 
Welsh blood, and we have their descendants to-day, all 
of whom have kept themselves apart from their Scotch- 
Irish and German neighbors to a very large extent. Few 
of these, indeed, have lived in any other part of Penn- 
sylvania than Philadelphia and the adjacent territory. In 
colonial days there were frequent conflicts between the 
dominant Quaker element and the German and Scotch- 
Irish settlers. They seldom agreed about anything. The 
large German and Irish immigration of the last sixty or 
seventy years has introduced other elements that have 
further emphasized the mixed character of the people of 
Pennsylvania. The German immigrants in this period 
have had few points of resemblance to the early German 
settlers, while few of the immigrants from Ireland in the 
same period have been Scotch-Irish. Nor should it be 
forgotten that in the northern and northwestern parts of 
the State and in Philadelphia there is a large infusion of 
New England blood. 



THE LACK OF CIVIC PBIDE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 7 

In the last thirty or thirty-five years the lack of homo- 
geneity among the people of Pennsylvania has been con- 
spicuously and most painfully emphasized in the invasion 
of large sections of the State by hordes of Italians, Slavo- 
nians, and other immigrants of distinctly lower types than 
the original European settlers of Pennsylvania; hence less 
and less civic pride, for what do these people know about 
the past of Pennsylvania or about its present achieve- 
ments ? Most of them do not even speak the English lan- 
guage. They are not Pennsylvanians in any sense. 

The negro population of Pennsylvania has largely in- 
creased since the civil war. This State has a much larger 
negro population than any other Northern State — 156,845 
in the census year 1900. Philadelphia has a larger negro 
population than any other Northern city and a much 
larger negro population than any Southern city except 
Washington, Baltimore, and New Orleans. This negro in- 
vasion has introduced practically a new and largely an 
undesirable element into the population of Pennsylvania, 
and it has brought its own train of evils and given the 
State nothing to be proud of. There are more negro 
voters in Pennsylvania than in any other Northern State. 

If undesirable foreigners and undesirable negroes can 
not be restrained by law from coming into Pennsylvania 
an enlightened public sentiment, which is of the essence 
of civic pride, should be aroused to the necessity of secur- 
ing by some means all possible protection against one of 
the greatest evils that now menace the good name and 
the material and moral well-being of the Commonwealth 
— the debasement of our population. Western Pennsylva- 
nia suffers far more from the influx of undesirable immi- 
grants and undesirable negroes than Central or Eastern 
Pennsylvania. A recent writer points out in the following 
sentences a serious defect in the character of one class 
of present-day immigrants which has thousands of rep- 
resentatives in Pennsylvania. "The weak point in the 
Italian temperament is easily found. It is the hot temper 
and the thirst for revenge that go with their passionate 
natures. That this is a real handicap no one will deny." 
The foreign element and the negro element referred to 



8 PBOGRESSiyE PENN8TLVANIA. 

afford a wide field for missionary work by the churches 
which has heretofore been greatly ne^ected. The present 
situation is simply deplorable. Worthy negroes and wor- 
thy foreigners are, of course, always welcome. 

Another cause of the trouble with Pennsylvania is 
found in the arduous pursuits of many of its people, who 
are now and long have been so largely occupied in such 
exhausting employments as the mining of coal, the mak- 
ing of coke, the manufacture of iron and steel and ^ass, 
the pumping of oil, the building and operating of canals 
and railroads, and the cutting down of forests that they 
have not, as a rule, felt the impulse to consult the few 
authorities which tell of the past and present achieve- 
ments of Pennsylvania, even its industrial achievements, a 
knowledge of all of which is surely essential to the devel- 
opment of civic pride such as Paul felt when he boasted 
that he was '' a citizen of no mean city." 

It may be frankly admitted that the pursuits of a 
people have much to do with their mental development, 
their tastes, and their ambition. The people of Western 
Pennsylvania especially have been so absorbingly devoted 
to the development of its natural resources and so keen to 
embrace its exceptionally favorable business opportuni- 
ties that the less strenuous and more intellectual side of 
life, which appeals to the imagination, to the love of art 
and music and elevating literatiu'e, and which places a 
liberal education above mere money-making, has been in 
large part neglected. Its people have even neglected to 
adequately record the industrial achievements to the ac- 
complishment of which they have been so devoted. West- 
ern Pennsylvania has little literature that tells the world 
what its whole people have done in leading departments 
of human effort. 

Lastly, the physical conformation of Pennsylvania has 
had very much to do with the lack of civic pride among 
its people. The Allegheny mountains form a great natu- 
ral barrier between the eastern and the western parts of 
the State. Over a century elapsed after the first white 
settlements were made on the Delaware before there were 
any white settlements whatever in the Allegheny and 



THE LACK OF CIVIC PKIDB IN PENNSYLVANIA. 9 

Monongahela valleys west of the mountains. Social and 
business intercourse between these sections before the days 
of railroads was infrequent, and nearly all intercourse be- 
tween them to-day is a matter of either business or poli- 
tics. There is more business and social intercoiu'se be- 
tween Philadelphia and New York than between Phila- 
delphia and Pittsbiu-gh. When a rich man in Pittsburgh 
decides to change his residence to another city he moves 
to New York and not to Philadelphia. The interests of 
the two sections are not antagonistic but they are not no- 
tably identical. Speaking generally they were not settled 
by the same races. There are comparatively few Penn- 
sylvania Germans in Western Pennsylvania, and in the 
counties along the Delaware and the Schuylkill there are 
few descendants of Scotch-Irish. A common pride in the 
great names or the great achievements of either section 
has certainly not been promoted by the barrier that has 
been mentioned. It has been said that '' lands intersected 
by a narrow frith abhor each other," and mountain bar- 
riers, even when scaled by railroads, undoubtedly exer- 
cise an unneighborly if not an unfriendly influence. In- 
cidentally it may be mentioned that Pennsylvania is a 
State of very great territorial extent. Very few of its 
citizens have ever visited all of its sixty-seven counties, 
or even the half of them. 

The people who settled Eastern Pennsylvania, even the 
proprietaries who succeeded Penn, did not concern them- 
selves very much about the western part of the State. 
A Dutch writer, of Amsterdam, once innocently gave ex- 
pression to the popular conception of the extent of Penn- 
sylvania which prevailed for many years after its settle- 
ment. He said that Pennsylvania embraces ''an exten- 
sive tract of land, bounded on the east by the Delaware, 
on the north by the present New York, on the west by 
the Allegheny mountains, and on the south by Maryland." 

The lack of civic pride in Pennsylvanians is thus 
seen to be due to several influences, each important and 
all contributing to a condition which every loyal Penn- 
sylvanian must deplore. The time will doubtless come, 
although it may be long delayed, when the citizens of 



10 PKOGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

this great Commonwealth, although justified in boasting 
that they are descended from Scotch-Irish, German, Dutch, 
Huguenot, English, Welsh, or other ancestry, will also be 
proud to say that they are Pennsylvanians and the de- 
scendants of Pennsylvanians, and will point to the monu- 
ments that have been erected and to other evidences that 
they and their fathers have remembered the days of old. 
In the meantime, if there are political or other wrongs 
to be righted in Pennsylvania and they are permitted to 
continue — if our laws for the regulation of the liquor 
traffic and the sweatshops and the employment of children 
in factories and in and about coal mines are not made 
more stringent and more restrictive than they are — ^the 
fault will lie with those who, whatever their boasting, 
still lack the true civic pride that maketh a great people 
and,. next to righteousness, exalteth a nation. 

In the following chapters an attempt will be made to 
show that Pennsylvania is entitled to greater honor than 
she has yet received from her own citizens, and in the 
facts that we shall present particular attention will be 
paid to Western Pennsylvania, whose history has hereto- 
fore been greatly neglected, especially its industrial his- 
tory. First, however, the leading facts which relate to 
the early settlement of the province will be presented. 




THE FOUNDING OF PENNSYLVANIA. 11 



CHAPTER II. 

THE FOUNDING OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

The charter of the province of Pennsylvania was 
granted to William Penn in March, 1681, in consideration 
of a debt of £16,000 due by the king, Charles the Second, 
to his father at the time of the latter's death in 1670. Sir 
William Penn, the father, had been an admiral of distinc- 
tion in the British navy and was a warm personal friend 
of the king. The son, therefore, in reality paid nothing for 
his province except the payments he made to the Indians. 

When Penn received his charter from Charles the Sec- 
ond, and in October of the following year sailed ^up the 
Delaware in the good ship Welcome, he was not the first 
person to attempt the establishment of a colony of Euro- 
peans within the limits of the present Commonwealth of 
Pennsylvania. " Brave men were living before Agamem- 
non." The way had been prepared for Penn's "holy ex- 
periment" by the Swedish and Dutch settlers on both the 
east and the west banks of the Delaware, and even by 
other Englishmen, the Swedes preceding Penn with actual 
settlements by about forty-three years, (1638,) the Dutch, 
after their victory over the Swedes, by about twenty-six 
years, (1655,) and the Duke of York's settlers at Upland 
and elsewhere by about seventeen years, (1664). The 
Dutch were the first Europeans to explore the Delaware, 
but they made no permanent settlements on its west bank 
until after the coming of the Swedes. A few Finns came 
with the Swedes. When Penn came there were Swedish 
settlements on the Delaware above and below the mouth 
of the Schuylkill and on the Schuylkill itself, and up 
the Schuylkill and lower down the Delaware there were 
a few Dutch settlements, while across the Delaware in 
West Jersey and on the west side of the river above and 
below the site of the future Philadelphia there were a few 
English settlements. All these predecessors of Penn estab- 
Ushed and with few exceptions maintained friendly rela- 



12 FROGBESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

tions with the Indians on both banks of the Delaware, so 
that, when Penn came with his colonists and his peaceful 
intentions, it was easy for him to secure the good will of 
these primitive people. Penn was, therefore, in no sense a 
pioneer in the settlement of his province, nor did he have 
to contend with hostile Indians, as many of the pioneers 
in other colonies, and also the early settlers in the interior 
of Pennsylvania in after years, had to do. He is entitled 
to unending praise for the great and wise work that he 
did in founding an empire on the principles of civil and 
religious liberty, which were not so generally recognized in 
that day as they are now, but the Swedes, the Finns, the 
Dutch, and the Duke of York's settlers were, here long 
before the granting of the famous charter. 

Delaware bay was visited by Henry Hudson, then in 
the service of the Dutch East India Company, in 1609, 
and in 1610 it was visited by Captain Samuel Argall, 
commanding an English vessel, who gave it and the river 
the name of Delaware in honor of Lord de la Warr, the 
governor and captain-general of Virginia. The Indians 
had various names for the Delaware river. The Schuylkill 
river is supposed to have been discovered in 1616 by Cap- 
tain Cornelius Hendricksen, in command of a Dutch vessel, 
the Onrust. Hendricksen is said to have named the river 
Schuylkill, which means hidden stream, the story being 
that, in sailing up the Delaware, he did not notice the 
mouth of the Schuylkill, as it was hidden by the over- 
hanging foliage, but he observed it on his return. The 
Delaware Indians called it Ganshowehanne, meaning wav- 
ing stream. 

In 1623 or 1624 Captain Cornelius Jacobson Mey, com- 
manding a vessel owned by Amsterdam merchants, and 
who had previously visited Delaware bay, sailed up the 
Delaware and founded Fort Nassau in New Jersey, nearly 
opposite Philadelphia, as a trading post with the Indians. 
The fort stood for nearly thirty years, when it was aban- 
doned. This was the first settlement of white persons on 
the Delaware of which there is authentic information, 
but it was not in Pennsylvania or in the territory now 
embraced in the State of Delaware. In 1643 the Swedes 



THE FOUNDING OP PENNSYLVANIA. 13 

built Fort Elfsborg, in West Jersey, near the site of the 
present town of Salem, but the fort was abandoned about 
two years after it was built, the Dutch resenting the pres- 
ence of the Swedes in New Jersey. 

In 1631 the Dutch, under David Pietersen DeVries, 
founded a settlement which they called Swanandael, on 
the west side of Delaware bay, at a point near where the 
town of Lewes, in Sussex county, Delaware, is now locat- 
ed. This settlement lasted for about one year, when all 
the inhabitants, about thirty in number, were massacred 
by the Indians. Trading by the Dutch with the Indians 
on the Delaware continued, however, without serious dis- 
turbance or interruption until 1638, in which year a small 
colony, under the auspices of Queen Christina, of Sweden, 
sailed up the Delaware in two ships, commanded by Peter 
Minuet, with the express purpose of founding a permanent 
settlement on the west side of the river. This settlement 
was successfully established at Fort Christina, now Wil- 
mington. Quarrels more or less serious between the Dutch 
and the Swedes for the control of the trade of the Dela- 
ware and the territory on both sides of the river followed 
this settlement. In the meantime many Swedes and Finns 
re-enforced the parent Swedish colony and established 
other settlements, the principal new settlement being at 
Tinicum, below the present Philadelphia. This was the first 
settlement of Europeans within the limits of Pennsylvania. 
It was founded in 1643. The Swedes, who called their new 
country New Sweden, had no serious quarrels with the 
Indians, nor had the Dutch on the Delaware after the mas- 
sacre at Swanandael, although the Swedish poUcy in deal- 
ing with the Indians was always more distinctly peaceable 
than that of the Dutch. The Swedes were mostly farmers 
and they invariably bought their lands from the Indians. 
The Dutch on the Delaware were chiefly traders in beaver 
skins and other furs and were never so numerous as the 
Swedes. As traders they did not hesitate to pay the In- 
dians for their furs with brandy and other liquors, which 
caused most of the troubles that the settlers experienced 
in dealing with them. The Delaware Indians, otherwise 
known as the Lenni Lenape, occupied the land on both 



14 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

sides of the Delaware and were known as River Indians, 
but west of them, on the headwaters of Chesapeake bay, 
were the warlike Susquehannocks, or Minquas, who did 
not live on terms of amity with the Delawares. All the 
domestic animals, the cereals, and garden vegetables were 
brought by the Swedes and Dutch to the Delaware. 

In 1655 the Dutch were successful in establishing 
their supremacy over the Swedes, but they permitted the 
Swedes to remain. Nine years later the* whole Delaware 
country, following the surrender of New York by the 
Dutch to the English, passed under the control of the 
Duke of York, who maintained his rule over the territory 
west of the Delaware, with the exception of about one 
year, until the coming of Penn. When Penn came in 1682 
he first landed at New Castle and a day or two after at 
Upland, now Chester, the former being the capital of the 
Duke of York's possessions on the Delaware. Upland 
was the Swedish capital. The Dutch capital was at Fort 
Amstel, now Newcastle. 

The number of settlers on the west side of the Dela- 
ware at the time of Penn's acquisition of his province can 
only be conjectured. It has been estimated that the total 
number of settlers of all nationalities on the west side 
in 1664, when the Duke of York's rule on the Delaware 
succeeded that of the Dutch, may have amounted to two 
thousand men, women, and children, most of whom were 
Swedes. This was seventeen years before the granting of 
Penn's charter, so that, as both Swedes and English con- 
tinued to increase in numbers, it is a fair presumption 
that the population in 1681 may have amounted to three 
thousand, although Janney thinks that the population in 
this year on the west side of the Delaware was '^ about 
two thousand souls, consisting mostly of Swedes and Eng- 
lish." Most of these settlers were good people and in every 
way worthy material with which to lay the foundations of 
a great commonwealth. Swedish names are to be found 
to-day among the leading families of Eastern Pennsylva- 
nia, and some Pennsylvania famiUes of English origin boast 
of their descent from ancestors who settled on the Dela- 
ware before Penn received his charter. One of the signers 



THE FOUNDING OF PENNSYLVANIA. 15 

of the Declaration of Independence, John Morton, was de- 
scended from a Swedish settler on the Delaware. Colonel 
Robert Anderson, who was in command of Fort Sumter 
at the outbreak of our civil war, was the descendant of 
another Swedish settler. There are many streets in Phila- 
delphia which bear Swedish names. 

We now come to the grant of the province of Penn- 
sylvania to William Penn by Charles the Second and will 
quote literally from that document, which is dated March 
4,1681. The preamble reads as follows: "Charles the 
Second, by the Grace of God King of England, Scotland, 
France, and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c. To all to 
whome these presents shall come Greeting. Whereas our 
Trustie and well beloved Subject, William Penn, Esquire, 
sonn and heire of Sir William Penn, deceased, out of a 
commendable desire to enlarge our English Empire and 
promote such usefuU comodities as may bee of benefit to 
us and our Domiftions, as alsoe to reduce the Savage 
Natives by gentle and just manners to the love of civill 
Societie and Christian Religion, hath humbley besought 
leave of us to transport an ample colonic unto a certaine 
Countrey hereinafter described in the parts of America not 
yet cultivated and planted. And hath likewise humbley 
besought our Royall majestic to give, grant, and confirme 
all the said countrey with certaine privileges and Juris- 
diccons requisite for the good Government and safe tie of 
the said Countrey and Colonic to him and his heirs for- 
ever." 

Then follows the grant in great detail, the material 
parts of which we copy in this paragraph. The territory 
conveyed to Penn by the king embraced, in the exact 
words of the charter, "all that tract or parte of land in 
America, with all the Islands therein conteyned, as the 
same is bounded on the East by Delaware River from 
twelve miles distance Northwarde of New Castle Towne 
unto the three and fortieth degree of Northern latitude if 
the said River doth extend soe farre Northwards ; but if 
the said River shall not extend soe farre Northwarde then 
by the said River soe farr as it doth extend, and from the 
head of the said River the Easterne bounds are to bee de- 



16 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

termined by a meridian line to be drawn from the head of 
the said River unto the said three and fortieth degree, the 
said lands to extend Westwards five degrees in longitude, 
to bee computed from the said Eastern Bounds, and the 
said lands to bee bounded on the North by the beginning 
of the three and fortieth degree of Northern latitude, and 
on the south by a circle drawn at twelve miles distance 
from New Castle Northwards, and Westwards unto the be- 
ginning of the fortieth degree of Northern latitude ; and 
then by a straight line Westwards to the Umitt of Longi- 
tude above mentioned, . . . And him the said William 
Penn, his heirs and assignes. Wee Doe, by this our Royall 
Charter, for us, our heirs and successors, make, create and 
constitute the true and absolute proprietaries of the 
Countrey aforesaid, and of all other the premises, saving 
always to us, our heirs and successors, the faith and alle- 
giance of the said WiUiam Penn, his heks and assignes, 
and of all other, the proprietaries, tenants and Inhabitants 
that are or shall be within the Territories and precincts 
aforesaid ; and saving alsoe unto us, our heirs and Succes- 
sors, the Sovreignity of the aforesaid Countrey, To Have, 
hold, possesse and enjoy the said tract of Land, Countrey, 
Isles, Inletts and other the premises, unto the said Will- 
iam Penn, his heirs and assignes, to the only proper use 
and behoofe of the said William Penn, his heires and as- 
signes forever. . . . And of our further grace certaine 
knowledge and meere mocon, wee have thought fitt to 
Erect, and wee doe hereby Erect the aforesaid Country 
and Islands into a province and Seigniorie, and doe call 
itt Pensilvania, and soe from henceforth wee will have itt 
called." 

It is a somewhat remarkable fact that the boundaries 
of the province of Pennsylvania as above defined, not- 
withstanding many territorial controversies with other col- 
onies, correspond almost exactly with the present bound- 
aries of Pennsylvania, the Erie trian^e constituting al- 
most the only variation, and this bit of territory was ac- 
quired after the close of the Revolution. 

The following provision of the charter, appointing 
William Penn the commanding general of any army to be 



THE FOUNDING OF PENNSYLVANIA. 17 

raised and employed in his province, and authorizing him 
to ''make war as well by sea as by land/' is of special in- 
terest when Penn's peaceable and nonresistant convictions 
are considered: ''And because in soe remote a Countrey, 
and scituate neare many Barbarous Nations, the incur- 
sions as well of the savages themselves, as of other ene- 
mies, pirates and Robbers, may pbably be feared. There- 
fore, Wee have given and for us, our heires and succes- 
sors, Doe give power by these presents unto the said Will- 
iam Penn, his heires and assignes, by themselves or their 
Captaines or other their officers to levy, muster, and traine 
all sorts of men, of what condicon, or whatsoever borne, in 
said pvince of Pensylvania, for the time being, and to 
make warr and pursue the enemies and Robbers afore- 
said, as well by Sea as by Land, yea, even without the 
Limits of the said pvince, and by God's assistance to 
vanquish and take them, and being taken to put them to 
death by law of Warr, or to save them att theire pleasure, 
and to doe all and every other act and thing which to 
the charge and office of a Captaine generall of an Army 
belongeth, or hath accustomed to belong, as fully and 
ffreely as any Captaine Generall of an Army hath ever 
had the same." 

The charter having been granted Penn made immedi- 
ate preparations to secure settlers for his province and to 
develop its resources. The Free Society of Traders was 
organized to promote both these objects ; pamphlets were 
prepared by his own hand and widely circulated either as 
a whole or in part in Holland, Germany, and France, as 
well as in England and Wales, presenting the advantages 
of his province as a home for all who were dissatisfied 
with their surroundings; an elaborate ''frame of govern- 
ment" for the province was also prepared by his own 
hand; and in a general way his time was busily occupied 
for a year and a half in the work of perfecting all the de- 
tails that were necessary to insure to his " holy experi- 
ment" a good start and ultimate prosperity. In June, 
1681, Penn's cousin, William Markham, reached New York 
on his way to Pennsylvania as Penn's commissioner to 

establish his authority in the province, which was done at 

2 



18 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

Upland on August 3 of that year, Upland remaining the 
capital of the province until it was superseded the next 
year by Philadelphia. Other commissioners soon followed 
Markham. In the same year several vessels left England 
for Pennsylvania, bringing many settlers. The additional 
commissioners were surveyors. 

In the spring of 1682 Markham and the other com- 
missioners selected the territory now embraced in the cen- 
tral part of Philadelphia as the site of the future capital 
and commercial city, and during the spring and summer 
Markham obtained titles from the Indians to large tracts 
of territory both within and outside the limits of Philadel- 
phia, extending into the present counties of Bucks, Ches- 
ter, and Montgomery. A survey of the city into streets, 
alleys, lots, and reservations from the Delaware to the 
Schuylkill and from Vine street to South street was un- 
dertaken, but this survey was not completed until 1683. 
In the meantime Penn arrived in the province in October, 
1682, as has been stated, his ship, the Welcome, bringing 
about seventy colonists. Other ships came in the same 
year, both before and after Penn's arrival, bringing hun- 
dreds of English and Welsh settlers. In all twenty-three 
vessels arrived in the province in 1681 and 1682. Many 
other vessels followed in 1683, adding largely to the popu- 
lation of the province. Nearly all the immigrants in the 
first three years were EngUsh and Welsh, and the most 
of them were Friends, or Quakers. A large majority were 
English. In August, 1683, Penn wrote a letter to the Free 
Society of Traders in which he said : " The planted part 
of the province is cast into six counties, Philadelphia, 
Buckingham, Chester, Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex, con- 
taining about four thousand souls. . . . Two General 
AssembUes have been held." In the same letter he said 
that Philadelphia then contained ''about fourscore houses 
and cottages." In a letter written in the same year to the 
Duke of Ormonde, probably late in the year, Penn said : 
''Our town of Philadelphia is situated between two navi- 
gable rivers, having from 4 to 10 fathoms of water, about 
150 houses up in one year, and 400 country settlements." 
In 1684 the population of the province is estimated to 



THE FOUNDING OP PENNSYLVANIA. 19 

have amounted to seven thousand men, women, and 
children, one-third of whom lived in Philadelphia. 

On December 4, 1682, the first General Assembly for 
the province convened at Upland, in accordance with 
Penn's "frame of government." Penn himself was pres- 
ent. He had previously changed the name of Upland to 
Chester, so naming it after Chester in England. The As- 
sembly passed an act uniting with Pennsylvania the three 
counties afterwards embraced in the State of Delaware. 
The three Pennsylvania counties and the three Delaware 
counties were organized and their boundaries determined 
at the same session of the Assembly. In March, 1683, the 
Assembly first met in Philadelphia, which thereafter re- 
mained the capital of the province. It is interesting to 
note that the term General Assembly, which is the pres- 
ent name of the legislative branch of the government of 
Pennsylvania, appears in Penn's "frame of government" 
and probably originated with him. 

Philadelphia received its name from Penn, who se- 
lected it before he left England and even before its exact 
location was determined. In a letter written by him in 
1684 he apostrophizes the new city as follows : " And thou, 
Philadelphia, the virgin settlement of this province, named 
before thou wast born." Its meaning, brotherly love, was 
particularly appropriate in view of Penn's religious views. 
Philadelphia is the name of a city in Asia Minor and is 
mentioned in the third chapter of the Revelation of St. 
John the Divine. It may be that Penn, in choosing the 
name Philadelphia, had also in mind the sentiment ex- 
pressed in the eighth verse of the chapter referred to : 
" Behold, I have set before thee an open door.^' After 
Penn's arrival he purchased from three Swedish brothers, 
named Swenson, several hundred acres of land at the 
junction of the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers, embracing 
the settlement known as Wicaco, and he made other pur- 
chases of land both from the Swedes and the Indians. 

In August, 1684, Penn returned to England. He had 
resided in Pennsylvania for nearly two years. He did not 
revisit his province until December, 1699, again remaining 
almost two years, until October, 1701, when he returned 



20 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

to England, never again to see the shores of the Dela- 
ware. After the latter year the immigration of English 
and Welsh Friends virtually ceased. 

Penn obtained his title to the territory now compris- 
ing the State of Delaware from the Duke of York in 1682 
and not from his charter. The consideration which Penn 
agreed to pay to the Duke of York, afterwards James the 
Second, was only nominal. The three counties into which 
this territory was divided were granted a separate legis- 
lature by Penn in 1703, but they were otherwise subject 
to the control of the authorities of Pennsylvania until 
1776, when they were organized into an independent State. 
William Penn and the Duke of York were warm friends. 

Philadelphia and the surrounding country grew rapidly 
after Penn had come into personal touch with his province 
and in the years immediately following his first visit. Law 
and order were at once established through the ''frame of 
government'' which he had prepared. Hundreds of houses 
were built and hundreds of farms were opened. Roads in 
the neighborhood of Philadelphia took the place of bridle 
paths. Wagonmakers, plowmakers, blacksmiths, carpen- 
ters, and other mechanics were kept busy from year to 
year. Mills for grinding grain and sawing lumber were 
built. Other industries followed the primitive industries 
that the Swedes and other early settlers had established. 
Ships were built and trade with the mother country and 
with other colonies and the West Indies was soon in ac- 
tive operation. Many of the early Philadelphians were ex- 
perienced merchants. Peace with the Indians was main- 
tained because Penn always insisted that they be fairly 
treated and that their lands be paid for. There was 
a continuous stream of immigration, English and Welsh 
Friends, or Quakers, largely predominating in the early 
years, as has been stated, but Episcopalians from England 
soon came in large numbers, as well as representatives of 
other sects and nationalities to be mentioned hereafter. 

The Swedes continued to form an important element 
in the population of the colony. In 1700 the Swedish Lu- 
therans built the celebrated "Old Swedes" church at Wi- 
caco, in the southern part of Philadelphia, which is still 



THE FOUNDING OF PENNSYLVANIA. 21 

I 

standing in good repair and in use. Before the coming 
of Penn many Swedes had settled in the present Mont- 
gomery county. In 1701 a colony of Swedes from the 
Delaware settled in Berks county and before 1720 they 
built a church at Douglass ville. There is to-day an "Old 
Swedes" church at Norristown and there are other "Old 
Swedes" churches still standing in Delaware. 

Referring again to the building of ships in Pennsyl- 
vania the following extract from Colonel Buell's biography 
of William Penn claims for him a new honor : "More than 
a hundred houses were built in Philadelphia during the 
summer of 1683 and Penn had a small ship built for the 
account of the Free Society of Traders. She was called 
the Amity. This was the beginning of shipbuilding in 
Philadelphia, an art in which the city has excelled from 
that day to this. It is interesting to note that, though 
the Amity*8 hull and spars were new and built of Ameri- 
can timber, her ironwork, standing rigging, and much of 
the running rigging were taken from an old brig of the 
same name which had brought over a load of emigrants 
the previous fall and was then condemned and broken 
up at Chester, having nearly foundered on the voyage. 
No sea-going vessel was built in Massachusetts until four- 
teen years after the landing of the Pilgrims. But Penn 
built a ship in Philadelphia within three years from the 
signing of his charter." 

When Penn returned to his province in 1699, after an 
absence of fifteen years, during which period he passed 
through many tribulations on its account, he found it in 
a prosperous condition from almost every point of view. 
Its population at this time numbered about twenty thou- 
sand. The "holy experiment," although it was destined 
to give its author still further trouble of a serious nature 
which need not be dwelt upon, was now an assured success. 
The population of Pennsylvania at the time of William 
Penn's death in 1718 is estimated to have amounted to 
forty thousand, of whom one-half were Quakers and one- 
fourth of the whole number lived in Philadelphia. 

William Penn was born in London on October 14, 
1644, and died at Ruscombe on July 30, 1718, aged almost 



22 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

74 years. For many years before his death he was greatly 
distressed in mind and body. We need not devote further 
space to the connection of this great man with the up- 
building of a great commonwealth. No people ever had 
a wiser leader or one whose infiuence for good has been 
more widely diffused or more generally recognized. 

We presume that there are but few persons who do 
not believe that Pennsylvania was so named by William 
Penn, and named, too, after himself. Not only are both 
of these suppositions incorrect but the origin of the name 
is involved in some obscurity. Day says : " By the king's 
order, much against Penn's inclination, the new province 
was to be called Pennsylvania, in honor of the services of 
his illustrious father.'' Hazard quotes from official records 
to show that, when the privy council of Charles the Sec- 
ond submitted to him the draft of the charter of the prov- 
ince, 'Hhere being a blank left for the name their lordships 
agree to leave the nomination of it to the king." Janney 
gives the full title of the privy council as the "Committee 
of the Privy Council for the Affairs of Trade and Planta- 
tions." The day after the charter was granted to Penn he 
wrote a letter to his friend, Robert Turner, in which he 
gave the particulars of the naming of his province. The 
essential parts of that letter we quote verbatim as follows : 

" Thine I have and for my business here know that, 
after many waitings, watchings, solicitings, and disputes in 
council, this day my country was confirmed to me under 
the great seal of England, with large powers and privile- 
ges, by the name of Pennsylvania, a name the king would 
give it in honour of my father. I chose New Wales, being 
as this, a pretty hilly country ; but Penn being Welsh for 
a head, as Penmanmoire, in Wales, and Penrith, in Cum- 
berland, and Penn, in Buckinghamshire, the highest land 
in England, called this Pennsylvania, which is the high 
or head woodlands; for I proposed, when the secretary, a 
Welshman, refused to have it called New Wales, Sylvania, 
and they added Penn to it ; and though I much opposed it, 
and went to the king to have it struck out and altered, he 
said it was past, and would take it upon him; nor could 
twenty guineas move the under-secretary to vary the 



THE FOUNDING OF PENNSYLVANIA. 23 

name; for I feared lest it should be looked on as vanity 
in me, and not as a respect in the king, as it truly was, 
to my father, whom he often mentions with praise." 

At first sight the reader will probably conclude that 
to the king do we owe the whole of the name of Pennsyl- 
vania, but a second look will convince him that we are 
indebted to Penn for the Sylvania portion of it. So much 
seems to be clear and unquestionable. But it is not so 
clear from whom came the prefix Penn. Penn, having at 
first stated with much positiveness that "the king would 
give" to the province "the name of Pennsylvania," and 
having subsequently stated that he proposed Sylvania, we 
naturally hesitate to receive the remainder of his state- 
ment without a careful analysis of its meaning. Failing 
to obtain the adoption of the name New Wales, Penn, 
as we have seen, proposed Sylvania, and immediately 
afterwards remarks that ''they added Penn to it." To 
whom does the term "they" refer? There are three con- 
siderations which point to the secretary and his assistants 
as the persons meant. First, if Penn had meant the king it 
is to be presumed that he would have said so; second, the 
term is plural, not singular; third, Penn offered to pay 
the under-secretary to omit the prefix, which Penn would 
hardly have done if the king had ordered it to be in- 
serted. So far the evidence points from the king. But 
Penn straightway proceeds to give evidence on the other 
side as follows : " for I feared lest it should be looked on 
as a vanity in me, and not as a respect in the king, as it 
truly was, to my father." 

And this is the history of the naming of Pennsylvania. 
That the king's privy council, in submitting to His Majesty 
the draft of the charter of the province, left to him the 
selection of a name therefor Hazard expressly states and 
proves before giving the Turner letter, but that the king 
exercised the privilege is not proved from that letter or 
from anything else that has been written. And yet, that 
the king was determined that the name of the province 
should be Pennsylvania is shown conclusively by the 
exact words of the charter, in which the king says that 
"wee doe hereby . . . call itt Pensilvania, and soe from 



24 PROGRESSIVE PJBNNSYLVANIA. 

henceforth wee will have itt called." Penn's fear that the 
name of Pennsylvania would be attributed to a desire on 
his part to perpetuate his own name in that of his prov- 
ince has been realized in the popular opinion of the day. 

There was ample precedent for the use by Penn of the 
name New Wales. The impulse to prefix the word "new" 
to the names of provinces and towns was a strong one 
with the founders of empire on this continent. There were 
New France, New England, New Netherlands, New Am- 
sterdam, New York, New Jersey, and New Sweden. Why 
not New Wales 1 

In the early days of its history Pennsylvania was fre- 
quently referred to in written and printed documents as 
Pennsylvania, Pennsilvania, and Pensilvania, even the char- 
ter to Penn spelling the name in different ways. In 1698 
Gabriel Thomas printed in London An Historical and Ge- 
ographical Account of the Province and Country of Pensil- 
vania and of West Jersey in America, This spelling is 
found in Reynier Jansen's Abstract or Abridgment of the 
Laws, etc., printed in Philadelphia in 1701. As late as 
1714 the title page of the laws of Pennsylvania, printed 
by Andrew Bradford in Philadelphia in that year, reads 
as follows : The Laws of the Province of Pennsilvania, col- 
lected into One Volumn, by Order of the Governor, etc. 

A few years after he had founded Philadelphia Penn 
proposed to make "a second settlement'' in his province 
upon a scale somewhat similar to the plan of Philadelphia 
itself. This scheme Penn made public in England in 1690 
in a formal prospectus, a fac simile of which has been pub- 
lished by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, entitled 
" Some Proposals for a Second Settlement in the Province 
of Pennsylvania," from which we quote as follows : 

'* It is now my purpose to make another settlement, 
upon the river of Susquehannagh, that runs into the Bay 
of Chesapeake, and bears about fifty miles west from the 
River Delaware, as appears by the common maps of the 
English Dominion in America. There I design to lay out 
a plat for the building of another city, in the most con- 
venient place for the communication with the former plan- 
tations on the East; which by land is as good as done 



THE FOUNDING OF PENNSYLVANIA. 25 

already, a way being laid out between the two rivers very 
exactly and conveniently at least three years ago; and 
which will not be hard to do by water, by the benefit of 
the River Scoalkill; for a branch of that river Ues near 
a branch that runs into Susquehannagh river, and is the 
common course of the Indians with their skins and furs 
into our parts, and to the Provinces of East and West 
Jersey and New York, from the west and northwest parts 
of the continent from whence they bring them. . . . 

''To conclude, that which -particularly recommends this 
settlement is the known goodness of the soyle, and scit* 
nation of the land, which is high and not mountainous; 
also the pleasantness and largeness of the river, being 
clear and not rapid and broader than the Thames at Lon- 
don-bridge, many miles above the place designed for this 
settlement ; and runs (as we are told by the Indians) quite 
through the Province, into which many fair rivers empty 
themselves. The sorts of timber that grow there are 
chiefly oake, ash, chesnut, walnut, cedar, and poplar. The 
native fruits are pawpaws, grapes, mulberys, chesnuts, and 
several sorts of walnuts. There are likewise great quanti- 
ties of deer, and especially elks, which are much bigger 
than our red deer, and use that river in herds. And fish 
there is of divers sorts and very large and good and in 
great plenty." 

The scheme of founding a second Philadelphia on the 
Susquehanna appears to have never taken shape. But 
Penn's prospectus shows that as early as 1690 all fear of 
trouble with the Indians between the Delaware and the 
Susquehanna had been dispelled, if it had ever seriously 
existed, and that some progress had been made at that 
time toward the extension of white settlements to the 
Susquehanna. His description of the Susquehanna region, 
its trees, animals, etc., is also valuable. It is also an in- 
teresting fact that three years before the prospectus was 
issued, as early as 1687, a "way'' had been "laid out" be- 
tween the Delaware and the Susquehanna rivers. This 
" way " was undoubtedly the road up the west bank of the 
Schuylkill to the mouth of French creek and thence to the 
Susquehanna at or near the mouth of Conestoga creek. 



26 FROORE8SIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 



CHAPTER HI. 

THE PEOPLE WHO SETTLED PENNSYLVANIA. 

The settlement of Pennsylvania under Penn's charter 
could not be confined to emigrants from England and 
Wales, nor did Penn wish that it should be so confined, or 
that it should be limited to people of his own faith. On 
the contrary he encouraged all the discontented of Great 
Britain and of Continental countries to help him to settle 
his province : all were welcome. Next to his own coun- 
trymen and to members of the Society of Friends espe- 
cially he caused the attractions which Pennsylvania pre- 
sented to be widely known in the Rhine countries, where 
civil and religious persecution was active, cruel, and re- 
lentless, and where poverty was most pinching and op- 
pressive. His name and his liberal views upon all ques- 
tions of religion and of civil government were well known 
in these countries before he received his charter. His 
mother was Margaret Jasper, a native of Holland, the 
daughter of John Jasper, an English merchant living in 
Rotterdam. In 1671 and again in 1677 Penn had visited 
Holland and Germany to preach the Friends' doctrines, 
which in some respects did not differ widely from the re- 
ligious views of the Mennonites in those countries and in 
Switzerland and in other respects fully agreed with them, 
so much so that the Mennonites after their removal to 
Pennsylvania were very often called German Quakers. 
Before either of Penn's visits, however, there were in both 
Holland and Germany a few adherents of the Friends' 
doctrines as they were taught by George Fox and others. 
After the charter for Pennsylvania had been granted it 
was therefore only natural that many of the impoverished 
and oppressed people of the Rhine countries, Holland, Ger- 
many, France, and Switzerland, should turn their thoughts 
to this province as a refuge from all their troubles. Many 
of these came in the early years after Penn had received 
his charter and many thousands came afterwards. 



THE PEOPLE WHO SETTLED PENNSYLVANIA. 27 

The first emigrants from the Continent who accepted 
Penn's invitation were led by Francis Daniel Pastorius, a 
well born and highly educated native of Sommerhausen, 
Germany, who was bom in 1651 and became a lawyer of 
distinction and an enthusiast in promoting the welfare 
of his countrymen whose religious views he shared. In a 
general sense he was a Pietist, a term which, broadly in- 
terpreted, designated all those German Protestants who did 
not believe in dogmas or formal modes of worship. His 
parents were Lutherans. As a Pietist he fraternized with 
the Mennonites. After coming to Pennsylvania he affiliat- 
ed with the Friends, as did also many Mennonites. The 
Mennonites were a numerous sect, found in Holland, the 
Rhine provinces of Germany, and Switzerland, their name 
being derived from Menno Simons, a Catholic priest, a na- 
tive of Holland, who had abandoned his church and had 
become the leader of the reformed Anabaptists. He was 
born in Friesland, Holland, in 1505 and died in 1561. 
Pastorius, anxious to emigrate to a land where civil and 
religious liberty prevailed, was easily induced to become 
the agent of some enterprising Germans who had purchas- 
ed from William Penn many thousand acres of land in 
the vicinity of Philadelphia. He arrived in Philadelphia 
in August, 1683, while Penn was still here and personally 
directing the affairs of his province, and was a few weeks 
afterwards followed by thirteen Mennonite families, em- 
bracing thirty-three persons, from Crefeld, a German town 
on the border of Holland, some of whom were Germans 
while others were Hollanders. On the land acquired from 
Penn by these Crefelders and others Pastorius founded 
Germantown on October 24, 1683, and he gave it its name. 
The original settlers were soon followed by other Mennon- 
ites, mostly farmers, some of whom were Germans, oth- 
ers Hollanders, and others Swiss. In 1702 a settlement of 
Mennonites was made on Skippack creek, in what is now 
Montgomery county, but in the meantime many Mennon- 
ites and others had opened farms nearer to Germantown. 

The first settlers of Germantown, including the Cre- 
felders, were mostly weavers, and they at once began the 
manufacture of woolen and linen fabrics. Gabriel Thomas 



28 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

says that Germantown linen was ''such as no person of 
quality need be ashamed to wear." Other mechanical in- 
dustries were added as the immigrant population increas- 
ed. Germantown soon became known as a manufacturing 
town. It was the first distinctively manufacturing town 
in Pennsylvania. One of its early industries was the 
knitting of hosiery, an industry which survives to-day. 

On March 7, 1684, Pastorius wrote from Philadelphia 
as follows: ''Here and there towns are being built. Be- 
side our own one by name Franckfurt, about half an hour 
from here, is beginning to be started, where also a mill 
and glass factory are built. Not far from there, namely, 
two hours from here, lies our Germantown, where already 
forty-two people live in twelve homes, who are for the 
most part linen weavers and not much given to agriculture." 

Among the early industries estabUshed at Germantown 
or in its immediate vicinity was the manufacture of paper. 
Some time before 1690 Willem Rittinghuysen, a Mennonite 
minister, built a paper mill on a small tributary of the 
Wissahickon, which Bishop says was the first paper mill in 
the colonies. Rittinghuysen was a native of Guelderland, 
a province of Holland. About 1688 he emigrated to Ger- 
mantown from Arnheim on the Rhine, the capital of Guel- 
derland. For generations the family had been engaged in 
the manufacture of paper. After the industry on the Wis- 
sahickon had been established by Willem Rittinghuysen 
it continued to be carried on in the same locality by his 
descendants for many generations. His great-grandson, 
David Rittenhouse, the astronomer, and the leading Ameri- 
can scientist in the colonial and Revolutionary periods, 
eminent also for his services to the cause of the colonists 
during the Revolution, was born at Germantown on April 
8, 1732, and died in Philadelphia on June 26, 1796. On 
April 14, 1792, Rittenhouse was appointed by President 
Washington the first director of the United States Mint. 
There is a street in Germantown called Rittenhouse 
street, and one of the aristocratic sections of Philadelphia 
is called Rittenhouse square. 

Pastorius became the schoolmaster, lawyer, and general 
adviser of the Germantown settlers, and until his death, 



THE PEOPLE WHO SETTLED PENNSYLVANIA. 29 

which occurred in 1719, he exerted great influence among 
them and among other Pennsylvania pioneers long after 
Germantown had become the centre of a large immigration 
of Germans and others. He was a justice of the peace 
and a member of the General Assembly. He is worthy 
of remembrance as the leader among the German settlers 
of Penn's province, and also because of the nobility of his 
character and his many scholarly and other accomplish- 
ments. He was master of several languages and wrote 
much on various subjects. His pen was freely used in 
commending Pennsylvania to his countrymen and to oth- 
ers in the Rhine provinces, and many of these, especially 
Mennonites, came to Pennsylvania through his representa- 
tions. In the early history of Pennsylvania Pastorius was 
undoubtedly, next to William Penn, the most influential 
and the most accomplished of all the emigrants who came 
from any country. His name is eminently worthy of be- 
ing associated by all Pennsylvanians with that of William 
Penn himself. Penn said of him that he was ''sober, up- 
right, wise, and pious — a man everywhere esteemed and of 
unspotted name." That the two men were close friends is 
made plain in the following extract from a letter written 
by Pastorius in March, 1684, in which he gives us a beau- 
tiful picture of the great Quaker. He says : " My pen (al- 
though it is from an eagle, which a so-called savage recent- 
ly brought into my house,) is much too weak to express 
the lofty merits of this Christian, for such he is indeed. 
He invited me very often to his table, also to walk and 
ride in his always elevating society ; and when I was last 
away from here for eight days, to bring victuals from New 
Castle, and he had not seen me for that length of time, he 
came himself to my little house and requested that I should 
still come two or three times to his home as his guest. He 
was very fond of the Germans and once said openly in my 
presence to his councillors and attendants : ' The Germans 
I am very fond of and wish that you should love them 
also,' although I never at any other time heard a similar 
command from him ; but these pleased me the more be- 
cause they entirely conform to the command of God (vid. 
1 John 3: 23). I can now say no more than that Will. 



30 PROGRESBIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

Penn is a man who honors God; and is by Him honored 
in return, who loves good, and is by all good men rightly 
loved, etc. I do not doubt that others will yet come her© 
and learn by experience that my pen has not written 
enough in this direction." 

The Mennonites who settled Germantown were not the 
first of their faith who came to the Delaware. Historians 
tell us that about 1662 twenty-five Mennonites from Hol- 
land, under the leadership of Peter Cornelius Plockhoy, es- 
tablished a small colony on the west side of the Delaware, 
at a place called Hoornkill, on or near the site of the un- 
fortunate Swanandael, and that in 1664 these '' defenseless 
Christians" were dispersed by the Duke of York's soldiers, 
their subsequent fate, except that of their leader, being 
unknown. Plockhoy and his wife, long years afterwards, 
found their way in their old age to Germantown, where 
they were tenderly . cared for until they died. 

Nor were the Crefelders who founded Germantown the 
first Germans to settle on the Delaware. In the same let- 
ter from which we have already quoted Pastorius says: 
'' In regard to the inhabitants I can do no better than 
divide them into the natural and the cultivated. . . . 
Concerning these first cultivated foreigners I will say no 
more now than that among them are found some Germans 
who have already been in this country twenty years, and 
so have become, as it were, natiiralized, namely, people 
from Schleswig, Brandenburg, Holstein, Switzerland, etc." 

Following the Mennonite settlement of Germantown in 
1683 came members of the long established German Re- 
formed and Lutheran denominations, who were chiefly Ger- 
mans from the Palatinate, where religious persecution and 
the horrors of devastating war had long prevailed. At first 
only a few of each denomination came, some of whom set- 
tled in Germantown but the most of whom settled in the 
Schuylkill valley and in the Delaware valley above Phila- 
delphia, but their numbers steadily increased, and soon 
after 1700 many thousands of each sect and of Mennonites 
had settled in Bucks, Montgomery, Lehigh, Northampton, 
and Berks counties. The Mennonites entered the Cones- 
toga valley in Lancaster county in 1709. It has been esti- 



THE PEOPLE WHO SETTLED PENNSYLVANIA. 31 

mated that in 1731 there were 17,000 Lutherans in Penn- 
sylvania and 15,000 German Reformed. No trustworthy 
estimate of the number of other so-called German sects 
in Pennsylvania at that time is available. 

Accompanying some of the colonists above mentioned 
were many French Huguenots, largely from the provinces 
of Alsace and Lorraine, who had been driven from their 
country by religious persecution, culminating in the Revo- 
cation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. At the time of their 
immigration to Pennsylvania these Huguenots came from 
the Palatinate and adjoining Rhine countries, including 
Switzerland, in which countries they had originally found 
refuge. Because of this association with these Protestant 
neighbors the Huguenots were usually identified and con* 
founded with them. All these emigrants generally settled 
together when they came to Pennsylvania, the principal 
exceptions being in the Oley valley, in Berks county, and 
in the Pequea valley, in Lancaster county, in which almost 
exclusively Huguenot settlements were made, the former 
in 1712 and the latter, under the leadership of Madame 
Ferree, in 1710 and 1712. There is an Alsace township, 
adjoining Oley township, in Berks county. 

In the decades immediately succeeding the settlement 
of Germantown members of other Continental sects of 
numerically minor importance than the Mennonites, Ger- 
man Reformed, and Lutherans came to Pennsylvania and 
settled in the Schuylkill and Delaware valleys and at 
Germantown and in its neighborhood. One of the most 
numerous of these minor sects was known as the Dunk- 
ards, who came to Pennsylvania in considerable numbers 
in 1719 and afterwards, coming first to Germantown, where 
many remained, others going into the valleys above men- 
tioned. Twenty Dunkard families arrived in Philadelphia 
in the fall of 1719 and others soon followed. This sect 
was formed at Schwarzenau, in Westphalia, Germany, in 
1708, by Alexander Mack, and virtually all his followers 
came to Pennsylvania, the entire body that remained in 
Germany coming with him in 1729, in which year he 
settled in Germantown, where he died in 1735. When the 
first Dunkards came in 1719 they were accompanied by 



32 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

Rev. Peter Becker, their pastor. The Dunkard immigrants 
fraternized readily with their Mennonite neighbors, as 
there were many points of substantial agreement between 
the two sects. All the Dunkards seem to have been Ger- 
mans, which can not be said of the Mennonites, who came 
from Holland and Switzerland as well as from Germany. 
Few Roman Catholics came until after the Revolution. 

The Schwenkfelders were a small sect of Protestants, 
originating in Silesia, in the eastern part of Prussia, and 
were the followers of Casper Schwenkfeld, a Silesian noble- 
man. Religious persecution drove to Pennsylvania all the 
Schwenkfelders who survived its cruelties. They landed at 
Philadelphia in 1734 and settled in the Perkiomen valley, 
in Montgomery county. Governor John F. Hartranft was 
descended from a Schwenkfelder immigrant. There are 
now about two thousand Schwenkfelders in Pennsylvania. 
A recent writer says: "Montgomery county, the lower 
end of Berks, and the southern corner of Lehigh contain 
the only Schwenkfelders in the world.'' There is now 
a Schwenkfelder church in Philadelphia, with more than 
one hundred members. In all there are six churches and 
eight ministers of this faith in Pennsylvania. 

Following the Schwenkfelders came the Moravians, a 
much more numerous sect, a small body of whom, eleven 
persons in all, after a short residence in Georgia, came 
from Saxony to Nazareth, in the Upper Delaware valley, 
in 1740. They were followed in 1741 by a few others of 
their faith under the leadership of Count Zinzendorf, a 
Saxon nobleman and Moravian bishop, who had given 
the Moravians, on his estate at Herrnhut in Saxony, an 
asylum from persecution in their own country, Moravia. 
Their principal settlement in Pennsylvania was at Bethle- 
hem, which was founded in 1741. In that year there were 
120 Moravians in Pennsylvania. In the next year j5fty-six 
came and in the following year one hundred more came. 
In 1747 a Moravian settlement was made at Lititz, in Lan- 
caster county. The Moravians were followers of John Hus, 
who was burnt at the stake in 1415. They were originally 
Slavs, but in the changes that came to their sect in Europe 
and in this country other nationalities were incorporated. 



THE PEOPLE WHO SETTLED PENNSYLVANIA. 33 

Historians so frequently refer to the Palatinate as the 
home of many immigrants to Pennsylvania that the read- 
er will be interested in the following historical account of 
this part of Germany, which we find in Johnaon^s CycUh 
pcedia : '' The Palatinate, formerly a political division and 
independent State of Germany, consisted of two separate 
territories, respectively called the Upper Palatinate, now 
forming the northern part of the kingdom of Bavaria, and 
the Lower Palatinate, situated on both sides of the Rhine, 
and now forming the southern part of Rhenish Prussia, 
the northern part of the grand duchy of Baden, and the 
province of Bavaria, called Rhenish Bavaria. From the 
eleventh century these two territories belonged together 
and formed a hereditary monarchy, their ruler being one 
of the electors of the German Empire, but in 1648, by 
the treaty of Westphalia, they were separated, the Upper 
Palatinate falling to Bavaria while the Lower Palatinate 
continued a possession of the original dynasty. At the 
Peace of Lun6ville in 1801 the Lower Palatinate ceased to 
exist as an independent State, its territory being divided 
between Hesse-Darmstadt, Baden, and France, and the 
only alteration which the Congress of Vienna made in this 
arrangement in 1815 consisted in transferring to Bavaria 
that part of the Palatinate which France had occupied." 

The Scotch-Irish formed a numerous class of the early 
settlers of Pennsylvania. They were the descendants of 
Scotch farmers and of other Scotchmen who had been in- 
vited at the beginning of the seventeenth century to settle 
on confiscated lands in the province of Ulster in the north 
of Ireland, this invitation being a result of political and 
religious differences between the British Crown and the 
Catholic inhabitants of Ireland. They were not Irish in 
any sense but simply transplanted Scotch. Virtually all 
these Scotch settlers in Ireland were Presbyterians. At 
the end of a hundred years, however, the descendants of 
these Scotch settlers became dissatisfied with the exac- 
tions of the British Government and rapacious landlords 
and then began a stream of emigration from Ulster to 
the British colonies in America, particularly to Penn- 
sylvania which lasted until long after the middle of the 

3 



34 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

eighteenth century, and which has had a great influence 
upon the character of the whole people of our country. 
One of the first of these emigrant Ulstermen was the Rev. 
Francis Makemie, a Presbyterian minister, who came to 
Maryland and Virginia several years before the close of 
the seventeenth century. In 1698 he preached in the 
first Presbyterian church in Philadelphia. In 1706 he was 
the moderator of the first Presbytery of the Presbyterian 
Church in this country, which met in Philadelphia in that 
year. He died in Virginia in 1708. 

In 1906 a native Scotchman, the Rev. John Watson, 
author of Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush and other well- 
known books, came to this country and delivered a series 
of lectures in aid of a fund to provide a monument over 
the neglected grave of Mr. Makemie in Virginia. While 
engaged in this work Dr. Watson himself died at Mount 
Pleasant, Iowa, in May, 1907. 

Before 1700 Presbyterians from the north of Ireland 
began to settle in the three lower counties of the Penn- 
sylvania of that day but which now constitute the State 
of Delaware, landing at Lewes and New Castle, while oth- 
ers came to Philadelphia. Some of these first Scotch-Irish 
Presbyterian settlers soon found their way into Chester 
county, then including the present county of Delaware, and 
into Bucks and Montgomery counties. We do not hear 
of any large immigration of Scotch-Irish to Pennsylvania 
until 1710, about which year large numbers began to ar- 
rive, and there was no cessation in this tide of immigra- 
tion for many years, in some years 5,000 coming annu- 
ally and in other years many more coming. Between 1720 
and 1730 eighteen Presbyterian congregations were organ- 
ized in Pennsylvania. At the beginning of this decade 
Scotch-Irish settlements were made in Lancaster county 
and commenced in York county, and in the next decade 
they were commenced in the Cumberland valley. There 
was a great wave of Scotch-Irish immigration to Pennsyl- 
vania in the years immediately preceding the Revolution. 
Many Scotch Presbyterians also came directly to Pennsyl- 
vania from Scotland, and naturally, because of a common 
origin and like religious belief, they at once became iden- 



n 



THE PEOPLE WHO SETTLED PENNSYLVANIA. 35 

tified with their Scotch-Irish brethren and were themselves 
usually known as Scotch-Irish. 

Historians have given us estimates of the population of 
Pennsylvania at various periods prior to the taking of the 
first United States census in 1790. In previous references 
that have been made in this chapter or in the preceding 
chapter to the population of the province we have used 
figures that have seemed most entitled to belief. In 1747 
Governor Thomas wrote to the Bishop of Exeter that it 
then amounted to 200,000, of whom three-fifths were Ger- 
mans, but he probably overestimated the Germans. In 
1763 the total population was estimated at about 280,000. 
Estimates of the white population of Pennsylvania at the 
breaking out of the Revolution, not including Delaware, 
vary from 300,000 to 341,000. The larger estimate was 
obtained by the Continental Congress in 1776 in a general 
inquiry that was made by it into the population of each 
of the colonies. The white population of Pennsylvania 
in 1775, as reported by Governor Penn to Lord Dart- 
mouth, under date of January 30 of that year, amounted 
to 300,000. This total falls considerably below the 341,000 
above mentioned for the following year. Of the total white 
population at the beginning of the Revolution Hanna es- 
timates that 100,000 were Scotch-Irish and Diffenderffer 
says that 100,000 were Germans, in which classification he 
probably includes not only Germans and Swiss but also 
Dutch and Huguenots. Accepting the estimate of the 
Continental Congress as being substantially correct there 
would remain of the total white population of Pennsylva- 
nia in 1776 about 140,000, divided between the English 
and other Quakers, English Episcopalians, Swedes, and 
representatives of other nationalities. 

The inquiry that was made by the Continental Congress 
in 1776 showed that, having reference only to the white 
population, Massachusetts was then the most populous of 
all the colonies, with a population of 352,000, including 
Maine, and that Pennsylvania came next, with 341,000, not 
including Delaware, which was credited with 37,000 ; Vir- 
ginia was third, with 300,000, including Kentucky; and 
New York fourth, with 238,000, including Vermont. In the 



36 



PROORESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 



census of 1790 the total population of Pennsylvania, includ- 
ing negroes, is given as amounting to 434,373 ; Massachu- 
setts, 378,787 ; New York, 340,120 ; and Virginia, 747,610. 
Virginia's large negro population in 1790 accounts for its 
prominent position at that time, when it was the first of 
all the States in total population, Pennsylvania coming 
next. North Carolina was the third State in population in 
1790, with a total of 393,751, due again to its large negro 
population, Massachusetts and New York following in the 
order mentioned. Vermont had been admitted into the 
Union in 1791 when the census of 1790 was taken. In the 
following table is given the total population of Pennsyl- 
vania at each of the census periods from 1790 to 1900. 



Yean. 


Population. 


Yean. 


Fopalation. 


Yean. 


Population. 


1790 
1800 
1810 
1820 


434,373 

002,365 

810,091 

1,049,458 


1830 
1840 
1850 
1860 


1,348,233 
1,724,033 
2,311,786 
2,906,215 


1870 
1880 
1890 
1900 


3,521,951 
4,282,891 
5,258,014 
6,302,115 



Pennsylvania would have shown a larger population 
in the decades immediately prior to the Revolution if all 
who settled within its borders had been satisfied with their 
opportunities and environment. Many Germans, however, 
pushed on through the Cumberland valley into Maryland 
and the Shenandoah valley in Virginia, while a considera- 
ble number of Scotch-Irish and some Quakers also moved 
from Pennsylvania to Maryland and other Southern States. 
Daniel Boone was born in Berks county. John Lincoln, 
the great-grandfather of Abraham Lincoln, emigrated from 
Berks county to Virginia about 1750. He was a Quaker. 
The mother of Abraham Lincoln, Nancy Hanks, was de- 
scended from a Berks county family which emigrated first 
to Virginia and afterwards to Kentucky. Just after the 
Revolution many of the first settlers in Southwestern 
Pennsylvania moved to Kentucky, and soon after the be- 
ginning of the nineteenth century there was a large emi- 
gration of Pennsylvanians to Ohio. 

In this chapter and in the preceding chapter we have 
brought together in chronological order and in sufiicient 



THE PEOPLE WHO SETTLED PENNSYLVANIA. 37 

detail the leading facts which establish the mixed and 
heterogeneouB character of the early settlers of Pennsyl- 
vania. No other colony had anything like such a varied 
population. Nearly all the nations of Northern and West- 
ern Europe contributed to the peopling of Penn's province, 
even far-away Finns coming to the Delaware with the 
Swedes. The Swedes, Finns, and Dutch, from the north- 
ern section of the Continent, were followed by a few Ger- 
mans and by English settlers under the Duke of York's 
rule, and these by the English and Welsh Quakers under 
Penn's leadership, while afterwards came large numbers of 
Germans, Swiss, Dutch, and French Huguenots from the 
Rhine provinces and Scotch-Irish from the north of Ire- 
land, with other Englishmen and a few Scotchmen. The 
Quaker element in the population of Pennsylvania was 
largely outnumbered in a few decades by the other ele- 
ments, although Quaker influence in the government of 
the province continued to be dominant for a still longer 
period, far along toward the breaking out of the Revolu- 
tion, but most of the time with the Scotch-Irish and some- 
times the Germans in opposition. It was the opposition 
of these elements that finally broke the Quaker power. 
It must be said, however, that, notwithstanding the lack 
of homogeneity among the early settlers of Pennsylvania, 
the influence of the Quaker element impressed upon the 
laws and institutions of the province essentially English 
ideas and precedents, as well as loyalty to the British 
Crown. This loyalty was weakened and finally shattered, 
as we know, by events which led up to the Revolution, 
but this was not done by the Quakers but by the Scotch- 
Irish and Germans, without whose leadership and aggres- 
siveness Pennsylvania would not have voted for independ- 
ence. Down to the Revolution Pennsylvania was essen- 
tially an English colony in its laws, literature, religious 
tendencies, political ties, and business connections, as were 
all the other colonies, even New York yielding to English 
influence at an early day in its colonial history. But 
Pennsylvania Dutch was largely spoken in Pennsylvania. 
Prior to the Revolution Pennsylvania was most for- 
tunate in securing a population possessing so many di- 



38 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

verse and excellent characteristics. The English Quakers 
brought with them marked commercial instincts^ and it 
was mainly due to their enterprise that Philadelphia soon 
became a centre of trade and commerce as well as a great 
city. In later years these commercial instincts led them 
to establish mining and manufacturing enterprises; but 
still near to Philadelphia. They also engaged largely in 
farming, but those who became farmers kept close to the 
Delaware. The Welsh Quakers were nearly all farmers, 
who at first did not venture very far into the interior. 
They occupied a large tract of land in Montgomery and 
Chester counties, called the Welsh Tract, but afterwards 
they made settlements up the Schuylkill. The Germans, 
the Dutch, the Swiss, and the Huguenots, if we except the 
settlement at Germantown, at first settled in the fertile 
valleys of Eastern Pennsylvania, chiefly as farmers, after- 
wards moving farther inland. Philadelphia possessed few 
attractions for them. In a little while they built their 
own towns — ^Easton, Allentown, Reading, Lancaster, York, 
Lebanon, and others. While not neglecting other pursuits 
in which they have been successful these people and their 
descendants have made the best farmers the world has 
ever known, and we owe to their love of the soil and their 
skill as husbandmen much of the prosperity that Pennsyl- 
vania has always enjoyed. Speaking particularly of the 
Germans, the Dutch, and the Swiss who helped to settle 
Pennsylvania, as a class their industry, honesty, love of 
home, and respect for authority have been notable char- 
acteristics, and these characteristics have been transmitted 
to their descendants. The Huguenots were in every way 
a superior people. The Moravian settlers at Bethlehem, 
Nazareth, and Lititz, a majority of whom were also farm- 
ers, early established excellent schools, and these schools 
exist to-day. Possessed of a missionary spirit they under- 
took the task of converting to Christianity their Indian 
neighbors and other Indians, and their efforts in this di- 
rection were for a time largely successful but the final 
outcome was disheartening. No better people have ever 
lived in Pennsylvania than the Moravians. It is an in- 
teresting fact that about fifty years ago a large number 



THE PEOPLE WHO SETTLED PENNSYLVANIA. 39 

of Moravians emigrated from Germany to Wayne and 
Kke counties in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania, 
where they and their descendants have been profitably 
engaged in the agricultural and other development of 
that somewhat neglected region. 

The Scotch-Irish immigrants are the last that we need 
to notice. Pilled with the spirit of adventure and fearless 
of consequences they early pushed into the interior of the 
province, beyond the settlements of the other immigrants 
we have mentioned, partly because land there was more 
easily acquired, even if they had sometimes to take it 
without the formality of securing title from either the In- 
dians or the proprietaries of the province. They were the 
main factors in the settlement of the Cumberland, Juni- 
ata, and Susquehanna valleys — true pioneers, who could 
not be turned back by frontier hardships and privations or 
dismayed by the attacks of hostile Indians. At first farm- 
ers almost exclusively they soon illustrated their aptness 
for trade, the mechanic arts, and the learned professions. 
They founded all the leading towns in Central Pennsylva- 
nia, and before the Revolution they had scaled the AUe- 
ghenies and joined with Marylanders and Virginians in the 
settlement of Southwestern Pennsylvania. In a short time 
they became the leading element in the settlement of that 
part of Pennsylvania, and their influence in shaping the 
development of that section has always been controlling. 

It is worthy of mention that the Mennonites, Dunkards, 
and Moravians of Pennsylvania are steadily increasing in 
numbers, as are also the more numerous German Reform- 
ed and Lutherans. The so-called German element in the 
population of Pennsylvania is not, therefore, at all likely 
to be lost sight of in the future history of the Common- 
wealth. In its past history this element has not permitted 
itself to be overlooked. It has not only been active and 
enterprising in the development of the industrial resources 
of the State but it has been active in shaping its political 
affairs. Of the twenty-five Governors of Pennsylvania 
who have been elected under the Constitutions of 1790, 
1838, and 1873 eight were Germans — Snyder, Hiester, 
Shulze, Wolf, Ritner, Shunk, Bigler, and Hartranft, while 



40 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

Beaver is of mixed Huguenot and German extraction and 
Pennypacker is descended from a Holland ancestor. 

Careful students of Pennsylvania history must always 
regret that the Swiss, Dutch, Huguenot, and Moravian ele- 
ments in its population have npt received more general 
recognition. Their identity has been almost entirely lost 
because of their intimate association with the more nu- 
merous German settlers. They not only settled in close 
contact with the Germans, but most of them before com- 
ing to Pennsylvania, owing to the persecutions which had 
brought them together, had acquired a knowledge of the 
Platt-Deutsch dialect, which was largely the mother tongue 
of the Palatines and the Swiss Mennonites. Living in the 
same communities, intermarrying, and speaking the same 
language as the Germans it was natural that they should 
themselves be known as Pennsylvania Germans. They 
were as a rule absorbed by them, although there are to- 
day whole communities of so-called Pennsylvania Germans 
which are not German in their origin but Swiss. As an 
illustration of the absorption of the Swiss, Dutch, Hugue- 
nots, and Moravians in the great Pennsylvania German 
family a late distinguished Pennsylvania jurist was popu- 
larly supposed to have been a German and he married 
the daughter of another prominent Pennsylvanian who was 
also regarded in his lifetime as a German, but both men 
were of Huguenot extraction. A careful study of this 
subject will show that a very large number of the people 
who are called Pennsylvania Germans are not Germans in 
their origin but Swiss, Dutch, Moravians, and Huguenots. 
A large number of the Mennonites in Pennsylvania are 
descendants of Swiss immigrants. The Swedish element in 
the population of Pennsylvania, which was at first a con- 
siderable factor, is now rarely distinguishable in any way. 
Welsh ancestry is easily distinguished by family names. 
Pennsylvania has always had a large and intelligent Welsh 
population additional to its Welsh Quakers. A large num- 
ber of Welsh immigrants settled in Cambria county soon 
after the Revolution, and their descendants are very nu- 
merous in that county to-day. The iron industry has in 
more recent years brought many Welsh immigrants to 



THE PEOPLE WHO SETTLED PENNSYLVANIA. 41 

Pennsylvania, and so also has our great coal industry. 
Huguenot ancestry can occasionally be distinguished by 
family names, but unfortunately many Huguenot names 
have been either Anglicized or Germanized. This is also 
true of some Holland names. 

The name, Pennsylvania Dutch, has long been used as 
a synonym for Pennsylvania Germans. Historically inac- 
curate as is the latter term in embracing large numbers 
of Pennsylvanians who are not of German origin, it is far 
more accurate than to designate Germans, Moravians, Hu- 
guenots, and Swiss as Pennsylvania Dutch. The latter is 
now and long has been a serious misnomer, although when 
originally applied it may have been proper enough. Not 
only were emigrants from Holland among the earliest 
settlers on the Delaware but many other Hollanders ac- 
cepted Penn's invitation and helped to found Germantown 
and settle the Schuylkill valley. It was entirely correct, 
therefore, to call them Dutch, as the natives of Holland, 
or the Netherlands, have always been called. That this 
name should have been applied to their German neighbors 
in Pennsylvania was probably due in large part to the 
universal use at that day of the term Deutsch as designat- 
ing the people of Germany, the Germans themselves so 
using it. To them the name of their country was Deutsche 
land, not Germany, and Germans to-day, when speaking 
their own language, call their country Deutschland. The 
official name of the German Empire is Deutaches Reich. 
There are to-day in Germany two large and influential 
trade organizations which are styled respectively Verein 
Deutscher EiaenhiUtenleute and Verein Deutscher Eisen und 
Stahlindustrieller. Some native Germans, as already men- 
tioned, speak Platt'Deutsch, that is. Low German. Most of 
the Palatines who came to Pennsylvania in large numbers 
and came early spoke Platt'Deutsch, and here again we 
find a reason for the use of the word Dutch. A Pennsyl- 
vania German in our day, when familiarly addressing 
another of his class, calls him Deutscher. 

It appears, therefore, that, while the term Pennsylva- 
nia Dutch is now a misnomer, it was not so originally and 
had ample reason for its existence. In our country we 



42 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

now invariably hear of Germany and not of DeutscJdand. 
But ''use doth breed a habit in a man/' and we shall 
probably hear of the Pennsylvania Dutch for many years 
to come. We shall certainly hear the Pennsylvania Dutch 
dialect spoken in many Pennsylvania counties. There are 
to-day hundreds of communities in Pennsylvania in which 
this dialect is habitually spoken to the exclusion of Eng- 
lish. It is really a corruption of the original PlaU^Devisch, 
as it contains many English words and some words of 
French and other origin. Very little Pennsylvania Dutch 
literature is now published^ although a generation or 
two ago some notable publications in Pennsylvania were 
printed in this dialect, and a few columns in country 
newspapers are still so printed. The pamphlet laws of 
Pennsylvania were once printed in German for the use 
of justices of the peace and other officials whose mother 
tongue was Pennsylvania Dutch. The people called Penn- 
sylvania Dutch and the dialect they speak are not, how- 
ever, confined to Pennsylvania. This State has sent many 
thousands of its Mennonites and Dunkards to Maryland, 
Virpnia, Ohio, Indiana, and Iowa, and they have taken 
their South German dialect with them and held on to it. 




REDEMPTIONERS AND OTHER BONDED SERVANTS. 43 



CHAPTER IV. 

REDEMPTIONERS AND OTHER BONDED SERVANTS. 

There were two classes of white bonded servants 
who came to Pennsylvania and other colonies^ and to 
Pennsylvania down to the first decades of the nineteenth 
century, — redemptioners and indentured servants. The 
first class, by far the most numerous, was chipfly com- 
posed of Protestant emigrants from Germany and other 
European countries who were glad to escape from religi- 
ous persecution or unfavorable social conditions but who 
were too poor to pay their passage across the ocean, and 
hence agreed with the masters of the vessels in which they 
sailed or with speculators, sometimes called Newlanders, 
that their personal services were to be sold at the end of 
the voyage for such periods as would yield sufficient sums 
to pay the cost of their passage, usually from three to five 
years for adults, and children for longer periods — often 
until they were twenty-one years old. The other class, 
never numerous, was composed of men and women who 
emigrated from the British Isles and the Continent un- 
der conditions which were the same in effect if not in de- 
tail as those which applied to the redemptioners, the dif- 
ference being that those belonging to the indentured class 
obligated themselves before sailing to serve employers in 
the colonies for specified periods, these employers or their 
agents paying the cost of passage of these servants. Dif- 
fenderffer and other historians make little distinction be- 
tween these two classes of indentured or bonded servants. 
The laws of Pennsylvania recognized both conditions of 
servitude and imposed penalties for violation of contracts, 
either by servants or by their masters. Washington pur- 
chased the services of redemptioners. 

Diffenderffer has found no mention of redemptioners 
in Pennsylvania statistics relating to servants, but this 
class was given this name in cotemporaneous literature 
as well as colloquially. A few years ago a distinguished 



44 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

Representative in Congress from Pennsylvania, in deliver- 
ing a eulogy in the House upon the life and public servi- 
ces of another distinguished Representative from the same 
State who had recently died, referred to his colleague as 
the son of a redemptioner. Pennsylvania received more 
redemptioners than any other colony because Penn had 
made special efforts to attract attention to his province, 
and because his promise of both civil and religious liberty 
strongly appealed to those who possessed neither the one 
nor the other. As Germany, Switzerland, and France were 
torn with religious and political dissensions it naturally 
happened that these countries sent many redemptioners 
to Pennsylvania, as did also England, Scotland, and Ire- 
land. They were called redemptioners because, after they 
had been sold into temporary slavery, they could regain, 
or redeem, their freedom with money contributed by their 
friends or accumulated by their own efforts. The selling 
of immigrants to pay the cost of their passage came to 
an end in Pennsylvania about 1831. 

It is probably true that a majority of the immigrants 
who came to Pennsylvania in colonial days as redemp- 
tioners and indentured servants were farmers or farm la- 
borers, who soon aided materially to make this province 
the leader in agriculture among all the colonies, but it is 
worthy of special notice that many others of these classes 
were skilled workmen in the various handicrafts of that 
time. This fact is made plain by the following advertise- 
ments which are reproduced by Diffenderffer from Phila- 
delphia newspapers, with many others of similar character. 
They also prove that many redemptioners came from Eng- 
land, Scotland, and Ireland, as well as from the Continent. 

From The American Weekly Mercury, November 7, 1728 : 
''Just arrived from London, in the ship Borden, William 
Harbert, Commander, a parcel of young likely men-servants, 
consisting of Husbandmen, Joyners, Shoemakers, Weavers, 
Smiths, Brick-makers, Bricklayers, Sawyers, Taylers, Stay- 
makers, Butchers, Chair-makers, and several other trades, 
and are to be sold very reasonable either for ready money, 
wheat Bread, or Flour, by Edward Hoone, in Philadel- 
phia." From The American Weekly Mercury, February 18, 



REDEMPTI0NER8 AND OTHER BONDED SERVANTS. 45 

1729 : "Lately arrived from London, a parcel of very likely 
English Servants, men and women, several of the men 
Tradesmen; to be sold reasonable and Time allowed for 
payment. By Charles Read of Philadelphia, or Capt. John 
Ball, on board his ship, at Anthony Milkinson's Wharf." 
From The American Weekly Mercury, May 22, 1729 : "There 
is just arrived from Scotland a parcel of choice Scotch 
Servants ; Taylors, Weavers, Shoemakers, and ploughmen, 
some for five and others for seven years : Imported by 
James Coults, they are on board a sloop lying opposite to 
the Market Street Wharf, where there is a boat constantly 
attending to carry any one on board that wants to see 
them." From The American Weekly Mercury, May 22, 
1729 : " Just arrived from London in the ship Providence, 
Capt. Jonathan Clarke, a parcel of very likely servants, 
most Tradesmen, to be sold on reasonable Terms ; the ship 
now lies at Mr. Lawrence^ s Wharf, where either the Master 
or the said Lawrence are to be spoke with." 

From The Pennsylvania Berichte, Philadelphia, August 
16, 1756 : "A ship having arrived from Ireland with serv- 
ants, some artisans, those interested can call on Thomas 
Gardens, at Mr. Parnell's wharf, or on the Captain, Na- 
thanael Ambler, on the ship. They are Irish." From The 
Pennsylvania Staatsbote, November 9, 1764 : " To-day the 
ship Boston, Captain Mathew Carr, arrived from Rotter- 
dam, with several hundred Germans. Among them are all 
kinds of mechanics, day laborers, and young people, men 
as well as women, and boys and girls. All those who de- 
sire to procure such servants are requested to call on David 
Rundle, on Front Street." From The Pennsylvania Staats- 
bote, January 18, 1774 : "There are still 50 or 60 German 
persons newly arrived from Germany. They can be found 
with the widow Kriderin, at the sign of the Golden Swan. 
Among them are two Schoolmasters, Mechanics, Farmers, 
also young children as well as boys and girls. They are 
desirous of serving for their passage money." 

In the New England Magazine for October, 1896, Lewis 
R. Harley gives the following illustrations of the sale of re- 
demptioners in Pennsylvania, even in Revolutionary times. 
"Many of the Philadelphia papers contained advertise- 



46 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

irients like the following: 'Just arrived in the ship Sally 
from Amsterdam a number of German men, women, and 
children redemptioners. Their times will be disposed of on 
reasonable terms by the Captain on board, lying near Race 
Street wharf/ One in the Pennsylvania Messenger, April 
4, 1776, offers for sale: 'A young girl and maid servant, 
strong and healthy ; no fault. She is not qualified for the 
service now demanded. Five years to serve.' The same 
paper, on January 18, 1777, contains the following notice : 
'Germans — we are now offering fifty Germans just ar- 
rived — to be seen at the Golden Swan, kept by the wid- 
ow Kreider. The lot includes schoolmasters, artisans, peas- 
ants, boys and girls of various ages, all to serve for pay- 
ment of passage/ As late as September, 1786, the follow- 
ing advertisement appeared in the Pittsburgh Gazette: 'To 
be sold. (For ready money only.) A German woman serv- 
ant. She has near three years to serve, is well qualified 
for all household work ; would recommend her to her own 
country people particularly, as her present master has 
found great inconvenience from his not being acquainted 
with their manners, customs, and language. For further 
particulars inquire at Mr. Ormsby's in Pittsburg.'" 

The Philadelphia newspapers of the colonial period 
published rewards for the apprehension of many redemp- 
tioners and other bonded servants who had left the serv- 
ice of their masters without leave. As an illustration of 
another class of advertisements of that day we copy the 
following from Dunlap^s Pennsylvania Packet, published at 
Philadelphia on July 8, 1776, and containing the text of 
the Declaration of Independence : " June 17, 1776. Now 
in the gaol of Newcastle the following runaway servants, 
viz. John Jacob Plowman, who confesses himself to be an 
indented servant to a certain James Porter, but can not 
tell where his master lives, as he talks the German dia- 
lect. John Langley, about nineteen years of age, who says 
he belongs to Nathan Shephard, of Cumberland county, 
West Jersey. Their masters are requested to come and 
take them away in three weeks from the date hereof, oth- 
erwise they will be discharged according to law. Thomas 
Clark, Gaoler." 



REDEMPTIONERS AND OTHER BONDED SERVANTS. 47 

Schoolmasters frequently came over as redemptioners. 
In the New England Magazine for June, 1903, Annie Net- 
tleton Bourne mentions that the Reverend John Christo- 
pher Kunze writes from Philadelphia on May 16, 1773, of 
a student who had been at the University of Halle and 
who wanted to start a Latin school in the city. This 
young man, Herr Leps, said to Mr. Kunze : '' If I could 
only raise twenty pounds I would buy the first German 
student who lands here and owes for his passage, put him 
in my upper room and begin my Latin school, teaching 
myself and having the servant teach, and so from the fees 
get my money back." 

Colonel R. A. Brock, the accomplished Virginia anti- 
quarian, says that many of the early schoolmasters of the 
Virginia colony were indentured servants in the families 
of the planters, which is additional evidence to that already 
presented to show that many of the immigrants in colo- 
nial times who could not pay their passage were above the 
rank of farm servants. He also says that an act was passed 
by the British Parliament in 1663 under which the '' Moss 
Troopers of Cumberland and Northumberland," Cromwell- 
ian soldiers, were sent to Virginia, where they gave trouble 
to the authorities. Other writers submit abundant proofs 
that the British Government in colonial days sent large 
numbers of convicts and other objectionable persons to the 
colonies, notwithstanding repeated protests in legal enact- 
ments by Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. BoUes 
says of Pennsylvania: '*As early as 1682 the Provincial 
Council took steps to prevent the importation of vaga- 
bonds and felons, the dregs of the British population who 
were cast by Great Britain on her colonies without the 
least regard for their feelings." 

As has already been stated Washington purchased the 
services of redemptioners. In his diary, under the date of 
Jxme 4, 1786, appears the following entry : ''Received from 
on board the brig Ann, from Ireland, two Servant Men for 
whom I had agreed yesterday — ^viz. — Thomas Ryan a shoe- 
maker, and Caven Bon — a Taylor, Redemptioners for 3 
years Service by Indenture if they could not pay, each, 
the sum of £12 Sterling which sums I agreed to pay." 



48 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

Most of the redemptioners who came to Pennsylvania 
in colonial times were Germans from the Rhine provinces 
and Switzerland ; the others were Huguenots and natives 
of the British Isles. The Germans from the Palatinate and 
other Rhine provinces who came to Pennsylvania before 
the great German exodus in 1717 were, as a rule, able to 
pay the cost of their passage and provide homes for their 
families. About 1717 began the immigration of Palatine 
and other redemptioners. At this period the great ma- 
jority of the immigrants from the Rhine provinces had 
been much impoverished by the wars and persecutions of 
that bloody period and had lost everything but their faith. 
Diffenderffer, who has made a more thorough study of this 
subject than any other writer, says that in The American 
Weekly Mercury for September 1, 1720, he had found the 
earliest record of any ships carrying Palatines. The Mer- 
cury was the first newspaper to be published in Pennsyl- 
vania and it did not appear until 1719. On the above 
date it said: ''On the 30 (arrived) the ship Laurel, John 
Coppel, from Liverpool and Cork, with 240 odd Palatinate 
Passengers come here to settle.'' These passengers are not 
mentioned as redemptioners. The same author also says 
that ''the first public notice of the redemptioner traffic" 
that had come under his notice he had found in an adver- 
tisement published in the Mercury in 1722, as follows: 
" Thomas Denham to his good country friends adviseth : 
That he has some likely servants to dispose of. One hun- 
dred Palatines for five years, at £10 a head." After this 
year many thousands of redemptioners from the Rhine 
countries and from Great Britain came to Pennsylvania, 
"great floods of Palatines" coming in some years. After 
the Revolution their number greatly declined. The total 
number of redemptioners who came to Pennsylvania is not 
a matter of record but it was very large. 

In the days when redemptioners and other immigrants 
came to Pennsylvania and other colonies it required great 
courage to attempt a long voyage, even under the most 
favorable circumstances, and many who had been tempt- 
ed to leave the wretched conditions from which they had 
been promised relief bitterly regretted the step they had 



REDEMPTIONERS AND OTHER BONDED SERVANTS. 49 

taken. Herded together like cattle in unsanitary ships, 
which were devoid of every comfort and were often com- 
manded by rapacious captains, whose cruelty to their help- 
less victims was equaled only by that of the owners of 
African slavers ; with insufficient food, often of the mean- 
est quality ; they became an easy prey to malignant dis- 
eases and during the long weary voyages many died and 
were buried at sea. It is amazing that the oppressed 
people of those days should have possessed the courage to 
brave the hardships and privations of a long voyage, at 
the end of which many of them were to voluntarily enter 
into a state of bondage like that of negro slavery itself. 
The lot of all these in the land of their birth must have 
been hard indeed to drive them to a new country under 
such unfavorable and distressing conditions as those we 
have briefly described and in the frail ships of that day. 

Hessian prisoners of war, captured by the Continental 
army, were sold into slavery for specified periods by au- 
thority of the Continental Congress. For this disposition 
of prisoners Congress followed the example of England, 
which had sold many Scotch, Irish, and even rebellious 
English prisoners, who were sent to the colonies and there 
resold. Many of the Hessian prisoners were disposed of in 
Pennsylvania, as the following details wUl show. 

After Elizabeth furnace, in Lancaster county, came 
into the possession of Robert Coleman in 1776 he cast shot 
and shells and cannon for the Continental army. On No- 
vember 16, 1782, appears the following entry to the credit 
of Congress in one of Mr. Coleman's account books : '' By 
cash, being the value of forty-two German prisoners of war, 
at £30 each, £1,260 ;'' and on June 14, 1783, the follow- 
ing: "By cash, being the value of twenty-eight German 
prisoners of war, at £30 each, £840." In a foot-note to 
these credits Mr. Coleman certifies ''on honour" that the 
above seventy prisoners were all that were ever secured 
by him, one of whom being returned is to be deducted 
when he produces the proper voucher. Rupp, in his 
history of Lancaster county, mentions that in 1843 he vis- 
ited one of the Hessian ''mercenaries" who was disposed 
of in this manner at the close of the war for the sum of 



50 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

$80, for the term of three years, to Captain Jacob Zim- 
merman, of that county. 

There is additional proof of the sale of Hessian prison- 
ers of war by the Continental Congress. Charming forge, 
in Berks county, which was built in 1749, was bought in 
1774 by George Ege. About 1777 Mr. Ege purchased from 
Congress the services of thirty-four Hessian prisoners, for 
the purpose of cutting a channel through a bed of rock to 
supply with water power a slitting mill which he had pre- 
viously erected. This noted mill-race was one hundred 
yards long, from twelve to twenty feet deep, and about 
twenty feet wide. It was cut through a mass of solid 
slate rock as smoothly as if done with a broadaxe. It 
was in use until 1887, one hundred and ten years. 

Diffenderffer has observed that the German population 
of Pennsylvania was largely increased by the addition of 
almost five thousand German (Hessian) soldiers, who de- 
serted from the British army at the close of the Revolution 
and remained in the State and ''scattered among their 
countrymen throughout Pennsylvania." The opprobrious 
name of ''Hessian mercenaries" has preserved to the pres- 
ent time the infamy of George the Third in hiring from 
more infamous German princes about 30,000 of their poor 
subjects to make war upon his own countrymen in the 
American colonies. The enslaved Germans who were hired 
to the British king were in no sense to blame, but rather 
to be greatly pitied for the part they unwillingly played 
in our Revolutionary struggle. That many of them con- 
cluded to remain in Pennsylvania and settle among their 
countrymen is of itself sufficient evidence of their own love 
of liberty and of their detestation of the conduct of the 
princes by whom they had been held in bondage. Diffen- 
derffer says that the exact number of the Germans who 
were sent to America as soldiers of George the Third was 
29,867, of whom 17,313 returned to Europe in the autumn 
of 1783, leaving 12,554 who did not return, divided as fol- 
lows : killed and died of wounds, 1,200 ; died of illness and 
accidents, 6,354 ; deserted, 5,000, of whom nearly all set- 
tled in Pennsylvania. They were called Hessians because 
they came from the Hessian States of Germany. 



REDEMPTIONERS AND OTHER BONDED SERVANTS. 51 

A letter from Mr. Diffenderflfer gives us the following 
additional details : '' The Landgrave of Hesse Cassel sent 
in all 16,992 men, more than one-half of the entire num- 
ber that came over. The Landgrave made the best bar- 
gain with England of all the German Princes. He got 
£7 4s. 4id. for every man and an annual subsidy of £108,- 
281 5s., the same to be continued for one year after the 
return of the soldiers. In addition he insisted on being 
paid an old claim arising out of the Seven Years War, 
but which England had disallowed up to that time ; it 
amounted to £41,820 14s. 5d. He was the worst of the lot." 

Imprisonment for debt was another form of slavery 
which prevailed in Pennsylvania until 1842, when it was 
abolished. It was, of course, a relic of barbarism, but the 
student of history can not overlook the fact that it ex- 
isted in Pennsylvania until the first half of the nineteenth 
century was nearing its close, as did also the barbarous 
punishment of solitary confinement for criminals as Dick- 
ens found it in 1842 in the eastern penitentiary of Penn- 
sylvania and described it in his American Notes. In 1705 
an act of the General Assembly was passed which provid- 
ed for the sale of debtors into slavery for specified periods. 
This act was not repealed until March 20, 1810, one hun- 
dred and five years after its passage. Under this act, says 
Bolles, "if a debtor had no estate he was compelled to 
make satisfaction by a period of service, not exceeding 
seven years if he were single and under the age of fifty- 
three or five years if he were married and under the age 
of forty-six." Convicted criminals were also sold into tem- 
porary slavery. Bolles gives one instance of the operation 
of this law : ''On one occasion a man in Lancaster county 
stole £14 7s. He received twenty-one lashes and was then 
sold for £16 to a farmer for a term of six years." 

There was another class of white servants in Pennsyl- 
vania in colonial days and long afterwards which deserves 
mention. These were servants indentured to learn trades 
or to render personal service. They were correctly called 
servants, because they were not their own masters dur- 
ing the terms of their apprenticeship and could be appre- 
hended if they ran away. In proportion to the total pop- 



52 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

ulation of the province their numbers were very large. 
The long periods for which some of these servants were 
indentured is surprising. 

It was a common occurrence, sanctioned by law, for 
the original purchasers of the services of the redemption- 
ers and of other indentured servants to sell the unexpired 
time of these servants to others. We give a few examples 
of these transfers of ownership, which we copy from a 
very long " account of servants bound and assigned be- 
fore James Hamilton, Mayor of Philadelphia," in 1745, to 
be found in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Bi- 
ography for 1907. " Elizabeth Hoy assignes Mary Parker 
to William Morris of the County of Chester for the re- 
mainder of her time two years and a half from Nov. 29th, 
1745 — Consideration £8. Edward Cathrall assigns Adam 
Stoles his servant to Hugh Roberts of Phila. for the re- 
mainder of his time for thirteen years from Feb. 12th, 
1738. Consideration £20 : customary dues. George Okill 
assigns Margaret Hackabuck to Thomas Lacey, of New 
Jersey, for the remainder of her time eight years from 
Nov. 3rd, 1743. Consideration £14: customary dues. 
Abigail Petro assigns Mary Murray to William White of 
Kent Co. for the remainder of her time, four years from 
April 10th, 1745. Consideration £13: customary dues." 

The same ''account of servants bound and assigned" 
from which we have above quoted contains these illus- 
trations of the apprenticeship system in colonial days : 

" Phillis Harwood, in consideration of £2:3:8 paid 
Joseph Scull and sundry other small sums of money paid 
for her use and at her request by AUmer Grevile, indents 
herself a servant to said Grevile for four years from this 
date, customary dues. William Musgrove, Jr., by consent 
of his father Wm. Musgrove, indents himself a servant to 
Aylmer Grevile, of Phila., for five years from this date; 
is to be taught to read, write, and cypher, and at the end 
of his time is to have five pounds in money and a new 
suit of clothes. Jonathan Hurst, Jr., by consent of his 
mother Anne Hutchins, indents himself apprentice to 
James Gottier, of Phila., cooper, for eight years from this 
date, to have six months day schooling and six months 



REDEMPTIONERS AND OTHER BONDED SERVANTS. 53 

evening schooling to learn to read, write, and cipher, to 
be taught the trade of cooper, and at the end of his time 
to have two suits of apparel, one of which is to be new. 
John Warner, son of John Warner, with consent of his 
father, indents himself apprentice to John Peel, mariner, 
for six years from April 29th, 1746, to be taught the art 
or mystery of a mariner, and at the end of his time to 
have two suits of apparel, one whereof to be new. Maria 
Rody, with consent of her mother-in-law, Catherine Rody, 
and in consideration of £7, paid said Catharine by Nicho- 
las Crone of Bucks county, indents herself servant to said 
Nicholas for seven years and a half from this date, to 
have customary dues. Nathaniel Falkner indents himself 
apprentice to Joseph Rivers, of Phila., mariner, for seven 
years from this date, to be taught the art of navigation, 
and at the end of the time to have one new suit of ap- 
parel. James Kelly, with the consent of his father Ed- 
ward Kelly, indents himself apprentice to Joseph SauU of 
Phila., chairmaker, for eight years and seven months from 
May 21st, 1746, to be taught the trade of a chairmaker 
and spinning-wheel maker, and to read, write, and cipher." 
It is very apparent from a survey of all the facts 
that have been presented in this chapter that the re- 
demptioners and others in Penn's province who were born 
to poverty were not as free men and women as colonial 
traditions would lead us to believe, nor did they possess 
the ordinary comforts of life as poor people do in our 
day. Whatever may be said of the ideal life of our co- 
lonial ancestors it was very far from being an illustra- 
tion of the proposition that ''all men are created equal." 









54 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 



CHAPTER V. 

NEGRO SLAVERY IN PENNSYLVANIA. 

Penn obtained the charter for his province in 1681, 
and in 1682 the three counties of Kent, Newcastle, and 
Sussex, now forming the State of Delaware, were formally 
united to Pennsylvania, and this union lasted until the 
Revolution. In 1664 there were negro slaves at New Am- 
stel, now Newcastle, Delaware, New Amstel being a Dutch 
settlement about ten years old at that time. In that year 
the Duke of York's men, under the command of Sir Rob- 
ert Carr, after the conquest of New Amsterdam, compel- 
led the Dutch of New Amstel to surrender, and *Hhe cows, 
oxen, horses, and sheep of the settlers were seized,'' says 
Jenkins. The same authority adds : "More important 
than the quadrupeds were a number of negro slaves, who 
also fell prize to the EngUshmen. There were some sixty 
or seventy of these. They had reached Manhattan in the 
Gideon, a slave ship, with over two hundred more, just be- 
fore the arrival of the English fleet, and barely escaped 
capture there, Peter Alrich having hurried them across the 
North river and thence overland to New Amstel. They 
were nofir divided among the captors, and Carr promptly 
traded some to Maryland. In his report a few days after 
the capture he says: 'I have already sent into Maryland 
some Neegars which did belong to ye late Governor at his 
plantation above, for beefe, pork, come, and salt, and for 
some other small conveniences which this place affordeth 
not.' " 

That negroes were enslaved in Penn's province, not 
including Delaware, before Penn visited it is shown in the 
following extract from a letter from James Claypoole, of 
England, in 1681, to a friend in Pennsylvania : " I have 
a great drawing on my mind to remove with my family 
thither, so that I am given up, if the Lord clears my way, 
to be gone next spring. Advise me in thy next what I 
might have two negroes for, that might be fit for cutting 



NEGRO SLAVERY IN PENNSYLVANIA. 55 

down trees, building, ploughing, or any sort of labor that 
is required in the first planting of a country." The follow- 
ing provision in the constitution of the Free Society of 
Traders, which was organized by Penn in England for trad- 
ing purposes before his departure for his province in 1682, 
and of which company he was a member, furnishes proof 
that Penn himself gave his approval to negro slavery : 
"Black servants to be free at fourteen years end on giving 
to the society two-thirds of what they can produce on land 
allotted to them by the society, with stocks and tools ; if 
they agree not to this to be servants till they do J' Penn 
himself owned a few slaves who were employed on his es- 
tate at Pennsbury, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. It should 
not, however, be inferred that Penn was at any time an 
advocate of negro slavery. There is no evidence that he 
was. So far as he assented to and participated in the 
buying and selling of negro slaves in his province he sim- 
ply followed the custom of the times. There were negro 
slaves in the West Indies and in all the British colonies 
on the mainland before the granting of Penn's charter. 

Before his return to England, after his second visit to 
Pennsylvania, Penn wrote his will, dated at "Newcastle on 
Delaware," October 30, 1701. From this document, which 
was superseded by a later will, we take the following ex- 
tract, which shows that Penn intended at that time not 
only to free his slaves at his death but also to provide for 
the support of one of these slaves and the children of that 
slave. The will says : "I give to my Servts, John and 
Mary Sach . . [indistinct] three hundred acres between 
them, and my blacks their freedom, as under my hand 
already ; and to ould Sam 100 acres, to be his children's 
after he and wife are dead, forever, on common rent of 
one bushel of wheat yearly forever." 

After Penn's death in 1718 his widow, Hannah Penn, 
writing from London in 1720 to her cousin Rebecca Black- 
fan, thus referred to negro slaves on Penn's estate of Penns- 
bury, Rebecca Blackfan then Uving at Pennsbury : *' The 
young Blacks must be disposed of to prevent their increas- 
ing Charge. I have ofifer'd my Daughter Aubrey one, but 
she does not care for any. I would however have ye Uke- 



56 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

lyest Boy reserved and bred to reading & sobriety as in- 
tending him for my Self or one of my Children ; about wch 
I design to write to J. Logan, for if Su6 proves a good In- 
dustrious Servant & Sober I would have her ye more ten- 
derly us'd in ye disposal of her Children." The daughter 
Aubrey above mentioned was Letitia Penn, who was mar- 
ried to William Aubrey. 

In Penn's last will, executed in 1712, he does not free 
the slaves he then owned, but the following extract from 
a letter addressed by James Logan to Hannah Penn, dated 
Philadelphia, the 11th day of 3d month, 1721, shows that 
Logan, probably in answer to the letter which Hannah 
Penn said above she intended to write to him, regarded as 
binding the provision in the will of 1701 in which Penn 
gave freedom to "my blacks:" "Honored Mistress: The 
Proprietor in a will left me at his departure hence gave 
all his negroes their freedom ; but this is entirely private ; 
however there are very few left. Sam died soon after 
your departure hence and his brother James very lately. 
ChevaUer, by a written order from his master, had his lib- 
erty several years ago, so that there are none left but Sue, 
whom Letitia claims or did claim as given to her when 
she went to England, but how rightfully I know not. These 
things you can best discuss. She has several children. 
There are, besides, two old negroes, quite worn, that re- 
mained of three that I recovered near eighteen years ago 
of E. Gibbs' Estate, of New Castle Co.*' There can be no 
doubt that Penn's wishes as expressed in his will of 1701, 
which is the one referred to by Logan, were strictly com- 
plied with. 

After Penn visited Pennsylvania in 1682 and the im- 
migration of English Quakers and others rapidly increased 
it appears that negro slavery in the province also rapidly 
increased, so much so that, in 1688, according to Sharpless, 
the "German Quakers" of Germantown memorialized the 
Yearly Meeting in a paper still in existence against " buy- 
ing and keeping of negroes," and in 1696 the same "Ger- 
man Quakers" advised against "bringing in any more ne- 
groes." Other protests against negro slavery were made 
at other Quaker meetings. Sharpless also says that "many 



NEGRO SLAVERY IN PENNSYLVANIA. 57 

wealthy Friends were slaveholders, and many saw no 
evil in the established system." Never theless, he says, the 
Yearly Meeting ''could not be brought to a definite posi- 
tion'' until 1758, when it declared that Friends should set 
negro slaves at liberty and ''make a Christian provision 
for them." Many slaves owned by Friends were accord- 
ingly liberated but others were kept in bondage. In 1774 
a further protest against slavery was made by the Friends, 
and in 1776 it was declared at the Yearly Meeting that all 
negroes held in slavery by the Friends should be set at 
liberty. Meanwhile attempts were made by others as well 
as Quakers to secure the abolition of slavery in Penn- 
sylvania, but all failed until 1780, when an act of the Gen- 
eral Assembly to accomplish its gradual abolition became 
a law. 

During the entire colonial period of Pennsylvania ne- 
gro slavery was recognized as a part of the social order 
of the times, as it was in all the other colonies, but there 
were not at any time many negro slaves in Pennsylvania, 
only a few thousand, and these were generally well treat- 
ed, although the laws relating to all servants, both white 
and black, dealt with the latter with particular severity. 
Diifenderffer quotes an act of the General Assembly which 
was passed in 1700, " for the better regulation of serv- 
ants," which provided, among other things, certain pen- 
alties to be imposed upon servants who should embezzle 
their masters' or owners' goods, and then adds : " and if 
the Servant be a black he or she shall be severely whipt 
in the most Publick Place of the Township where the Of- 
fence was committed." The advertising columns of the 
provincial newspapers of Pennsylvania contain many offers 
of rewards for the apprehension of runaway slaves, show- 
ing that the negroes were not always satisfied with their 
condition. These newspapers also contain many adver- 
tisements of negroes for sale. Two of these, published 
about 1760, we copy below from McMaster, one of which 
shows that the slave trade existed in Pennsylvania at 
that time. We quote literally. One reads: "Lately im- 
ported from Antigua and to be Sold by Edward Jones in 
Isaac Norris's Alley, A Parcel of Likely Negro Women & 



58 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

Girls from thirteen to one and twenty Years of age, and 
have all had the Small-Pox." The other reads : " To Be 
Sold, Two very likely Negroe Boys. Enquire of Capt. 
Benjamin Christian at his House in Arch-Street.'' 

Philadelphia had its "slave market.'' It was located 
at the southwest corner of Front and Market streets. Wat- 
son says of it : " The original building was erected in 1702. 
It was first used as a cofiFee-house in 1754 by William Brad- 
ford, the famous provincial printer. There was a covered 
shed connected with it, vendues of all kinds were regu- 
larly held, and often auctions of negro slaves^ men, women, 
and children, were held there." 

Pittsburgh also had negro slaves who would sometimes 
run away and others who were sometimes ofiFered for sale. 
Chapman writes: "In turning over the files of the old 
newspapers, for example the old Gazette, right here in Pitts- 
burgh, it is startUng to come across repeated advertise- 
ments in regard to slaves, where they seem to have been 
as common as the advertisements of stray horses and mer- 
chantable oxen. Indeed in one of them Colonel Gibson, 
at Fort Pitt, ofiFers to take in payment for a certain negro 
woman, who is described as an 'excellent cook,' produce 
or cattle of any kind. And Mr. Thomas Girty's 'negro fel- 
low' Jack figures more than once in the columns of the 
old newspaper as a runaway for whose apprehension a re- 
ward will be paid." As the Gazette was not founded until 
1786 the occurrences noted above could not have happen- 
ed until after that year. The negroes referred to were 
held in bondage, notwithstanding the act of 1780 for the 
gradual abolition of slavery. It continued in slavery 
those who were then slaves, as will now be seen. 

An act of the General Assembly, approved by Govern- 
or Snyder on February 28, 1810, provided that the laws 
of Pennsylvania from 1700 to 1810 should be compiled 
and published in four volumes. This compilation was 
made and pubUshed and is known to the legal profession 
as "Smith's Laws." From the first volume of these laws 
we take the following liberal extracts from "an act for the 
gradual abolition of slavery," passed March 1, 1780, before 
the struggle with Great Britain for national independ- 



NEGRO SLAVERY IN PENNSYLVANIA. 59 

ence had come to an end, but when the end which came 
a few years later was foreseen by the colonies or at least 
confidently hoped for. They embrace the eloquent pre- 
amble to the act, written by Judge George Bryan, which 
breathes a spirit of Christian fellowship that should have 
had wider recognition than it received at that day. Seven 
years after the passage of the act referred to the Constitu- 
tion of the United States permitted slavery to continue 
and legalized the slave trade until 1808, when it was to be 
abolished. Few legislative enactments contain sentiments 
so lofty or reasons for their existence so eloquent as the 
preamble to this act, which we give in full as follows : 

" When we contemplate our abhorrence of that condi- 
tion to which the arms and tyranny of Great-Britain were 
exerted to reduce us, when we look back on the variety of 
dangers to which we have been exposed, and how miracu- 
lously our wants in many instances have been suppUed, 
and our deliverances wrought, when even hope and human 
fortitude have become unequal to the conflict, we are un- 
avoidably led to a serious and grateful sense of the mani- 
fold blessings which we have undeservedly received from 
the hand of that Being from whom every good and per- 
fect gift cometh. Impressed with these ideas we conceive 
that it is our duty, and we rejoice that it is in our power, 
to extend a portion of that freedom to others which hath 
been extended to us, and release from that state of thral- 
dom to which we ourselves were tyrannically doomed, and 
from which we have now every prospect of being deUv- 
ered. It is not for us to inquire why, in the creation of 
mankind, the inhabitants of the several parts of the earth 
were distinguished by a difference in feature and complex- 
ion. It is sufficient to know that all are the work of an 
Almighty hand. We find, in the distribution of the hu- 
man species, that the most fertile as well as the most bar- 
ren parts of the earth are inhabited by men of complex- 
ions different from ours and from each other; from whence 
we may reasonably, as well as religiously, infer that He 
who placed them in their various situations hath extended 
equaUy his care and protection to all, and that it becom- 
eth not us to counteract his mercies. We esteem it a pe- 



60 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

culiar blessing granted to us that we are enabled this day 
to add one more step to universal civilization by remov- 
ing, as much as possible, the sorrows of those who have 
lived in undeserved bondage, and from which, by the as- 
sumed authority of the kings of Great-Britain, no effectual 
legal relief could be obtained. Weaned by a long course 
of experience from those narrow prejudices and partialities 
we had imbibed we find our hearts enlarged with kindness 
and benevolence towards 'men of all conditions and na- 
tions ; and we conceive ourselves at this particular period 
extraordinarily called upon, by the blessings which we have 
received, to manifest the sincerity of our profession and to 
give a substantial proof of our gratitude. 

"And whereas the condition of those persons who have 
heretofore been denominated Negro and Mulatto slaves has 
been attended with circumstances which not only deprived 
them of the common blessings that they were by nature 
entitled to but has cast them into the deepest afiiictions, 
by an unnatural separation and sale of husband and wife 
from each other and from their children, an injury the 
greatness of which can only be conceived by supposing that 
we were in the same unhappy case. In justice, therefore, 
to persons so unhappily circumstanced, and who, having 
no prospect before them whereon they may rest their sor- 
rows and their hopes, have no reasonable inducement to 
render their service to society, which they otherwise might, 
and also in grateful commemoration of our own happy de- 
Uverance from that state of unconditional submission to 
which we were doomed by the tyranny of Britain, 

" Be it enacted, and it is hereby enacted, That all per- 
sons, as well Negroes and Mulattoes as others, who shall 
be born within this State from and after the passing of 
this act, shall not be deemed and considered as servants ' 
for life, or slaves ; and that all servitude for Ufe, or slav- 
ery of children, in consequence of the slavery of their 
mothers, in the case of all children born within this State 
from and after the passing of this act as aforesaid, shall 
be, and hereby is, utterly taken away, extinguished, and 
for ever abolished." These provisions affected only chil- 
dren to be born after the passage of the act. 



NEGRO SLAVERY IN PENNSYLVANIA. 61 

Following the above provisions in the act were others 
beginning with the stereotyped phrase, "provided always, 
and be it further enacted," which is so often at variance 
with the hopes inspired by the first part of legal enact- 
ments. It was so in this case. The first addendum pro- 
vided "that every negro and mulatto child, born within 
this State after the passing of the act as aforesaid, (who 
would, in case this act had not been made, have been born 
a servant for years or Ufe, or a slave,) shall be deemed to 
be, and shall be, by virtue of this act, the servant of such 
person, or his or her assigns, who would in such case have 
been entitled to the service of such child, until such child 
shall attain unto the age of twenty-eight years." 

No provision was made in the act for the freedom of 
those who were slaves at the time of its adoption, and it 
was expressly provided that the children of slave parents 
who were born after the passage of the act should them- 
selves be slaves until they had attained the age of twenty- 
eight years. This provision reflects no credit upon those 
who voted for it, nor is the whole act in harmony with 
its preamble. It will readily be seen that the act, instead 
of abolishing slavery, provided for its long continuance. 
To repeat : The slave fathers and mothers were not to be 
freed at all, and children who were slaves at the passage of 
the act were also to remain slaves for life, while children 
unborn were to be slaves until they reached the age of 
twenty-eight years. Other provisions of the act refer to 
the duties of masters to their slaves, the apprehension and 
punishment of runaway slaves, the registering of slaves, 
etc. The emancipation of slaves by their masters was 
permitted, but this privilege had previously existed. 

Negro slaves were employed as laborers at early iron 
works in Pennsylvania. The following notice of the work- 
men employed in making iron in Pennsylvania prior to 
the Revolution is taken from AcreUus's History of New 
Sweden, written about 1756. " The workmen are partly 
EngUsh and partly Irish, with some few Germans. The 
laborers are generally composed partly of negroes, (slaves,) 
partly of servants from Germany or Ireland bought for a 
term of years. A good negro is bought for from £30 to 



62 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

£40 sterling, which is equal to 1,500 or 2,000 of our dol- 
lars, koppar mynt. Their clothing may amount to 75 dol- 
lars, koppar mynt, their food, 325 ditto — very little, indeed, 
for the year. The negroes are better treated in Pennsylva- 
nia than anywhere else in America. A white servant costs 
350 dollars, koppar mynt, and his food is estimated at 325 
dollars more, of the same coinage." By the phrase "serv- 
ants from Germany or Ireland" Acrelius meant redemp- 
tioners, who have been considered in the preceding chapter. 

At Green Lane forge, on Perkiomen creek, in Mont- 
gomery county, built in 1733, the workmen employed were 
at one time chiefly negro slaves. At Martic forge, built in 
1755, negro slaves were employed from the beginning in 
hammering iron, and negroes continued to be the principal 
workmen at this forge down to the abandonment of active 
operations in 1883. A long row of stone houses was occu- 
pied by the negro workmen. A furnace called Martic was 
connected with Martic forge, and in 1769 the furnace and 
forge, with the land and other property appertaining to 
them, were advertised for sale by the sheriff. Included in 
the advertisement were " two slaves, one a Mulattoe Man, 
a good forge man, the other a Negro man," both owned 
by the company which had been operating the furnace and 
forge. In 1780 negro slaves were employed at Durham fur- 
nace, five of whom escaped in that year to the British lines. 

Although there were slaves in Pennsylvania after the 
passage of the act of 1780 and down to 1840, as will soon 
be shown, a period of sixty years, they are not often re- 
ferred to in the newspapers published during that period 
except when they ran away or were to be sold. As they 
gradually died off there would be fewer of them to give 
anybody trouble or to experience a change of masters. 
A letter dated "Bedford county, Pennsylvania, July 18, 
1829," written by Thomas B. McElwee, a farmer, and pub- 
lished in The American Farmer, of Baltimore, in that year, 
says: "We have no slaves nor do we boast of an exemp- 
tion from that which it would be degradation to be sub- 
ject to. Such a miserable thing as a slave and such an 
arrogant thing as the master of a slave are unknown to 
us. We are all free as the pure unfettered mountain air 



NEGRO SLAVERY IN PENNSYLVANIA. 63 

we breathe, and we intend to continue so. Nevertheless, 
some wretched creatures who have escaped from their 
masters in the neighboring States occasionally seek refuge 
here, but they are habitually dishonest and lazy." 

In Boucher's History of Westmoreland County it is 
stated that Judge John Moore, of that county, who died in 
1811, "set free the older of his colored servants and allow- 
ed the younger ones to serve an apprenticeship with any 
of his children they might choose," showing that negro 
slavery existed in Pennsylvania long after the beginning of 
the nineteenth century. Two of these "colored servants'' 
were still slaves in the Moore family until after 1825. 

Negro slaves were frequently advertised for sale in the 
Pittsburgh newspapers, or as having run away, down to 
about 1820. Boucher says that negro slaves were often 
sold at public outcry in the streets of Greensburg. There 
was a regular auction-block on the court-house square, and 
from it the negroes were "knocked down" to the highest 
bidder. Sheriff Perry sold a number of slaves who had 
been seized for debt, selling them from this auction-block. 
As late as 1817 George Armstrong, Greensburg's first bur- 
gess, auctioned off a negro girl who belonged to a client of 
his. Boucher also says that white men and women, known 
as redemptioners, were also sold from the auction-block 
in Greensburg. He says that the last sale of this kind of 
which there is any record occurred on March 5, 1819. 

In 1901 the Blairsville (Indiana county) Enterprise re- 
ceived from Mrs. Kate Cunningham the original of the 
following additional reminder of negro slavery in Western 
Pennsylvania, which we copy verbatim : " For the sum of 
Two hundred and fifty dollars to me in hand paid by 
George Anshutz commission merchant of Pittsburgh I do 
hereby sell and transfer my black boy Bob to him the said 
George his heirs and assigns for six years from the first 
day of January eighteen hundred and thirteen at the ex- 
piration of which time the said Bob is hereby declared to 
be a free man. In witness whereof I hereunto set my hand 
and seal at Pittsburgh Dec. 25th, 1812. A. Boggs. Witness, 
Christian Latshaw. Bob was born with Coll. Cook, of 
Pensvalley Center County formerly Mifflin and Recorded 



64 



PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 



in Mifi9in County. He was sold by Coll. Cook to Doct. 
Davis, of Bellefonte, by Doct. Davis' Exors to Roland Cur- 
tin, and by Roland Curtin to me A. Boggs. He is now 
about eighteen years of age. A. Boggs." 

Mr. Boggs was a pioneer saltmaker in the Conemaugh 
and Kiskiminitas valleys and George Anshutz was a pio- 
neer ironmaker at Pittsburgh and Laughlinstown and also 
in Huntingdon county. Roland Curtin was the father of 
Governor Andrew G. Curtin. The "boy" referred to by 
Mr. Boggs was the child of negro parents who remained 
slaves after 1780, and he himself could become free only 
after he had reached the age of 28 years, unless manumit- 
ted. Four years of his legal term of servitude were there- 
fore remitted by Mr. Boggs. He was probably born in 1794. 

In the following table we have compiled from the Com- 
pendium of the Ninth Census (1870) the statistics of the 
number of negro slaves in each of the thirteen original 
States as ascertained at the taking of the first census in 
1790 and at each succeeding census down to 1840, after 
which year we find no mention of slaves in Pennsylvania. 



states. 

New Hampehire 
Maasachusettfi. . 
Connecticat . . . 
Rhode Island . . 

New York 

New Jersey 

Pennsylvania . . 

Delaware 

Maryland 

Vii^nia 

North Oux)lina. 
South Carolma. 
Georgia 



1790. 


imo. 


mo. 


1820. 


1880. 


158 


8 








3 














1 


2,764 


951 


310 


97 


25 


(Mft 

vTCO 


380 


108 


48 


17 


21,324 


20,903 


15,017 


10,088 


75 


11,423 


12,422 


10,851 


7,557 


2,254 


3,737 


1,706 


795 


211 


403 


8,887 


6,153 


4,177 


4,509 


3,292 


103,036 


105,635 


111,502 


107,397 


102,994 


292,627 


345,796 


392,516 


425,148 


469,757 


100,672 


133,296 


168,824 


204,917 


245,601 


107,094 


146,151 


196,365 


258,475 


315,401 


29,264 


59,406 


105,218 


149,656 


217,531 



1840. 



1 


17 

5 

4 

674 

64 

2,606 

89,737 

448,987 

245,817 

327,038 



Massachusetts, which does not report any slaves at any 
of the above mentioned periods, except one slave in 1830, 
which exception we can not understand, was nevertheless a 
slaveholding colony and State down to 1780, when the bill 
of rights of her constitution of that year indirectly abol- 
ished slavery, but it was not until 1783 that this provision 



NEGRO SLAVERY IN PENNSYLVANIA. 



65 



was enforced. The large number of slaves in New York 
and New Jersey will attract attention, while the compara- 
tively small number in Pennsylvania confirms the state- 
ment heretofore made that this State never held many 
slaves, although there have always been many free negroes 
within its borders. The "lower counties" of Delaware 
became a slave State. Unlike Massachusetts and perhaps 
some other colonies Pennsylvania did not enslave Indians, 
except in one instance, noted by BoUes, when some Tusca- 
rora Indians were brought from North Carolina into Penn- 
sylvania as slaves, and it never sold Indians into slavery 
outside its boundaries, as Massachusetts did. In 1705 the 
General Assembly of Pennsylvania, with the Tuscarora in- 
cident before it, passed an act prohibiting the importation 
of Indian slaves from other colonies. Nor did Pennsylva- 
nia encourage the slave trade or engage in it to anything 
like the extent that Massachusetts and Rhode Island did. 
The following table gives the negro population of the 
United States in 1900 in cities having at least ten thou- 
sand negroes, according to the census of that year. 



atiee. 



Negroes. 



Washington, D. C. 

Baltimore, Md 

New Orleans, La. . 
Philadelphia, Pa. . 
New York,N.Y. 
Memphis, Tenn.. . 
Louisville, Ky. . . . 

Atlanta, Ga. 

St. Louis, Mo 

Richmond, Va 

Charleston, S. C. . . 

Chicago, 111 

Nashville, Tenn. . . 
Savannah, Ga. — 

Norfolk, Va 

Angosta, Gra 



86,702 
79,258 
77,714 
62,613 
60,666 
49,910 
39,139 
36,727 
35,516 
32,230 
31,522 
30,150 
30,044 
28,090 
20,230 
18,487 



Cities. 



Kansas City, Mo. . 
Montgomery, Ala. 

Mobile, Ala 

Pittsburgh, Pa. ... 
Birmingham, Ala.. 
Jacksonville, Fla. . 
Indianapolis, Ind. . 
Little Rock, Ark.. 

Houston, Tex 

Cincinnati, Ohio . . 
Chattanooga, Tenn. 

Boston, Mass 

Macon, Ga 

Petersburg, Va. . . . 
Wilmington, N. C. 
Lexington, Ky. . . . 



Negroes. 

17,567 
17,229 
17,045 
17,040 
16,675 
16,236 
15,931 
14,694 
14,608 
14,482 
13,122 
11,591 
11,650 
10,751 
10,407 
10,130 



The total negro population of the United States in 
the census year 1900 was 8,840,789, of which large num- 
ber there were 156,845 in Pennsylvania. Philadelphia and 

Pittsburgh contained more than one-half of the total num- 

5 



66 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

ber in Pennsylvania, and a large part of the remainder 
were in the suburbs of these cities. The total negro popu- 
lation of Allegheny county in 1900 was 27,753. Since the 
census of 1900 the negro population of Western Pennsyl- 
vania has greatly increased, as has also that of Philadel- 
phia. In 1900 Philadelphia had 62,613 negroes. 

The claim has been frequently made that the first 
protest that was made in this country against negro sla- 
very originated with the Friends, or Quakers. This claim 
will bear examination. The clearest and also the latest 
account of this really important matter is contained in 
Penny packer's Settlement of Germantown, published by the 
Pennsylvania German Society in 1899. Pennypacker says : 

" On the 18th day of April, 1688, Gerhard Hendricks, 
Dirck Op den Graeff, Francis Daniel Pastorius, and Abra- 
ham Op den Graeff sent to the Friends Meeting the first 
public protest ever made on this continent against the 
holding of slaves. The protest is as follows : 

"'This is to ye Monthly Meeting held at Rigert Wor- 
rells. These are the reasons why we are against the traf- 
fick of mens-body as foUoweth : Is there any that would 
be done or handled at this manner? viz. to be sold or 
made a slave for all the time of his life ? . . . Now 
what is this better done as Turcks doe? yea rather is it 
worse for them, wch say they are Christians, for we hear 
that ye most part of such Negers are brought heither 
against their will & consent, and that many of them are 
stoUen. Now tho' they are black, we can not conceive 
there is more liberty to have them slaves, as it is to have 
other white ones. There is a saying, that we shall doe 
to all men licke as we will be done our selves : macking 
no difference of what generation, descent, or Colour they 
are. And those who steal or robb men, and those who 
buy or purchase them, are they not all alicke ? ... In 
Europe there are many oppressed for Conscience sacke; 
and here there are those oppressed wch are of a black 
Colour. . . Oh ! doe consider well this things, you who 
doe it, if you would be done at this manner ? and if it is 
done according Christianity ? you surpass Holland & Ger- 
many in this thing. This macks an ill report in all those 



NEGRO SLAVERY IN PENNSYLVANIA. 67 

Countries of Europe, where they hear off, that ye Quack- 
ers doe here handel men Licke they handel there ye Cat- 
tle; and for that reason some have no mind or inclina- 
tion to come hither. . . . And we who profess that it 
is not lawfull to steal must lickewise avoid to purchase 
such things as are stolen, but rather help to stop this 
robbing and stealing if possibel and such men ought to be 
delivred out of ye hands of ye Robbers and set free as 
well as in Europe. Then is Fensilvania to have a good 
report, in stead it hath now a bad one for this sacke in 
other Countries. Especially whereas ye Europeans are de- 
sirous to know in what manner ye Quackers doe rule in 
their Province & most of them doe loock upon us with an 
envious eye. But if this is done well, what shall we say is 
don evil ? . . . This was is from our meeting at Ger- 
mantown hold ye 18 of the 2 month 1688 to be delivred to 
the monthly meeting at Richard Warrels.' " 

Here follow literally the signatures, according to Penny- 
packer: "'gerret hendericks. derick op de graeff. Francis 
daniell Pastorius. Abraham op den graef.'" 

Following the text of the above protest Pennypacker 
adds the following information, which shows the fate of 
the effort of Pastorius and his three friends to put a check 
to slavery and the slave trade in Pennsylvania : " The 
Friends at Germantown, through William Kite, have re- 
cently had a fac simile copy of this protest made. Care 
has been taken to give it here exactly as it is in the orig- 
inal, as to language, orthography, and punctuation. The 
disposition which was made of it appears from these notes 
from the Friends' records: 

"'At our monthly meeting at Dublin ye 30 2 mo. 1688, 
we having inspected ye matter above mentioned & con- 
sidered it we finde it so weighty that we think it not Ex- 
pedient for us to meddle with it here, but do Rather comitt 
it to ye consideration of ye Quarterly meeting, ye tennor 
of it being nearly Related to ye truth. On behalf of ye 
monthly meeting, signed, pr. Jo. Hart.' ' This above men- 
tioned was Read in our Quarterly meeting at Philadelphia 
the 4 of ye 4 mo. '88, and was from thence recommended 
to the Yearly Meeting, and the above-said Derick and the 



68 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

other two mentioned therein, to present the same to ye 
above-said meeting, it being a thing of too great a weight 
for this meeting to determine. Signed by order of ye 
Meeting, Anthony Morris.'" Pennypacker continues: 

"At the yearly meeting held at Burlington the 6 day 
of 7 mo. 1688. 'A paper being here presented by some 
German Friends Concerning the Lawfulness and Unlawful- 
ness of buying and Keeping of Negroes, It was adjudged 
not to be so proper for this Meeting to give a Positive 
Judgment in the case, It having so General a Relation 
to many other Parts, and, therefore, at present they for- 
bear it.'" 

Referring directly to the protest Pennypacker says : 
'' The handwriting of the original appears to be that of 
Pastorius. An effort has been made to take from the 
Quakers the credit of this important document, but the 
evidence that those who sent and those who received it 
regarded each other as being members of the same relig- 
ious society seems to me conclusive." 

It will be observed that the signers of the above pro- 
test were not English Quakers. All were doubtless known 
as German Quakers. Three of them were Hollanders and 
one was a German — the two Op den Graeffs, Gerhard 
Hendricks, and Pastorius. All but Pastorius were origi- 
nally Mennonites. It will be further observed that the 
protest was not favorably received by any of the meetings 
of English Friends to which it was submitted. To claim 
credit for the Friends for making the first protest against 
slavery, if by that phrase is meant the English Quakers, 
is therefore wholly inaccurate. The credit belongs to the 
three Hollanders and the one German above mentioned, 
of whom three were Mennonites before they were Quakers. 
That many of the English Quakers of Pennsylvania were 
slaveholders has already been shown in this chapter; and 
it has also been shown that the frequent efforts that were 
made at the Yearly Meetings of Friends to secure a decla- 
ration that Friends should not hold slaves were unsuccess- 
ful until 1758 — seventy years after the Germantown pro- 
test ; and it has been further shown that it was not until 
1776 that the Yearly Meeting declared that all negroes 



NEGRO SLAVERY IN PENNSYLVANIA. 69 

held in slavery by Friends should be set at Uberty. Eng- 
lish Quakers, therefore, as a class did not oppose slavery 
but permitted it among their own membership, even if 
they did not distinctly approve it. The credit of the first 
protest in this country against slavery rightfully belongs 
to Pastorius and his friends, and this protest was made 
against the practice of the English Quakers themselves 
in buying and holding slaves. It was written when the 
English and Welsh Quakers formed a large part of the 
population of the province, probably a majority. 

In his Settlement of Germantown Pennypacker copies 
an incident from the journal of John Woolman in 1758 
which illustrates the aversion of the Mennonites to negro 
slavery : ''A friend gave me some account of a religious 
society among the Dutch, called Mennonists, and amongst 
other things related a passage in substance as follows: 
One of the Mennonists having acquaintance with a man 
of another society at a considerable distance, and being 
with his wagon on business near the house of his said ac- 
quaintance, and night coming on, he had thoughts of put- 
ting up with him, but passing by his fields, and observing 
the distressed appearance of his slaves, he kindled a fire 
in the woods hard by and lay there that night. His said 
acquaintance hearing where he had lodged, and afterwards 
meeting the Mennonist, told him of it, adding he should 
have been heartily welcome at his house, and from their 
acquaintance in former times wondered at his conduct in 
that case. The Mennonist replied, 'Ever since I lodged by 
thy field I have wanted an opportunity to speak with thee. 
I had intended to come to thy house for entertainment, 
but seeing thy slaves at their work, and observing the 
manner of their dress, I had no liking to come and partake 
with thee.' He then admonished him to use them with 
more humanity, and added : ' As I lay by the fire that 
night I thought that, as I was a man of substance, thou 
wouldst have received me freely, but if I had been as 
poor as one of thy slaves, and had no power to help my- 
self, I should have received from thy hand no kinder 
usage than they."' To which we may add that there is 
no evidence that a Mennonite ever owned a negro slave. 



70 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE DELAWARE INDIANS. 

It does not fall within the scope of this volume to 
consider in detail the relations of the early settlers of 
Pennsylvania to the native inhabitants of the province 
or to attempt any description of the Indians themselves. 
This has been done by the historians of Pennsylvania, and 
the record they have written is full of massacres, burned 
homes, and proofs of bad faith on both sides. Away from 
the Delaware the pioneers in the settlement of Pennsylva- 
nia were in almost constant conflict with the Indians from 
about 1750 until after the close of the Revolutionary war. 
Having mentioned, however, in previous chapters the 
friendship of the Delawares for the first settlers of Penn- 
sylvania, and particularly for William Penn, it is proper 
that the sequel of these pleasant relations should be given. 
It forms a disgraceful chapter in our provincial history. 

William Penn's policy of dealing fairly with the In- 
dians was not followed by his sons. Hannah Penn had 
managed the affairs of the province with great shrewd- 
ness and ability after 1712, during Penn's long illness, and 
after his death until her own death in 1727, when she 
was succeeded in the proprietorship by her three sons, 
John, Thomas, and Richard Penn. It was during their 
proprietorship that an event occurred in 1737 that could 
not have happened in the lifetime of William Penn, and 
which has gone into history as "the walking purchase." 
The historians, particularly Fisher and Sharpless, deal with 
this episode with great frankness and with much severity. 
Fisher describes it as follows : 

"'The walking purchase' purported to be a confirma- 
tion of an old deed made in 1686, and provided for a line 
starting at Wrightstown, a few miles back from the Dela- 
ware, and a little way above Trenton, and running north- 
west about parallel with the Delaware as far as a man 
could walk in a day and a half. At the end of the walk 



THE DELAWARE INDIANS. 71 

a line was to be drawn to the Delaware, and the land be- 
tween these lines and the river was ' the walking purchase.' 
Long before the walk was to be made the proprietors 
prepared the ground by having the line of walk surveyed 
and the trees marked so that the walkers should go in as 
straight a line as possible and lose no time. On the day 
appointed the walkers, in charge of the sheriff, started 
promptly at sunrise and were accompanied by men with 
horses carrying their provisions and blankets, also by 
some who went as mere spectators and by some Indians 
who went as representatives of their nation and to see 
fair play. The men selected to do the walking were the 
strongest and most active woodsmen that could be found. 
The Indians soon complained that they could not keep 
up with them and repeatedly called to them not to run. 
Finally, toward the end of the first day, being unable to 
stop the running, the Indians retired and left the white 
men to conduct the walk as they pleased. It had been 
generally understood by the Indians that 'the walking 
purchase' extended only to the Lehigh river, and it was 
their opinion that a walk of a day and a half would reach 
only that far. But the walkers passed beyond the river 
on the first day. They traveled for twelve hours by the 
sheriff's watch, and when at twilight he suddenly gave the 
signal that the time was up Edward Marshall, one of the 
walkers, fell against a tree, to which he clung for sup- 
port, saying that a few rods more would have finished 
him. The next half day the walkers reached a point thirty 
miles beyond the Lehigh, and, when the Une was drawn 
from this point to the river, instead of taking it directly 
to the river, it was slanted upward for a long distance so 
as to include the whole of the valuable Minisink country. 
That this 'walking purchase' was a fraud on the Indians 
no one has ever doubted. It sank deep into the Indian 
heart and was never forgotten. As they never forgot the 
kindness and justice of Fenn so they never forgot this 
treachery of his sons, and in a few years the mutilated 
bodies and scalps of hundreds of women and children 
throughout the whole Pennsylvania frontier told the tale 
of wrong. 



72 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

" The alienation of the Indians was of course largely 
the inevitable result of the ambitious designs of France 
and of the progress of our own race, which is very apt to 
crush inferior people in its course, but a great deal of the 
blame rests with Thomas Penn, who was in the province 
at the time of ' the walking purchase' and directly respon- 
sible for it. He was also, through his agents, responsible 
for the grasping Albany deed of 1754, which sent pretty 
much all the Pennsylvania Indians over to the French." 

Sharpless uses equally plain words of denunciation of 
Thomas Penn's conduct in connection with ''the walking 
purchase." He says: ''In a treaty in 1728 James Logan 
said that William Penn never allowed lands to be settled 
till purchased of the Indians. Ten years before he had 
shown to their chiefs deeds covering all the lands from 
Duck creek, in Delaware, to the ' Forks of the Delaware,' 
between the Delaware and Lehigh rivers where Easton 
now stands, and extending back along the 'Leehoy hills' 
to the Susquehanna. The Indians admitted this and con- 
firmed the deeds, but objected to the settlers crowding 
into the fertile lands within the forks occupied by the 
Minisink tribe of the Delaware Indians. Logan accordingly 
forbade any surveying in the Minisink country. White 
settlers, however, were not restrained, and the Indians be- 
came still more uneasy. A tract of 10,000 acres sold by 
the Penns to be taken up anywhere in the unoccupied 
lands of the province was chosen here and opened for set- 
tlement. A lottery was established by the proprietors, 
the successful tickets calling for amounts of land down to 
200 acres, and many of these were assigned in the forks, 
without Indian consent. 

" In order to secure undisputed possession and drive 
out the Delawares, who it must be remembered had al- 
ways been more than friendly, a despicable artifice was re- 
sorted to, which will always disgrace the name of Thomas 
Penn. . . . The route was surveyed, underbrush clear- 
ed away, horses stationed to convey the walkers across 
the rivers, two athletic young men trained for the pur- 
pose, and conveyances provided for their baggage and 
provisions. Indians attended at the beginning, but after 



THE DELAWARE INDIANS. 73 

repeatedly calling to the men to walk, not run, retired in 
disgust. Far from stopping at the Leehoy hills they cov- 
ered about sixty miles and extended the line thirty miles 
beyond the Lehigh river. Then, to crown the infamy, in- 
stead of running the northern line by any reasonable 
course they slanted it to the northeast and included all 
the Minisink country. It was a gross travesty on the origi- 
nal purchase, an outrageous fraud on the Indians^ which 
they very properly refused to submit to. They remained 
in their ancestral homes and sent notice they would resist 
removal by force. There unfortunately seems to be no 
doubt of the iniquity of the transaction. There is the tes- 
timony of at least two witnesses to the walk. It appears 
to have been a common subject of remark. Indifferent 
men treated it as sharp practice, and honest men were 
ashamed." But, says Sharpless, '' the outrage did not 
stop here.'' The proprietaries, having determined to eject 
the Delaware Indians from the lands included in 'Hhe 
walking purchase,'' " applied to the Six Nations, who 
claimed fdl the Pennsylvania Indians as their subjects," 
with the result that the peaceful and the greatly injured 
Delawares were driven by the Iroquois from their homes 
along the Delaware river to Wyoming, Shamokin, and 
other interior places. In a little while they became im- 
placable enemies of the white settlers, and with the torch 
and the tomahawk wreaked their vengeance upon the race 
that had not only supplanted them but had treated them 
with flagrant injustice and base ingratitude. This was the 
end of Penn's peaceful policy toward the Delawares. 

On July 7, 1764, it was thought to be necessary for the 
professedly Christian government of Pennsylvania, repre- 
sented by John Penn as governor, a grandson of William 
Penn, to issue a proclamation offering the following boun- 
ties for the capture, or scalp, in proof of the death, of an 
Indian : for every male above the age of ten years cap- 
tured, $150; scalped, being killed, $134; and for every 
female Indian enemy, and every male under the age of 
ten years, captured, $130 ; for every female above the age 
of ten years scalped, being killed, $50." (See Gordon's 
History of Pennsylvania.) 



74 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

Until after "the walking purchase" there was never 
any serious trouble between the settlers on the Delaware 
and any Indian tribe, except the massacre at Swanandael, 
which seems not to have been the work of the Delawares. 
In 1728 there was some trouble in the Schuylkill valley 
with a small band of Shawnese, but no lives were lost on 
either side. Pennypacker, in the Pennsylvania Magazine 
of History and Biography for January, 1907, after describ- 
ing the affair, says : " Altogether five of the settlers and 
several of the Indians had been wounded more or less 
seriously, but notwithstanding the wild rumors none were 
killed. It is interesting as the only engagement with the 
savages which ever occurred in the vicinity of Philadel- 
phia." 

Driven to Western Pennsylvania by influences that 
they could not resist, the Delawares and the Shawnese 
were almost constantly at war with the whites until both 
tribes and other Indians were driven out of Pennsylvania. 
Practically all the Indians disappeared from Pennsylva- 
nia after the treaty of Fort Stanwix in October, 1784, by 
which the Iroquois surrendered to Pennsylvania all the 
northwestern part of the State. Incursions of Indians in- 
to the settled parts of Western Pennsylvania continued, 
however, for several years. The burning of Hannastown, 
the county-seat of Westmoreland county, had occurred in 
1782. In the same county Mrs. Massey Harbison and her 
three children were captured by the Indians in 1792 and 
two of the children were massacred. In 1794 Captain 
Andrew Sharp, of Indiana county, was shot and killed by 
''seven Indians" while descending the Kiskiminitas river 
in a boat with his family and others. In the same year 
James Dickson was fired upon by Indians while hunt- 
ing his cows in Crawford county and seriously wounded. 
Half-breed Indians and some of full blood who were peace- 
ably disposed were permitted to remain in Warren county, 
on the Allegheny river, just below the New York State 
line. Mr. Rhoads says: "Of the existing Indians which 
represent the ancient occupants or claimants of Central 
Pennsylvania there were 98 Senecas and Onondagas living 
in 1890 on the Cornplanter Reservation in Warren county." 



FHTSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 75 



CHAPTER VII. 

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

In Csesar's Commentaries on his Wars in GatU, with 
which all historical students are familiar, it is stated that 
" the whole country of Gaul is divided into three parts," 
and that these parts are separated only by boundaries 
which are formed by rivers. Pennsylvania is also divided 
into three parts, which may be described as the east- 
ern, central, and western sections. Their boundaries are 
strongly marked and they are distinctly defined in every 
good map of the State. They are more marked and im- 
pressive than the boundaries which divided Gaul into three 
parts. It is of interest to add that these sections were 
occupied by white settlers at three different periods and 
in the order above mentioned. The eastern part extends 
from the Delaware river to the eastern branch and the 
main stem of the Susquehanna river; the central part ex- 
tends westward from the Susquehanna to the summit of 
the Alleghenies at Cresson and corresponding points ; and 
the western part extends from the crest of the Alleghenies 
to the western limits of the State. Bedford and Altoona, 
at the eastern base of the Alleghenies, are in the central 
division of Pennsylvania as we have above described it. 

An examination of a good map of Pennsylvania will 
show that the State forms almost an exact parallelogram, 
touching the waters of the Delaware on its eastern bound- 
ary and extending to Ohio and West Virginia on the west 
and to Lake Erie on the northwest, with straight lines 
forming its northern and southern and western bounda- 
ries; that throughout nearly its whole extent it is trav- 
ersed by numerous mountain ranges of the Appalachian 
system, all having the same general direction from north- 
east to southwest; that it is remarkably well watered by 
large rivers and their mountain tributaries ; that it has 
very few lakes, most of which are but little larger than 
ponds; and that between its mountain ranges are many 



76 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

valleys of considerable extent^ the most noted being the 
Schuylkill, Wyoming, Chester, Lebanon, Cumberland, Ju- 
niala, Ligonier, Monongahela, Allegheny, Shenango, and 
Ohio valleys. Many of the mountain ranges of Pennsyl- 
vania lead up to extensive and fertile plateaus upon 
which may be found well-tilled farms and attractive and 
prosperous towns and villages. 

In natural resources Pennsylvania is the richest State 
in the Union. It is a great agricultural State as well as 
the leading producer of anthracite and bituminous coal, 
natural gas, and other natural products. A large part of 
the State is underlaid with limestone, and its influence 
upon the fertility of the soil was recognized by the early 
settlers. It was long the principal producer of iron ore. 

Most of our country is rich in magnificent scenery 
of hill and dale, mountain and valley, forest and lake and 
river, but nowhere is there to be found a greater or more 
pleasing variety of scenery than in Pennsylvania. Espe- 
cially may this be said in those seasons of the year when 
the primeval forests which have not been seriously invad- 
ed by the woodman's axe and the lumberman's saw-mill 
present to the eye long stretches of the densest and green- 
est foliage. And, then, if we keep away from the smoke 
of the mill and the factory and the coke oven, there will 
be added the necessary accompaniment of all beautiful 
scenery, a clear sky overhead, which William Penn found 
in 1683 and described in a letter written in that year to 
the Duke of Ormonde, to which we will presently refer. 

Pennsylvania has hundreds of scenes of varied beauty 
that would well repay a visit from any American or Eu- 
ropean tourist — some rugged and grand, others quiet and 
restful, but all supremely beautiful, especially in the sum- 
mer and autumn seasons of the year. The wonder is that 
the lines of railroad which run through the most pictur- 
esque sections of the State are not more patronized by 
American tourists in these seasons than they are. Many 
of our tourists go to Europe knowing very little of the 
unsurpassed scenery of their own country. And yet, when 
American men and women of intelligence and artistic 
taste have the good judgment to travel through any part 



PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 77 

of our country for the purpose of studying and enjoying 
its scenery, they never fail to praise it. A ride from 
Philadelphia to Kttsburgh over the Pennsylvania Rail- 
road, or from Philadelphia to Harrisburg by way of thjB 
Schuylkill and Lebanon valleys, or up the Delaware val- 
ley, or through the historic Wyoming valley, will reveal 
many extensive prospects of graceful woodland alternat- 
ing with cultivated fields and broad meadows as level 
almost as a western prairie, with constant glimpses of 
mountain ridges, and frequently of quiet streams to em- 
phasize the fact that no landscape is perfect without a 
lake, or river, or even a rivulet. The scenery above re- 
ferred to is typical of that of the whole State — placid 
beauty on the one hand, rugged grandeur on the other. 

The journal of Rufus Putnam, who traveled with some 
friends from his home in Connecticut to Marietta, Ohio, in 
1794 and 1795, describes in glowing terms the scenery of 
the Allegheny mountains in Southwestern Pennsylvania as 
he admiringly beheld it in December, 1794, while crossing 
these mountains from Somerset county to Bedford county. 
He says that from the top of a high mountain he looked 
down into a vast valley, the whole constituting ''a most 
delightful landscape," which he describes, and then adds : 
"In short, the one comprehensive view was the most pic- 
turesque that my eyes ever beheld.'' The valley referred 
to was the upper part of the Juniata valley, threaded by 
the Raystown branch of the ''Blue Juniata." 

In the letter from William Penn to the Duke of Or- 
monde, written in 1683, to which we have already referred, 
Penn describes as follows the surface of Pennsylvania that 
he had seen, the crops that the land would produce, the cli- 
mate, and the flora and fauna with which he had become 
acquainted. We quote from Notes and Qtieriea. He says : 

" I thank God I am safely arrived in the province that 
the providence of God and bounty of the king hath made 
myne, and which the credit, prudence, and industry of the 
people concerned with me must render considerable. I was 
received by the ancient inhabitants with much kindness 
and respect and the rest brought it with them. There 
may be about four thousand soules in all. I speak, I think. 






78 PROGHESSIVB PENNSYLVANIA. 

within compass. We expect an increase from France, Hol- 
land; and Germany, as well as our native country. 

" The land is generally good, well water'd, and not so 
thick of wood as imagin'd ; there are also many open 
places that have been old Indian fields. The trees that 
grow here are the mulberry, white and red, walnut, black, 
gray, and hickery, poplar, cedar, Cyprus, chestnut, ash, 
sassafras, gum, pine, spruce, oake, black, white, red, Span- 
ish chestnut, and swamp, which has a leaf like a willow 
and is most lasting. The food the woods yield is your 
elks, deer, raccoons, beaver, rabbits, turkeys, pheasants, 
heath-birds, pigeons, and partredges, innumerably ; we need 
no setting dogs to ketch; they run by droves into the 
house in cold weather. Our rivers have also plenty of ex- 
cellent fish and water fowl, as sturgeon, rock, shad, herring, 
catfish or flatheads, sheepsheads, roach, and perch, and 
trout in inland streames ; of fowls, the swan, white, gray, 
and black goose, and brands, the best duck and teal I ever 
ate, and the snipe and the curlue with the snow-bird are 
also excellent. 

" The aire is sweet and cleare, which makes a screen 
and steady sky, as in the more southern parts of France. 
Our summers and winters are commonly once in three 
years in extreames ; but the winters seldom last above 
ten weeks and rarely begin till the latter end of Decem- 
ber ; the days are above two hours longer and the sun 
much hotter here than with you, which makes some rec- 
ompense for the sharp nights of the winter season, as 
well as the woods that make cheap and great fires. We 
have of grain wheat, maize, rye, barley, oats, several excel- 
lent sorts of beans and peas, pumpkins, water and musk- 
melons, all English roots and garden stuff, good fruit 
and excellent cider ; the peach we have in divers kinds, 
and very good, and in great abundance. The vine (of 
severall sorts and the sign with us of rich land) is very 
fruitful, and tho not so sweet as some I have eaten in 
Europe yet it makes a good wine, and the worst good 
vinegar. I have observed three sorts, the great grape that 
has green, red, and black, all ripe on the same tree, the 
muskedell, and black little grape which is the best, and 



PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 79 

may be improved to an excellent wine. These are spon- 
taneous. Of cattle we have the horse^ not very hand- 
some, but good. Cow cattle and hogs in much plenty, 
and sheep increase apace." 

In the same year, 1683, Penn wrote a letter to the 
Free Society of Traders, dated 16th of 8th month, to be 
found in Watson's Annals, in which he describes the cli- 
mate, field and garden products, beasts, birds, fishes, etc., 
of Pennsylvania in terms similar to those used in his let- 
ter to th^ Duke of Ormonde. In both letters the impres- 
sion is clearly conveyed that the part of Pennsylvania 
lying along the Delaware was very far from being an 
uninhabited wilderness in 1683. 

Penn's favorable opinion of the climate of his province 
has not been confirmed by the experience of those who 
have come after him and who have seen more of Pennsyl- 
vania than he had become familiar with in 1683. The cli- 
mate of Philadelphia and the adjacent territory, of which 
he formed favorable impressions, is, however, much mild- 
er than that of the mountain sections of the State. A 
glance at the map will show that Philadelphia is not only 
remote from the mountains but that it is farther south 
than Wheeling, which was formerly known as a Southern 
city, within slave territory. The climate of Pennsylvania 
taken as a whole is really very changeable and in the win- 
ter months is severe and trying to delicate constitutions, 
although, as has been stated, its summers and autumns 
are delightful, except, of course, when the conjunction of 
high temperature and excessive humidity in the summer 
months creates great discomfort, especially in the large 
cities. In Philadelphia, with a population of a million and 
a half, the combination of high temperature and great hu- 
midity is most oppressive and the cause of great suffering. 
The autumn in Pennsylvania is usually pleasant, even in 
November, when we have Indian summer, but spring is 
often delayed until May. The division of the year into 
seasons in our almanacs is not correct for Pennsylvania or 
for some other parts of our country. March is not usually 
in this State a spring month, but a winter month, and 
April is proverbially capricious and often wintry. And 



80 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

yet; so changeable and uncertain is the climate of Penn* 
sylvania that in March, 1907, the temperature in Phila- 
delphia rose to 85 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade, while 
on the 14th of June of the same year snow fell in con- 
siderable quantities in several of its mountain counties. 

Colonel Buell comments as follows on Penn's favorable 
opinion of the chmate of Pennsylvania : '' This would not 
be recognized as the climate of Philadelphia and its neigh- 
borhood at the beginning of the twentieth century. There 
is probably no locality on earth where the deforestation of 
the surrounding country has so banefully affected the cli- 
mate as the tidewater estuary of the Delaware. And these 
malign conditions seem to culminate at the confluence of 
the Delaware and Schuylkill. In Penn's time the south 
winds blew over a primeval forest that covered all South 
Jersey. The great trees absorbed the humidity which the 
gulf stream spreads all along its wake, and the southerly 
and southeasterly breezes reached Philadelphia with all 
their miasma sucked out of them. Now they blow over 
half-tide lagoons, back-water creeks, and marshes fetid 
with rotting vegetation and morbific with malarial germs; 
or they sift through hot sand barrens, supporting a scrub 
growth of leafless and half-burned second-crop pine or old 
fields exhausted by slovenly tillage, baked by a blazing 
sun or steamed by hot humidity, and covered with a scant 
shrubbery of dwarf bushes and enfeebled briers wherever 
the sand-drifts will let shrubs grow. The result is a cli- 
mate—or rather the total absence of one — that in summer 
amounts to a vast gridiron for the broiUng of mankind, 
while the so-called spring and autumn are likely to exhibit 
three changes of season in forty-eight hours. The alleged 
winter is divided into about three parts slush and one 
part blizzard. This is as different from the climate Penn 
describes as darkness differs from light, and it is all due 
to deforestation.'' 

Colonel Buell's last phrase is too sweeping. There is 
another cause than deforestation for the excessive hu- 
midity of the climate of Philadelphia. In summer some 
of the deadly humidity of that city and its neighborhood 
is certainly due to the proximity of the Delaware and 



PHYSICAL CHAHACTERISTICS OP PENNSYLVANIA. 81 

Schuylkill rivers, from the surface of which a vast amount 
of moisture is lifted into the atmosphere by the sun's hot 
rays. The sea breezes never reach Philadelphia. 

Penn's cousin, Markham, writing home to England in 
December, 1681, describing Pennsylvania, says : '* It is a 
fine country if it were not so overgrown with woods, and 
very healthy. Here people live to be over 100 years of 
age." Nearly all of Pennsylvania when it was first set- 
tled by white men was covered with forests. To-day it 
may still be said of it that it is a heavily wooded sec- 
tion. Most of its mountain ranges are covered with trees, 
and centuries must elapse before it would be possible to 
entirely denude these ranges. Throughout the State trees 
are, indeed, everywhere to be seen. Its authorities are 
wisely preserving great stretches of native forest which 
have been purchased expressly that they may not pass 
into the hands of the destructive lumberman. 

The Appalachian system, which embraces all the east- 
em mountains of the United States from Northern Maine 
to Alabama, attains its greatest width in Pennsylvania, 
and that part of it lying in this . State has always pos- 
sessed great interest for geologists. J. D. Whitney says 
that in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Maryland " the system 
has its greatest width and most intricate and interesting 
topographical features,'' and that ''it is not until Penn- 
sylvania is reached that this part of the system becomes 
of importance." Of the topography of the Pennsylvania 
division of the system H. D. Rogers says : '* It is a com- 
plex chain of long, narrow, very level mountain ridges, 
separated by long, narrow, parallel valleys. These ridges 
sometimes end abruptly in swelUng knobs and sometimes 
taper off in long slender points. Their slopes are singu- 
larly uniform, being in many cases unvaried by ravine or 
gully for many miles; in other instances they. are trench- 
ed at equal intervals with great regularity. Their crests 
are for the most part sharp, and they preserve an extraor- 
dinarily equable elevation, being only here and there in- 
terrupted by notches or gaps, which sometimes descend 
to the water-level so as to give passage to the rivers. In 

many instances two narrow, contiguous parallel mountain 

6 



82 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

crests unite at their extremities and inclose a narrow, 
oval valley, which with its sharp mountain sides bears 
not unfrequently a marked resemblance to a long, slender, 
sharp-pointed canoe/' J.P.Lesley says: "Nowhere else 
on the known earth is its counterpart for the richness 
and definiteness of geographical detail. It is the very 
home of the picturesque in science as . in scenery. Its 
landscapes on the Susquehanna, on the Juniata, and Po- 
tomac are unrivaled of their kind in the world. Equally 
beautiful to the artist is a faithful representation of their 
symmetrical, compound, and complicated curves upon a 
map." 

Although Pennsylvania is a mountainous State, with 
the Appalachian system passing through all of the three 
divisions already mentioned, it is not noted for such tow- 
ering elevations as characterize many other States. In 
the western part of North Carolina and in the eastern 
part of Tennessee are to be found the highest peaks of the 
Appalachian system, many of which are more than twice 
as high as the highest peaks in Pennsylvania. Much high- 
er peaks than are found in Pennsylvania are also to be 
found in the Green mountains of Vermont, the White 
mountains of New Hampshire, the extreme northwestern 
corner of Massachusetts, and in the Adirondacks of New 
York. Mount Katahdin, in Maine, is also higher than any 
peak in Pennsylvania. A few years ago it was believed 
that the highest point in this State was Big Bald Knob, 
on the line between Somerset and Bedford counties, about 
fifteen and a half miles northwest from the town of Bed- 
ford, its elevation above tidewater being 3,000.7 feet. It 
has since been determined by the United States Geolog- 
ical Survey that there is at least one point in the Alleghe- 
nies in Pennsylvania that is somewhat higher than Big 
Bald Knob. Blue Knob, in the extreme northern part of 
Bedford county, is reported by the Survey to be 3,136 
feet high. The highest elevations in Pennsylvania which 
are occupied by towns or settlements are rarely 2,000 
feet above tidewater. Somerset is 2,250 feet ; Cresson and 
Ebensburg each 2,022 feet; Gallitzin, 2,165 feet; Berlin, 
2,163 feet ; and Pocahontas, in the southeastern part of 



PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 83 

Somerset county, is 2,660 feet. Chestnut ridge, in West- 
moreland and Fayette counties, is said by Professor Les- 
ley to be '' the last mountain the traveler, going west, sees 
this side of the Rocky mountains." Before the traveler 
reaches the western boundary of Pennsylvania he will see 
many very high foothills of the AUeghenies, Laurel hill, 
west of Johnstown, as well as Chestnut ridge, rising to a 
great height. In the Youghiogheny valley, southeast of 
Pittsburgh, are very high mountain ridges. 

Of the rivers of Pennsylvania it is sufficient to quote 
the following description : " The Susquehanna, a river of 
great length, rises far northward, in New York, and takes 
a devious course through Pennsylvania into Chesapeake 
bay. The Juniata flows eastward into the Susquehanna, 
through a region of great beauty. The point where the 
Delaware breaks through the Blue ridge, known as the 
Water Gap, is famed for its bold scenery. The river rush- 
es through a deep gorge between perpendicular cliffs more 
than a thousand feet high. The Delaware forms the east- 
ern boundary of the State and receives the Schuylkill 
at Philadelphia. In the west the Allegheny river, flowing 
from the north, and the Monongahela, from the south, 
unite to form the Ohio, thus opening navigation to the 
Mississippi." The writer might have added that the Le- 
high, as a tributary of the Delaware, the Kiskiminitas 
and the Clarion, as tributaries of the Allegheny, and the 
Youghiogheny, as a tributary of the Monongahela, are also 
important streams. Few Pennsylvania rivers are naviga- 
ble for any considerable distance without artificial aid. 

None of the lakes of Pennsylvania are large, nor, as 
has been said, are there many of them. They are most 
numerous in the northern part of the State. Conneaut 
lake, in Crawford county, is the most important. It is a 
beautiful sheet of water, about four miles long by about 
two miles wide. There are two other small lakes in the 
same county. Probably the next most important lake is 
Promised Land lake, in Pike county, which is several 
miles in circumference and a mile or two wide. There are 
a number of other lakes in Pike county and in Wayne 
county, which adjoins Pike, that rival in scenic beauty the 



84 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

famous lakes of Switzerland and Scotland. Harvey's lake, 
in Luzerne county, is about one and a half miles long by 
about half a mile wide. As is well known, only a small 
part of the coast line of Lake Erie, five or six miles long, 
was included in the original boundaries of Pennsylvania. 
It was not until 1792 that the triangular piece of land 
which embraces the present coast line of Pennsylvania 
on Lake Erie was acquired from the United States for the 
sum of $151,640.25. The Indian title to the triangle had 
been purchased by Pennsylvania from Cornplanter and 
other chiefs of the Six Nations in 1789 for $6,000. The 
triangle embraces 202,187 acres. 

Henry Gannett, the geographer of the United States 
Geological Survey, advises us that revised measurements 
and computations show that the total area of Pennsyl- 
vania amounts to 45,126 square miles, of which 44,832 
miles represent the land surface and 294 miles the water 
surface. Many other States, both old and new, exceed 
Pennsylvania in area. We are also advised by Mr. Gan- 
nett that the extreme length of Pennsylvania from its 
western boundary at the West Virginia Une to the most 
easterly bend in the Delaware river is 305 miles, and that 
its width from Mason and Dixon's line northward to the 
southern boundary of New York is 157 miles. 

It is worthy of note that Western Pennsylvania, be- 
ginning at the summit of the Alleghenies in Cambria, 
Somerset, and Bedford counties, is really in the Ohio 
valley. All its streams flow westward, and their waters, 
after uniting to form the Ohio river at Kttsburgh, even- 
tually reach the Gulf of Mexico. 

As incidental to the physical characteristics of Penn- 
sylvania its population may be again referred to. The 
census of 1900 gives the population of Pennsylvania in 
that year as amounting to 6,302,115, which was only 
exceeded by that of New York, with a population of 
7,268,894. The population of Pennsylvania in 1908 is 
certainly above 7,500,000. Of this total considerably over 
1,000,000 are foreign born. 

In connection with the general subject of this chapter 
we append a list of the sixty-seven counties of Pennsyl- 



PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 85 

vania, with the date of their formation by the General 
Assembly. This list has been verified for this chapter by 
the Hon. Henry Houck^ Secretary of the Department of 
Internal Affairs of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 

1. Adams, January 22, 1800, formed from a part of York. 

2. Allegheny, September 24, 1788, formed from a part of Westmoreland 

and Washington. 

3. Armstrong, March 12, 1800, formed from a part of Allegheny, West- 

moreland, and Lycoming. 

4. Beaver, March 12, 1800, formed from a part of Allegheny and Wash- 

ington. 

5. Bedford, March 9, 1771, formed from a part of Cumberland. 

6. Berks, March 11, 1752, formed from a part of Philadelphia, Chester, 

and Lancaster. 

7. Blair, February 26, 1846, formed from a part of Huntingdon and Bedford. 

8. Bradford, February 21, 1810, formed from a part of Luzerne and Ly- 

coming. Previous to March 24, 1812, this county was caUed Ontario, 
but its name was changed to Bradford on that day. 

9. Bucks, one of the original counties of the Province. This county was 

one of the three original counties established in 1682 at the first set- 
tlement of the Province, the other two being Philadelphia and Chester. 
Bucks county was first called Buckingham, and it was so styled by 
William Penn in a letter to the Free Society of Traders, written on 
August 6, 1683, to be found in Janney's Life of WiUiam Penn. 

10. Butler, March 12, 1800, formed from a part of Allegheny. 

11. Cambria, March 26, 1804, formed from a part of Himtingdon, Somer- 

set, and Bedford. 

12. Cameron, March 29, 1860, formed from a part of Clinton, Elk, McKean, 

and Potter. 

13. Carbon, March 13, 1843, formed from a part of Northampton and Monroe. 

14. Centre, February 13, 1800, formed from a part of Mifflin, Northimiber- 

land, Lycoming, and Himtingdon. 

15. Chester, one of the original coimties established at the first settlement 

of the Province. 

16. Clarion, March 11, 1839, formed from a part of Venango and Armstrong. 

17. Clearfield, March 26, 1804, formed from a part of Lycoming, Hunting- 

don, and Northumberland. 

18. Clinton, June 21, 1839, formed from a part of Lycoming and Centre. 

19. Columbia, March 22, 1813, formed from a part of Northumberland. 

20. Crawford, March 12, 1800, formed from a part of Allegheny. 

21. Cumberland, January 27, 1750, formed from a part of Lancaster. 

22. Dauphin, March 4, 1785, formed from a part of Lancaster. 

23. Delaware, September 26, 1789, formed from a part of Chester. 

24. Elk, April 18, 1843 formed from a part of Jefferson, Clearfield, and 

McKean. 

25. Erie, March 12, 1800, formed from a part of Allegheny. 

26. Fayette, September 26, 1783, formed from a part of Westmoreland. 

27. Forest, April 11, 1848, formed from a part of Jefferson and Venango. 

Part of Venango added by act approved October 31, 1866. 

28. Franklin, September 9, 1784, formed from a part of Cumberland. 

29. Fulton, April 19, 1850, formed from a part of Bedford. 



1 



86 PHOGRBBSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

30. Greene, February 9, 1790, formed from a part of Waahington. 

31. Huntingdon, September 20, 1787, formed from a part of Bedford. 

32. Indiana, March 30, 1803, formed from a part of Westmoreland and 

Lycoming. 

33. Jefferson, March 26, 1804, formed from a part of Lycoming. 

34. Jimiata, March 2, 1831, formed from a part of Mifflin. 

35. Lackawanna, August 21, 1878, formed from a part of Luaeme. 

36. Lancaster, May 10, 1729, formed from a part of Chester. 

37. Lawrence, March 20, 1849, formed from a part of Beaver and Mercer. 

38. Lebanon, February 16, 1813, fonned from a part of Dauphin and Lan- 

caster. 

39. Lehigh, March 6, 1812, formed from a part of Northampton. 

40. Luzerne, September 25, 1786, formed from a part of Northtmiberland. 

41. Lycoming, April 13, 1795, formed from a part of Northumberland. 

42. McKean, March 26, 1804, formed from a part of Lycoming. 

43. Mercer, March 12, 1800, formed from a part of Allegheny. 

44. Mifflin, September 19, 1789, formed from a part of Cumberland and 

Northumberland. 

45. Monroe, April 1, 1836, formed from a part of Northampton and Pike. 

46. Montgomery, September 10, 1784, formed from a part of Philadelphia. 

47. Montour, May 3, 1850, formed from a part of Columbia. 

48. Northampton, March 11, 1752, formed from a part of Bucks. 

49. Northumberland, March 21, 1772, formed from parts of Lancaster, 

Cumberland, Berks, Bedford, and Northampton. 

50. Perry, March 22, 1820, formed from a part of Cumberland. 

51. Philadelphia, one of the three original counties established at the first 

settlement of the Province. 

52. Pike, March 26, 1814, formed from a part of Wayne. 

53. Potter, March 26, 1804, formed from a part of Lycoming. 

54. Schuylkill, March 1, 1811, formed from a part of Berks and Northamp- 

ton. 

55. Snyder, March 2, 1855, formed from a part of Union. 

56. Somerset, April 17, 1795, formed from a part of Bedford. 

57. Sullivan, March 15, 1847, formed from a part of Lycoming. 

58. Susquehanna, February 21, 1810, formed from a part of Luzerne. 

59. Tioga, March 26, 1804, formed from a part of Lycoming. 

60. Union, March 22, 1813, formed from a part of Northumberland. 

61. Venango, March 12, 1800, formed from a part of Allegheny and Ly- 

coming. 

62. Warren, March 12, 1800, formed from a part of Allegheny and Lycoming. 

63. Wayne, March 21, 1798, formed from a part of Northampton. 

64. Washington, March 28, 1781, formed from a part of Westmoreland. 

65. Westmoreland, February 26, 1773, formed from a part of Bedford, and 

in 1785 part of the purchase of 1784 was added thereto. 

66. Wyoming, April 4, 1842, formed from a part of Luzerne. 

67. York, August 19, 1749, formed from a part of Lancaster. 

Down to 1800 Lycoming county embraced a large part 
of Northern and Northwestern Pennsylvania, after which 
year it became the parent of many counties. At an ear- 
lier day Cumberland was the mother of many counties 



PHYSICAL CHARACTEHISTICS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 87 

in Central and Western Pennsylvania. Bedford has also 
been the mother of many counties. It will be seen that 
the original name of Bucks county was Buckingham, and 
that the original name of Bradford county was Ontario, 
but why it should have been called Ontario is a mystery. 

The names of the counties of Pennsylvania have been 
felicitously chosen. They are all euphonious and nearly 
all are appropriate. Many of them are properly of Eng- 
lish derivation. Others are constant reminders of the 
services of distinguished soldiers and statesmen of Penn- 
sylvania and the whole country, and particularly in the 
Revolutionary period. Many are of Indian origin. Not 
one is borrowed from Greece or Rome. It is noteworthy 
that only one county, Snyder, has a distinctively German 
name. Only one, Schuylkill, suggests the Dutch element 
in the population of Pennsylvania. One, Cambria, is a 
reminder of the Welsh element. In addition to Fayette 
county, named after the marquis, two other counties are 
of French origin, Dauphin and Luzerne. Montour is of 
mixed Indian and French origin, receiving its name from 
Catherine Montour, a half-breed. Beaver and Elk coun- 
ties preserve the names of two of the native animals of 
Pennsylvania. Fulton county is a reminder that the in- 
vention of the steamboat was perfected by a Pennsylvanian. 
Huntingdon county preserves the name of an English lady, 
the Countess of Huntingdon, who was a benefactor of the 
University of Pennsylvania. Two counties, Philadelphia 
and Lebanon, have Bible names. Columbia, Centre, Car- 
bon, and Forest counties need no explanation. The whole 
list of the counties contains only beautiful names. 

Pennsylvania is also fortunate in having beautiful In- 
dian names for most of its rivers — Lehigh, Lackawanna, 
Susquehanna, Juniata, Conestoga, Conemaugh, Loyalhanna, 
Catawissa, Youghiogheny, Monongahela, Allegheny, Kiski- 
minitas, Ohio, and many others. The names of the rivers 
of the State are not only euphonious but they wisely 
preserve the memory of the Indians who lived upon their 
banks. Indian names have also been given to many Penn- 
sylvania towns and cities — Hokendauqua, Catasauqua, 
Eittanning, Allegheny, Aliquippa, Monongahela, and others. 



88 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

ANIMAL LIFE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 

Neither the Indians nor their predecessors, that mys- 
terious people the Mound Builders, were the first inhabit- 
ants of Pennsylvania. The beasts of the forest, the birds, 
the wild fowl, and the fish in the streams were here before 
these primitive people and they were important factors in 
the settlement of Penn's province, because they helped 
materially to furnish food for the first settlers while they 
were building their homes and opening their farms. The 
flesh of most of the wild animals that were found in the 
forests of Pennsylvania, the turkeys and other wild fowl, 
and the fish were really essential to the very Ufe of the 
settlers. Penn and other writers in the pioneer age of 
Pennsylvania repeatedly called attention in their letters 
to the animal life of the province as an attraction worthy 
to be mentioned in connection with its fruitful soil and 
its magnificent forests. They dwelt upon the abundance of 
elks, deer, bears, squirrels, rabbits, and other animals that 
were fit for food, and of turkeys and other wild fowl 
and of all kinds of fish. Wild fruits and nuts also added 
their stores to the general stock of native food supplies. 
Plums, grapes, pawpaws, haws, and berries were to be 
found in many places, while the black and white walnut, 
the chestnut, and the hickory yielded nutritious nuts in 
profusion. Indian corn could be grown the first season 
from seed that was readily obtained from the friendly 
Delawares. The early settlers and the frontiersmen after 
them could not want for food to supply their needs. A 
study of th^ animal and vegetable Ufe of the colonies will 
show that no other colony was as rich as Pennsylvania in 
indigenous life-supporting products of the forest and river. 
Dismissing the native vegetable products of Pennsylvania 
there are some details of its native animal life that are 
worthy of attention. 

Penn mentions the elk in his enumeration of the native 



ANIMAL LIFE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 89 

animals of Pennsylvania, particularly indicating its pres- 
ence in the Susquehanna valley. This noble representa- 
tive of the deer family in Pennsylvania seems, however, 
to have been most numerous in the northern and north- 
western sections of the province. One of the northwestern 
counties of Pennsylvania is called Elk county. Hundreds 
of elks have been killed in this county and in adjoining 
counties. There is an Elk run in Tioga county, and there 
are Elk townships in Tioga and Warren counties and an 
Elklick township in Somerset county. Elk licks were 
numerous in Western and Northwestern Pennsylvania in 
the early days of the province. In Stone and Cram's 
American Animals (1902) it is said that '4n the Eastern 
States the elk seems to have lingered longest in the wilds 
of Central Pennsylvania, and men are still living who can 
remember the killing of the last elk of their several locali- 
ties about fifty years ago." Another authority says that 
"the last elk in Potter county was killed in 1856." Mc- 
Knight says that the last elk killed in Pennsylvania was 
shot in 1864 ''near the Clarion river" by Jim Jacobs, an 
Indian, but another antiquarian says that the year was 
1867. Rhoads says that in the years 1831 to 1837 Seth I. 
Nelson, a hunter, killed 22 elks in Clinton, Potter, Tioga, 
and Lycoming counties. The moose does not seem to 
have inhabited Pennsylvania at any time. 

The common varieties of the deer family were found 
by the early settlers in every part of Pennsylvania, and 
deer are still found in all the wild and unsettled parts of 
the State. As they are protected by the laws in certain 
seasons of the year they would increase rapidly but for 
the license given to hunters to destroy them in other sea- 
sons, not for food, as was necessary and justifiable in the 
early days, but to gratify a senseless desire to kill these 
beautiful creatures. One thousand deer were killed in 
Pennsylvania in 1904. Some of our deerslayers appear to 
be actuated entirely by no other motive than that which 
leads an Englishman of a certain class to say to his guest : 
''This is a fine day ; let us go out and kill something." 
It is not at all hkely, however, that deer will become 
extinct in Pennsylvania, as at least three parks for their 



90 PROGREBeiVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

preservation have been established by public-spirited citi- 
zens — one in Monroe county, one in Carbon county, and 
one in Centre county. There are probably others. 

While the skins of the deer were largely used by the 
Pennsylvania pioneers for clothing and for other purposes, 
as they had been by the Indians, many fur-bearing ani- 
mals were found in every part of the province and their 
skins contributed to the comfort of these pioneers — bears, 
beavers, otters, raccoons, opossums, weasels, minks, squir- 
rels, muskrats, and others. The furs of some of these 
animals also formed from the first important articles of 
trade with the Indians and with foreign countries. Brown 
and black bears were found in considerable numbers in 
the mountain districts of Pennsylvania, and the beavers 
appear to have been active on the streams in every part 
of the province. The trade in beaver skins formed the 
most important part of the fur trade of the colonists. The 
otter, with its fine fur, was more rare than the beaver, 
but the other and smaller fur-bearing animals were every- 
where. Every one of the animals mentioned is still to be 
found in Pennsylvania. Both brown and black bears are 
killed every year. The otter still lingers in some of the 
streams in the northern part of the State. It could be 
found in Pike county only a few years ago, and otters 
were numerous in Monroe county ten or fifteen years ago. 
There is at least one colony of beavers in the northeast- 
ern part of Pennsylvania. A lone beaver was seen by W. 
C. McHenry in September, 1899, swimming on the Beaver 
Dam branch of the South Fork of the Conemaugh river 
in Cambria county. Squirrels are abundant, and the 
other animals mentioned are very far from being extinct. 

Otters were still found on some of the streams of 
Southwestern Pennsylvania not many years ago. We 
have received a circumstantial account of their presence 
on Redstone creek, which empties into the Mononghhela 
just below Brownsville. A letter from George W. Kelley, 
of Grindstone, Fayette county, to Dr. J. S. Van Voorhis, 
of Bellevernon, in the same county, dated September 4, 
1905, the original of which is Ijdng before us, gives the 
following details : '' With reference to the otters that I 



ANIMAL LIFE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 91 

killed on Redstone creek I will give you exact data of each 
as I killed them. February 15, 1873, I shot the first one 
near the old Parkhill mill, and on March 5 shot the sec- 
ond one at the same place. On March 3, 1879, 1 shot the 
third one in Cook's dam, two miles above. On January 
25, 1881, I shot the fourth one near the Parkhill mill — ^a 
large one that weighed 25 pounds. On March 6, 1881, I 
shot a very large one, weighing over 30 pounds. Its hide, 
after being stretched, measured 5 feet 2^ inches from tip 
to tip. On February 27, 1883, I shot the edxth otter. 
Otters have been known in the Monongahela and Youghi- 
ogheny valleys for a number of years. At the present 
time there are otters in Dunlap's creek, but none in Red- 
stone creek, as there are no fish left in that stream." 
Dunlap's creek empties into the Monongahela about one 
mile above the mouth of Redstone. 

The colony of beavers in Pennsylvania above referred 
to, and the only one of which we have any knowledge, 
was in existence in 1903 near Stroudsburg, in Monroe 
county, on the farm of Judge James Edinger. The judge 
had carefully protected the colony from all molestation. 
The New York Tribune for July 5, 1903, says that "Judge 
Edinger had a law passed at the last session of the Penn- 
sylvania Liegislature for the protection of the beavers. 
The law provides a fine of $100 or imprisonment for one 
hundred days for each beaver killed with a gun or caught 
with a trap, or for having one of the animals in posses- 
sion, dead or ahve." The Monroe county colony is not 
numerous. It had only recently made its appearance and 
had built a dam near the site of a beaver dam that was 
built over a hundred years ago. A letter from Judge 
Edinger in September, 1907, says that '' the beavers are 
still here and have done considerable cutting this fall.'' 

The early settlers of Pennsylvania found many animals 
in the forests that were troublesome neighbors and others 
that were really to be dreaded. Some of these animals, 
including the bears, have already been mentioned, and to 
these may be added foxes, panthers, wild cats, and wolves, 
all of which, except possibly panthers, are still to be found 
in some of the thinly settled sections of the State. The 



92 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

newspapers of Pennsylvania contain frequent references 
to encounters with bears and wild cats, especially in the 
winter season. In 1903 Joseph Hoffman, who lived near 
Hazleton, in Luzerne county, killed one of two wolves, 
and in 1908 another wolf was killed near Hazleton. In 
1897 "a mammoth gray wolf was caught in a steel trap 
in Somerset county by an old man, Jonathan Queer. In 
January, 1908, "a large timber wolf" was killed in Greene 
county. In March, 1904, the commissioners of Cambria 
county paid bounties on fifty-two pairs of foxes' ears 
which had been cut from foxes captured in that county 
during the first seventeen days of that month. In August, 
1907, it was stated that Henry Stock, a hunter in Rush 
township, Dauphin county, had killed sixty-five foxes and 
fifty-six minks between May 5 and July 31. The wood- 
chuck, or groundhog, is still here, and the porcupine, or 
hedgehog, is occasionally seen. One of these latter was 
killed near Geistown, in Cambria county, in 1903. A pan- 
ther was shot in the northern part of Somerset county 
about 1865. It was a huge, tiger-like animal, which had 
carried off bodily a full-grown sheep from a pen in which 
it had been confined. A male and female panther were 
killed in Clinton county in 1871. 

The feathered inhabitants of Pennsylvania when the 
white settlers first came to the Delaware were not only 
found in great variety but in great numbers. We can not 
learn that any of the species or varieties which were then 
represented in the forests or lowlands of Pennsylvania or 
on the bosom of its rivers have entirely disappeared, not 
even excepting the wild pigeons. Occasional specimens 
of that noblest of all American birds, the wild turkey, 
are still to be found in Pennsylvania. In October, 1904, 
" boys living near New Baltimore, at the foot of the Alle- 
gheny mountains, located twenty wild turkeys and shot 
seventeen." In November of the same year a dispatch 
from \^^lliamsport said that "wild turkeys are plentiful 
in Lycoming county, and sportsmen have been bagging 
them daily since the opening of the season.'' A wild 
gobbler was killed in Bedford county in the same year. 
In October, 1906, a dispatch from Connellsville said that 



ANIMAL LIFE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 93 

''the first wild turkey killed in this section this season 
was brought down on Savage mountain last evening. The 
bird was a 19 J pound gobbler." The eagle is occasionally 
seen in Pennsylvania, but it is still rarer than the wild 
turkey. Pheasants and partridges, wild ducks and wild 
geese, swans and loons, herons, and crows and hawks and 
owls are still with us. A large blue heron was captured 
in Tioga county a few years ago. A swan was shot near 
Wilmore, in Cambria county, about five years ago. 

Wild pigeons were very numerous when Penn first 
visited his province. Janney quotes the following account 
of them : " The wild pigeons came in such numbers that 
the air was sometimes darkened by their flight, and fly- 
ing low those that had no other means to take them some- 
times supplied themselves by throwing at them as they 
flew and salting up what they could not eat ; they served 
them for bread and meat in one. They were thus sup- 
plied, at times, for the first two or three years, by which 
time they had raised sufficient out of the ground by their 
own labor.'' Proud says that the wild pigeons were 
knocked down with long poles in the hands of men and 
boys. WoUenweber gives a humorous account of the com- 
motion caused in Berks county about the middle of the 
last century by an immense flock of wild pigeons. The 
pigeons created ''a dreadful noise'' just before daylight 
which greatly excited the fears of the superstitious, who 
believed that a great calamity was impending. 

Wild pigeons have repeatedly blackened the skies of 
Pennsylvania within the memory of persons now living. 
They appeared in Cambria county on January 1, 1876. 
The Johnstown Tribune for Monday, January 3, of that 
year, said: "On Saturday there were immense flocks of 
wild pigeons flsdng over town, but yesterday it seemed 
as if all the birds of this kind at present in existence 
throughout the entire country were engaged in gyrating 
around overhead. One flock was declared to be at least 
three miles in length by half a mile wide. To-day the wild 
birds were again on the wing, and a perfect fusillade was 
kept up for a time on neighboring hills." On January 4 
the same paper said : '' There were a number of flocks 



94 PROGBESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

of wild pigeons on the wing again this morning^ and a 
great many local sportsmen ascended neighboring hills for 
the purpose of securing a mess of the birds. These pigeons 
are in excellent condition, and while the craws of some 
are filled with rice there are many others which have been 
luxuriating on beech nuts.'' On January 31 the Tribune 
further said : " Near the farm of Mr. Reynolds, along 
toward the headwaters of the South Fork, there is what 
is called a 'pigeon roost,' which means that an immense 
flock of wild pigeons has located in that place ; and 
although all fly away during the daytime for food and 
water yet they return early in the evening. Stout limbs 
on some of the trees were actually broken off by the weight 
of the birds, which pile one on top of another until it would 
seem that a pyramid of pigeons had been erected frotn a 
point where the first branches project clear to the very 
top." In the fall of 1878 wild pigeons again appeared in 
the southern part of Cambria county, but they were not 
so numerous as in 1876. 

Wild honey was one of the food supplies of the early 
settlers of Pennsylvania. The bees, which were originally 
swarms from hives that had been imported, would deposit 
their honey in hollow trees, which, when found, would be 
secured by the settlers by cutting down the trees. Until 
the present day "bee trees" in the mountains of Penn- 
sylvania have yielded vast stores of wild honey. In 1903 
a bee tree was cut down in Clearfield county which con- 
tained 200 pounds of honey. The combs in this tree are 
said to have been eight feet long. Another bee tree in 
Western Pennsylvania yielded 94 pounds of honey in 1906. 
The magnificent sugar maples of that section of the State 
soon supplied the pioneers with maple sugar, which be- 
came an important article of commerce for transportation 
to the eastern part of the State a hundred years ago. 

The fish of Pennsylvania which were found in such 
abundance in colonial days are rapidly disappearing, ow- 
ing more to the pollution of the streams than to the 
work of the fishermen. In most of the streams of the 
State fish in appreciable numbers are no longer to be 
found, but in the first half of the last century they were 



ANIUAL UFE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 95 

filled with the choicest of fish. In the Susquehanna and 
Juniata rivers shad were caught in the spring of the year 
in large numbers. They are still caught in these streams 
and in the Delaware, a few shad having been taken in 
the Juniata in 1907. Trout were once caught in every 
part of the State. West of the Alleghenies pike were 
found in all the large streams, some of them attuning a 
weight of 20 and 25 and even 30 pounds. In the Cono- 
quenessng creek, in Butler county, about 1880, United 
States Marshal Stephen P. Stone, of Beaver, caught a pike 
which weighed 23 pounds. Catfish, black bass, perch, 
suckers, and mullets were found in the streams of Penn- 
sylvania and are still caught. Herring are still taken 
in the Delaware. In the Ohio river below Pittsburgh cat- 
fish, sturgeon, and some other fish of large size are less 
numerous than formerly. Eels are still found in the Sus- 
quehanna and Juniata rivers and in some other streams 
east of the Alleghenies. In the streams west of the Alle- 
ghenies in Pennsylvania few eels have ever been found. 
Successful efforts are being made to replenish the streams 
of Pennsylvania with bass and other fish. 

As relevant to the industrial history of Pennsylvania 
the foregoing summary of the native food products which 
contributed to the support of the Indians and afterwards 
to the support of the early settlers and of the pioneers 
who pushed into the central and western parts of the 
province, and also such mention as we have made of 
the fur-bearing animals, properly find a place in this 
volume. In the next chapter the most interesting of all 
the animals of provincial Fenosylvania will be consdered. 



96 . PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 



CHAPTER IX. 

BUFFALOES IN PENNSYLVANIA. 

It is a curious fact that the existence of the buffalo 
in Pennsylvania in colonial times or at any time before 
the coming of the white settlers can not be proved by 
any evidence based on the preservation of buffalo skulls 
or whole skeletons which have been found within the 
borders of the State. They are not to be seen anywhere. 
Professor Spencer F. Baird has mentioned the existence of 
fossil remains found near Carlisle which he says may have 
been buffalo bones. Other authorities definitely record the 
finding of buffalo bones in Pennsylvania. In Rhoads's 
Mammals of Pennsylvania and New Jersey (1903) he men- 
tions buffalo bones which have been found in Pennsylva- 
nia and are preserved at the Academy of Natural Sciences 
in Philadelphia. Other proofs that the buffalo once ex- 
isted in this State are abundant. 

Early French explorers in the region south of the 
Great Lakes mention the presence of "wild bulls/' "wild 
beeves/' and "vast herds of wild cattle'' in the territory 
they visited, and some of these buffaloes were seen on the 
southern shore of Lake Erie, which would include Penn- 
sylvania. Vaudreuil, describing this lake in 1718, says : 
"There is no need of fasting on either side of this lake; 
deer are to be found there in great abundance; buffaloes 
are found on the south but not on the north side." Colo- 
nel James Smith was captured by the Indians in Penn- 
sylvania in 1755, when a boy, and taken to Ohio, where 
he remained a captive until 1759. Forty years after his 
release he published a circumstantial account of his cap- 
tivity, which is an American classic. In this account Colo- 
nel Smith frequently mentions buffaloes as forming part 
of the staple diet of the Indians with whom he lived in 
the eastern part of Ohio. He killed one himself. In 1770 
Washington visited what is now known as West Virginia, 
and in the journal of his trip he speaks of receiving from 



BUFFALOES IN PENNSYLVANIA. 97 

"an old acquaintance/' Kyashuta, "a quarter of very fine 
buffalo." He also mentions a buffalo path/' the tracks of 
which we saw." On November 2, recording his explora- 
tion of the Great Kanawha river, he writes : "Killed five 
buffaloes and wounded some others, three deer, &c. This 
country abounds in buffaloes." He says of a creek near 
which he encamped that "on this creek are many buffa- 
loes, according to the Indians' account." In 1784 Wash- 
ington paid a visit to Western Maryland, Western Penn- 
sylvania, and what is now West Virginia, and in his diary 
of that journey he refers to buffalo paths and salt licks 
frequented by buffaloes in the vicinity of Morgantown, 
which is only a few miles south of the Pennsylvania line. 

When a young man, soon after the close of the Revo- 
lution, Albert Gallatin was engaged in land explorations 
in the western part of Virginia. In an article on the In- 
dians and their means of subsistence, contributed by Mr. 
Gallatin in 1848 to the Transactions of the American Eth- 
nological Society, that eminent man, referring to buffaloes, 
says : " The name of Buffalo creek, between Pittsburgh 
and Wheeling, proves that they had spread thus far east- 
wardly when that coimtry was first visited by the Anglo- 
American. In my time (1784-1785) they were abundant 
on the southern side of the Ohio, between the Great and 
the Little Kanawha. I have during eight months lived 
principally on their flesh." He also says of the buffa- 
loes that ''they had at a former period penetrated east 
of the Allegheny mountains." 

Dr. Bausman, in his History of Beaver County, Pennsyl- 
vania, quotes Colonel Brodhead as writing to Washington 
in 1780 that he is "sending hunters to the Little Ke- 
nawha to kill buffaloes," and in Craig's History of Pitts- 
burgh we read that Colonel Brodhead, in a letter to Rev. 
D. Zeisberger, under date of December 2, 1780, "proposes 
that he should send fifteen or twenty best hunters to 
Little Kenhawa, to kill buffalo, elks, and bears, to be 
salted down in canoes made for that purpose." Dr. Baus- 
man also quotes this passage from Schoolcraft : " There 
was added for all the region west of the Alleghenies the 

bison of the West (Bos Americanus), the prominent object 

7 



98 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

and glory of the chase for the tribes of these latitudes." 
The common name of bison is buffalo. 

In General Peter Muhlenberg's journal of his trip to 
the Falls of Ohio in 1784 he writes, under date of April 
5, that the boat on which he had taken passage on the 
Ohio river ^^came to shore on the Indian side/' the Ohio 
side, where ''a hunting party turned out and killed one 
buffalo and one deer, but both very poor." On the 6th 
the general writes that his boat again landed ^'on the In- 
dian shore" and adds that ''we killed three buffaloes but 
found them too poor to eat, so that we determined to kill 
no more." He further says that "the winter must have 
been very severe here and hard for the game, as we have 
this day found several deer, one bear, and four buffaloes 
dead in the woods which seem to have perished through 
want." This is the latest reference to the presence of buf- 
faloes in Ohio that we have seen. 

The foregoing quotations justify beyond all doubt the 
inference that the buffalo was an inhabitant at least of 
Western Pennsylvania. It is not to be presumed that it 
would frequent the territory immediately west and south 
of Pennsylvania and not cross over the boundary lines. 

That buffaloes frequented the salt springs in North- 
western Pennsylvania is shown in the following extract 
from a letter written by the English traveler, Thomas 
Ashe, at Erie, in April, 1806. He says: "An old man, 
one of the first settlers in this country, built his log house 
on the borders of a salt spring. He informed me that 
for the first several seasons the buffaloes paid him their 
visits regularly." He supposed that there were no less than 
10,000 in the neighborhood of the spring. Ashe further 
says that in the first and second years this old man, with 
some companions, killed 600 or 700 of these noble crea- 
tures for the sake of their skins. He also says that buf- 
falo bones had been found in large quantities on Buffalo 
creek, but he does not locate the creek. Fort Le Bceuf, 
(Waterford,) in Erie county, Pennsylvania, established by 
the French about 1754, meant Buffalo Fort. 

In his valuable monograph on The Extermination of 
the American Bison William T. Hornaday says that in the 



BUFFALOES IN PENNSYLVANIA. 99 

region between the Allegheny river and the west branch 
of the Susquehanna "there were at one time thousands 
of buffaloes." In support of this opinion he quotes from 
Professor J. A. Allen's American Bisons and from other 
monographs by the same author. 

Professor Allen refers to Buffalo creek, "which emp- 
ties into the eastern end of Lake Erie/' and to other 
evidences that buffaloes "once existed in Western New 
York." Hornaday adds that "from the eastern end of 
Lake Erie the boundary of the bison's habitat extends 
south into Western Pennsylvania to a marsh called Buf- 
falo swamp on a map published by Peter Kalm in 1771." 
He quotes Allen as saying of this swamp that it "is indi- 
cated as situated . . . near the heads of the Licking 
and Toby's creeks, apparently the streams now called 
Oil creek and Clarion creek." It was in this locality that 
"there were at one time thousands of buffaloes." 

It is a reasonable inference that many places in Penn- 
sylvania were not given buffalo names merely through ca- 
price. Buffalo Mills and mountain in Bedford county, Buf- 
falo mountain and valley in Union county, Buffalo creeks 
in Washington, Perry, Union, and other counties, and Buf- 
falo townships in several counties in Central and Western 
Pennsylvania are prima facie evidence that buffaloes had 
once frequented the localities to which their name had 
been given. There is a tradition that the last buffalo in 
Bedford county was killed at Buffalo Mills. Rhoads says 
that there are sure proofs of the existence of the buffalo 
along the Casselman river in Somerset county. The last 
buffalo in Pennsylvania was probably killed in Union 
county about 1790, as will presently be shown. 

Some of the buffalo localities referred to above are in 
Central Pennsylvania, east of the AUeghenies. In Professor 
Hornaday's map illustrating his monograph he indicates 
that the range of the buffalo in Pennsylvania extended 
as far east as Harrisburg. Neither William Penn nor any 
other early writer mentions the buffalo in Eastern Penn- 
sylvania, although Gabriel Thomas in 1698 says that the 
buffalo was found in the province. Hulbert often men- 
tions buffalo paths in Central and Western Pennsylvania. 



100 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

Professor Allen carries far to the eastward his investi- 
gations of the presence of the buffalo in Pennsylvania 
and finds proofs of its existence in Union county in the 
Susquehanna valley. He quotes from a letter written on 
March 14, 1876, by Professor Loomis, of the University 
of Lewisburg, to Professor HamUn, in which letter Loomis 
copies as follows from a letter received by him from J. 
Wolfe : " Since seeing you this morning I have had a 
conversation with Dr. Beck, and he informs me that buf- 
faloes, at an early day, were very abundant in this valley, 
and that the valley received its name from that circum- 
stance. The doctor received his information from Colonel 
John Kelly, who was a prominent and early settler in 
this valley. Kelly told the doctor that he shot the last 
one that was seen in the valley. Kelly received his infor- 
mation of the abundance of buffaloes from an old Indian 
named Logan, friendly to the whites, and who remained 
among the whites after the Indians were driven away." 

On March 30, 1876, Professor Loomis wrote again to 
Professor HamUn, from which letter Allen quotes as fol- 
lows : " I sought an interview with Dr. Beck. The Colo- 
nel Kelly referred to was a soldier and an officer in the 
Revolutionary war. . . . (He died in 1832, aged 88 
years.) He owned a farm about five miles from Lewis- 
burg, in Kelly township, which was named after him. 
About 1790-1800 Colonel Kelly was out with his gun on 
the McClister farm, (which joined that of Colonel Kelly,) 
and just at evening saw and shot a buffalo. His dog was 
young and at so late an hour he did not allow it to pursue. 
*The next morning he went to hunt his game but did not 
find it. Nearly a week later word was brought him that 
it had been found dead, some mile or two away. He 
found the information correct but the animal had been 
considerably torn and eaten by wolves. He regarded the 
animal as a stray one and had never heard of any in the 
valley at a later day. Dr. Beck had the account from 
Colonel Kelly about three months before his death. The 
colonel repeated the statement of the friendly Indian, 
Logan, who said that buffaloes had been very abundant. 
He, Dr. Beck, had the same statement from Michael 



BUFFALOES IN PENNSYLVANIA. 101 

Grove, also one of the first settlers in the valley. . . I 
was more particular than I should ordinarily have been 
because this is about the last stage when rehable tradi- 
tion can be had." Allen says : "This, of course, affords 
satisfactory proof of the former existence of the buffalo 
in the re^on of Lewisburg, which forms the most easterly 
point to which the buffalo has been positively traced." 
The valley referred to by Dr. Beck near the top of the 
preceding page was Buffalo valley, in Union county. 

In Watson's Annals, pubhshed in 1857, it is stated 
that "the latest notice of buffaloes nearest to our regon 
of country is mentioned in 1730, when a gentleman from 
the Shenandoah, Virginia, saw there a buffalo killed of 
1,000 pounds, and several others came in a drove at the 
same time." As the Shenandoah valley is an extension 
of the Cumberland valley in Pennsylvania it is easily to 
be inferred that if buffaloes would come into one valley 
they would naturally invade the other. Hence it is alto- 
gether probable that the bones found by Professor Baird 
near Carlisle were what he supposed them to be, Carlisle 
being in the Cumberland valley. 

The foregoing summary of facts relating to the buffalo 
abundantly proves its existence in Central Pennsylvania 
as well as in Western Pennsylvania down to a period 
cotemporaneous with the close of the Revolutionary war. 



102 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 



CHAPTER X. 

EARLY TRANSPORTATION IN PENNSYLVANIA. 

The opening of means of communication between the 
different parts of Pennsylvania in the early days of its 
settlement was slow and often difficult. In the lowlands 
along the Delaware bridle paths followed the lines of In- 
dian trails, while canoes, skiffs, and small boats were used 
on the streams and rivers. Afterwards wagon roads were 
cut through the forests to meet neighborhood wants, al- 
though for many years carts and sleds were more gener- 
ally used on these roads than wagons. When they could 
not be forded streams and rivers were crossed by canoes, 
skiffs, and rafts, and later by ferries. A ferry over the 
Schuylkill at Market street, Philadelphia, was in operation 
in 1685. In time some of the roads were extended so that 
communication could be opened with the more or less 
remote parts of Pennsylvania and to connect with other 
roads leading to New York, Baltimore, and other places of 
importance, but there was no noteworthy movement to 
improve the condition of the roads for a hundred years. 
Ferries were established over the principal streams as the 
country was opened to settlement. Harris's ferry, which 
crossed the Susquehanna where Harrisburg now stands, 
and Wright's ferry, which crossed the same stream at 
Wrightsville, were established about 1735. One of the ear- 
liest ferries in Western Pennsylvania was Devore's ferry, 
on the Monongahela river, where Monongahela City now 
stands, which was established about 1770. The Belle Ver- 
non ferry, on the Monongahela, was established between 
1767 and 1769. Ferries at Pittsburgh date from 1779. 

Bridges were not built over any of the large rivers of 
Pennsylvania until about the beginning of the last decade 
of the eighteenth century and in the next two decades, fer- 
ries having been mainly relied on previous to this period, 
and, of course, were continued as necessity required. The 
first bridge over the Schuylkill at Philadelphia, at Market 



EARLY TRANSPORTATION IN PENNSYLVANIA. 103 

street, was commenced in 1800 and it was opened for use 
in 1805. The second bridge over the Schuylldll, at Callow- 
hill street, was completed in 1812. The first bridge over 
the Monongahela at Pittsburgh was the Smithfield street 
bridge, built in 1818, and the first bridge over the Alle- 
gheny at Pittsburgh was the St. Clair street bridge, com- 
pleted in 1820. Ringwalt quotes from a report on roads 
and bridges, which was read in the Senate of Pennsylvania 
in 1822, the following dates of the incorporation of some of 
the early bridge companies : '' Bridge over the Susquehan- 
na, four miles below Wrightsville, 1793 ; over the Delaware, 
at Easton, 1795; over the Lehigh, near Bethlehem, 1797; 
over the Delaware, at Trenton, 1798.'' A notable bridge 
over the Conemaugh, at Blairsville, was completed in 1821. 
It was a single-arch Wernwag bridge, 300 feet long. 

For many years after wagon roads were opened in 
Eastern Pennsylvania bridle paths were in use in the 
central and western parts of the State, and along these 
paths the pioneers made their way on horseback and on 
foot and the necessaries of life were transported on pack- 
horses. Rupp, writing in 1848, says that "sixty or sev- 
enty years ago five hundred pack-horses had been at one 
time in CarUsle, going thence to Shippensburg, Fort Lou- 
don, and farther westward, loaded with merchandise, also 
salt, iron, etc/' Day says that " Mercersburg, in Franklin 
county, was in early days an important point for trade 
with Indians and settlers on the western frontier. It was 
no uncommon event to see there 50 or 100 pack-horses in 
a row, taking on their loads of salt, iron, and other com- 
modities for the Monongahela country." A pack-horse train 
has been described as follows: "A train of pack-horses 
consisted of from five to a dozen and even more, tethered 
by a hitching rope one behind the other. The master of 
the train rode before or followed after the horses and di- 
rected their movements by his voice. About fifteen miles 
per day were traveled in this manner, and each horse car- 
ried about 200 pounds' burden. The harness consisted of a 
pack-saddle and a halter, and the lead horse often had, in 
addition, a circling band of iron over his withers attached 
to the saddle and to which were hung several bells, whose 



104 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

tinkling in a way relieved the monotony of the journey 
and kept the horses from going astray.'' 

The pack-horse required the use of a pack-saddle. It 
is thus described by a writer in a Pittsburgh newspaper 
on early transportation in Western Pennsylvania: "It was 
made of four pieces of wood, two being notched, the notch- 
es fitting along the horse's back, with the front part rest- 
ing upon the animal's withers. The other two were flat 
pieces about the length and breadth of a lap shingle, per- 
haps eighteen inches by five inches. They extended along 
the sides and were fastened to the ends of the notched 
pieces. Upon these saddles were placed all kinds of mer- 
chandise. Bars of iron were bent in the middle and hung 
across ; large creels of wicker-work, containing babies, bed- 
clothing, and farm implements, as well as kegs of powder, 
caddies of spice, bags of salt, sacks of charcoal, and boxes 
of glass, were thus carried over the mountains. Shop- 
keepers from Pittsburgh went to Philadelphia in squads of 
eight or ten to lay in their yearly supply of goods and 
brought them to this city in this manner." 

In 1792 the turnpike era in the history of Pennsyl- 
vania had its beginning, when the construction of the 
Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike was undertaken by 
a company. It was finished between the two cities in 
1794, a distance of 62 miles, at a cost of $465,000, con- 
tributed entirely by stockholders in the company, a great 
financial achievement for that day. This turnpike was the 
first to be built in the United States. It gave a great im- 
petus to western travel through Pennsylvania, as it was 
almost immediately followed by other turnpikes and by 
the improvement of old roads — all leading to Pittsburgh. 
Before its construction travelers from New England, New 
York, and New Jersey for the West through Pennsylvania 
passed through Easton and Reading to the Susquehanna, 
which they usually crossed at Harris's ferry. 

Soon after the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike 
was built over a hundred other turnpikes were projected in 
Pennsylvania and many were built, the first three decades 
of the nineteenth century being prolific of turnpikes. Most 
of these enterprises were of only local interest, connecting 



EARLY TRANSPORTATION IN PENNSYLVANIA. 105 

towns that were not far apart; usually county-seats, but 
others were longer and of commercial importance. The 
junction of two or more of these turnpikes afiforded con- 
tinuous turnpike communication between widely separated 
commercial centres. Turnpike roads connected Philadel- 
phia with Kttsburgh by two distinct routes, which were 
generally known as the Northern and Southern turnpikes,^ 
although each route embraced more than one turnpike. 
Nearly all the turnpike companies were aided by State 
appropriations. The Lancaster Turnpike was not so aided. 

The Conestoga wagons and Conestoga horses of the 
German and Swiss farmers of Eastern Pennsylvania were 
famous before the building of the Lancaster Turnpike and 
its western connections, but after this turnpike was built 
they became objects of interest as far west as Pittsburgh. 
In 1789 Dr. Benjamin Rush described the Conestoga wag- 
on and its horses in the following words: "A large strong 
wagon, (the ship of inland commerce,) covered with a Un- 
en cloth, is an essential part of the furniture of a German 
farm. In this wagon, drawn by four or five horses of a 
peculiar breed, they convey to market, over the roughest 
roads, 2,000 and 3,000 pounds' weight of the produce of 
their farms. In the months of September and October 
it is no uncommon thing, on the Lancaster and Reading 
roads, to meet in one day fifty or one hundred of these 
wagons on their way to Philadelphia, most of which be- 
long to German farmers.'' Many Conestoga wagons and 
horses came from Lancaster county, which in Dr. Rush's 
day embraced a large part of Lebanon county. After- 
wards they greatly increased in number and formed an 
important factor in the internal commerce of Pennsyl- 
vania down to almost the middle of the nineteenth cen- 
tury, when the canals and railroads of the State rendered 
their further use on a large scale unnecessary. It has 
been authoritatively stated that as early as 1790 ten 
thousand Conestoga wagons were needed for the traffic 
of Philadelphia. 

Between 1830 and 1840 the era of turnpike building 
culminated. The people of Pennsylvania were then look- 
ing to canals and railroads for means of communication. 



106 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

In the next ten or fifteen years plank roads became popu- 
lar as substitutes for turnpikes for short distances and 
many were built, but their popularity soon waned. Town- 
ship roads without solid stone foundations are still too 
much in evidence in Pennsylvania, although it is now the 
poUcy of the State to aid in the improvement of these 
roads substantially after the style of the best turnpikes. 
Many of the old turnpikes are still maintained in excellent 
condition, as are also many of the early roads. 

" Dear roads that wind around the hill, 
Here to a church and there to a mill. 
And wind and wind as old roads will." 

In colonial days the two most notable roads in Penn- 
sylvania were built for miUtary purposes — Braddock's 
Road, following a noted Indian path, Nemacolin's, built 
in 1755, and Forbes's Road, built in 1758, both crossing 
the Allegheny mountains and penetrating the wilderness of 
Western Pennsylvania. Braddock's Road began at Cum- 
berland, Maryland, and entered Pennsylvania in Somerset 
county, and Forbes's Road began at Bedford, Pennsylva- 
nia. Both roads had Fort Du Quesne as their objective 
point, and both were built nearly the whole way to that 
place. After the direct objects for which they were built 
— the transportation of troops — had been accomplished 
these roads served a useful purpose in enabling thousands 
of pioneers to cross the Alleghenies into the western part 
of Pennsylvania and the Ohio valley, Forbes's Road be- 
ing, however, much more used by the pioneers than Brad- 
dock's, although the latter was the main highway for emi- 
grants from Virginia and Maryland. Forbes's Road was 
also used for miUtary purposes in Colonel Bouquet's expe- 
dition against the Indian uprising under Pontiac in 1763, 
and during the Revolution it was the direct route from the 
East to Fort Pitt. Hulbert says that " for thirty years 
after it was built it was the main highway across the 
mountains." After the Revolution, in 1785, Pennsylvania 
began the work of improving Forbes's Road and also the 
road leading from CarUsle to Bedford, and this work was 
carried on for several years. The distance from Carlisle 



BARLT TRANSPORTATION IN PENNSYLVANIA. 107 

to Pittsburgh by this route was 197 miles. This road was 
generally known as the State Road, and for many years 
it was more traveled than any other road in Pennsylvania. 
During the second and succeeding decades of the nine- 
teenth century turnpikes took its place. 

Hulbert quotes from the correspondence in 1758 be- 
tween General Forbes, Sir John St. Clair, and Colonel Bou- 
quet suflBcient testimony to settle the long disputed loca- 
tion of Kickenapawling's town, Kickenapawling being an 
Indian chief. This correspondence proves conclusively that 
this much discussed place was in Somerset county, on the 
line of Forbes's Road and not far distant from the present 
town of Jenner Cross Roads — about five miles west of the 
crossing of Quemahoning creek. The reader will find the 
correspondence in Hulbert's Historic Highways, volume 5. 
Post's second journal, which has been relied upon to es- 
tablish the identity of Kickenapawling's town with Johns- 
town, shows that Post was never near Johnstown. 

At a later day, immediately after the close of the Rev- 
olution, the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, by act of 
March 29, 1787, directed that commissioners should be ap- 
pointed to survey a highway over the Allegheny moun- 
tains between the waters of the Frankstown branch of the 
Juniata river and the Conemaugh river. By the same act 
the commissioners, having surveyed the proposed road, 
were further directed to trace the course of another road, 
beginning at the termination of the first mentioned road, 
and leading along ''the left bank of the Conemaugh" to 
that point "where the river began to be navigable at all 
seasons." Down to this time communication between the 
Juniata and the Conemaugh valleys had been maintained 
by bridle paths. The commissioners were appointed, and 
on December 18, 1787, their report of the survey they had 
made was confirmed by the Council of the Commonwealth, 
the Constitution of 1776 being still in force. On Septem- 
ber 25, 1788, the opening of both roads was contracted 
for by Robert Galbraith, then the prothonotary of Bedford 
county. The contract was for the whole length of road 
from Frankstown, now in Blair county, to the point where 
the Conemaugh " began to be navigable at all seasons." 



108 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

This point was seventy miles east of Pittsburgh by water. 
On January 4, 1790, Mr. Galbraith wrote to the Council 
that, agreeably to contract, he had opened the road from 
Frankstown to the mouth of Blacklick creek. The Black- 
lick enters the Conemaugh from the north, a short dis- 
tance below Blairsville, in Indiana county. At its mouth 
there once stood a small town called Newport. A ferry 
connected Newport with the opposite shore of the Cone- 
maugh in Westmoreland county. The Frankstown Road 
was subsequently, about 1791, extended by way of this 
ferry to Pittsburgh, and its name is retained in Franks- 
town avenue of that city. It crossed the Alleghenies 
through Blair's Gap in Blair county and through the cen- 
tral part of Cambria county near Ebensburg, thence pass- 
ing near or through Armagh in Indiana county and north 
of Blairsville to its terminus at the mouth of Blacklick 
creek. This was the original Frankstown Road, and, like 
Braddock's and Forbes's roads, it was a thoroughfare con- 
necting the eastern and western parts of Pennsylvania. 
It was succeeded early in the nineteenth century by the 
so-called Northern Turnpike, which was otherwise known 
as the Huntingdon Turnpike. 

There was, however, another Frankstown Road, taking 
its name from the fact that its eastern terminus was 
also at Frankstown. This road was authorized by an act 
of the General Assembly dated April 10, 1792, which pro- 
vided for the opening of a road from Poplar run, in the 
present county of Blair, "to Conemaugh at the mouth of 
Stony creek and from thence to the northwest side of the 
Chestnut ridge, at or near Thomas Trimble's." This road 
was made promptly, at least as far west as the mouth of 
the Stony creek at Johnstown, beginning at Frankstown 
and passing through the southern parts of Blair and Cam- 
bria counties. It is marked on Howell's map of 1792 and 
on Morse's map of 1796. It is still in use between Johns- 
town and Blair county and is known as the Frankstown 
Road. The most important service of this road was in the 
transportation of merchandise, chiefly iron from the Juni- 
ata valley, to Johnstown, at which point flatboat naviga- 
tion to Pittsburgh began. There is no accessible record of 



EARLY TRANSPORTATION IN PENNSYLVANIA. 109 

its having ever been extended from Johnstown to Thomas 
Trimble's, " to the northwest side of the Chestnut ridge," 
but it was certainly built from Johnstown westward into 
the Ligonier valley some time after 1799. 

In the history of Salem church, in Derry township, 
Westmoreland county, prepared by John Barnett, one of 
its early elders, occurs the following account of an inci- 
dent that could not have happened in our day : '' It is said 
that during the pastorate of Rev. Mr. Lee (1813 to 1819) 
Esquire Kinkaid, on his way to church, saw an emigrant 
traveling on the old Frankstown Road. He went on to 
church and consulted with Squire Barnett. They conclud- 
ed that such a violation of the Sabbath law ought not to 
be permitted, and mounting their horses they overtook 
the man on Donnelly's (now Beatty's) hill and made him 
rest according to God's commandments." Beatty's hill is 
several miles northeast of Greensburg. The Frankstown 
Road referred to was a continuation of the Blacklick line. 

A road of national importance, usually styled the Na- 
tional Road but sometimes the Cumberland Road, was un- 
dertaken by the Government of the United States in 1806 
with the patriotic object of opening a highway between 
the East and the West and thus aiding in more strongly 
cementing these two sections of our country. The road 
was planned to pass westward from Cumberland through 
Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia to a point on the 
Ohio river, afterwards fixed at WheeUng, and thence into 
Ohio and eventually farther west, thus reaUzing the early 
dream of Washington, who had for many years before his 
death advocated a closer union of the East and the West 
through the creation of transportation faciUties between 
these sections. Work on the construction of this road was 
commenced at Cumberland in 1811, and the road was fin- 
ished to WheeUng and opened to the public in 1818, a dis- 
tance of 112 miles, of which 24^ miles were in Maryland, 
75J were in Pennsylvania, and 12 were in Virginia, now 
West Virginia. It was 40 feet wide at its narrowest point 
and 80 feet at its widest. The road in Pennsylvania pass- 
ed through Somerset, Fayette, Westmoreland, and Wash- 
ington counties. After 1818 it was extended into Ohio, 



110 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

Indiana, and Illinois. Until after 1850 it was a much 
used thoroughfare, both for passengers and freight, and it 
accomplished all the desirable results which had originally 
been claimed for it. After 1850 its use, which had gradu- 
ally been yielding to the competition of the canals and 
railroads, and also to the competition of steamboat navi- 
gation on the Ohio, rapidly decUned, except for local pur- 
poses, and for these purposes parts of it, especially in 
Pennsylvania, are still kept in good condition, although 
no longer under the care of the United States. The in- 
fluence of the National Road in the development of the 
country west of the AUeghenies has been very great. 

Joseph W. Hunter, State Highway Commissioner for 
Pennsylvania, says in his report for 1906 that the Na- 
tional Road in the counties of Fayette and Washington, 
which had been under the care of the State since 1835, 
was placed under the care of the State Highway Depart- 
ment by act of April 10, 1905, and the sum of $100,000 
was appropriated for its improvement. Tolls were abol- 
ished by the act, and all the toll houses, except two, had 
been sold and removed beyond the line of the road. Ten 
miles of the road, five miles in each of the counties of 
Fayette and Washington, were to be reconstructed at once. 

In the early days the cost of transportation between 
the eastern and western parts of Pennsylvania by bridle 
paths, pioneer wagon roads, and turnpikes was a serious 
matter. " The good old times" were accompanied by great 
drawbacks and this was one of them. In Washington's 
diary of his trip to Western Pennsylvania in 1784 he says, 
speaking of Pennsylvania : " There are in that State at 
least 100,000 souls west of the Laurel hill who are groaning 
under the inconvenience of a long land transportation." 
In 1784 the freight rate from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh 
on pack-horses, then the only method of long distance 
transportation that was in use, was 12^ cents per pound, 
while in 1786 a rate of $10.50 per hundredweight (112 
pounds) was charged for the same distance. In 1784 it 
cost $249 to carry a ton of merchandise from Philadelphia 
to Erie on pack-horses ; in 1789 it cost $3 to carry a hun- 
dred pounds of merchandise from Hagerstown, Maryland, 



EARLY TRANSPORTATION IN PENNSYLVANIA. Ill 

over the Allegheny mountains to Brownsville, Pennsylva- 
nia; and in 1793 it cost $75 a ton to carry bars of iron 
from Centre county, Pennsylvania, to Pittsburgh. All the 
roads were uniformly bad. In 1803 the charge for hauling 
most articles of merchandise from Baltimore to Pittsburgh 
was $4.50 per hundred pounds and from Philadelphia to 
Pittsburgh the charge was $5. 

It is recorded that an immigrant from Alexandria, Vir- 
ginia, to the Monongahela valley soon after the Revolution 
paid $5.33 a hundredweight for hauling '' women and 
goods " between the two localities over Braddock's Road. 

In 1817 it still cost $100 to move a ton of freight 
from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. The Pennsylvania Rail- 
road Company now performs the same service for a few 
dollars. About 1890 an old gentleman who had been a 
merchant wrote to George B. Roberts, then president of 
the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, as follows : " Before 
any canal was made I shipped 800 barrels of flour one 
winter from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia by wagon, the 
freight on which was $2,400, being $3 per barrel. That 
was called back loading, (Conestoga wagons, six horses, 
and bells.) My first load of goods, 60 years past, cost $4 
per 100 pounds from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. Hav- 
ing handled Uncle Sam's mail bags for over 61 years 
consecutively I have taken two bushels of oats, or four 
pounds of butter, or five dozen of eggs, or two bushels 
of potatoes, for a letter that came 400 or more miles." 
Those were the days when it was not required that post- 
age should be prepaid and when the rates were high. 

After communication between Philadelphia and Pitts- 
burgh had been opened by way of roads and turnpikes, 
so that wagons and other vehicles could pass over them 
with reasonable speed, lines of stage coaches were estab- 
lished for the conveyance of passengers and for carrying 
the mails between the two cities and intermediate points. 
Ringwalt says: "For many years two great lines of coach- 
es were run between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Start- 
ing daily, the three hundred and fifty odd miles between 
the two cities were passed over in about three days, that 
is, if the roads were in very good condition, but more 



112 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

time was usually required. Every twelve miles a change 
of horses was made, and quickly. No time was lost and 
no rest was given the traveler. The fare on the coach 
from city to city varied somewhat, as did the condition 
the roads were in, or as the rival lines cut the closest on 
prices. A through-pass ticket from Pittsburgh to Phila- 
delphia was all the way from $14 to $20, which in those 
days meant more than the same sum does now. There 
were special rates to emigrants, but they were brought 
west in large covered wagons, and not on the regular 
coaches. For twenty-five years emigrant travel formed a 
big portion of the business along the turnpike. It was 
mostly from Baltimore, thousands of emigrants landing 
there, and engaging passage to the West through compa- 
nies engaged in that business alone.'' Egle says that in 
August, 1804, the first through line of coaches from Phila- 
delphia to Pittsburgh was established. 

Ringwalt further says : " The stage coach feature of the 
old turnpike is something with such a dash and liveliness 
about the very thought of it that it awakens our interest. 
It was truly the Ufe of the turnpike. Dashing along at a 
gallop the four horses attached to the coach formed quite 
a marked contrast to the slow-plodding teams drawing the 
big wagons. Then there was something of more than ordi- 
nary interest about the coach itself and the passengers as 
well." Another writer says : '* The driver invariably carried 
a horn with a very highly pitched tone, which he winded 
at the brow of the last hill to signalize his approach." 

After the National Road and the turnpikes had been 
built in Pennsylvania a large business was done for many 
years, and until about the middle of the last century, in 
driving cattle, horses, sheep, and hogs from the interior 
and western parts of Pennsylvania, and even from Ohio, 
to Baltimore, Philadelphia, and other eastern markets. 
The clouds of dust raised by the drovers, the long lines 
of Conestoga wagons, and the less frequent but more 
showy stage coaches united to make the thoroughfares 
of that day real arteries of commerce, which should not 
be lightly considered in comparison with the more ex- 
peditious transportation facilities of the present day. 



EABLT TH&NSPOBTATION IN PBNNSTLVANI\. 113 

William H. Speicher, a resident of Stoyestown, Som- 
erset county, writes of the old stage houses as follows : 
" Stoyestown had several of them. Here passengers se- 
cured B hasty meal while a change of horses was made, 
and the present generation can not realise the commotion 
that was caused by the arrival and departure of half a 
dozen stages of rival lines with horns blowing, streamers 
flying, and horses on the full run. Sometimes as many as 
thirty stages stopped at one of these hotels in a angle day. 
Most of them were drawn by four horses, but in climbing 
the mountains six were frequently used. For the accom- 
modation of wagons and drovers the road houses, with 
large wagon yards, averaged one for every two miles along 
the road. These were built especially for the purpose and 
consisted principally of a large kitchen, dining-room, and 
very large bar-room, the latter also serving as a lodging 
room for the wagoners and drovers. Six and eight-horse 
teams were usually accompanied by two men, and all of 
them carried their own bedding, which was spread out on 
the bar-room floor before a huge log fire in the chimney 
place in the winter." 

The drover was "the man on horseback" of his day. 
He was a person of consequence. But he has departed. 
And the old stage drivers and wagoners 1 To-day they are 
scarcely to be found, "most of them having thrown down 
the reins and put up for the night." 



114 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 



CHAPTER XL 

EARLY NAVIGATION IN PENNSYLVANIA. 

In the early history of Pennsylvania, as of other colo- 
nies, the streams played an important part in opening the 
wilderness to settlement and in promoting intercourse be- 
tween the pioneers. Afterwards when canals were intro- 
duced the rivers were often slackwatered as part of a ca- 
nal system. The Indians set the pioneers the example of 
utilizing the streams for transportation purposes, but the 
Indians did not build bridges or establish ferries. Long 
before there were roads of any kind in Pennsylvania the 
Indian paths were supplemented by the Indian canoe, 
the latter sometimes made of birch bark but more fre- 
quently hollowed out of the trunk of a pine tree. But, 
however made, the Indian canoe was everywhere in use 
in the navigation of rivers when the white people came 
to Pennsylvania. Bingwalt says that ''the canoe was to 
nearly all the tribes what the horse was to the Arab." 
Some of the Indian canoes would carry freight weighing 
two and three tons. Even larger canoes were sometimes 
built. After the advent of the whites canoes were in fre- 
quent use by the Indians in carrying furs to a market, 
and by both whites and Indians in transporting the goods 
of the Indian traders. The settlers made free use of them. 

The first settlers in time substituted skiffs for canoes, 
and when the streams were wide enough and deep enough 
and large quantities of agricultural products and other 
merchandise were to be moved they built rafts, flatboats, 
Durham boats, and keel boats. Durham boats were so 
called only in the eastern part of Pennsylvania, and keel 
boats are associated with the early history of navigation 
in the western part. These boats were of similar if not 
of identical construction. Durham boats as well as flat- 
boats were used on the Delaware, Schuylkill, and Susque- 
hanna rivers for many years. Keel boats were in use on 
the Ohio at Pittsburgh as early as 1792 and at Johnstown 



EARLY NAVIGATION IN PENNSYLVANIA. 115 

as early as 1816. Under the general term of flatboats we 
include barges and all forms of flat-bottomed boats that 
were in use in pioneer times. Boats of this class were 
wholly used in descending streams of considerable size, 
including the Ohio, and at the end of their journey were 
sold for the lumber that was in them. Hulbert says that 
'Hhe flatboat was the important craft of the era of emi- 
gration, the friend of the pioneer. The flatboat of average 
size was a roofed craft about 40 feet long, 12 feet wide, 
and 8 feet deep. It was square and flat-bottomed and 
was managed by six oars." Keel boats were used in both 
ascending and descending the rivers. They had rounded 
sides and slightly rounded bottoms, the hull being sub- 
stantially like that of a canal boat. As they were an im- 
portant feature of early transportation on the Ohio river, 
and in the streams tributary to the Ohio itself, further 
mention of their construction and operation will not be 
out of place. We remember seeing many keel boats on 
the Allegheny river about 1840. 

Hulbert says : " The keel boat heralded a new era in 
internal development, an era of internal communication 
never known before in the Central West. As a craft it is 
almost forgotten to-day. Our oldest citizens can barely 
remember the last years of its reign. It was a long, nar- 
row craft, pointed at both prow and stern. On each side 
were provided what were known as running boards, ex- 
tending from end to end. The space between, the body 
of the boat, was enclosed and roofed over with boards or 
shingles. A keel boat would carry from twenty to forty 
tons of freight, well protected from the weather; it re- 
quired from six to ten men, in addition to the captain, 
who was usually the steersman, to propel it up stream. 
Each man was provided with a pole to which was affixed 
a heavy socket. The crew, being divided equally on each 
side of the boat, 'set' their poles at the head of the boat; 
then bringing the end of the pole to the shoulder, with 
bodies bent, they walked slowly along the running boards 
to the *ern, returning quickly, at the command of the 
captain, to the head for a new 'set.' In ascending rapids 
the greatest effort of the whole crew was required, so that 



116 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

only one at a time could 'shift' his pole. This ascending 
of rapids was attended with great danger, especially if the 
channel was rocky." 

Hulbert continues : " The narrowness of the keel boat, 
it will be noted, permitted it to ply far up the larger trib- 
utaries of the Ohio and a considerable way up its smaller 
tributaries — territory which the barge and flatboat could 
never reach. It is probable, therefore, that the keel boat 
brought much territory into touch with the world that 
otherwise was never reached save by the heavy freighter 
and the pack-saddle ; indeed it is probable that this was 
the greatest service of the keel boat — to reach the rich 
interior settlements and carry their imports and exports. 
. . . Take, for instance, the salt industry, which in the 
day of the keel boat was one of the most important in- 
dustries, if not the most important, in the Central West. 
Salt springs and licks were found at some distance from 
the main artery of travel, the Ohio, and it was the keel 
boat, more enduring than the canoe, and of lighter 
weight and draught and of lesser width than the barge, 
which did the greater part of the salt distribution, return- 
ing usually with loads of flour. . . . The keel boat was 
the only craft of burden that could ascend many of our 
streams to the carrying-place. . . . The keel boat may 
be considered, therefore, the first up-stream boat of bur- 
den which plied the Ohio and its tributaries." 

Mention of the salt industry suggests the great num- 
ber of salt works which lined the banks of the lower Cone- 
maugh and the Kiskiminitas rivers in the first half of the 
last century and for some years afterwards. There were 
also a few salt works on the Allegheny below the mouth 
of the Kiskiminitas. Before the completion of the Penn- 
sylvania Canal from Pittsburgh to Blairsville in 1829 the 
salt from these works was taken in barrels to Pittsburgh 
in keel boats for local consumption or for shipment down 
the Ohio. Sometimes the keel boats themselves were 
taken to points near Pittsburgh and poled or floated back. 

The building of all kinds of flat-bottomed bf)ats and 
of keel boats was an important industry of Western Penn- 
sylvania and elsewhere in the Ohio valley in early days. 



EARLY NAVIGATION IN PENNSYLVANIA. 117 

The Navigator, of Pittsburgh, said in 1806 that " flat and 
keel boats may be procured at New Geneva, Brownsville, 
Williamsport, Elizabethtown, and McKeesport on the Mo- 
nongahela, and perhaps at several places on the Youghio- 
gheny. " As early as 1788 the boatyards at most of the 
places above mentioned were in active operation. Pitts- 
burgh did not build boats of any kind until about 1800. 

Boats were certainly built on the Youghiogheny at 
Connellsville and Robbstown, now West Newton, as early 
as 1788. In 1793 Zachariah Connell laid out the town of 
Connellsville, '* because it was here that emigrants and 
travelers to the West, of whom there were already great 
numbers in transit, coming over the road from Bedford 
by way of Turkey Foot, reached a boatable point on the 
Youghiogheny river. Here, for several years, boats had 
been built by emigrants and others to take their mer- 
chandise and other movables dow^n by water carriage.'' 
In his charter of the town Mr. Connell stipulated that 
"the space left opposite the ferry and fronting on said 
river shall be and continue free for the use of the inhabit- 
ants of said town and for travelers who may erect thereon 
temporary boatyards, or may from time to time occupy 
the same or any part thereof for making any vessel or 
other conveniences for the purpose of conveying their 
property to or from said town." One use of '' the space 
left opposite the ferry" was the parking in it of the wag- 
ons of emigrants while their boats were being built. 

The early settlers of Western Pennsylvania who had 
agricultural produce or other products to dispose of were 
for many years badly in need of near-by markets. Grain 
and flour, bacon and some other products, would not bear 
transportation to the East ; hence rye was converted into 
whisky, and the excise tax on whisky, a most unwise and 
unjust tax, led to the Whisky Insurrection of 1794. Furs 
could be taken to Chambersburg and Winchester in ex- 
change for salt and iron. Ginseng, maple sugar, and 
beeswax were other local products that would bear trans- 
portation to eastern markets. With the increase of popu- 
lation west of the AUeghenies after the Revolution, in- 
cluding settlements on the Ohio below Pittsburgh and 



118 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

Wheeling, a market for the surplus products of Western 
Pennsylvania was gradually opened, and use was found 
for keel boats and flat-bottomed boats. The Spaniards 
were at this time in possession of the Lower Mississippi 
valley, including the city of New Orleans, and as they 
were not generally engaged in productive industries they 
needed the agricultural products of Western Pennsylvania. 

In ColUns's History of Kentucky it is stated that Cap- 
tain Jacob Yoder took the first flatboat down the Ohio 
and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans in 1782. Collins 
says : '' The, late Capt. Jos. Pierce, of Cincinnati, Ohio, had 
erected over the remains of his old friend Capt. Jacob 
Yoder an iron tablet (the first cast west of the Alleghe- 
nies) thus inscribed: 'Jacob Yoder was born at Reading, 
Pennsylvania, August 11, 1758, and was a soldier of the 
Revolutionary army in 1777 and 1778. He emigrated to 
the West in 1780, and in May, 1782, from. Fort Redstone, 
on the Monongahela river, in the first flatboat that ever 
descended the Mississippi river, he landed in New Orleans 
with a cargoe of produce. He died April 7, 1832, at his 
farm in Spencer county, Kentucky, and lies here interred 
beneath this tablet.'" Fort Redstone is the name that 
was first given to Brownsville. 

Dr. Joseph Smith, in his history of Old Redstone, 
(1854,) gives us the following account of the trade with 
New Orleans in the early days : " New Orleans furnished 
a good market for all the flour, bacon, and whisky which 
the upper country could furnish. The trade to New Or- 
leans, like -every other enterprise of the day, was attended 
with great hardship and hazard. The right bank of the 
Ohio, for hundreds of miles, was alive with hostile Indians. 
The voyage was performed in flatboats and occupied from 
four to six months. Several neighbors united their means 
in building the boat and in getting up the voyage, some 
giving their labor and others furnishing materials. Each 
put on board his own produce at his own risk, and one 
of the owners always accompanied the boat as captain 
and supercargo. A boat of ordinary size required about 
six hands, each of whom generally received about $60 a 
trip on his arrival at New Orleans, They returned either 



EARLY NAVIGATION IN PENNSYLVANIA. 119 

by sea to Baltimore, when they would be within 300 miles 
of home, or more generally through the wilderness, a dis- 
tance of 2,000 miles. A large number of these boatmen 
were brought together in New Orleans. Their journey 
home could not be made in small parties, as they carried 
large quantities of specie, and the road was infested by 
robbers. The boatmen who preferred returning through 
the wilderness organized and selected their officers. These 
companies sometimes numbered several hundred, and a 
great proportion of them were armed. They were provided 
with mules to carry the specie and provisions, and some 
spare ones for the sick. Those who were able purchased 
mules or Indian ponies for their use, but few could afford 
to ride.'' 

While the trade in flatboats with New Orleans was 
hazardous it was important and valuable. It continued 
for many years after the advent of the steamboat on the 
Ohio in 1811. Before that year the shipments of produce 
from Western Pennsylvania farms to the settlements in 
the western part of Virginia and in Ohio, Indiana, and 
Kentucky, and of other merchandise, some of which had 
been brought over the AUeghenies on pack-horses, had 
steadily increased. Then, too, the current of emigration 
to 'Hhe West'' itself created a demand for keel boats and 
the various forms of flat-bottomed boats. In the spring 
of 1788 the New England colonists who founded Marietta, 
Ohio, after passing laboriously over the bad roads of Penn- 
sylvania, came to Robbstown, now West Newton, on the 
Youghiogheny, and built a number of boats on which 
they completed their journey to the mouth of the Mus- 
kingum, where the new town was to be located. On April 
3, 1788, the first of these boats, the May Flower, arrived at' 
Kttsburgh, and on April 7 it reached the site of the fu- 
ture Marietta. Other emigrants at that period took pas- 
sage on boats built on the Youghiogheny, but Brownsville, 
on the Monongahela, was the principal point of departure 
for "the West," and here the most boats were built. 

In a later chapter some mention will be made of the 
shipments to the western markets of bar iron and iron 
castings from the pioneer iron works of Western Penn- 



120 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

sylvania. All the trade in these articles was carried on 
in keel boats and flatboats. This trade began before the 
end of the eighteenth century. Early in the next century 
there developed a market for Pittsburgh coal in the towns 
down the Ohio, and here again was created a demand for 
flatboats which increased from year to year. Boats with 
flat bottoms are in use to-day for carrying coal down 
the Ohio. Harrises Directory of Pittsburgh for 1837 says 
that '' the first shipment of coal from Pittsburgh appears 
to have been made in 1803 by a French company of 
merchants under the firm name of John Tarascon Bros, 
and James Burthoud, who during that year built the ship 
Louisiana, of 350 tons' burden, and 'sent her out ballast- 
ed with stone coal, which was sold at Philadelphia for 
37i cents per bushel.''' The first shipment of coal from 
the Upper Monongahela valley down the Ohio appears to 
have taken place about 1817. It was made in flatboats. 
The presence of bituminous coal in the hills surround- 
ing Pittsburgh and at other, points in Western Pennsyl- 
vania was known to the pioneers. Perhaps the earliest 
mention of its existence was by Colonel James Burd, a 
British officer on duty in what is now Fayette county. 
On September 22, 1759, he wrote in his journal : " The 
camp moved two miles to Coal run. This run is entirely 
paved in the bottom with fine stone coal, and the hill on 
the south of it is a rock of the finest coal I ever saw. I 
burned about a bushel of it on my fire." The Coal run 
referred to was apparently about two miles distant from 
the present town of Brownsville. On October 4, 1770, 
Washington, while in Fayette county on his way to that 
part of Virginia which fronts on the Ohio, wrote in his 
'journal: "At Captain Crawford's all day. We went to see 
a coal mine not far from his house, on the banks of the 
river. The coal seemed to be of the very best kind, burn- 
ing freely, and abundance of it." The place named as 
" Captain Crawford's " occupied the site of the present 
town of New Haven, opposite Connellsville, and was then 
known as Stewart's Crossing. Coal had been discovered 
at Pittsburgh probably about 1758, when Fort Du Quesne 
fell into the hands of General Forbes. J. S. Wall, of Mo- 



EAELT NAVIGATION IN PENNSYLVANIA. 121 

nongahela City, in the introduction to his report on the 
coal mines of the Monongahela region for the Second Geo- 
logical Survey of Pennsylvania, submitted in 1884, says : 
*' It appears that coal was mined from Coal hill and used 
by the British army at Fort Pitt while that place was in 
command of Colonel Bouquet soon after its evacuation by 
the French." In 1766 the Rev. Charles Beatty, who vis- 
ited the fort in that year, wrote that the garrison was 
then " supplied with coals " from Coal hill. 

In time it became necessary to improve with locks 
and dams the navigation of the Monongahela river as a 
thoroughfare for passengers seeking a connection with the 
National Road at Brownsville or destined for points be- 
tween Pittsburgh and Brownsville, but more particularly 
to facilitate the shipment of coal from the Monongahela 
valley. This improvement was undertaken by the Mo- 
nongahela Navigation Company, which obtained a charter 
from the Legislature of Pennsylvania on March 31, 1836, 
Congress having refused to improve the navigation of the 
river. The charter authorized the company to establish 
slackwater navigation from Pittsburgh to the Virginia line 
and farther if Virginia would give permission. The com- 
pany was organized on February 10, 1837, and work was 
commenced in that year. In 1838 the State subscribed 
$25,000 to the stock of the company and in 1840 it sub- 
scribed $100,000 additional. In 1843 all this stock was 
sold to the company. On November 13, 1844, the Mo- 
nongahela river was successfully slackwatered from Pitts- 
burgh to Brownsville, a distance of 55i miles. The slack- 
water was subsequently continued to New Geneva, about 
85 miles from Pittsburgh, and afterwards to Morgantown, 
in West Virginia, 102 miles from Pittsburgh. In 1897 the 
Monongahela Navigation Company disposed of all its in- 
terest in the locks and dams to the United States Gov- 
ernment, which has since made their use free to the public. 
Through Senator Quay's influence the act of Congress 
which provided for this change became a law over Presi- 
dent Cleveland's veto on June 3, 1896. 

The improvement of the Monongahela river above re- 
ferred to at once gave a great impetus to the coal trade 



122 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

of the Monongahela valley, and this trade has increased 
from year to year. Packets for the conveyance of passen- 
gers still run regularly from Pittsburgh to Morgantown. 

The improvement of the Youghiogheny river from its 
junction with the Monongahela at McKeesport to West 
Newton, a distance of 18^ miles, embracing two locks and 
two dams, was completed by the Youghiogheny Slackwa- 
ter Company in 1851, and this improvement contributed 
to the opening of many coal mines in the Youghiogheny 
valley. But the enterprise itself was not a permanent 
success. In 1861 the dams were washed out by high wa- 
ter and ice and in 1866 they were again destroyed, soon 
after which disaster the enterprise was abandoned. While 
this slackwater improvement was in operation packet 
boats regularly carried passengers from West Newton to 
Pittsburgh, occupying about twelve hours in making the 
daily trip either way. The boats were equipped with 
sleeping berths, and trips were made at night as well as 
in daylight. In the early part of the last century, until 
about 1820, an immense amount of freight was shipped 
in keel boats from West Newton. 

Leaving the Monongahela and Youghiogheny valleys, 
which supply much the larger part of what is commer- 
cially known as Rttsburgh coal, while the Youghiogheny 
valley supplies most of the celebrated Connellsville coke, 
the Allegheny valley invites our attention. The coal of 
this valley has never been an important factor in the 
coal trade of Western Pennsylvania, unless recent develop- 
ments in some western counties whose waters drain into 
the Allegheny may be so considered. The Allegheny was 
never notably a coal-carrying river. In all the valleys 
mentioned the railroads have now absorbed a large part 
of their coal tonnage, while almost all the Connellsville 
coke tonnage passes over them. The Allegheny valley 
has, however, been a large contributor to the prosperity 
of Western Pennsylvania through its large production of 
pig iron, which sought a market at Pittsburgh in the first 
half of the last century, and through its still larger pro- 
duction of lumber, much of which has found a market at 
points west of Pittsburgh on the Ohio river. Shipments 



EARLY NAVIGATION IN PENNSYLVANIA. 123 

of pig iron were made in French creek boats or on rafts. 
Shipments of lumber were made chiefly* in rafts. From 
1859 until 1870 the Allegheny river was also an impor- 
tant channel for the transportation of petroleum from the 
newly developed fields of Northwestern Pennsylvania, and 
much of this traffic fell to the steamboats. About 1865 
the railroads also began to carry petroleum. In the early 
days keel boats carried both freight and passengers to 
and from the settlements on the Allegheny river and its 
tributaries. Small steamboats shared in this trade soon 
after the beginning of the steamboat era and until after* 
the beginning of the railroad era. 

Until in very recent years no attempt had been made 
to improve the navigation of the Allegheny river. The 
United States Government has now undertaken the im- 
portant work of improving by dams and locks the navi- 
gation of both the Ohio and the Allegheny rivers, which 
we need not describe in detail, but from which improve- 
ments it is expected that the transportation of coal, lum- 
ber, agricultural products, and other freight on the Alle- 
gheny will greatly increase. 

The business of boatbuilding at Pittsburgh grew rap- 
idly after 1800. In addition to keel boats and flatboats 
Pittsburgh built many vessels for ocean service. Chapman 
says : '^ The number of barges, flatboats, and similar craft 
runs far up into the thousands. In the year 1801 Taras- 
con Brothers & Co. built the Amityy a schooner of 150 
tons, which was sent with a cargo of flour to St. Thomas, 
in the West Indies. In the same year they built the 
schooner Pittsburgh^ of 250 tons, which was dispatched 
with a similar cargo to Philadelphia, and thence to Bor- 
deaux, in France. These first ventures in sea-going ves- 
sels were speedily followed by others. One of these, the 
brig Ann Jane, built in 1803, was one of the fastest sail- 
ing vessels of the day, and was run for some time as a 
packet between New York and New Orleans." Another 
of the sea-going vessels that was built at Pittsburgh was 
the ship Louisiana, which is elsewhere referred to in this 
chapter. The building of steamboats at Pittsburgh had 
its beginning in 1811. 



124 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 



CHAPTER XII. 

EARLY STEAMBOATS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 

The era of steamboat navigation in this country 
dates from August 17, 1807, one hundred years ago, when 
Fulton's steamboat, the Clermont, made its successful 
trial trip on the Hudson river. But Pulton was not the 
inventor of the steamboat ; he simply perfected, with the 
assistance of Chancellor Robert R. Livingston, the me- 
chanical ideas of others. John Fitch is worthy of being 
especially remembered for his unrewarded labors in ap- 
plying steam power to the navigation of vessels before 
Fulton attempted the solution of the same problem. The 
success of the Clermont soon made steam navigation pos- 
sible on all the principal rivers of this country. 

Robert Fulton was born in Lancaster county, Penn- 
sylvania, in 1765 and died in New York City in 1815. 
John Fitch was a native of Connecticut, born in 1743 and 
dying in Kentucky in 1798. Both men died young. 

The introduction of steamboats on the Ohio river and 
its tributaries followed the general use of keel boats and 
the various forms of flat-bottomed boats. The first steam- 
boat to trouble the waters of the Ohio, or of any western 
river, was the New Orleans, which was built and launch- 
ed at Pittsburgh in 1811. Chapman says that '' it was 
built on the right bank of the Monongahela, a short dis- 
tance below the mouth of Sook's run. Anthony Beelen's 
foundry was near. The freight warehouse of the Balti- 
more and Ohio Railroad now occupies the spot." Its cost 
was about $38,000. The New Orleans was mechanically 
and financially a success. The story of its career has often 
been told. At once other steamboats were built to ply 
on the Ohio and the Mississippi and their tributaries, and 
Pittsburgh became a great centre of steamboat building 
as well as of steamboat navigation. 

In Hulbert's great work. The Ohio River, (1906,) we 
find the following account of the way in which the first 



EARLY STEAMBOATS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 125 

steamboat on the Ohio river came to be built : " The 
steamer Clermont sailed on the Hudson river, to the won- 
der of all eyes, in 1807. Fulton was quick to take com- 
plete advantage of his triumph and immediately began 
to secure monopoly rights and supply other rivers with 
his boats. The Ohio, with its tremendous possibilities 
commercially, early attracted his attention. In December, 

1810, the Ohio Steamboat Navigation Company was in- 
corporated by Daniel D. Tompkins, Robert R. Livingston, 
DeWitt Clinton, Robert Fulton, and Nicholas J. Roosevelt. 
The company was to operate steamers on the western wa- 
ters under the Fulton-Livingston patents. The last nam- 
ed incorporator, Nicholas J. Roosevelt, a brother of Presi- 
dent Theodore Roosevelt's grandfather, seems to have 
been the chief promoter of the Ohio branch of Fulton's 
great business. The boat had a keel 138 feet long and its 
total burden was 300 tons : it was launched in March, 

1811, and in the following October set sail for the South 
amid the applause of infant Pittsburgh." 

Steamboats of light draft were in use on the Allegheny 
and Monongahela rivers soon after their introduction on 
the Ohio, making irregular trips in carrying both freight 
and passengers whenever the depth of water would per- 
mit, but not supplanting either the keel boat or the flat- 
boat. The steamboat, indeed, by facilitating the ship- 
ment of coal down the Ohio, through the introduction 
and general use of steam towboats, really increased the 
demand for flatboats, barges, and broadhorns, as coal-car- 
rying vessels have been variously called. The first steam- 
boat that was built in the Monongahela valley is said to 
have been the Enterprise, built at Bridgeport in 1814. Mor- 
rison says that the Enterprise was "a stern- wheel boat of 
80 feet in length and 29 feet beam." He gives a full his- 
tory of this vessel. The Enterprise was the first steamboat 
which made the round trip from Pittsburgh to New Or- 
leans. This was in 1814 and 1815. Chapman says that 
"on December 1, 1814, the Enterprise left Pittsburgh for 
New Orleans with a cargo of cannon and guns for Jack- 
son's army." 

On February 28, 1828, the steamboat Wm, Duncan, of 



126 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

eighty tons' capacity, ascended the Allegheny river to 
Franklin. In March, 1830, a small steamboat called the 
Allegheny was launched at Pittsburgh and on April 18 she 
arrived at Franklin and proceeded up the river to Warren. 
This vessel made seven trips up the Allegheny river in 
that year, at one time ascending as far as Olean, in New 
York. The Allegheny was equipped with two stern wheels. 
Most of the early steamboats were " side-wheelers." 

Chapman writes of steamboat building at Pittsburgh 
in the following words : " Pittsburgh has lost some of the 
industries for which it was once famous. The first of these 
is steamboat building. This was a business once largely 
carried on here. The New Orleans was followed by the 
Comet, built in 1812-13, and the VesuviiLS and the Aetna, 
built in 1813-14. The number of vessels built increased 
with wonderful rapidity from year to year until the record 
year 1857, in which 141 were built. In other years both 
before and after this date the vessels built fell little short 
of this maximum. The total number was more than 3,000. 
After the year 1865 the number built each year fell off 
rapidly, although many were still built until the year 
1888, in which but two were built. In later years only 
an occasional steamboat has been built here. The prime 
cause of the decUne of steamboat building and steamboat 
navigation is found in the lines of railroad that now lie 
along the banks of every navigable river in the country." 

The first iron steamboat to be built in the United 
States was the little steamer Codorus, designed by Cap- 
tain John Elgar, of York, Pennsylvania, a machinist and 
inventor, acting for a York and Baltimore company. It 
was built in 1825 at the machine shops of Webb, Davis & 
Gardner, of York, the same firm which, in 1832, built The 
York, the first locomotive in the country to successfully 
use anthracite coal. The Codorus received its name from 
Codorus creek, on which York is built. A cotemporary 
description of the Codorus mentions the following details : 
"A boat of sheet iron, intended for a passage-boat from 
Columbia, on the Susquehanna, to Northumberland, is 
constructing at York, in this State. The following is an 
account of the boat and of the steam-engine by which it 



EARLY STEAMBOATS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 127 

is to be propelled : The boat has 60 feet keel, 9 feet beam, 
and is 3 feet high ; she is composed entirely of sheet iron, 
riveted with iron rivets, and the ribs, which are one foot 
apart, are strips of sheet iron, which, by their peculiar 
form, are supposed to possess thrice the strength of the 
same weight of iron in the square or flat form. The whole 
weight of iron in the boat, when she shall be finished, will 
be 3,400 lbs.; that of the wood work, decks, cabin, &c., 
will be 2,600 lbs.; being together three tons. The steam- 
engine, the boiler included, will weigh two tons; making 
the whole weight of the boat and engine but five tons. 
She will draw, when launched, but five inches, and every 
additional ton which may be put on board of her will sink 
her one inch in the water. The engine is nearly complet- 
ed. The whole cost of the boat and engine will be 3,000 
dollars." It has been erroneously stated that this vessel 
was built in England and put together at York. 

In George R. Prowell's History of York County it is 
stated that the Codorus was launched in November, 1825, 
and at once steamed up to Harrisburg with a party of 
one hundred persons on board, with Captain John Elgar 
as commander. Subsequently it made a number of trips 
between York Haven and Harrisburg, and at least one 
trip to Bloomsburg, Wilkesbarre, and as far north as the 
New York State line. It was a great success. Two other 
steamboats were built at York by the same company for 
use on the Susquehanna — the Susquehanna^ whose boiler 
exploded, and the Pioneer j which was "too heavy." 

Morrison says of the Codorus : '' There is no record left 
whether this vessel was fitted with side wheels or a stern 
wheel. They used wood as fuel in the boiler." The same 
high authority gives us the later history of this vessel as 
follows : " The boat remained on the Susquehanna river 
about two years without any permanent employment; 
it was then taken to Baltimpre, Maryland, and the last 
record left of the vessel appears that in January, 1829, 
she was sent to North Carolina to run between Newberne 
and Beaufort. A Baltimore paper in April, 1830, publish- 
ed under the heading of 'The First Iron Steamboat :' 'We 
have two or three times during the past year endeavored 



128 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

to set history right in regard to the place at which the 
first iron steamboat was built in America. The steam- 
boat Codorus was the first iron steamboat built in the 
United States, as has been repeatedly stated in this and 
other papers. ... It was built at York, the hull alto- 
gether of iron. . . The Codorus was afterwards brought 
to this city, where after remaining some time was taken 
farther south to ply on some small river.' The iron was 
of domestic manufacture." 

From Morrison we glean the following details. In 1834 
we hear of a steamboat on the Savannah river, Georgia, 
that had been constructed in England with an iron hull 
and put together at Savannah in that year. This vessel 
was in every way a success. It was called the John Ran- 
dolph. It was soon followed by several other iron-hull 
vessels that were built in England and put together in 
this count rv for use on southern rivers. In 1835 an iron- 
hull vessel was built at Poughkeepsie, New York, intend- 
ed to be used on the Erie Canal, but this vessel was not 
a success because of defects in its construction. Its trial 
trip was made on the canal in October, 1835. Morrison 
continues : " There were also built in 1836, in the western 
part of New York, three or four iron-hull canal boats, or 
barges, as an opposition line of packet boats on the Erie 
Canal between Rochester and Buffalo. In the next year 
several iron canal boats were built for transportation 
companies for freighting on the Pennsylvania State canals, 
across the Allegheny mountains to Pittsburgh, connecting 
the Delaware and Ohio rivers. Some of these vessels were 
made in several distinct sections, so that when they ar- 
rived at the junction of the railroad and canal they could 
be readily hoisted with their merchandise to a freight car, 
transported across the mountains, and again placed in the 
canal." This is an imperfect description of the boats. 

These last circumstantial statements bv Mr. Morrison 
explain the reference in a subsequent chapter of this vol- 
ume to the "Reliance Transportation Company's Line of 
Portable Iron Boats" which were in use on the Pennsyl- 
vania Canal in 1839. J. King McLanahan tells us that 
these boats were built at Coalport, on the Kiskiminitas, 



EARLY 8TBAMB0ATS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 129 

by Samuel M. Kier. The hulls were covered with sheet 
iron over an eighth of an inch thick, which was doubtless 
made at Pittsburgh. The hatches were also made of iron. 

Morrison further says : "As to iron hull steamboats 
on the western rivers the first built in the United States 
was named United States, constructed by the West Point 
Foundry, at New York, in 1838, for service on Lake Pont- 
chartrain and canal at New Orleans, Louisiana. This was 
a double-hull boat, 110 by 26 by 3.6 feet, with a paddle 
wheel in the space between the hulls. The first single 
iron huU built in the United States was the Valley Forge, 
built by Robinson & Minis, steam engine builders, at 
Pittsburgh, and completed in December, 1839.'' The same 
author says that the Zulia River Navigation Company, of 
New York, contracted with the James Rees & Sons Com- 
pany, of Pittsburgh, in June, 1880, for a steel-hull stern- 
wheel steamboat named Venezuela, to open navigation on 
the Zulia river in Venezuela. The hull was 120 by 24 by 
3 feet deep. Mr. Morrison says that " this was the first 
steam vessel built in the United States to have steel an- 
gles and floors." He further says that "this vessel may be 
said to be the first aU-steel vessel built in this country." 

From another source we learn the following details of 
the Valley Forge : When this vessel was built it was said 
that she was the first iron vessel "of any considerable 
size" that had been built in this country. Her dimen- 
sions were as follows : length on deck, 160 feet ; length of 
keel, 140 feet; breadth of beam, 25 feet 4 inches; depth 
of hold, 6 feet. 

It was not until after the close of our civil war that 
the building of iron vessels, either for ocean voyage or for 
inland navigation, became an important industry in this 
country. In the fiscal year 1868, the first for which there 
is any official record of iron shipbuilding in the United 
States, the whole tonnage of iron vessels built was only 
2,801 tons. In the calendar year 1907 there were launched 
in this country 157 iron and steel vessels, whose total 
tonnag_e amounted to 436,183 tons. Of the 157 iron and 
steel vessels built in that year 65 were built at ports on 
the great lakes, their tonnage amounting to 286,266 tons. 

9 



130 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

EARLY CANALS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 

We now come to the building of canals in Pennsyl- 
vania, including the improvement of natural waterways. 
Canals were known to the ancients. Historians mention 
the existence in remote ages of canals for transportation 
and for irrigation. They are not mentioned in either the 
Old or the New Testament, but there is abundant proof 
that they were in existence in Old Testament days. Both 
Egypt and Assyria possessed irrigation canals centuries be- 
fore the Christian era. Canals for transportation purposes 
were built by the Romans in the zenith of their power. 
They built canals in France and in England. China built 
its great canal, about a thousand miles long, but which 
is mainly an improvement of natural waterways, in the 
early centuries of the Christian era, and there were other 
canals in China before that period. Venice has been fa- 
mous for its canals since the fifth century. From the 
twelfth to the fifteenth century many canals were built in 
the Netherlands. A canal in England, uniting the Trent 
and the Witham rivers, was built in the twelfth century. 
There are many canals to-day in England and on the 
Continent, the most notable of which is a canal in Russia, 
1,434 miles long, connecting St. Petersburg with the Cas- 
pian Sea, which was commenced by Peter the Great in 
1700. This canal is, however, largely an improvement of 
river navigation. France particularly is intersected with 
canals leading in every direction ; Germany also has many 
important canals. On the Continent the tendency is now 
strongly toward the extension of canals for general trans- 
portation purposes. The Aztecs built canals in Mexico. 

The subject of canal transportation and the improve- 
ment of river navigation received considerable attention 
in the colonies before the Revolution, but with a single 
exception there is no authentic record of the construc- 
tion of a canal in this country until after the treaty of 



EARLY CANALS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 131 

peace, Ringwalt says that " the first canal constructed 
within the present limits of the United States was, ac- 
cording to some accounts, a short line built by Lieuten- 
ant-Governor Colder, in Orange county, New York, in 1750, 
for transporting stone." The first definite action concern- 
ing a survey for a canal for general transportation purposes 
in any of the colonies of which we can find any mention 
was taken in Pennsylvania several years before the Revo- 
lution. In 1762 a "remonstrance" from sundry merchants 
of Philadelphia was presented to the General Assembly, 
pra3dng that "proper persons" might be appointed "to 
view and inspect a water passage up the west branch of 
the River Susquehanna, as from thence, it is thought, the 
portage is but short to a navigable branch of the River 
Ohio," so that, in the words of the "remonstrance," "the 
Indian commerce of the province, a most important branch 
of the trade thereof," might " be greatly increased." No 
action was taken by the Assembly to promote the wishes 
of the Philadelphia merchants, the petition being laid aside 
for further consideration. In 1769 a petition was present- 
ed to the Assembly praying that the Juniata river might 
be made navigable, so that "a tract of country, near 
eighty miles in extent, would have cheap and easy com- 
munication opened into the Susquehanna, and by this 
means be connected with Philadelphia." This petition 
also produced no immediate results. In neither of these 
petitions was a canal mentioned, but it would have been 
essential to the realization of either of the schemes pro- 
posed. 

On April 21, 1769, the American Philosophical Society 
published an appeal " to the merchants and others of 
Philadelphia," saying that the society " have had sundry 
proposals before them for opening a canal between the 
navigable waters of the Delaware and Chesapeake bays," 
and recommending that a "necessary survey" of a route 
for the proposed canal be made, to which appeal a com- 
mittee of the merchants replied that "the design was 
highly approved, and a subscription was immediately be- 
gun, which already amounted to £140." This route was 
not surveyed until 1791. The canal was not commenced 



132 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

until 1804 and it was not completed until 1829. In 1613 
Captain Samuel Argall wrote to England that he hoped to 
make a cut between Chesapeake bay and the Delaware. 

On August 16, 1771, a report of the Philosophical So- 
ciety said: ''Whereas, this Society, desirous to promote 
the inland navigation of this province, at a considerable 
expense made several surveys, being informed that there 
is a probability of joining the navigation of the Susque- 
hanna and the Schuylkill by a canal between the Quitta- 
pahilla branch of the Swatara and the Tulpehocken, and 
as the Assembly were pleased to appoint a committee for 
examining the place aforesaid, among others, the Society 
do therefore appoint Mr. Lukens, the Surveyor General, to 
attend the said committee and give all the assistance in 
his power. His expenses will be defrayed by several pub- 
lic-spirited persons.'' This canal was subsequently built, 
as will presently appear. It was called the Union Canal. 

The author of An Historical Account of the Rise, Prog- 
ress, and Present State of the Canal Navigation in Penn- 
sylvania, published in 1795, referring to events occurring 
in 1793, clearly indicates in the following extract that 
about 1769 a survey of a canal route to unite the Schuyl- 
kill and Susquehanna rivers had been made. ''The sum- 
mit level of middle ground between the headwaters of 
Quittapahilla, near Lebanon, and those of Tulpehocken, 
near Myerstown, (a distance of four miles and a half,) had 
been examined and leveled about twenty-five years ago 
by a committee appointed by the American Philosophical 
Society, viz : William Smith, D.D., then Provost of the 
College of Philadelphia, John Lukens, Esquire, Surveyor 
General of the Province (now State) of Pennsylvania, 
and John Sellers. The same ground was afterwards ex- 
amined and leveled under legislative sanction by sundiy 
skillful persons, and among others by the celebrated phi- 
losopher and mechanic, David Rittenhouse, Esquire, L.L.D., 
and his brother Benjamin Rittenhouse, Timothy Matlack, 
John Adlum, Esquires, and others, all agreeing in the re- 
sults of their work respecting the proper tract of the canal 
for a junction of the Schuylkill and Susquehanna; — ex- 
tending their prospects still further to the great plan now 



EARLY CANALS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 133 

in operation^ viz : the junction of the tidewaters of the 
Delaware with the Ohio and western lakes." 

These circumstantial statements indicate that the first 
survey referred to for a canal to unite the Schuylkill and 
Susquehanna rivers was made about 1769, under the aus- 
pices of the American Philosophical Society, and that sub- 
sequently another survey was made "under legislative 
sanction" by David Bittenhouse and others. The date of 
the last survey is uncertain. We can not find any proof 
of the correctness of a statement that has been frequently 
made that David Bittenhouse and Dr. William Smith sur- 
veyed a route for a canal between the Schuylkill and Sus- 
quehanna rivers as early as 1762. 

Henry S. Tanner, in his Description of the Canals and 
Railroads of the United States, (1840,) says that ''applica- 
tion was made to the Provincial Legislature for authority 
to open a water communication between the Schuylkill 
and the Susquehanna rivers, and in the year 1762 a sur- 
vey with a view to this object was effected, by which its 
practicability was satisfactorily demonstrated." Tanner 
gives no further particulars of the alleged ''survey," but 
other writers, without submitting any proof, say that it 
was made by David Bittenhouse and Dr. William Smith 
in 1762. We think that this early date is an error. 

In the "Proposals for a Second Settlement" on the 
Susquehanna river, issued by William Penn in 1690, and 
from which we have already quoted, Penn says that a 
"way" by land had been "laid out" between the Dela- 
ware and the Susquehanna rivers " at least three years 
ago," and that communication between this proposed set- 
tlement and the settlements already made on the Dela- 
ware would "not be hard to do by water by the benefit 
of the river Scoalkill, for a branch of that river lies near 
a branch that runs into the Susquehanna river and is the 
common course of the Indians with their skins and furs 
into our parts." In these words Penn certainly indicates 
French creek and Conestoga creek as the branches which 
could be utilized in uniting the Susquehanna and Schuyl- 
kill rivers. His "way" was undoubtedly a road from the 
mouth of French creek to a point near the mouth of the 



134 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

Conestoga. H. Frank Eshleman, of Lancaster, has made 
this matter clear. To Penn belongs the credit of first sug- 
gesting, as early as 1690, the project of continuous water 
transportation from the Delaware to the Susquehanna, 
but he did not specifically suggest the building of a canal. 

In 1772 Benjamin Franklin, who was then represent- 
ing the colonies at the British Court, wrote a long letter 
to Samuel Rhoads, afterwards the Mayor of Philadelphia, 
which Ringwalt prints in full, recommending the building 
of canals in our country and giving the experience of 
England in canal construction. He said: '' Rivers are un- 
governable things, especially in hilly countries. Canals are 
quiet and very manageable.' ' 

Without quoting further from old records the forego- 
ing summary shows how greatly interested before the 
Revolutionary period were the people of Pennsylvania in 
the improvement of its waterways and in the building of 
canals. Nothing of a practical character was, however, 
accompUshed before the Revolution, owing mainly to the 
financial difficulties that were encountered. 

It has been claimed that the first canal that was un- 
dertaken and completed in the United States was built to 
overcome obstructions to the navigation of the Connecti- 
cut river at South Hadley Falls and at Turner's Falls at 
Montague, in Western Massachusetts. It was projected 
in 1792 by a company, commenced in 1793, and finished 
about 1796. This canal was about five miles long. It is 
also claimed that the next canal to be completed was built 
by a company between 1792 and 1797 around the rapids 
of the Mohawk river in New York, to improve its naviga- 
tion, as in the case of the pioneer canal in Massachusetts. 
This canal was six miles long. These short canals were 
of only local importance. 

The above claims of priority in canal building must 
be read in connection with other canal enterprises which 
are mentioned in detail by Ringwalt, and which, omitting 
the reference already made to the early canal in Orange 
county, New York, we condense as follows : '* Probably 
the first charter under which active operations were pros- 
ecuted was granted by an act incorporating the James 



EARLY CANALS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 135 

River Company, which was passed by the Legislature of 
Virginia on January 5, 1785, for the purpose of improving 
the navigation of the James river. The company con- 
structed a canal around the Falls of James river, extend- 
ing from the city of Richmond to Westham, a distance of 
about seven miles, and improved the bed of the river by 
sluices as high up as Buchanan. Other canals include 
the following : A charter was granted on June 25, 1792, to 
^The Proprietors of the Locks and Canals on the Merri- 
mac River' in Massachusetts, and this company opened 
a line in 1797, about one and one-half miles long, which 
provided a channel around Pawtucket Falls, leading into 
the Concord river, and thence into the Merrimac river at 
Chelmsford. The Middlesex Canal Company was chartered 
in 1792. Active operations on this work were commenced 
in 1795. The Carondelet Canal was built in Louisiana 
about 1794, partly as a drainage canal for the city of New 
Orleans. It was constructed by Governor Carondelet, and 
the citizens contributed a large force of slaves to aid him. 
A canal was built in South Carolina in 1802 which con- 
nected Charleston harbor with the Santee river. It was 
twenty-two miles long and cost $720,000." 

We now come to the canals which were actually built 
in Pennsylvania after the storm and stress of the Revolu- 
tion had come to an end. The earliest mention we have 
found of a completed canal in Pennsylvania relates to the 
Conewago Canal, in York county, which was authorized 
by the Legislature on April 10, 1793, to be constructed 
by the Conewago Canal Company. This canal was com- 
pleted in 1797. It was only one and a fourth miles long 
and was built to overcome an obstruction in the Susque- 
hanna river caused by the Conewago Falls. 

One of the first improvements in river transportation 
to be undertaken in Pennsylvania was the slackwater im- 
provement of the Conestoga Lock and Dam Navigation 
Company, which company was chartered by the Legisla- 
ture on March 17, 1806, to improve the navigation of Con- 
estoga creek between Lancaster and Safe Harbor, on the 
Susquehanna, a distance of eighteen miles. This improve- 
ment was completed by another company several years 



136 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

afterwards, but it is worthy of mention as one of the first 
canal enterprises that was undertaken in Pennsylvania. 

The first State to undertake any comprehensive canal 
project was undoubtedly Pennsylvania. Before the Massa- 
chusetts and New York enterprises were undertaken the 
Legislature of Pennsylvania chartered the Schuylkill and 
Susquehanna Navigation Company to connect the waters 
of the Schuylkill and Susquehanna rivers by canal and 
slackwater navigation, the exact date of the act being 
September 29, 1791. On April 10, 1792, the Legislature 
also incorporated the Delaware and Schuylkill Navigation 
Company to build a canal from Norristown to Philadel- 
phia. It was proposed to have the first named company 
build a canal from Middletown, at the mouth of the Swa- 
tara river, where it empties into the Susquehanna river, 
to Reading, in Berks county, and thence by canal and 
slackwater to Norristown, where it would unite with the 
canal of the second named company, thus giving continu- 
ous water communication between Philadelphia and the 
interior of the State. Robert Morris was the president of 
both these companies. Gordon, in his Gazetteer, published 
in 1832, gives the further history of these enterprises as 
follows : "About fifteen miles of the most difficult parts 
of the two works, comprising much rock excavation, heavy 
embankments, extensive deep cuttings, and several locks 
of bricks, were nearly completed when, after an expendi- 
ture of $440,000, the works were suspended by reason of 
the pecuniary embarrassments of the stockholders of the 
companies. The suspension of these works, and subse- 
quently of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, discour- 
aged every similar work which was projected for many 
years afterwards.'* Gordon continues : " In the year 1811 
the two companies, composed chiefly of the same stock- 
holders, were united under the title of the Union Canal 
Company. A large part of new stock was indispensable 
to the success of the company, which they were authoriz- 
ed to create by act of 29th March, 1819, and for payment 
of interest thereon the avails of a lottery granted by the 
last preceding act were pledged. By act of 26th March, 
1821, the Commonwealth guaranteed the interest and also 



EARLY CANALS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 137 

granted to the company a monopoly of lotteries. Thus 
sustained the managers resumed their operations in 1821. 
The line of the canai was relocated, the dimensions chang- 
ed, and it was rendered navigable in 1827." 

As completed the Union Canal extended only from 
Middletown, on the Susquehanna, to a point on the 
Schuylkill a short distance below Reading, a distance of 
nearly 90 miles, including about ten miles of branches. 

At Reading the Union Canal connected with the works 
of the Schuylkill Navigation Company, which was char- 
tered on March 8, 1815, to build a canal from Philadel- 
phia to Pottsville, in Schuylkill county, utilizing wherever 
possible slackwater navigation on the Schuylkill river. 
This canal, which is still in use from Philadelphia to Port 
Clinton, in Schuylkill county, about fifteen miles below 
Pottsville, was completed and opened for business between 
Philadelphia and Mount Carbon, a suburb of Pottsville, 
in 1825. In 1828 the canal was extended from Pottsville 
to Port Carbon, a distance of about two miles. As finally 
completed there were 58 miles of canal and 50 miles 
of slackwater, making a total length of 108 miles. This 
enterprise was undertaken because of the failure of pre- 
vious attempts to improve the navigation of the Schuyl- 
kill river, as described above. The whole line of the canal 
was leased to the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Com- 
pany in 1870. Since that year its coal and other trade 
has been almost entirely transferred to this company. In 
1826 and 1827 the packet boat Planet made regular trips 
between Philadelphia and Reading, the fare being $2.50. 

During the first two decades of the nineteenth century 
many canal enterprises were undertaken in many States, 
including others in Pennsylvania additional to those above 
mentioned. The most important of these enterprises was 
the celebrated Erie Canal in New York, to connect Lake 
Erie with the Atlantic Ocean by way of Albany and the 
Hudson river, the canal terminating at Albany. The first 
ground was broken for this work at Rome, on July 4, 
1817, and the canal was formally opened from Buffalo to 
Albany, a distance of 352 miles, on November 4, 1825. 
The inception and subsequent completion of this really 



138 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

great work gave a great impetus to canal building in 
other States, especially in Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, 
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. 

In addition to the reasons which called for the estab- 
lishment of closer commercial connections between the dif- 
ferent parts of Pennsylvania its citizens could not afford 
to yield to New York the trade of the Great West through 
its Erie Canal without making an effort to secure a part 
of this trade. Leading citizens had long urged the neces- 
sity of more convenient means of communication between 
the Delaware and the western parts of the State than were 
afforded by roads and turnpikes. The project of uniting 
the Delaware with Lake Erie by a system of canals and 
river navigation was considered by the General Assembly 
as early as 1769, and was embodied in 1811 in the char- 
ter of the Union Canal Company already mentioned. Oth- 
er early projects contemplated the opening of communi- 
cation by water as far as possible between the Delaware 
and the Ohio at Pittsburgh. But none of these schemes 
assumed tangible form until about the time of the com- 
pletion of the Erie Canal in 1825. Even if practicable in 
all cases they could not have been realized by individual 
effort; the State would have had to undertake them. 










THE BUILDING OF THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL. 139 



CHAPTER ' XIV. 

THE BUILDING OF THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL. 

On February 10, 1824, a committee of the Pennsylva- 
nia Legislature, to which had been referred the subject of 
improving the transportation facilities between the eastern 
and western parts of the State, recommended that a sur- 
vey be made of a route "along the valleys of the Susque- 
hanna, Juniata, Conemaugh, Kiskiminitas, and Allegheny 
rivers, with a view to a continuous canal from Philadel- 
phia to Pittsburgh." On March 27, 1824, an act was passed 
authorizing three commissioners to ''explore a route for a 
canal from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh by the waters of the 
Juniata and Conemaugh rivers, and by the west branch of 
the Susquehanna and Sinnemahoning with the waters of 
the Allegheny, and also a route from a point on the Schuyl- 
kill river in the county of Schuylkill, thence by Mahanoy 
creek, the river Susquehanna, the Moshannon or Clearfield 
and Blacklick creeks, the Conemaugh, the Kiskiminitas, 
and Allegheny rivers to Pittsburgh." These commissioners 
recommended the adoption of a canal route from Harris- 
burg to Pittsburgh by way of the Susquehanna, Juniata, 
and Conemaugh rivers, with a tunnel through the Alle- 
gheny mountains to be four miles long. On April 11, 1825, 
another act was passed providing for the appointment of 
five commissioners, who were authorized to explore and 
report upon two proposed routes of canal communication 
between the eastern and western parts of the State, and 
upon three less comprehensive and really local routes. 

Only the first two of these routes need be described. 
One of these was " from Philadelphia through Chester 
and Lancaster counties, and thence by the west branch of 
the Susquehanna and the waters thereof to the Allegheny 
and Pittsburgh, also from the Allegheny to Lake Erie," 
and the other route was "from Philadelphia by the Juni- 
ata to Pittsburgh and thence to Lake Erie." On Febru- 
ary 25, 1826, an act was passed providing for the com- 



140 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

mencement of a canal " from the river Swatara, at or near 
Middletown," by the Juniata route, and from Kttsburgh 
eastward to the mouth of the Kiskiminitas, the work to 
be styled the Pennsylvania Canal. Three hundred thou- 
sand dollars were appropriated for the beginning of the 
work. On July 4, 1826, the first ground was broken for 
the canal near Harrisburg. The canal commissioners, now 
increased to nine in number, had decided that work on the 
canal westward should begin at Middletown, at the mouth 
of the Swatara river, to which point, as previously ex- 
plained, canal and slackwater communication eastward to 
Philadelphia had been made or was about to be made 
by way of the Union Canal and the Schuylkill river. As 
finally determined by the act of March 4, 1828, the canal 
was to be continued eastward to Columbia, on the Susque- 
hanna. It was also determined by the same act that con- 
nection from Columbia with Philadelphia should be made 
by railroad and not by canal, and also that a railroad was 
necessary from Hollidaysburg to Johnstown instead of a 
tunnel. Thus originated the most important public im- 
provement ever undertaken by Pennsylvania — a more ex- 
pensive enterprise than the Erie Canal and relatively more 
difficult than the Panama Canal of our day. 

The Pennsylvania Canal, as its courses and distances 
were finally decided upon and established by the joint ac- 
tion of the Legislature, the canal commissioners, and the 
engineers, embraced a main line of combined canal and 
railroad from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, with numerous 
canal branches, all the branches from the main line run- 
ning northward, and also embracing other canals which 
did not directly connect with the main line. Beginning at 
Philadelphia the various divisions of the main Une may 
be briefly summarized as follows : The Columbia Railroad, 
81 miles long, connecting Philadelphia with Columbia, hav- 
ing two inclined planes, one at Philadelphia and one at 
Columbia ; the eastern division of the canal, 47 miles long, 
extending from Columbia along the Susquehanna river to 
Duncan's Island, at the mouth of the Juniata; the Juniata 
division, 132 miles long, extending from Duncan's Island 
to Hollidaysburg ; the Allegheny Portage Railroad, 36.44 



THE BUILDING OF THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL. 141 

miles long, crossing the Allegheny mountains, having ten 
inclined planes, and connecting Hollidaysburg with Johns- 
town, five ascending from Hollidaysburg to the Allegheny 
summit and five descending to Johnstown ; and the west- 
ern division, 104 miles long, extending from Johnstown 
along the Conemaugh, Kiskiminitas, and Allegheny rivers 
to Pittsburgh. The total length of the main Une of the 
canal and connecting railroads was 400.44 miles. Work 
on the main line was prosecuted with vigor from its com- 
mencement and soon afterwards on some of its branches. 
The branches of the Pennsylvania Canal, and the ca- 
nals which were not directly connected with the main Une 
but were part of the Pennsylvania Canal system, were as 
follows : The Susquehanna division, 42 miles long, com- 
mencing at Duncan's Island and extending along the 
Susquehanna river to Northumberland; the West Branch 
division, 76 miles long, extending from Northumberland 
along the west branch of the Susquehanna through Will- 
iamsport, Jersey Shore, and Lock Haven, to Farrandsville, 
in Clinton county ; the North Branch division, 167.2 miles 
long, commencing at Northumberland and extending along 
the north branch of the Susquehanna through Berwick, 
Nanticoke, and other towns to the New York State line 
near Elmira, where it connected with the New York sys- 
tem of canals through the Junction Canal; the Delaware 
division, 60 miles long, extending from Bristol along the 
Delaware river to Easton, where it connected with the 
canal of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company; the 
Beaver division, 30.75 miles long, beginning at the mouth 
of the Beaver river, at Beaver, on the Ohio, 28 miles be- 
low Pittsburgh, and extending to New Castle ; the Erie 
Extension, 105.50 miles long, extending from New Castle 
to Erie. There was also a branch of the main line, the 
Wiconisco Canal, 12J miles long, commenced in 1838, ex- 
tending from Duncan's Island along the Susquehanna to 
Wiconisco, where it connected with the Lykens Valley 
Railroad. There were various feeders of the canals, ag- 
gregating 13 miles in length, which need not be mentioned 
in detail. The entire length of canals and railroads form- 
ing the Pennsylvania Canal system was 907.39 miles, of 



142 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

which 789.95 miles were canal and 117.44 miles were rail- 
road; all undertaken and built at the expense of the State. 

In 1834 the canal commissioners announced that 600 
miles of canal and 120 miles of railroad were finished and 
that the main line from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh was 
open for business. A single track of the Portage Railroad 
had been completed on November 26, 1833. On April 16, 
1834, the whole line was opened, the Columbia Railroad, 
which formed the last Unk, having been finished on that 
day. The Beaver division was opened for business on May 
28, 1834, and the North Branch division on July 4, 1834. 
Other branches were opened at later periods. Some of 
them, indeed, were not undertaken until after the main 
line had been some time in operation. The whole time 
consumed in the construction of the main Une was about 
eight years, the same number of years as were occupied 
in the construction of the Erie Canal. 

The Erie Canal, 352 miles long, was not only nearly 
fifty miles shorter than the main line of the Pennsylvania 
Canal and its railroad connections, in all about 400 miles 
long, but its builders encountered fewer engineering diffi- 
culties than those which confronted the builders of the 
Pennsylvania system of canals and railroads, while its 
cost of construction was very much less. The Erie Canal 
passed through a territory free from any serious moun- 
tain elevations to be overcome by locks or otherwise, but 
the engineers of the Pennsylvania Canal were compelled to 
overcome by inclined planes and a railroad the almost in- 
surmountable obstruction of the Allegheny mountains be- 
tween Hollidaysburg and Johnstown and to abandon the 
project of building a canal through the elevated country 
between Philadelphia and Columbia and substitute a rail- 
road. Ringwalt gives a diagram showing the elevation of 
the Erie Canal from Buffalo to Albany and another show- 
ing the elevation of the Pennsylvania Canal and its con- 
necting railroads from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. He 
says : ''In constructing the Erie Canal the rise and fall 
along the entire line was only 692 feet. In adopting on 
the Pennsylvania main Une system the Portage Railroad 
as a device for overcoming the elevation of the Allegheny 



THE BUILDING OP THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL. 143 

mountains there was an ascent from Johnstown, west of 
the mountains, to the summit of 1,171.58 feet in 26.59 
miles, and on the eastern side of the mountains a descent 
from the summit to Hollidaysburg of 1,398.71 feet in 10.10 
miles. In other words, the Pennsylvania main line sys- 
tem, by the aid of the Portage Railroad, undertook to 
overcome, in a distance of 36.69 miles, about twice the 
elevation that it was necessary to overcome, by locks, 
along the entire length of the Erie Canal." Of the ten 
inclined planes on the Portage Railroad the longest was 
3,116.92 feet long, with a rise of 307.60 feet, and the short- 
est was 1,480.25 feet long, with a rise of 130.50 feet. To 
which we add the length and elevation of the two inclined 
planes on the Columbia Railroad, as follows : The plane 
at Belmont, near Philadelphia, was 2,805 feet long, with a 
rise of 187 feet, and the plane at Columbia was 1,800 feet 
long, with a fall of 90 feet. 

The work of building the Columbia Railroad was com- 
menced in 1829 and completed in 1834, but about twenty 
miles of the eastern end of the road were opened for traf- 
fic in September, 1832. Work on the construction of the 
Portage Railroad was commenced on April 12, 1831, and 
on March 18, 1834, when navigation on the canal opened, 
the road was opened for use as a public highway. 

Horses and locomotives were used on both railroads. 
The first locomotive used on the Portage Railroad was 
built in Boston in 1834 and named Boston. Solomon W. 
Roberts says that ''it was a light engine, with one pair 
of driving wheels, which were made of wood, with iron 
hubs and tires." The fuel used was wood. On the Co- 
lumbia Railroad two locomotives, built in Philadelphia by 
Matthew W. Baldwin in 1834, were in use in that year, 
when the road was opened. The Pittsburgh Gazette for 
Monday, November 25, 1833, referring to the completion 
of the Portage Railroad, contains the following reference 
to the first railroad car that was used on that road : '^ We 
are informed that a railroad car, made after the most ap- 
proved models and the designs of the chief engineer, has 
been constructed in this city, and that it was forwarded, 
on Saturday evening, by the canal line, to Johnstown, 



144 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

where it will arrive this evening. It is supposed that this 
is the first railroad car ever constructed west of the Alle- 
gheny mountain." The first car passed over the Portage 
Railroad; from Johnstown to Hollidaysburg, on Tuesday, 
November 26, 1833. This was probably the car above re- 
ferred to. Presumably it was a passenger car. 

In 1852 the Commonwealth commenced the construc- 
tion of a new Portage Railroad, to avoid the inclined 
planes, parts of the old road to be utilized and a tunnel 
at the summit of the AUeghenies to be built. Soon after 
this work was completed the main line of the canal was 
sold to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in 1857. Sto- 
rey says that the New Portage was finished in the fall of 
1855 and was operated only in 1856 and to August, 1857. 

The Portage Railroad over the Alleghenies was regard- 
ed at the time of its completion and long afterwards as 
an engineering wonder and justly so. No engineering un- 
dertaking anywhere up to that time had been more diffi- 
cult and none had been more successfully accompUshed. 
Other difficult feats of engineering skill characterized the 
work of building the Pennsylvania Canal and its railroad 
connections, but the difficulties overcome in building the 
Portage Railroad surpassed them all. As already stated, 
there were ten inclined planes on this railroad, five on 
the eastern slope of the Alleghenies and five on the west- 
ern slope. The first railroad tunnel that was built in the 
United States formed a part of the Portage Railroad. 
Solomon W. Roberts, one of the engineers who located the 
road, has left this record of the tunnel in an address which 
he read before the Historical Society of Pennsylvania on 
April 8, 1878. He said : "At the staple bend of the Cone- 
maugh, four miles from Johnstown, a tunnel was made 
through a spur of the Allegheny, near which the stream 
makes a bend of two miles and a half. The length of the 
tunnel was 901 feet, and it was 20 feet wide and 19 feet 
high within the arch, 150 feet at each end being arched 
with cut stone. Its cost was about $37,500. This was the 
first railroad tunnel in the United States. Inclined plane 
No. 1, being the plane nearest to Johnstown, was located 
at the western end of the tunnel." 



THE BUILDING OF THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL. 145 

Mr. Roberts says: ''In 1838 there was published in 
London a book called A Sketch of the Civil Engineering of 
North America, by David Stevenson, a civil engineer. The 
author was a son of the distinguished engineer of the 
Bell Rock lighthouse. In his sixth chapter, when speak- 
ing of the Portage Railroad, he says that 'America now 
numbers among its many wonderful artificial lines of com- 
munication a mountain railway, which, in boldness of de- 
sign and difficulty of execution, I can compare to no mod- 
ern work I have ever seen, excepting perhaps the passes 
of the Simplon, and Mont Cenis in Sardinia; but even 
these remarkable passes, viewed as engineeriug works, did 
not strike me as being more wonderful than the Alleghe- 
ny Railway in the United States.' " Mr. Roberts also says 
that "Michel Chevalier, the distinguished French engineer 
and political economist, visited the railroad and gave a 
description of it in his book on the public works of the 
United States which was published in Paris in 1840." 

As already stated, the main line of the Pennsylvania 
Canal with its connecting railroads was opened for busi- 
ness throughout its entire length in the spring of 1834, the 
branches being opened at later dates. Important and val- 
uable as these improvements were, in the aid they gave 
to the development of the material resources of Pennsyl- 
vania and in bringing into closer relations the whole peo- 
ple of the Commonwealth, it is painful to record the fact 
that the operation of the main line and its more important 
branches virtually came to an end within thirty years 
after it began. This ever to be regretted termination of 
a great and useful enterprise was due primarily to the in- 
efficient and sometimes corrupt management of the entire 
system and next to the competition of the Pennsylvania 
Railroad, the building of which was authorized by an act 
of the Legislature dated April 13, 1846, and which was 
completed to Pittsburgh on December 10, 1852. On Au- 
gust 1, 1857, the State sold the whole of the main line to 
the Pennsylvania Railroad Company for $7,500,000, which 
soon abandoned the greater part of the canal. 

In his History of Cambria County Storey says that 
Ephraim Stitt, of Blairsville, was probably the last cap- 

10 



146 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

tain to bring through freight from Pittsburgh to Johns- 
town. He brought a cargo consigned to the Cambria Iron 
Company in 1859. About December 1, 1860, the Motion- 
gahela, of which George Rutledge was captain, brought a 
cargo of salt and grain from Liver more to Johnstown, 
and this was probably the last boat to bring a load of 
merchandise to the latter place. There were no lock-ten- 
ders at this time. On May 1, 1863, says Mr. Storey, the 
Pennsylvania Railroad Company abandoned the canal 
between Johnstown and Blairsville. 

Horses and mules constituted the oixly power that was 
used in moving the boats on the Pennsylvania Canal. An 
experiment in the use of steam power was made on the 
western division from Pittsburgh to Johnstown with un- 
satisfactory results. A few years ago we received the 
following circumstantial account of this experiment from 
the Honorable Cyrus L. Pershing, who was in early life a 
resident of Johnstown. ''A steamboat once made a round 
trip from Pittsburgh to Johnstown. This steamboat had 
been used as a ferry-boat, propelled by horse power, on 
the Monongahela river at Pittsburgh. The machinery was 
taken from a mill or manufacturing estabUshment, (not 
heavy, of course,) in Pittsburgh. The boat stopped at 
towns along the route, was tied up at night, and in the 
daytime was compelled to make very slow progress to 
avoid washing away the banks of the canal. Two weeks 
were consumed in reaching Johnstown, where, for some 
days, the boat lay in the sUp on the upper side of the old 
brick warehouse. Captain Carpthers was the commander. 
He was afterwards a member of a wholesale grocery firm 
on Liberty street, Pittsburgh. This experiment settled in 
the negative the practicability of using steam on the Penn- 
sylvania Canal." Judge Pershing thought that the event 
he minutely describes occurred in all probability in 1834. 
This date is confirmed by Storey, who says that an ac- 
count of the experiment appeared in the Ebensburg Sky 
in 1834. The judge says that the boat was named Adaline. 

Reference has already been made to the first railroad 
tunnel that was built in the United States, four miles from 
Johnstown, forming part of the Portage Railroad. On the 



THE BUILDING OF THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL. 147 

western division of the Pennsylvania Canal, at a place then 
and now called Tunnelton, in Indiana county, about half 
way between Johnstown and Rttsburgh, a tunnel was 
built between 1827 and 1829 through one of the foothills 
of the Alleghenies. This tunnel connected with an aqueduct 
over the Conemaugh river, at that point a stream of con- 
siderable width, and the whole effect of the united tunnel 
and aqueduct was most impressive. Drinker, in his great 
work on Tunneling, says that the first canal tunnel in the 
United States was built at Auburn, in Schuylkill county, 
Pennsylvania, h^ the Schuylkill Navigation Company, be- 
tween 1818 and 1821, and that the second canal tunnel 
in the United States was built near Lebanon, in Leba- 
non county, Pennsylvania, between 1824 and 1826, by the 
Union Canal Company. The tunnel at Tunnelton, above 
mentioned, was the third canal tunnel that was built in 
the United States. A tunnel through Grant's Hill at 
Pittsburgh, completed between 1827 and 1830, and form- 
ing part of the Pennsylvania Canal, was the fourth. It 
appears, therefore, that the first railroad tunnel and the 
first four canal tunnels in the United States were built 
in Pennsylvania. 

In addition to the Pennsylvania Canal, including its 
branches and other connections, other canals were built in 
Pennsylvania in the first half of the nineteenth century, 
some of which have been mentioned. Of others not here- 
tofore described the most important is the canal of the 
Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, completed in 1829 
and extending from Mauch Chunk to Easton. Gordon 
says of this enterprise : " The Legislature, early aware of 
the importance of the navigation of the Lehigh, passed 
an act for its improvement in 1771, and others in 1791, 
1794, 1798, 1810, 1814, and 1816." But no work of con- 
sequence was done under any of these acts until 1818, 
in August of which year the Lehigh Navigation Com- 
pany commenced the improvement of the Lehigh river. 
In 1820 the Lehigh Navigation Company and the Lehigh 
Coal Company were consolidated as the Lehigh Coal and 
Navigation Company, and in this year Lehigh coal was 
sent to Philadelphia by means of the improvement that 



148 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

had been made in the navigation of the Lehigh river, but 
the canal was not completed until 1829, as stated above. 

The sale of the main line of the Pennsylvania Canal 
to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in 1857 was soon 
followed by the abandonment of nearly all the main 
line, as has already been mentioned, and by the abandon- 
ment or sale of such parts of the entire Pennsylvania 
Canal system as had not been previously abandoned or 
sold. In 1858 the Susquehanna, West Branch, and North 
Branch divisions were sold to the Sunbury and Erie Rail- 
road Company, which soon sold them to other companies, 
the net result being that in a short time large parts of 
these divisions were abandoned. In 1858 the Delaware 
division was also sold to the Sunbury and Erie Railroad 
Company, which sold it in the same year to the Dela- 
ware Division Canal Company. On August 1, 1843, the 
Erie Extension had been sold to the Erie Canal Com- 
pany, and on January 1, 1845, the Beaver division had 
been sold to the same company. In 1870 and 1871 this 
company ceased to operate both divisions, and in 1871 
the whole canal from Beaver to Erie was abandoned. 
The Union Canal was abandoned in 1884. The Bald Eagle 
Canal was abandoned in 1885. 

We need not further note in detail the decline of 
canal navigation in Pennsylvania. Only about one-third 
as many miles of canal are now actively or nominally in 
operation as were in active operation before the comple- 
tion of the Pennsylvania Railroad from Philadelphia to 
Pittsburgh in 1852. In 1840 there were about 1,000 miles 
of canal in Pennsylvania. In 1900 it was officially stated 
that there were then only four canals in operation in this 
State — the Delaware Division Canal, 60 miles long, extend- 
ing from Bristol to Easton ; the canal of the Lehigh Coal 
and Navigation Company, 48 miles long, extending from 
Coalport, near Mauch Chunk, to Easton ; the canal of the 
Pennsylvania Canal Company, 144 miles long, extending 
from Nanticoke to Columbia ; and the canal of the Schuyl- 
kill Navigation Company, 89.88 miles long, extending from 
Port Clinton to Philadelphia. The total mileage was 341.88 
miles, but the larger part was only nominally operated. 



THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL IN OPERATION. 149 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL IN OPERATION. 

The system of internal improvements, known as the 
main line of the Pennsylvania Canal, which connected the 
Delaware river with the Ohio river and Philadelphia with 
Pittsburgh, and which has been described in the preceding 
chapter, was undertaken in 1826 by the Commonwealth of 
Pennsylvania and completed in 1834. As already stated, 
it was opened for freight and passenger traffic through- 
out its entire length early in the latter year, long before 
the Pennsylvania Railroad was projected or more than 
dreamed of. This main Une embraced a railroad from 
Philadelphia to Columbia, 81 miles, a canal from Colum- 
bia to Hollidaysburg, 179 miles, a railroad from Hollidays- 
burg to Johnstown, 36.44 miles, and a canal from Johns- 
town to Pittsburgh, 104 miles, making a total length of 
400.44 miles from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. Upon the 
completion of important divisions of the main Une, and 
particularly after the completion of the whole Une, many 
transportation companies for the conveyance of freight 
and passengers were organized, with principal offices and 
warehouses at Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and branch 
offices and other warehouses at Columbia, HolUdaysburg, 
and Johnstown. 

Through the courtesy of Frank L. NeaU, of Philadel- 
phia, a gentleman of antiquarian tastes, we have had an 
opportunity to examine several hundred bills of lading, 
freight receipts, etc., issued by the transportation compa- 
nies and forwarding merchants that were engaged in busi- 
ness on the main Une of the canal between 1836 and 
1850. These papers were written with quill pens in ink 
that invariably holds its color well, and they are usually 
embelUshed with wood cuts which represent in a crude 
way the boats and cars and locomotives of that period. 
The printing business was not then one of the fine arts, as 
it is to-day. Cars and locomotives are at first represented 



160 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

with only four wheels, but in later years locomotives are 
shown with six wheels. Valuable information is contained 
in these papers concerning the character of the freight 
that was shipped in those days, the rates of freight, and 
the time that was required to carry it from one point to 
another ; also giving the names of the transportation com- 
panies and their faciUties for hauUng freight. 

First, of the transportation companies. We quote from 
these old documents the names of the following companies 
which had offices and warehouses in both Philadelphia 
and Pittsburgh, with the year or years in which they are 
first mentioned ; also in some instances the names of their 
Philadelphia and Pittsburgh agents. The spelling we give 
is exactly as we find it. In some instances, as will be ob- 
served, the same company is described by more than one 
title. 1836 — ReUance Transportation Company ; 1837 — 
Western Transportation Company, D. Leech & Co.'s Line ; 
1838 — the same company. Leech & Co.'s Line ; 1837 — Un- 
ion Transportation Company, Rail Road Line ; 1837 — John 
Dougherty, Agent for ReUance Transportation Line; 1839 
— John Dougherty, Agt., ReUance Transportation Com- 
pany's Line of Portable Iron Boats ; 1837 — The Despatch 
Transportation Line ; 1837 — The Despatch Transportation 
Company, John White & Co.; 1838 — James O'Connor & 
Co.'s Portable Car Body Line, to Pittsburgh; also Pitts- 
burg Transportation Line, Rail Road Line of Portable Car 
Bodies, James O'Connor & Co. ; 1840 — James M. Davis & 
Co., ReUance Portable Boat Line ; 1841 — Mechanics In- 
dependent Line ; 1846 — Binghams' Line, and Binghams' 
Transportation Line ; proprietors, WilUam Bingham, Thom- 
as Bingham, Jacob Dock, and W. A. Stratton ; 1846 — 
Craig, Bellas & Co., Citizens' Portable Boat Line; 1840, 
1846, and 1849 — ReUance Portable Boat Line, James M. 
Davis & Co., Philadelphia, and John McFaden & Co., 
Pittsburgh ; 1841 — The Pennsylvania and Ohio Transpor- 
tation Rail Road Line, James Steel & Co.; 1849 — Penn- 
sylvania and Ohio Transportation Line to Pittsburgh, via 
Rail Roads and Canal, and Pennsylvania and Ohio Trans- 
portation Co. ; 1846 and 1850 — Union Transportation Rail 
Road Line for Pittsburg. 



THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL IN OPERATION. 151 

In addition to the above details gleaned from Mr. 
Neall's papers we add that Leech's Line, Binghams' Line, 
the Pennsylvania and Ohio Line, and the Union Line were 
the leading transportation companies on the main line of 
the Pennsylvania Canal throughout its whole history. The 
Pittsburgh agents of the Pennsylvania and Ohio Line 
were Clark & Thaw — Thomas Clark and William Thaw; 
of Leech's Line, George Black ; of the Union Line, Henry 
Graff ; and of Binghams' Line, William Bingham. These 
and other lines, which strictly speaking were freight car- 
riers, also carried passengers, chiefly immigrants going to 
the Great West. Other companies, called "packet lines," 
were exclusively devoted to the carrying of passengers. 

The freight that was shipped from Philadelphia to 
Pittsburgh over the Pennsylvania Canal, as described in 
these old papers of Mr. Neall, was largely composed of 
queensware, earthenware, hardware, glassware, and dry 
goods. There can be no doubt that most of these articles 
were imported. We note one shipment of axes. Other 
articles shipped will be mentioned in another paragraph. 
The mention of crates and casks of queensware is of fre- 
quent occurrence, crates predominating. When emptied 
of their contents these foreign-made crates were often 
used in those days in winter by farmers and others as 
improvised sleigh bodies, placed on sled runners that may 
have been used for hauling wood, and sometimes placed 
on light runners called '' Yankee jumpers." 

In 1837 D. Leech & Co. promised to deliver packages 
of merchandise from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh "in fif- 
teen days, Sundays excepted." In 1838 James O'Connor 
& Co.'s Portable Car Body Line advertised what would be 
called in our day a fast freight service in boats carrying 
fifteen tons, through to Pittsburgh in five days, but its 
boats carrying thirty tons would require eight days. In 
1839 a freight receipt issued by John Dougherty stipulated 
that the merchandise receipted for was to be deUvered at 
Pittsburgh "within twelve days, Sundays and unavoida- 
ble delays excepted," but in 1846 James M. Davis & Co. 
agreed to deliver freight at Pittsburgh in eight days, with 
the same reservations, and in 1849 D. Leech & Co. had no 



152 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

better schedule to offer, while in the same year the Penn- 
sylvania and Ohio Line retained the twelve days' provis- 
ion in its freight receipts. In 1850 James M. Davis & Co. 
increased their time to Pittsburgh to ten days. In 1846 
Binghams' Line promised to deliver at Philadelphia freight 
shipped at Pittsburgh ''within fifteen days, Sundays ex- 
cepted." Eight days was about the shortest time that 
would ordinarily be required to deliver freight between 
Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. It is not probable that 
James O'Connor & Co. ever carried freight from Philadel- 
phia to Pittsburgh in five days. They may have done 
this in six days. The name of this company was changed 
in the forties to Taafe & O'Connor. 

The rates of freight on the Pennsylvania Canal from 
Philadelphia to Pittsburgh were much higher in the early 
years of the canal's existence than were afterwards charg- 
ed, and yet all these rates were very high as compared 
with the railroad rates with which the present business 
world is familiar. In 1837 the through rate on dry goods, 
drugs, queensware in crates, leather, hides, shoes, wool, 
fruits, etc., was $2.35 per 100 pounds ; on hardware, dye- 
stuffs, paints, etc., it was $2.10 ; on hats, bonnets, etc., 
$3.60; on coffee and groceries, $1.85; on furniture, $3.60; 
on carriages, $4.10; on fish, $1.20; and on queensware 
in casks, $2.85. In 1839 there were some slight reduc- 
tions in the rates, dry goods, etc., paying $2.25 per 100 
pounds ; groceries, tin in boxes, etc., $1.65 ; hardware, 
queensware, etc., $2 ; and carriages, $3.75. Herring paid 
$2.25 per barrel and mackerel $2.50. A few rates were 
advanced in this year. In 1849 the rates had been much 
reduced below those of 1839, dry goods, bonnets, shoes, 
hats, etc., being charged only 90 cents per 100 pounds; 
muslins in bales and burlaps, 80 cents ; queensware and 
codfish, 60 cents ; tin and copper in sheets, 60 cents ; cof- 
fee, 50 cents ; groceries, sheet iron, hoop iron and nails, 
hardware, machinery, etc., 70 cents ; mackerel, shad, and 
pickled herring per barrel, $1.25, and dry herring, $1.12 J. 
These rates probably ruled for several years after 1849. 
In 1846 the rate on glassware from Pittsburgh to Philadel- 
phia by Binghams' Line was 83 cents per 100 pounds. 



THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL IN OPERATION. 153 

% 

The wood cuts which are prominent features of the 
old papers we have referred to, and which were intended 
to iUustrate the methods of transportation employed by 
the various companies mentioned, tell a story of their own 
that is very interesting. Not only are the primitive loco- 
motives and freight cars illustrated with a fair degree of 
accuracy, but, of greater interest, the extraordinary means 
that were then employed to carry freight between Phila- 
delphia and Pittsburgh are fully shown. As has already 
been stated, the main line of the Pennsylvania Canal in- 
cluded two railroads, which aggregated in length over one- 
fourth of the entire Une. Most of the transportation com- 
panies used both cars and boats, necessitating the hand- 
ling of all freight when transferred from cars to boats or 
from boats to cars. From Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, or 
vice versa, this trans-shipment occurred three times, at Co- 
lumbia, Hollidaysburg, and Johnstown. But there were 
two transportation methods employed in carrying freight 
from one end of the main line to the other end without 
breaking bulk at any point. 

The boats used by James O'Connor & Co. were hulls 
only, except that there was a cabin at the stern of each 
boat, the hulls being built of dimensions adapted to the 
reception of a fixed number of cars, or car bodies, which 
could be transferred from their trucks by windlasses that 
would Uft them into the boats. In the same way the cars 
could be lifted out of the boats and placed upon trucks. 
The car-boats, as these boats were called, were abandoned 
before 1850. The other method referred to dispensed with 
cars entirely and embraced portable boats, divided into 
either three or four sections, each with the necessary bulk- 
heads, and each being but little longer than an ordinary 
freight car of that day and of practically the same width. 
When in the water these sections would be united by ap- 
propriate side fastenings, making a complete boat, the bow 
and stern sections being rounded as in other boats. When 
taken from the water they were detached and deftly mov- 
ed over trucks which had been run into the water upon 
a slightly inclined railroad track that was connected with 
the railroad over which the boat was to pass, a stationary 



154 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

engine pulling out the sections. When the boat would 
come to the end of its railroad journey it would be run 
into the water on its trucks and put together as we have 
described. The trucks were curved to fit the rounded bot- 
toms of the boats. Several companies used these portable 
boats, which were continued in use long after 1850. 

Reference has been made to the packet boats on the 
Pennsylvania Canal which were used exclusively for car- 
rying passengers. In his American Notes Charles Dickens 
describes his experience in 1842 on one of these packets, 
which was not always satisfactory, but he gives us these 
pleasing pictures of the scenery along the line of the 
canal : " The exquisite beauty of the opening day, when 
light came gleaming off from everything ; the lazy mo- 
tion of the boat, when one lay idly on the deck, looking 
through, rather than at, the deep blue sky ; the gliding 
on at night, so noiselessly, past frowning hills, sullen with 
dark trees, and sometimes angry in one red burning spot 
high up where unseen men lay crouching round a fire; 
the shining out of the bright stars, undisturbed by noise 
of wheels or steam or any sound than the liquid rippling 
of the water as the boat went on; all these were pure 
delights. . . . Sometimes, at night, the way wound 
through some lonely gorge, like a mountain pass in Scot- 
land, shining and coldly glittering in the light of the moon, 
and so closed in by high steep hills all round that there 
seemed' to be no egress save through the narrower path 
by which we had come, until one rugged hillside seemed 
to open, and, shutting out the moonlight as we passed 
into its gloomy throat, wrapped our new course in shade 
and darkness." A Pennsylvania historian once wrote as 
follows of the scenery along the canal in its palmy days: 
'' The entire region through which the canal passed was 
one of enchantment. The beautiful rivers, then uncontami- 
nated by the refuse of large towns, the wooded hillsides, 
then almost untouched by the axe of the lumberman, 
the smiling villages, at long distances apart, must have 
brought to the traveler, as he passed by them, one long 
happy dream of contentment." 

Packet boats on the western division of the canal. 



THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL IN OPERATION. 155 

from Johnstown to Pittsburgh, quit running between 
these places in August, 1851, but made regular trips from 
Lockport to Pittsburgh in 1852. 

Among the old papers referred to we find two receipts 
issued by the '' Pennsylvania Rail Road Co., Craig & Bel- 
las, Agents, Broad Street, Philadelphia," dated respect- 
ively October 12, 1850, and November 6, 1850, the first 
for goods shipped to Newport, Pennsylvania, and the 
other for goods shipped to Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. The 
Pennsylvania Railroad Company was chartered in 1846 
to build a railroad from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh, railroad 
connections already existing between Philadelphia and 
Harrisburg, but work on the construction of the road did 
not begin until 1847, and it was not until 1850 that the 
road was completed to Duncansville, so that the two 
receipts above referred to were among the earliest issued 
in the name of the company. In 1857 the main Une was 
purchased by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and in 
a few years such portions of the line as were not ab- 
sorbed by the Pennsylvania Railroad as part of its road- 
bed were either neglected or actually abandoned. The 
division of the canal from Johnstown to Pittsburgh was 
abandoned in 1864, and the larger part of the divisions 
from Columbia to Hollidaysburg in more recent years, 
although little used throughout their entire length for 
many preceding years. To-day the sites of large sections 
of the canal proper and of its basins, feeders, wharves, 
aqueducts, and bridges, and also of the connecting rail- 
roads, are hard to find even by old men who remember 
all of them, while the present generation scarcely realizes 
that there ever was a Pennsylvania Canal. 




••I 




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156 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

EARLY RAILROADS IN THE UNITED STATES. 

Short railways for hauling coal, but of primitive con- 
struction and operated by hand power or horse power, 
were in use in England as early as the middle of the sev- 
enteenth century. The first raih-oad in the world for the 
transportation of both freight and passengers, the Stock- 
ton and Darlington Railway, in England, was opened to 
the public in 1825, this event occurring on September 27. 
It was primarily intended to carry only freight, nor was 
the use of locomotives in moving trains on this road at 
first contemplated. Authority to use/' locomotive engines " 
was granted by Parliament in 1823. This road was form- 
ally opened with one of Stephenson's locomotives, and 
in one month afterwards passengers were regularly car- 
ried in a single coach. Horse power was, however, gen- 
erally employed for several years, and during this period 
few passengers were carried. This road had four inclined 
planes, with stationary engines. It was not until the Liver- 
pool and Manchester Railway, also in England, was opened 
to the public on September 15, 1830, that the carrjdng of 
passengers by rail and the use of steam power in moving 
trains became recognized features of railroad practice. 
Stephenson's Rocket was successfully tested on this road 
in October, 1829. 

In Railway Problems, written by J. S. Jeans and pub- 
lished in London in 1887, these facts are stated : " Many 
towns petitioned against having railways brought near 
them and demanded that railways and canals alike should 
be kept several miles from their borders. The vested in- 
terests of stage-coach proprietors and carriers offered a 
strenuous opposition to the new system. The medical fac- 
ulty were pressed into the service of the opposition, with 
direful forebodings as to the physical evils that would fol- 
low from traveling at the rate of thirty to forty miles an 
hour. Canal proprietors urged that they had already pro- 



EARLY RAILROADS IN THE UNITED STATES. 157 

vided all the facilities necessary for heavy traffic, and that 
it would be grossly unjust to them to allow a rival interest 
to step in and deprive them of the fruits of their efforts 
and expenditure. In some cases railway companies were 
forbidden to use 'any locomotive or movable engines' 
without the consent of the owners and occupiers of lands 
through which their line passed. Many wiseacres pro- 
nounced that the system would, after all, prove a failure, 
and the Quarterly Review of March, 1825, remarked oracu- 
larly that 'as to those persons who speculate on making 
railways general throughout the kingdom, and superseding 
all the canals, all the wagons, mail and stage coaches, post- 
chaises, and, in short, every other mode of conveyance by 
land and by water, we deem them, and their visionary 
schemes, unworthy of notice.'" 

In a speech in the House of Commons in opposition to 
the granting of a charter to the Liverpool and Manches- 
ter Railway Company Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin said : " I 
would not consent to see the widow's premises and straw- 
berry beds invaded. Railroad trains would take many 
hours to perform the journey between Liverpool and Man- 
chester, and in the event the scheme succeeds what, I 
would like to ask, what was to be done for all those who 
had advanced money in making and repairing turnpike 
roads ? What with those who still wished to travel in 
their own or hired carriages, after the fashion of their fore- 
fathers? What was to become of the coachmakers, har- 
nessmakers, coachmasters and coachmen, innkeepers, horse 
breeders, and horse dealers ? Was the House aware of the 
smoke and the noise, the hiss and whirl, which locomotive 
engines, passing at the rate of ten or twelve miles an hour, 
would occasion ? Neither the cattle plowing in the fields, 
nor grazing in the meadows, would view them without dis- 
may. Iron would be raised in price one hundred per cent., 
or more probably exhausted altogether. It would be the 
greatest nuisance, the most complete disturber of quiet 
and comfort in all parts of the kingdom, that the inge- 
nuity of man could invent." 

Between 1825 and 1830 the policy of introducing rail- 
roads in the United States for the transportation of both 



158 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

freight and passengers received a great deal of attention. 
It was decided to give them a trial. A few short lines of 
railroad for hauling stone and other heavy products had 
previously been built in this country. None of them were 
intended to carry passengers. One of these was built on 
Beacon Hill, Boston, by Silas Whitney, in 1807; another 
by Thomas Leiper, in Delaware county, Pennsylvania, in 
1809 ; and another at Bear Creek furnace, in Armstrong 
county, Pennsylvania, in 1818. The tracks of these roads 
were composed of wooden rails, and at least the Beacon 
Hill road used wooden wheels with iron axles. Other short 
railroads for similar service soon followed, but the wooden 
rails were strapped with flat iron bars. In 1828 the con- 
struction of our first passenger railroad, the Baltimore and 
Ohio Railroad, was commenced, and in 1830 fifteen miles 
of this road were opened for both freight and passenger 
traffic, horse power being used. Other railroads in this 
country for the transportation of both freight and pas- 
sengers were partly if not wholly completed in 1830 and 
1831. Locomotives of American construction were intro- 
duced on American railroads in these and immediately 
succeeding years, but most of the early railroads in this 
country were originally operated with horse power. 

During the early discussion of the feasibility of intro- 
ducing railroads in this country for general transportation 
purposes many curious opinions of a favorable as well as 
an unfavorable character were expressed, some of which 
may well be preserved. One writer in referring to that 
period says : " It was admitted that for novelty and speed 
a railroad might be preferable to stage coaches and canal 
boats, but it was contended that for a long journey or for 
a man traveling with a family a canal was better. It was 
pointed out that on a canal boat passengers could eat their 
meals, walk about and write a letter, whereas in a railway 
carriage these things were then impossible. In a canal 
boat, too, the passengers were as safe as at home, whereas 
in a railway car nobody could tell what might happen." 

In their annual report to the Legislature of Pennsyl- 
vania in December, 1831, the canal commissioners said : 
"While the board avow themselves favorable to railroads 



EARLY RAILROADS IN THE UNITED STATES. 159 

where it is impracticable to construct canals, or under 
some peculiar circumstances; they can not forbear ex- 
pressing their bpinion that the advocates of railroads gen- 
erally have overrated their comparative value. The board 
believe that, notwithstanding all the improvements that 
have been made in railroads and locomotives^ it will be 
found that canals are from two to two and a half times 
better than raihoads for the purposes required of them 
by Pennsylvania." 

In July, 1855, while we were pubUshing the Johnstown 
Tribune, there was placed in our hands a copy of the 
Greensburg Gazette, dated March 25, 1825. Mr. Frederick 
J. Cope, a gentleman of more than ordinary intelligence, 
was then the editor and publisher of the Gazette. In the 
copy of the Gazette referred to Mr. Cope gave prominence 
to a discussion of the new method of transporting all kinds 
of freight and also passengers by railroad, with steam pow- 
er applied through stationary engines or by locomotives. 
First there is presented a wood-cut illustration of "a sec- 
tion of a railroad, with a view of a locomotive, having in 
tow three transportation wagons," copied from a com- 
munication in the Baltimore American, together with an 
explanation of the method of operating the road with the 
aid of the locomotive. The following is the explanation 
in the American. We quote it exactly as it was printed. 

"Believing that a diagram of a railway, together with 
the steam and other wagons upon it, would tend to render 
the subject more easily understood I have caused one to 
be engraved. It will be observed, in referring to this dia- 
gram inserted above, that the steam engine has six wheels, 
four of which, the two foremost and two hindmost, have 
grooves to fit the rail like those of the wagons intended to 
carry merchandise and rest upon the smooth rail, and that 
the two middle, which are cog wheels, play into the cogs 
of the rail, which are somewhat nearer to the surface of 
the earth than the smooth edge. The four wheels which 
run upon the smooth surface support the whole weight of 
the steam engine. Of course the middle or cog wheels are 
not pressed upon, and being put into motion by the ma- 
chinery of the engine serve to propel the wagons in the 



160 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA.. 

same manner as the wheels of the steam boats act. By 
the loco-motive engine fifty tons of goods may be conveyed 
by a ten-horse-power engine, on a level road, at the rate 
of six miles an hour, and lighter weights at a proportioned 
increase of speed. Carriages at the rate of twelve or four- 
teen miles per hour. For canals it is necessary to have a 
dead level, but not so for railroads ; an engine will work 
goods over an elevation of one-eighth of an inch to the yard. 
Where the ascent or descent is rapid, and can not be coun- 
teracted by cutting or embankments, recourse must be 
had to permanent engines and inclined planes, just as re- 
course is had to locks for canals, but here again the rail- 
road system has the advantage; the inclined plane cat^es 
no delay f while locking creates a great deal,^' 

That such crude engineering and mechanical notions 
should have existed in 1825 is only another proof of the 
truth of the hackneyed remark that far more scientific and 
mechanical progress was made in the nineteenth century 
than in all preceding centuries. In a few years after 1825 
all the theories and estimates of the writer in the Balti- 
more American were completely discredited. 

Notwithstanding the favorable opinion of the writer in 
the American the editor of the Gazette was skeptical. He 
commented on the cut and the explanation as follows: 
"We have prepared and placed on the first page of our 
paper an engraving representing a loco-motive engine, hav- 
ing in tow three transportation wagons, accompanied by 
an explanation from another paper. It would be impos- 
sible, we think, to bring the steam wagon into successful 
operation between the East and the West. It requires too 
many stationary engines to propel the wagons over our 
numerous hills. It would be necessary to have half a 
dozen in sight of this town, for we are situated on a hill 
and surrounded by them on all sides.'' 

It is only a little more than eighty years since these 
remarkable opinions were expressed by the editor of the 
Gazette. The "steam wagon" has done very good work 
between the East and the West for more than sixty years 
and without the assistance of stationary engines anywhere 
near Greensburg. The "numerous hills" of Westmoreland 



EARLY RAILROADS IN THE UNITED STATES. 161 

county, referred to by the editor of the Gazette, did not 
offer as serious obstacles to the building of a railroad as 
real mountains in our country did elsewhere, but all these 
obstacles were soon overcome. If stationary engines were 
at first used on some Unes of railroad in this country, 
particularly on the Allegheny Portage Railroad, they were 
abandoned many years ago. 

The following details of the first American railroad 
that was built for the conveyance of both freight and 
passengers we glean from Poor^s Manual of the Railroads 
of the United States and from the records of the Baltimore 
and Ohio Railroad Company. Prior to the completion of 
the first section of the road of this company all the rail- 
roads in the United States that had been in operation 
were built to haul coal or other heavy materials. 

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company was char- 
tered by the Maryland Legislature on February 28, 1827, 
and by the Virginia Legislature on March 8, 1827. By 
the charter its capital stock was fixed at $5,000,000, with 
the right to organize on the subscription of one-fifth that 
amount. It was provided in the charter that the road was 
to be built from Baltimore to a point on the Ohio river 
not lower than the mouth of the Little Kanawha, where 
Parkersbuxg stands. Its terminus on the Ohio was sub- 
sequently fixed at WheeUng. As there existed a probabil- 
ity that the road would be extended to Pittsburgh the 
Pennsylvania Legislature "confirmed" the charter of the 
company on February 22, 1828. In April, 1827, the re- 
quired subscription having been obtained, the company 
was organized and the surveys of the road were at once 
undertaken. On the 4th of July, 1828, the line having 
been finally located to Point of Rocks, the construction of 
the road was commenced with considerable ceremony, the 
venerable Charles Carroll, of CarroUton, laying the "cor- 
ner stone." In 1829 the track was finished to Vinegar 
Hill, a distance of about seven miles, and "cars were put 
upon it for the accommodation of the officers and to grat- 
ify the curious by a ride.'' The progress of construction 
of the road from Baltimore to Wheeling is shown in the 

following statement, which has been officially verified. 

11 



162 



PBOGRESSIVB PENNSYLVANIA. 



From 


To 


Baltimore 


Ellioott's Mills 


EllicotVs Mills 

Frederick 


Frederick 

Point of Rocks 


Point of Bocks 

Harper's Ferry 

Opposite Hancock 

Comberland 


Harper's Ferry 

Opposite Hancock 

Cumberland 

Piedmont 


Piedmont 


Fairmont 


Fairmont 


Wheeling 



Length 
in miles. 



15.00 
44.30 
10.90 
12.50 
41.30 
55.20 
28.10 
96.00 
77.70 



Date of opening. 



May 24, 
Dec. 1, 
April 1, 
Dec. 1, 
June 1, 
Nov. 5, 
July 21, 
June 22, 
Jan. 1, 



1830 
1831 
1832 
1834 
1842 
1842 
1851 
1852 
1853 



Frederick is situated on a branch three and a half 
miles from the main line of the road, which accounts for 
an increase in the table in its total length from 377.40 
miles, as given in Poor^s Manual for 1904, to 381 miles. 
The Washington branch was opened from Relay to Bla- 
densburg on July 20, 1834, and to Washington on August 
25, 1834. It will be noticed that a quarter of a century 
elapsed before the road was opened from Baltimore to 
WheeUng in 1853. 

The first section of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 
after its opening to Ellicott's Mills was operated by horse 
power. On August 30, 1830, a small locomotive, built at 
Baltimore by Peter Cooper, was successfully experimented 
with on this section as a substitute for horse power, Mr. 
Cooper being his own engineer. Soon afterwards other 
and more powerful locomotives were introduced. 

The Pittsburgh and Cdnnellsville Railroad Company 
was chartered on April 2, 1837, by the Legislature of 
Pennsylvania. On April 18, 1853, the charter was amend- 
ed so as to authorize the extension of the road to Cumber- 
land, Maryland, to which place it was opened from Pitts- 
burgh in June, 1871. This road, now forming the Pitts- 
burgh division of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, was 
leased on December 13, 1875, to the Baltimore and Ohio 
Railroad Company for fifty years from January 1, 1876, 
the lease to be renewable in perpetuity. 

The section of the Pittsburgh and Connellsville Rail- 
road between Connellsville and West Newton was opened 
for traffic on September 13, 1855. The road between 
Connellsville and Turtle Creek was opened on January 14, 



EARLY RAILROADS IN THE UNITED STATES. 163 

1857, and the entire line from Connellsville to Pittsburgh 
was opened on October 10, 1861. 

In 1907 the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company 
owned, operated, or controlled 4,525.51 miles of main track. 

In 1826 the New York Legislature granted a charter 
for the construction of the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad, 
for the carriage of freight and passengers from Albany 
to Schenectady, a distance of seventeen miles. Work on 
this road, however, was not commenced until August, 1830. 
It was opened for traffic on September 12, 1831. The 
next passenger railroad enterprise that was chartered in 
the United States was the Charleston and Hamburg Rail- 
road in South Carolina, which was chartered on December 
19, 1827. Six miles of this road were completed in 1829, 
but they were not opened to the public until December 
6, 1830, when a locomotive was placed on its track. The 
road was completed in September, 1833, a distance of 135 
miles. At that time it was the longest continuous line of 
railroad in the world. 

It will be seen that the first passenger railroad in the 
United States that was opened to the public was a Mary- 
land enterprise and that the second was a South Carolina 
enterprise. The Mohawk and Hudson Railroad was the 
third passenger railroad to be opened for travel in the 
United States. 

The Camden and Amboy Railroad was chartered in 
1830 and construction was commenced in 1831. Its total 
length was sixty-one miles, thirty-four of which, between 
Bordentown and South Amboy, were opened for travel in 
December, 1832, and the remainder, between Bordentown 
and Camden, in 1834. The Allegheny Portage Railroad 
and the Columbia Railroad, both in Pennsylvania, which 
have been already noticed, were other early railroads in 
this country. They were opened in the spring of 1834. 

The first locomotive to run upon an American railroad 
was the Stourbridge Lion, which was built in England. 
It was first used at Honesdale, Pennsylvania, on August 
8, 1829, on the coal railroad of the Delaware and Hudson 
Canal Company. W. Hasell Wilson says that the locomo- 
tive John Bull, built by Stephenson & Co., of England, 



164 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

to the order of Robert L. Stevens, president of the Cam- 
den and Amboy Raikoad Company, was shipped from 
Newcastle in June, 1831, and placed upon the Camden 
and Amboy Railroad in August of the same year. Mr. 
Wilson further says that the first passenger train on 
this railroad that was regularly hauled by steam power 
was drawn by the John Bull between Bordentown and 
South Amboy in September, 1833, the time occupied for 
the thirty-four miles being about three hours. 

The first American locomotive that was built for. actual 
service was the Best Friend of Charleston^ which was built 
at the West Point Foundry, in New York City, for the 
Charleston and Hamburg Railroad in South Carolina, and 
was successfully used on that road in December, 1830. 

Phineas Davis, of York, Pennsylvania, invented and 
built the first locomotive that successfully used anthra- 
cite coal. In George R. ProwelFs History of York County 
he says that the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company 
offered on January 4, 1831, a prize of $3,500 to the in- 
ventor and manufacturer of a locomotive of American 
manufacture that would burn coal or coke and consume 
its own smoke, and that Mr. Davis built in 1832 at the 
York Foundry and Machine Shop, of which he was half 
owner, a locomotive which met all these requirements. 
He called it The York. It used anthracite coal and was 
a great success. Others followed in the same year. 




EARLY RAILROADS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 165 



CHAPTER XVII. 

EARLY RAILROADS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 

Pennsylvania is the foremost State in the Union in 
the attention it has given to the building of railroads, and 
all things considered it is also the foremost in the results 
that have been attained. It is exceeded in railroad mile- 
age by only two States, Illinois and Texas, but each of 
these States has a much greater area in square miles than 
Pennsylvania, each of them has fewer miles of double 
track than Pennsylvania, and in each of them, both prai- 
rie. States, railroad construction has been very much less 
difficult from an engineering standpoint, and therefore 
less expensive, than in Pennsylvania. The following table 
shows the length of steam railroads which had been built 
in the three States named at the close of 1907. It also 
shows the area in square miles of each of the States 
mentioned, exact figures having been furnished for this 
chapter by the Government geographer, Henry Gannett. 



states. 



Milefl of Railroad Built 



12,877.27 



Area in Square Miles. 



Texas 

Illinois 12,201.73 

Pennsylvania ! 11,309.31 i 46,128 



265,896 
56,665 



The States which approach nearest to Pennsylvania in 
railroad mileage are Iowa, with 9,889.12 miles; Ohio, with 
9,284.95 miles ; Kansas, with 8,907.98 miles ; Michigan, with 
8,610.75 miles; and New York, with 8,371.63 miles. With 
the exception of Ohio each of these States has a larger 
area in square miles than Pennsylvania, and all of them 
are less mountainous, only New York approaching it in 
this physical characteristic. Nor have gifts of public 
lands helped Pennsylvania to build its railroads. If we 
consider al^o the enterprise of Pennsylvania in extending 
its raih-oad connections to other States its pre-eminence 
as a railroad State becomes even more manifest. 



166 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

Pennsylvania is gridironed with railroads. A map of 
the State will show railroads radiating from its commer- 
cial centres in every direction — roads running east and 
west, north and south, northeast and northwest, southeast 
and southwest, penetrating every one of the sixty-seven 
counties in the State except Fulton county, which will 
soon have its first railroad. A volume would be required 
to give even a brief history of all these roads. Only a 
few facts relating to the early and the leading railroads 
of Pennsylvania will be presented in this chapter. 

In the preceding chapter mention has been made of 
two short pioneer railroads in Pennsylvania — one in Dela- 
ware county, built in 1809, and the other in Armstrong 
county, built in 1818, the first, about a mile long, to haul 
stone from a quarry, and the other, also a short road, to 
haul the raw materials for a blast furnace. These were 
unimportant enterprises. Both roads had wooden rails. 

The first railroad in Pennsylvania of real importance 
was the Mauch Chunk Railroad, in Carbon county, nine 
miles long, with four miles of sidings, built in 1827 to con- 
nect the coal mines of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation 
Company with the Lehigh river. Solomon W. Roberts 
says of this road : "It was laid mostly on the turnpike, 
and the wooden rails were strapped with common mer- 
chant bar iron. The holes for the spikes were drilled by 
hand.'' The next railroad in Pennsylvania was the Car- 
bondale and Honesdale Railroad, commenced in 1826 and 
completed in 1829, built by the Delaware and Hudson 
Canal Company to connect the company's coal mines at 
Carbondale with its canal at Honesdale. It was sixteen 
and a quarter miles long. Its wooden rails were strapped 
with iron bars. Both railroads were coal roads. Neither 
of these roads was intended to haul general freight or to 
carry passengers. 

In the decade beginning with 1830 a great impetus 
was given to the building of railroads in Pennsylvania. 
Several companies were incorporated in that year to build 
these roads, including the Philadelphia, Germajitown, and 
Norristown Railroad, of which five miles were completed 
in 1832. Other railroad companies were incorporated in 



EARLY RAILROADS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 167 

• 

1832 and 1833, including the Philadelphia and Reading 
Railroad Company, the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad 
Company, and the Harrisburg, Portsmouth, Mount Joy, 
and Lancaster Railroad Company. In 1834 the Columbia 
Railroad and the Allegheny Portage Railroad, both State 
enterprises connected with the Pennsylvania Canal, were 
opened for business. In 1836 the following roads, built 
by incorporated companies, had been completed : Mauch 
Chunk, 9 miles ; West Chester, 9 miles ; Room Run, 5i 
miles ; Philadelphia, Germantown, and Norristown, 21 
miles ; Mine Hill and Schuylkill Haven, 20 miles ; Mount 
Carbon, 7 miles ; Lykens Valley, 16^ miles ; Little Schuyl- 
kill, 21i miles ; SchuylkiU Valley, 10 miles ; Mill Creek, 4 
miles ; Pine Grove, 4 miles ; Carbondale, 16i miles ; Phila- 
delphia and Trenton, 26i miles ; Beaver Meadow, 26J 
miles : total, 196J miles. Other railroads were in course 
of construction in 1836, including the Philadelphia and 
Reading, the Philadelphia and Wilmington, the Harrisburg 
and Chambersburg, the Williamsport and Elmira, and the 
Harrisburg, Portsmouth, Mount Joy, and Lancaster. 

From a history of the Philadelphia and Reading Rail- 
road — now the Philadelphia and Reading Railway — by 
Charles E. Smith, once its president, we take the follow- 
ing interesting details of the early history of this road, 
which was the first of all the existing great railroad en- 
terprises in Pennsylvania. 

" The Philadelphia, and Reading Railroad Company 
was chartered on April 4, 1833, 'to build a road from the 
borough of Reading to a point in or near Philadelphia 
(58 miles), or on the line of the Philadelphia and Colum- 
bia Railroad (now the Pennsylvania Railroad), or of the 
Philadelphia and Norristown Railroad (41 miles).' The 
company was organized in 1834, Elihu Chauncey being 
elected president and Moncure Robinson appointed chief 
engineer. The board wished to build the road from Read- 
ing to Norristown, 41 miles, as the cheapest plan, and use 
the Norristown Railroad thence to Philadelphia, 17 miles. 
Mr. Robinson opposed this vigorously. . . . His idea 
was finally adopted, by building the road to Belmont and 
using the Columbia Railroad, then belonging to the State 



168 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

of Pennsylvania, for three and a half miles into Philadel- 
phia, for its passengers and general merchandise, while at 
the same time building a branch from the Falls of Schuyl- 
kill for five and a half miles to Port Richmond on the 
Delaware river, for coal intended for shipment coastwise. 

^' The original charter of the company gave the right 
to build a railroad only from Philadelphia to Reading, 
58 miles, while the total distance to Pottsville and the 
coal region is 93 miles. The Little Schuylkill Navigation, 
Railroad, and Coal Company was chartered in 1826 to 
build a canal or railroad from Tamaqua to the Schuylkill 
Canal at Port Clinton, a distance of 20 miles, and by a 
supplement to its charter, passed in 1829, it was authorized 
to extend its railroad to Reading, 20 miles farther. This 
privilege it agreed to relinquish to the Reading. This ar- 
rangement was subsequently authorized and approved by 
an act of the Legislature in 1837, thus extending the right 
of the Reading to build to Port Clinton, 78 miles from 
Philadelphia. In March, 1838, the company was author- 
ized to extend its road to Mount Carbon, 14 miles farther, 
making 92 miles from Philadelphia. The remaining mile 
needed to reach Pottsville was obtained by the merger 
and consolidation of the Mount Carbon Railroad Com- 
pany, April 10, 1872. 

''On January 13, 1842, the road was finished and a 
single track opened to Mount Carbon, one mile below 
Pottsville. On May 17, 1842, the. branch from the Falls 
of Schuylkill to the coal wharves at Port Richmond was 
opened and the coal traffic was begun in earnest.'' In 
1844 the second track of the road was laid. 

Mr. Smith continues : " In June, 1851, that portion of 
the road, some three and a half miles, lying between Bel- 
mont and Broad and Vine streets, Philadelphia, belong- 
ing to the State of Pennsylvania, and hitherto used by 
the Reading for its passenger and merchandise traffic, 
was purchased from the State, giving the company access 
to the city on its own rails. In 1858 the Lebanon Valley 
Railroad, from Reading to Harrisburg, fifty-four miles, 
was completed and merged with the Reading. In July, 
1869, Franklin B. Gowen was chosen president of the 



EARLY RAILROADS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 169 

Reading on the resignation of Charles E. Smith. The 
company then began to purchase coal lands and soon 
after to mine coal." 

The circumstances attending the purchase by the 
Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company in 1851 of 
that part of the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad ex- 
tending from Philadelphia to the inclined plane at Bel- 
mont are given in detail in an official report of the com- 
pany, as follows : " From the depot at Broad and Vine 
streets the road ran out Pennsylvania avenue and across 
the Columbia bridge, from the western end of which an 
inclined plane, with stationary engine, was used to over- 
come the ascent from the bank of the Schuylkill to the 
ridge of hills beyond. On October 15, 1850, the inclined 
plane was abandoned, and that portion of the road ex- 
tending from the foot of the plane to Broad street was 
purchased from the State by the Philadelphia and Read- 
ing Railroad Company. . . . Thus it was that the 
latter obtained its first entrance to Philadelphia proper, 
and the fact is adverted to here, showing how an impor- 
tant section of the old State Road became the property 
of the Reading Railroad, while the remainder of that his- 
toric line passed to the Pennsylvania Railroad by pur- 
chase seven years later." The price paid by the Philadel- 
phia and Reading Railroad Company for the property it 
purchased from the State was $243,200. The State aban- 
doned the use of the Belmont plane and its approach- 
es in 1850 because it had built a short line from West 
Philadelphia to a point on the Philadelphia and Colum- 
bia Railroad near the present town of Ardmore, which 
avoided the inclined plane. 

The official report of the engineers of the Philadel- 
phia and Reading Railroad Company, dated September 
19, 1838, states that the first part of the Reading Rail- 
road to be completed extended from Reading to Norris- 
town, and that it was opened for the conveyance of pas- 
sengers on July 16, 1838. The engineers' report, dated 
December 10, 1839, states that the railroad between Phila- 
delphia and Reading was opened for business on Decem- 
ber 5, 1839, and that on that date the company's engine. 



170 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

the Gowan & Marx, drew the first train between the 
points named, leaving Reading with 80 cars, conveying 
1,635 barrels of flour, 73 J tons of blooms, 6 tons of coal, 
" 2 hhds. of whisky and other articles,*' and 60 persons. 
The total weight of the train, exclusive of engine and ten- 
der, was 368 tons. 

The foregoing details sufficiently cover the history of 
the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad in its early days. 
To-day the Reading system is one of the most compre- 
hensive railroad systems in the country. Starting at Phil- 
adelphia it first reaches out for the anthracite coal trade 
and other trade of Northeastern Pennsylvania and then 
extends its lines into New Jersey, with New York City 
connections, and with connections to Buffalo and other 
points in the State of New York and west of Buffalo. 
In 1907 it owned or controlled 2,136.88 miles of main 
track. Among the important lines which it controls is the 
Central Railroad of New Jersey, which gives it New York 
City connections, and which embraces 648.44 miles of main 
track. It also owns other railroad lines in New Jersey. 

The Pennsylvania Railroad Company was chartered 
on April 13, 1846, to build a railroad from Harrisburg to 
Pittsburgh, with branches to Erie, Blairsville, Uniontown, 
and other places, and with a capital of $7,500,000. It is 
a coincidence that this company was chartered to build a 
railroad from Harrisburg westward and not from Phila- 
delphia, and that it was originally planned to build the 
Pennsylvania Canal westward from the vicinity of Har- 
risburg and not from Philadelphia, although both enter- 
prises were intended to connect Philadelphia with Pitts- 
burgh. As originally planned, however, these connections 
were to be made by means of transportation facilities 
already established — the Pennsylvania Canal to connect 
with the Union Canal and the improved navigation of the 
Schuylkill river and the Pennsylvania Railroad to connect 
with the Harrisburg, Portsmouth, Mount Joy, and Lan- 
caster Railroad and the Philadelphia and Columbia Rail- 
road. The construction of the Pennsylvania Railroad was 
commenced in July, 1847, so that the road is to-day only 
about sixty years old. The workmen employed in build- 



EARLY RAILROADS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 171 

ing the road were chiefly Irish, and their daily wages sel- 
dom exceeded seventy-five cents. 

On September 16, 1850, the Pennsylvania Railroad was 
completed from Harrisburg to Duncansville, a distance 
of 137 miles, at which latter place it connected with the 
Allegheny Portage Railroad, whose tracks were used in 
crossing the Allegheny mountains to a point a few miles 
east of Johnstown, from which point westward its own 
tracks were again used. The road was opened to Pitts- 
burgh on December 10, 1852, about five and a half years 
after its construction was undertaken. The mountain di- 
vision of the road, from Altoona to the Portage viaduct, 
including the celebrated horseshoe bend and the long tun- 
nel at Gallitzin, was completed on February 15, 1854, this 
division avoiding the use of inclined planes, although the 
grades were heavy. Like the Portage Railroad itself the 
building of this division of the Pennsylvania Railroad was 
a remarkable feat of engineering skill. 

On April 21, 1849, the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- 
pany leased the Harrisburg, Portsmouth, Mount Joy, and 
Lancaster Railroad, 34.49 miles long, for twenty years, and 
on December 29, 1860, this lease was continued for 999 
years. This road was one of the earliest railroads in Penn- 
sylvania. It was chartered on June 9, 1832, and was 
opened for business in 1838. With the lease of this road 
and the purchase in 1857 of the State railroads above 
mentioned and described in a previous chapter the Penn- 
sylvania Railroad Company obtained control of an un- 
broken line of railroad from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, 
now styled the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad. 

The Sunbury and Erie Railroad, 289.67 miles long, 
from Sunbury to Erie, with many important connections 
to-day, was leased by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company 
for 999 years from January 1, 1862. A controlling inter- 
est in the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Rail- 
road was acquired in 1881. The Northern Central Rail- 
way, extending 460.39 miles, including branches and con- 
nections, from Baltimore through Pennsylvania to Lake 
Ontario, New York ; the Cumberland Valley Railroad, ex- 
tending from Harrisburg to Powell's Bend, on the Poto- 



172 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

mac river, in Maryland ; the Allegheny Valley Railway, 
from Pittsburgh to Oil City, with branches and connec- 
tions to Buffalo and other points ; the West Penn division, 
extending from Bolivar to Allegheny ; and the Schuylkill 
division, extending from Philadelphia to Pottsville — all 
these are important branches of the Pennsylvania system 
which mainly lie in Pennsylvania and which are either 
owned or controlled by the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- 
pany. Other branches might also be mentioned. 

The Pennsylvania system extends into many States, 
its most important subsidiary interest west of Pittsburgh 
being the Pennsylvania Company, which operates the 
Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne, and Chicago Railway. It owns a 
controlling interest in other important railroad lines in 
States west of Pennsylvania, including the "Panhandle" 
and Vandalia lines ; it is the lessee of the United Rail- 
roads of New Jersey, giving it access to New York City ; 
it controls railroads to Atlantic City, Cape May, and other 
seaside resorts ; and it has important Southern connections. 

In 1907 the Pennsylvania system owned and operated 
or controlled the operation of 11,175.74 miles of main 
track, (including a few miles of ferries and canals,) of 
which total 6,078.17 miles are east of Pittsburgh and 
Erie and 5,097.57 miles are west of these cities. 

In 1907 the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company owned 
304.60 miles of main track in Pennsylvania and operated 
in all 1,440.22 miles, extending from Jersey City to Phil- 
lipsburg. New Jersey, thence to Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, 
and thence to Buffalo, New York, with branches. This 
road was originally a consolidation of several short an- 
thracite coal roads. The Lehigh Valley Railroad not only 
penetrates a rich part of Northern Pennsylvania but it is 
a most important agent in carrying to market the product 
of the anthracite coal mines of the State. It is the third 
of the great railroad systems of Pennsylvania. 

A historical fact that should not be overlooked is the 
opposition to the building of railroads which was some- 
times encountered in Pennsylvania. Many of the farmers 
along the line of the Columbia Railroad were opposed to 
its construction because they believed that it would in- 



EABLT RAILROADS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 173 

terfere with the sale of horaes, oats, and other farm prod- 
ucts which were needed in the operation of the Lancas- 
ter Turnpike, and which also gave employment to many 
of them as wagoners. For similar reasons farmers were 
opposed to the building of the Harrisburg, Portsmouth, 
Mount Joy, and Lancaster Railroad. When the project of 
building a railroad from Harrisburg to Reading through 
the Lebanon valley was proposed many of the farmers of 
the valley opposed it for the reason that it would seri- 
ously check the demand for their horses and the grain to 
feed them and also interfere with their business as wag- 
oners. They also objected to the building of the road 
because the counties through which it passed would be 
called upon to furnish financial aid, and for this reason 
they feared that their taxes would be increased. So it 
happened that the Lebanon Valley Railroad, the building 
of which was authorized by an act of the Legislature on 
April 1, 1836, was actually not undertaken until 1853, a 
lapse of seventeen years. It was finished in 1858, on Jan- 
uary IS of which year the whole road was opened. 

Pennsylvania may well be proud of its great railroad 
systems. They have contributed greatly to the develop- 
ment of its natural resources and to the upbuilding of all 
its productive industries. They and all other Pennsylva- 
nia railroads well deserve the continued good will of all 
Pennsylvanians. Recent legislation directly affecting the 
railroads of this State has been conspicuously unapprecia- 
tive and most ungracious in view of the great benefits 
which these railroads have conferred upon all our people. 



174 



PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



THE GREAT INDUSTRIES OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

We now come to the consideration of the great indus- 
tries of Pennsylvania which have made its name famous 
in every civilized country. A general survey of these 
industries will be given in this chapter in the light of 
recent authentic statistics. Historical details of leading 
Pennsylvania industries will be given in other chapters. 

Pennsylvania has long been noted as the leader of all 
the States in the mining of coal, the manufacture of coke, 
and the production of iron and steel. Its leadership in 
these great industries in 1905 is shown in the following 
table, which gives its percentage of the total production 
of coal and coke and of leading forms of iron and steel in 
the whole country in that year of industrial activity. 



PToduction of Coal, Coke, Iron Ore, and 
iron and 8teel In 1905. 



Coal, all kinds gross tons. 

Coke net tons. . 

Iron ore gross tons. 

Pig iron gross tons. 

Steel ingots, castings, etc. . . gross tons. 

All kinds of rails gross tons. 

Other rolled iron and steel, gross tons. 



Production 

in United 

States. 



Production 
in Penn- 
sylvania. 



360,645,210 
32,231,129 
42,626,133 
22,992,380 
20,023,947 
3,376,929 
13,464,086 



176,065,613 

20,673,736 

808,717 

10,679,127 

11,040,423 

1,116,841 

7,802,449 



Pennsyl- 
vania's per- 
centage. 



49.9 
63.8 
1.9 
46.0 
66.1 
33.0 
67.9 



Contrary to common belief Pennsylvania has not beqn 
a large producer of iron ore since the ores of the Lake 
Superior region came into general use about 1880 in the 
manufacture of Bessemer pig iron. Its small production 
in 1905 is included in the table. And yet Pennsylvania 
was first of all the States in the mining of iron ore down 
to the census year 1880, when it produced 1,951,496 
gross tons. In the census year 1870 it produced 978,113 
tons, or over 32 per cent, of the total production of 
the country in that year. In 1889 it fell to the third 
place, in 1904 to the ninth place, and in 1905 it occupied 



THE GREAT INDUSTRIES OF PENNSYLVANIA. 175 

the sixth place among the iron-ore producing States. In 
1906 it occupied the fifth place. Its production of iron 
ore in 1905 was 808,717 tons and in 1906 it was 949,429 
tons. In 1904 its percentage of the total production was 
1.4, in 1905 it was 1.9, and in 1906 it was 1.99. 

It is not necessary to comment on the prominence of 
Pennsylvania as a producer of iron and steel except to 
call attention to its extraordinary percentages of the to- 
tal production in 1905 as they are shown in the table — 
pig iron, 46.0 per cent.; all kinds of steel, 55.1 per cent.; 
all kinds of rails, 33.0 per cent. ; all other forms of rolled 
iron and steel, 57.9 per cent. Of the production of coal 
in Pennsylvania in 1905 69,339,152 gross tons were an- 
thracite and 105,726,461 tons were bituminous ; the total 
was 175,065,613 tons, or 49.9 per cent, of the country's 
production. Of the total production of coke in the same 
year 63.8 per cent, was made in Pennsylvania. In 1906 
the whole country produced 369,783,284 gross tons of 
coal, of which Pennsylvania produced 179,085,372 tons, 
or 48.4 per cent. In 1906 the country's total production 
of coke was 36,401,217 net tons, of which Pennsylvania 
produced 23,060,511 tons, or 63.3 per cent. Nearly all the 
bituminous coal and coke produced in Pennsylvania is to 
be credited to Western Pennsylvania. Practically all the 
anthracite coal produced in the United States is mined 
in Eastern Pennsylvania. 

The statistics of another leading industry of Pennsyl- 
vania, the silk industry, for the census year 1900 and the 
census year 1904 will surprise the average reader. In both 
years Pennsylvania occupied the second place among the 
States in the manufacture of silk products, New Jersey 
being first in rank. Pennsylvania made great progress in 
the development of this industry in the decade between 
1890 and 1900 and also from 1900 to 1904. In the census 
year 1904, which was virtually the calendar year, all the 
States had $109,556,621 invested in the manufacture of 
silk and employed 79,601 persons as wage earners, exclu- 
sive of clerks, etc., paying the wage earners $26,767,943 
in wages. In the same year the silk industry of Pennsyl- 
vania had $31,312,386 of capital invested and employed 



176 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

26,915 wage earners, who were paid $6,972,852. In the 
census year 1900 Pennsylvania had 121 establishments en- 
gaged exclusively in the manufacture of silk, and in the 
census year 1904 it had 168 establishments. Since 1904 
Pennsylvania has made still further progress in the silk 
industry, which has been extended into many counties. 
It is one of its new industries and it illustrates the won- 
derfully varied character of its manufacturing enterprises. 
This industry and some others have been overshadowed 
in the industrial statistics of Pennsylvania by the greater 
prominence of its coal and coke and iron and steel indus- 
tries, but, as will be seen from the figures given, it deserves 
wider recognition than it has received. To-day Pennsyl- 
vania is probably the first among the silk-manufacturing 
States. While the value of the silk products of New Jer- 
sey increased from $39,966,662 in the census year 1900 
to $42,862,907 in the census year 1904, the value of the 
silk products of Pennsylvania increased in the same period 
from $31,072,926 to $39,333,520. The silk industry had 
scarcely a beginning in Pennsylvania until after 1880, al- 
though it existed in a small way at Economy, in Beaver 
county, the home of the Harmony Society, as early as 1828. 
In the census year 1890 Pennsylvania ranked first in 
the aggregate production of woolen and worsted goods, 
carpets and rugs other than rag, and other woolen prod- 
ucts, all grouped in census statistics as "wool manufac- 
ture, all branches." These products were valued in Penn- 
sylvania in 1890 at $72,393,182, against $67,599,321, the 
value of the same products in Massachusetts in the same 
year. In the census year 1900 the position of these two 
leading States was reversed, the products of Massachusetts 
being valued at $81,041,537 and those of Pennsylvania 
at $71,878,503. In the manufacture of carpets and rugs 
other than rag Pennsylvania has long been first of all the 
States, Philadelphia and its suburbs being noted as the 
principal seat of this industry in the United States and 
as the leading carpet centre of all countries. In the cen- 
sus year 1900 Pennsylvania employed over three-eighths 
of the capital invested in the whole country in the manu- 
facture of these special products and produced nearly 



1 

i 



THE GREAT INDUSTRIES OF PENNSYLVANIA. 177 

one-half of their total value. The total value of the car- 
pets and rugs that were made in Pennsylvania in that 
year was $23,113,058. 

In the manufacture of cotton goods Pennsylvania is 
less prominent than in the manufacture of the other tex- 
tile products previously enumerated. About sixty years 
ago the city of Allegheny, adjoining Pittsburgh, had six 
factories for the manufacture of some of the coarser forms 
of cotton goods, but these factories have long been silent 
or converted to other uses. The cotton was brought up 
the Ohio river from the lower Mississippi. In the cen- 
sus year 1900 Massachusetts was first in the value of cot- 
ton products, South Carolina second, North Carolina third, 
Rhode Island fourth, and Pennsylvania fifth, New Hamp- 
shire coming next to Pennsylvania, each State producing 
as follows : Massachusetts, $111,125,175; South Carolina, 
$29,723,919; North CaroUna, $28,372,798; Rhode Island, 
$26,435,675; Pennsylvania, $25,447,697; and New Hamp- 
shire, $22,998,249. The production of Georgia in the same 
year was valued at $18,544,910. In the total value of all 
textiles produced in the census year 1900 Massachusetts 
was first and Pennsylvania second. 

Pennsylvania has always been prominent among the 
States as a producer of lumber. When first settled and 
for many years afterwards it possessed extensive forests 
in every direction, and large and small streams furnished 
then and have since furnished abundant water power for 
its saw mills. It owes its very name to the vastness of 
its forests, and it is one of the best watered States in the 
Union. An excellent summary of its achievements as a 
lumber producer was prepared in 1906 by James E. Defe- 
baugh, editor of the American Lumberman^ of Chicago, and 
the author of a History of the Lumber Industry of America. 
From this summary we select the following details : 

"From a lumber standpoint Pennsylvania is perhaps 
the most wonderful State in the Union. In points of 
maintained production and of variety of output it stands 
close to the head of all the States. Back as far as 1850 
Pennsylvania was credited with 2,894 lumbering estab- 
lishments, being exceeded in that particular only by New 

12 



178 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

York. In 1860 it had passed New York and stood at the 
head in number of establishments, which position it easily 
maintained thereafter. In the amount of capital invested 
Pennsylvania was the leader in 1860, although in 1900 
Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin exceeded it. In the 
value of the lumber produced Pennsylvania occupied sec- 
ond place in 1850, first place in 1860, second place in 1870 
and 1880, third place in 1890, and fourth place in 1900. 
Pennsylvania's first prominence as a lumber producer 
rested upon white pine. The headwaters of the Allegheny 
and the Susquehanna floated out white pine logs and lum- 
ber by the hundreds of millions of feet, so that Pennsyl- 
vania white pine was known not only on the Atlantic sea- 
board but all along the course of the Ohio and the lower 
Mississippi as far as New Orleans. In addition the cherry 
was the finest that ever grew, while oak of several varie- 
ties, maple, poplar, and other woods abounded. It was 
not until the white pine was nearly exhausted that hem- 
lock received much attention. The decade from 1880 to 
1890 saw the rise of this wood to prominence. Since 1900 
the product has probably been declining. In the census 
year 1900 Pennsylvania was fourth among the States in 
volume of production, producing 2,321,284,000 feet of lum- 
ber, of which 1,558,188,000 feet were hemlock, 221,047,000 
feet white pine, 44,614,000 feet chestnut, 342,268,000 feet 
oak, and 49,650,000 feet maple, the other woods specifi- 
cally reported being yellow pine, spruce, ash, birch, cot- 
tonwood, elm, gum, hickory, basswood, poplar, and black 
walnut." 

Another of the great industries of Pennsylvania, and 
one of its oldest industries, is the manufacture of leather. 
Pennsylvania early gave this industry special attention, 
partly because it soon became the leading agricultural and 
cattle-raising colony and partly because there was no scar- 
city of oak and other trees which would yield tannic acid. 
In the nineteenth century the invasion of the hemlock 
forests in the northern and western parts of the State 
furnished in hemlock bark a suitable and very abundant 
material for tanning hides, the cattle-raising industry of 
the State meanwhile supplying an increasingly large num- 



THE GREAT INDUSTRIES OF PENNSYLVANIA. 179 

ber of hides. In the early part of that century the manu- 
facture of leather, especially the heavier and coarser forms, 
became a great Pennsylvania industry, suppljdng not only 
its own wants for leather but furnishing large quantities 
of leather and leather products to other States and con- 
siderable quantities for exportation to foreign countries. 
Pennsylvania has never, however, approached the promi- 
nence of New England in the manufacture of boots and 
shoes. Because of its abundant supply of hemlock bark 
the tanners of Pennsylvania began in the last century to 
supplement the home supply of hides with hides obtained 
in other States and with large importations of foreign 
hides. It has also long been a manufacturer of morocco 
leather, made from imported goatskins tanned with sumac 
leaves. The importation of hides and skins in large quan- 
tities continues to-day. Nearly $32,000,000 worth of goat- 
skins were imported into the United States in the fiscal 
year 1906, of which British India alone sent us nearly 
$11,000,000 worth. In the same year our importations of 
hides exceeded $50,000,000. Even in the mountain sec- 
tions of Pennsylvania South American and other imported 
hides are tanned into leather. It has paid to bring these 
hides to the hemlock bark. Many hides thus tanned are 
again shipped to markets outside of Pennsylvania. 

The prominence of Pennsylvania as a leather producer 
is shown in the statistics for the census year 1900. In 
that year the whole country had 1,306 establishments en- 
gaged in the manufacture of leather, of which 254 were 
found in Pennsylvania; the capital invested in the whole 
country was $173,977,421, and in Pennsylvania it was 
$57,320,227; the number of wage earners, exclusive of 
officials, clerks, etc., in the whole country was 52,109, and 
in Pennsylvania it was 13,396 ; the wages paid to the 
whole number of wage earners was $22,591,091, and to 
those employed in Pennsylvania it was $5,457,518; the 
value of the whole country's leather products was $204,- 
038,127, and the value of the leather products of Pennsyl- 
vania was $55,615,009. It will be seen that in the census 
year mentioned about one-third of the capital invested 
in the manufacture of leather in the United States was 



180 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

invested in Pennsylvania, that more than one-fourth of 
the wage earners employed in this industry in the whole 
country were employed in this State, and that of the to- 
tal value of the leather manufactured Pennsylvania's share 
was much more than one-fourth. The three States which 
come next to Pennsylvania in the manufacture of leather 
are Massachusetts, New York, and Wisconsin, in the order 
mentioned, but in the value of leather produced in the 
census year 1900 each of the above mentioned States fell 
more than fifty per cent, below the figures for Pennsylva- 
nia. Pennsylvania is not only the leading leather-produc- 
ing State but it is in no danger of losing that distinction. 
The growing scarcity of hemlock bark is being met by the 
substitution of a new form of tannic acid which is ob- 
tained from a tree found in South America. 

Another of the leading industries of Pennsylvania is 
the manufacture of glass, in which it leads every other 
State and in which it has long been the leader. It was 
established long before the Revolution. In the census 
year 1904 the total capital invested in this industry in 
the whole country was $89,389,151 ; the number of wage 
earners employed, not including officials, clerks, etc., was 
63,969; and the total amount paid to wage earners was 
S37,288,148. In the same year the capital invested in this 
industry in Pennsylvania was $40,612,180, and the num- 
ber of wage earners, exclusive of officials, etc., was 20,794, 
whose wages amounted to $12,518,440. The total value 
of the glass produced in 1904 was $79,607,998, of which 
Pennsylvania produced $27,671,693. The plate glass in- 
dustry especially has made great progress in the United 
States in late years, but greater progress in Pennsylvania 
than in all other States combined. In the census year 
1900 there were 8 plate glass estabUshments in Pennsyl- 
vania, 3 in Indiana, 1 in Ohio, and 1 in Missouri, and in 
the census year 1904 there were 11 plate glass establish- 
ments in Pennsylvania, 2 in Indiana, 1 in Michigan, 2 in 
Missouri, and 1 in Ohio. 

In the manufacture of chemicals Pennsylvania is only 
exceeded by New York. In the whole country the value 
of the chemical products in the census year 1900 was 



THE GREAT INDUSTRIES OF PENNSYLVANIA. 181 

$62,676,730, of which New York contributed $15,994,366 
and Pennsylvania $13,034,384. In the manufacture of 
paper Pennsylvania was the pioneer of all the colonies. 
By the census of 1900 it was fourth among the States in 
the aggregate value of all paper produced, but it was 
second in the value of some leading paper products. 

The production of petroleum in this country in the 
calendar year 1905 was greater than in any previous year, 
but Pennsylvania had long lost its leadership in this in- 
dustry. The total output of crude petroleum in that year 
was 134,717,580 barrels, which exceeded by 17,636,620 bar- 
rels the production of 117,080,960 barrels in 1904. The 
production of petroleum in the United States more than 
doubled in the six years from 1900 to 1905. A table pub- 
lished by the United States Geological Survey, showing 
the rank of the States in the production of petroleum, is 
full of surprises. Of the total production in 1904 Califor- 
nia produced 25.33 per cent. ; Texas, 19 per cent. ; Ohio, 
16.13 per cent. ; West Virginia, 10.80 per cent. ; Indiana, 
9.69 per cent. ; Pennsylvania, 9.50 per cent. ; Kansas, 3.63 
per cent. ; and Louisiana, 2.51 per cent. Of the total pro- 
duction in 1905 CaUfornia produced 24.81 per cent. ; Tex- 
as, 20.89 per cent. ; Ohio, 12.13 per cent. ; Kansas, Indian 
Territory, and Oklahoma combined, 8.92 per cent. ; West 
Virginia, 8.59 per cent. ; Indiana, 8.14 per cent. ; Pennsyl- 
vania, 7.75 per cent.; and Louisiana, 6.61 per cent. The 
other oil-bearing States and Territories produced only 
small quantities in 1904 and 1905. In the early years of 
the petroleum industry, beginning statistically with 1859, 
Pennsylvania was the only State that produced petroleum 
in large quantities, and until 1895, when it was passed by 
Ohio, it led all the States in production, but in 1905 it 
produced less than one-twelfth of the total production, 
virtually all in Western Pennsylvania. 

The production of natural gas in the calendar year 
1905 amounted approximately in value to $41,562,855, 
which was an increase of $3,066,095 over the value of the 
gas produced in 1904. The production of Pennsylvania in 
1905 was valued at $19,197,336, or over 46 per cent, of 
the total value, West Virginia, Ohio, and Indiana coming 



182 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

next in rank in the order mentioned. The total produc- 
tion in 1905 was greater than that of any previous year. 
Pennsylvania was the first State to use natural gas in large 
quantities. It maintained a yearly increase in production 
in the nine years immediately preceding 1906, the pro- 
duction in 1905 being valued at more than three times 
that of 1897. All the natural gas that is produced in 
Pennsylvania is obtained in the northern and western parts 
of the State. It has not been found in the eastern part. 

Pennsylvania is first of all the States in the production 
of Portland cement, which is rapidly becoming one of the 
country's great industries. In the calendar year 1904 
Pennsylvania produced 11,496,099 barrels, while the whole 
country produced 26,505,881 barrels. The share of Penn- 
sylvania was over 43 per cent, of the total production. 
In 1907 the whole country produced 48,785,390 barrels, 
of which Pennsylvania produced 20,393,965 barrels, or 
nearly 42 per cent, of the total production. It is first of 
all the States in the production of roofing slate and lime- 
stone. Pennsylvania is also first of all the States in the 
production of fire brick and tiles, Ohio being second. In 
the manufacture of pottery, however, which is also a clay 
product, Pennsylvania is greatly exceeded by Ohio and 
New Jersey and in a less degree by New York, while it is 
closely followed by West Virginia. 

In other manufactured products Pennsylvania is pre- 
eminent among all the States and is even distinguished. 
It was the first State to establish works for the exclusive 
manufacture of locomotives and its Baldwin Locomotive 
Works are the largest in the world. It builds more rail- 
road cars than any other State and it was the first to en- 
gage in the manufacture of steel cars, now a great national 
industry. Its Disston saws are of worldwide reputation. 
In iron and steel shipbuilding Pennsylvania has been the 
pioneer, and its Roach and Cramp shipyards have won for 
it many honors. Pennsylvania is also the only State that 
makes armor plate. But for the enterprise of Pennsylva- 
nia steel manufacturers this important industry would 
not have had an existence in our country to-day. 

Agriculture, the leading industry of our country, is 



THE GREAT INDUSTRIES OF PENNSYLVANIA. 183 

also the leading industry of Pennsylvania. The value oiF 
the agricultural products of the United States is annually 
many times greater than the combined value of all our 
mineral products and all our iron and steel products, and 
the number of persons engaged in agricultural pursuits is 
greater than that of persons engaged in all our manufac- 
turing and mechanical industries. Our corn crop is an- 
nually of far greater value than any of our manufactured 
products. Our cotton crop, which, by the way, still con- 
tinues to be our leading export product, is of far greater 
value every year than all the coal we mine and coke we 
make. As an agricultural State Pennsylvania has long 
been noted for the great variety of its products. Its cli- 
mate and soil permit the production in large quantities of 
many crops that other States either do not produce at all 
or produce in only small quantities. Many States exceed 
it in the production of wheat, corn, oats, and live stock, 
but it is prominent in the production of other crops and 
farm products. Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, is the 
leading tobacco-growing county in the United States, and 
Washington county, Pennsylvania, is the leading wool- 
producing county in all the States east of the Rocky 
mountains. The annual value of the farm products of Lan- 
caster county is greater than that of any other county in 
the Union. Pennsylvania is exceeded only by New York 
in the value of hay and potatoes produced and it is next 
to Wisconsin in the production of rye. It is first in the 
production of buckwheat. It is second in the value of 
dairy products. It produces all the fruits and all the vege- 
tables that grow anywhere north of the cotton-growing 
States and east of the Rocky mountains. It runs a close 
race with New York for leadership in the production of 
apples and it is first of all the cherry-producing States. 
It is the third State in the total value of all fruits pro- 
duced, California being first and New York second. 

The above references illustrate the variety and value 
of the agricultural products of Pennsylvania. These 
products would alone make it a State of great wealth, 
but, combined with its anthracite and bituminous coal, its 
coke, petroleum, lumber, and natural gas, and its long list 



184 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

of manufacturing industries^ it is easily the leading State 
in the aggregate value of its industrial products. 

To sum up important particulars : Pennsylvania is to- 
day first of all the States in the production of iron and 
steel, coal and coke, and carpets and rugs, and probably 
first of all in the manufacture of silk. In 1900 it was 
second in the manufacture of woolen products and in 
the total value of all textile products, fourth in the pro- 
duction of lumber and all kinds of paper, and second in 
the production of chemicals. It has long been first in the 
production of leather and in the manufacture of glass. 
It has lost its early leadership in the production of pe- 
troleum, but it is first in the production of natural gas. 
It is first in the production of Portland cement and in 
the manufacture of fire brick and tiles, and it is fourth in 
the manufacture of pottery. It leads all the States in the 
production of roofing slate and limestone and in the 
manufacture of locomotives, railroad cars, and saws, and 
it is the only State that makes armor plate. It is now 
third in iron and steel shipbuilding, not including Gov- 
ernment vessels, Michigan being first and Ohio second. 
In the annual value of many farm products it is either 
first or closely follows other States. 

Pennsylvania is a small producer of zinc, which is 
found near Bethlehem. Lead was at one time produced at 
a mine near Phoenixville and smelted in the neighborhood. 
Copper also has been found and smelted in the vicinity of 
Phoenixville. The only nickel mine in the United States 
that has been profitably worked is in Lancaster county. 
In the first half of the nineteenth century Pennsylvania 
was one of the leading States in the manufacture of salt. 




THE EARLY IRON INDUSTRY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 185 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE EARLY IRON INDUSTRY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

The first settlers of Pennsylvania set up small fur- 
naces and forges soon after they had provided themselves 
with saw mills and grist mills. Iron ore was abundant, 
the forests supplied charcoal for fuel, and the streams fur- 
nished all the power that was needed. Mill seats were ob- 
jects of great interest in the settlement of a new country. 

In 1716 the first iron works were established in Penn- 
sylvania. This event is described in one of Jonathan Dick- 
inson's letters, written in 1717, and quoted by Mrs. James 
in her Memorial of Thomas Potts, Junior : '' This last sum- 
mer one Thomas Rutter, a smith, who lives not far from 
Germantown, hath removed farther up in the country and 
of his own strength hath set upon making iron, and we 
have accounts of others that are going on with iron works." 
Rutter's enterprise was a bloomary forge, which was prob- 
ably called Pool forge. It was located on Manatawny 
creek and about three miles above Pottstown. Iron was 
made directly from the ore, as in an ancient Catalan forge. 
In the Philadelphia Weekly Mercury for November 1, 1720, 
Thomas Fare, a Welshman, is said to have run away from 
*'th6 forge at Manatawny." He was probably a redemp- 
tioner. Another Pool forge is known to have existed far- 
ther up the stream, probably built after the first one was 
abandoned. This Pool forge was attacked by a small 
band of Shawnese Indians in 1728, who were repulsed. 

Mrs. James says that Rutter was an English Quaker 
who was a resident of Philadelphia in 1685 and who re- 
moved in 1714 from Germantown *' forty miles up the 
Schuylkill, in order to work the iron mines of the Mana- 
tawny region." She gives a verbatim copy of the original 
patent of William Penn to Thomas Rutter for 300 acres of 
land *'on Manatawny creek," dated February 12, 1714-15. 
The following obituary notice in the Pennsylvania Gazette, 
published at Philadelphia, dated March 5 to March 13, 



186 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

1729-30, ought to be conclusive proof of the priority of 
Thomas Rutter's enterprise :" Philadelphia, March 13. On 
Sunday night last died here Thomas Rutter, Senior, of a 
short illness. He was the first that erected an iron work 
in Pennsylvania." In his will he is styled a blacksmith. 

In Day's Historical Collections of Pennsylvania mention 
is made of Samuel Nutt, an English Quaker, who built a 
forge called Coventry in the northern part of Chester 
county which "went into operation about the year 1720." 
This also was a Catalan forge. Nutt probably made iron 
at Coventry forge in 1718. Bishop refers to a letter writ- 
ten by Dickinson in July, 1718, stating that "the expecta- 
tions from the iron works forty miles up Schuylkill are 
very great." In April, 1719, Dickinson again wrote: "Our 
iron promises well. What hath been sent over to England 
hath been greatly approved. Our smiths work up all they 
make, and it is as good as the best Swedish iron." Dick- 
inson probably referred to Nutt's and Rutter's forges. 

The next iron enterprise in Pennsylvania was undoubt- 
edly Colebrookdale furnace, which was built about 1720 
by a company of which Thomas Rutter was the principal 
member. It was located on Ironstone creek, in Colebrook- 
dale township, Berks county, about eight miles north of 
Pottstown. This furnace supplied Pool forge with pig iron, 
and in course of time other forges, one of which was Pine 
forge, built on the Manatawny about 1740. A stove-plate 
cast at this furnace in 1763 was exhibited at the Phila- 
delphia Exhibition of 1876. In 1731 pig iron sold at 
Colebrookdale furnace "in large quantities" at £5 10s. per 
ton, Pennsylvania currency, a pound being equal to $2.66. 
Soon after Nutt had built Coventry forge he built a fur- 
nace on French creek, called "Redding," about 1720. It 
is probable that this was the second furnace in the State. 

Durham furnace, on Durham creek, about one and a 
half miles above its entrance into the Delaware river in 
the extreme northern part of Bucks county, was built in 
1727 by a company of fourteen persons. At the Philadel- 
phia Exhibition the keystone of Durham furnace, bearing 
date 1727, was an interesting feature. 

In 1728 there were four furnaces in blast in Pennsyl- 



THE EARLY IRON INDUSTRY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 187 

vania, one of which was certainly Colebrookdale ; another 
was Durham. The other furnaces were probably Sir Will- 
iam Keith's, on Christiana creek, in the present State of 
Delaware, and Nutt's Reading furnace, on French creek. 
In November, 1728, James Logan shipped three tons of 
Durham pig iron to England. In 1728-9 Pennsylvania 
sent 274 tons of pig iron to the mother country. Other 
furnaces and forges in Eastern Pennsylvania followed in 
rapid succession those already mentioned. As has been 
stated the early forges made iron directly from the ore, 
but after furnaces were built pig iron was generally used 
at the forges. The furnaces were required to produce both 
pig iron and castings, the latter consisting of stoves, pots, 
kettles, andirons, smoothing-irons, clock-weights, and simi- 
lar articles. In his History of New Sweden Israel Acrelius, 
who lived in this country from 1750 to 1756, says : *' Penn- 
sylvania in regard to its iron works is the most advanced 
of all the American colonies." About 1750 the manufac- 
ture of cemented steel was commenced in Chester county. 

Bishop says that in 1786 there were seventeen fur- 
naces, forges, and slitting-mills within thirty-nine miles of 
Lancaster. About 1789 there were fourteen furnaces and 
thirty-four forges in operation in Pennsylvania, according 
to a list published by Mrs. James. In 1791 the number of 
furnaces had increased to sixteen and of forges to thirty- 
seven. In 1796 the slitting and rolling mills were said to 
roll 1,500 tons per annum. At this time there were many 
furnaces and forges in the Schuylkill valley. The coun- 
ties on the west side of the Susquehanna river contained 
many active iron enterprises soon after the close of the 
Revolution, some of which had been established before 
the struggle for independence began. In 1838 there were 
102 furnaces, forges, and rolling mills in existence within 
a radius of fifty-two miles of Lancaster. 

Martic forge, on Pequea creek, near the present village 
of Colemanville, in Lancaster county, was built in 1755 
and was last in operation in 1883. During the Revolution 
round iron was drawn under the hammer at this forge and 
bored out for musket barrels at a boring mill, in a very 
retired spot, on a small stream far off from any public 



188 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

road, doubtless with a view to prevent discovery by the 
enemy. The Continental Congress established and main- 
tained an armory at Carlisle, where muskets, swords, and 
"wrought iron cannon of great strength" were manufac- 
tured. In 1776, and throughout the war, anthracite coal 
was taken in arks from the Wyoming mines above Wilkes- 
barre down the Susquehanna to the Carlisle armory. Dur- 
ing the Revolution cannon and cannon balls were cast at 
many Pennsylvania furnaces. In his biographical sketch 
of David Rittenhouse in Harper^ s Magazine for May, 1882, 
Samuel W. Pennypacker says that at the beginning of 
the Revolution the leaden weights which were attached to 
Rittenhouse's clocks "were now needed for bullets," and 
it was ordered by the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety 
that Rittenhouse and Owen Biddle, both of Philadelphia,' 
"should prepare moulds for the casting of clock- weights 
and send them to some iron furnace and order a sufficient 
number to be immediately made for the purpose of ex- 
changing them with the inhabitants of this city for their 
leaden clock-weights." 

The bar iron and castings made in the Schuylkill val- 
ley during the eighteenth century were taken down the 
river to Philadelphia in boats, which were poled back 
to their starting points. These were doubtless Durham 
boats, so called because they were first used in carrying 
iron from Durham furnace by way of the Delaware river 
to Philadelphia. 

The first blast furnace in the Juniata valley was Bed- 
ford furnace, on Black Log creek, built in 1787 or 1788 
on the site of the present town of Orbisonia, in Hunting- 
don county, by the Bedford Company, composed of Ed- 
ward Ridgely, Thomas Cromwell, and George Ashman. It 
made from eight to ten tons of pig iron a week. Lytle, 
in his History of Huntingdon County, says that it was 
built mostly of wood and was five feet wide at the bosh 
and either fifteen or seventeen feet high. A forge was 
subsequently built on Little Aughwick creek, four miles 
southwest of the furnace, by the same company, which 
supplied the neighborhood with horseshoe iron, wagon tire, 
harrow teeth, etc. Large stoves and other utensils were 



THE EARLY IRON INDUSTRY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 189 

cast at Bedford furnace. At the Philadelphia Exhibition 
there was a stove-plate which was cast at this furnace in 
1792. On September 10, 1793, Thomas Cromwell, for the 
company, advertised in the Pittsburgh Gazette castings 
and bar iron for sale at Bedford furnace. The first Ameri- 
can-made bar iron ever taken to Pittsburgh is said to 
have been made at Bedford forge. '' In the forge the pig 
iron of the furnace was hammered out into bars about 
six or eight feet long, and these were bent into the shape 
of the letter U and turned over the backs of horses and 
thus transported over the AUeghenies to Pittsburgh," the 
first part of the way by bridle paths. 

Bedford furnace was certainly in operation before 1790, 
as on the 2d day of March of that year Hugh Needy en- 
tered into an agreement with the company to deliver 
twenty-eight ten-gallon kettles and seven Dutch ovens, 
the whole weighing 12 cwt., 3 qrs., and 21 lbs., to Daniel 
Depue, "on or near the Monongahela river, near Devor's 
ferry, in eight days ensuing the date hereof." Devore's 
ferry was on the Monongahela river where Monongahela 
City is situated. It was probably established as early 
as 1770. The articles which are above mentioned were 
carried on pack-horses. The forge appears to have been 
built in 1791, as is shown by an itemized account of iron 
made by the company from *'the time the forge started" 
in that year until October 12, 1796, the product in these 
six years being 497 tons, 8 cwt., 2 qrs., and 26 lbs. 

Bar iron and castings from Bedford furnace and other 
iron works in the Juniata valley were taken down the Ju- 
niata river in arks, many of them descending to as low a 
point as Middletown, on the Susquehanna, whence the iron 
was hauled to Philadelphia. Much of the iron of the Ju- 
niata valley was also sent to Baltimore in arks down the 
Susquehanna river. 

Centre furnace, located on Spring creek, in Centre 
county, was the second furnace erected in the Juniata val- 
ley or near its boundaries. It was built in the summer of 
1791 by Colonel John Patton and Colonel Samuel Miles, 
both Revolutionary oflScers. The first forge in Centre 
county was Rock forge, on Spring creek, built in 1793 by 



190 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

General Philip Benner, who subsequently established other 
iron enterprises in Centre county. 

In 1832 there were in operation in Huntingdon coun- 
ty, which then embraced a part of Blair county, eight fur- 
naces, ten forges, and one rolling and slitting miU. Each 
of the furnaces yielded from 1,200 to 1,600 tons of iron 
annually. In the same year an incomplete list enumerated 
eight furnaces and as many forges in Centre county. In 
1850 there were in these two counties and in Blair county 
(formed out of Huntingdon and Bedford in 1846) and 
Mifflin county forty-eight furnaces, forty-two forges, and 
eight rolling mills. 

Much of the iron made in the Juniata valley during 
the palmy days of its iron industry was sold at Pittsburgh, 
first in the form of castings, afterwards in both pigs and 
bars, and finally chiefly in the form of blooms. Before the 
completion of the Pennsylvania Canal and the Portage 
Railroad bar iron from Centre county was at first carried 
on the backs of horses to the Clarion river and was then 
floated on flatboats and arks to Pittsburgh. Pig iron and 
bar iron from Huntingdon county were hauled over the 
Frankstown Road to Johnstown and floated to Pittsburgh 
by way of the Conemaugh river. Subsequently blooms 
were hauled to Pittsburgh from Huntingdon county by 
wagon. "Dorsey's iron from Barree forge" was for sale 
at Pittsburgh in October, 1805, by Thomas Cromwell. In 
April, 1807, at Pittsburgh, E. Denny advertised "barr iron 
for sale, from Huntingdon and Centre counties, at a re- 
duced price." Juniata iron was long noted throughout the 
country for its excellence. 

Before the Pennsylvania Canal was completed in 1834 
the hauling of Juniata blooms to Pittsburgh had been for 
some years an important business. In the Blairsville Rec- 
ord for January 31, 1828, MulhoUan <fe McAnulty adver- 
tise for teams to haul blooms from the Sligo iron works, 
in Huntingdon county, to Blairsville, offering $15 per ton. 
This hauling was done over the Huntingdon, or Northern, 
Turnpike, which had been built only a few years before 
and which passed through Huntingdon, HoUidaysburg, 
Ebensburg, and Blairsville to Pittsburgh. Soon after the 



THE EARLY IRON INDUSTRY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 191 

canal was finished and the Portage Railroad from HoUi- 
daysburg to Johnstown was completed, the latter in 1834, 
the shipment of Juniata blooms to Pittsburgh greatly in- 
creased. The canal was finished to Blairsville in 1829. 

Cemented steel was made at Caledonia, near Bedford, 
a few years before the close of the eighteenth century, 
by William McDermett, a native of Scotland. His daugh- 
ter Josephine was married in 1820 to David R. Porter, 
afterwards Governor of Pennsylvania for two terms. 

The first iron manufactured in Pennsylvania west of 
the AUeghenies was made in Fayette county by John 
Hayden early in 1790 *'in a smith's fire.'' "It was about 
as big as a harrow-tooth." The first furnace in Western 
Pennsylvania was, however, built by TurnbuU & Marmie, 
of Philadelphia, on Jacob's creek, between Fayette and 
Westmoreland counties, on the Fayette county side of the 
creek, a few miles above its entrance into the Youghio- 
gheny river. It was first blown in on November 1, 1790, 
and produced a superior quality of metal both for cast- 
ings and bar iron, some of it having been tried the same 
day in a forge which the proprietors had erected at the 
same place. The furnace and forge were called the Alli- 
ance iron works. Craig, in his History of Pittsburgh, gives 
an extract from a letter written by Major Craig, deputy 
quartermaster general and military storekeeper at Fort 
Pitt, to General Knox, dated January 12, 1792, as follows : 
" As there is no six-pound shot here I have taken the 
liberty to engage four hundred at TurnbuU & Marmie's 
furnace, which is now in blast." 

Union furnace, at Dunbar, on Dunbar creek, four miles 
south of Connellsville, in Fayette county, was built by 
Isaac Meason in 1790 and put in blast in March, 1791. 
It was succeeded in 1793 by a larger furnace of the same 
name, built near the same site by Isaac Meason, John 
Gibson, and Moses Dillon. An advertisement in the Pitts- 
burgh Gazette^ dated April 10, 1794, mentions that Meason, 
Dillon <fe Co. have for sale *'a supply of well-assorted cast- 
ings, which they will sell for cash at the reduced price of 
£35 per ton" — $93.33 in Pennsylvania currency. There 
was a forge connected with this furnace, called Union 



192 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

forge. In 1804 a large order for kettles, to be used on the 
sugar plantations of Louisiana, was filled at Union furnace, 
which was a famous furnace in its day. 

In 1792 John Hayden and John Nicholson built a 
bloomary forge on George's creek, a few miles south of 
Uniontown, and in 1797 John Hayden built Fairfield fur- 
nace, also on George's creek. John and Andrew Oliphant 
and Nathaniel Breading bought an interest in this furnace 
in 1798 and in a few years the Oliphants became its sole 
owners. Fairchance furnace, on George's creek, six miles 
south of Uniontown, was built in 1804 by John Hayden 
and bought by J. & A. Oliphant about 1805. It was kept 
in operation until 1887. The Oliphants built Sylvan forges 
on George's creek, below Fairfield and Fairchance furnaces. 
While the Oliphants operated Fairfield furnace they cast 
a quantity of shot which was used by General Jackson's 
artillery in the battle of New Orleans, on January 8, 1815. 

Rolling and slitting mills, for the manufacture of sheet 
iron and nail rods, were established west of the AUeghe- 
nies after the first furnace and forge were built in 1790. 
Prior to 1794 Jeremiah Pears built a forge at Plumsock, 
in Menallen township, Fayette county, which was the 
forerunner of a rolling and slitting mill built by Mr. Pears 
at the same place before 1804. la 1805 the rolling and 
slitting mill and the remainder of Mr. Pears's property 
were sold by the sheriff. This was probably the first 
rolling and slitting mill west of the AUeghenies. In 1811 
there were three such mills in Fayette county, one of 
which, on the right bank of the Youghiogheny river, be- 
low Connellsville, was built by John Gibson in 1805. An- 
other was on Cheat river, just over the Pennsylvania line 
in the present State of West Virginia, on the road from 
Uniontown to Morgantown. It was owned by Jackson 
& Updegraff. This enterprise embraced a furnace, forge, 
rolling mill, slitting mill, and nail factory. 

All the rolling and slitting mills of that day and of 
many preceding days neither puddled pig iron nor rolled 
bar iron, but rolled only sheet iron and nail plates from 
blooms hammered under a tilt-hammer. Plain rolls were 
used. The nail plates were slit into nail rods by a series 



THE EARLY IRON INDUSTRY OP PENNSYLVANIA. 193 

of revolving disks. The sheet iron was used for various 
purposes, including the making of salt pans. 

In 1805 there were five furnaces and six forges in 
Fayette county. In 1811 the county had ten furnaces, one 
air furnace, eight forges, three rolling and slitting mills, 
one steel furnace, and five trip-hammers. At a later date 
there were twenty furnaces in this county. For many 
years Pittsburgh and the Ohio and Mississippi valleys 
were largely supplied by it with all kinds of castings and 
with hammered bar iron. In 1849 only four of its fur- 
naces were in blast. Connellsville was a prominent ship- 
ping point for Fayette county iron. 

The steel furnace above referred to as existing in 1811 
was at Bridgeport, adjoining Brownsville, was owned by 
Truman & Co., and made cemented steel. It was known 
as the Brownsville steel factory. In 1811 Truman <fe Co. 
advertised that they had for sale ''several tons of steel of 
their own converting, which they will sell at the factory 
for cash, at 12 dollars per cwt." 

The first nail factory west of the Alleghenies was built 
at Brownsville, about 1795, by Jacob Bowman, at which 
wrought nails were made by hand in one shop and cut 
nails were made by machines in another. 

The first rolling mill erected in the United States to 
puddle iron and roll iron bars was built in 1816 and 1817 
on Redstone creek, about midway between Connellsville 
and Brownsville, at a place called Middletown, but better 
known as Plumsock, in Fayette county, on the site of 
Jeremiah Pears's enterprise which has previously been 
mentioned. The rolling mill was undertaken by Isaac 
Meason, owner of Union furnace, who then had forges at 
Plumsock. This mill was built ''for making bars of all 
sizes and hoops for cutting into nails.'' F. H. Oliphant 
says that "the iron was refined by blast and then puddled. 
It was kept in operation up to 1824, the latter part of the 
time by Mr. Palmer." Isaac Meason, who did so much to 
develop the iron resources of Fayette county, was a native 
of Virginia. He died in 1819. 

In the manufacture of iron Westmoreland county 
speedily followed Fayette county. Westmoreland furnace, 

13 



194 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

on a branch of Loyalhanna creek, near Laughlinstown, 
in Ligonier valley, was built in 1794 by Christopher Lob- 
ingier & Brother. In 1798 the furnace was sold to John 
Probst, who operated it for about four years. On the 1st 
of August, 1795, George Anshutz, manager of Westmore- 
land furnace, advertised stoves and castings for sale. We 
have a stove-plate that was cast at Westmoreland furnace 
in 1800 by John Probst and is so marked in raised letters. 

General Arthur St. Clair built Hermitage furnace, on 
Mill creek, two miles northeast of Ligonier, about 1803. 
It was managed for its owner by James Hamilton and 
made stoves and other castings. It was in blast in 1806. 
General St. Clair died a very poor man in 1818, aged 82 
years, and was buried at Greensburg. The following ad- 
vertisement appeared on November 21, 1806, in The Farm- 
ers Register, printed at Greensburg by John M. Snowden. 
It had for its caption " Hermitage Furnace in Blast,'' 
and was signed by Henry Weaver & Son and dated at 
Greensburg, on September 12, 1806. It read as follows : 
*' The subscribers, being appointed agents by Gen. A. St. 
Clair for the sale of his castings generally, and for the 
borough of Greensburg exclusively, give notice that they 
will contract with any person or persons for the delivery 
of castings and stoves, for any number of tons, on good 
terms. Samples of the castings and stoves to be seen at 
their store in Greensburg any time after the 20th instant." 

Several other furnaces and a few forges were built in 
Westmoreland county soon after the early furnaces above 
mentioned. One of the forges was Kingston forge, erected 
in 1811 on Loyalhanna creek by Alexander Johnston & 
Co., and going into operation in 1812. Alexander Johns- 
ton was the father of Governor William F. Johnston. He 
was born in Ireland in July, 1773, and died in July, 1872, 
aged 99 years. The owners of the early furnaces in West- 
moreland county, besides supplying local wants, shipped 
pig iron and castings by boats or arks on the Youghio- 
gheny and other streams to Pittsburgh, some of the cast- 
ings finding their way to Cincinnati and Louisville and 
even to New Orleans. Subsequently they shipped pig iron 
by canal to Pittsburgh. 



THE • EARLY IRON INDUSTRY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 195 

Shade furnace, in Somerset county, was built in 1807 
or 1808 and was the first iron enterprise in that county. 
It stood on Shade creek, and was built by Gerehart & 
Reynolds. About 1818 the furnace was sold to Richards, 
Earl & Co., who operated it down to about 1830. In 1820 
they built a forge, called Shade, below the furnace. In 
1849 it made 30 tons of bars. We have seen a stove that 
was cast at Shade furnace in 1818. About 1811 Joseph 
Vickroy and Conrad Piper built Mary Ann forge, on Stony 
creek, about five miles below Shade furnace. Pig iron to 
supply this forge was sometimes packed on horseback 
from Bedford county, the horses taking salt from the Con- 
emaugh salt works and bar iron as a return load. Other 
furnaces and a few forges were built in Somerset county 
at an early day but they have all disappeared. Bar iron 
was shipped to Pittsburgh from Shade and Mary Ann 
forges by flatboat on the Stony creek and the Conemaugh 
river. Pig iron was also hauled to Johnstown from Shade 
furnace for shipment by flatboat and afterwards by canal 
to Pittsburgh. 

About 1809 John HoUiday built Cambria forge on the 
north bank of the Stony creek at Johnstown. About 1811 
it was removed to a site on the Conemaugh at Johnstown 
and was abandoned about 1822. It was used to hammer 
bar iron out of Juniata pig iron and blooms. In 1817 
Thomas Burrell, the proprietor, offered wood-cutters *' fifty 
cents per cord for chopping two thousand cords of wood 
at Cambria forge, Johnstown." About 1810 the second 
iron enterprise at Johnstown was established by Robert 
Pierson. It was a small nail factory. About 200 pounds 
of nails, valued at $30, were made at Johnstown in the 
census year 1810, doubtless by Mr. Pierson. Cambria 
county has been noted as an iron centre since its first fur- 
nace, Cambria, was built by George S. King and others in 
1842, on Laurel run, near Johnstown. It was followed in 
the next six years by five other charcoal furnaces, all of 
which have been abandoned. The extensive works of the 
Cambria Steel Company, at Johnstown, were commenced 
in 1853 by the Cambria Iron Company. 

The first iron enterprise in Indiana county was Indiana 



196 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

forge, on Findley's run, near the Conemaugh, built about 
1837 by Henry and John Noble, who also built Indiana 
furnace as early as 1840. Both the furnace and forge were 
running in the last-named year. A few other furnaces 
were soon built in this county, but all the pioneer Indiana 
furnaces and its solitary forge have long been abandoned. 

A furnace named Mary Ann was built at an early day 
in Greene county. It was located on Ten-mile creek, op- 
posite Clarksville. It was probably built about 1800. It 
was abandoned early in the nineteenth century. Gordon, 
in his Gazetteer J (1832,) says that "there were formerly 
in operation on Ten-mile creek a forge and furnace, but 
they have been long idle and are falling to decay." 

A blast furnace was built at Beaver Falls, in Beaver 
county, then called Brighton, on the west side of Beaver 
river, in 1802, by Hoopes, Townsend & Co., and blown in 
in 1804. A forge was connected with it from the begin- 
ning and it was in operation in 1806. Both the furnace 
and the forge were in operation in 1816. The whole en- 
terprise was abandoned about 1826. The ore used at the 
furnace was picked out of gravel banks in the neighbor- 
hood in very small lumps. There was another early fur- 
nace in this county, named Bassenheim, built in 1814 by 
Detmar Bass^, who operated it until 1818, when he sold 
it to Daniel Beltzhoover and others. This furnace was 
located on the Conoquenessing creek, about a mile west 
of the Butler county line. It was abandoned about 1824. 
In February, 1818, $12 per ton were paid for hauling pig 
iron over a bad road from this furnace to Pittsburgh, 
30 miles distant. Mr. Basse's homestead, "Bassenheim," 
stood on the hillside near Zelienople, in Butler county. 
Zelienople was so named after Mr. Basse's daughter Zelie, 
who became the wife of Philip Passavant and the mother 
of the noted philanthropist. Rev. William A. Passavant. 
In 1828 Robert Townsend & Co. built at Fallston, in 
Beaver county, a mill for the manufacture of iron wire 
which is still in operation. About 1852 the manufacture 
of rivets was added and in 1887 the manufacture of wire 
nails was commenced. In the meantime the Harmony 
Society promoted the establishment of various iron and 



THE EARLY IRON INDUSTRY OP PENNSYLVANIA. 197 

steel enterprises at Beaver Falls, which has been one of 
the leading iron and steel centres of Pennsylvania. 

Prior to 1846 there were a few furnaces in the She- 
nango valley, all using charcoal. In 1806 the geographer 
Joseph Scott says that ''a forge and furnace are now 
nearly erected" at New Castle. About 1810 there was a 
forge on Neshannock creek, ''midway between Pearson's 
flour mill and Harvey's paper mill," for the manufacture 
of bar iron from the ore. 

The first furnace in the once important ironmaking 
district composed of Armstrong, Butler, Clarion, Venango, 
and other northwestern counties was Bear Creek, in Arm- 
strong county, built in 1818 to use coke, with steam pow- 
er, and its first blast was with this fuel, but charcoal was 
soon substituted. The furnace was abandoned long before 
1850 but was running in 1832, in which year Gordon says 
that it was owned by Henry Baldwin and was reputed 
to be the largest furnace in the United States, having 
made forty tons of iron in a week. 

Slippery Rock furnace, in Butler county, and Clarion 
furnace, in Clarion county, were built in 1828. Allegheny 
furnace, at Kittanning, in Armstrong county, and Venango 
furnace, on Oil creek, in Venango county, were built in 
1830. From 1830 to 1855 this section of the State pro- 
duced large quantities of charcoal pig iron. In 1850 there 
were 11 furnaces in Armstrong county, 6 in Butler, 28 in 
Clarion, and 18 in Venango : 63 in all. In 1858 there were 
18 in Armstrong, 6 in Butler, 27 in Clarion, and 24 in 
Venango : 75 in all. All were charcoal furnaces, except 
four coke furnaces at Brady's Bend. Many of these fur- 
naces had, however, been abandoned at the latter date, 
and every one has since been abandoned. Most of them 
were built to supply the Pittsburgh rolling mills and 
foundries with pig iron. The Great Western iron works, 
at Brady's Bend, embracing a rolling mill and four fur- 
naces to use coke, were built in 1840 and 1841. The 
furnaces were finally blown out in 1873 and the rolling 
mill was abandoned in the same year. It was built to 
roll bar iron but it afterwards rolled iron rails. 

Erie charcoal furnace, at Erie, was built in 1842 and 



198 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

abandoned in 1849. It used bog ore. Liberty furnace, on 
the north side of French creek, in Crawford county, was 
built in 1842 and abandoned in 1849. 

The iron manufactured in the Allegheny valley was 
taken down the Allegheny river to Pittsburgh on keel 
boats, arks, and rafts, the business of transporting it by 
water being very extensive down to about 1855. Corn- 
planter Indians, from Warren county, were among the 
raftsmen of those days. 

George Anshutz, the pioneer in the manufacture of 
iron in Allegheny county, was an Alsatian by birth, Alsace 
at the time being a part of France. He was born on No- 
vember 28, 1753, and died at Pittsburgh on February 28, 
1837, aged over 83 years. In 1789 he emigrated to the 
United States and soon afterwards located at Shady Side, 
in the present East End of Pittsburgh, where he built a 
small furnace, probably completing it in 1792. In 1794 
it was abandoned. It had been expected that iron ore 
could be obtained in the vicinity but the neighborhood 
produced little else than red shale. Recourse was next 
had to a deposit of iron ore on Roaring run, an affluent of 
the Kiskiminitas, in the southeastern corner of Armstrong 
county, from which supplies were received in arks on the 
Allegheny river. Some ore was also brought by wagon 
from the vicinity of Fort Ligonier and Laughlinstown, in 
Westmoreland county. Mr. Anshutz's furnace was built 
on a stream called Two-mile run, on the bank of which 
Colonel Jonas Roup had previously at an early period 
erected a grist and saw mill. The enterprise was largely 
devoted to the casting of stoves and grates. 

The first iron foundry at Pittsburgh was established in 
1805 by Joseph McClurg on the northeast corner of Smith- 
field street and Fifth avenue. Joseph Smith and John 
Gormly were associated with Mr. McClurg in this enter- 
prise. They retired, however, before 1807. The enterprise 
was styled the Pittsburgh Foundry. On February 12, 
1806, Joseph McClurg advertised in the Commonwealth 
that *Hhe Pittsburgh Foundry is now complete." In 1812 
it supplied the Government with cannon, howitzers, shells, 
and balls. Commodore Perry's fleet on Lake Erie and 



THE EARLY IRON INDUSTRY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 199 

General Jackson's army at New Orleans received their 
supplies of these articles in part from this foundry. In 
1813 there were two iron foundries in Pittsburgh, Mc- 
Clurg's and Anthony Beelen's, and one cemented steel 
furnace, owned by Tuper & McCowan. In the following 
year there were two additional foundries in Pittsburgh. 
Mr. Beelen's foundry was put in operation in November, 
1810. Like George Anshutz he was a native of France. 

There were three nail factories at Pittsburgh in 1807, 
Porter's, Sturgeon's, and Stewart's, "which make about 40 
tons of nails yearly." In 1810 about 200 tons of cut and 
wrought nails were made at Pittsburgh. In the same year 
the manufacture of shovels, hatchets, augers, and similar 
articles was extensively carried on at Pittsburgh. 

The first rolling mill at Pittsburgh was built by Chris- 
topher Cowan, at the corner of Penn street and Cecil's 
alley, in 1811 and 1812. This mill had no puddling fur- 
naces, nor was it built to roll bar iron. It was intended 
to and did manufacture sheet iron, nail and spike rods, 
shovels, spades, chains, hatchets, hammers, etc. It em- 
braced a rolling mill, slitting mill, and tilt-hammer, ''all 
under the same roof." 

The Union rolling mill was the second mill that was 
built at Pittsburgh. .It was located on the north side of 
the Monongahela river, was built in 1819, and was acci- 
dentally blown up and permanently dismantled in 1829, 
the machinery being taken to Covington, Kentucky. This 
mill had four puddling furnaces, the first in Pittsburgh. 
It was also the first to roll bar iron. It was built by 
Baldwin, Robinson, McNickle & Beltzhoover. 

Other rolling mills at Pittsburgh and in its vicinity 
soon followed. At Etna, on Pine creek, Belknap, Bean 
& Butler manufactured scythes and sickles with water 
power as early as 1820, but in 1824 steam power was in- 
troduced and blooms were rolled. A rolling mill on Grant's 
Hill was built in 1821 by William B. Hayes and David 
Adams, near where the court-house now stands. Water 
for the generation of steam at this mill had to be hauled 
from the Monongahela river. The Juniata iron works 
were built on the south side of the Allegheny river in 1824 



200 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

by Dr. Peter Shoenberger. Sligo rolling mill was built on 
the south side of the Monongahela in 1825 by Robert T. 
Stewart and John Lyon. The Dowlais works, in Kensing- 
ton, were built in 1825 by George Lewis and Reuben Leonard. 

The condition of the iron industry of Pittsburgh at the 
close of the first quarter of the nineteenth century is sum- 
med up in Cramer's Magazine Almanac for 1826 : " The 
manufactures of Pittsburgh, particularly in the article of 
iron, begin to assume a very interesting aspect. Not less 
than five rolling mills are now in operation, and a sixth 
will soon be ready, for the various manufactures of iron. 
Four of the mills are capable of making iron from the 
piQf besides rolling, slitting, and cutting into nails." 

In 1829 Allegheny county had eight rolling mills, us- 
ing 6,000 tons of blooms and 1,500 tons of pig iron. In 
the same year there were nine foundries which consumed 
3,500 tons of pig iron. In 1828 the iron rolled amounted 
to 3,291 tons, in 1829 to 6,217 tons, and in 1830 to 9,282 
tons. It is said that in 1830 one hundred steam engines 
were built in Pittsburgh. In 1831 there were two steel 
cementation furnaces at Pittsburgh. In 1836 there were 
nine rolling mills in operation and eighteen foundries, en- 
gine factories, and machine shops. 

In 1856 there were at Pittsburgh and in Allegheny 
county twenty-five rolling mills and thirty-three foundries 
but not one blast furnace. Clinton furnace, on the south 
side of the Monongahela, in Pittsburgh, built in 1859 by 
Graff, Bennett & Co., was the first furnace built in Alle- 
gheny county after the abandonment in 1794 of George 
Anshutz's furnace at Shady Side. It was built to use 
coke made from Pittsburgh coal, but Connellsville coke was 
soon substituted. Clinton furnace was followed in 1861 by 
the two Eliza furnaces of Laughlin & Co. and soon after- 
wards by others, all to use Connellsville coke. 

Allegheny county made cemented, or blister, steel at 
an early day. In 1860 Hussey, Wells & Co. established 
at Pittsburgh the manufacture of crucible steel on a firm 
basis, and in 1862 Park, Brother & Co. successfully estab- 
lished at Pittsburgh crucible steel works also on a firm 
foundation. The first Bessemer steel works in Allegheny 



THE EARLY IRON INDUSTRY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 201 

county were completed by Andrew Carnegie and his 
associates at Braddock late in 1875. The manufacture of 
open-hearth steel in Allegheny county, also by Mr. Car- 
negie and his associates, soon followed. 

In 1906 there were 47 blast furnaces in Allegheny 
county and 67 rolling mills and steel works. In 1906, as 
in other preceding years, this county produced more pig 
iron and rolled more iron and steel than the remainder of 
Pennsylvania, and it rolled almost as much iron and steel 
as the production of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. In the 
year mentioned it made over 22 per cent, of the country's 
total production of pig iron, over 30 per cent, of its total 
production of steel, and over 29 per cent, of its total pro- 
duction of rolled iron and steel. 

The pre-eminence of Pennsylvania as an iron and steel 
producing State is largely due to the extraordinary activ- 
ity of the iron and steel industries of Allegheny county 
since about 1825. Even before this year the towns and 
cities in the Ohio valley were mainly supplied by Pitts- 
burgh merchants and manufacturers with bar iron, nails, 
pots, kettles, plow irons, and other iron and steel wares. 
In the early days Pittsburgh rolling mills were mainly 
supplied with blooms from the Juniata valley and with pig 
iron from nearer localities, but large quantities of blooms 
were also brought to Pittsburgh from Ohio, Kentucky, 
and Tennessee. 

The details above given of the early iron history of 
Pennsylvania relate almost entirely to the manufacture 
of iron with charcoal as fuel, no other fuel having been 
successfully used in American blast furnaces until about 
1840, and but little use of any other fuel having been made 
before that time in any other branches of the American 
iron industry. The charcoal iron industry of Pennsylvania 
is now virtually dead. Nearly all of its charcoal furnaces 
and bloomaries and all of its primitive charcoal forges 
have been abandoned. In 1905 only five charcoal furnaces 
were left in the whole State, and not one of these was 
in Western Pennsylvania. In 1906 one of these furnaces 
was dismantled. The total production of charcoal pig 
iron in Pennsylvania in that year was only 2,663 tons. 



202 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL RAILS. 

This country leads all other countries in the produc- 
tion of iron and steel. This prominence in the manufac- 
ture of these products is only in part due to the bounty 
of nature in providing liberal supplies of the raw materi- 
als that are needed; it is largely the result of friendly 
and patriotic Congressional legislation, first in adopting in 
1850 and in subsequently continuing the policy of liberal 
grants of public lands to railroad companies, and second 
in more firmly establishing in 1861 the protective tariff 
policy, which has since been effectively maintained with 
but brief interruptions. Through the operation of the pro- 
tective policy the home market has been largely preserved 
for the home producers of iron and steel, and through the 
operation of the land-grant system, supplemented by the 
homestead policy, which policy first became effective in 
1862, during the civil war, thousands of miles of railroad 
have been built in the Western States and Territories that 
would not otherwise have been built. With the building 
of these roads and of other roads in the Eastern, Middle, 
and Southern States the consumption of iron and steel 
and of other manufactured products has been greatly en- 
larged, the population of all sections of the country has 
been rapidly increased, vast mineral resources have been 
discovered and developed, and the whole country has been 
phenomenally enriched. Thousands of new farms have 
been opened, our agricultural products have been many 
times multiplied, and both home and foreign markets for 
the sale of our surplus crops and of all other products of 
the farm, the forest, the fishery, the mine, and the factory 
have been quickly and cheaply reached. 

Many of these railroads could not have been built if 
our protective tariff policy had not built up our iron-rail 
industry in the third quarter of the nineteenth century 
and our steel-rail industry in the fourth quarter. Until 



THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL RAILS. 203 

we began to make our own iron rails and afterwards our 
own steel rails foreign manufacturers charged us excessive 
prices for such rails as we could afford to buy. Both of 
the rail industries mentioned had at the first to struggle 
for their very existence against active foreign competition, 
the early tariff duties on iron rails and afterwards on 
steel rails not being sufficiently protective, but in the end 
the control of the home market was gained, the produc- 
tion of rails increased enormously, and the prices of both 
iron and steel rails to railroad companies were greatly re- 
duced. Before we began to make our own steel rails Eng- 
lish manufacturers charged us more than three times as 
much per ton for the steel rails we bought from them as 
American manufacturers have since charged for millions of 
tons. These millions of tons of steel rails have been sold 
at lower prices than were previously charged for iron rails. 
In an argument presented to the Ways and Means Com- 
mittee of the House of Representatives, at Washington, on 
February 3, 1880, Mr. H. V. Poor gave the price of steel 
rails in British ports in 1863 as 369 shillings per ton, or 
$89.79. Ten years later, in 1873, the price of British steel 
rails in British ports was 350 shillings per ton, or $85.15. 
Ten years later, in 1883, the average price of steel rails in 
this country was $37.75 per ton, and since that year mill- 
ions of tons of steel rails have been made and sold in this 
country at less than $28 per ton, which price exactly cor- 
responds with the amount of the duty on steel rails that 
was imposed in the Schenck tariff of 1870, a duty which 
firmly established the steel-rail industry in our country. 
The resisting and wearing qualities of a steel rail be- 
ing much superior to those of an iron rail it is capable 
of supporting a much heavier weight of cars and locomo- 
tives, a much heavier tonnage of freight, and many more 
passengers, and it permits trains to be moved at a greater 
rate of speed. The carrying capacity of our railroads has 
been increased many times by the use of steel rails, and 
the cost of operating them per ton of freight carried or 
per passenger has been greatly decreased. The life of a 
steel rail being many times greater than that of an iron 
rail, notwithstanding the greater service it is called upon 



204 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

to perform, it can easily be seen that the cost to our 
railroad companies for renewals of track must be many 
times less than if iron rails were still used and sold 
even at the low price now paid for steel rails. 

In ten years after we began the manufacture of steel 
rails in commercial quantities, which was in 1867, the 
charge for carrying a bushel of wheat by railroad from 
Chicago to New York was reduced from 44.2 cents a bushel 
to 20.3 cents, and it has since been further reduced to 
8.47 cents. In 1860, using only iron rails, the charge for 
moving a ton of freight one mile on the New York Central 
Railroad was 2.065 cents ; in 1870, after we had commenced 
to use steel rails, the charge was reduced to 1.884 cents; 
in 1880, when steel rails were in more general use, the 
charge was further reduced to 8.79 mills; and in 1901 it 
was still further reduced to 7.4 mills. In the decade from 
1870 to 1880 the charge for transporting a barrel of flour 
from Chicago to New York by rail fell from $1.60 to 86 
cents. In 1903 the freight rate on flour over the Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad system in carload lots from Chicago to 
New York was 36 cents per barrel. 

In The Story of a Grain of Wheat, by William C. Ed- 
gar, of Minneapolis, the indebtedness of the farmers of our 
country to the railroads is frankly acknowledged in terms 
that corroborate all that has been above stated. He says : 

*' While the agriculturists of the United States have 
sowed and reaped, and its millers have advanced with the 
progress of wheat-growing, both would have been unable to 
attain the strong position they now occupy in the world's 
markets had it not been for the co-operation of the inland 
and ocean carriers. It must be admitted that the great 
expansion of the railways of the country and the steady 
reduction in freight rates, accomplished by an increase of 
facilities for moving the traffic economically, have been 
the great factors in the upbuilding of the export trade-in 
wheat and flour. The people of no other wheat-growing 
nation have been favored by as low rates of freight as the 
Americans. The railroad of the West extended its rails 
into promising fields as soon as, and more often before, 
their freight-producing capacity was known. 



THE MANXTFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL RAILS. 205 

" In 1871, when the true quality of spring wheat was 
discovered, the raibroads in the United States operated 
44,600 miles ; in 1897 181,000 miles were in operation. 
The reduction in the rate of freight per ton per mile has 
more than kept pace with the increase in mileage ; in 1859- 
60 the average rate was three cents per ton per mile; 
in 1896-97 it was four-fifths of a cent. On one railway, 
the Chesapeake and Ohio, the average freight rate per ton 
per mile in 1862 was seven cents ; in 1897 it was two- 
fifths of a cent. From 1858 to 1862 the average all-rail 
rate on a bushel of wheat from Chicago to New York was 
38| cents ; from 1863 to 1867 it was 31| cents ; during 
the next five years it fell to 27A cents, again declining to 
21i cents in 1873-77 ; in 1882 the average for the preced- 
ing five years was 16i^ cents ; this was reduced during the 
ensuing term to 14| cents ; from 1888 to 1892 it was 14^ 
cents ; and for the five years ending with 1897 it was 12^ 
cents." Mr. Edgar's all-rail statistics end with 1897. 

In the manufacture of iron rails Western Pennsylvania 
was prominent in the early days of American railroads. 
At Brady's Bend, on the Allegheny river, in Armstrong 
county, the Great Western iron works, including four 
furnaces and a rolling mill, were commenced in 1840 by 
the Great Western Iron Company, composed of Philander 
Raymond and others. The rolling mill was built in 1841 
to roU bar iron but it afterwards rolled iron rails, which 
were at first only flat bars, with holes for spikes counter- 
sunk in the upper surface, and in 1846 and afterwards it 
rolled T rails. In 1856 it made 7,533 tons of rails. This 
was one of the first mills in the country to roll T rails, 
our first rails of this pattern having been rolled in 1844 
at the Mount Savage rolling mill, in Maryland. The 
Brady's Bend mill continued to make rails until after the 
close of the civil war. In October, 1873, it ceased opera- 
tions. Shipments of rails were made by way of the Alle- 
gheny river. In 1849 the Great Western Iron Company 
failed and the Brady's Bend Iron Company took its place. 
The mill and the furnaces have long been abandoned and 
have gone to decay. In the Railway Age, of Chicago, for 
April 3, 1903, there appeared the following interesting 



206 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

reminiscence of the Brady's Bend enterprise, contributed 
by Mr. G. W. P. Atkinson. 

" The Allegheny Valley Railway in 1865 operated only 
44 miles from Pittsburgh to Kittanning. It is now part 
of the Pennsylvania system. At that time steamers ran 
up the Allegheny river from Pittsburgh to Franklin when 
there was water enough. There was a rail mill at Brady's 
Bend in 1865, with which the writer was connected, and 
which during the war made a great deal of railroad iron. 
William B. Ogden, Chicago's first mayor, was president of 
it and the writer had charge of its sales. If the river was 
not navigable for steamers we had to take the stage from 
the Kittanning end of the Allegheny Valley Railway to 
Brady's Bend, and a tough ride it was. The writer and 
William B. Ogden made the trip several times together. 
Rails were shipped by river in barges to Pittsburgh or 
Cincinnati. In the fall of 1865 the writer shipped 2,000 
tons of rails for the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad 
(which was run by the Government during the war) from 
the Brady's Bend mill in barges down the Allegheny and 
the Ohio rivers and up the Cumberland river to Nashville. 
It took about six weeks to reach Nashville. As one passes 
East Brady Station to-day on the Allegheny Valley Rail- 
way the tall stack of the rolling mill is visible on the op- 
posite side of the river, all that is left of the once busy 
town of Brady's Bend, with 3,000 people." The stack re- 
ferred to by Mr. Atkinson was torn down in 1903. 

In 1853 the Cambria iron works were built at Johns- 
town, by the Cambria Iron Company, expressly to roll T 
rails, George S. King being the originator of the enterprise. 
He and Dr. Peter Shoenberger owned four charcoal fur- 
naces and thousands of acres of mineral lands near Johns- 
town. Within a year the works were making iron rails. 
It is recorded by the Johnstown Tribune that on Thurs- 
day, July 27, 1854, the Cambria Iron Company '' made a 
fair and satisfactory trial of the entire machinery of the 
rolling mill" and that "it worked admirably." It added 
that *'four large T rails were rolled and pronounced per- 
fect by competent judges." Four charcoal and four coke 
furnaces were connected with these works. In 1856, under 



THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL RAILS. 207 

new management, the mill rolled 13,206 tons of rails, and 
its annual rail production was afterwards increased. For 
almost twenty-nine years, beginning with 1855, Daniel J. 
Morrell, who died in 1885, was the successful general man- 
ager of these works. In 1871, through his persistent ad- 
vocacy of steel rails, their manufacture by the Bessemer 
process was added to that of iron rails, in which branch 
of the steel industry these works have ever since been 
prominent. The Bessemer plant made its first blow on 
July 10, 1871, and its first steel rail was rolled on July 12, 
1871. John Fritz, the distinguished engineer, is entitled 
to the credit of having made the manufacture of iron rails 
at these works a conspicuous success, accomplished chiefly 
through his introduction of three-high rolls in 1857, more 
or less trouble having previously been experienced in the 
use of two-high rolls. His brother, George Fritz, also dis- 
tinguished as an engineer, successfully superintended the 
introduction at the same works of the Bessemer process 
and the manufacture of Bessemer steel rails. In 1898 the 
works were leased to the Cambria Steel Company, which 
now operates them. 

In an address at the seventy-fifth anniversary of the 
Franklin Institute, at Philadelphia, on October 4, 1899, 
John Fritz graphically described the first use of three- 
high rolls in the manufacture of iron rails at the Cambria 
iron works. From this account we take the following 
statements, which have historic value beyond their local 
interest — beyond even their interest for students of Penn- 
sylvania's great iron and steel industries. Mr. Fritz said : 

"The year 1857 is a memorable period in the history 
of the manufacture of iron. Up to this time all the rails 
were rolled on a two-high train, the pile being passejl back 
over the top roll, which was a great waste of time and loss 
of heat. When the flanges once began to crack, which 
was one of the serious troubles, being all the time rolled in 
one direction, the difficulty was greatly aggravated. The 
result was that when an imperfection occurred in the flange 
with each pass through the rolls the trouble increased, and 
to such an extent that it was a common occurrence for 
the flange to tear off the whole length of the rail and wind 



208 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

around the roll, forming what in rolling-mill parlance was 
called a collar^ which very generally ended in breaking 
some part of the train and often the roll. . . . During 
all this time I was giving the subject much considera- 
tion and had fully made up my mind that, if a three-high 
mill could be made to work, the difficulty could all be 
overcome. I besides had made up my mind that this was 
the only true way to roll iron. I was now prepared to 
suggest the building of a three-high mill, which I did. . . 

" At length the mill was completed, and on the 3d 
day of July, 1857, the old mill was shut down for the last 
time. The starting of the new mill on that day was the 
crucial period. There were no invitations sent out. As 
the heaters were opposed to the new kind of a mill we 
did not want them about at the start. We, however, se- 
cured one of the most reasonable of them to heat the piles 
for a trial. We had kept the furnace hot for several days 
as a blind. Everything being ready we charged six piles. 
About ten o'clock in the morning the first pile was drawn 
out of the furnace and went through the rolls without 
a hitch, making a perfect rail. You can judge what my 
feelings were as I looked upon that perfect and first rail 
ever made on a three-high train." 

On the day after this "first rail ever made on a three- 
high train'' was rolled the mill of the Cambria iron works 
was burned down. After describing that event and the 
rebuilding of the mill in four weeks Mr. Fritz continues : 
'' In four weeks from that time the mill was running and 
made 30,000 tons of rails without a hitch or break of 
any kind, thus making the Cambria Iron Company a great 
financial success, and giving them a rail plant far in ad- 
vance pf any other plant in the world. This position they 
held, unquestioned, for both quality and quantity, until the 
revolutionary invention of Sir Henry Bessemer came into 
general use." 

In 1865 the Superior Iron Company built the Superior 
rolling mill, at Manchester, below Allegheny City, to make 
iron rails. Connected with this mill were two coke fur- 
naces, built in 1863. The company operated the works 
until September, 1867, when they were leased by Springer 



THE MANUFACTURE OP IRON AND STEEL RAILS. 209 

Harbaugh. On January 1, 1870, Harbaugh, Mathias & 
Owens took possession as owners, and on August 1, 1874, 
they failed, when the manufacture of rails at these works 
was discontinued. The works themselves have long been 
abandoned. A few other iron rail mills in Western Penn- 
sylvania, most of which were equipped for the manufac- 
ture only of mine rails and other light rails, need not 
be mentioned. Of these mills those which made rails of 
heavy sections never at any time produced any considera- 
ble tonnage. Some were mechanical failures ; others were 
financial failures. It is a noteworthy fact that Allegheny 
county, with all its enterprise in the manufacture of iron 
and steel, did not begin to make rails of heavy sections 
until the Superior rolling mill was built in 1865. Iron 
rails are not now made anywhere in Pennsylvania, except 
a very few tons of light rails for lumber and mine roads. 
The Bessemer process for the manufacture of steel, 
which gives us the steel rail, dates from 1855, in which 
year Henry Bessemer, of England, obtained his first pat- 
ent for this process. Other patents followed in 1866, but 
the important invention was not perfected until 1857, in 
which year Robert Forester Mushet, also of England, add- 
ed his essential spiegeleisen improvement. In 1856 Mr. 
Bessemer obtained patents in this country for his inven- 
tion, but he was immediately confronted by a claim of 
priority of invention preferred by William Kelly, of Ed- 
dyville, Kentucky, but a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylva- 
nia, which was eventually approved by the Commissioner 
of Patents. Inconsequential experiments were made with 
Mr. Kelly's process at the Cambria iron works in 1857 
and 1858, but in September, 1864, steel was successfully 
made by his process at experimental works which were 
erected at Wyandotte, Michigan, by the Kelly Pneumatic 
Process Company. Success, however, was attained only by 
the use of the Mushet improvement, the control of which 
for this country the company had secured. In February, 
1865, the firm of Winslow, Griswold & HoUey was suc- 
cessful at Troy, New York, in making steel by the Besse- 
mer process with the Mushet improvement, the firm hav- 
ing obtained the control for this country of the Bessemer 

14 



210 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

patents but not of the indispensable Mushet improvement. 
In 1866 the ownership of all the above patents was con- 
solidated, and soon afterwards the manufacture of Besse- 
mer steel in this country in commercial quantities was 
commenced. At first and for many years afterwards rails 
only were made from Bessemer steel, and to-day nearly 
all the rails that are in use in this country were made of 
this steel. In recent years, however, we have commenced 
to make rails of open-hearth steel in large quantities. 

Steel rails have almost entirely supplanted iron rails 
on American railroads. Poor's Manual of the Railroads of 
the United States contains a statement which shows the 
number of miles of steam railroad track, exclusive of ele- 
vated city passenger railway tracks, that were laid with 
iron and steel rails respectively in each year from 1880 to 
1907. In 1880 81,967 miles were laid with iron rails and 
33,680 miles, or 29.1 per cent., were laid with steel rails. 
In 1907 9,319.88 miles were laid with iron rails and 314,- 
713.50 miles, or 97.1 per cent., were laid with steel rails, 
the total being 324,033.38 miles. In both years side 
tracks, double tracks, etc., are included. The length of the 
steam railroads completed and in operation in the United 
States at the close of 1907, not including side tracks, sec- 
ond tracks, etc., and excluding all elevated city passenger 
railways, was 228,128.10 miles. The ManuaZ, in giving the 
mileage of steam railroads in 1907 as aggregating 324,033.- 
38 miles, states that 224,382.19 miles were single track and 
99,651.19 miles were second track, sidings, etc. At the end 
of 1906 there were 36,932 additional miles of street and 
suburban railway lines in the United States. Of this mile- 
age 36,212 miles were operated by electricity. 

Much of the progress of this country in the manufac- 
ture of Bessemer steel rails has been due to the enterprise 
displayed by Andrew Carnegie at the Edgar Thomson 
steel works, at Braddock, east of Pittsburgh, the site of 
Braddock's defeat in 1755, the construction of which was 
undertaken in 1873 by Carnegie, McCandless & Co. and 
completed in 1875 by the Edgar Thomson Steel Com- 
pany, Limited. In both companies Mr. Carnegie was the 
leading spirit and stockholder, and his brother, Thomas 



THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL RAILS. 211 

M. Carnegie, who died in 1886, was also a stockholder. 
The works were built expressly to make Bessemer steel 
rails. They made their first blow on August 26, 1875, and 
rolled their first steel rail on September 1, 1875. At first 
only a Bessemer plant and a rolling mill were built, but 
in 1879 the erection of large blast furnaces was commenc- 
ed. Until these furnaces were built the Edgar Thomson 
steel plant was largely supplied with pig iron from the 
two near-by Lucy furnaces, built respectively in 1872 and 
1877, and owned by the Carnegie brothers and others. 

From year to year Mr. Carnegie steadily increased the 
capacity of the Edgar Thomson works and thus cheapen- 
ed the cost of producing rails, at the same time increasing 
his financial interest in the ownership of the works. From 
the first he had unbounded faith in the future of the steel 
rail ; he knew that its general substitution for the iron rail 
on American railroads was sure to come at an early day. 
He foresaw this evolution and fully prepared for it when 
experienced manufacturers and even many railroad offi- 
cials continued to praise the iron rail. Hence, while oth- 
ers were timid or neglectful of their opportunities, he in- 
troduced at the Edgar Thomson works from time to time 
the latest and most economical methods of manufacture ; 
the blast furnaces at these works were the begt in the 
country, the Bessemer converters were the largest, and the 
rail mill was the swiftest ; so that, when an extraordinary 
demand for steel rails would come, as it often did come, 
he was fully prepared to meet it and at a lower cost than 
that of his competitors. He had business foresight in an 
eminent degree; he had unfaltering courage; and more 
than all his cotemporaries he believed in tearing out and 
making a scrap heap of even modern machinery when bet- 
ter machinery could be found. The best engineering tal- 
ent in the country was engaged to* bring the Edgar Thom- 
son works up to the highest possible state of efficiency. 

These characteristics were again illustrated when Mr. 
Carnegie and his partners in the firm of Carnegie Broth- 
ers & Co. obtained full control of the Homestead steel 
works in 1883, and again in 1890 when Carnegie Broth- 
ers & Co., then operating the Edgar Thomson works, sue- 



212 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

ceeded to the ownership of the Duquesne steel works, with 
the result that steel in other forms . than rails has been 
greatly cheapened to all consumers. This lowering of steel 
prices was accomplished through the use of the best me- 
chanical appliances and the production of the largest pos- 
sible tonnage. At the Edgar Thomson works Mr. Carnegie 
set the pace for a large annual tonnage of steel rails, and 
this policy was also applied to the production of pig iron 
and other products. His American competitors were soon 
compelled to abandon their conservative ideas and to 
enlarge the capacity and increase the efficiency of their 
works. And he has compelled Europe to revise in a large 
measure its metallurgical practice and also to cheapen its 
prices for all steel products. It has freely copied the de- 
vices and processes which his engineers, with his encour- 
agement, had introduced or perfected. Of the engineers re- 
ferred to Mr. Carnegie's first superintendent at the Edgar 
Thomson works. Captain William R. Jones, whose tragic 
death occurred in 1889, is entitled to special mention. 
To these engineers and to his "young partners" Mr. Car- 
negie has always acknowledged that he was under great 
obligations. 

Mr. Carnegie's distinguished and remarkable career as 
an iron and steel manufacturer, which conspicuously be- 
gan on the threshold of the fourth quarter of the nine- 
teenth century, when the Edgar Thomson works were first 
put in operation, although he had previously been identi- 
fied with our iron industry, may be said to have ended 
immediately after the close of the nineteenth century, in 
February, 1901, when he transferred to the United States 
Steel Corporation the ownership of all the iron and steel 
properties and auxiliary enterprises in which he held a 
controlling proprietary interest. Soon afterwards, in 1902, 
he was chosen president of the Iron and Steel Institute, 
whose membership is not restricted by political or geo- 
graphical lines but which has its home in Great Britain, 
and he presided over its deliberations at the spring and 
autumn sessions of 1903, at London and Barrow respec- 
tively, on each occasion delivering an address. He also 
presided at the spring session of the Institute at London 



THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL RAILS. 213 

in 1904 and at the autumn meeting in New York in the 
same year. No higher honor can be conferred upon any 
iron and steel manufacturer, wherever his home may be, 
than to be elected to the presidency of the Iron and Steel 
Institute. Mr. Carnegie is the only American who has re- 
ceived this honor. 

The great success of the Edgar Thomson steel works 
and of other Bessemer plants in the United States led to 
the erection in Allegheny county of two competing steel 
works, already noticed : the Homestead steel works, which 
were completed and put in operation in 1881, and the Du- 
quesne steel works, which were undertaken in 1886 and 
put in operation in 1889. Both these works were built 
to make Bessemer steel and its products, but, while the 
Homestead works were erected to make miscellaneous 
products, including rails, the Duquesne works were built 
to make rails and billets. The Homestead works rolled 
their first steel rail on August 9, 1881, and the Duquesne 
works rolled their first steel rail in March, 1889. Down 
to their absorption by Carnegie Brothers & Co. in 1883 
the Homestead works rolled about 125,000 tons of rails, 
and down to their absorption by Carnegie Brothers & Co. 
in 1890 the Duquesne works rolled in all about the same 
number of tons, all, or nearly all, of the rails rolled by 
both works being of heavy sections. Since the changes in 
ownership above noted these works have not made many 
rails. The Homestead works have not made any rails 
since 1894 and the Duquesne works have not made any 
rails since 1897. The Homestead works were built by the 
Pittsburgh Bessemer Steel Company and the Duquesne 
works by the Allegheny Bessemer Steel Company. Both 
companies were composed of Pittsburgh capitalists. 

The prominence of Western Pennsylvania in the manu- 
facture of steel rails to-day is best shown by a reference to 
the statistical record. In 1906 the whole country made 
3,791,459 tons of Bessemer steel rails, and of this large 
production Western Pennsylvania made 1,105,941 tons, or 
over 29 per cent, of the country's total production. This 
large tonnage was almost entirely rolled at the Edgar 
Thomson and the Cambria works, operated respectively 



214 



PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 



by the Carnegie Steel Company and by the Cambria Steel 
Company. 

The first 30-foot rails that were rolled in this country 
were rolled at the Cambria iron works in 1855. These 
were iron rails and were perfectly made, but there being 
no demand for them they were used in the company's 
tracks. In 1876 these works rolled the largest aggregate 
tonnage of rails that had been rolled in one year by one 
mill in this country up to that time. Their production of 
rails in that year was 92,627 tons, of which 42,538 tons 
were iron rails and 50,089 tons were steel rails. 

The first 60-foot rails that were rolled in this country 
were rolled at the Edgar Thomson steel works in the fall 
of 1875 and were made of steel. At the Centennial Exhi- 
bition at Philadelphia in 1876 the Edgar Thomson Steel 
Company exhibited a steel rail which at that time was the 
longest rail that had ever been rolled. It was 120 feet 
long and weighed 62 pounds to the yard. 

When the Edgar Thomson steel works were built they 
embraced two five-ton Bessemer converters. Their equip- 
ment to-day includes four fifteen-ton converters. The fol- 
lowing table gives the annual production of Bessemer 
steel rails by these works from 1875 to 1907. This table 
presents the most remarkable record in the manufacture 
of iron and steel that has ever been printed. In thirty- 
three years these works produced 11,122,189 tons of rails. 



Yean. 



1875 
1876 
1877 
1878 
1879 
1880 
1881 
1882 
1883 
1884 
1885 



OrOSB tODB. 



5,853 

32,226 

48,826 

64,505 

76,044 

100,095 

151,607 

143,561 

154,892 

144,090 

126,656 



Yean. 


GroflB tons. 


1886 


173,001 


1887 


192,999 


1888 


148,293 


1889 


277,401 


1890 


332,942 


1891 


264,469 


1892 


380,511 


1893 


230,336 


1894 


220,337 


1895 


324,778 


1896 


300,776 



Yean. 



1897. 

1898. 

1899. 

1900. 

1901. 

1902 

1903. 

1904. 

1905. 

1906. 

1907 



Gron tons. 



477,363 
561,757 
604,343 
626,831 
708,113 
709,906 
734,859 
550,945 
720,562 
826,582 
756,830 



t 143,561 1893 230,336 1904 550,946 

! 154,892 1894 220,337 1905 720,562 

144,090 1895 324,778 1906 826,582 

; 126,656 1896 300,776 1907 756,830 

The mechanical genius and the tireless energy of the 
lerican people lie, of course, at the foundation of all 



THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL RAILS. 215 

our industrial achievements. In the development of our 
iron and steel industries the possession of all the neces- 
sary raw materials of manufacture gave opportunity for 
the employment of these national traits. The rapid growth 
of the country in population created an active demand 
for iron and steel for ordinary domestic and mechanical 
purposes, but the stimulus given to the building of rail- 
roads after 1850, and particularly after our protective 
tariff policy was firmly established, gave to the manufac- 
ture of these products its greatest opportunity. More 
than one-half of all the iron and steel that has been pro- 
duced in this country has gone into the construction and 
equipment of our railroads. We have to-day more miles 
of railroad than the whole of Europe and more than 
two-fifths of all the railroad mileage of the world. 

Steel rails have been made and are still made at other 
works in Pennsylvania than those that have been de- 
scribed in this chapter. Virtually all are in Eastern Penn- 
sylvania and are well known. It will be remembered that 
one of the objects of this volume is the presentation of 
industrial information relating to Western Pennsylvania 
that has not heretofore been widely known. 

Reference has been made in this chapter to the con- 
solidation in this country in 1866 of the ownership of 
the various patents which covered the Bessemer, Kelly, 
and Mushet inventions relating to the manufacture of 
pneumatic steel, now universally known as Bessemer steel. 
The credit of accomplishing this important result is due 
mainly to the tact and good judgment of Daniel J. Mor- 
rell, one of the owners of the Kelly and Mushet patents. 

This is also the proper place to mention that the im- 
portant invention, in 1877, of Sidney Gilchrist Thomas 
and Percy C. Gilchrist, two London chemists, which made 
possible the manufacture of basic steel, either by the Bes- 
semer process or by the open-hearth process, was intro- 
duced in this country through the enterprise of Andrew 
Carnegie, who purchased the control of the Thomas-Gil- 
christ patents for the United States in 1S79, subsequently 
transferring this control to the Bessemer Steel Company, 
Limited, which owned the consolidated Bessemer patents. 



216 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 



CHAPTER XXL 

CORNWALL AND OTHER IRON ORES. 

In the early part of its history Pennsylvania owed 
much of the activity of its iron trade to its possession of 
the wonderful Cornwall iron ore deposits, and in its later 
history it owes the pre-eminence of its iron and steel 
industries largely to the nearness of Lake Superior ores 
and to its possession of ConnellsviUe coking coal. A brief 
history of the development of the Cornwall mines and of 
the opening of the Lake Superior mines, and of the first 
shipments from these last mentioned mines, will be given 
in this chapter, accompanied by complete statistics of the 
shipments from all these mines down to the close of 1907. 

The Cornwall ore hills, which comprise three moun- 
tains of magnetic iron ore near Lebanon, Pennsylvania, 
were conveyed by John Penn, Thomas Penn, and Richard 
Penn, proprietors-in-chief of the province of Pennsylvania 
and the counties of Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex on the 
Delaware, by their warrant dated London, May 8, 1732, 
to Joseph Turner, of Philadelphia. Turner assigned the 
entire tract to William Allen on April 5, 1734, and on the 
28th and 29th of November, 1737, Allen assigned the tract 
to Peter Grubb, to whom a patent was issued on Au- 
gust 2, 1745. Peter Grubb built Cornwall furnace in 1742. 
He died intestate about 1754, and his estate descended 
to his sons, Curtis and Peter Grubb, Curtis receiving two- 
thirds under the intestate law of that day and Peter one- 
third. Both sons were colonels in the Revolution. On 
June 28, 1783, Curtis conveyed a one-sixth interest to Pe- 
ter Grubb, Jr., his son. By articles of agreement, dated 
September 26, 1785, Peter Grubb, Jr., grandson of the first 
Peter Grubb and son of Curtis Grubb, sold to Robert Cole- 
man his share of the Cornwall ore hills, Cornwall furnace, 
and appurtenances, reserving the right for a sufficient 
quantity of ore for one furnace, which right is held and 
exercised to-day by the proprietors of Robesonia furnace. 



CORNWALL AND OTHER IRON ORES. 217 

in Berks county. The deed for the share sold to Robert 
Coleman, signed by Peter Grubb, Jr., and his wife Mary, 
is dated May 9, 1786. After that year Robert Coleman, 
through successive purchases from the Grubbs, acquired 
four additional sixths of the property originally conveyed 
by the Penns to Joseph Turner. At Robert Coleman's 
death in 1825 his estate was devised to his four sons. 

We need not give the further connection of either the 
Coleman or the Grubb family with the Cornwall ore 
hills after the death of Robert Coleman. A detailed ac- 
count will be found in the annual report of the Geological 
Survey of Pennsylvania for 1885. The interest of these 
families in the ownership of the Cornwall mines is now 
comparatively small. A few years ago the Pennsylvania 
Steel Company pm-chased from the heirs of G. Dawson 
Coleman a controlling interest in the Cornwall iron ore 
mines. Neither the Coleman nor the Grubb family limit- 
ed its operations to the Cornwall "ore banks and mine 
hills/' but each engaged in the manufacture of iron. 

John Grubb, the father of Peter Grubb, Ist, who built 
Cornwall furnace, was a native of Cornwall, in England, 
whence he emigrated to this country in 1692, landing at 
Grubb's Landing, on the Delaware, near Wilmington. Peter 
Grubb, his son, was born at Grubb's Landing. A tradition 
in his family says that he built a furnace in 1735 about 
half a mile from the site of Cornwall furnace. But this 
supposed furnace was probably a bloomary, which may be 
regarded as Mr. Grubb's first iron enterprise. The earliest 
record evidence of his connection with the iron industry 
in Lancaster county is contained in "y® leace" of Corn- 
wall ore lands in 1739 by Peter Grubb to Samuel Grubb 
and Joseph Taylor. In this lease Peter Grubb is styled 
an "ironmaster," and it says that he "intends to build an 
iron furnace" on land adjacent to that leased to Samuel 
Grubb and Joseph Taylor. That furnace was undoubtedly 
Cornwall furnace, built in 1742. 

In Israel Acrelius's History of New Sweden, written 
about 1756, appears the following statement : " Cornwall, 
or Grubb's ironworks, in Lancaster county. The mine is 
rich and abundant, forty feet deep, commencing two feet 



218 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

under the earth's surface. The ore is somewhat mixed 
with sulphur and copper. Peter Grubb was its discoverer/' 

Robert Coleman was born near Castle Fin, Ireland, on 
November 4, 1748. In 1764 he came to Pennsylvania, 
and after filling various clerical positions became a clerk 
for James Old, first at Quittapahilla forge, near Lebanon, 
and afterwards at Reading furnace, on French creek. 

About the end of 1773 Mr. Coleman rented Salford 
forge, near Norristown, where he remained three years. 
His grandson, G. Dawson Coleman, had in his possession 
many years ago a document of rare interest, illustrative 
of Revolutionary experience at Salford forge. It is in- 
dorsed : '* Robert Coleman's memorial, presented August 
26th, 1776, asking permission for his clerk and three forge- 
men to be exempted from marching with the army to 
Amboy." It represented that the memorialist was an offi- 
cer in Colonel Potts's battalion and was then on his march 
to Amboy ; that he had rented a forge for three years at a 
rental of ''two hundred a year," the lease of which would 
expire in three months ; and that the "principal part" 
of his workmen were Associators, who, if obliged to march 
with the militia, would cause him great loss and entirely 
prevent him from working up his stock in hand. The re- 
quest of Mr. Coleman was granted the same day by the 
Council of Safety, to which body it was addressed. 

In one of his numerous contributions to Pennsylvania 
history Dr. F. R. Diflfenderflfer says that "on October 30, 
1777, Colonel Grubb notified the Council of Safety that 
his furnace was in blast for the purpose of casting salt 
pans, but he could not. proceed because his manager, 
founder, carpenter, and colliers were absent with the mi- 
litia. They were ordered to be released forthwith." 

For more than a quarter of a century Robert Coleman 
was the most prominent ironmaster in Pennsylvania. His 
descendants and those of Peter Grubb are still identified 
with the manufacture of iron, and the Cornwall ore hills 
are still relied upon to furnish large quantities of iron 
ore for furnaces in Eastern Pennsylvania. Prior to the 
development of the Lake Superior iron ore region the 
Cornwall mines were annually the most productive group 



CORNWALL AND OTHER IRON ORES. 



219 



of all the iron ore mines in this country, and this dis- 
tinction they held for several years after Lake Superior 
ores came into general use. 

The following table shows the production of iron ore, 
in gross tons, by the Cornwall ore mines from their first 
opening in 1740 to January 1, 1908. Down to the year last 
mentioned these mines had produced more iron ore than 
any other single iron ore property in the United States, 
including the most productive of the Lake Superior mines. 



Periods. 



From 1740 to 1790, three furnaces, each 2,000 tons yearly, about 
From 1790 to 1848, six furnaces, each 2,000 tons yearly, about. . 

From April 1, 1848, to January 1, 1853 

From January 1, 1853, to February 1, 1864, (date of formation of 
Ck)rnwall Ore Bank Company,) the shipments amounted to 



Tons. 



300,000 
700,000 
173,190 

1,351,717 



From February 1, 1864, to the end of 1907 the shipments were as follows 



Yean. 



1864 
1865 
1866 
1867 
1868 
1869 
1870 
1871 
1872 
1873 
1874 
1875 
1876 
1877 
1878 



Orofls tons. 



165,915 
114,802 
216,659 
202,755 
165,843 
173,428 
174,407 
176,054 
193,317 
166,782 
112,429 
98,924 
137,901 
171,588 
179,299 



Yean. 


Groas tons. 


Yean. 
1894 


Gross tons. 


1879 


268,488 


371,710 


1880 


231,172 


1895 


614,598 


1881 


249,050 


1896 


463,059 


1882 


309,680 


! 1897 


419,878 


1883 


363,143 


1898 


584,342 


1884 


412,319 


1899 


763,152 


1885 


508,864 ! 


1900 


558,713 


1886 


688,054 


1901 


747,012 


1887 


667,210 


1902 


594,177 


1888 


722,917 

' 1 


1903 


401,469 


1889 


769,020 ! 


1904 


174,331 


1890 


686,302 


1905 


617,060 


1891 


663,755 , 


1906 


763,788 


1892 


634,714 


1907 


704,004 


1893 


439,705 


Grand total 


20,366,696 



In the above statistics the word production is strictly 
applicable only down to 1853, but for that year and for 
all subsequent years the figures represent shipments only. 
For all practical purposes, however, production and ship- 
ments may be regarded as convertible terms, as in a se- 
ries of years production and shipments would be equalized. 

The existence of iron ore on the southern border of 
Lake Superior was known to white traders with the In- 



220 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

dians as early as 1830, but the first discovery by white 
men of the iron ore of this region was made on the 16th 
of September, 1844, near the eastern end of Teal lake, in 
Michigan, by William A. Burt, a deputy surveyor of the 
United States Government. In June, 1845, the Jackson 
Mining Company was organized at Jackson, Michigan, 
for the purpose of exploring the mineral districts of the 
southern shore of Lake Superior, and later in the summer 
of that year this company secured possession of the since 
celebrated Jackson iron mountain in the Marquette dis- 
trict, near the place of Mr. Burt's discovery. Iron ore is 
still taken from the Jackson mine. 

The first shipment of iron ore from the Marquette dis- 
trict of the Lake Superior region, the first district to be 
developed, occurred in 1860, in which year A. L. Craw- 
ford, of New Castle, Pennsylvania, took to that place 
about ten tons of Jackson ore, a part of which was con- 
verted into blooms and these blooms were rolled into bar 
iron. Mr. Crawford's shipment of iron ore was hauled 
around the Sault Ste. Marie on a strap railroad about one 
and a quarter miles long. Shipments from this district for 
commercial purposes did not begin until 1853, when about 
70 tons were used in two blast furnaces in Mercer county, 
Pennsylvania. The next Lake Superior iron ore district 
to be developed was the Menominee district, from which 
the first shipments were made in 1877, aggregating 10,405 
tons. In 1884 the first shipments were made from the 
Vermilion district, aggregating 62,124 tons. Next followed 
the development of the Gogebic district, from which the 
first shipments were also made in 1884, aggregating 1,022 
tons. In 1892 the development of the Mesabi district be- 
gan. Shipments in that year amounted to 4,245 tons. 

In 1853 a few tons of Jackson ore were shipped to the 
World's Fair at New York. On June 18, 1855, the first 
steamer passed through the Sault Ste. Marie Canal from 
the lower lakes to Lake Superior. The vessel was the 
side-wheel steamer Illinois. The steamer Baltimore passed 
down on the same day and was the first steamer to make 
a continuous trip in the opposite direction. The editor of 
the Marine Review, Ralph D. Williams, says that the first 



CORNWALL AND OTHER IRON ORES. 



221 



shipment of iron ore through the Sault Canal was made 
on the brig Columbia on August 17, 1855, and consisted 
of 132 tons, shipped by the Cleveland Iron Mining Com- 
pany and consigned to itself. He further says that all 
the ore that left Lake Superior that year, amounting to 
1,449 tons, was shipped by the same company. 

In the following table the shipments of iron ore from 
the Lake Superior iron ore region are given from the be- 
ginning of shipments in 1853 and 1854 to the end of 1907. 
The word shipments is not synonymous with production. 
Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota comprise the Lake 
Superior iron ore region, and strictly speaking include 
only the Marquette, Menominee, Gogebic, Vermilion^ and 
Mesabi iron ore districts, which are near the great lake. 
The figures for 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906, and 1907 include 
the shipments from the Iron Ridge mine in the southern 
part of Wisconsin. * Shipments from the Baraboo district, 
which is also in the southern part of Wisconsin, are in- 
cluded in the figures for 1904, 1905, 1906, and 1907. 



Yean. 


Oroes tons. 


Years. 


Gross tons. 


Years. 


Gross tons. 


1853-^ . . . 


3,000 


1872 


900,901 


1890 


9,012,379 


1855 


1,449 


1873 


1,162,458 


1891 


7,062,233 


1856 


36,343 


1874 


919,557 1 


1892 


9,069,556 


1857 


25,646 


1875 


891,257 


1893 


6,060,492 


1858 


15,876 


1876 


992,764 


1894 


7,748,932 


1859 


68,832 


1877 


1,015,087 


1895 


10,438,268 


1880 


114,401 


1878 


1,111,110 


1896 


9,916,035 


1861 


49,909 


1879 


1,375,691 


1897 


12,469,638 


1862 


124,169 


1880 


1,908,745 


1898 


14,024,678 


1863 


203,055 


1881 


2,306,505 


1899 


18,251,804 


1864 


243,127 


1882 


2,965,412 


1900 


19,059,393 


1866 


236,208 


1883 


2,353,288 


1901 


20,593,537 


1866 


278,796 


1884 


2,518,692 


1902 


27,571,121 


1867 


473,567 


1885 


2,466,372 


1903 


24,289,878 


1868 


491,449 


1886 


3,568,022 


1904 


21,822,839 


1869 


617,444 


1887 


4,730,577 


1905 


34,363,456 


1870 


830,940 


1888 


5,063,693 


1906 


38,523,439 


1871 


779,607 


1889 


7,292,754 , 


1907 


42,245,070 



The grand total of the shipments of iron ore from the 
Lake Superior region down to the close of 1907 amounted 
to 380,649,446 gross tons — a stupendous aggregate. 



222 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

The iron ores of Missouri received at one time a great 
deal of attention from iron and steel manufacturers at 
Pittsburgh and at other points in the Ohio valley, but 
more than thirty years ago they were overshadowed in 
importance by the iron ores of Lake Superior. The best 
known Missouri mines are located at Iron Mountain and 
Pilot Knob. The former were operated as early as 1845 
and the latter as early as 1847. Iron Mountain has pro- 
duced over 3,000,000 tons of ore and Pilot Knob has pro- 
duced over 1,000,000 tons. In 1872 there were mined and 
shipped from Iron Mountain alone 269,480 tons. A large 
part of the shipments from Iron Mountain and Pilot 
Knob was taken forty years ago to points on the Ohio 
river. The receipts of Missouri ore at St. Louis in 1873, 
largely for shipment to other localities, amounted to 349,- 
357 tons. Of the total receipts in that year 113,327 tons 
were shipped by river and 63,717 tons by rail. In those 
days Pittsburgh was the leading purchaser of Missouri 
ores, her blast furnaces and rolling mills taking 35,440 
tons in 1871, 68,420 tons in 1872, and 113,069 tons in 1873. 
The production of iron ore by all the mines of Missouri 
in the census year 1870 amounted to 159,680 tons, in the 
census year 1880 to 344,819 tons, and in the calendar year 
1889 to 265,718 tons. The production has since declined. 
In 1905 it amounted to 113,012 tons, but in some previous 
years it had fallen considerably below 100,000 tons an- 
nually. In 1907 the shipments amounted to 104,815 tons. 

In late years shipments of southern pig iron to north- 
ern and western markets have constituted a leading fea- 
ture of the home iron trade, but only a little more than 
thirty years ago these shipments were almost unknown 
and southern men were looking to the North for a mar- 
ket for their ores. In 1872, 1873, and 1874 considerable 
quantities of iron ore from Tennessee, Alabama, and Geor- 
gia were shipped to furnaces in Indiana and Ohio. The 
trade began in 1872, reached its culmination in 1873, and 
came to an end in 1874. In 1873 George H. Hull, of Louis- 
ville, shipped to the North about 25,000 tons of Alabama 
and brown hematite iron ore mined on the Selma, Rome, 
and Dalton Railroad, and about the same number of tons 



CORNWALL AND OTHER IRON ORES. 223 

of red fossiliferous iron ore mined near Birmingham. A 
considerable part of these ores was shipped to Brazil, 
Knightsville, Terre Haute, and Harmony in Indiana, and 
to Mingo Junction and Steubenville in Ohio. These ores 
when delivered cost from $7.75 to $9.25 per ton, and two 
tons of ore were required to make one ton of pig iron. 

Fifty years ago Lake Champlain iron ores were very 
popular for fettling in puddling furnaces as far west as 
Kttsburgh, but their use for this purpose is now confined 
to eastern rolling mills. From June to December of 1872 
20,580 tons of these ores were received at Pittsburgh. 
Soon after that year Missouri and Lake Superior ores su- 
perseded Lake Champlain ores at Pittsburgh for the pur- 
pose mentioned. 

The following details were given to us by the late 
Jacob Reese : '^ I sold more than 10,000 tons of Champlain 
ore for fettling in Pittsburgh in 1856 and 1857, and it 
was in use in Pittsburgh many years prior to my sales. In 
1856 I bought from the Cleveland Iron Mining Company 
the first cargo of 800 tons of Lake Superior iron ore that 
they had brought to Cleveland. I shipped the ore to 
Pittsburgh and sold it for fettling, and from 1856 to 1860 
I sold over 50,000 tons of that ore for that purpose.*' 

In a subsequent chapter credit will be claimed for 
Pennsylvania capital and enterprise in the development 
of the iron ores of Cuba. Two companies, both controlled 
entirely by Pennsylvania capital, are now operating the 
iron ore mines of Cuba — the Juragua Iron Company and 
the Spanish-American Iron Company. The total ship- 
ments by all companies from Cuba to all countries 
from the opening of the mines in 1884 to the close of 
1907 were as follows, in gross tons : the Juragua Iron 
Company, Limited, and the Juragua Iron Company, 4,- 
565,491 tons ; the Sigua Iron Company, 20,438 tons ; the 
Spanish-American Iron Company, 4,018,494 tons ; and the 
Cuban Steel Ore Company, 41,241 tons : total since 1884, 
8,645,664 tons. Nearly all of this total was shipped to 
the United States. The mines of the Sigua Iron Com- 
pany and the Cuban Steel Ore Company were abandoned 
several years ago. 



224 



PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

COAL AND COKE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 

The history of the development of the anthracite and 
bituminous coal industries of Pennsylvania has been so 
fully presented in various publications that it need not be 
here repeated, but some of the recent features of this de- 
velopment are important and will be presented in this 
chapter. (See Iron in All Ages, pages 467 to 478.) 

It has been shown in a previous chapter that in 1905 
Pennsylvania produced 49.9 per cent, of all the coal that 
was mined in the United States. Of this large percentage 
the anthracite production of the year supplied approxi- 
mately 19.77 per cent, and the bituminous production sup- 
plied about 30.15 per cent. These proportions were ma- 
terially altered in 1906, the anthracite production largely 
decreasing and the bituminous production largely in- 
creasing. In 1907 anthracite production again increased. 

The production of anthracite coal in Pennsylvania in 
1905 by counties is given in the following table by Hon. 
Edward W. Parker, statistician in charge, division of min- 
ing and mineral resources of the United States Geological 
Survey. The production in 1906 was 63,645,010 gross tons. 



Coantle»-1906. 


QrOBB tODfl. 


Counties— 1906. 


OroflB tons. 


Sosqaehanna 

Lackawanna 

Luzerne 

Carbon 


607,273 

17,626,996 

26,216,618 

2,198,229 

16,779,416 


Columbia 

Sullivan 

Northumberland 

Dauphin 

Total 


1,097,944 
274,167 

4,920,098 
724^613 


Schuylkill 


69,339,162 



Of the above total production of anthracite coal in 
Pennsylvania in 1905 there were shipped to market 61,- 
654,432 tons, sold to the local trade and to employes 
1,402,644 tons, and used at mines for steam and heat 6,282,- 
076 tons: total, 69,339,152 tons. The first shipments of 
anthracite coal for which exact statistics are available 
were made from the Lehigh region in 1820, when they 



COAL AND COKE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 



225 



amounted to 365 tons. The production in 1905 was the 
largest that had been recorded down to that year. 

The production of bituminous coal in Pennsylvania in 
1905 and 1906 by comities is given in the following table 
in net tons of 2,000 pounds, for which we are also indebted 
to Mr. Parker. The net ton of 2,000 pounds is in univer- 
sal use in the coal trade in Western Pennsylvania and the 
West, while throughout the East all coal, both bitumi- 
nous and anthracite, is sold by the gross ton. The pro- 
duction of bituminous coal in Pennsylvania in 1905 was 
118,413,637 net tons and in 1906 it was 129,293,206 tons. 
The table specifies the coal made into coke at the mines; 
coal consumed in making coke elsewhere is not indicated. 



Counties— Net tons. 



Production 
in 1905. 



Allegheny 

ArmBtrong 

Beaver 

Bedford 

Blair 

Butler 

Cambria 

Centre 

Clarion 

Clearfield 

Elk 

Fayette 

Huntingdon . . . 

Indiana 

Jefferson 

Lawrence 

Meroer 

Somerset 

Tioga 

Washington 

Westmoreland . 
Other counties ♦ , 



13,662,610 

2,497,314 

82,676 

752,715 

348,749 

550,589 

12,600,891 

810,441 

714,478 

7,248,305 

1,249,337 

24,250,989 

559,039 

4,477,431 

6,393,985 

267,470 

707,964 

6,412,672 

706,723 

10,609,061 

22,998,726 

511,482 



Made into ooke 
at mines in 1905 



Production 
in 1906. 



6,844 



213,811 
67,918 

1,292,574 



225,491 

77,328 

16,112,687 

303,083 
1,310,108 



81,075 

67,183 

8,125,022 

43,158 



16,823,027 

2,574,758 

81,531 

734,855 

402,438 

803,499 

12,439,152 

895,434 

719,548 

5,944,745 

944,367 

27,044,451 

630,155 

4,657,457 

5,160,195 

257,716 

842,648 

6,674,191 

826,925 

12,714,405 

27,573,420 

548,289 



Made into ooke 
at mines In 1906 



8,594 



155,611 
78,619 

1,205,491 
1,002 

252,414 

57,334 

18,608,461 

226,089 
1,165,598 



41,307 

188,871 

9,006,467 

30,336 



* Cameron, Clinton, Greene, and Lycoming. Also include small mines. 

There are sixty-seven counties in Pennsylvania, and 
of these counties twenty-five produced bituminous coal in 
1905 and 1906. Westmoreland and Fayette are the leading 
bituminous coal-producing counties, due largely to the suit- 
ability of the coal mined in their borders for conversion 

15 



226 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

into Connellsville coke. These coking-coal counties will 
long maintain their present leadership as coal producers. 
Allegheny, Washington, and Cambria counties come next 
in the production of coal. Without reference to the sta- 
tistical record few persons would suppose that Allegheny 
county, the great iron and steel centre of the world, is one 
of the greatest coal-producing counties of the country, its 
output in 1906 amounting to nearly 17,000,000 net tons. 
Nor would they suppose that Cambria county, in which 
the works of the Cambria Steel Company are located, is 
also a leading coal-producing county. This prominence 
by Cambria county has been attained within the last few 
years. Washington county has greatly added to its coal 
record from year to year. Jefferson county has also 
come to the front as a coal-producer within recent years, 
while Somerset county has started upon a coal-producing 
career that has already eclipsed that of Jefferson county. 
Clearfield has long been active as a producer of bitumi- 
nous coal. In Indiana and Armstrong counties a start 
has recently been made in the development of their bitu- 
minous deposits which has produced substantial results. 

The earliest statistical mention of the production of 
bituminous coal in Pennsylvania is in the census of 1840, 
when it was reported to have amounted to 464,826 net 
tons. The census of 1860 reported 2,690,786 net tons. 
In 1907 the whole country produced 352,540,830 gross 
tons, of which Pennsylvania's share was 134,215,569 tons. 

The same high authority from which we have obtained 
the coal statistics of Pennsylvania for 1905 and 1906 does 
not separate the coke production of the State by coun- 
ties but only by districts, the principal districts being the 
Connellsville in Westmoreland and Fayette counties and 
the Lower Connellsville in Fayette county, south of the 
Connellsville district proper. The Connellsville district is 
the most productive coke district in the world. In addi- 
tion to the Connellsville and Lower Connellsville districts 
there is another but comparatively unimportant district 
in Westmoreland county, which is known as the Upper 
Connellsville district, and which " lies north of a point a 
short distance south of the town of Latrobe." 



COAL AND COKE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 227 

The beginning of the manufacture of Connellsville coke 
dates commercially from the winter of 1841 and 1842, 
when two beehive ovens were built on the farm of John 
Taylor, on the Youghiogheny river, a few miles below 
Connellsville. The product of these ovens was shipped to 
Cincinnati in 1842 and there sold with much difficulty. 

The production of coke in Pennsylvania in the census 
year 1880 was 2,317,149 net tons, made from 3,608,096 
net tons of coal. In the whole country the production 
of coke in the same census year was 2,752,475 net tons, 
made from 4,360,110 net tons of coal. 

The total production of coke in Pennsylvania in 1905 
was 20,573,736 net tons, of which 11,365,077 tons were 
made in the Connellsville district proper, 3,871,310 tons in 
the Lower Connellsville district, and 755,946 tons in the 
Upper Connellsville district : total for the three districts, 
15,992,333 net tons. The total production by the whole 
country in 1905 was 32,231,129 tons, nearly one-half of 
which, or 49.6 per cent., was Connellsville coke. 

The total production of coke in Pennsylvania in 1906 
was 23,060,511 net tons, of which 12,057,840 tons were 
made in the Connellsville district proper, 5,188,135 tons in 
the Lower Connellsville district, and 1,011,229 tons in the 
Upper Connellsville district: total for the three districts, 
18,257,204 net tons. The total production by the whole 
country in 1906 was 36,401,217 net tons. The production 
of all the Connellsville districts in 1906 was a little more 
than one-half of the country's total production of coke in 
that year, or over 50.1 per cent. The total production of 
coke in 1907 was 40,779,564 net tons, of which Pennsyl- 
vania produced 26,513,214 tons, or over 65 per cent. 

Western Pennsylvania, in which nearly all the bitu- 
minous coal of the State is mined, is our great bitumi- 
nous "black district.'' In the quantity of coal it annually 
produces it is now far in advance of the great anthracite 
coal region in Eastern Pennsylvania. It embraces a much 
larger area than its anthracite rival, and the develop- 
ments of the near future may somewhat widen this area. 
The area of anthracite development in Pennsylvania is 
already defined. In all the leading counties of Western 



228 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

Pennsylvania there has recently existed the greatest min- 
ing activity. In nearly all the counties included in the 
table investors and mining engineers have lately been 
busily engaged in locating and securing title to valuable 
coal territory that had previously been wholly undevel- 
oped and neglected. Some of these acquisitions have al- 
ready been developed, while others will be held as invest- 
ments or to supplement fields that are now being work- 
ed out. The traveler on any of the railroads through 
the counties referred to will be amazed at the activity in 
the production of coal that is observable on every hand, 
accompanied in many localities by equal activity in the 
manufacture of coke. 

But over all this activity — over all this "black dis- 
trict" — there hangs a black cloud other than that which 
the coal itself makes when it is converted into coke or is 
consumed by locomotives and the manufacturing enter- 
prises that it has created. A very large proportion of the 
population of Western Pennsylvania which is engaged in 
mining coal and in making coke is composed of undesir- 
able foreign elements, and with these are associated many 
undesirable negroes who have been brought from the 
Southern States. So numerous and oftentimes so lawless 
are these foreign and negro laborers that the character 
of whole communities has been radically changed within 
the last ten or fifteen years. Indiana and Somerset coun- 
ties, for instance, have been largely transformed by these 
laborers from peaceful agricultural districts into unat- 
tractive centres of coal-mining and coke-making activity 
in which dissipation and lawlessness constantly prevail. 
The Black Hand is not fully held in check by the State 
constabulary, a police force that was established solely for 
the purpose of keeping the lawless foreign element under 
control. The courts in many counties are kept busy try- 
ing Black Hand and other foreign-born lawbreakers. The 
prosperity that has brought into Western Pennsylvania the 
elements that we have referred to is very far from being 
an unmixed blessing. Similar labor conditions have long 
existed in the anthracite region. The principal ofiFenders of 
foreign birth in Western Pennsylvania are Italians. 



INDUSTRIES DEVELOPED BY PENN8YLVANIAN8. 229 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

INDUSTRIES DEVELOPED BY PENNSYLVANIANS. 

Prior to 1835 coke had been used in a small way in 
forges in Pennsylvania and as a mixture with charcoal in 
a few blast furnaces. In that year William Firmstone, a 
native of England, succeeded in making good forge pig 
iron for one month at the end of a blast at Mary Ann 
furnace, in Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, with coke 
from Broad Top coal. This pig iron was taken to a forge 
three miles distant and made into blooms. In 1837 F. H. 
Oliphant made at Fairchance furnace, near Uniontown, in 
Fayette county, Pennsylvania, a quantity of coke pig iron 
exceeding 20 tons and probably exceeding 100 tons. 

These two experiments marked the beginning of the 
coke industry in this country in supplying a desirable 
fuel in the manufacture of pig iron. Our first continu- 
ous use of coke in the blast furnace was accomplished 
at Lonaconing furnace, in Western Maryland, in 1838 or 
1839. In June, 1839, this furnace, which was built by the 
George's Creek Company, was making about 70 tons per 
week of good foundry iron. Other furnaces, particularly 
in Western Pennsylvania, soon afterwards used coke, but 
its use as a furnace fuel did not come rapidly into favor. 
For many years after 1840 anthracite coal was the favor- 
ite blast furnace fuel next to charcoal. It was not until 
after 1850 that the use of coke began to exert an appre- 
ciable influence in the manufacture of pig iron. In 1849 
there was not one coke furnace in blast in Pennsylvania. 
In 1856 there were twenty-one furnaces in Pennsylvania, 
all in the western part of the State, and three in Mary- 
land which were using coke or were adapted to its use. 
After 1856 the use of coke in the blast furnace increased 
in Pennsylvania and was extended to other States, but it 
was not until 1869 that the country made more pig iron 
with coke than with charcoal, and not until 1875 that it 
made more than with anthracite. In 1907 more than 98 



230 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

per cent, of the country's total production of pig iron 
was made with coke, either by itself or in combination 
with anthracite or raw bituminous coal. Pennsylvania 
produces more coke than all the other States combined. 

After many unsuccessful experiments with anthracite 
coal in the blast furnace, and a few moderately successful 
experiments, the use of this fuel in the manufacture of 
pig iron was made entirely successful in 1840^ by David 
Thomas, who on the 3d day of July of that year blew in 
the first furnace of the Lehigh Crane Iron Company, at 
Catasauqua, Pennsylvania, with the new fuel. Water pow- 
er from the Lehigh river was used in blowing the furnace. 
On July 4 its first cast of pig iron was made. Other 
furnaces soon began to use anthracite coal, and in a few 
years the manufacture of anthracite pig iron became an 
important branch of the iron industry of Pennsylvania 
and adjoining States. In 1855 more pig iron was made 
with anthracite coal than with charcoal. About 1840 the 
use of anthracite coal in the puddling and heating fur- 
naces of rolling mills in Eastern Pennsylvania and in some 
other States became general. It had previously been used 
in the generation of steam. Anthracite coal is but little 
used in the blast furnace in this country to-day, and the 
most of what is used is mixed with coke. In 1907 the 
total quantity of pig iron made with anthracite coal alone 
amounted to only 36,268 tons, all of which was made in 
the Lehigh valley. 

The use of raw bituminous coal, or uncoked coal, in 
the blast furnace, which is now virtually abandoned, has 
been chiefly confined to the Shenango and Mahoning val- 
leys in Pennsylvania and Ohio respectively, in which a 
very hard bituminous coal, known as splint coal, or block 
coal, is found, and which is not a good coking coal. The 
use of this coal in its raw state in the blast furnace dates 
from 1846, when Clay furnace, in Mercer county, Penn- 
sylvania, was successfully operated with it for some time. 
In the same year Mahoning furnace, in Mahoning county, 
Ohio, was built to use this fuel. In 1856 six furnaces in 
Pennsylvania and thirteen in Ohio were using it, their 
production in that year being 25,073 gross tons. Some 



INDUSTRIES DEVELOPED BT PENNSTLVANIANS. 231 

progress was afterwards made in the use of the same 
coal in the Hocking valley in Ohio, and also in Clay 
county and neighboring counties in Indiana, but since 
1880 its use has gradually declined, until to-day when 
used in making pig iron it is always mixed with coke. 
In 1890 the total production with this mixture was over 
300,000 tons ; in 1907 it was about 100,000 tons. 

The first use of Lake Superior iron ore in a blast fur- 
nace in this country occurred in 1863 at Sharpsville fur- 
nace, in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, owned by David 
and John Park Agnew, and in the same year it was used 
at Clay furnace, in the same county, owned by the Sharon 
Iron Company, at both furnaces successfully. Block coal 
was used exclusively at both furnaces. After 1856 other 
furnaces in Pennsylvania and in other States began the 
use of Lake Superior ore. 

The first use anywhere of Cuban iron ore was in 1884 
at furnaces in Eastern Pennsylvania owned by the Beth- 
lehem Iron Company and the Pennsylvania Steel Com- 
pany, which companies had jointly undertaken through 
the Juragua Iron Company, Limited, the development of 
the iron ore deposits of Cuba. This development has 
since been continued on a large scale by this company 
and by other companies, as is shown on page 223. 

The manufacture of steel by the old-time method of 
cementation never attained a position of much prominence 
in this country, while the manufacture of crucible steel 
made but slow progress down to about 1860. Up to this 
time the country's main reliance for steel was upon Eng- 
lish manufacturers. The manufacture of crucible steel of 
the best quality was established on a firm basis when 
Hussey, Wells & Co. and Park, Brother & Co., of Pitts- 
burgh, and Gregory & Co., of Jersey City, in the years 
1860, 1862, and 1863, respectively, succeeded in making it 
as a regular product. Dr. Curtis G. Hussey, of Pittsburgh, 
is entitled to the credit of having established this in- 
dustry in our country on a solid foundation, the firm of 
which he was the head having successfully, for the first 
time in our history, made crucible steel of the best 
quality as a regular product in 1860. Of the country's 



232 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

total production of 131,234 tons of crucible steel in 1907 
Pennsylvania made 87,556 tons, and almost 57 per cent, 
of this large proportion was made in Allegheny county. 

The manufacture of Bessemer steel in this country 
was commenced in an experimental way at Wyandotte, 
Michigan, in 1864, and again at Troy, New York, in 1865. 
The steel made at Wyandotte was made by the Kelly 
Pneumatic Process Company, which was largely composed 
of Pennsylvanians — William Kelly, James Park, Jr., and 
William M. Lyon, of Pittsburgh, and Daniel J. Morrell, of 
Johnstown. In May, 1867, the Pennsylvania Steel Com- 
pany made at its Steelton works the first Bessemer steel 
that was made in Pennsylvania. In 1867 the whole coun- 
try made 2,679 tons of Bessemer steel and 2,277 tons of 
Bessemer steel rails. The first steel rails produced in the 
United States in commercial quantities were rolled by the 
Cambria Iron Company, at Johnstown, in August, 1867, 
from ingots made at the works of the Pennsylvania Steel 
Company. Pennsylvania has been by far the most active 
of all the States in the development of the Bessemer 
steel industry. The country's total production of Besse- 
mer steel in 1906 was 12,275,830 tons, of which Penn- 
sylvania made 39.3 per cent. In 1906 it made over 41 
per cent. Of the total production of Bessemer steel rails 
in 1905 Pennsylvania's share was 34.3 per cent., and in 
1906 it was 34.2 per cent. 

The manufacture of steel by the Siemens-Martin, or 
open-hearth, process was introduced into this country in 
1868 by Cooper, Hewitt & Co., at the works of the New 
Jersey Steel and Iron Company, at Trenton. This enter- 
prise was not a commercial success. Open-hearth steel 
was first made in Pennsylvania by Singer, Nimick & Co., 
at Pittsburgh, in 1871 or 1872, and its manufacture was 
commercially successful. In August, 1875, there were 
thirteen establishments in this country which were then 
making open-hearth steel or were prepared to make it, 
and of these five were located in Pennsylvania, of which 
three were in Pittsburgh. The country's total production 
of open-hearth steel in 1875 was, however, only 8,080 
tons, and ten years afterwards it was only 133,376 tons. 



INDUSTRIES DEVELOPED BY PENNSTLVANIANS. 233 

but in 1896 it was 1,137,182 tons and in 1905 it was 
8,971,376 tons. Of the total production in 1905 Pennsyl- 
vania's share was 6,471,818 tons, or over 72 per cent. The 
production of Allegheny county in 1906 was 3,410,482 
tons, or over 38 per cent, of the total production. The 
total production of open-hearth steel in 1907 was 11,- 
549,736 tons, of which Pennsylvania made 7,868,353 tons. 
Allegheny county's production was 3,883,014 tons. 

On May 24, 1884, the Pennsylvania Steel Company 
made the first basic Bessemer steel that was made in this 
country. It was of excellent quality but its production 
was not continued. No basic Bessemer steel has been 
made in the United States since 1897, when about 69,000 
tons of ingots were produced at Troy, New York, by the 
Troy Steel Company. 

The manufacture of basic open-hearth steel was com- 
menced in this country in 1886 by the Otis Iron and Steel 
Company, at Cleveland, Ohio, which operated one furnace 
experimentally on basic steel for about ten weeks, when 
its further manufacture was discontinued. The manufac- 
ture of basic open-hearth steel in this country as a reg- 
ular commercial product dates, however, from 1888, on 
the 30th of March of which year basic open-hearth steel 
was produced at the Homestead steel works of Carnegie, 
Phipps & Co., Limited, at Homestead, near Pittsburgh. In 
1907 the whole country's production of basic open-hearth 
steel amounted to 10,279,315 tons. 

In 1897 Samuel T. Wellman wrote from Cleveland to 
the New York Railroad Gazette as follows : " The first ba- 
sic open-hearth steel made in this country was made at 
the works of the Otis Steel Company, of this city, under 
the immediate supervision of Mr. George W. Goetz. One 
furnace was started on January 19, 1886, with a mag- 
nesite bottom, the magnesite being imported from Aus- 
tria in the fall of 1885. This furnace was kept at work 
making basic steel until April 6, 1886, making in all some- 
thing over 1,000 tons of ingots. Just about that time the 
company became very hard pressed for steel to fill their 
orders and they decided to stop the manufacture of basic 
steel, as it was experimental." 



234 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

Pennsylvania was the first among the States to de- 
velop the petroleum industry, and for many years after 
the beginning of this development it possessed a virtual 
monopoly of the production of petroleum. The petroleum 
industry has added greatly to the prosperity and wealth 
of Pennsylvania. Western Pennsylvania has produced 
most of the petroleum that has been found in this State. 

StoweWs Petroleum Reporter for August, 1876, says : 
'' The earliest mention of the existence of petroleum in 
the United States is probably that contained in a letter 
of July 8, 1627, written by the French missionary, Jo- 
seph Delaroche, and published in Sagard's Histoire du 
Canada. The locality mentioned is supposed to be near 
the present town of Cuba, Allegany county. New York. 
On a map published about 1760 there appear near the 
site of this town the words Fontaine de Bitume. The ear- 
liest mention of petroleum in Pennsylvania appears to be 
by Charlevoix in his journal of May, 1721, who speaks on 
the authority of Captain de Joncaire of the existence of a 
fountain at the head of a branch of the Ohio (Allegheny), 
Hhe water of which is like oil and has the taste of iron,' 
and was used 'to appease all manner of pain.' On a map 
published in 1765 the word 'petroleum' appears near the 
mouth of the present Oil creek on the Allegheny river." 

In Appleton's Cyclopcedia Professor Peckham says : 
"The occurrence of petroleum about the headwaters of 
the Allegheny river in New York and Pennsylvania was 
known to the early settlers. The Indians collected it on 
the shores of Seneca lake and it was sold as medicine by 
the name of Seneca or Genesee oil." 

Rev. David Zeisberger, the Moravian apostle to the 
Indians, in his journal written in 1769, makes mention of 
oil, or petroleum, in what is now Forest county, Pennsyl- 
vania. He says : '^ It is used medicinally for toothache, 
rheumatism, etc. Sometimes it is taken internally. It is of 
a brown color and burns well and can be used in lamps." 

Some of the early salt wells of the Kanawha valley in 
West Virginia produced petroleum as well as salt. The 
earliest mention we have found of petroleum in these 
wells is in 1806 ; another reference is in 1829. As early as 



INDUSTRIES DEVELOPED BY PENNSYLVANIANS. 235 

1836 from 60 to 100 barrels of petroleum were annually 
collected in the Kanawha valley and sold as a medicine. 

Petroleum was discovered in a salt well in Ohio in 
1814. A salt well on Duck creek discharged petroleum 
in that year. Dr. S. P. Hildreth, of Marietta, in a contri- 
bution to the American Journal of Science in 1826 con- 
cerning the Ohio borings for salt water, says : " They 
have sunk two wells, which are now more than 400 feet 
in depth ; one of them affords a very strong and pure 
water. The other discharges such vast quantities of petro- 
leum, and besides is subject to such tremendous explosions 
of gas as to force out all the water and afford nothing 
but gas for several days, that they make but little or no 
salt. Nevertheless the petroleum is beginning to be in 
demand for lamps in workshops and manufactories.'' 

In Johnson's Cyclopcedia Professor Chandler says that 
" in 1829 a flowing oil well was accidentally obtained in 
Burkesville, Kentucky, and for two or three weeks the oil 
flowed over the surface of Cumberland river, and becom- 
ing ignited caused some apprehension of a general confla- 
gration." 

These details show the existence of petroleum in New 
York in 1627 ; in Pennsylvania in 1721 ; in the Kanawha 
valley as early as 1806 ; in Ohio in 1814 ; and in Ken- 
tucky in 1829. But petroleum did not become a com- 
mercial product until 1859, in which year Edwin L. Drake, 
a native of Greenville, New York, bored an oil well on 
Oil creek, at Titusville, Pennsylvania. On August 31,1859, 
the production of petroleum in a commercial sense began 
at this well, which yielded about twenty-five barrels a day 
by pumping. Other wells were at once bored in Pennsyl- 
vania, New York, West Virginia, Ohio, and other States. 

Samuel M. Kier, of Pittsburgh, was the first person to 
demonstrate the practicability of refining petroleum. This 
was done by him in 1850. He had previously collected 
petroleum from the salt wells near Tarentum, on the Al- 
legheny river, and bottled it as a medicine. In the year 
mentioned he erected a small refinery in Pittsburgh and 
this enterprise was entirely successful. 

As petroleum was often found in the wells that had 



236 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

been bored for salt so natural gas was often found in 
wells that had been bored for petroleum. Sometimes all 
of these products were found in the same well. Natural 
gas and petroleum are, however, allied products. The ex- 
istence of natural gas west of the Alleghenies has long 
been known. Its presence in the Kanawha valley is men- 
tioned by Jefferson in his Notes on Virginia, Soon after 
1840 gas was found in many salt wells in this valley and 
it was used for both heating and illuminating purposes. 
As early as 1821 natural gas was used at Fredonia, New 
York, to light houses and other buildings. But natural 
gas was not brought into general use anywhere in this 
country until many years after Colonel Drake's success 
in boring for petroleum at Titusville in 1869. At first, 
when found in boring for oil, it was usually allowed to 
escape into the atmosphere, but subsequently its great 
value caused it to be directed into pipes. The first gas 
well in the celebrated Murrysville district in Westmore- 
land county, Pennsylvania, was bored in 1878 expressly 
for gas, but for five years the immense product of this 
well was allowed to go to waste because it could not be 
controlled. In the decade between 1870 and 1880 natu- 
ral gas began to be freely used in Western Pennsylvania 
and adjoining States for heating residences and for light- 
ing streets, but it was not until after 1880 that it received 
much attention as a fuel in manufacturing establishments. 
Soon after this year its use for this purpose was greatly 
extended. Pittsburgh did not begin the general use of 
natural gas in its iron and steel works until 1883, when 
the Murrysville gas was first used. In November, 1907, 
the whole number of rolling mills and steel works in the 
United States which used natural gas was 137, of which 
63 were in Allegheny county and 37 were in other parts 
of Western Pennsylvania. 

At the Siberian rolling mill of Rogers & Burchfield, at 
Leechburg, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, natural gas, 
taken from a well 1,200 feet deep, was first used as fuel in 
the manufacture of iron. In the fall of 1874 it was stated 
that during the preceding six months this gas had fur- 
nished all the fuel required for puddling, heating, and 



INDUSTRIES DEVELOPED BY PENNSYLVANIANS. 237 

making steam at these works. Soon after 1874 the firm 
of Spang, Chalfant & Co., owners of the Etna rolling mill, 
in Allegheny county, introduced natural gas in its works. 

In Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, written in 1781-82, 
we find the following interesting account of a burning 
spring, which was without doubt supplied with natural 
gas : " In the low grounds of the Great Kanhaway, 7 
miles above the mouth of Elk river, and 67 above that 
of the Kanhaway itself, is a hole in the earth of the ca- 
pacity of 30 or 40 gallons, from which issues constantly 
a bituminous vapor in so strong a current as to give the 
sand above the orifice the motion which it has in a boil- 
ing spring. On presenting a lighted candle or torch within 
18 inches of the hole it flames up in a column of 18 inches 
in diameter and four or five feet height, which sometimes 
burns out in 20 minutes, and at other times has been 
known to continue three days and then has been still left 
burning. The flame is unsteady, of the density of that of 
burning spirits, and smells like burning pit coal. Water 
sometimes collects in the basin, which is remarkably cold, 
and is kept in ebullition by the vapor issuing through 
it. . . This, with the circumjacent lands, is the property 
of his Excellency General Washington and of General 
Lewis ; there is a similar one on Sandy river. " In Wash- 
ington's will, written in 1799, he refers to the burning 
spring in an inventory of his lands on the Great Kana- 
wha as follows : "Burning Spring, 125 acres. The tract of 
which the 125 acres is a moiety was taken up by General 
Andrew Lewis and myself on account of a bituminous 
spring which it contains, of so inflammable a nature as 
to burn as freely as spirits, and is as nearly difficult to 
ejctinguish." 

Pennsylvania is to-day and has always been the larg- 
est consumer of natural gas of all the States, the most of 
which it has itself produced. In 1906 the whole country 
produced natural gas of the estimated value of $46,873,- 
932, of which the product of Pennsylvania was valued at 
$18,558,245, West Virginia coming next with $13,735,343. 
A large part of the annual product of West Virginia is 
consumed in Pennsylvania. 



238 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

Pennsylvania has lost its supremacy in the production 
of petroleum, as has been shown in the chapter relating 
to the great industries of Pennsylvania. It has also lost 
its early prominence in the manufacture of salt, also an 
industry of Western Pennsylvania. Major S. S. Jamison, 
of Saltsburg, Indiana county, who died in 1887 in his 
80th year, says in his reminiscences : '' In the early days, 
say from 1800 up to 1812, all the iron, salt, etc., to sup- 
ply the wants of the people of this county was brought 
from the East on pack-horses. In the fall of the year 
they would start east, each man with three horses and 
pack-saddles loaded with linen, cloth, flax, etc., and return 
with iron and salt. The latter was purchased at McCon- 
nellsburg, Pennsylvania, and Hagerstown, Maryland, and 
the former at different places." 

Egle's History of Pennsylvania contains the following 
account of the discovery of salt in Western Pennsylva- 
nia : ''About the year 1812 or 1813 an old lady named 
Deemer discovered an oozing of salt water at low-water 
mark on the Indiana side of the Conemaugh river, about 
two miles above the present site of Saltsburg. Prompted 
by curiosity she gath^ered some of the water to use for 
cooking purposes, and with a portion of it made mush, 
which she found to be quite palatable. About the year 
1813 William Johnson, an enterprising young man from 
Franklin county, commenced boring a well at the spot 
where Mrs. Deemer made the discovery, and at the depth 
of 287 feet found an abundance of salt water. The salt 
sold at $5 per bushel, retail, but as the wells multiplied 
the price came down to $4. Seven wells along the river 
on the Westmoreland side were all put down prior to 
1820 and 1822 ; and from that date till 1830 the group of 
hills on both sides of the river was like a great beehive." 

In the sketch from which the above extract is taken 
21 salt works, embracing 24 wells, are enumerated as hav- 
ing once been in operation on the Conemaugh river, in 
Westmoreland and Indiana counties, all of which works, 
except three, had been abandoned in 1876. The manu- 
facture of salt was actively carried on in Westmoreland, 
Indiana, Armstrong, and Erie counties in 1820. In 1826 



INDUSTRIES DEVELOPED BY PENN8YLVANIANS. 239 

there were 35 salt works on the Conemaugh and Kiski- 
minitas rivers, 3 on the Allegheny, and others in progress 
elsewhere. In 1840 Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, 
and McKean counties manufactured salt in addition to 
the counties named above, except Erie, which had then 
dropped out of the business. The salt industry in Penn- 
sylvania reached its culmination in 1860. Since 1889 it 
has been confined to one works in Allegheny City. It 
may be classed among the lost industries of Pennsylvania. 

In 1811 salt works were erected on Sinnemahoning 
creek, probably in the present county of Cameron. A 
handbill announced in 1811 that ^'considerable quan- 
tities of salt have been already manufactured." In 1820 
John Mitchell, of Bellefonte, bored a salt well in Karthaus 
township, Clearfield county, and made considerable quan- 
tities of salt for several years. Salt has been found in 
Susquehanna, Tioga, Cambria, and a few other counties. 

Prior to 1796 all the salt used in Western Pennsyl- 
vania was imported and packed or hauled from eastern 
cities. In that year General James O'Hara, of Pittsburgh, 
opened communication with the Onondaga salt works in 
New York, and he continued to supply Pittsburgh and 
Western Pennsylvania with salt down to the discovery of 
salt in the Conemaugh valley. But until Western Penn- 
sylvania began to make its own salt much of the salt 
used by the pioneers was obtained in eastern markets. 
The charter for at least one of the early turnpikes lead- 
ing to Pittsburgh stipulated that west-bound wagons haul- 
ing salt should not be subject to the payment of toll. 

In the first half of the nineteenth century Juniata iron, 
Pittsburgh coal, iron, and glass, Conemaugh salt, and Alle- 
gheny lumber were important factors in the development 
of Western Pennsylvania, aided by favorable transporta- 
tion facilities, but in the second half of that century Juni- 
ata iron and Conemaugh salt virtually disappeared from 
the markets and in their place there was developed the 
petroleum trade, the widespread use of natural gas, and 
the general substitution of steel for iron. To-day West- 
em Pennsylvania is noted for its immense production of 
pig iron and steel, bituminous coal, and coke. 



240 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

INDUSTRIES CREATED BY PENNSYLVANIANS. 

Although successful experiments in the manufacture 
of tinplates had been made in this country before 1890 
most of them had been abandoned because tariff duties 
were too low. The manufacture of tinplates and terne 
plates was not established until the tariff of 1890 increas- 
ed the duty on both these products from one cent to two 
and two-tenths cents per pound. The new duty did not 
take effect, however, until July 1, 1891, but our manufac- 
turers a year before confidently looked for only favora- 
ble results. Pennsylvania early took advantage of the new 
tariff legislation in supplying the country's general mar- 
ket with tinplates and terne plates ; indeed this legislation 
could not have been secured at the time it was enacted, 
if ever, but for the work of Pennsylvanians in creating 
a public sentiment in its favor. The United States Iron 
and Tin Plate Company, of Allegheny county, was the first 
to engage in the manufacture of tinplates in 1890. Early 
in that year, anticipating the passage of the bill enacting 
the new duty, this company, led by one of its members, 
Mr. W. C. Cronemeyer, who had been active in advocating 
the new duty, commenced the manufacture of tinplates 
of the best quality from sheets of its own make, and be- 
fore the year closed the company had manufactured and 
sold about fifty tons of tinplates. This company contin- 
ued to manufacture tinplates of a superior quality as a 
regular product. In the same year and in the following 
year other companies in Pennsylvania actively engaged 
in the manufacture of tinplates and terne plates. In the 
census year 1904 the whole country produced 387,289 
tons of tinplates, valued at $28,429,971, of which Pennsyl- 
vania produced 234,333 tons, valued at $16,547,120, and in 
the same year the country produced 70,919 tons of terne 
plates, valued at $6,119,672, of which Pennsylvania pro- 
duced 26,202 tons, valued at $2,381,277. No later census 



INDUSTRIES CREATED BT PENNSTLVANIANS. 241 

statistics are available at this time^ but it is certain that 
Pennsylvania's leadership in the production of both tin- 
plates and terne plates has been greatly strengthened in 
the intervening years. 

The manufacture in this country of armor plate and 
other heavy forgings for naval vessels is exclusively con- 
fined to Pennsylvania. Down to 1904 there had been es- 
tablished only two armor plate works, one at South Beth- 
lehem and the other at Homestead, the first by the Beth- 
lehem Iron Company and the other by the firm of Car- 
negie, Phipps & Co., Limited, afterwards the Carnegie 
Steel Company, but in the year mentioned the Midvale 
Steel Company, of Philadelphia, began the manufacture of 
armor plate. The conception of the project to establish 
the Bethlehem armor plant, the pioneer plant, originated 
with Joseph Wharton, the leading stockholder in the Beth- 
lehem Iron Company, the builder and successful manager 
of the plant being John Fritz, the chief engineer and gen- 
eral superintendent of all the company's works. The first 
contract for armor with the Bethlehem Iron Company 
was made by the Navy Department on June 1, 1887, and 
the first contract for armor with Carnegie, Phipps & Co. 
was made by the Department on November 20, 1890. The 
armor plate industry of this country, both in magnitude 
and in the character of its products, embodies the highest 
achievements of American metallurgical skill, and we owe 
it all to the enterprise and skill of Pennsylvanians. The 
American navy would have made but a sorry display in 
our recent war with Spain if the demand for armor for 
the "new navy" had not been fully met by the Bethle- 
hem and the Carnegie companies. 

Spelter, as crude metallic zinc is called, had never 
before 1859 been produced in the United States upon such 
conditions as to encourage the hope that its manufacture 
would become a staple industry. In 1856 the Lehigh Zinc 
Company, of South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, built a spel- 
ter furnace of the Silesian type at its zinc mine near Frie- 
densville, four miles south of Bethlehem, but this furnace 
did not yield any zinc. Samuel Wetherill, the patentee of 
valuable improvements in the manufacture of zinc oxide, 

16 



242 PROGBESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

also experimented at South Bethlehem in the production 
of metallic zinc and produced a small quantity as early 
as 1858, but, although he persevered for about two years, 
and made in all about fifty tons of excellent spelter, the 
cost of production was too high and his enterprise was 
abandoned. The first sheet zinc made in this country was 
rolled by Alan Wood & Sons, of Philadelphia, from an 
ingot of Mr. Wetherill's spelter. In 1869 Joseph Wharton, 
of Philadelphia, built for the Lehigh Zinc Company, with 
which he had been associated since 1851 as stockholder 
and afterwards as manager, a Belgian spelter furnace of 
about 45 retorts, which he operated with the aid of sev- 
eral workmen imported for the purpose. The, fuel used 
was Pennsylvania anthracite, and the ore was obtained 
from the Lehigh Zinc Company's mine near Friedensville. 
The spelter produced amounted to 34,063 pounds. This 
successful enterprise of Mr. Wharton was the beginning of 
the manufacture of metallic zinc in this country as a com- 
mercial product. Immediately after this successful experi- 
ment Mr. Wharton built at his own risk at the works of 
the Lehigh Zinc Company a complete spelter plant of 16 
Belgian furnaces, which he operated for his own account 
under lease from the company with absolutely unbroken 
success until 1863, when he retired from the business. 

Mr. Wharton is also entitled to credit as the pioneer 
in the manufactiu*e of refined nickel. In 1864 he purchas- 
ed the abandoned Gap nickel mine in Lancaster county, 
Pennsylvania, and from its ores made metallic nickel and 
nickel-copper alloy at works he had erected at Camden, 
New Jersey. In 1876 he produced pure malleable nickel 
which he made into various useful articles, being the first 
person in the world to accomplish this result. For many 
years he was the only producer of refined nickel in this 
country, his Gap mine, although now virtually exhausted, 
being for a quarter of a century the only nickel mine in 
operation on the American continent. Practically all the 
nickel that is now made in the United States is obtained 
from nickel matte produced in Canada. Mr. Wharton's en- 
terprise gave to the Government a cheap supply of nickel 
that was essential to its nickel coinage, and he gave to 



INDUSTRIES CREATED BY PENNSYLVANIAN8. 243 

the whole country an abundant supply of a metal then 
much needed for making German silver as well as for 
coinage, and which is now imperatively needed in much 
larger quantities for making the nickel steel so largely 
used for armor plates, gun forgings, etc. 

An enterprising Pennsylvanian, Dr. Curtis G. Hussey, 
of Pittsburgh, who is referred to in a preceding chapter, 
was the first person to develop the rich copper deposits of 
the Lake Superior region and afterwards to produce ingots 
of copper from the ore and sheets of copper from ingots. 
We condense from the Magazine of Western History for 
1892 the following circumstantial account of Dr. Hussey's 
enterprise. It says : '' Dr. C. G. Hussey, of Pittsburgh, was 
the pioneer in opening the first copper mine on Lake Su- 
perior and also in the erection of the first works for smelt- 
ing Lake Superior copper, and he built the first copper 
mill west of the Alleghenies. In 1843 he sent John Hays 
into the far-away region to see what discoveries he could 
make. During his exploring tour Mr. Hays purchased for 
Dr. Hussey a one-sixth interest in the first three permits 
ever granted by the United States for mining in that 
region. They had been taken out originally by Messrs. 
Talmage and Raymond, of New York, and Mr. Ansley, 
of Dubuque, Iowa, each one-third. Thomas M. Howe, of 
Pittsburgh, afterwards a member of Congress, purchased 
a part of this one-sixth interest. Later in 1843 other pur- 
chases were made by Dr. Hussey and his friends, giving 
them a controlling interest. The permits covered three 
miles square, the first being located at Copper Harbor, 
the second at Eagle River, and the third some three miles 
west of the second, but, being off the copper belt, was 
never worked. 

"In the winter of 1843-4 the Pittsburgh and Boston 
Mining Company was organized, and in the spring of 1844 
it sent Mr. Hays into its newly acquired territory, accom- 
panied by a competent geologist and a small party of 
miners, who prosecuted mining at Copper Harbor until 
autumn. Dr. Hussey made his own first visit to that re- 
gion in July to September of the same year. He landed 
at Copper Harbor. The next year further explorations 



244 PROGBBSSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

were made and mining operations were transferred from 
Copper Harbor to Eagle River, where a wonderfully rich 
vein of mass copper was discovered and which soon be- 
came known as the Cliff mine. The Pittsburgh and Bos- 
ton Mining Company thus opened the first mine in the 
copper region, and it was the first to demonstrate that the 
metal could be procured in paying quantities. This mine, 
the famous Cliff, cost its owners, in assessments, $110,000 
and paid them in dividends $2,280,000 before it gave out. 
A large proportion of the copper in the Cliff mine was 
foimd in huge masses. The transfers at Sault Ste. Marie 
were slow, laborious, and expensive until the opening of 
the great Soo Canal in June, 1855. 

" The first president of the company, upon its organi- 
zation in 1844, was the Rev. Charles Avery, of Pittsburgh, 
who retained the office until his death on January 17, 
1858. Dr. Hussey was then elected to the position and 
held it until the final winding up. The Hon. Thomas M. 
Howe was the secretary and treasurer until his death on 
July 20, 1877. Active mining operations ceased in 1870, 
the property was all disposed of within the next few years, 
and the affairs of the company were entirely closed up by 
a final distribution of assets in 1879. 

" Much difficulty was at first experienced in securing 
the smelting of such large masses of copper, none of the 
existing copper furnaces in the country being adapted to 
work of this character. It occurred to Dr. Hussey that a 
furnace could be built with a movable top, and this proved 
to be a simple solution of the whole difficulty. In 1848 
he erected a reverberatory furnace at Pittsburgh. The 
cover was lifted to one side, the masses were hoisted by a 
crane and let down into their bed upon the bottom, the 
cover was replaced, and the thing was done. The first 
ingots cast were in every respect as good as those now 
made. The next thing to be done was to erect a mill to 
roll the ingots into sheets, and a mill for this purpose was 
built at Pittsburgh in 1849 and 1850, and on July 1, 1850, 
copper rolling was commenced. In both the enterprises 
at Pittsburgh Mr. Howe was Dr. Hussey's partner, the firm 
name being C. G. Hussey & Co." 



INDUSTBIE8 CREATED BY PENNSYLVANIAN8. 245 

In Mr. Williams's biographical sketch of Peter White, 
(1907,) which gives an account of the important part taken 
by John Hays in the development of the Lake Superior 
copper region, the specific statement is made that Mr. 
Hays discovered the Cliff mine on November 18, 1844. 

One of the newest and most interesting industries of 
this country is the manufacture of aluminum, a metal 
used in the production of domestic and other articles, ma- 
chinery included, which combine lightness with strength ; 
as an alloy with steel and other metals ; and also for the 
transmission of electric currents as a substitute for cop- 
per. Fifty years ago aluminum was a chemical curiosity^ 
Soon afterwards small quantities were produced in Europe 
for commercial purposes by various processes, but the 
production abroad did not enter largely into the arts until 
after the manufacture of aluminum on a large scale was 
developed in the United States through the invention in 
1886 of the electrolytic process by Charles M. Hall, a na- 
tive of Thompson, Geauga county, Ohio. This process is 
now in universal use and it is exclusively used in this 
country. In a report of the United States Geological Sur- 
vey for 1892 the statement was made that "practically 
all the pure aluminum which has been made in the United 
States has been made in accordance with the electrolytic 
process covered by Hall's patents." Mr. Hall's process has 
so reduced the cost of aluminum that the metal is now 
in common use. The production in the United States in 
1883, before Mr. Hall's invention, was only 83 pounds, a 
purely laboratory product, but in 1903 it amounted to 
7,500,000 pounds. In 1906 the consumption of alumi- 
num in the United States was 14,910,000 pounds and in 
1907 it was 17,211,000 pounds. 

In August, 1888, the Pittsburgh Reduction Company 
was organized solely to manufacture aluminum under Mr. 
Hall's patents, and works for this purpose were built in 
that year at Pittsburgh and put in operation in November. 
The name of the company has been changed to the 
Aluminum Company of America. It is the only com- 
pany in the United States that is engaged in the manu- 
facture of aluminum. The works at Pittsburgh were lo- 



246 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

cated on S mailman street, between 32d and 33d streets. 
In 1890 these works were greatly enlarged and in the fol- 
lowing year they were moved to New Kensington, a sub- 
urb of Pittsburgh, and were again enlarged in 1893. They 
are still in active operation. This plant was still further 
enlarged in 1907. Other works now operated by the 
company are located at Niagara Falls, at Massena in St. 
Lawrence county, New York, and at Shawinigan Falls in 
the Province of Quebec. The first works at Niagara Falls 
were started in 1895 and in 1896 they were enlarged and 
new works were built. 

Alumina made from Greenland cryolite was at first used 
by the Pittsburgh Reduction Company in the manufacture 
of aluminum, but very soon bauxite from Alabama and 
Georgia was substituted and its use has produced the best 
results. The bauxite is to-day purified at works at East 
St. Louis, Illinois, owned by the Aluminum Company of 
America, and thence taken to the various manufacturing 
plants of the company and converted into pig aluminum. 
In 1896 the manufacture of pig aluminum at New Ken- 
sington was abandoned. The works at that place have 
since been devoted to converting pig aluminum into more 
or less finished forms. 

The first president of the Pittsburgh Reduction Com- 
pany was the widely-known Pittsburgh engineer. Captain 
Alfred E. Hunt, who remained its president until his death 
in 1899. The original capital subscribed was Pittsburgh 
capital and the business was entirely a Pittsburgh enter- 
prise. Mr. Hall went to Pittsburgh in 1888, when the 
company was organized, and he has been identified with 
it ever since, at present as vice president. Since Captain 
Hunt's death R. B. Mellon, the well-known banker of Pitts- 
burgh, has been president of the company, and Arthur V. 
Davis, its secretary and general manager, has been its 
active executive head. The original capital was $20,000, 
but the present capital is $3,800,000. 

When first put on the market aluminum was used only 
in the manufacture of optical instruments, dental plates, 
and similar light articles. In 1890 the manufacture of 
aluminum cooking utensils was commenced. One of the 



INDUSTRIES CREATED BY PENNSYLVANIANS. 247 

earlier uses of aluminum was as an alloy in the manufac- 
ture of steel, aluminum being added to the extent of 
one-tenth of one per cent., or less, to remove the dissolved 
gases and make the steel solid both for castings and for 
steel plates. It is so used to-day. 

Prior to Mr. Hall's invention in 1886 the price of im- 
ported aluminum in our markets was not less than $15 
per pound. In 1888, when the works of the Pittsburgh 
Reduction Company were started, the price of imported 
aluminum dropped to $4 per pound. A short time pre- 
viously the price had been $7 and $8 per pound. The 
Pittsburgh Reduction Company soon reduced the price of 
aluminum to $2 per pound, and in 1893 the price ranged 
from 65 to 75 cents per pound. In the early part of 1907 
it was 36 cents and early in 1908 it was 33 cents. 

The establishment of the aluminum industry in this 
country twenty years ago by the Pittsburgh Reduction 
Company has not only given to our country a new and 
useful industry, but, as has been shown above, it has 
greatly reduced the price of aluminum to consumers, again 
illustrating the truth which has been so often emphasized 
that prices of manufactured products always fall when we 
cease to be dependent on foreigners for their supply. The 
manufacture of aluminum is to-day one of the impor- 
tant and necessary industries of this country, and for its 
existence we are indebted first to Charles M. Hall, the- 
inventor of the electrolytic process, next to the engineer- 
ing skill and executive ability of Captain Alfred E. Hunt, 
and lastly to the good management of Arthur V. Davis. 




248 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

EARLY CHAIN AND WIRE BRIDGES. 

Western Pennsylvania is entitled to the honor of 
having introduced the chain suspension bridge into our 
country, and at a time when it was largely an unsettled 
frontier part of the State. A chain bridge across Jacob's 
creek, which forms part of the boundary between Fayette 
and Westmoreland counties, was described in The Farmers 
Register, of Greensburg, Westmoreland county, on May 22, 
1802, as follows, under the caption, "Iron Bridge." 

The bridge which Judge Finley (near this place) had undertaken to 
erect across Jacob's creek, at the expense of Fayette and Westmoreland 
counties, near Judge Mason's, on the great road leading from Uniontown 
to Greensbuig, is now completed. Its construction is on principles entire- 
ly new, and is perhaps the only one of the kind in the world. It is solely 
supported by two iron chains, extended over four piers, 14 feet higher than 
the bridge, fastened in the ground at the ends, describing a curve line, 
touching the level of the bridge in the centre. The first tier of joists are 
hung to the chains by iron pendants or stirrups of different lengths, so as 
to form a level of the whole. The bridge is of 70 feet span and 13 feet 
wide ; the chains are of an inch square bar, in links from five to ten feet 
long; but so that there is a joint where each pendant must bear. The 
projector has made many experiments to ascertain the real strength of iron, 
and asserts that an inch square bar of tolerable iron in this position will 
bear between 30 and 40 tons ; and, of course, less than one-eighth part of 
the iron employed in this bridge would be sufficient to bear the net weight 
thereof, being about 12 or 13 tons. 

Mr. Finley embarked in this business at his own risque and engaged 
that the work would endure at least 50 years, (except what should be nec- 
essary for repairs of flooring,) for the moderate sum of 600 dollars. He 
farther observes that a bridge of the same width and 280 feet span would 
be about 50 tons weight ; the chains double as strong as the foregoing. The 
whole of the iron required would then amoimt to six tons, and say the 
smith work to half its value. The piers 46 feet eight inches high. These 
chains so placed would support 240 tons; deduct its own weight of tim- 
ber, and so much of the iron as falls between the piers, say 53 tons; re- 
mainder, 237 tons. Should any startle at the expense let them be informed 
of the bridge at the falls of the Potomack, which is but of 140 feet span, 
and is said to have cost at least 50,000 dollars, and materials entirely of 
timber, and therefore subjected to but a temporary duration. 

Mr. Finley was an associate judge of Fayette county. 
He died in 1828. The chain bridge over Jacob's creek 
was built by him in 1801 and it was the first of its kind 



EARLY CHAIN AND WIRE BRIDGES. 249 

in this country, but it was not the first in the world. 
Chain bridges are said to have been used at an early day 
in China. Charles Bender says that in 1734 " the army 
of the Palatinate of Saxony, in Germany, built a chain 
bridge across the Oder river, near Glory witz, in Prussia." 
In Johnson's CycloptBdia it is stated that "in 1741 the 
first European chain bridge was built in England across 
the Tees. It was a rude work, attracting no attention 
at the time, and not until 1814 did English engineers ap- 
ply themselves to their construction." In the meantime 
Judge Finley built the Jacob's creek bridge and it was 
followed by others in this country which were built on 
his plans. In 1808 James Finley, as stated by Thomas 
Pope, took out a patent for a "patent chain bridge." 

In the Port Folio for June, 1810, printed in Philadelphia, 
there is a description of several chain bridges which had 
been built in this country at that time on Judge Finley's 
plans, one the Jacob's creek bridge, another at the Falls 
of Schuylkill above Philadelphia, another at Cumber- 
land, Maryland, another over the Potomac above George- 
town, Maryland, replacing the wooden bridge above re- 
ferred to, another over the Brandywine at Wilmington, 
Delaware, another at Brownsville, Fayette county, Penn- 
sylvania, and another near the same place. Still another 
chain bridge, over the Merrimac, at Newburyport, Massa- 
chusetts, was built in 1810, making eight in all. In 1811 
several other chain bridges are mentioned, one of which 
was over the Neshaminy, in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
and another over the Lehigh at Easton. At a later date 
a chain bridge was built over the Lehigh at Lehigh Gap. 
This bridge is still standing. 

The chain bridge across the Tees, which was built in 
1741, remained in use over 80 years. Like the Jacob's 
creek bridge its span was 70 feet. It was a foot-bridge. 

In April, 1811, there was printed at Uniontown, Penn- 
sylvania, by William Campbell, A Description of the Chain 
Bridge, invented by Judge Finley, of Fayette county, Penvr- 
sylvania, with Data and Remarks, etc., in which Judge 
Finley claims that he built the bridge over Jacob's creek 
in 1801 " on a contract with Fayette and Westmoreland 



250 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

counties for the consideration of $600," and that "the 
exclusive right was secured by patent in the year 1808." 
He says : '' There are eight of these bridges erected now/' 
which he describes substantially as mentioned above in 
the Port Folio. 

The chain bridge above Georgetown was swept away 
by a freshet probably in 1839 and has since been replaced 
by various structures of other designs, but the name, 
"chain bridge," is still retained. It became famous dur- 
ing our civil war. The Jacob's creek chain bridge broke 
down under the weight of a six-horse team about 1825 
but was repaired and again used. This bridge was torn 
down several years ago and an iron truss bridge was 
erected in its stead. 

The chain bridge over the Merrimac at Newburyport 
is still standing and in use. It was built in 1810. A let- 
ter from A. K. Mosley, civil engineer, informs us that it is 
"substantially intact as originally constructed." In the 
New England Magazine for January, 1905, there appears 
an illustration of this bridge, drawn by Mr. Mosley. In 
1900 or 1901 it was partly rebuilt by the Roeblings. 

Chain suspension bridges have been built in recent 
years. At Budapest there are now two chain suspension 
bridges over the Danube, one of which, with a main span 
of 931 feet, has only recently been completed. There is a 
chain bridge over the River Dnieper, at Kieff, in Russia. 
In this country a notable chain bridge was built over the 
Monongahela at Pittsburgh as late as 1876, and is still in 
use as originally built. It is known as the Point Bridge. 
It has a span 800 feet long. The links of the chains 
which support this bridge are 2 inches thick, 8 inches 
wide, and from 20 to 25 feet long. 

Wire suspension bridges are of more modern origin 
than chain bridges and are in general use, especially in 
the United States. A small wire suspension bridge was 
built over the Schuylkill at Philadelphia in 1816 by White 
& Hazard with wire made at their wire works at the 
Falls of Schuylkill. This bridge was used only for foot 
passengers. Charles EUet, Jr., a distinguished American 
engineer, born at Penn's Manor, in Bucks county, Penn- 



EARLY CHAIN AND WIRE BRIDGES. 251 

sylvania, in 1810, is credited with the introduction in this 
country of wire bridges of general utility. In 1842 he 
built a wire cable suspension bridge over the Schuylkill 
at Fairmount, which was the first noteworthy wire sus- 
pension bridge in this country. General J. G. Barnard 
says that '' he shares with Roebling the honor of being 
a pioneer of wire suspension bridges." The earliest Euro- 
pean wire suspension bridge of which we have found any 
mention is the bridge at Fribourg, in Switzerland, which 
was completed in 1834. This bridge has a span of 870 
feet and is suspended at a height of 167 feet above the 
water. It is supported on cables of iron wire. Wire rope 
was in use in the Hartz mines, in Germany, in 1831. It 
can be justly claimed that the wire suspension bridge as 
we see it to-day is to all intents and purposes the work 
of American engineers. 

John Augustus Roebling will always be regarded as 
the greatest of all American bridge engineers. If he did 
not absolutely invent the wire suspension bridge he was 
certainly its most earnest and intelligent advocate and 
its most skillful builder. The Brooklyn Bridge, which he 
planned but which after his death was built by his illus- 
trious son, Washington A. Roebling, is not his only monu- 
ment. The Niagara and other wire suspension bridges 
which were built after his plans and under his direction 
need not be referred to in detail in these pages, but they 
may well contain a brief notice of the man himself. 

Mr. Roebling was a native of Miihlhausen, Prussia, in 
which city he was born on June 12, 1806. After the or- 
dinary high school course he attended the mathematical 
institute of the celebrated Dr. Unger, at Erfurt, in Ger- 
many, for two years. Then he went to the Royal Uni- 
versity at Berlin and graduated with high honors after a 
three years' course, mostly in engineering branches, fol- 
lowed by a special course in architecture. After spending 
two years in Westphalia as an engineer in the govern- 
ment service he concluded to emigrate to this country, 
and in 1829 or 1830 he led a small colony of Germans 
to Western Pennsylvania and founded the town of Sax- 
onburg, in Butler county. He soon found employment as 



252 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

an engineer in various canal and railroad enterprises. 
At Saxonburg he established the first wire-rope works in 
the United States, borrowing the money to pay for the 
wire, for which he was charged 21 cents a pound. His 
first wire rope was made on a rope-walk, not on a ma- 
chine. Mr. Roebling was induced to engage in the man- 
ufacture of wire rope as a substitute for hempen ropes on 
the inclined planes of the Portage Railroad, to which epi- 
sode in his life we will presently refer. The details which 
follow have been given to us by Washington A. Roebling. 

The success of the Portage Raiboad alterations led to similar im- 
provements by my father on the Morris CSanal in New Jersey, where 22 in- 
clined planes were adapted to the use of wire rope, very large ones at that, 
being 2) inches in diameter. These were foUowed later on by the intro- 
duction of wire rope on the planes of the Delaware and Hudson Oanal 
Company and the Pennsylvania Coal Company. The general use of wire 
rope was a matter of very slow growth. 

The manufacture of wire rope gave my father a thorough knowledge 
of the strength and qualities of iron wire and its various capabilities. 
When, therefore, in the year 1844 it became necessary to rebuild the wooden 
arch aqueduct of the Pennsylvania Oanal across the Allegheny river at 
Pittsbui^h he made the startling proposition of replacing it by a wire 
suspension aqueduct. This called forth a storm of violent opposition. He 
finally obtained a contract to build the aqueduct in the short space of six 
months in the winter season. This comprised removal of the old structure, 
rebuilding five piers in a rapid stream, building two new anchorages, spin- 
ning a pair of long cables, and suspending the wooden trunk. It was com- 
pleted in time. He cleared (3,500, which was afterwards lost by the fail- 
ure of a bank where it was deposited. 

In 1846 my father built the Monongahela Suspension Bridge at Pitts- 
burgh without any assistant. Next foUowed four suspension aqueducts on 
the line of the Delaware and Hudson Canal, all winter work, lasting three 
seasons. In 1849 an injury to his left arm made his left hand practically 
useless. With this handicap he accomplished some of his greatest works. 
With aU this external activity he still found time, or made time, to attend 
to his wire-rope business, which he removed from Saxonbui^ to Trenton 
in 1849 and much enlarged by adding a wire-drawing department and a 
rolling mill, aU constructed on his own plans. The Niagara Railway Sus- 
pension Bridge, now replaced by a double-track steel arch, was opened to 
travel in 1854, over fifty years ago. All the designing, calculating, draft- 
ing, and superintending was done by Mr. Roebling personally. 

At the Allegheny Bridge at Pittsburgh I was my father's only assist- 
ant, having just left college, but he did all the designing and vital parts of 
the work. On the Cincinnati Bridge I was again his principal assistant, 
the close of the civil war giving me liberty to take the position. Here 
again he did all the designing and superintending, the bridge being built 
by day's work. As regards the Brooklyn Bridge I can say that he made 
the original designs, with perhaps a little assistance from myself and Mr. 
Hildenbrand. In the construction of the bridge the design was, however, 



EARLY CHAIN AND WIRE BRIDGES. 253 

conaiderably modified, and might perhaps have been changed to even more 
advantage. This is inevitable where conditions are rapidly c h a ng i n g and 
demands are constantly increasing. My father died from an accident on 
July 22, 1869, before actual work was begun, and it zemained for me to 
make it an accomplished fact by fourteen years of hard work. 

The building of the wire aqueduct over the Allegheny 
river at Pittsburgh by Mr. Roebling, "the designer and 
contractor," as stated by the American Rail Road Journal 
in 1845, was contracted for by the city of Pittsburgh, 
under an agreement with the State authorities. The 
Journal makes this prophetic statement : " This system, 
for the first time successfully carried out on the Pitts- 
burgh aqueduct, may hereafter be applied with the hap- 
piest results to railroad bridges, which have to resist the 
powerful weight and great vibrations which result from 
the passage of heavy locomotives and trains of cars." 
The contract price for the aqueduct was $62,000. 

The Hon. James Potts, of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, 
was for many years, beginning with 1839, the collector of 
tolls on the Pennsylvania Canal and Portage Railroad, 
his oflSce being located at Johnstown, where the western 
division of the canal ended and the railroad commenced, 
the latter terminating at Hollidaysburg. It had ten in- 
clined planes, operated by stationary engines. On the 
9th of September, 1886, the "old boatmen" on the west- 
ern division of the canal held a reunion at Nineveh, near 
Johnstown, at which Judge Potts delivered an address, 
of which the following incident in the life of John A. 
Roebling formed a part. Judge Potts was a native of 
Butler county and had long known Mr. Roebling. 

The late John A. Roebling, one of the most distingiiished civil engi- 
neers and scientists of his day, conceived the idea of spanning the hurgest 
rivers with bridges supported by wire cables. To that end he directed the 
labor of his life. He established a wire rope works on a small scale at Sax- 
onbuig, in Butler county, and by special grace he got permission from the 
Oanal Board in 1842 or 1843 to put a wire cable on Plane No. 3. It was 
put on in the fall of the year. The manufacturer of the hempen ropes 
in Pittsburgh, backed by a powerful political and interested influence, 
endeavored to prevent the introduction of the wire cable. The superintend- 
ent and employ^ on the road partook of that opposition. If the wire 
cable was a success it would supersede the profitable hempen-rope indus- 
try. The cable, however, was put on the plane, and in a few days one of 
the attache cut the cable in two. Mr. Roebling found his cable stretched 
on the plane— condemned. He came to the collector's office and asked 



254 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

an interview with me in the parlor. He stated with the tears of grief, if 
not of agony, that he was a ruined man. The labor of his life, the hope of 
his fame and fortune, were lost forever. His cable was condemned by the 
great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It was condemned, not because 
it was worthless, but because it would supersede the hempen rope. "Oan 
not you do something for me 7 " he asked. " Why, Mr. Roebling, I would 
do anything in the world for you, but what can I do ?" '' You have influ- 
ence with the Oanal Board, and, perhaps, you can get me another oppor- 
timity to test my cable." 

Just at that moment there was a rap at the door, and, in answer to 
the call, who stepped in but John B. Butler, the President of the Board 
of Canal Commissioners, and, after the usual salutation, I said to Mr. Roeb- 
ling, " Just state your case to Mr. Butler. " Mr. Roebling stated his case 
in very few words, for he was a man of few words. Mr. Butler listened 
attentively imtil he got through, when he said : " Roebling, have you con- 
fidence in your cable ? " The answer was, "I have, sir. " " Then," said Mr. 
Butler, ''I now appoint you superintendent of Plane No. 3, with the credit 
of the Commonwealth for all the material you may need ; superintendent 
of the depots at Johnstown and Hollidaysburg for all the machinery you 
may want ; the appointment of all such mechanics and laborers as you 
may require in the reconstruction of the plane — all this at the expense of 
the Commonwealth. You will commence immediately after the close of 
navigation and have everything necessary for the spring business. You 
will superintend the plane yourself for the first month, and if your cable 
is a success we wiU put it on all the planes on the road, and this is ail I 
can do for you.'* Mr. Roebling did not burst forth in the usual laudation 
of thanks, of God bless you and prosper you, etc.; but this time, with tears 
of joy rolb'ng down his cheeks, his only reply was, **God is good/" I shall 
never forget the reply. He gave thanks to that Source from whom all 
blessings flow. He left with a jojrful heart and greatly encouraged. The 
plane was reconstructed, ready for the spring business. The cable worked 
like a charm. 

During that summer wire cables were put on aU the planes. By these 
planes Mr. Roebling had an opportunity of testing the flexibility and 
strength of his cables. The heavy weight of cars and section boats on 
those cables gave them a fair test of strength and durability. I mention 
this fact to show that the planes on the Portage Railroad were the means 
of the wonderful enterprise of wire-cable bridges, for Mr. Roebling fre- 
quently told me since that, had it not been for the interview in my par- 
lor and the authority he got there to reconstruct a plane to establish and 
test the virtue of his wire cable, he never would have attempted it again, 
being condemned by the Commonwealth. So the old Portage is entitled 
to the credit of all these great wire bridges, notably the Brooklyn Bridge. 

It was in Western Pennsylvania that the first chain 
suspension bridge in this country was built, and Judge 
Finley, who built it, introduced it in other parts of the 
country. It was also in Western Pennsylvania that the 
first wire-rope factory in the country was established by 
John A. Roebling, who also, more than any other man, 
promoted the building of wire suspension bridges. 



r 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF PITTSBURGH. 255 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE EARLY HISTORY OF PITTSBURGH. 

The prominence which Pittsburgh has attained as the 
centre of the iron and steel, bituminous coal; and glass 
industries of our country, and as the centre of the world's 
iron and steel industries, naturally leads to a condensed 
account in this volume of its early history and of the no- 
table part which Washington bore in shaping that history. 
The dates and other details that we shall give have been 
verified from trustworthy sources. 

The selection of the forks of the Ohio, formed by the 
junction of the Monongahela and the Allegheny rivers, 
as a suitable place for the erection of a fort was made in 
1753 by George Washington for the mutual benefit of the 
Ohio Company and the colony of Virginia, which latter 
Washington directly and officially represented. This se- 
lection was made at a time when Virginia claimed juris- 
diction over Western Pennsylvania, and when this claim 
received entirely too little consideration from the pro- 
vincial authorities of Pennsylvania. The Ohio Company 
was composed chiefly of Virginians, and of this company 
both Lawrence and Augustine Washington, half brothers 
of George Washington, were members. The company was 
organized to engage in trade with the Indians west of 
the Alleghenies and to secure valuable grants of land. It 
received the encouragement and support of the English 
and Virginia authorities because the territory it expected 
to occupy was claimed as a part of Virginia. In Novem- 
ber of the year above mentioned Washington visited the 
forks of the Ohio while serving as a commissioner from 
Governor Dinwiddle, of Virginia, to the French comman- 
dant in Northwestern Pennsylvania, the French at that 
time claiming jurisdiction over the Ohio and Mississippi 
valleys and having established military posts at Presqu' 
Isle (Erie) and at Le Boeuf, (Waterford.) The object of 
Washington's visit to the French commandant was to 



256 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

protest against French encroachments upon Virginia ter- 
ritory. Washington met the commanding oflScer at Fort 
Le Boeuf but his visit was fruitless. On his way to this 
officer Washington, as he says in his journal, "spent some 
time in viewing the rivers [Monongahela and Allegheny] 
and the land in the fork, which I think extremely well 
situated for a fort.'' The Ohio Company had previously 
selected a site for a fort on the left bank of the Ohio, 
two miles below the junction of the Allegheny and the 
Monongahela rivers, at a place now known as McKees 
Rocks, but Washington condemned this selection for rea- 
sons which are mentioned in his journal. The Ohio Com- 
pany and the Virginia authorities approved his choice. 

Judge Veech describes the Ohio Company as follows: 
" The Ohio Company was an association formed in Vir- 
ginia, about the year 1748, under a royal grant. Hitherto 
the French and Pennsylvanians had enjoyed the trade 
with the Indians north of the Ohio and around its head 
waters. The purpose of this company was to divert this 
trade southward, by the Potomac route, and to settle the 
country around the head of the Ohio with English colo- 
nists from Virginia and Maryland. To this end the king 
granted to the company 500,000 acres of land west of the 
mountains, ' to be taken chiefly on the south side of the 
Ohio, between the Monongahela and Kenhawa, but with 
privilege to take part of the quantity north of the Ohio, 
. . . upon condition that the company should, within 
seven years, seat one hundred families on the lands, build 
a fort, and maintain a garrison, to protect the settlement.' " 

In February, 1754, by direction of the Governor of 
Virginia, a company of Virginia militia, commanded by 
Captain William Trent, undertook the erection of a fort 
in the forks, in aid of the plans of the Ohio Company and 
to establish the jurisdiction of Virginia, but from this work 
the militia were driven away in April by a large body of 
French and Indians. The French immediately began and 
completed the erection of a fort at the same place, which 
they called Fort Du Quesne, in honor of the Governor-Gen- 
eral of New France, the Marquis Du Quesne de Menneville. 
The fort was situated on the Monongahela, in the forks. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF PITTSBURGH. 257 

In the month of April, 1754, Washington was sent 
by Governor Dinwiddie with a small force of Virginians, 
which was subsequently increased, to the support of the 
Virginia militia under Captain Trent, but before reaching 
Western Pennsylvania he learned that the half-completed 
fort at the forks of the Ohio had fallen into the hands of 
the French. Washington pushed on toward the mouth of 
Redstone creek on the Monongahela river, where he could 
establish a base of operations against the French and 
there await reinforcements. A strong force of French and 
Indians was promptly dispatched from Fort Du Quesne 
against Washington's small command, intercepting him 
before he reached his destination. The battle of Great 
Meadows, in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, about seven- 
ty-five miles southeast of Fort Du Quesne, was fought on 
July 3, 1754, and was followed by Washington's surren- 
der of Fort Necessity about midnight of the same day, 
his first and only surrender, and by the abandonment 
of the expedition. At daybreak of July 4 Washington, 
with his demoralized command, marched out of Fort Ne- 
cessity toward Will's creek, Maryland, his original base of 
operations. In 1767 Washington bought a tract of 234 
acres in Fayette county which included Great Meadows, 
and he owned this tract at his death in 1799. 

These events mark the beginning of the final struggle 
between the French and the English for the control of the 
country west of the AUeghenies. 

An ineffectual attempt was made in 1755 by a force 
of British regulars and provincial troops to drive the 
French from Fort Du Quesne, which resulted in the defeat 
of General Braddock near the site of the present Edgar 
Thomson steel works. Three years afterwards, on No- 
vember 25, 1758, Fort Du Quesne fell into the hands of the 
British and their provincial allies under General Forbes, 
the French blowing up the fort and disappearing, some 
of them pushing off in their boats down the Ohio and 
up the Allegheny, while others marched overland to Erie, 
then known as Presqu' Isle. 

Washington was present at Braddock's defeat, as is 
well known, but he was also present when Fort Du Quesne 

17 



258 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

fell into the hands of General Forbes in 1758, which is 
not so well known. In December, 1758, a new fort was 
built at the forks, and in 1759 and 1760 the construction 
of a more formidable fortification was commenced and 
practically completed by General Stanwix, the new fort 
being named Fort Pitt. This fort was entirely completed 
by Colonel Bouquet in 1761, who added in 1764 a block- 
house, or redoubt, which is still standing. The fort was 
named in honor of William Pitt, the great Earl of Chat- 
ham, then the British Secretary of State. It was situated 
on the Monongahela, above the site of Fort Du Quesne. 

It has been a mooted question when Pittsburgh was 
first so called and when Fort Pitt received its name. In 
his Old Pittsburgh Days Chapman says : " Pittsburgh was 
so called from the first; for on November 26, 1758, the 
very day next following the occupation by the English, 
we find General Forbes dating a letter at Pittsburgh. 
(See Colonial Records of Pennsylvania, vol. viii ; p. 232.) 
Colonel Mercer, in July and September, 1759, dates from 
Pittsburgh, but makes no mention of Fort Pitt. General 
Stanwix, on December 8, 1759, dates from 'Camp at Pitts- 
burgh,' and speaks of 'the works here,' but does not men- 
tion Fort Pitt. Finally, in a letter bearing date Decem- 
ber 24, 1759, Stanwix mentions 'Fort Pitt' in the body 
of his letter, {Pennsylvania Archives, vol. iii ; p. 696,) and 
this is the first mention of the fort by that name. So 
that not until more than twelve months after the taking 
of Fort Du Quesne do we hear any mention of Fort Pitt, 
and then the work afterwards to be known by that name 
had been carried well on toward completion. Hence it 
seems clear that the temporary fortification built in the 
winter of 1758 was known simply as the fort at Pitts- 
burgh, or, as Stanwix termed it, the 'camp at Pittsburgh.'" 

To which we may add that in December, 1758, Chris- 
tian Frederick Post mentions Pittsburgh several times in 
his second journal but does not once mention Fort Pitt, 
The settlement at the forks was, however, generally known 
as Fort Pitt until after the Revolution. 

The letter which was written by General Forbes on 
November 26, 1758, and above referred to by Mr. Chap- 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF PITTSBURGH. 259 

man, was addressed to Governor William Denny, at Phila- 
delphia, and acquainted the Governor with the fact that 
Fort Du Quesne had fallen into his hands. The letter is 
dated at " Pittsburg." It does not, however, give any inti- 
mation that General Forbes had himself given Pittsburgh 
its name. In a letter from General Forbes to William 
Pitt on November 27, 1758, the general dates his letter at 
" Pittsbourgh." After telling of his victory over the French 
and of his own illness he says : " I have used the freedom 
of giving your name to Fort Du Quesne, as I hope it was 
in some measure the being actuated by your spirits that 
now makes us masters of the place. Nor could I help 
using the same freedom in the naming of two other forts 
that I built, (plans of which I send you,) the one Fort 
Ligonier and the other Bedford. I hope the name fathers 
will take them under their protection, in which case these 
dreary deserts will soon be the richest and most fertile 
of lands possessed by the British in No. America." This 
letter may be found in the Correspondence of William Pitt, 
edited by Gertrude Selwyn Kimball, under the auspices of 
the National Society of Colonial Dames of America, and 
published by the Macmillan Company in 1906. It is of in- 
terest to add that Colonel Bouquet signed the minutes of 
a conference with the Delaware Indians " at Pitts-Bourgh, 
December 4, 1758." Also that in February, 1759, an Indian 
council was held at Philadelphia at which the Indians 
invariably referred to Pittsburgh and not to Fort Pitt. 
Bancroft says that Pittsburgh was so named by General 
Forbes on the day that Fort Du Quesne fell into the hands 
of the English, on November 25, 1758. 

General John Forbes, who drove the French out of 
Western Pennsylvania and who gave to Pittsburgh its 
name, was born in Scotland in 1710 and died on March 
11, 1759, in Philadelphia, where he was buried in the 
churchyard of Christ church, less than four months after 
he had compelled the French to abandon Fort Du Quesne. 

In 1763 the conspiracy of the Western Indians under 
the leadership of Pontiac was formed and a fierce border 
war ensued, during which Fort Pitt was for many weeks 
besieged by a large body of Indians and successfully de- 



260 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

fended by the garrison under command of Captain Ecuyer, 
a native of Switzerland. While the siege was in progress 
Colonel Bouquet; also a native of Switzerland, command- 
ing the British and provincial forces in Pennsylvania, 
Maryland, and Virginia, and whose headquarters were in 
Philadelphia, moved from Carlisle to the relief of Fort 
Pitt with about five hundred men in his command. In 
August the Indians temporarily abandoned the siege of 
Fort Pitt and attacked Colonel Bouquet's command at 
Bushy Run, in Westmoreland county, about twenty-five 
miles east of Pittsburgh, but after an engagement of two 
days were defeated, with severe loss on both sides. This 
defeat resulted in raising the siege of Fort Pitt. SuflS- 
cient importance has never been attached to the battle 
of Bushy Run. It was one of the most sanguinary and 
eventful engagements between the whites and the Indians 
that was ever fought. 

In 1772 Fort Pitt was abandoned by the British and 
its garrison was withdrawn by General Thomas Gage, the 
commander of the British forces in America. The fort 
was subsequently occupied by Continental troops during 
the Revolution. For some years after the Revolution Fort 
Pitt was occupied by United States troops for protection 
against the Indians, but by 1791 it had been entirely 
abandoned and a large part was torn down in the fall of 
that year. Late in the same year orders were issued to 
Major Isaac Craig to build a new fortification at Pitts- 
burgh, and this structure, situated on the left bank of the 
Allegheny river, about a quarter of a mile above Fort 
Pitt, and which was called Fort Fayette, was finished and 
occupied by a garrison in 1792. This fort was used in 
that year in the initial operations of General Wayne's 
expedition against the Ohio Indians, and it continued to 
be occupied by a garrison for several years afterwards, 
forming one of the frontier forts that were maintained to 
overawe the Indians. Thomas Ashe, an English traveler, 
says that a garrison was maintained at Fort Fayette when 
he visited Pittsburgh in October, 1806. The Allegheny 
Arsenal, at Pittsburgh, was completed in 1814 and Fort 
Fayette was abandoned about that time. 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF PITTSBURGH. 261 

Returning to Fort Pitt, it is stated in Craig's History 
of Pittsburgh^ in a description of the fort as it existed 
about 1796 to 1800, that "the ramparts of Fort Pitt were 
still standing, and a portion of the oflBcers' quarters, a 
substantial brick building, was used as a malt house." 
From 1803 to 1806 the Methodists of Pittsburgh were 
accustomed to hold religious services " in a room of old 
Fort Pitt," which is supposed to have formed a part of 
"the officers' quarters" mentioned by Craig. The city of 
Pittsburgh occupies in part the site of Fort Du Quesne, 
the French fortification, of Fort Pitt, its British successor, 
and of Fort Fayette, built by the United States. 

As early as 1758 settlers began to gather about Fort 
Pitt, most of them Indian traders, and in 1760 there were 
149 men, women, and children outside the fort. In 1764 
lots and streets in the immediate vicinity of the fort, oc- 
cupying four squares, were laid out. Chapman says: "In 
1764, immediately after the siege. Colonel John Campbell 
laid out that part of Pittsburgh which is bounded by 
Water street and Second avenue and Ferry and Market 
streets, comprising four squares. Colonel Campbell's name 
is of frequent occurrence in the transactions in this lo- 
cality at that period. Under what authority or instruc- 
tions he proceeded in laying out the town we do not know, 
but no doubt his work was fully authorized, as in the 
subsequent survey and plan of the town it was recognized 
and adopted." In 1769 the Manor of Pittsburgh was 
surveyed and reserved by the Penns, the proprietaries of 
the province. In 1770 Washington visited Pittsburgh 
while on his way to the Kanawha valley, in the present 
State of West Virginia. In his journal Washington says : 
" We lodged in what is called the town, distant about 
three hundred yards from the fort, at one Semple's, who 
keeps a very good house of public entertainment. The 
houses, which are built of logs, and ranged in streets, are 
on the Monongahela, and I suppose may be about twenty 
in number and inhabited by Indian traders." In the siege 
of Fort Pitt, in 1763, the houses which had then been 
built outside the fort were all burned. Washington de- 
scribes Fort Pitt as follows : " The fort is built on the 



262 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

point near the rivers Allegheny and Monongahela, but not 
so near the pitch of it as Fort Du Quesne stood. The 
garrison consists of two companies of Royal Irish, com- 
manded by Capt. Edmondson." In 1783, after the treaty 
of peace, the proprietaries decided to sell the lands within 
the Manor of Pittsburgh, the first sale being made in Jan- 
uary, 1784. In that year the town of Pittsburgh was 
surveyed into streets, alleys, and lots, and sales of lots 
were rapidly made. Writing in his journal under date of 
December 24, 1784, Arthur Lee, a Virginian, says : " Pitts- 
burgh is inhabited almost entirely by Scots and Irish, who 
live in paltry log houses and are as dirty a^ in the north 
of Ireland or even in Scotland." In 1786 Pittsburgh is 
said to have contained thirty-six log houses, one stone 
house, one frame house, and five small stores. The town 
had grown but little since Washington's visit in 1770. 
Even after 1786 it had a very slow growth. 

Down to 1779 Virginia attempted to exercise juris- 
diction over that portion of Southwestern Pennsylvania 
which is now embraced in Allegheny, Washington, West- 
moreland, Fayette, and adjoining counties, but in that 
year commissioners from Virginia and from Pennsylvania 
agreed to the boundaries between the two States which 
have since been observed, and in 1780 the agreement was 
formally ratified by the Legislature of each State. Under 
the Virginia claim the settlement at Fort Pitt was em- 
braced within the boundaries of Augusta county, Virginia, 
Staunton being then as now its county-seat. Under the 
Pennsylvania claim and down to 1788 Pittsburgh was 
included within the limits of Westmoreland county, its 
county-seat being at first Hannastown and afterwards 
Greensburg, but in that year Allegheny county was or- 
ganized and Pittsburgh became the county-seat. 

On April 22, 1794, an act of the Pennsylvania Legis- 
lature was passed incorporating the town of Pittsburgh 
into a borough. In 1796 Pittsburgh had a population of 
1,395 and in 1800 the population was only 1,565. In 
1810 it had increased to 4,768. On March 18, 1816, the 
borough of Pittsburgh was erected into a city. In 1830 
the population was 12,568, in 1840 it was 21,115, and in 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF PITTSBURGH. 263 

1850 it was 46,601. In 1845 occurred the great fire at 
Pittsburgh, which destroyed over one thousand dwellings, 
warehouses, stores, and other buildings, the loss amount- 
ing to about six million dollars. 

In 1787 the town of Allegheny, opposite Pittsburgh, 
was " laid out by the order of the sovereign authority of 
Pennsylvania," with the intention of making it the coun- 
ty-seat of Allegheny county, but this intention was soon 
abandoned. Allegheny became a borough in 1828 and it 
was incorporated as a city in 1840. In 1907 it was 
consolidated with Pittsburgh and lost its municipal inde- 
pendence. 

The proprietaries of the province of Pennsylvania were 
fully aware as early as 1769 of the existence of coal at 
Pittsburgh. In 1784, the year in which Pittsburgh was 
surveyed into building lots, the privilege of mining coal 
in the "great seam" opposite the town was sold by the 
Penns at the rate of £30 for each mining lot, extending 
back to the centre of the hill. This event may be regard- 
ed as forming the beginning of the coal trade of Pitts- 
burgh. In a few years the supply of the towns on the 
Ohio and Mississippi rivers with Pittsburgh coal became 
an established business. 

Down to 1845 all the coal that was shipped westward 
from Pittsburgh was floated down the Ohio in flat-bot- 
tomed boats with the spring and fall freshets, each hold- 
ing about 15,000 bushels of coal. The boats were usually 
lashed in pairs and were sold and broken up when their 
destination was reached. In 1845 steam tow-boats were 
introduced, which towed coal barges down the river and 
brought them back empty. About 1845 Pittsburgh coal 
began to be used in Philadelphia, transportation being by 
way of the Pennsylvania Canal in section-boats, which 
carried the coal from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia without 
breaking bulk. 

In 1786 the Pittsburgh Gazette^ the first newspaper 
published west of the Allegheny mountains, was estab- 
lished at Pittsburgh. The first glass works at Pittsburgh 
were established in 1797, in which year Craig & O'Hara 
began the manufacture of window glass on a small scale. 



264 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

The first steamboat on the western rivers was built 
at Pittsburgh in 1811 and named the New Orleans , but 
prior to this year many sailing vessels had been built at 
Pittsburgh for ocean service. The great iron and steel 
industries of Pittsburgh are described in suflScient de- 
tail in earlier chapters of this volume. 

In a previous chapter allusion has been made to the 
decadence within comparatively recent years of the busi- 
ness of building steamboats at Pittsburgh. Other indus- 
tries which once added to the activity of Pittsburgh and 
helped to make it prosperous have also declined in im- 
portance. Chapman says of the glass industry of Pitts- 
burgh that it has rapidly declined since. 1886. He says: 
''There is still some glass made in Pittsburgh, but it is no 
longer a characteristic industry of the city. The great 
centres of this industry have been removed from the city 
limits and are now at Ford City on the Allegheny river, 
at Jeannette in Westmoreland county, and at Glassport 
on the Monongahela river." He says that "ropemaking 
has ceased as an industry of Pittsburgh" and that ''the 
business of manufacturing cotton goods continued down 
to a comparatively recent date, but now no enterprise of 
the kind is carried on in the Pittsburgh district." He 
adds that "the business was at one time one of the lead- 
ing industries of the Pittsburgh district." In 1848 there 
were six cotton mills in this district, all in Allegheny City, 
making sheeting, ticking, cotton yarn, and cordage. All 
these mills have been torn down for many years or con- 
verted to other uses. Pittsburgh was long foremost in the 
manufacture of cut nails, but now it makes none. Nev- 
ertheless, notwithstanding the decline or total disappear- 
ance of some of its once prominent industries, Pittsburgh 
as an industrial centre is without a rival in this or any 
other country. The basis of its industrial pre-eminence 
to-day is its marvelous steel industry. 

Some account of the growth in population of Phila- 
delphia and Pittsburgh, the two largest cities in Pennsyl- 
vania, may properly close this chapter. 

The census gives the population of Philadelphia in 
1900 as amounting to 1,293,697, an increase of 23.56 per 



THE EARLY HISTORY OF PITTSBURGH. 



265 



cent, over 1890, and the population of Pittsburgh as 321,- 
616, an increase of 34.78 per cent, over 1890. Pittsburgh 
newspapers say that numerous contiguous suburbs ought 
to be included in a Greater Pittsburgh, and that, if they 
were so included, the population of the city to-day would 
closely approximate three quarters of a million. On No- 
vember 18, 1907, the Supreme Court of the United States 
decided that the act of the Pennsylvania Legislature, unit- 
ing Allegheny City to Pittsburgh, was constitutional. By 
this decision the population of Pittsburgh at the close of 
1907 was probably 550,000.. Philadelphia long ago ab- 
sorbed virtually all its nearby suburbs — ^all that are in 
Philadelphia county. The consolidation took place in 1854. 
In the following comprehensive table we have made a 
comparison of the growth in population of Philadelphia 
county and Allegheny county in the hundred and ten years 
from 1790 to 1900, the boimdaries of Philadelphia county 
being coterminous with those of the city of Philadelphia, 
while Allegheny county embraces the city of Pittsburgh. 
The figures for the eleven decades are as follows: 





Population of 


Per cent 




Population 


Per cent. 


Yean. 


Philadelphia 


of 


Yean. 


of 


of 




county. 


increase. 




Allegheny county. 


increase. 


1790 


64,391 




1790.... 


10,309 




1800 


81,009 


48.93 


1800. . . . 


15,087 


46.34 


1810 


111,210 


37.28 


1810.... 


26,317 


67.80 


1820 


137,097 


23.27 


1820.... 


34,921 


37.93 


1830 


188,797 


37.71 


1830... 


60,662 


44.76 


1840 


268,037 


36.67 


1840..... 


• 81,236 


60.69 


1850 


408,762 


68.41 


1860. . , 


138,290 


70.23 


18d0 


666,629 


38.36 


1860... 


178,831 


29.31 


1870 


674,022 


19.18 


1870.... 


262,204 


46.62 


1880 


847,170 


26.68 


1880... 


366,869 


36.72 


1890 


1,046,964 


23.68 


1890. . . . 


661,969 


65.10 


1900 


1,293,697 


23.66 


1900.... 


776,058 


40.41 



In 1790 the population of Allegheny county was less 
than one-fifth that of Philadelphia county, but in 1890 it 
was more than one-half as large as that of Philadelphia 
county, being 52.72 per cent, as large, and in 1900 it was 
nearly 60 per cent, as large. In the eleven decennial 
periods the average decennial increase of the population 
of Philadelphia county was 33.87 per cent., while that of 



266 PROGBB8S1VE PENNSYLVANIA. 

Allegheny county was 48.62 per cent. Four times in 110 
years Allegheny county increased its population more 
than 50 per cent, in ten years, but Philadelphia county 
did this only once. In the last four decades ending with 
1900 the progress of Philadelphia county in population 
has been very slow judged by percentages, while the per- 
centage of increase in the population of Allegheny county 
has been very rapid, particularly in the decade from 1880 
to 1890. The latter's progress in the, decade ending with 
1900 was, however, notably less than in the preceding 
decade, judging again by percentages. The absolute in- 
crease of population in Philadelphia county in the dec- 
ade ending with 1900 was 246,733, and that of Allegheny 
county in the same decade was 223,099. 

Pittsburgh owes its early business prominence and 
prosperity to its location at the head of navigation on 
the Ohio river, and much of its present prominence is 
due to the large shipments of coal which annually pass 
down this river. About sixty years ago railroads began 
to supersede the Ohio for transportation purposes. At 
first railroad trains entered and departed from Pittsburgh 
without inconvenience, as all railroad traffic was light as 
compared with that of recent years. But with the increase 
in traffic and the increase of railroad lines and railroad 
tracks great inconvenience has been experienced in the 
prompt handUng of railroad freight, so that, to avoid 
the congestion, many iron and steel and other manu- 
facturing enterprises which owe their existence to Pitts- 
burgh capital are located miles away from Pittsburgh. 



*ik':*"t: .'-_i.' 






CHRONOLOGICAL RECORD OF IMPORTANT EVENTS. 267 



CHAPTER XXVIL 

CHRONOLOGICAL RECORD OF IMPORTANT EVENTS. 

We present herewith a chronological record of lead- 
ing events in the development of the iron, steel, coal, and 
other industries of the United States, and particularly of 
Pennsylvania, from colonial times down to the present 
time ; also of the beginning of canal and railroad building 
in Pennsylvania and in the United States ; also of early 
iron and steel shipbuilding and of some notable iron and 
steel bridges built in the United States ; also of many other 
events and achievements that are more or less closely as- 
sociated with the industrial development of Pennsylvania. 

1619 — In this year the Virginia Company sent to Vir- 
ginia a number of persons who were skilled in the manu- 
facture of iron to "set up three iron works" in the colony. 
The works were located in that year on Falling creek. 

1620 — In this year, as stated by Beverley in his His^ 
lory of Virginia y " an iron work at Falling creek in James 
river" was set up, "where they made proof of good iron 
oar." In this and the following year the enterprise lan- 
guished. On March 22, 1622, the works were destroyed 
by the Indians and all the workmen were massacred. 

1627 — Petroleum was first noticed this year in New 
York ; in Pennsylvania in 1721. 

1642 — In this year "The Company of Undertakers for 
the Iron Works " in the province of Massachusetts Bay, 
consisting of eleven English gentlemen, was organized with 
a capital of £1,000. 

1643 — In his History of Lynn (1844) Alonzo Lewis 
says that in 1643 " Mr. John Winthrop, Jr., came from 
England with workmen and stock to the amount of one 
thousand pounds for commencing the work. A foundry 
was erected on the western bank of Saugus river," at 
Lynn. This foundry was a small blast furnace, completed 
.in 1645. It was the first successful iron enterprise in the 
thirteen colonies. Bog ore was used. For a hundred years 



268 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

after its settlement in 1620 Massachusetts was the chief 
seat of the iron industry on this continent. 

1645 — A small iron pot, holding about a quart, which 
is still preserved at Lynn, was cast at the Lynn foundry 
in 1645. It was the first iron article made in America. 

1664 — In this year we read of negro slaves in Dela- 
ware, which afterwards became a part of Pennsylvania. 

1679 — In the Statistics of Coal, by Richard Cowling 
Taylor, published in 1848, it is stated that the earliest 
historic mention of coal in this country is by the French 
Jesuit missionary. Father Hennepin, who saw traces of 
coal on the Illinois river in 1679. In his journal he 
marks the site of a "cole mine" above Fort Crevecoeur. 

1681 — Charter of Pennsylvania granted on March 4. 

1682 — In an account of the province of East Jersey, 
published by the proprietors in 1682, it is stated that 
'' there is already a smelting furnace and forge set up in 
this colony, where is made good iron, which is of great 
benefit to the country." This enterprise was located at 
Tinton Falls, in Monmouth county. New Jersey. Other 
authorities definitely establish the fact that the Shrews- 
bury works, as they were called, were established before 
1676. They were the first iron works in New Jersey. 

1683 — The first sea-going vessel built in Pennsylvania 
was the Amity, built by William Penn at Philadelphia in 
this year for the Free Society of Traders. In the same 
yeat Penn wrote : " Some vessels have been built here and 
many boats." 

1683 — In this year the first glass factory in Pennsyl- 
vania was established at Philadelphia. In August, 1683, 
Penn wrote that "the saw mill for timber and the place 
of the glass-house are conveniently posted for water-car- 
riage." In March, 1684, Pastorius wrote that "a mill and 
glass factory are built" at " Franckfurt," now a part of 
Philadelphia. Both writers probably referred to the same 
glass factory. 

1685 — A ferry over the Schuylkill at Market street, 
Philadelphia, was in operation in this year. 

1690 — The first paper mill in the colonies was estab-^ 
lished before this year on a tributary of the Wissahickon, 



CHRONOLOGICAL RECORD OF IMPORTANT EVENTS. 269 

near Germantown, by Willem Rittinghuysen, the great- 
grandfather of David Rittenhouse. 

1692 — In 1692 we find the first mention of iron hav- 
ing been made in Pennsylvania. It is contained in a met- 
rical composition entitled A Short Description of Pennsyl- 
vania, by Richard Frame, which was printed and sold by 
William Bradford, in Philadelphia, in 1692. Frame says 
that at *' a certain place about some forty pound" of iron 
had then been made. This was an experimental enterprise. 

1703 — Abraham Lincoln's paternal ancestry was identi- 
fied with the manufacture of iron in Massachusetts. The 
head of the American branch of his father's family, Sam- 
uel Lincoln, emigrated in 1637 from Norwich, England, to 
Massachusetts. Mordecai Lincoln, son of Samuel, born at 
Hingham on June 14, 1657, followed the trade of a black- 
smith at Hull, from which place he removed to Scituate, 
where ''he built a spacious house and was a large con- 
tributor toward the erection of the iron works at Bound 
Brook" in 1703. These works made wrought iron directly 
from the ore. Mordecai Lincoln had two sons who set- 
tled in Berks county, Pennsylvania, Mordecai, Jr., and 
Abraham. Mordecai, Jr., was the great-great-grandfather 
of Abraham Lincoln. 

1710 — The first slitting mill in the colonies for slitting 
nail rods is said by tradition to have been erected at Mil- 
ton, in Norfolk county, Massachusetts, as early as 1710. 
Nails were made by blacksmiths and others from these 
nail rods, sometimes on small anvils in chimney corners. 

1716 — After the failure of the enterprise on Falling 
creek no successful effort was made to revive the iron in- 
dustry in Virginia until after the beginning of the succeed- 
ing century, when Governor Alexander Spotswood and his 
associates built a furnace in Spottsylvania county, about 
ten miles northwest of Fredericksburg, in 1715 or 1716, 
It was soon followed by other furnaces in Virginia. 

1716 — The first iron works in Maryland were probably 
erected in Cecil county, at the head of Chesapeake bay. 
A bloomary at North East, on North East river, erected a 
short time previous to 1716, probably formed the pioneer 
iron enterprise in this colony. 



270 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

1716 — Pool forge, on Manatawny creek, iii Berks coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania, was built in 1716 by Thomas Rutter, 
and was the first iron enterprise in Pennsylvania of which 
any record has been preserved. Mrs. James, in her Me- 
morial of Thomas Potts, Junior, says that Rutter was an 
English Quaker and a resident of Philadelphia in 1685. 

1717 — The exportation of bar iron from the American 
colonies began in this year, when 2 tons were sent to 
England from the British West India islands of Nevis and 
St. Christopher, but which had evidently been taken there 
from one of the Atlantic coast colonies. 

1719 — In this year the first newspaper in Pennsylva- 
nia was established at Philadelphia by Andrew Bradford. 
It was entitled The Am.erican Weekly Mercury. 

1722 — In 1722 Joseph Farmer, an ironmaster, of Eng- 
land, and his associates, afterwards known as the Prin- 
cipio Company, commenced the erection of a furnace on 
Talbot's manor, in Cecil county, near the mouth of Prin- 
cipio creek, in Maryland, which was finished in 1724 and 
followed by a forge which was completed in 1725, both 
works being built and afterwards operated for the com- 
pany by John England. This company afterwards owned 
many furnaces in Maryland and Virginia. 

1722 — Sir William Keith established a forge for the 
manufacture of bar iron on Christiana creek, in Dela- 
ware. It was probably built between 1722 and 1726. It 
was soon followed by Abbington furnace, built about 1727. 

1728 — In this year James Logan wrote that "there are 
four furnaces in blast in the colony" of Pennsylvania. 
Colebrookdale and Durham were two of these furnaces. 

1728 — Scrivenor says that in 1728-29 there were im- 
ported into England from "Carolina" one ton and one 
cwt. of pig iron, and that in 1734 there were imported 
two qrs. and twelve lbs. of bar iron. These dates fix the 
erection of iron works in North Carolina as early as 1728. 
Hoes made in Virginia and "Carolina" were sold in New 
York long before the Revolution. 

1728 — Connecticut was probably the first of the colo- 
nies to make steel. In 1728 Samuel Higley, of Simsbury, 
and Joseph Dewey, of Hebron, in Hartford county, repre- 



CHRONOLOGICAL RECORD OF IMPORTANT EVENTS. 271 

sented to the Legislature that the first-named had, ''with 
great pains and cost, found out and obtained a curious 
art, by which to convert, change, or transmute common 
iron into good steel, sufficient for any use, and was the 
first that ever performed such an operation in America." 

1732 — Augustine Washington, the father of George 
Washington, was engaged in 1732 in making pig iron at 
Accokeek furnace, in Stafford county, Virginia, about fif- 
teen miles from Fredericksburg, when his famous son was 
born. This furnace had been built by the Principio Com- 
pany as early as 1726, on land owned by Augustine 
Washington, aggregating about 1,600 acres, and contain- 
ing iron ore, Mr. Washington becoming the owner of one- 
sixth of the furnace property in consideration of the 
transfer of his land to the company. 

1732 — Cornwall iron ore hills first mentioned. 

1734 — As early as 1734 a bloomary forge was built at 
Lime Rock, in Litchfield county, Connecticut, by Thomas 
Lamb, which produced from 500 to 700 pounds of iron per 
day. A blast furnace was afterwards added to this forge. 

1735 — In this year Samuel Waldo erected a furnace 
and foundry on the Pawtuxet river, in Rhode Island, 
which were afterwards known as Hope furnace. 

1740 — The first iron works in New York were "set 
up" a short time prior to 1740 on Ancram creek, in Co- 
lumbia county, about fourteen miles east of the Hudson 
river, by Philip Livingston, the father of Philip the signer 
of the Declaration of Independence. 

1750 — The iron industry of New Hampshire probably 
dates from about 1750, when several bog-ore bloomaries 
were in existence on Lamper Eel river but were soon dis- 
continued. About the time of the Revolution there were 
a few other bloomaries in operation in New Hampshire. 

1750 — In 1750 it was officially reported that there was 
then in Massachusetts "one furnace for making steel." 

1750 — The first canal constructed in the United States 
was a short line in Orange county, New York, built by 
Lieutenant-Governor Colder in 1750 for transporting stone. 

1750 — The Virginia coal mines were probably the first 
that were worked in America. Bituminous mines were 



272 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

opened and operated on the James river, in Chesterfield 
county, probably about 1750. In July, 1766, in the Vir- 
ginia Gazette, Samuel Duval advertised coal for sale at 
Rockett's, a lower landing of Richmond, at 12d. per bushel, 
" equal to Newcastle coal." In 1789 Virginia coal sold in 
Philadelphia at Is. 6d. per bushel. 

1755 — In this year occurred General Braddock's defeat. 

1758 — The French were driven from Western Pennsyl- 
vania in this year by General John Forbes, when Fort 
Du Quesne, at Pittsburgh, fell into his hands. 

1758 — Coal was observed at Pittsburgh as early as 1758. 

1763 — The battle of Bushy Run was fought this year. 

1766 — Anthracite coal was discovered in the Wyoming 
valley as early as 1766. It is claimed that in 1768 or 1769 
two settlers in the valley, being two brothers named Gore, 
from Connecticut, blacksmiths, were the first persons in 
this country to use anthracite coal, using it in a forge fire. 

1770 — In this year the American colonies exported 
6,017 tons of pig iron, valued at $145,628; 2,463 tons of 
bar iron, valued at $178,891 ; 2 tons of castings, valued at 
$158 ; and 8 tons of wrought iron, valued at $810. 

1773 — The first iron works in South Carolina were 
erected by Mr. Buffington in 1773 but they were destroy- 
ed by the Tories during the Revolution. Other iron en- 
terprises were undertaken in this State after the Revolu- 
tion. In the census year 1840 there were four active fur- 
naces in South Carolina and nine bloomaries, forges, and 
rolling mills. In 1856 South Carolina had eight furnaces 
and in the same year it had three small rolling mills. All 
these enterprises have long been abandoned. 

1775 — About this year a few bloomaries were erected 
in Maine and Vermont. A few furnaces were afterwards 
erected in these States and many bloomaries in Vermont. 
All have disappeared. 

1777 — Arnold's History of the State of Rhode Island 
says: "It is said that the first cold cut nail in the world 
was made in 1777 by Jeremiah Wilkinson, of Cumberland." 

1780 — In this year an act of the General Assembly of 
Pennsylvania was passed which provided for the gradual 
abolition of negro slavery in that State. 



CHRONOLOGICAL RECORD OF IMPORTANT EVENTS. 273 

1781 — Jefferson in his Notes on Virginia mentions a 
"burning spring" in West Virginia, owned by General 
Washington and Andrew Lewis. This was natural gas. 

1790 — Jacob Perkins, of Newburyport, Massachusetts, 
invented about 1790 his nail-cutting machine. 

1790 — A bloomary was built in 1790 at Embreeville, 
in Washington county, Tennessee, and another at Eliza- 
bethton, on Doe river, in Carter county, Tennessee, about 
1795. Wagner's bloomary, on Roane creek, in Johnson 
county, was built in this year, and a bloomary was also 
erected on Camp creek, in Greene county, in 1797. 

1791 — The first iron enterprise in Kentucky was Bour- 
bon furnace, often called Slate furnace, which was built 
in 1791 on Slate creek, a branch of Licking river, in Bath 
county, and about two miles southeast of Owingsville. 

1792 — Lancaster Turnpike built, first in this country. 

1792 — A small blast furnace was built in this year by 
George Anshutz, a native of Alsace, on Two-mile run, now 
Shady Side, in Pittsburgh. In 1794 it was abandoned for 
want of ore. It made grates and other small castings. 

1800 — The first permanent bridge over the Schuylkill 
at Philadelphia, at Market street, was commenced in 1800 
and opened to traffic in January, 1805. 

1800 — In this year the seat of government of Penn- 
sylvania was .moved from Philadelphia to Lancaster, and 
in 1812 it was removed from Lancaster to Harrisburg. 

1800 — About 1800 the celebrated Champlain iron ore 
district in New York was developed, and many Catalan 
forges, as well as furnaces and a few rolling mills, were 
soon afterwards built. The forges were true Catalan forges 
but of an improved type. As late as 1883 there were 27 
of these forges, with 171 fires. All are now abandoned. 

1801 — The first chain bridge in the United States was 
built this year over Jacob's creek in Western Pennsylva- 
nia by Judge James Finley, of Fayette county. 

1802 — Catalan forges, or bloomaries, were built in 
Northern New Jersey long before the Revolution. Many 
forges were blown by the trompe, or water-blast. In 
1795 Morse mentions thirty forges in Morris county. New 
Jersey, and in 1802 a memorial to Congress says that 

18 



274 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

there were then in New Jersey 150 of these forges. There 
are now no Catalan forges left in that State. 

1803 — The beginning of the iron industry in Ohio 
dates from 1803, in which year its first furnace, Hopewell, 
was commenced by Daniel Eaton. It was finished in 1804. 
It stood on the west side of Yellow creek, about one and a 
quarter miles above its junction with the Mahoning river. 

1807 — The first railroads in the United States, begin- 
ning with this year, were built to haul gravel, stone, coal, 
and other heavy materials, and were all short roads. 

1807 — Robert Fulton's steamboat, the Clermont, made 
its successful trial trip on the Hudson on August 17. 

1808 — Anthracite coal first used in a grate by Judge 
Jesse Fell, at Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, in this year. 

1810 — The census statistics for 1810, published in 1814^ 
gave the production of cast iron in the census year as 
amounting to 53,908 gross tons, which included pig iron. 

1810 — The production of steel in the United States in 
the census year 1810 amounted to 917 tons. 

1810 — In 1810 there was a bloomary in Warren coun- 
ty, a forge in Elbert county, and a nailery in Chatham 
county, Georgia. Two of these were built about 1790. 

1810— On June 27, 1810, Clemens Rentgen, a native of 
the Palatinate, in Germany, obtained a patent from the 
United States Government for "rolling iron round, for 
ship bolts and other uses," which invention was put to 
practical use at Mr. Rentgen's Pikeland works, in Chester 
county, Pennsylvania, in 1812 and 1813, in which years 
he rolled round iron, some of which was for the navy. 

1811 — The first steamboat "on the western waters" 
was built at Pittsburgh and called the New Orleans. 

1812 — The first rolling mill at Pittsburgh was built in 
1811 and 1812 by Christopher Cowan, a Scotch-Irishman, 
and called the Pittsburgh rolling mill. This mill had no 
puddling furnaces. Its products were sheet iron, nail and 
spike rods, shovels, chains, hatchets, hammers, etc. 

1812 — Salt was first discovered on the Conemaugh in 
Western Pennsylvania in this year or 1813. 

1816 — Wire fences were in limited use in the neighbor- 
hood of Philadelphia as far back as 1816. The wire used 



CHRONOLOGICAL RECORD OF IMPORTANT EVENTS. 275 

was manufactured by White & Hazard at their wire 
works at the Falls of Schuylkill. 

1816 — In his History of Philadelphia (1884) Thompson 
Westcott says that the first wire suspension bridge in the 
United States, if not in the world, was thrown across the 
Schuylkill river, near the Falls of Schuylkill, by White & 
Hazard. Its use was restricted to foot passengers. 

1816 — The first rolling mill erected in the United 
States to puddle iron and roll iron bars was built by 
Isaac Meason in 1816 and 1817 at Plumsock, on Redstone 
creek, in Fayette county, Pennsylvania. 

1816 — The once celebrated iron district in Iron and St. 
Fran9ois counties, Missouri, which embraces Iron Mountain 
and Pilot Knob, appears to have contained the first iron 
enterprise in this State, which embraced a furnace and 
forge on Stout's creek, in Iron county, built in 1815 or 1816. 

1816 — About 1810 Isaac Pennock built Brandywine 
rolling mill, at Coatesville, Pennsylvania, which was pur- 
chased from him about 1816 by Dr. Charles Lukens. The 
first boiler plates made in the United States were rolled 
at this mill by Dr. Lukens prior to his death in 1825. 

1818 — The oldest furnace in Alabama mentioned by 
Professor J. P. Lesley was built about 1818 a few miles 
west of Russellville, in Franklin county, and abandoned in 
1827. A furnace was built at Polksville, in Calhoun county, 
in 1843, and Shelby furnace, at Shelby, was built in 1848. 

1818 — In this year the construction of the first canal 
tunnel in the United States was undertaken at Auburn, 
Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, by the Schuylkill Navi- 
gation Company. It was finished in 1821. 

1825 — The first iron steamboat built in this country 
was the Codorus, built at York, Pennsylvania, in 1825. 

1825 — The first bar iron rolled in New England was 
rolled at the Boston iron works, in Boston, in 1825. 

1827— On February 28, 1827, the Maryland Legislature 
granted a charter for the construction of the Baltimore 
and Ohio Railroad, the first railroad in the United States 
to be built for the conveyance of passengers as well as 
freight. Its construction was commenced on July 4, 1828. 
The road was not opened to Wheeling until January, 1853. 



276 PROQRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

1829 — Steam power was not used on any American 
railroad until 1829. Horse power had previously been used 
and was used for many years afterwards. 

1829 — The first locomotive to run upon an American 
railroad was the Stourbridge Lion. It was first used at 
Honesdale, in Wayne county, Pennsylvania, on August 8, 
1829, on the coal railroad of the Delaware and Hudson 
Canal Company. It was built in England. 

1830 — The T rail was invented in this year by Robert 
L. Stevens, the president and engineer of the Camden and 
South Amboy Railroad and Transportation Company, and 
T rails were rolled in Wales in 1830 on Mr. Stevens's 
order and laid down on a part of his road in 1831. 

1830 — The first locomotive built in the United States 
and used on a railroad was the Tom Thumb, which was 
built by Peter Cooper at Baltimore and successfully ex- 
perimented with on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 
August, 1830. Mr. Cooper was his own engineer. Strictly 
speaking the Tom Thumb was only a working model. 

1830 — The first American locomotive that was built 
for actual service was the Best Friend of Charleston, which 
was built at the West Point Foundry, in New York City, 
for the Charleston and Hamburg Railroad and was suc- 
cessfully put in use on that road in December, 1830. 

1830 — In 1830 only 23 miles of railroad were in opera- 
tion in the United States ; in 1840 there were 2,818 miles ; 
in 1850 there were 9,021 miles ; in 1860 there were 30,626 
miles; in 1870 there were 52,922 miles; in 1880 there were 
93,262 miles; in 1890 there were 166,703 miles; in 1900 
there were 194,262 miles ; and in 1907 there were 228,128 
miles. These figures do not include double tracks, sid- 
ings, etc.; only the length of the main track. 

1832 — Crucible steel of the best quality was first made 
in the United States in this year in commercial quantities 
at Cincinnati by Dr. William Garrard and his brother, 
John H. Garrard, entirely from American materials. Their 
works were called the Cincinnati steel works. 

1832 — In Brown's History of the First Locomotives in 
America it is stated that "the first charter for what are 
termed city passenger or horse railroads was obtained in 



CHRONOLOGICAL RECORD OP IMPORTANT EVENTS. 277 

the city of New York and known as the New York and 
Harlem, and this was the first road of the kind ever con- 
structed, and was opened in 1832. No other road of the 
kind was completed till 1852, when the Sixth Avenue was 
opened to the public." 

1833 — The first railroad tunnel in the United States, 
four miles east of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, forming part 
of the Portage Railroad, was completed in 1833 and was 
first used on November 26 of that year. 

1833 — In this year the Philadelphia and Reading Rail- 
road Company was chartered. It was opened to Mount 
Carbon, one mile below Pottsville, on January 13, 1842. 

1834 — In this year the main line of the Pennsylvania 
Canal, connecting Philadelphia with Pittsburgh, was open- 
ed for traffic throughout its entire length. The building 
of the canal was commenced in 1826. 

1834 — The first practical application of the hot-blast 
to the manufacture of pig iron in this country was made 
at Oxford furnace, in New Jersey, in 1834, by William 
Henry, the manager. The fuel used was charcoal. 

1834 — Bituminous coal in Alabama was first observed 
in this year by Dr. Alexander Jones, of Mobile. 

1835 — The first puddling done in New England was at 
Boston, on the mill-dam, by Lyman, Ralston & Co. 

1835 — The first successful use of coke in the blast fur- 
nace in the United States was accomplished by William 
Firmstone, at Mary Ann furnace, in Huntingdon county, 
Pennsylvania, in 1835. 

1835 — The machine-made horseshoe was patented by 
Henry Burden, of Troy, New York, in 1835. Other horse- 
shoe patents were issued to him in 1843, 1857, and 1862. 
Mr. Burden was also the inventor of the hook-headed 
spike and of the Burden rotary squeezer, the latter in 1840. 

1838 — Baldwin Locomotive Works exported one loco- 
motive to Cuba, their first shipment to a foreigjn country. 

1839 — In 1839 a small charcoal furnace was built four 
miles northwest of Elizabethtown, in Hardin county, Illi- 
nois. This is the first blast furnace in Illinois of which 
there is any record. 

1839— On October 19, 1839, Pioneer furnace, at Potts- 



278 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

ville, Pennsylvania, built by William Lyman, of Boston, 
and others, under the auspices of Burd Patterson, of 
Pottsville, was successfully blown in with anthracite coal 
by Benjamin Perry and ran for about three months, 
making about 28 tons of foundry iron a week. This was 
the first use of anthracite coal in the blast furnace in this 
country that was attended with a fair degree of success. 

1840— On July 3, 1840, the first furnace of the Lehigh 
Crane Iron Company, at Catasauqua, Pennsylvania, was 
successfully blown in by David Thomas, who had super- 
intended its construction. Its first cast was made on 
July 4. From the first this furnace produced 50 tons a 
week of good foundry iron. This was the first of all the 
early anthracite furnaces that was completely successful. 

1840 — Indiana possessed a small charcoal iron industry 
before 1840. The census mentions a furnace in that year 
in Jefiferson county, one in Parke, one in Vigo, one in Ver- 
milion, and three in Wayne county, the total product be- 
ing 810 tons of "cast iron." A forge in Fulton county, 
producing 20 tons of *' bar iron,'' is also mentioned. Bog 
ore was used. 

1840 — In 1840 the census reported that 601 tons of 
''cast iron" had that year been produced in 15 "furnaces" 
in Southern Michigan. Some of these "furnaces" were 
undoubtedly foundries, which obtained pig iron from Ohio 
and other neighboring States ; others used bog ore. 

1840 — The census of 1840 mentions a furnace in "Mil- 
waukee town," Wisconsin, which produced three tons of 
iron in that year. This was probably a foundry. In 1859 
Lesley mentions three charcoal furnaces in Wisconsin. 

1841 — In the winter of this year and 1842 Connells- 
ville coke was first made in commercial quantities a few 
miles below Connellsville on the Youghiogheny river. 

1842 — Wire cable suspension bridge over the Schuyl- 
kill at Philadelphia was built by Charles Ellet, Jr. 

1843 — The development of the Lake Superior copper 
region was undertaken this year under the auspices of 
Dr. Curtis G. Hussey, of Pittsburgh. 

1844 — The first discovery by white men of iron ore 
in the Lake Superior region was made on the 16th of Sep- 



CHRONOLOGICAL RECORD OF IMPORTANT EVENTS. 279 

tember, 1844, near the eastern end of Teal lake, in North- 
ern Michigan, by William A. Burt, a deputy surveyor of 
the General Government. In June, 1845, the Jackson Min- 
ing Company was organized at Jackson, Michigan, and 
in the same year it secured possession of the celeCrated 
Jackson iron mountain. In 1853 a few tons of Jackson 
ore were shipped to the World's Fair at New York. 

1844— On April 24, 1844, Hon. Edward Joy Morris, 
a member of Congress from Pennsylvania, declared that 
"not a ton of T rail has yet been made in this country." 

1844 — The manufacture of heavy iron rails in this 
country was commenced early in 1844 at the Mount Sav- 
age rolling mill, in Allegany county, Maryland, which was 
built in 1843 especially to roll these rails. The first rail 
rolled at this mill was an inverted U rail. U rails were 
in use in the sidings of the Cumberland and Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad as late as 1869. We have a short piece. 

1844 — In this year iron T rails weighing 50 pounds 
to the yard were rolled at the Mount Savage rolling mill, 
in Maryland, for the railroad leading from Fall River to 
Boston. They were ordered by Colonel Borden, of Fall 
River, and were the first T rails rolled in the United States. 

1845 — A wire suspension aqueduct over the Allegheny 
at Pittsburgh was built this year by John A. Roebling — 
his first use of wire rope for aqueducts or bridges. 

1845 — The Montour rolling mill, at Danville, Pennsyl- 
vania, was built in 1845 expressly to roll T rails. 

1845 — Splint coal, or block coal, was used in a blast 
furnace in the fall of 1845 by Himrod & Vincent, of Mer- 
cer county, Pennsylvania, in their Clay furnace. It had 
been previously successfully experimented with. 

1846 — The first furnace in Ohio to use splint coal, or 
block coal, in its raw state was built expressly for this 
purpose at Lowell, in Mahoning county, by Wilkeson, 
Wilkes & Co., and successfully blown in by them on the 
8th of August, 1846. 

1846 — The Pennsylvania Railroad Company was char- 
tered to build a railroad from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh. 

1849 — The production of iron rails in this country in 
1849 was 21,712 gross tons, and in 1872, the year of larg- 



280 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

est production, it was 808,866 tons. In 1904 the produc- 
tion had dwindled to 871 tons and in 1906 to 15 tons. 

1850 — The first shipment of iron ore from the Lake 
Superior region was made in 1850 and consisted of about 
ten tons, *' which was taken away by Mr. A. L. Craw- 
ford, of New Castle, Pennsylvania." A part of this ore 
was reduced to blooms and rolled into bar iron. It was 
hauled around Sault Ste. Marie on a strap railroad. 

1850 — Petroleum was first refined in this year by 
Samuel M. Kier, of Pittsburgh. 

1852 — On December 10, 1852, the Pennsylvania Rail- 
road was completed from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, con- 
nections being made With State railroads. 

1852 — The first wire nails manufactured in the United 
States were made in 1851 or 1852 at New York by Will- 
iam Hassall. All the wire nails made by Mr. Hassall were 
made from iron or brass wire and were of small sizes, es- 
cutcheon and upholsterer's nails being specialties. 

1853 — The first use of Lake Superior ore in a blast 
furnace occurred in Pennsylvania in 1853, when about 
70 tons, brought from Erie by canal, were used in the 
Sharpsville and Clay furnaces, in Mercer county. 

1854 — It is stated by the American Cyclopcedia that 
Peter Cooper "was the first to roll wrought iron beams 
for fire-proof buildings/' at Trenton, N. J., in 1854. They 
were 7 inches deep, weighed about 81 pounds per yard, 
and were known as deck beams. They were used in Har- 
per Brothers' and the Cooper Union buildings, New York, 
and also on the Camden and Amboy Railroad as rails. 

1855 — In this year the production of pig iron with 
anthracite coal exceeded that made with charcoal. 

1855 — On March 6 the American Iron Association, now 
the American Iron and Steel Association, was organized 
at Philadelphia. In 1864 the present name was adopted. 

1855 — The first 30-foot iron rails rolled in this country 
were rolled at the Cambria iron works, at Johnstown, in 
1855. There was no demand for them. The first 30-foot 
iron rails rolled in this country on order were rolled at the 
Montour rolling mill, at Danville, Pennsylvania, in Janu- 
ary, 1859, for the Sunbury and Erie Railroad Company. 



CHRONOLOGICAL RECORD OF IMPORTANT EVENTS. 281 

1857 — The iron industry at Chicago dates from 1857, 
when Captain E. B. Ward, of Detroit, built the Chicago 
rolling mill, "just outside of the city," to reroU iron rails. 

1857 — The main line of the Pennsylvania Canal, from 
Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, was sold this year to the 
Pennsylvania Railroad Company for $7,500,000. 

1858 — The first pig iron produced in the Lake Superi- 
or region was made in 1858 by Stephen R. Gay in a small 
furnace on Dead river, three miles northwest of Marquette. 

1859 — Clinton furnace, built in 1859 by Graflf, Bennett 
<fe Co., at Pittsburgh, and blown in on the last Monday of 
October, was the first furnace built in Allegheny county 
after the Anshutz furnace at Shady Side was abandoned. 

1859 — Metallic zinc first made successfully in this 
country by Joseph Wharton, at South Bethlehem. 

1860 — The production of pig iron in the United States 
in 1860 was 821,223 tons and that of steel was 11,838 tons. 

1860 — As late as 1860 there were about two hundred 
Catalan forges, or bloomaries, south of the Ohio and the 
Potomac rivers, which made bar iron under the hammer 
directly from the ore. At the close of the nineteenth 
century only one of these bloomaries survived and it has 
since been abandoned. 

1862 — The Phoenix wrought-iron column, or wrought- 
steel column, is the invention of Samuel J. Reeves, of 
Philadelphia, in this year. 

1864 — In September, 1864, William F. Durfee, acting 
for the Kelly Pneumatic Process Company, succeeded at 
experimental works at Wyandotte, Michigan, in making 
the first pneumatic, or Bessemer, steel in this country. 

1865 — ^The control in this country of Mr. Bessemer's 
steel patents was obtained in 1864 by John F. Winslow, 
John A. Griswold, and Alexander L. HoUey, all of Troy, 
New York. In February, 1865, Mr. Holley was successful 
at Troy in producing Bessemer steel at experimental 
works which he had constructed for his company in 1864. 

1865 — The first Bessemer steel rails made in the Unit- 
ed States were rolled in May of this year at the Chicago 
rolling mill, in Chicago, from blooms made by William F. 
Durfee at Wyandotte. 



282 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

1866 — The first elevated city passenger railroad ever 
built was the Greenwich street railroad in New York, 
which was commenced in 1866 and has been in successful 
operation since 1872. It is now known as the Ninth Ave- 
nue Elevated Railway. The next project of this charac- 
ter was the Gilbert elevated railroad, in New York, for 
the construction of which a charter was granted in 1872. 

1867 — The first Siemens gas furnace that was regularly 
introduced into this country for any purpose was built 
by John A. Griswold & Co., at Troy, New York, and used 
as a heating furnace in their rolling mill, the license hav- 
ing been granted on the 18th of September, 1867. 

1868 — The first open-hearth furnace introduced into 
this country for the manufacture of steel by the Siemens- 
Martin process was built in 1868 by Frederick J. Slade for 
Cooper, Hewitt & Co., at Trenton, New Jersey. 

1868— In 1867 or 1868 John Player, of England, in- 
troduced his iron hot-blast stove into the United States. 
Mr. Player personally superintended the erection of the 
first of his stoves in this country at the furnace of J. B. 
Moorhead & Co., at West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. 

1869 — In this year pig iron made with bituminous coal 
and coke first exceeded that made with charcoal. 

1869— On May 10, 1869, the Union and Central Pa- 
cific Railroads were joined at Promontory Point, Utah, 
completing the first railroad line across the continent. 

1869 — The first successful application in this country 
of the Siemens regenerative gas furnace to the puddling 
of iron was made under the direction of William F. Dur- 
fee at the rolling mill of the American Silver Steel Com- 
pany, at Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1869. 

1873 — The first Transatlantic iron steamships to at- 
tract attention which were built in this country were the 
four vessels of the American Steamship Company's line, 
the Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, built of 
Pennsylvania iron at Philadelphia in 1871, 1872, and 1873, 
by W. Cramp & Sons. They were each 355 feet long and 
their carrying capacity was 3,100 tons each. 

1873 — The first considerable importation of iron ore 
into this country occurred in 1873, when about 46,000 



CHRONOLOGICAL RECORD OF IMPORTANT EVENTS. 283 

tons were imported, the most of which came from Canada. 
In 1902 we imported 1,165,470 tons of iron ore, of which 
Cuba sent 696,375 tons. In 1907 we imported 1,229,168 
tons, of which 657,133 tons came from Cuba. Our first 
imports of iron ore from Cuba took place in 1884. 

1874 — At the Siberian rolling mill of Rogers & Burch- 
field, at Leechburg, in Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, 
natural gas, taken from a well 1,200 feet deep, was first 
used in 1874 in the manufacture of iron. For six months 
of this year natural gas furnished all the fuel required by 
this mill for puddling, heating, and making steam. 

1874 — The two-story bridge across the Mississippi at 
St. Louis was formally opened on the 4th of July of this 
year. It was built by the Keystone Bridge Company, of 
Pittsburgh, active operations having been commenced on 
March 19, 1868. Its centre arch is 520 feet long, and 
there are two other arches each 502 feet long. These 
arches are composed of tubes made of American steel. 

1874 — The Girard avenue bridge over the Schuylkill 
at Philadelphia was also opened to the public on July 4, 
1874. It was built entirely of iron in fourteen months 
by Clarke, Reeves & Co., of Phcenixville. This bridge is 
1,000 feet long, 100 feet wide, and is composed of five 
spans. When built it was the widest bridge in the world. 

1874— In 1874 John Roach & Son launched for the 
Pacific Mail Steamship Company, at their shipyard at 
Chester^ Pennsylvania, two iron steamships, the City of 
Peking and the City of Tokio, twin vessels in all respects. 
They were each 423 feet long and had a carrying capac- 
ity of 5,000 tons each. 

1875 — The production of pig iron made with bitumi- 
nous coal and coke exceeded that made with anthracite. 

1875 — The first 60-foot rails rolled in this country 
were rolled by the Edgar Thomson Steel Company, at its 
works near Pittsburgh, in 1875, and were of steel. 

1875 — The Whitwell fire-brick hot-blast stove, the in- 
vention of Thomas Whitwell, of England, was first used 
in this country at Rising Fawn furnace, in Dade county, 
Georgia, on June 18, 1875. Its next application was at 
Cedar Point furnace, at Port Henry, in Essex county. New 



284 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

York, on August 12, 1875. The stoves at Cedar Point 
furnace were built before those at Rising Fawn furnace. 

1875 — The first wire nails that were made of steel 
wire in this country were made at Covington, Kentucky, 
in 1875, by Father Goebel, the pastor of St. Augustine's 
Catholic Church in that city, who imported a wire-nail 
machine from Germany. Father Goebel in the same year 
formed the Kentucky Wire Nail Works and ordered two 
more machines, he being president of the company. 

1876 — At the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, in 
1876, the Edgar Thomson Steel Company exhibited a steel 
rail which at that time was the longest steel rail that had 
ever been rolled. It was 120 feet long and weighed 62 
pounds to the yard. 

1876 — Malleable nickel was first made in the world in 
this year by Joseph Wharton from Pennsylvania nickel ore. 

1877 — The first set of Siemens-Cowper-Cochrane fire- 
brick hot-blast stoves built in this country was erected 
at one of the Crown Point furnaces, in Essex county. 
New York, in 1877 ; but the first set of these stoves in 
any part of America was erected at Londonderry, Nova 
Scotia, by the Steel Company of Canada, Limited, in 1876. 

1878 — The world's production of pig iron in 1878 was 
estimated by the compiler of this chronological record to 
have amounted to 14,118,000 gross tons, and the world's 
production of steel in the same year was estimated to 
have amounted to 3,021,000 tons. 

1880 — The first elevated railroad constructed in this 
country in connection with a regular freight and passen- 
ger railroad was undertaken by the Pennsylvania Rail- 
road Company in 1880 and finished in 1881. It consti- 
tutes an extension of the main line of the Pennsylvania 
Railroad to the heart of the city of Philadelphia and is 
about a mile long. It was opened for freight purposes on 
April 25, 1881, and for passengers on December 5, 1881. 

1883 — The first steel suspension bridge over the East 
river, connecting New York with Brooklyn, was project- 
ed in 1865 but its construction was not actually under- 
taken until 1869. Its engineer was John A. Roebling, who 
died in this year and was succeeded by his son, Washing- 



CHRONOLOGICAL RECORD OF IMPORTANT EVENTS. 285 

ton A. Roebling. The bridge was completed and formally 
opened on May 24, 1883. The total length of the bridge 
and its approaches is 5,989 feet. The length of the main 
span is 1,595 feet. The wire cables for the bridge were 
made of crucible steel and some open-hearth steel, all of 
American manufacture. 

1884 — The first basic steel made in the United States 
was produced experimentally at Steelton, Pennsylvania, 
by the Pennsylvania Steel Company, on May 24, 1884, in 
a Bessemer converter. The steel was of excellent quality. 

1884 — In 1884 there were still in existence in this 
country four slitting mills, which were used spasmodic- 
ally in the conversion of plate iron into nail rods. 

1886 — Basic open-hearth steel was first made in this 
country by the Otis Iron and Steel Company, of Cleve- 
land. One furnace was started on January 19, 1886. 

1887 — The first contract for American-made armor was 
made by the Navy Department with the Bethlehem Iron 
Company on June 1, 1887, and was for two battleships 
and four monitors, and called for 6,700 tons of plain steel 
armor, oil-tempered and annealed, at an average price of 
$536 per ton. But the first armor actually made under 
this contract was not made by this company until 1890. 

1888 — The manufacture of aluminum in this country 
was successfully established at Pittsburgh in this year by 
the Pittsburgh Reduction Company. 

1888 — The beginning of the continuous manufacture of 
basic steel in this country as a commercial product dates 
from 1888, on the 30th of March of which year basic 
open-hearth steel was produced at the Homestead steel 
works of Carnegie, Phipps & Co., Limited. 

1890 — The tinplate industry established in this country. 

1890 — In this year the United States for the first time 
made more pig iron than Great Britain. This leadership 
was steadily maintained until 1894, when it was lost, but 
in 1895 it was regained. In 1896 it was again lost, but it 
was again regained in 1897 and has since been maintained. 

1890 — The world's production of pig iron in this year 
is given in Iron in All Ages as 26,968,468 tons, and its 
production of steel in the same year as 12,151,255 tons. 



286 PROGREBSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

The percentage of pig iron produced by this country in 
that year was 34.1 and its percentage of steel was 35.2. 

1896— The Helton Forge of W. J. Pasley, at Grumpier, 
Ashe county, North Carolina, was the last Catalan forge 
in the South to make charcoal iron bars direct from the 
ore. It made its last blooms in 1896. 

1897 — Two miles below Niagara Falls the Pennsylva- 
nia Steel Company, of Steelton, erected in 1897 a double- 
deck steel arch bridge over the Niagara river, the central 
arch of which is 550 feet long. This bridge and the one 
mentioned below are among the world's great bridges. 

1897— In 1897 the A. and P. Roberts Company, of 
Philadelphia, erected a steel arch bridge over the Niagara 
river, just below the Falls. The length of the main arch 
span is 840 feet, and there are two approach spans of 210 
feet and 190 feet respectively. The height of the bridge 
above the water line is 185 feet. It is 46 feet wide. 

1897 — First pressed steel car was built by the Schoen 
Pressed Steel Company, at Allegheny, Pa., in this year. 

1899 — In this year the British Government ordered 
a steel railroad bridge of American design and construc- 
tion, consisting of seven spans of 150 feet each, to be 
built across the Atbara river in the Soudan country, 
south of Egypt. The contract for the construction and 
erection of the bridge was awarded to the A. and P. 
Roberts Company, of Philadelphia, which rolled and fitted 
the steel for the bridge at its Pencoyd works. In his re- 
port upon the bridge in the following April Lord Cromer 
said : "An English firm offered to deliver the work in six 
and a half months at a cost of £10,490. The American 
firm's tender was £6,500 for delivery in forty-two days." 
The bridge was delivered to a British vessel at New 
York within the time mentioned in the contract. It was 
erected over the Atbara river by an erecting crew from 
the works of the A. and P. Roberts Company. 

1899 — In this year the Pennsylvania Steel Company 
built and erected for about $700,000 a steel viaduct 
2,260 feet long and 320 feet high spanning the Gokteik 
Gorge, in Burma, British India, eighty miles east of Man- 
dalay. The steel viaduct crosses the Chungzoune river, 



CHRONOLOGICAL RECORD OF IMPORTANT EVENTS. 287 

which disappears into a natural tunnel just above the 
viaduct, the foundations of which rest partly on a natu- 
ral bridge formed by this tunnel. Farther down the riv- 
er again comes to the surface. The height from the 
river to the column foundations is 500 feet. The viaduct 
above this rises to a height of 320 feet. The bridge was 
erected by a crew from the Pennsylvania Steel Com- 
pany's works at Steelton for the Burma Railroad Com- 
pany. The contract was secured in competition with 
En^sh bridgebuilders. 

1900 — Poor's Manual reports that in 1900 there were 
257,853 miles of steam railroad track in the United States, 
including second, third, and fourth tracks, sidings, etc., 
and not including elevated railroads or electric roads. The 
same authority reports that in 1907 there were 324,033.38 
miles, of which 224,382.19 miles were single track and 
99,651.19 miles were second, third, and fourth tracks, sid- 
ings, etc. Of the total 314,713.50 miles were laid with 
steel rails and 9,319.88 miles were laid with iron rails. 

1900 — In this year the United States for the first time 
made more open-hearth steel than Great Britain. 

1901 — ^The Standish iron works, at Standish, Clinton 
county, New York, were the last works in the North to 
make charcoal blooms by the Catalan process direct from 
the ore. They were built in 1895, were last active in 1901, 
and were recently abandoned. 

1903 — The world's production of pig iron in 1903 we 
have estimated to have amounted to 46,368,000 tons. Of 
this total estimated production the United States made 
18,009,252 tons, or 38.84 per cent. 

1903 — We have estimated the world's production of 
steel in 1903 to have amounted to 35,846,000 tons, of which 
the United States made 14,534,978 tons, or 40.55 per cent. 

1905 — A steel cantilever bridge, under construction in 
this year over the St. Lawrence river at Quebec, and to 
be finished in 1909, was intended to be the most remark- 
able structure of its kind in the world. The weight of 
this bridge was to be about 35,000 tons. Its total length 
was to be 3,300 feet. The central span of 1,800 feet was 
to cross the entire St. Lawrence river at a height of 150 



288 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

feet above high water and was to be the longest span in 
the world, the next longest span being that of the Forth 
Bridge in Scotland, which is 1,710 feet long. The height 
of the cantilever towers was 360 feet above the river. 
The Phcenix Bridge Company, of Phoenixville, Pennsylva- 
nia, received the contract for building the bridge. On 
Thursday, August 29, 1907, the bridge collapsed, about 80 
workmen losing their lives. It was the south half that 
fell, all that had been erected. The abutments and piers 
of the bridge were not affected by the collapse. A Royal 
Commission of Inquiry was appointed by the Canadian 
Government, and on March 9, 1908, this committee pre- 
sented to the House of Commons an elaborate report, 
placing the blame for the collapse of the bridge upon the 
engineers who designed and approved the plan of its con- 
struction, but exonerating the Phcenix Bridge Company 
from all blame. 

1906 — In this year the world's production of iron ore 
amounted to about 125,760,000 tons, of which the Unit- 
ed States produced 47,749,728 tons, or 37.97 per cent.; 
the production of coal and lignite was 1,003,100,000 tons, 
of which the United States mined 369,783,284 tons, or 
over 36.86 per cent.; the production of pig iron was 58,- 
650,000 tons, of which the United States made 25,307,- 
191 tons, or 43.15 per cent.; and the production of steel 
ingots and castings was 51,060,000 tons, of which this 
country made 23,398,136 tons, or over 45.82 per cent. 

1907— In 1890 this country imported 329,435 tons of 
tinplates and terne plates ; in 1907 it imported 57,773 tons. 

1908 — In 1908 the Pennsylvania Steel Company rolled 
grooved guard steel rails weighing 151 pounds to the yard. 












THE MUHLENBERG FAMILY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 289 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

THE MUHLENBERG FAMILY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

The remainder of this volume will be devoted to 
sketches of some distinguished Pennsylvanians, nearly 
all of them Western Pennsylvanians. In this chapter we 
give a brief history of a family of Pennsylvania Germans 
which has contributed to our country as many men of 
prominence and distinction as any other family in any 
part of the United States, the justly celebrated Adams 
and Field families of Massachusetts not excepted. 

(1.) The Rev. Heinrich Melchior Muhlenberg, D. D., the 
most eminent among the founders of the Lutheran Church 
in this country, and who is affectionately known as the 
Patriarch by those who have always regarded him as its 
real founder, was born at Eimbeck, in Hanover, Germany, 
on September 6, 1711. Liberally educated in German 
universities and subsequently ordained as a Lutheran 
minister he arrived in Philadelphia on November 25, 1742, 
to labor among the German Lutherans who had recently 
come to this country in large numbers. He died at his 
home at The Trappe, in Montgomery county, Pennsylva- 
nia, on October 7, 1787. He was an active minister of the 
Lutheran Church during the whole of his residence of 
forty-five years in his adopted country, in which position, 
as well as by reason of his exalted character and high 
intellectual attainments, he exercised great influence in the 
councils of his church and in shaping the public opinion 
of his day. For several years he preached in Philadelphia, 
but for the greater part of his active Ufe he preached reg- 
ularly at The Trappe. Dr. Muhlenberg possessed execu- 
tive ability of a high order. He was an ardent friend of 
colonial independence, and because of his devotion to the 
patriotic cause he was subjected to much persecution and 
endured many privations during the Revolutionary war. 

There is still standing at The Trappe, and in good 

condition, a stone church which was built in 1743 when 

19 



290 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

Dr. Muhlenberg was the pastor of the Lutheran congre- 
gation at that place. He laid its corner-stone. Near the 
end of his life the degree of doctor of divinity was con- 
ferred upon this eminent and scholarly man by the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania. He was the master of three 
languages, EngUsh, German, and Dutch, which he spoke 
jQuently, and he could also read Latin, Hebrew, Greek, 
French, Bohemian, and Swedish. His remains rest in the 
well-kept graveyard attached to the old stone church at 
The Trappe. There is a Muhlenberg township in Berks 
county which was so named in his honor. 

Dr. Muhlenberg married on April 22, 1745, Anna Ma- 
ria, a daughter of Conrad Weiser, of Berks county, the 
noted representative of the provincial government in its 
dealings with the Indians. The doctor was the father of 
three gifted sons, all of whom became Lutheran ministers. 
These sons were John Peter Gabriel, Frederick Augustus 
Conrad, and Gotthilf Henry Ernestus Muhlenberg. All 
these sons attained honorable distinction. Like their fa- 
ther they were not only Lutheran ministers but they were 
also public-spirited citizens of commanding injQuence. 

(2.) John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg was born at The 
Trappe on October 1, 1746. He and his two younger 
brothers, hereafter to be mentioned, were educated in part 
at the University of Halle, in Germany. In 1772 he be- 
came the pastor of a Lutheran congregation at Wood- 
stock, Vir^nia, situated in a settlement of Germans in the 
Shenandoah valley, most of whom had emigrated from 
Pennsylvania. He also ministered to other Lutheran con- 
gregations in this valley. In 1774 he was chosen a mem- 
ber of the Virginia House of Burgesses. At the outbreak 
of the Revolution in 1775 he was requested by Washing- 
ton, with whom he had become personally acquainted, to 
accept a colonel's commission in the Virginia Line, and 
this invitation he accepted. Addressing his congregation 
after services one Sunday he is reported to have said : 
" There is a time for all things — a time to preach and a 
time to pray, but there is also a time to fight, and that 
time has now come," following this remark by throwing 
back his clerical robe and exposing a colonel's uniform 



THE MUHLENBERG FAMILY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 291 

and reading his colonel's commission. At the door of the 
church he ordered the drums to beat for recruits and many 
members of his congregation and other Germans in the 
valley promptly enlisted. Nearly 300 men of the churches 
in the valley enlisted that day under Colonel Muhlenberg's 
banner. They formed part of the 8th Virginia Regiment, 
which was afterwards known as "the German Regiment." 
With Colonel Muhlenberg at its head the regiment march- 
ed to the relief of Charleston, South Carolina, and took 
part in the battle of Sullivan's Island. 

Peter Muhlenberg participated with credit in many 
other important engagements of the Revolution. In 1777 
he was commissioned a brigadier general and at the close 
of the war he retired from the army as a major general. 
He was at Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, Stony 
Point, Yorktown, and other places where his valor and 
skill were tested, and he was with his men at Valley Forge 
in the winter of 1777. He was a fast friend of Washing- 
ton during the "Conway cabal." Returning after the war 
to Pennsylvania, which was afterwards his home, he was 
in 1785 chosen vice president of the supreme executive 
council of that State, Benjamin Franklin being its presi- 
dent, and he was re-elected in 1786 and 1787. He was a 
member of the House of Representatives of the First and 
Third Congresses. In 1796 he was a Presidential elector. 
In 1798 he was elected a Representative in the Sixth Con- 
gress, serving from March 4, 1799, to March 3, 1801. On 
February 18, 1801, he was chosen a United States Sena- 
tor, but soon after taking his seat he resigned this office 
that he might accept the position of supervisor of the 
revenue for the district of Pennsylvania, an important of- 
fice in that day, tendered to him by President Jefferson, 
to whose poUtical fortunes he was attached. In 1802 he 
was appointed collector of customs for the port of Phila- 
delphia. He died on October 1, 1807, and was buried at 
The Trappe beside his illustrious father. Two of his 
sons reflected honor on the family name after his 
death. Peter was a major in the regular army during our 
second war with Great Britain, and Francis Swaine was 
a Representative from Ohio in the Twentieth Congress. 



292 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

General Muhlenberg's statue is one of the two contrib- 
uted by Pennsylvania to Statuary Hall in the Capitol of 
the United States, the other being that of Robert Fulton , 
Muhlenberg representing the German element in the 
population of Pennsylvania and Fulton representing the 
Scotch-Irish element. 

In Henry A. Muhlenberg's Life of Major General Peter 
MuhUriberg (1849) it is stated that " in Trumbull's paint- 
ing of the capitulation of Yorktown, in the rotunda of the 
Capitol, General Muhlenberg's is the second figure from 
the left and is said to be an excellent Ukeness." An oil 
portrait of the general that will arrest attention will be 
found among the portraits of Revolutionary worthies in 
Independence Hall in Philadelphia. A county in Ken- 
tucky was named Muhlenberg in his honor. 

(3.) Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg, the sec- 
ond of the three sons mentioned, was born at The Trappe 
on January 1, 1750. Entering the Lutheran ministry his 
talent for pubUc affairs soon asserted itself. Like his fa- 
ther and his brother Peter he was an ardent advocate of 
colonial independence. He was a member of the Conti- 
nental Congress from Pennsylvania in 1779 and 1780. In 
1780 he was elected a member of the General Assembly of 
Pennsylvania and was Speaker of that body in 1781 and 
1782. In 1787 he was a delegate to the Pennsylvania con- 
vention which was called to consider the Constitution of 
1787, which it ratified. He was also Speaker of that body. 
He was a member of the House of Representatives in the 
First, Second, Third, and Fourth Congresses under the new 
Constitution and during the whole of Washington's Ad- 
ministration, and was Speaker of the House in the First 
Congress and again in the Third Congress. In 1783 he was 
elected a member of the Council of Censors which was 
provided for under the first Constitution of Pennsylvania, 
adopted in 1776. In 1793 he was the unsuccessful Feder- 
alist candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania, receiving 
10,706 votes, against 18,590 votes cast for Thomas MiflSin, 
the Democratic candidate. In 1796 he was again the 
FederaUst candidate for Governor but was overwhelm- 
ingly defeated by Mifflin, the vote being 1,011 for Muh- 



THE MUHLENBERG FAMILY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 293 

lenberg and 30,020 for MifiSin. It is evident that- in the 
campaign of 1796 Muhlenberg was only nominally a 
candidate. He died at Lancaster on June 5, 1801. 

(4.) Gotthilf Henry Ernestus Muhlenberg, the youngest 
of the three brothers, was born at The Trappe on Novem- 
ber 17, 1753, and entered the Lutheran ministry at an 
early age. He was afterwards pastor of the Lutheran 
church at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, for thirty-five years, 
from 1780 until his death in that city on May 23, 1816. 
He was a profound theologian and an accomplished 
scholar, scientific subjects absorbing his attention as far 
as his pastoral duties would permit. He was noted for 
his interest in botany, in which branch of natural history 
he became an authority. He was styled "the American 
Linnseus.'' He carried on an extensive correspondence 
with European naturalists and was a prolific writer for 
the public press on scientific subjects. He was a member 
of the American Philosophical Society and of other scien- 
tific societies in America and Europe. During the Revo- 
lution he was an active friend of the patriotic cause. 

(5.) Henry Augustus Philip Muhlenberg, D. D., son of 
Gotthilf, was born at Lancaster on May 13, 1782, and 
like other members of the family entered the Lutheran 
ministry. He was the pastor of Trinity Lutheran church 
at Reading, Pennsylvania, from 1802 to 1827, when, also 
like others of his family, he exchanged the pulpit for po- 
litical office. There are few families in this country which 
are fitted for public life by natural endowment from gen- 
eration to generation and the Muhlenberg family was of 
this exceptional type, although all its members that have 
been mentioned, and others yet to be mentioned, were 
educated for the Christian ministry and entered upon pas- 
toral duties. Henry Augustus Philip was elected a Dem- 
ocratic Representative in Congress in 1828 and served 
continuously in the House by re-election from December, 
1829, to February, 1838, when he resigned to become the 
first United States Minister to Austria, to which posi- 
tion he had been appointed by President Van Buren, and 
which office he resigned in December, 1840. Before ac- 
cepting the Austrian mission Mr. Muhlenberg had declined 



294 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

successively the Secretaryship of the Navy and the mis- 
sion to St. Petersburg which had been offered to him by 
Mr. Van Buren. In 1835 he headed one of two wings of 
the Democratic party in Pennsylvania as its candidate for 
Governor but was defeated. In 1844 he was the candidate 
of the united Democratic party for Governor and would 
probably have been elected if he had lived until the votes 
were counted, but he died at Reading on August 11 of 
that year. His place on the ticket was taken by Francis 
R. Shunk, who was elected Governor in that year and 
was re-elected in 1847. 

Henry Augustus Philip Muhlenberg was twice married, 
both wives being daughters of Governor Joseph Hiester, a 
distinguished soldier of the Revolution, who, after a long 
service in Congress, was elected Governor of Pennsylvania 
by the Federalist party in 1820, serving three years. 

Henry Augustus Muhlenberg, a son of the above-men- 
tioned Muhlenberg, born at Reading in 1823, was elected 
a member of the General Assembly in 1849 and a Repre- 
sentative in Congress in 1852, but died in 1854 soon after 
taking his seat. He was a lawyer. In 1849 he published 
a Life of Major General Peter Muhlenberg which contains 
much Revolutionary history that is both rare and valu- 
able. A son of this gentleman, also named Henry A. Muh- 
lenberg, and also a member of the bar, died at Reading on 
May 14, 1906. He was at one time an unsuccessful Re- 
publican candidate for Congress in a Democratic district. 

(6.) Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg, D. D., LL. D., son 
of Frederick Augustus Hall Muhlenberg, M. D., and grand- 
son of Gotthilf, was born in Lancaster on August 25, 1818, 
and became a Lutheran minister in early life. He was dis- 
tinguished as a scholar and as a college professor. He was 
professor of languages in Franklin College, at Lancaster, 
from 1839 to 1850, and of the Greek language and litera- 
ture in Pennsylvania College, at Gettysburg, from 1850 to 
1867. In the latter year he was chosen the first president 
of Muhlenberg College, at AUentown, which position he 
filled until 1876, when he resigned to accept the Greek 
chair in the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, 
holding this position until 1888. In 1891 he accepted the 



THE MUHLENBERG FAMILY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 295 

presidency of Thiel College, at Greenville, Mercer county, 
at the urgent request of the friends of the college, a Lu- 
theran institution, resigning this position after several 
years' service. He died at Reading on March 21,1901. Dr. 
Muhlenberg was especially distinguished for his thorough 
knowledge of the Greek language and literature. He was 
a voluminous writer on educational and other subjects. 

(7.) Rev. William Augustus Muhlenberg, D. D., son of 
Henry William Muhlenberg and grandson of Frederick 
Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg, was born in Philadelphia 
on September 16, 1796, and died in New York on April 8, 
1877. This scion of the Muhlenberg house did not adhere 
to the Lutheran faith but became a clergyman of the Prot- 
estant Episcopal Church. From 1817 to 1821 he was as- 
sistant rector of Christ church, Philadelphia, under Bishop 
White, and soon afterwards entered upon ministerial work 
in New York. He became an eminent churchman. He was 
noted for his zeal and success in educational and char- 
itable work within the bounds of the Episcopal Church 
and also for his literary attainments. He is especially re- 
membered as the author of several notable hymns, includ- 
ing " I Would Not Live Alway," " like Noah's Weary 
Dove," and/' Shout the Glad Tidings !" 

(8.) The Patriarch Muhlenberg was not only the father 
of three gifted sons but he was also the father of four 
daughters of superior intelligence, two of whom married 
Lutheran ministers. The first of these daughters, named 
Eve EUzabeth, was married to Rev. Christopher Emanuel 
Shulze and became the mother of another Lutheran min- 
ister, John Andrew Melchior Shulze, who was born in 
Berks county on July 19, 1775. After following his sacred 
calling for a few years the Muhlenberg blood that was in 
his veins led him into the field of political activity, and 
after filling acceptably a number of minor elective posi- 
tions he was chosen Governor of Pennsylvania in 1823 
and again in 1826, serving in all six years. He was one of 
the most popular Governors Pennsylvania has ever had. 
At his second election to the Governorship he was virtu- 
ally without opposition, only a few votes being polled 
against him. He died on November 18, 1852, at Lancaster. 



296 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

The details above presented may be summarized as 
follows : Dr. Muhlenberg, the founder of the Muhlenberg 
family, brought order out of disorder in the Lutheran 
Church of this country, and by his individual exertions 
established its influence and authority upon firm founda- 
tions. His two oldest sons, Peter and Frederick, were 
Representatives in Congress when Washington was Presi- 
dent, Peter having previously served with honor as one 
of Washington's generals during the whole period of the 
Revolutionary war and Frederick having previously served 
in the Continental Congress. Peter was afterwards elected 
a United States Senator from Pennsylvania. Frederick 
was the Speaker of the House during the First and Third 
Congresses. He was twice the unsuccessful candidate of 
the FederaUst party for Governor of Pennsylvania. Dr. 
Muhlenberg's third son, Gotthilf , was a naturalist of world- 
wide reputation. Gotthilf's son, Henry Augustus Philip, 
was a prominent leader of the Democratic party, long a 
Representative in Congress, Minister to Austria, and twice 
the Democratic candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania. 
Henry Augustus, son of Henry Augustus Philip, was a 
Representative in Congress. Gotthilf's grandson, Frederick 
Augustus, was distinguished as a college professor and 
college president. William Augustus, the grandson of the 
first Speaker of the House of Representatives, was a prom- 
inent Episcopal clergyman, especially noted as a writer 
of hymns that are sung in all our churches. John An- 
drew Shulze, a grandson of the Patriarch through one of 
his daughters, was twice elected Governor of Pennsylvania. 

The second daughter of Dr. Muhlenberg, Margaretta 
Henrietta, married Rev. John Christopher Kunze, D. D., 
a native of Germany, who emigrated to this country in 
1770. In 1784 he became the pastor of Christ church, 
(Lutheran,) in New York, which position he filled until his 
death in 1807. Dr. Kunze was a very learned man. The 
third daughter, Mary Catharine, married Francis Swaine, 
a politician of note in his day and brigadier general of the 
State militia in 1805. The fourth daughter, Maria Salome, 
married Matthias Richards, who was a Representative in 
Congress for two terms, from 1807 to 1811, and held 



THE MUHLENBERG FAMILY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 297 

other public offices. One of her sons, Rev. John William 
Bichards, D. D., born in 1803 and dying in 1854, entered 
the Lutheran ministry. His son, Rev. Matthias Henry 
Richards, D. D., born in 1841 and dying in 1898, was 
eminent as a scholar and as a Lutheran minister and 
as a writer. He was for many years professor of the 
English language and Uterature in Muhlenberg College. 

Another son of John William Richards, Henry Melchior 
Muhlenberg Richards, born in 1848, saw active service in 
the Union army during the civil war, graduated at the 
United States Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1869, and 
served with distinction in the navy until 1875, when he 
resigned. In 1898 he was the executive officer of the 
United States ship Supply in the Spanish war. He is a 
liberal contributor to Pennsylvania German literature. 

Such is the brief record of the distinguished founder 
of the Muhlenberg family in this country and of his most 
noted descendants, many of whom have also achieved dis- 
tinction and accompUshed results worthy of lasting remem- 
brance by all Pennsylvanians. Nearly all were ministers 
of the Gospel, and nearly all were public-spirited citizens 
whose talents fitted them for public Ufe. Nearly all were 
^fted with literary tastes and nearly all were accomplish- 
ed scholars. Two of the sons of the founder were promi- 
nently identified with the Revolutionary cause and were 
conspicuous in the organization of the Government which 
was created by the Constitution of 1787. As we stated at 
the beginning, no State in the Union can boast of a family 
which has contributed to our country a larger number of 
eminent men than this family of Pennsylvania Germans. 




298 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

GENERAL ARTHUR ST. CLAIR. 

The most distinguished of all the military heroes of 
Western Pennsylvania and one of the most distinguished of 
the whole country in the times that tried men's souls was 
Major General Arthur St. Clair, of Westmoreland county. 

Arthur St. Clair was born at Thurso, Scotland, on 
March 23, 1736, according to a communication from the 
historian, George Dallas Albert, which was published in 
the Greensburg Democrat in March, 1898, after the publi- 
cation of his History of Westmoreland County. General St. 
Clair died on August 31, 1818. The year of his birth has 
always been given in the cyclopsedias and elsewhere as 
1734, with the month and the day of the month omitted. 
Sir Thomas St. Clair, a noted genealogical authority in 
England, insists that St. Clair was born in 1734. 

Young St. Clair was educated at the University of 
Edinburgh and afterwards was a student of medicine. 
Tiring of his medical studies he abandoned them in a 
little more than a year and in 1757 he entered the British 
army as an ensign. In 1758 he crossed the Atlantic in 
Admiral Boscawen's fleet and in the same year served 
under General Amherst at the siege and capture of Louis- 
burg. In 1759 he served under General Wolfe at the cap- 
ture of Quebec. In this year he was commissioned a lieu- 
tenant. In 1760 he married Phoebe Bayard, of Boston, a 
daughter of Balthazar Bayard and Mary Bowdoin, both 
of Huguenot descent. On both her father's and mother's 
side she was of distinguished lineage. In 1762 Lieuten- 
ant St. Clair resigned his commission in the army and in 
1764 he is said to have come to Pennsylvania. 

In Smith's Life and Public Services of Arthur St. Clair 
we find the first definite reference to St. Clair's presence 
in Pennsylvania. He is there said to have established his 
residence in Pennsylvania, first at Bedford in 1764 and 
afterwards in Ligonier valley. After 1764 there is a hia- 



f 



GENERAL ARTHUR ST. CLAIR. 299 

tu8 of several years in Smith's account. The narrative 
proceeds : "On the 5th of April, 1770, he was appointed 
surveyor for the district of Cumberland, which then em- 
braced the western part of the State." (The county of 
Cumberland is meant.) Smith continues: ''A month later 
the offices of justice of the court of quarter sessions and 
common pleas, and member of the proprietaries', or Gov- 
ernor's, Council for Cumberland county was conferred up- 
on him. When Bedford county was erected in 1771 the 
Governor made St. Clair a justice of the peace, a recorder 
of deeds, clerk of the orphan's court, and prothonotary 
of the court of common pleas for that county. The same 
year St. Clair, in connection with Moses Maclean, ran a 
meridian line, nine and a half miles west of the meridian 
of Pittsburgh. In 1773 Westmoreland was erected from 
Bedford, when Governor Penn sent St. Clair appointments 
corresponding with those held by him for Bedford." 

Smith does not explain the inducements which led St. 
Clair to locate at Bedford in 1764, but John N. Boucher, 
in his recently published History of Westmoreland County, 
throws some light on this subject and also upon the move- 
ments of St. Clair in immediately succeeding years. He 
says : " Shortly after his marriage he removed to Bedford, 
Pennsylvania, having become acquainted with the Penns, 
who were then proprietaries of the province. As agent for 
them he looked after their possessions in the western part 
of the province and took up lands for himself. In 1767 
he was appointed commander of Fort Ligonier, which posi- 
tion he filled for over two years. After the opening of the 
land office in 1769 he was closely identified with the for- 
mation of new counties and in the sale and settlement of 
western lands. His brother-in-law. Captain Bayard, also 
came here, and together they took up large tracts of land 
in the southwestern part of the county. In these old 
boundaries he is sometimes designated as Lieutenant and 
sometimes as Captain St. Clair." 

Albert says that in May, 1770, Arthur St. Clair and 
others whose names are mentioned "were among the jus- 
tices of the peace appointed for that portion of Cumber- 
land county west of Laurel Hill," which indicates, that 



300 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

St. Clair was a resident of Ligonier valley at that time. 
The Proceedings of the Governor and Executive Council of 
the province say that on November 23, 1771, a special 
commission was appointed to hold a court of oyer and 
terminer at Bedford to try Lieutenant Robert Hamilton, 
of His Majesty's 18th Regiment of Foot, who was charged 
with the murder in Bedford county of Lieutenant Tracy, 
of the same regiment. This commission was composed of 
the "three eldest justices of the peace" in Bedford coun- 
ty, John Frazer, Bernard Docherty, and Arthur St. Clair. 
Ligonier valley was then in Bedford county. 

Just when St. Clair removed his residence from Bed- 
ford to Ligonier valley does not appear. His home was 
probably at Ligonier. Albert gives a list of the lands ac- 
quired by him in Westmoreland county between 1767 
and 1793, which list was obtained from the records of 
the land office. It embraces in all 8,270 acres. In addition 
Albert shows that St. Clair had obtained title to 2,611 
acres in other western counties in Pennsylvania, 2,000 of 
which were in Crawford, Erie, and Lawrence counties. 
The latter were presented to St. Clair by the State of 
Pennsylvania after the Revolution. Other lands were lo- 
cated in Somerset county. Albert also says that a land 
warrant issued to St. Clair on November 23, 1773, for 592 
acres in Ligonier township, Westmoreland county, mentions 
that he was ''commandant at the post of Fort Ligonier 
in April, 1769." He also quotes (page 38) from a permit 
in St. Clair's handwriting given to Frederick Rhorer '' by 
Arthur St. Clair, late Lieut, in his Majesty's Sixtieth Reg. 
of foot, having the care of his Majesty's fort at Ligonier," 
granting to Rhorer the use of ^'a certain Piece of Land 
in the neighborhood of Fort Ligonier," the permit being 
"given under my hand at Ligonier this 11th day of April, 
1767," the signature of ''Ar. St. Clair" following. 

As has been stated, Westmoreland county was estab- 
lished in 1773. On April 6 of that year its first court was 
held at Hannastown. Albert gives a copy of St. Clair's 
commission as prothonotary of the county, issued on Feb- 
ruary 27, 1773, by Richard Penn, Lieutenant Governor of 
the province. He served as prothonotary of this first 



GENERAL ARTHUR ST. CLAIR. 301 

court and continued to fill the office until 1775, when he 
resigned to take part in the stirring events of that year. 

In the controversy between Pennsylvania and Virginia 
over the western and southwestern boundaries of Penn- 
sylvania St. Clair was not only the fast friend of the 
Pennsylvania proprietaries but he displayed great activity 
in protecting their interests. Eariy in 1774, when John 
Connolly, the agent of Lord Dunmore, Governor of Vir- 
ginia, took possession of Fort Pitt, which had been aban- 
doned by the British Government because of the difficul- 
ties then pending between the colonies and the mother 
country, and issued a proclamation calling on the people 
to sustain him, St. Clair, one of the justices of the peace 
of Westmoreland county, issued a warrant and had him 
arrested and confined in the jail at Hannastown, then the 
county-seat of Westmoreland county, from which he was 
released upon entering bail for his appearance at court. 
Connolly afterwards gave further trouble, which the his- 
torians of Pennsylvania have fully described. 

We next hear of St. Clair after the battle of Lexing- 
ton, which occurred on April 19, 1775. Two meetings of 
the citizens of Western Pennsylvania were held in May 
of that year to protest against British oppression of the 
colonies. One meeting was held at Pittsburgh and the 
other at Hannastown. Both meetings were well attended. 
It is certain that St. Clair attended the Hannastown 
meeting. At both meetings resolutions were unanimously 
adopted which expressed sympathy with the people of 
Massachusetts in their opposition to the oppressive meas- 
ures of the British Government and also promised aid in 
resisting further oppression of any of the colonies. The 
exact text of the Hannastown resolutions has been tran- 
scribed for these pages by Dr. C. H. Lincoln, of Washing- 
ton, from Peter Force's American Archives, (4th series, vol. 
2, pages 615 and 616,) and is literally as follows. 

Meetzno of the Inhabttantb of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania. 

At a general meeting of the inhabitants of the County of Westmore- 
land, held at Hanna'a Tovm the 16th day of May, 1775, for taking into 
consideration the very alarming situation of this Country, occasioned by 
the dispute with Great Britain: 

Resolved unanimously, That the Parliament of Great Britain, by several 



302 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

late Acts, have declared the inhabitants of the MasBochuseUs-Bay to be in 
rebellion, and the Ministry, by endeavouring to enforce those Acts, have 
attempted to reduce the said inhabitants to a more wretched state of slav* 
ery than ever before existed in any state or country. Not content with 
violating their constitutional and chartered privileges, they would strip 
them of the rights of humanity, exposing lives to the wanton and unpunish- 
able sport of a licentious soldiery, and depriving them of the very means 
of subsistence. 

Resolved unanimously, That there is no reason to doubt but the same 
system of tyranny and oppression will (should it meet with success in the 
Massachtaetta-Bay) be extended to every other part of America : it is there- 
fore become the indispensable duty of every American, of every man who 
has any publick virtue or love for his CJountry, or any bowels for posterity, 
by every means which Ood has put in his power, to resist and oppose the 
execution of it ; that for us we will be ready to oppose it with our lives and 
fortunes. And the better to enable us to accomplish it we will immediately 
form ourselves into a military body, to consist of Companies to be made up 
out of the several Townships under the following Association, which is de- 
clared to be the Association of Weetmoreland County : 

Possessed with the most imshaken loyalty and fidelity to His Majesty, 
King George the Third, whom we acknowledge to be our lawful and rightful 
King, and who we wish may long be the beloved Sovereign of a free and 
happy people throughout the whole British Empire ; we declare to the 
world that we do not mean by this Association to deviate from that loyalty 
which we hold it our bounden duty to observe ; but, animated with the 
love of liberty, it is no less our duty to maintain and defend our jiist rights 
(which, with sorrow, we have seen of late wantonly violated in many in- 
stances by a wicked Ministry and a corrupted Parliament) and transmit 
them entire to our posterity, for which purpose we do agree and associate 
ourselves together : 

Ist. To arm and form ourselves into a Regiment or Regiments, and 
choose officers to command us in such proportion as shall be thought 
necessary. 

2d. We will, with alacrity, endeavour to make ourselves masters of the 
manual exercise, and such evolutions as may be necessary to enable us to 
act in a body with concert; and to that end we will meet at such times and 
places as shall be appointed either for the Companies or the Regiment, by 
the officers commanding each when chosen. 

3d. That should our Coimtry be invaded by a foreign enemy, or should 
Troops be sent from Great Britain to enforce the late arbitrary Acts of its 
Parliament, we will cheerfully submit to military discipline, and to the ut- 
most of our power resist and oppose them, or either of them, and will coin- 
cide with any plan that may be formed for the defense of America in gen- 
eral, or Pennsylvania in particular. 

4th. That we do not wish or desire any innovation, but only that 
things may be restored to and go on in the same way as before the era of 
the Stamp Act, when Boston grew great, and America was happy. As a 
proof of this disposition we will quietly submit to the laws by which we 
have been accustomed to be governed before that period, and will, in our 
several or associate capacities, be ready when called on to assist the civil 
magistrate in carrying the same into execution. 

5th. That when the British Parliament shall have repealed their late 
obnoxious Statutes, and shaU recede from their claim to tax us, and make 



GENERAL ARTHUR ST. CLAIR. 303 

]aws for us in every instance, or when some general plan of union and rec- 
onciliation has been formed and accepted by America, this our Association 
shall be dissolved ; but till then it shall remain in full force ; and to the ob- 
servation of it we bind ourselves by every thing dear and sacred amongst 
men. No licensed murder 1 no famine introduced by law 1 

Resolved, That on Wednesday, the twenty-fourth instant, the Town- 
ship meet to accede to the said Association, and choose their officers. 

In a letter from St. Clair to Joseph Shippen, Jr., dated 
at Ligonier, on May 18, 1775, St. Clair says : " Yesterday 
we had a county meeting and have come to resolutions 
to awe and discipline, and have formed an Association, 
which I suppose you will soon see in the papers. God 
grant that an end may be put to any necessity for such 
a proceedings. I doubt their utility and am almost as 
much afraid of success in this contest as being van- 
quished. " A letter from St. Clair to Governor John Penn 
is dated at Ligonier, on May 25, 1775, and in part reads 
as follows : *' We have nothing but musters and commit- 
tees all over the country, and everything seems to be 
running into the wildest confusion. If some conciliating 
plan is not adopted by the Congress America has seen her 
golden days; they may return, but will be preceded by 
scenes of horror. An Association is formed in this county 
for defense of American liberty. I- got a clause added by 
which they bind themselves to assist the civil magistrates 
in the execution of the laws they have been accustomed 
to be governed by." 

It will be noticed that St. Clair's letter to Joseph Ship- 
pen is dated on May 18, and that he says that the Han- 
nastown resolutions were adopted "yesterday," the 17th, 
whereas it is said in the American Archives that the Han- 
nastown meeting occurred on May 16. The date given by 
St. Clair may have been a slip of his pen. 

The extracts from St. Clair's letters show that he was 
not in sympathy with the spirit of some parts of the Han- 
nastown declaration. Like many other opponents of Brit- 
ish oppression at that time he doubtless hoped that the 
British Government could be induced to change its policy 
in dealing with the colonies. In this hope he was soon to 
be undeceived, when he promptly and manfully took his 
stand with the advocates of colonial independence. Then 



304 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

began his remarkable career, to use his own phrase, ''for 
defense of American liberty." 

Soon after the meeting at Hannastown active meas- 
ures were taken throughout that small part of Western 
Pennsylvania which was then partly settled to organize 
the able-bodied men into military companies. In this 
work of preparation St. Clair took an active part. At the 
same time the Continental Congress, in session at Phila- 
delphia, resolved to raise an army to defend the colonies 
against British aggression, and of this army Washington 
was appointed commander-in-chief. Pennsylvania was 
called upon for its quota of troops, 4,300, and afterwards 
during the same year for four additional regiments. On 
January 3, 1776, St. Clair was chosen colonel of the Sec- 
ond Pennsylvania Regiment and was soon ordered to take 
part with his regiment in the disastrous expedition to 
Canada which was commanded by General John Sulli- 
van. In this campaign St. Clair acquitted himself with 
great credit in aiding to save Sullivan's whole army from 
capture after the disastrous affair at Three Rivers. For 
this service he was appointed in August of this year a 
brigadier general, joining the main army under Wash- 
ington, who was then retreating across New Jersey before 
General Howe. Albert says that St. Clair " fought under 
the eyes of the commander-in-chief in the closing battles 
of this campaign, at White Plains, at Trenton, and at 
Princeton," and adds that this campaign made St. Clair 
a major general. Boucher says that St. Clair suggested to 
Washington the movement which brought on the bat- 
tle of Princeton. On February 19, 1777, he was commis- 
sioned a major general. In March of the same year he 
was detailed by Washington as adjutant general of the 
army for a short time. 

In 1777 St. Clair was in command at Ticonderoga, 
from which position he was compelled to withdraw but 
was acquitted of all blame by a court martial ; he partici- 
pated in the battle of Brandywine in the same year as 
a volunteer aide to Washington and had a horse shot from 
under him ; and he was at Valley Forge during the ter- 
rible winter that followed. Johnson's Cyclopcedia epito- 



GENERAL ARTHUR ST. CLAIR. 305 

mizes the remainder of his services during the Revolution 
as follows : He assisted Sullivan in 1779 in fitting out his 
expedition against the Six Nations ; he was a member 
of the court martial which tried Major Andr6; he was 
a commissioner to treat with the British at Amboy in 
March, 1780 ; in August of that year he was assigned to 
the command of La Fayette's corps of light infantry 
during the latter's absence ; in October of the same year 
he was assigned to the command of West Point ; he took 
a conspicuous part in the suppression of the mutiny in 
the Pennsylvania Line in January, 1781 ; he distinguished 
himself in the Southern campaign which terminated at 
Yorktown ; and he subsequently served with distinction in 
the Southern campaign under Greene. Albert says that 
St. Clair was also intrusted by Washington with the ar- 
duous duty of organizing the levies of Pennsylvania and 
New Jersey and sending them to the field. He appears 
to have possessed McClellan's talent for organizing troops. 

It is a fact of great significance that throughout the 
whole period of the Revolutionary war St. Clair possessed 
the confidence of Washington in an eminent degree, who 
frequently honored him with important appointments. 

The war over St. Clair retired to private life. When 
he entered the army he had removed his family to Potts- 
town, then in Philadelphia county but now in Mont- 
gomery county. In 1783 he was elected a member of 
the Council of Censors of Pennsylvania for the county of 
Philadelphia, his colleague being Frederick A. Muhlenberg. 
General Wayne was a member of the Council from Ches- 
ter county. On January 2, 1784, the Council appointed a 
committee of five to report upon those articles of the 
Constitution of 1776 which were defective and required 
amendment, and of this committee St. Clair was a mem- 
ber. Tie work done by this committee was arduous and 
thorough and paved the way for the Constitution of 1790. 
In the votes upon the report of the committee Muhlen- 
berg, Wayne, and St. Clair always voted together. 

In 1785 St. Clair was elected a member of the Conti- 
nental (Confederate) Congress and in 1787 he was chosen 
its president, the position once held by John Hancock. 

20 



306 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

On July 13, 1787, the Congress over which he presided 
enacted the celebrated '* ordinance for the government of 
the territory of the United States northwest of the river 
Ohio." This ordinance provided that "there shall be 
appointed, from time to time, by Congress, a Governor, 
whose commission shall continue in force for the term 
of three years, unless sooner revoked by Congress." The 
Congress over which St. Clair presided appointed him the 
first Governor of the Northwest Territory, and on July 
9, 1788, he arrived at Marietta, which had been designated 
as the capital of the Territory. St. Clair held his com- 
mission as Governor until 1802, a period of more than 
fourteen years, when, being a Federalist of strong convic- 
tions and outspoken in his expression of them, he was re- 
moved by President Jefferson. The notification of his re- 
moval was written by James Madison, Secretary of State, 
on November 22, 1802. In a few months thereafter the 
State of Ohio was organized. St. Clair's incumbency of 
the office of Governor therefore embraced practically the 
whole period of Ohio's territorial existence. He gave to 
Cincinnati its beautiful name, and Hamilton county, in 
which the city is situated, was also named by him in 
honor of Alexander Hamilton. 

Not having lost his citizenship in Pennsylvania St. 
Clair was supported for Governor by the Federalists of 
that State in the election of 1790. The supporters of 
General Mifflin were, however, overwhelmingly successful. 

In 1791 Governor St. Clair was appointed commander- 
in-chief of the army and ordered to proceed against the 
Miami and other Indians who had defeated General Har- 
mar the year before. On November 4 St. Clair was him- 
self defeated. Referring to the movements of St. Clair's 
army Boucher says : " Shortly after they left Fort Jefferson 
one of the militia regiments deserted bodily. Washington 
Irving, in speaking of these militia, says that they were 
picked and recruited from the worst element in Ohio. 
Enervated by debauchery, idleness, drunkenness, and by 
every species of vice it was impossible to make them 
competent for the arduous duties of Indian warfare. They 
were without discipline and their officers were not accus- 



GENERAL ARTHUR ST. CLAIR. 307 

tomed to being under a commander. They were useless 
in a campaign, yet St. Clair thought it would disband his 
army or at least greatly impair its usefulness to allow 
them to desert at will, so he weakened his forces greatly 
by sending the First Regiment of Regulars in pursuit of 
the deserters. His army then numbered about fourteen 
hundred, with perhaps three hundred militia." 

St. Clair's conduct during the engagement was in ev- 
ery way creditable. Those who would know the details 
of this action will find them fully set forth in St. Clair's 
official report, which he sent to President Washington 
under date of October 6, 1791, and which the President 
transmitted to Congress on December 12, 1791. The text 
of this remarkable report will be found in the Early His- 
tory of Western Pennsylvania and of the West, by "a gen- 
tleman of the bar, " (I. D. Rupp,) printed in 1846. A com- 
mittee of Congress exonerated St. Clair of all blame for 
the defeat of his army, its report being as follows : " The 
committee conceive it but justice to the commander-in- 
chief to say that in their opinion the failure of the late 
expedition can in no respect be imputed to his conduct 
either at any time before or during the action, but that, 
as his conduct in all the preparatory arrangements was 
marked with peculiar ability and zeal, so his conduct dur- 
ing the action furnishes strong testimonies of his coolness 
and integrity." 

Generals can not always win victories. Oftentimes, 
too, the result of a battle appears to turn upon accident 
rather than upon skill or valor. The decisive battle of 
Waterloo is a familiar illustration. In our own country 
Forbes's movement against Fort Du Quesne was seriously 
imperiled by the defeat of his advanced detachment under 
Colonel Grant. Bouquet narrowly escaped at Bushy Run 
the fate of St. Clair. Washington was compelled to sur- 
render to the French and Indians at Great Meadows, 
and he was repeatedly defeated during the Revolutionary 
struggle. McDowell lost the first Bull Run battle. Burn- 
side failed at Fredericksburg, and Hooker failed at Chan- 
cellorsville, although these generals were all good soldiers. 
General Grant met with a signal defeat on the first day 



308 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

at Pittsburg Landing and afterwards at Cold Harbor, and 
Sherman failed at Eenesaw Mountain. Lee lost the battle 
of Antietam and his star set at Gettysburg. St. Clair was 
defeated because he was opposed by about 2,500 Indians 
and because his undisciplined militia became demoralized 
at the first fire. He was not defeated because of any lack 
of generalship or personal bravery in himself. Wayne 
afterwards defeated the Ohio Indians because he had 
under his command a larger force than St. Clair and be- 
cause this force had been thoroughly trained for its work 
before it moved into the Indian country. 

Returning to Ligonier valley in 1802 or 1803 St. Clair 
established his family in a new home he had built at The 
Hermitage, about one and a half miles north of Ligonier. 
In the latter year he built at this place a furnace for the 
manufacture of iron from the ores that were found in the 
vicinity, the product of the furnace being chiefly stoves 
and other castings. This furnace was in blast in 1806. 
In 1808 St. Clair's debts pressed him to the wall and he 
was sold out by the sheriff, not even his household goods 
escaping the sheriff's hammer. Boucher says that "the 
most lamentable feature of his embarrassment is that his 
debts were nearly all contracted in -the interests of the 
Republic, and should have been paid by the State or the 
nation and not by St. Clair. " In a memorial to the Gen- 
eral Assembly of Pennsylvania St. Clair himself said that 
he had freely used his own means in supplying the forts 
and blockhouses of Westmoreland county with arms and 
ammunition at the outbreak of the Revolution. While 
Governor of the Northwest Territory he again used his 
own means to meet the obligations of Indian treaties. In 
• the sale of his real estate at the beginning of the Revolu- 
tion he lost heavily through the depreciation of Continen- 
tal currency. Lands that he had sold for £2,000, payable 
in installments, yielded only £100. Albert says that when 
he entered the army he left to his neighbors for their use 
a flouring mill that he had built on Mill creek and that 
when he returned after the war it was a pile of rubbish. 

But the saddest part of St. Clair's financial failure is 
told by Albert in these words : ** When, in the darkest 



GENERAL ARTHUR ST. CLAIR. 309 

days of the Revolution, Washington, seeing his army melt- 
ing away like snow, appealed to him to save to him the 
Pennsylvania Line, the flower of the army, St. Clair im- 
mediately responded by advancing the money for recruit- 
ing and for bounty, and by St. Clair's and Col. William 
Butler's individual exertions and influence their object 
was accomplished. To part of this claim the Govern- 
ment afterwards pleaded the statute of limitations. . . 
When the army for the campaign of 1791 had collected 
together, and it was found that the sum authorized by 
Congress for the purpose was too small for the exigencies 
of the project, he personally guaranteed to the quarter- 
master-general, James O'Hara, the repayment of a large 
sum in order that the army might be victualed and sup- 
plied. When he presented his account in 1799 for pay- 
ment he was informed by the Secretary of the Treasury 
that there 'were no moneys appropriated by the Legisla- 
ture to pay such further disbursements.' On this subject 
St. Clair says that he became personally liable to the con- 
tractor, O'Hara, to whom he gave his bond for $7,042, 
on the express promise of the Secretary of the Treasury 
that it should be repaid with interest. This bond remain- 
ing unpaid suit was brought and judgment was obtained 
against St. Clair by his own confession for $10,632.17, 
debt and interest. Upon this judgment execution was 
from time to time issued, and upon it the entire remain- 
ing part of all his real estate was sold. James O'Hara, 
by his lawyer, bought all the property." 

Boucher continues the pitiful story of St. Clair's dis- 
tress as follows : *' The Assembly of Pennsylvania pen- 
sioned him, and in 1817, a year before his death, increased 
the pension to $50 per month. Congress the same year 
granted him $60 per month and dated it back a year. 
There being no law to forbid it this was attached by his 
creditors before it left the hands of the Treasurer, and St. 
Clair never received one cent of it. Soon after the sale of 
his property he was turned out of house and home. Dan- 
iel St. Clair, his son, owned a tract of land on the Chest- 
nut ridge, above the Four Mile run, and to this the old 
man and his family removed. Broken with the storms of 



310 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

■ 

more than three-score years and ten, saddened by the 
memories of the past, and denied by ingratitude what was 
justly due him from his State and nation, he quietly 
awaited the last roll call. To secure bread for his family 
he entertained travelers, though his house was but little 
more than a four-roomed log cabin." 

Albert preserves the following description of General 
St. Clair in his old age, written by Elisha Whittlesey, who 
once represented the Ashtabula district in Congress, con- 
tained in a letter which he wrote to Senator Richard 
Brodhead on May 16, 1856 : *' In 1815 three persons and 
myself performed a journey from Ohio to Connecticut on 
horseback in the month of May. Having understood that 
General St. Clair kept a small tavern on the ridge east of 
Greensburg I proposed that we stop at his house and 
spend the night. He had no grain for our horses, and 
after spending an hour with him in the most agreeable 
and interesting conversation respecting his early knowl- 
edge of the Northwestern Territory we took our leave of 
him with deep regret. I never was in the presence of a 
man that caused me to feel the same degree of venera- 
tion and esteem. He wore a citizen's dress of black of the 
Revolution; his hair was clubbed and powdered. When 
we entered he arose with dignity and received us most 
courteously. His dwelling was a common double log 
house of the western country that a neighborhood would 
roll up in an afternoon. Chestnut ridge was bleak and 
barren. There lived the friend and confidant of Washing- 
ton, the ex-Governor of the fairest portion of creation. It 
was in the neighborhood, if not in view, of a large estate 
at Ligonier that he owned at the commencement of the 
Revolution, and which, as I have sometimes understood, 
was sacrificed to promote the success of the Revolution. 
Poverty did not cause him to lose self-respect, and were 
he now living his personal appearance would command 
universal admiration." 

Neither Western Pennsylvania nor the whole State of 
Pennsylvania has honored the memory of this great man 
as it deserves to be honored. It is painful to reflect that 
two successive Governors of Pennsylvania have in recent 



GENERAL ARTHUR ST. CLAIR. 311 

years vetoed bills of the General Assembly appropriating 
a small sum of money to pay for a suitable monument 
in his honor. The humble and fast decaying sandstone 
monument over his remains in an abandoned graveyard 
at Greensburg, erected by the Masonic Fraternity, bears 
this stinging inscription : '^ The earthly remains of Major 
General Arthur St. Clair are deposited beneath this hum- 
ble monument, which is erected to supply the place of a 
nobler one due from his country." The remains of the 
general's wife lie beside him in a wholly neglected grave. 
She died on September 18, 1818, surviving her husband 
only nineteen days. Westmoreland county is not wholly 
free from blame for neglecting to do what the State and 
the whole country should have done. 

When the citizens of Bloody Run, in Bedford county, 
properly thought that the name of their town should be 
changed they looked not to the history of Pennsylvania for 
a new name but to Massachusetts, and they now live in 
Everett. When it seemed to be necessary to change the 
one-hundred-year-old name of Nineveh, in Westmoreland 
county, some person or persons having authority turned 
to New York for a name and called the little town Sew- 
ard. When the Pennsylvania Railroad was built through 
Westmoreland county there was a modest hamlet on the 
line of the road called St. Clair, so named in honor of Gen- 
eral St. Clair, whose home had been not many miles away. 
But the name of this town has been erased from the 
map and dropped from the railroad time table. 






•no^ 





312 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

ALBERT GALLATIN, STATESMAN. 

Albert Gallatin, who was born in Geneva, Swit- 
zerland, on January 29, 1761, and died at Astoria, Long 
Island, on August 12, 1849, ranks foremost among all the 
statesmen of Western Pennsylvania in the length and va- 
riety of his public services and in the honors that were 
conferred upon him. Coming to our country in 1780 he 
settled in 1784 on George's creek, Fayette county, where 
he met Washington in September of that year. In 1786 
he bought a farm of 400 acres at Friendship Hill, near 
New Geneva, on the Monongahela, in the same county, on 
which he resided, when not absent on official duties, for 
about forty-two years, until 1828. 

Soon after coming to Pennsylvania Gallatin became an 
active participant in the political movements of the time, 
identifying himself with the party of Thomas Jeflferson, of 
which he soon became a leader. He was a delegate from 
Fayette county to the Constitutional Convention of 1790. 
This convention was composed of very able men and Gal- 
latin took a prominent part in its deliberations. He suc- 
cessfully opposed the insertion of the word "white'' as a 
prefix to "freeman" in defining the elective franchise. In 
1790, 1791, and 1792 he was elected a member of the Gen- 
eral Assembly. In 1793, when not thirty-three years old, 
he was elected a member of the United States Senate, in 
which he served from December 2, 1793, to February 28, 
1794, when he was declared ineligible because he had not 
been a citizen of the United States for the period of nine 
years as was required by the Constitution. He was suc- 
ceeded in the Senatorship by James Ross, of Rttsburgh, a 
Federalist. Gallatin actively opposed the Whisky Insur- 
rection of 1794, although at first sympathizing with the 
peaceable opposition to the excise tax on whisky. In that 
year he was again chosen a member of the General As- 
sembly from Fayette county. In December, 1795, he took 



ALBERT GALLATIN. 313 

his seat as a member of the House of Representatives of 
the Fourth Congress, having been elected by a most com- 
plimentary vote in 1794 from the district of Allegheny 
and Washington, in which he did not reside. This was 
a great honor. In the House he at once took high rank. 
He was three times re-elected a Representative in Con- 
gress, in 1796, 1798, and 1800, from the same district as 
that above mentioned, Greene county having been added 
to Allegheny and Washington in 1796. He became the 
leader of his party in the House. 

From 1801 to 1814 Mr. Gallatin was Secretary of the 
Treasury under Jefferson and Madison, holding this posi- 
tion, with honor to himself and credit to the country, for a 
longer period than any other person has held it from the 
foundation of the Government. While Secretary of the 
Treasury he was the ardent and influential friend of the 
National Road, from Cumberland to the West. He was, 
indeed, the author of the scheme for building the road. 
In a speech in the House on January 27, 1829, Andrew 
Stewart said : " Mr. Gallatin was the very first man that 
ever suggested the plan for making the Cumberland 
Road." In a letter which Gallatin himself wrote to David 
Acheson, of Washington, Pennsylvania, on September 1, 
1808, he said that he had ''with much difficulty obtained 
the creation of a fund for opening a great western road 
and the act pointing out its general direction." In 1809 
President Madison offered Gallatin the portfolio of the 
State Department, which he declined, preferring to remain 
at the head of the Treasury Department. 

In 1813, while still Secretary of the Treasury, Gallatin 
was appointed by Madison one of three commissioners to 
Russia, the Emperor Alexander having offered his services 
in promoting the restoration of peace between Great Brit- 
ain and the United States. Negotiations to this end fail- 
ing, Gallatin was appointed in the following year one of 
five commissioners to treat directly with Great Britain, 
and these commissioners signed the Treaty of Ghent in 
December, 1814. It is claimed by his biographers that 
his was the master hand in the preparation of the treaty. 
In February, 1814, Gallatin ceased to be Secretary of the 



314 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

Treasury. la 1815 he was appointed United States Min- 
ister to France, and this position he held until 1823, when 
he returned to the United States and to Friendship Hill. 
In 1824 WilUam H. Crawford, Secretary of the Treasury 
under Monroe, was nominated for the Presidency by many 
members of the RepubUcan party of that day and Galla- 
tin was their choice for the Vice Presidency. After some 
hesitation, in a letter written from his home in Fayette 
county, he finally decUned to be a candidate. In May, 
1825, Governor Shulze offered Gallatin the position of ca- 
nal commissioner, which he declined. In the same month 
he received La Fayette in an address of welcome at 
Uniontown, and a day or two afterwards escorted him 
to Friendship Hill, where La Fayette remained over night. 

In May, 1826, President Adams appointed Mr. Gallatin 
United States Minister to Great Britain, and this position 
he accepted. His special mission to Great Britain having 
been accomplished he returned to this country in Novem- 
ber, 1827, although the President earnestly desired him to 
remain. In 1828 he removed his residence to New York 
City, where he continued to reside until his death. With 
this removal his active connection with public affairs vir- 
tually ended, although in 1828 and 1829, at the instance 
of President Adams, he devoted much time and his great 
ability to an exhaustive study of our troubles with Great 
Britain concerning the Northeastern boundary, and this 
subject he again carefully investigated in 1840, when he 
published "an elaborate dissertation upon it, in which 
he treated it historically, geographically, argumentatively, 
and diplomatically," his work contributing materially to 
the final adjustment of the controversy in the celebrated 
Webster and Ashburton treaty of 1842. Subsequently he 
published a pamphlet on the "Oregon Question" which 
commanded public attention. 

In 1831 Gallatin was chosen president of the National 
Bank, of New York, and this position he retained until 
1839, passing with great credit through the most tr}ring 
financial crisis in our history. He was succeeded in the 
presidency by his son, James Gallatin. During the re- 
mainder of his life Gallatin was active in many fields of 



ALBERT GALLATIN. 315 

usefulness. In 1842 he founded the American Ethnolog- 
ical Society. In 1843 he was chosen president of the New 
York Historical Society. In 1844 he presided at a mass 
meeting in New York to protest against the annexation 
of Texas as slave territory^ and in 1847 he discussed the 
whole subject of the annexation of Texas in a pamphlet 
entitled "Peace with Mexico." He had always held "the 
pen of a ready writer." In the early years of his life, as 
also in the closing part of his career, he made valuable 
contributions to the discussion of financial and scientific 
questions. When he died in 1849 he was far advanced 
in his 89th year. 

Gallatin early showed commendable enterprise in en- 
couraging the establishment of manufacturing industries 
at his new home in Western Pennsylvania. In 1796 or 
1797 he established at New Geneva one of the first works 
west of the Alleghenies, if not the first, for the manufac- 
ture of window glass. The Geneva works continued in op- 
eration for many years. In 1799 or 1800 Gallatin estab- 
lished at New Geneva, in company with Melchor Baker, a 
practical gunsmith, a factory for making muskets, broad- 
swords, etc., which also continued in operation for several 
years, and which at one time employed between fifty and 
one hundred workmen. After these works had been in op- 
eration for about two years Gallatin withdrew from the 
partnership, his duties as Secretary of the Treasury not 
permitting him to give the enterprise further attention. 

Nearly all the pubUc services of Gallatin were rendered 
to his adopted country while he was a citizen of Western 
Pennsylvania, and these services were of an exalted char- 
acter. Western Pennsylvania soon recognized his great 
ability, and the distinction it conferred upon him brought 
him the nation's recognition. The whole State of Pennsyl- 
vania may well be proud of his achievements and of his 
unswerving devotion to the best interests of his country. 
He was not always right, as in his opposition to our pro- 
tective tariff policy, but even in this opposition we are 
told by Judge Veech that, although '' his free trade pro- 
clivities were fixed, yet he did not obtrude them in his 
State papers." He believed in a revenue tarifif. 



316 FSOORE88IVE PENNSYLVANIA. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

A MAN OF LETTERS. 

Andrew CarnegiE; the most enterprising, most cour- 
ageous, and most successful of all American manufactur- 
ers, was born at Dunfermline, in the Lowlands of Scot- 
land, on November 25, 1835, and came with his father's 
family to Pittsburgh in 1848. His father was a weaver. 

No writer upon historical subjects can dwell upon 
the remarkable industrial development of Pennsylvania, 
or upon its greatness in any respect, and not have his 
attention arrested by the industrial achievements of An- 
drew Carnegie in the decades that are gone and by the 
great good that he has done with the wealth that his 
own genius, and not Fortune's wheel, has placed in his 
hands. Down to April 1, 1908, his philanthropic gifts 
had amounted to a total of $150,000,000. Mr. Carnegie's 
life has been mainly passed in Western Pennsylvania. It 
was there that his great work as an industrial leader 
was done. The whole world has long known of his phe- 
nomenal success as a creative business man and of his 
work as the greatest of all philanthropists ; it knows of 
the libraries and technical schools that he has estab- 
lished and of his generous contributions to other schools 
of learning ; and again it knows of him as a publicist 
who is familiar with economic and financial questions 
and who can discuss them from the rostrum or in the 
printed page. But one of his accomplishments it knows 
only imperfectly. Mr. Carnegie is a man of letters. He 
is not only a builder of libraries but he is familiar with 
the contents of books, and he is himself a ready and an 
industrious writer upon many subjects. 

In the YoiUh^s Companion for April 23, 1896, Mr. 
Carnegie has told the story of his childhood and boyhood 
and his early career as a business man — how he was 
first a "bobbin boy" in a cotton factory in Allegheny 
City at $1.20 a week, going to work in the morning 



A MAN OF LETTERS. 317 

when it was still dark and returning home late in the 
evening after dark ; how next he " fibred " a boiler in the 
cellar of a bobbin factory in the same city and also 
" ran " the engine ; and how, when he was fourteen years 
old; he became a telegraph messenger in Pittsburgh at 
$3 a week, soon becoming an expert telegraph operator. 
The remainder of Mr. Carnegie's story for boys tells of 
his steady progress toward financial independence. 

The telegraph boy had not graduated from a high 
school or even a grammar school; he had not dreamed 
of ever attending an academy or a college ; but he had 
quick perceptions and a love of good books. In those 
days there were no public libraries in Pittsburgh or Alle- 
gheny City to which ambitious boys could have access, 
but Mr. Carnegie has acknowledged his great indebtedness 
to Colonel Anderson, of the latter city, who opened his 
collection of a few hundred books to poor boys. Mr. 
Carnegie's ready command of the English language and 
his full vocabulary in after years can be traced not to 
the training of schools but to his telegraphic experience, 
to the reading of good books, and to contact with bright 
men, added to a fine literary sense which came to him 
by inheritance. If "poets are born, not made," so also 
are the writers of good prose. 

Mr. Carnegie's biographer, Mr. Barnard Alderson, says 
that Mr. Carnegie has written five books, in addition to 
a large number of magazine articles. If these magazine 
articles were bound together they would make probably 
four more books of large size. Those that Mr. Alderson 
has mentioned are Round the World, (1879,) Our Coaching 
Trip, (1882,) Triumphant Democracy, (1886,) The Gospel of 
Wealth, (1900,) and This Empire of Business, (1902.) As a 
man is known by the company he keeps so an author 
may be studied in the books he has written. We propose, 
therefore, to make some extracts from the books men- 
tioned and from the magazine articles that will illustrate 
Mr. Carnegie's literary tastes and embody his opinions 
on some important subjects, and also from another book. 
More Busy Days, also a book of opinions, which was in- 
tended for circulation only in Great Britain. 



318 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

Mr. Carnegie's Round the World is in the form of a 
journal of his trip around the world, with one compan- 
ion, beginning in October, 1878, and ending in May of the 
following year. The trip commenced at Pittsburgh and 
encircled the globe by way of San Francisco, the Pacific 
ocean, China, Japan, India, Egypt, Italy, France, Eng- 
land, and the Atlantic ocean, and occupied eight months. 
The book records Mr. Carnegie's impressions of the coun- 
tries and the people he visited, and contains many de- 
scriptive and philosophic passages of great interest to 
those who are debarred the pleasure of going away from 
home "far countries for to see." Mr. Carnegie's vessel 
steamed up Tokio bay in November and landed at Yo- 
kohama, where his narrative really begins. He was im- 
pressed by the magnificent bay, the glorious sky over- 
head, and a sight of the great Japanese mountain, Fusi- 
yama, the whole forming a combination of scenic gran- 
deur that is seldom if ever equaled. He writes : " The 
sail up this bay is never to be forgotten. The sun set as 
we entered, and then came such a sky as Italy can not 
rival. Fusiyama itself shone forth under its rays, its very 
summit clear, more than 14,000 feet above us." In India 
Mr. Carnegie visited the Taj Mahal and other wonders, 
which he describes with enthusiasm. Wherever he went 
in the Orient his attention was particularly directed to 
the economic and social conditions of the people he vis- 
ited. The whole volume forms an entertaining and in- 
structive book of travels, for the most part among orien- 
tal people who were little understood at the time it was 
written, thirty years ago. Bayard Taylor has not written 
anjrthing better in his books of foreign travel. 

Triumphant Democracy is a philosophical discussion 
and a glowing eulogy of the political institutions of the 
United States, accompanied from beginning to end by a 
mass of historical and statistical information concerning 
the leading occupations of the people of the United States, 
the natural resources of the country, and such compre- 
hensive subjects as education, literature, art, music, rail- 
roads, foreign relations, pauperism and crime, etc. Much 
has been said in praise of James Bryce's American Com- 



A MAN OF LETTERS. 319 

monwealth, and justly so, but in Triumphant Democracy 
we have a work that deserves to rank with that of the 
great Englishman. The other books mentioned by Mr. 
Alderson, Our Coaching Trip, The Gospel of Wealth, and 
The Empire of Business, illustrate Mr. Carnegie's versatility, 
his love of nature, his shrewd business sense, his freedom 
from cant, and his charity in all things. The Gospel of 
Wealth comprises a series of essays and addresses which 
deal with some of the serious problems of life and were 
intended mainly for the benefit of young men. The Em- 
pire of Business was republished in German, French, and 
Italian, and was largely circulated. 

Before taking up More Busy Days we turn to some 
of Mr. Carnegie's contributions to magazine literature 
which were published in The North American Review for 
1898 and 1899, and were respectively entitled "The Part- 
ing of .the Ways" and "Americanism versus Imperialism." 

Before the Spanish war had come to an end in Au- 
gust, 1898, when a preliminary treaty of peace, or proto- 
col, was signed at Washington, the question arose what 
disposition was to be made of the Philippine Islands. The 
protocol was signed on Friday, August 12, and on Satur- 
day, August 13, Manila was bombarded and surrendered, 
word of the suspension of hostilities not having reached 
Admiral Dewey and General Merritt. The battle of New 
Orleans was fought on January 8, 1815, in ignorance of 
the fact that a treaty of peace between the United States 
and Great Britain had previously been signed at Ghent. 
So it was at Manila ; Spain had already admitted defeat. 
Two parties were at once formed in this country, one the 
Administration party, which favored the acquisition of the 
Philippines, and the other, composed of both Republicans 
and Democrats, and known as the Anti-Imperialists, which 
opposed acquisition. Mr. Carnegie promptly identified 
himself with the latter party. In the end the Administra- 
tion policy prevailed and we annexed the islands, paying 
$20,000,000 for them to Spain. Some of Mr. Carnegie's 
arguments against annexation may well be reproduced, 
to illustrate his controversial style as well as to present 
his reasons for opposing the policy of the Administration. 



320 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

In "The Parting of the Ways," published in August, 
1898, Mr. Carnegie begins his argument as follows : " Twice 
only have the American people been called upon to de- 
cide a question of such vital import as that now before 
them. Is the Republic, the apostle of triumphant de- 
mocracy, of the rule of the people, to abandon her po- 
litical creed and endeavor to establish in other lands the 
rule of the foreigner over the people — ^triumphant des- 
potism ? Is the Republic to remain one homogeneous 
whole, one united people, or to become a scattered and 
disjointed aggregate of widely separated and alien races ? 
Is she to continue the task of developing her vast conti- 
nent until it holds a population as great as that of Eu- 
rope, all Americans, or to abandon that destiny to an- 
nex, and to attempt to govern, other fat* distant parts of 
the world as outlying possessions which can never be in- 
tegral parts of the Republic ?. Is she to exchange internal 
growth and advancement for the development of external 
possessions which can never be really hers in any fuller 
sense than India is British or Cochin-China is French?" 

All these questions Mr. Carnegie proceeded to answer 
with an array of facts and deductions that should have 
carried conviction to the minds of those who were then 
in control of the Government at Washington, but the an- 
nexation spirit prevailed, as already stated. Early in 1899 
Mr. Carnegie continued his protest against annexation in 
two installments in the Review. In the course of his ar- 
gument he said : 

''I write upon the eve of the birthday of the greatest 
public man of the century, perhaps of all the centuries 
if his strange history be considered — Abraham Lincoln. 
Washington, Franklin, and Jeflferson may have become 
back numbers, as we have been often told, for, as men of 
the past century, they could not know our destiny; but 
here is a man of our own time whom many of us were 
privileged to know. Are his teachings to be discarded 
for those of any now living who were his cotemporaries ? 
Listen to him : 'No man is good enough to govern an- 
other without that man's consent. I say this is the lead- 
ing principle, the sheet-anchor, of American republican- 



A MAN OF LETTERS. 321 

ism.' It is not fashionable for the hour to urge that the 
'consent of the governed' is all-important; but it will be 
fashionable again one of these days. It seems as if Lin- 
coln were inspired to say the needful word for this hour 
of strange subversion of all we have hitherto held dear 
in our political life. Our 'duty' to bear the 'white man's 
burden ' is to-day's refrain, but Lincoln tells us : ' When 
the white man governs himself that is self-government; 
but when he governs himself and also governs another 
man that is more than self-government, that is despot- 
ism.' Lincoln knew nothing of the new 'duty' and new 
'destiny,' or whether it is 'duty' which makes 'destiny' 
or ' destiny ' which makes ' duty ; ' but he knew the old 
doctrines of republicanism well. 

" One other lesson from the Great American : ' Our 
reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted 
in us. Our defense is in the spirit which prizes liberty 
as the heritage of all men in all lands everywhere. Those 
who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves, 
and under a just God can not long retain it.' Are these 
broad, liberty-loving, and noble liberty-giving principles 
of Americanism, as proclaimed by President Lincoln, to 
be discarded for the narrow, liberty-denying, race-subject- 
ing. Imperialism of President McEinley when the next 
appeal is made to the American people ? We have never 
for one moment doubted the answer, for they have never 
failed to decide great issues wisely nor to uphold Ameri- 
can ideals. Never had this nation greater cause to extol 
Abraham Lincoln than upon this the ninetieth anniver- 
sary of his birth, and never till to-day had it cause to 
lament that a successor to the Presidential chair should 
attempt to subvert his teachings." 

This severe criticism of President McKinley was de- 
served. It will be the judgment of calm and dispassion- 
ate history that a strong man in the Presidential office 
at that time — a man like Thomas B. Reed — would have 
heeded the patriotic and wise advice of Mr. Carnegie and 
others and permitted the people of the Philippines to 
work out their own destiny. Without hunting for trouble 
in dealing with an alien Asiatic race, six thousand miles 

21 



322 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

from our Pacific coast, we had at home trouble enough 
of our own with ten millions of negroes. Our "duty" to 
these negroes we were sadly neglecting then and are neg- 
lecting to-day. We are now paying the price of Philip- 
pine annexation in the great cost of governing the Fili- 
pinos, including the lives of our soldiers lost in subduing 
them and in keeping them subdued. We now maintain 
an army of about 15,000 soldiers in the Philippines. The 
injustice and folly of attempting at the point of the bay- 
onet to coerce the people of the Philippine Islands to 
accept our standards of civilization Mr. Carnegie forcibly 
illustrates in the following additional extracts from his 
articles in The North American Review, appearing in 1899. 
''One of the great satisfactions in traveling around the 
world is in learning that God has made all people happy 
in their own homes. We find no people in any part 
of the world desirous of exchanging their lot with any 
other. Upon our journey to the North Cape we stopped 
in the Arctic Circle to visit a camp of Laplanders in the 
interior. A guide is provided with instructions to keep 
in the rear of the hindmost of the party going and re- 
turning, to guard against any being left behind. Return- 
ing from the camp I walked with this guide, who spoke 
English and had traveled the world round in his earlier 
years as a sailor, and was proud to speak of his know- 
ing New York, Boston, New Orleans, and other ports of 
ours. Reaching the edge of the fjord, and looking down 
upon it, we saw a hamlet upon the opposite side and one 
two-story house under construction, with a grass-plot sur- 
rounding it, a house so much larger than any of the ad- 
jacent huts that it betokened great wealth. Our guide 
explained that a man had made a great fortune. He was 
their 'multi-millionaire,' and his fortune was reported to 
reach no less a figure than 30,000 kroner, ($7,500,) and 
he had returned to his native place of Tromso to build 
this 'palace' and spend his days there. Strange prefer- 
ence for a night six months long ! But it was home. I 
asked the guide which place in all the world he would 
select if ever he made such a fortune — with a lingering 
hope that he would name some place in our own favored 



A MAN OF LETTERS. 323 

land. How could he help it ! But his face beamed with 
pleasure at the idea of ever being rich, and he said finally : 
' Ah, there is no place like Tromso ! ' 

" Traveling in Southern India one day I was taken 
into the country to see tapioca roots gathered and ground 
for use. Our guide explained to these people that we 
were from a country so far away, and so different from 
theirs, that the waters were sometimes made solid by the 
extreme cold and we could walk upon them ; that some- 
times it was so intensely cold that the rain was frozen 
into particles and lay on the earth so deep that people 
could not walk through it ; and that three and four layers 
6i heavy clothes had to be worn. This happy people, as 
our guide told us, wondered why we stayed there, why 
we did not come and enjoy life in their favored clime. 

"It is just so with the Philippines to-day. It is as- 
tonishing how much all human beings the world round 
are alike in their essentials. These people love their homes 
and their country, their wives and children, as we do, 
and they have their pleasures." 

More Busy Days is the last of a series of three pub- 
lications which have been compiled to preserve the lead- 
ing incidents attending the presentation by Mr. Carnegie 
of libraries to Scotch, Irish, and English communities, or 
to commemorate other public functions in Great Britain 
in which he has participated. These publications were 
compiled from reports in the daily newspapers. The first, 
A Busy Week, appeared in 1-899, the second. Three Busy 
Weeks, in 1902, and the third. More Busy Days, in 1903, 
the series covering twenty-one functions. At many places 
Mr. Carnegie was received with princely honors. More 
Busy Days contains reports of ceremonies in which Mr. 
Carnegie participated at Dingwall, Tain, Kilmarnock, and 
Govan, in Scotland ; at Waterford, Limerick, and Cork, 
in Ireland ; and at Barrow, in England. At Govan, at 
Mrs. John Elder's request, Mr. Carnegie formally opened 
the Elder free library, which was presented to the people 
of that place by Mrs. Elder as a memorial to her hus- 
band, the late eminent shipbuilder of Govan. At Tain 
he was received in its town hall, which he had helped to 



324 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

improve; and at which place a free library was then in 
course of erection at his expense. At Barrow he pre- 
sided over the meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute. 
At the other places mentioned he presented libraries. 

At Dingwall Mr. Carnegie's well-known optimism was 
expressed in these words: ''Amid all the ills of life, the 
poverty and want, the wars which devastate, men still 
killing each other like wild beasts, as I stand here to- 
day in old Dingwall the proof comes that humanity has 
within itself a power or instinct which leads it slowly 
but surely upwai^ to more improved conditions — that 
man moves upward and looks upward as the sunflower 
turns its face to the sun. The masses of the people read 
books which were before beyond their reach. They have 
comforts which, to-day the necessaries of life, were once 
the luxuries of the noble ; sectarian bitterness — the wars 
of one religious sect with another, the most cruel in all 
history we might almost say, have passed away." 

The mission of the free library is set forth by Mr. Car- 
negie in his address at Tain, and in this address he also 
praises an adjunct of the free library which should espe- 
cially be found in connection with it in country towns 
and small cities. He said: "I have become deeply inter- 
ested in the question of a small hall connected with the 
library in districts which are not supplied with an inde- 
pendent hall like this. These halls are proving of the 
greatest service in a direction which I think highly bene- 
ficial. My experience is that there is in every community 
a great fund of latent talent which only needs the right 
touch from the right man or woman to blossom into 
fruit. I wish there were in every village or town of Scot- 
land a dramatic club, and, of course, instrumental and 
choral societies, which would give performances at suitable 
times for the benefit of the people at nominal prices." 

At Limerick Mr. Carnegie again dwelt upon the mis- 
sion of the free library. He said: "There are librarians 
and librarians. My experience has revealed this to me 
most clearly. In one city the free library is a tremen- 
dous power for good, reaches all classes, and is the last 
institution the city would lose. In another its success 



A MAN OF LETTERS. 325 

is moderate; it exists and does its part; but without 
soul; it is not a living force and power for good in the 
one as in the other, and this is owing to the different 
kind of librarian. I trust you have a librarian here 
whose heart is in his work, and who does not think that 
his task is fulfilled as long as there is a poor family in 
Limerick which is not using the library more or less, and 
who not only gives out the books asked for but sug- 
gests the books his readers should take.'' At Cork Mr. 
Carnegie returned to the work of the librarian. He said : 
" The whole duty of the librarian is not performed whem 
he sees that the applicants receive the books they ask 
for. There is a much higher task than this that he can 
perform. He can lead the people to read the books they 
ought to read." 

In his addresses in Protestant Scotland and Catholic 
Ireland Mr. Carnegie did not hesitate to express his views 
on religious subjects. At Dingwall he said : *' Your Prov- 
ost has kindly asked me to say just one word, which I 
have great pleasure in doing. I speak this word under 
the influence of the Hundredth Psalm, impressively sung, 
which takes me back to other days as it can take no one 
who has not been brought up to hear it when a child. 
I speak a word in sympathy with the spirit of the prayer, 
in which you were told truly that the Christian religion 
is founded upon sacrifice. Therefore, when we lay the cor- 
ner-stone of a free library, I say what Luther said when 
he nailed his ninety-five theses to the door of Augsburg 
Cathedral : ' If this thing be of men it will fail, but if it 
be of God it must stand. ' " At Dingwall he also said : 
"More and more men are drawn to realize that it is not 
what a man believes, for who can help his beliefs ? but 
what a man does ; not what brand of theology he adopts, 
but what his religion is as translated into life." At Kil- 
marnock he said: "I would rather take good deeds, an 
honorable life, and the esteem of friends as my passport 
to heaven than I would take any doctrines or dogmas 
in the world." At Limerick he said: "One of the surest 
proofs of progress in the world is the increased friendli- 
ness between the various sects of the one great religion, 



326 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

Christianity. In the United States this has progressed so 
far that one scarcely inquires what sect another belongs 
to, or what views another has upon theology." 

Mr. Carnegie's admiration of the character of the 
Scotch Reformer, John Knox, he freely expressed at Kil- 
marnock. It is a fine tribute from one who is not a 
Presbyterian. He said : *' No one that reads the history 
of Scotland will ever, or could ever, underrate the tremen- 
dous service which John Knox has rendered to Scotland. 
He helped us to establish the most precious of the rights 
and privileges, of the religious ideas, by which men can 
be moved — ^the right of private judgment. But the in- 
valuable services of John Knox were not confined to that 
domain, vital as it is. He declared that he would not 
rest until there was a public school for the education of 
the people in every parish in Scotland. Now, the man 
who did that work, who labored for that end, could never 
be aught but one of the commanding figures in the first 
rank of Scotland's benefactors. But John Knox did not 
stop at schools. When he had established the right of 
private judgment there came from it the Presbyterian 
Church, and the greatest tribute I can pay to the Pres- 
byterian Church — and I am not one who believes in any 
particular kind of theology but a great deal in religion 
— the greatest tribute I can pay to the Presbyterian 
Church is that it has remained the church of the people, 
as democratic as Scotland itself, and has made Scotland 
what it is." 

At Cork Mr. Carnegie laid the memorial-stone of a 
public library which he was helping to build. At an im- 
posing ceremonial the freedom of the city was conferred 
upon him. In replying to a complimentary address by 
the Lord Mayor Mr. Carnegie spoke at some length, and 
in his remarks he used a Shakespearian quotation which, 
while conveying the most delicate of compliments, showed 
not only his ability to think clearly on the spur of the 
moment but also his familiarity with classical literature. 
He said : " How shall I find words, my Lord Mayor, to 
thank you and your people of Cork for the great honor 
they have just conferred ? I shall not attempt it. You 



A MAN OP LETTERS. 327 

remember when Hamlet says, 'Good, my lord, will you 
see the players well bestowed ? ' and Polonius replies, ' My 
lord, I will use them according to their desert.' Hamlet 
then says, * Odd's bodikins, man, much better. Use every 
man after his desert and who shall 'scape whipping ? Use 
them after your own honor and dignity.' Cork has not 
treated me after my deserts, but after her own honor and 
dignity." 

Mr. Carnegie's loyalty to his friends is a well-known 
characteristic. Edwin M. Stanton was one of his early 
friends. Afterwards Mr. Carnegie bore oflBicial relations to 
Mr. Stanton. At Gambler, Ohio, on April 26, 1906, Colo- 
nel John J. McCook, of New York, presented to Kenyon 
College an oil portrait of Mr. Stanton, who had been a 
student at this college. Mr. Carnegie was present and de- 
livered a eulogy upon the life and character of Mr. Stan- 
ton, at the same time making formal announcement of 
his creation of an endowment of the Edwin M. Stanton 
chair of political economy at Kenyon College. In his 
eulogy, which was an elaborate review of Mr. Stanton's 
career, Mr. Carnegie dwelt particularly upon the patriotic 
service which his distinguished subject had rendered to 
his country in the days of its supreme peril. Mr. Car- 
negie said of his early acquaintance with Mr. Stanton, 
who was a native of Steuben ville, that '* he removed to 
Pittsburgh in 1847, and it was there in his early prime 
that I, as telegraph messenger boy, had the pleasure of 
seeing him frequently, proud to get his nod of recognition 
as I sometimes stopped him on the street or entered his 
oflSce to deliver a message." 

In the course of his tribute to his early friend Mr. 
Carnegie says : *'0n the 13th of January, 1862, without 
consultation with Mr. Stanton, Lincoln nominated him as 
Secretary of War." Mr. Carnegie bears this testimony to 
Mr. Stanton's business methods and to his heart quali- 
ties : ''Much was said of Stanton's rude treatment of 
those having business with him. I witnessed his recep- 
tion of the committee from New York City, which, fear- 
ing consequences, visited Washington to urge a postpone- 
ment of the draft. That was delightfully short. No time 



328 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

lost. If there was to be rebellion in New York the sooner 
the Government met and crushed it the better. 'No 
postponement' was Stanton's reply. His inherent kind- 
ness may be judged by his first act. It was to send a 
commission to Richmond to look after prisoners at the 
expense of the Government. Ten days later came his or- 
der that prisoners of war should receive their usual pay. " 

Further along in his narrative of Stanton's inesti- 
mable services to his country Mr. Carnegie says : *' It 
was not long before Grant was called to Washington by 
Secretary Stanton and placed at the head of the army. 
He dined with me at Pittsburgh when he passed west- 
ward, and told me that he was to become Lieutenant 
General with his headquarters at Washington. General 
Thomas being then the popular idol I said to him: 'I 
suppose you will place Thomas in command of the West.' 
'No/ he said, 'Sherman is the man for chief command. 
Thomas would be the first man to say so.' Sherman did, 
indeed, prove that Grant knew his man." Concerning 
President Johnson's intention to remove Stanton from 
his position as Secretary of War Mr. Carnegie quotes this 
sentence from General Grant's letter to the President : 
''In conclusion, allow me to say, as a friend, desiring 
peace and quiet, the welfare of the whole country. North 
and South, that it is, in my opinion, more than the loyal 
people of this country will quietly submit to, to see the 
very man of all others in whom they have expressed 
confidence removed." Stanton refused to resign at that 
time but after a long controversy he retired. 

Mr. Carnegie continues as follows : " Soon afterwards 
he was appointed Justice of the Supreme Court by Presi- 
dent Grant. Resolutions of thanks were passed by both 
houses and many were the tributes offered to this re- 
markable man who had given six years of his life and 
undermined his health in his country's service. Before 
entering the Cabinet he had amassed considerable means 
by his profession, but this was exhausted. Beyond his 
modest residence in Washington he left * nothing. Dis- 
pensing hundreds of millions yearly he lived without os- 
tentation and he died poor. Offers of gifts and private 



A MAN OF LETTERS. 329 

subscriptions by those who knew his wants were uni- 
formly rejected. On the morning of the 24th of Decem- 
ber, 1869, he breathed his last." We may add that the 
Senate confirmed Stanton's appointment to the Supreme 
Court, but he never took his seat, dying four days after 
his nomination was confirmed. The great War Secretary 
was Kterally worn out. He had given his life for his coun- 
try. He was born at Steubenville on December 19, 1814. 

We have quoted sufficiently from Mr. Carnegie's 
writings and public addresses to show the literary bent 
of his mind and his facility in the use of good English 
words and phrases. Up to this time he has established 
over seventeen hundred libraries, mainly because he be- 
lieves in the elevating influence of good books and stately 
library buildings, but partly also because he is himself a 
lover of books and has found time in an otherwise busy 
career to indulge his own literary tastes. He will con- 
tinue to establish many libraries every year. Mr. Carnegie 
will be regarded by historians as one of the most dis- 
tinguished of all Americans, and this distinction he has 
earned partly because he is conspicuously a man of letters 
as well as a many-sided man of affairs. 

In the first paragraph of this chapter we have refer- 
red to Mr. Carnegie as the most successful of all Ameri- 
can manufacturers. But he was an experienced railroad 
man before he was a manufacturer. His telegraphic ap- 
prenticeship led to his employment by Thomas A. Scott, 
superintendent of the western division of the Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad, (Pittsburgh to Altoona,) as his chief tele- 
graph operator, which position he held for several years, 
during which time he gained an intimate knowledge of 
railroad management. Mr. Scott was appointed superin- 
tendent of this division on December 1, 1852., and held 
this office for five years, until December 31, 1857. On 
January 1, 1858, he was appointed general superintendent 
of the whole road, Joseph D. Potts succeeding Mr. Scott 
in charge of the western division and Mr. Carnegie con- 
tinuing in the position he had held under Mr. Scott. On 
November 30, 1859, Mr. Potts retired, and on December 1 
of the same year Mr. Carnegie succeeded him as superin- 



330 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

tendent of the western division. Mr. Carnegie was then 
just 24 years old. For more than five years, until March 
31, 1865, he served as superintendent, when he was suc- 
ceeded by Robert Pitcairn. Mr. Carnegie's term of serv- 
ice embraced virtually the whole period of the civil war. 
How arduous and important were his duties in connec- 
tion with the forwarding of troops and supplies for the 
Government during this long and distressing period can 
easily be imagined. When he retired from the ofiice of 
superintendent in 1865 he had spent twelve years in the 
service of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. 

After the breaking out of the war in 1861 Mr. Scott 
was called to Washington as Assistant Secretary of War, 
Simon Cameron being Secretary, but, before this call upon 
Mr. Scott was made, Mr. Carnegie, upon the recommenda- 
tion of Mr. Scott, was appointed assistant general mana- 
ger of military telegraph lines, serving at Washington in 
this capacity from April 23, 1861, to September 1, 1861, 
when he resumed his railroad duties. Like his chief, Mr. 
Scott, he had rendered valuable service in aiding the 
Government to meet the first shocks of the great struggle. 

We add these details of Mr. Carnegie's railroad and 
telegraphic experience because they have been too much 
obscured by his phenomenal success as an iron and steel 
manufacturer ; indeed few persons know anything about 
his telegraphic or his railroad experience in early life. 



^:v^ 




TWO MEN FROM SOMERSET. 331 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

TWO MEN FROM SOMERSET. 

As IS well known, most of the towns and cities of 
Pennsylvania were built upon its principal water courses, 
their founders having regard to the facilities for transpor- 
tation which were thus afforded before the days of canals 
and railroads or even good roads of any kind. Exceptions 
to this rule are found in those towns which were built a 
century or more ago upon the roads and turnpikes that 
connected the eastern and western parts of the State, 
these roads and turnpikes usually occupying high ground 
and following the most direct routes. Bellefonte, Ebens- 
burg, Somerset, Indiana, Greensburg, Uniontown, and 
Washington conspicuously owe their existence to roads 
and not to rivers. It is an interesting fact that towns so 
located, away from all the large cities but happening to 
be county-seats, have produced some of the brightest men 
of Pennsylvania. Members of the bar in these hill towns 
have been noted for their ability ; their politicians have 
forged to the front; and the average intelligence of all 
their inhabitants has been of a high order. In this chap- 
ter the reader's attention will be called to the record of 
two men from Somerset, both natives of that county — 
Dr. William Elder and Judge Jeremiah S. Black, notable 
men of whom Western Pennsylvania may well be proud. 
Both were large men and of commanding presence. Nei- 
ther of these men received a college education ; both were 
virtually self-educated. In addition to their other attain- 
ments both were accomplished writers and have left their 
impress upon the literature of their native State. 

Dr. William Gore Elder, a native of the North of Ire- 
land, was the first physician to locate in the town of Som- 
erset. This was about 1795. His son, William Elder, was 
born in Somerset on July 23, 1806, and died in Wash- 
ington City on April 5, 1885. He passed his boyhood in 
Somerset and on a farm owned by his father. His only 



332 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

opportunity for mental culture was afforded by associa- 
tion with his father, the range of a fair private library, 
and the training of the ordinary country school. When 
about twenty years old he began the study of medicine 
with Dr. Deane, of Chambersburg, and after some delay he 
entered upon the practice of his profession, first at Cham- 
bersburg and afterwards in the Juniata valley. Dr. Elder 
was a graduate of Jefferson Medical College. But his liter- 
ary instincts, his talent for public speaking, and his inter- 
est in the political questions of the day soon led him into 
other fields. These influences eventually made him a law- 
yer, although he always had a strong love for the medi- 
cal profession and he never entirely relinquished its prac- 
tice. In 1838 he made many able speeches in support of 
the Whig and Anti-Masonic ticket in Pennsylvania. The 
warmth of the welcome extended to him in Pittsburgh 
induced him in that year to establish himself in that city 
in the practice of medicine. So forcible and effective was 
his oratory, and so popular did he become, that he was 
elected recorder of deeds for Allegheny county in Octo- 
ber, 1839, by a vote that was exceedingly complimentary. 
Dr. Elder was admitted to the bar at Bedford on August 
2f4, 1842, on motion of Hon. Job Mann, and in the same 
year he began the practice of his new profession at Pitts- 
burgh, in which city he remained until after the great 
fire in 1845, when he removed to Philadelphia, which was 
ever afterwards his home. 

Before he located at Pittsburgh and during his resi- 
dence in that city, and after his removal to Philadelphia, 
Dr. Elder ardently espoused the anti-slavery cause, and 
his eloquent voice in opposition to negro slavery and to 
its extension was heard from many platforms. He was 
identified with the Liberty party of 1844, the Free Soil 
party of 1848, and the Republican party of 1855 and 
subsequent years. In Philadelphia he first found conge- 
nial work for his pen in editing two anti-slavery papers, 
The Liberty Herald in 1847 and The Republic in 1848, at 
the same time in both years, as in previous years, speak- 
ing frequently from the stump. He continued his edito- 
rial work for many years after 1848. His pen found con- 



TWO MEN FBOM SOMERSET. 333 

stant and congenial exercise in the preparation of arti- 
cles, signed "Senior," for The National Era, of Wash- 
ington City, in which he treated calmly and philosophic- 
ally the questions of the day. For this journal he pre- 
pared much editorial matter for a number of years, and 
occasionally served as its acting editor for considerable 
periods. He had gradually taken a lively interest in other 
public questions than the slavery question, writing fre- 
quently for the editorial columns of the New York Trib- 
une and for some Philadelphia papers. After the estab- 
lishment of the Philadelphia Press by John W. Forney 
in 1857 he contributed regularly to the editorial columns 
of that paper, his subjects taking a wide range but em- 
bracing chiefly financial and economic questions, includ- 
ing the advocacy of a protective tariff. During this pe- 
riod Dr. Elder and Henry C. Carey became warm friends. 
When the civil war began in 1861 Secretary Chase sent 
for Dr. Elder to help him to solve the great problem of 
paying the national debt, and he remained an official of 
the Treasury Department until 1866, when he resigned. 
In 1873 he returned to his work in the Department, re- 
maining until his death in 1885. 

In 1860 Dr. Elder prepared for the Philadelphia Press 
a series of articles in explanation of the protective policy 
which were considered of sufficient importance to justify 
their publication in pamphlet form with the title of ''The 
Doctrine and Policy of Protection." In June, 1863, at 
the request of the Union League of Philadelphia, he wrote 
a pamphlet entitled "Debt and Resources of the United 
States and the Effect of Secession upon the Trade and 
Industry of the Loyal States." This was the first work 
of the kind that undertook to demonstrate that the 
country could meet all the drain of the civil war and re- 
tain its solvency. The argument was triumphantly con- 
vincing. Large numbers of the pamphlet were soon cir- 
culated to help the sale of Government bonds. It was 
translated into several languages and produced a strong 
impression in European countries. Another pamphlet 
from his pen was published in 1865, entitled " How Our 
National Debt Can be Paid," and this was followed in a 



334 PROGKESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

month by still another pamphlet styled " The Western 
States : their Pursuits and Policy. " In 1870 he published 
a pamphlet under the title of " The American Farmers' 
Market at Home and Abroad," bearing immediately up- 
on the practical needs of the hour. After his return to 
the Treasury Department in 1873 Dr. Elder, in the line of 
his official duties, published many other pamphlets under 
such titles as "The Panic and Pressure of 1873," ''The 
Causes of the Crisis," "The Growth and Reduction of 
Debt," and similar subjects that he was well able to dis- 
cuss. In those days pamphlet publications were largely 
relied on to educate the people and influence public opin- 
ion, recalling the pamphlet literature of the Revolution. 
David A.Wells published "Our Burden and Our Strength" 
in pamphlet form in 1864. Henry C. Carey wrote many 
pamphlets, as did also his father, Matbew Carey. 

But Dr. Elder's literary activity was not confined to 
newspaper work or the preparation of pamphlets. The 
amount of literary work that came from his pen, all of 
good quality and of great variety, is really marvelous. 
His first ambitious literary venture to which we can as- 
sign an exact date was a contribution to Putnam's Maga- 
zine in 1854, entitled " General Ogle — a Character," which 
described in graphic and attractive style, and with strik- 
ing analytical power, one of the strong men of the AUe- 
ghenies in the early part of the last century. This sketch 
at once attracted wide attention among literary men. 
In the same year Dr. Elder published a volume of mis- 
cellaneous essays and sketches entitled Periscopics, and 
in 1855 what was really a second edition of this book 
appeared, but with a new name : it was entitled The 
Enchanted Beauty, and Other Tales, Essays, and Sketches, 
forty-six in all, including "General Ogle." Just when the 
"tales, essays, and sketches" composing these volumes 
were written does not appear, or where any of them, ex- 
cept "General Ogle," were previously published, if at all. 
Many of the essays are profoundly philosophical; the 
sketches deal with every-day life and its manifold lessons ; 
of the tales " Elizabeth Barton" ranks with the best work 
of American story writers. 



TWO MEN FROM SOMERSET. 335 

In 1871 Dr. Elder published his great economic work, 
QiLestions of the Day : Economic and Social, which volume 
caused him to take rank at once with Alexander Ham- 
ilton, Henry C. Carey, and Stephen Colwell, the great 
American economic writers. Like them he claimed credit 
for the protective policy as one of the leading causes of 
national prosperity. The book covered almost the whole 
field of economic inquiry — wealth, wages, money, compe- 
tition and co-operation, protection and free trade, etc. 
It was a valuable contribution to the economic litera- 
ture of that day or of any day. Its chapters deal with 
the underlying principles of an advanced social system, 
and the facts he presented are as pertinent now as they 
were then. In 1882, three years before his death. Dr. 
Elder published another comprehensive work which he 
entitled Conversations on the Principal Subjects of Political 
Economy. As its name indicates, this volume was in- 
tended especially for the use of students — teacher, pupil, 
and disputant, as dramatis personce, asking and answering 
questions. The range of topics discussed in this volume 
was wider than in its predecessor. The two books are 
properly complements of each other, and were probably 
intended to be. It is a pity that both are not more 
widely used as text-books in our colleges and universities 
instead of the writings of J. Stuart Mill and other English 
economists with free trade convictions. One of the great 
economic writers of the country Dr. Elder was par excel- 
lence the political economist of Western Pennsylvania. 

Dr. Elder had an analytical and logical mind and he 
also possessed a fine talent for descriptive writing. Fancy 
and imagination were also present in a marked degree in 
his mental endowments. His conversational powers were 
remarkable. He had a genius for statistics, which is a 
rare trait in combination with the story-telling faculty 
and with oratorical gifts. Of his oratory the present gen- 
eration knows almost nothing, because it is now about 
fifty years since his voice was heard pleading for the ne- 
gro slave or advocating many policies in which his heart 
and brain were enlisted, the protective policy included. 
Probably the most notable of his eloquent appeals was 



336 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

made in behalf of Hungarian liberty at the banquet that 
took place in Musical Fund Hall, in Philadelphia, in honor 
of the Hungarian patriot, Louis Kossuth, on December 26, 
1851. His speech was not reported, except very briefly, 
as was the custom of that day, but the Public Ledger of 
the following day said that " Dr. Elder made a powerful 
and eloquent speech," to which Kossuth, "who was called 
for by a spontaneous cheer," happily replied. Recollec- 
tions of this incident of the banquet still survive in the 
memories of a few old Philadelphians. 

Dr. Elder married early in life Sarah Maclean, a 
daughter of Moses Maclean, a leading lawyer of Gettysburg. 
Her mother was a grand-daughter of Hugh Alexander, 
who represented Cumberland county in the Convention of 
1776 which framed the first Constitution of Pennsylvania. 

Jeremiah Sullivan Black, who will always be referred 
to as Judge Black, was born on a farm in Stony Creek 
township, Somerset county, on January 10, 1810, and died 
at York, Pennsylvania, on August 19, 1883. His grand- 
father, James Black, came from the North of Ireland and 
settled on a farm in Somerset county in colonial days. 
Judge Black's father, Henry Black, was a man of promi- 
nence, a member of the General Assembly, a Whig Rep- 
resentative in Congress, and for twenty years an associ- 
ate judge of Somerset county. Judge Black's mother was 
Mary Sullivan, and her mother was Barbara Bowser, "a 
person of pure German blood," so that Judge Black, like 
many other Pennsylvanians, was of mixed Scotch-Irish 
and German lineage. 

Judge Black was known as a hard student from early 
boyhood, when he first attended a country school. At 
the age of sixteen years his school education had been 
completed at an academy in Brownsville. For some time 
afterwards he pursued his classical and other studies on 
the farm. He had an astonishing memory. He mastered 
Latin as if it were his mother tongue. At seventeen he 
entered the office of Chauncey Forward, in Somerset, as a 
student of law. He was fortunate in his choice of a pre- 
ceptor. Mr. Forward, like his brother, Walter Forward, 
of Pittsburgh, who was Secretary of the Treasury under 



TWO MEN FROM SOMERSET. 337 

President Tyler, was a great lawyer. Judge Black once 
said of Chauncey Forward and Charles Ogle, who were 
cotemporaries at the Somerset bar : '* I have never, in 
my relations with the men of great reputation in this 
country, met the superior, nor can I now name the peer, 
of either of these men as lawyers. " Mr. Forward was the 
Democratic leader of Somerset county and Mr. Ogle the 
Whig leader. Both men represented their Congressional 
district in the House of Representatives, although of oppo- 
site politics. Judge Black early identified himself with 
the Democratic party, although his father was a Whig. 

In 1831 Jeremiah S. Black was admitted to the bar 
and in a short time thereafter he was appointed deputy 
attorney general of the Commonwealth for Somerset 
county. Mr. Forward having been a member of Congress 
for several years he soon shared his legal business with 
his bright student, who at once entered upon a large prac- 
tice. So thoroughly had the young lawyer mastered the 
science of the law and so rapidly did he rise in his profes- 
sion that his services were soon in demand in the neigh- 
boring counties. He had made his mark. In 1842, when 
only thirty-two years old, he was appointed by Governor 
Porter president judge of the sixteenth judicial district 
of Pennsylvania, In 1861, when forty-one years old, his 
reputation as a wise judge had been so firmly established 
that he was nominated by the Democratic State Conven- 
tion as a candidate for a seat on the Supreme Bench and 
was elected, four other judges being chosen at the same 
time, the legislation of 1850 having made membership in 
the Supreme Court an elective office. His son, Chauncey 
F. Black, says : "In the lottery which determined the 
matter for that first bench of judges chosen by the peo- 
ple at the polls Judge Black drew the short term and be- 
came chief justice. In 1854, his term as chief justice hav- 
ing expired, he was elected an associate justice by a very 
large majority, although the head of his ticket, the Demo- 
cratic candidate for Governor, was defeated." From his 
position on the Supreme Bench he was called by Presi- 
dent Buchanan in March, 1857, to be a member of his 
Cabinet as Attorney General. This position he filled with 

22 



338 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

great ability until the winter of 1860-61, when he suc- 
ceeded Lewis Cass as Secretary of State and Edwin M. 
Stanton took his place as Attorney General. 

It does not fall within the scope of this volume to 
consider the grave questions leading to or growing out of 
the civil war, and we therefore pass over Judge Black's 
connection with any of these questions. In March, 1861, 
with the beginning of Abraham Lincoln's Administration, 
he retired to private life. He was now fifty-one years old. 
He soon changed his residence from Somerset to York. 
For a short time he was the official reporter of the opin- 
ions of the Supreme Court of the United States, from 
which position he withdrew to engage in the active prac- 
tice of his profession, much the larger part of which was 
before the Supreme Court. During the next twenty years 
he was employed in many important cases. He was one 
of the counsel of President Johnson in the impeachment 
proceedings of 1868, and one of the counsel of Samuel J. 
Tilden in the proceedings before the Electoral Commission 
in 1877. He was a delegate-at-large to the Convention of 
1873 for revising the Constitution of Pennsylvania. 

Judge Black was not only a great lawyer and one of 
the many great judges of Pennsylvania, worthy to rank 
with Wilson, Tilghman, and Gibson, but he was also one 
of the most accomplished literary men that the whole 
country has produced. His essays, letters, and speeches, 
which are embodied in a stout volume that was com- 
piled by his son and published soon after his father's 
death, should be read by every lover of good English 
writing for their literary style alone, if for no other rea- 
son. His judicial opinions are said, by lawyers to possess 
exceptional merit for their clearness of statement. Judge 
Black excelled in the ability to make a plain statement, 
whether orally or in writing. His style was first of all 
logical, as became a lawyer and a judge, but it was espe- 
cially remarkable for the great learning which it exhib- 
ited without ostentation, for its wealth of pertinent illus- 
trations, and for its graceful and elegant diction. To 
quote a sentence from his eulogy of Judge Gibson, " the 
whole round of English literature was familiar to him." 



TWO MEN FROM SOMERSET. 339 

He never used the wrong word. His eulogy on the life 
and character of Andrew Jackson, delivered at Bedford 
on July 28, 1845, very early in his career, attracted wide 
attention, and from that day his reputation as a writer 
of the purest and most vigorous English was firmly es- 
tablished, at least in Pennsylvania. No finer tribute to his 
marvelous style could be conceived than is contained in 
the following analysis of its characteristics by that emi- 
nent lawyer, David Paul Brown, which may be found in 
The Forum, or Forty Years at the Philadelphia Bar: 

*' The style of Judge Black's composition is unlike any 
other with which we are acquainted. It is fluent, senten- 
tious, argumentative, facetious, and sarcastic. It is, to our 
mind, a beautiful style, and the wonder is where he should 
have formed it. There certainly could have been no temp- 
tation within the ordinary jurisdiction of a county court 
to lead to so much perfection in composition ; nor could 
his opportunities while at the bar account for his literary 
excellence; nor had he the advantages that Franklin and 
many others enjoyed in a printing oflSce, which in itself, 
with a bright pupil, is the best of schools. Where, then, 
did he obtain it ? He obtained it where Shakespeare, 
and Johnson, and Chatterton, and Burns obtained theirs — 
from the force of innate genius, by which opportunities of 
knowledge are not only improved but created." 

The following extract from Judge Black's eulogy of 
Chief Justice Gibson's literary style will give the reader a 
fair illustration of his own style: "His written language 
was a transcript of his mind. It gave the world the 
very form and pressure of his thoughts. It was accu- 
rate, because he knew the exact boundaries of the prin- 
ciples he discussed. His mental vision took in the whole 
outline and all the details of the case, and with a bold 
and steady hand he painted what he saw. His words 
were always precisely adapted to the subject. He said 
neither more nor less than just the thing he ought. He 
had one faculty of a great poet — that of expressing a 
thought in language which could never afterwards be 
paraphrased. When a legal principle passed through his 
hands he sent it forth clothed in a dress which fitted it 



340 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

80 exactly that nobody ever presumed to give it any 
other. Almost universally the syllabus of his opinion is 
a sentence from itself, and the most heedless student, in 
looking over Wharton^ s Digest, can select the cases in 
which Gibson delivered the judgment as readily as he 
would pick out gold coin from among coppers. For this 
reason it is that, though he was the least voluminous 
writer of the court, the citations from him at the bar are 
more numerous than from all the rest put together.'' 

Judge Black's controversies were mainly with prom- 
inent men of his day on political questions — Stephen A. 
Douglas, Judge E. R. Hoar, Henry Wilson, General Garfield, 
and others. He attacked their statements concerning mat- 
ters of fact and he condemned political acts and policies 
which he thought deserved rebuke, while he eagerly ac- 
cepted the gage of battle when there was sufficient provo- 
cation. His defense of the character of Edwin M. Stan- 
ton against statements made by Henry Wilson contains 
this example of his sarcastic style: ''Your attacks upon 
Buchanan, Toucey, and Thompson might be safely passed 
in silence, but the character of Stanton must utterly per- 
ish if it be not defended against your praise." His open 
letter to General Garfield contains probably the most 
scathing criticism of New England Puritanism that has 
ever been written. His controversy with Robert G. Inger- 
soll in The North American Review will be remembered. 

In 1836, when he was about twenty-six years old, 
Judge Black married Mary Forward, the oldest daughter 
of Chauncey Forward. One son, who is now dead, sur- 
vived him, Chauncey F. Black, at one time Lieutenant 
Governor of Pennsylvania and afterwards the unsuccess- 
ful candidate of the Democratic party for Governor. 



Somerset county has produced other prominent men 
than Dr. Elder and Judge Black. Two of these we have 
incidentally mentioned — Chauncey Forward and Charles 
Ogle. Other members of the Ogle family have been dis- 
tinguished as lawyers or politicians, sometimes as both. 
Norman B. Ream, one of the country's leading capitalists 
and a director of the United States Steel Corporation, was 



TWO MEN FROM SOMERSET. 341 

born in Somerset county in 1844. George F. Baer, who 
is now the president of the Philadelphia and Reading 
Railway Company, was bom in Somerset county in 1842. 
Cjrrus Elder, a lawyer, and a writer of poetry and fiction 
and also on economic subjects, was born in Somerset in 
1833. Few counties in Pennsylvania have produced as 
many notable men as Somerset county, which is situated 
on the summit of the Allegheny mountains. In the early 
days it was far away from commercial, political, educa- 
tional, and financial centres. Its principal town, Somerset, 
has even now a population of less than three thousand. 

Judge Henry M. Brackenridge practiced law in Som- 
erset for a short time between 1808 and 1810, but the 
young lawyer emigrated to the West within a year. The 
distinguished Judge Moses Hampton was at one time a 
member of the Somerset bar and was prothonotary of 
Somerset county when Joseph Ritner was Governor, a po- 
sition which he resigned in 1838 to remove to Pittsburgh. 

During the Administration of Martin Van Buren Jo- 
seph Williams, a native of Westmoreland county, who had 
practiced law in Somerset, was appointed a United States 
Judge for the Territory of Iowa, and at the same time 
William B. Conway, then editing The Mountaineer, at 
Ebensburg, in the adjoining county of Cambria, was ap- 
pointed Secretary of the Territory — illustrating the point 
already made that the hill towns of Pennsylvania have 
produced many men of wide reputation. Williams was 
appointed in 1838, reappointed in 1842, and again in 
1846. He died at Fort Scott, Kansas, in 1871. In 1830 
he was appointed register of wills and recorder of deeds 
for Somerset county. Conway died at Davenport, Iowa, 
while in office, in December, 1839. 










342 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

A CHAMPION OF PROTECTION. 

United States Senator Quay died at his home in 
Beaver, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, May 28, 1904, and 
was buried on Tuesday, May 31, in the Beaver Cemetery. 
In a nearby cemetery, in the neighboring town of Roch- 
ester, there rest the remains of another citizen of Beaver 
county, General Abner Lacock, who was a United States 
Senator from 1813 to 1819 and had previously been a 
member of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania and 
a Representative in Congress from 1811 to 1813. This 
chapter relates almost entirely to Senator Quay's inesti- 
mable services in behalf of the industries of our country. 

Matthew Stanley Quay was born at Dillsburg, York 
county, Pennsylvania, on September 30, 1833. At the time 
of his death he was not 71 years old. A pathetic interest 
attaches to some remarks which he made a little more than 
three years before his death, in which he seems to have 
contemplated the early termination of his earthly career. 
On May 14, 1901, after his third election to the Senate, 
his political friends honored him with a banquet at Phila- 
delphia, at which he delivered an address. He said: "At 
three score years and ten the world grows lonely. Through 
wildernesses almost desolate the stream of life glides 
darkly toward the eternal gulf. The associations of early 
existence are gone. Its objects are gained or lost or fad- 
ed in importance, and there is a disconnection with ideas 
once clamped about the reason and dissolution of feelings 
once melting the heart. Occasions like the present stand 
in pleasant relief — green patches on the sandy ^delta — and 
are especially attractive and welcome. My political race 
is run. It is not to be understood that God's sword is 
drawn immediately against my life, nor that my seat in 
the Senate is to be prematurely vacated, but that, with 
the subscription of my official oath on the 18th of Janu- 
ary, my connection with the serious labors and responsi- 



A CHAMPION OF FROTBCTION. 343 

bilities of active politics ceased. I have many friends to 
remember; I have no enemies to punish. In this regard 
I put aside the past." Senator Quay had "no enemies to 
punish," although his political power was then very great. 
Another United States Senator once exhibited the same 
spirit of Christian charity. Benton and Calhoun were bitter 
enemies, but when Calhoun died Benton refused to criti- 
cise anything that his great rival had done. He said : 
'' When God puts his hand on a man I take mine off." 
. Senator Quay did not Uve to serve out the term for 
which he had been elected, dying at three score years and 
ten. In the spirit of the address from which we have just 
quoted almost the last request he made before his death 
was that the inscription, Implora Pacem, (pray for peace,) 
should be placed on his tombstone. This has been done. 

To the above brief account of the deceased Senator's 
personal history we add his impressive record while a 
United States Senator, and also as chairman of the Re- 
publican National Committee, in advocating and defend- 
ing the poUcy of protection for our home industries. We 
ask attention to this record. As it is a part of our in- 
dustrial history the people of Pennsylvania should know 
it and remember it, although Senator Quay's tariff work 
was for the benefit of the people of all the States. 

In December, 1887, a crisis in the industrial history of 
the country was precipitated by the annual message of 
President Cleveland, in which he advocated a revision of 
the tariff on lines favorable to the policy of free trade ; in 
other words, he recommended at great length a reduction 
of duties. In the following month of January Mr. Mills 
introduced in the House a bill embodjdng Mr. Cleve- 
land's recommendations, and in July of that year, 1888, 
this bill passed the House by a vote of 162 yeas to 149 
nays, the Democrats having control of that body. The 
Senate, being Republican, declined to consider the Mills 
bill, and subsequently, on January 22, 1889, passed a sub- 
stitute for it by a vote of 32 yeas to 30 nays — a close 
vote. The House never considered the substitute. In 
June, 1888, a few weeks before the passage of the Mills 
bill through the House, Mr. Cleveland was nominated at 



344 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

St. Louis for re-election upon a platform specifically in- 
dorsing the Mills bill; and in the same month General 
Harrison was nominated for the Presidency by the Re- 
publicans at Chicago upon a platform in which the Mills 
bill was denounced by name. The issue between protec- 
tion and free trade was thus fairly drawn. 

Soon after the nomination of General Harrison for the 
Presidency in June, 1888, Senator Quay, who had entered 
the Senate in March, 1887, and whose reputation as a 
wise poUtical manager had preceded him, was made chair- 
man of the Republican National Committee. The task set 
for him was the election of General Harrison and a Re- 
pubUcan House of Representatives. He accomplished both 
these objects. The country rang with his praises. Every- 
body conceded that without his wise leadership the bat- 
tle for protection would have been lost, for New York, 
the pivotal State, was carried for Harrison by only 13,- 
000 plurality. If Mr. Cleveland and a Democratic House 
had been elected the Mills bill would have been indorsed 
and tariff agitation on free trade lines would have con- 
tinued. Mr. Cleveland had already practically destroyed 
the protectionist sentiment in his own party, and Samuel 
J. Randall, the leader of the small band of Protectionist 
Democrats in the House, was on his deathbed. But Har- 
rison's election, made possible by Quay's generalship, put 
an end for four years to all free trade hopes. As a logical 
sequence of the Republican success in 1888 the House of 
Representatives, when it met in December, 1889, under- 
took the revision of the tariff of 1883 on the lines of the 
Senate substitute for the Mills bill. This revision became 
a law on October 1, 1890, and is known as the McKinley 
tariff. This tariff was mainly a reproduction of the Sen- 
ate bill of January 22, 1889. 

An important service was rendered by Senator Quay 
in connection with the enactment of the McKinley tariff 
bill. The bill was jeopardized in the Senate by the Fed- 
eral Elections bill, the so-called ''Force bill," which many 
Republican Senators were determined to pass and which 
Democratic Senators, who were in the minority, were de- 
termined to defeat by obstructive tactics, or, in other 



A CHAMPION OF PROTECTION. 345 

words, by talking the bill to death. If this scheme of the 
Democrats had been carried out they would not only have 
succeeded in defeating the "Force bill" but they would 
also have prevented the passage of the McKinley tariff 
bill through the Senate, as the time consumed in killing 
the "Force bill" would have prevented the consideration 
of the McKinley bill. Senator Quay had the skill and 
address to rescue the McKinley bill from this serious di- 
lemma by securing the adoption of an order of business 
which gave it the right of way over the "Force bill." 
Thenceforward the McKinley bill had plain sailing. 

Senator Quay's part in securing the defeat of the 
original Wilson tariff bill in 1894 and the substitution of 
higher rates of duty for hundreds of its practically free 
trade provisions can not be overlooked by the impartial 
historian. It was of inestimable value to the country. 
Both branches of Congress were now Democratic. The • 
Senator did not need to convince Senator Gorman, Sena- 
tor Brice, and four or five other Democratic Senators of 
the destructive character of the Wilson bill, but it was vi- 
tally necessary that about thirty other Democratic Sena- 
tors should be convinced that, if they did not vote to give 
at least partial protection to the industries which had 
been so seriously threatened by the Wilson bill, the bill 
could never become a law; with the assistance of other 
Republicans he would deal with it as the Democrats had 
proposed to deal with the "Force bill." This threat, 
which was carried out by the delivery of the Senator's 
obstructive speech, occupying twelve days in April, May, 
and June, 1894, had the effect that was desired. The tar- 
iff bill, which became a law on August 28, 1894, was not 
the original Wilson bill at all. Many of its worst fea- 
tures had been eliminated, and for this result Senator 
Quay received at the time the highest praise from his 
Senatorial colleagues. 

In the Bulletin of the American Iron and Steel Asso- 
ciation for August 1, 1897, we thus referred to Senator 
Quay's part in the passage of the Dingley tariff bill of 
that year, the third important tariff measure with which 
he was prominently identified while a member of the Sen- 



346 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

ate : ''It only remains for us to express the thanks of our 
iron and steel manufacturers to the Republican members 
of the House Ways and Means Committee and the Sen- 
ate Committee on Finance for the patient consideration 
they have given to the tariff interests of our iron and 
steel industries. Nor do we forget the valuable aid which 
was freely and intelligently given by Senator Quay, of 
Pennsylvania, first, in counseling a wise policy of modera- 
tion by our iron and steel manufacturers, and, second, in 
carefully guarding every needed iron and steel provision 
while the bill was under consideration in the Senate. In 
this latest service Senator Quay has fitly crowned his 
great achievement when the Wilson tariff bill was shorn 
of many of its worst features through his efforts." 

With this record before us of unflinching devotion to 
the best interests of his country it will be seen at a glance 
how great is the debt of gratitude that all our people owe 
to the memory of the distinguished Pennsylvania Senator 
whose remains now rest in Beaver Cemetery. 

When Senator Quay died numerous eulogies upon his 
life and public services were pronounced in the Senate 
and House by leading men of both branches. The list of 
Senators who spoke in praise of their deceased colleague 
is a particularly notable one. The tributes of affection 
and appreciation from Senator John W. Daniel, of Vir- 
ginia, and Senator John T. Morgan, of Alabama, both of 
whom were politically opposed to Senator Quay, are 
worthy of more than a passing thought. 

Senator Daniel said : " He was a strong man, of 
many fine faculties and traits of character. He had the 
capacity for engaging and attaching to himself disinter- 
ested friends — a quality which bespeaks the fiber of the 
man more than words. He hated shams. Hypocrisy he 
despised. His opinions as a rule were boldly declared. 
His positions were resolutely maintained. His enemies 
he defied ; his friends he cherished. He was without 
ostentation and of little vanity, but he had great pride 
and great courage. His ambition was to do things rather 
than to say things, but whatever he said he said well. 
Concentrative in his purposes and constructive in his 



A CHAMPION OP PROTECTION. 347 

plans he paid great attention to the great questions that 
came to this body for consideration, and he engaged but 
little in minor controversies. He focused his energies on 
decisive points. He was a fighter when a fight was on, 
but he was not disputatious, intermeddlesome, or pug- 
nacious. Whenever he spoke he showed comprehensive 
grasp of his subject in all of its relations. He was a 
thoroughly informed and well-read man, but without lit- 
erary pretensions or affectations. He exerted large influ- 
ence as a Senator, not only upon his party but as well 
upon his colleagues without regard to political afiiliation. 
This influence was due to his genial disposition, to his 
manly character, to his common sense, and to the clear- 
ness and wide range of his vision." 

Senator Morgan said : " In speaking of Matthew Stan- 
ley Quay if I was moved by the affection of long and 
intimate friendship I could not give him higher praise 
than to say that he performed the duty of an American 
Senator during a long service with faithful devotion and 
with such ability as has left on the records of the Sen- 
ate most valuable proofs of efficient service to the coun- 
try. It may be truthfully said that no important matter 
escaped his attention and his careful examination, and 
no public danger was presented that could escape his 
alert detection or drive him from his post of duty. I 
do not recall an instance in which he was not an impor- 
tant party to the settlement of contentions that con- 
cerned the welfare of the country, and I never knew him 
to attempt anything except the honorable reconciliation 
of those who were rash, angry, or obstinate in their con- 
tentions. I have in mind some notable instances when 
his courage and forbearance and his genius for reconcili- 
ation saved measures and men from disastrous conse- 
quences. In his character of Senator and friend he was 
true and blameless, and has won for himself a fame that 
will grow greater and better as time advances." 

Senator Daniel followed his tribute to the personal 
qualities and public services of Senator Quay with a re- 
markable eulogy of Pennsylvania, Senator Quay's native 
State, of which he himself once said in a public address : 



tt4o PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

"I am proud that there is not a drop of blood in my 
veins that is not Pennsylvania blood two centuries old." 
Senator Daniel said of Quay and Pennsylvania : 

" Hie genius was typical of that of his people. His 
public career reflects the characteristics of the great 
middle State of Pennsylvania. It is a State where agri- 
culture, mining, manufacturing, commerce, learning, and 
science have advanced as nearly abreast of each other 
as in any place upon the earth's surface. The commu- 
nity is thrifty, prosperous, and progressive through the 
combination of diversified resources, abounding energies, 
and steadfast purpose. The evenness of its development 
in multitudinous departments of enterprise has imparted 
to the massive structure stamina and proportion. The 
people of Pennsylvania present a rare picture of indus- 
trial activity and of domestic peace and reposeful power. 
At the base of their history is the stirring and sturdy 
blood of the colonial pioneers, toned, as it were, with 
the peaceful mood of Penn and the practical wisdom of 
Franklin. Through all the gradations of their progress 
the American spirit has pervaded their atmosphere. 
Schools of fanaticism and hotbeds of anarchy find no 
congenial resort in such communities." 



OTHER NOTED WESTERN PENNSYLVANIANS. 349 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

OTHER NOTED WESTERN PENNSYLVANIANS. 

The limits of this volume preclude even brief sum- 
maries of the careers of other eminent Western Pennsyl- 
vanians than those already mentioned. The list of all 
these who are worthy of extended biographical notice 
is a very long one. It includes United States Senators 
James Ross, Abner Lacock, Walter Lowrie, William Wil- 
kins, (also Secretary of War under President Tyler,) 
James G. Blaine, one of the greatest of all native-born 
Pennsylvanians, and Edgar Cowan ; Judges Henry Bald- 
win, Walter Forward, (also Secretary of the Treasury 
under President Tyler,) Charles Shaler, Moses Hampton, 
Wilson McCandless, Walter H. Lowrie, Cyrus L. Pershing, 
Daniel Agnew, and many others ; John Moore, the first 
president judge of Westmoreland county ; Henry D. 
Foster, the eminent lawyer ; Andrew Stewart, the earnest 
and unyielding champion of a protective tariff; John Co- 
vode, the able and popular Westmoreland Congressman ; 
Governor John W. Geary ; the astronomer, John A. Brash- 
ear; Ida M. Tarbell, Lucy Forney Bittinger, Margaretta 
Wade Deland, Jane Grey Swisshelm, T. J. Chapman, James 
Veech, Neville B. Craig, Isaac Craig, Wm. M. Darlington, 
Wm. G. Johnston, and other literary men and women, 
including Judges Hugh H. Brackenridge and his son, 
Henry M. Brackenridge ; the philanthropists. Rev. William 
A. Passavant, D. D., and Felix R. Brunot ; Stephen C. 
Foster, the composer, whose "Old Folks at Home" and 
other folk songs can never be forgotten ; the mathema- 
tician, Joseph Stockton, whose Western Calculator the 
boys of seventy years ago will well remember ; and many 
others, including eminent divines and educators, editors, 
artists, and great engineers. Edwin M. Stanton practiced 
law in Pittsburgh in 1847 and for about ten years after- 
wards. Three generations of Ewings have furnished the 
courts of Fayette county with president judges — father. 



350 PROGRESSIVE PENNSYLVANIA. 

son, and grandson. The Lowr^e family has produced at 
least eight men of distinction in the law, statesmanship, 
and theology. " There were giants in those days." Ap- 
preciative mention of all these leading Western Pennsyl- 
vanians — what they have done and wherein they have 
honored their State and the generations to which they 
have respectively belonged — we are compelled to leave to 
others who may some day think it worth while to compile 
a second volume descriptive of Progressive Pennsylvania. 

The reader will notice in the above list of promi- 
nent Western Pennsylvanians that about one-half of the 
persons mentioned have not had middle names. It was 
a common custom of our forefathers to give their sons 
only one name, a custom which is now generally ignored. 

Our first five Presidents were plain George Washing- 
ton, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and 
James Monroe. Of the succeeding Presidents thirteen 
have had no middle name. They were Andrew Jackson, 
Martin Van Buren, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor, Millard 
Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Abraham Lin- 
coln, Andrew Johnson, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Har- 
rison, William McKinley, and Theodore Roosevelt. We 
have had twenty-five Presidents and eighteen of these 
have had no middle name. Other great men of the Re- 
public have had no middle name — Patrick Henry, Benja- 
min Franklin, James Otis, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, 
Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, Elbridge Gerry, Robert 
Morris, John Jay, John Marshall, Peyton Randolph, Timo- 
thy Pickering, George Clinton, Anthony Wayne, Horatio 
Gates, Nathanael Greene, Albert Gallatin, Horace Binney, 
William Wirt, Silas Wright, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, 
Lewis Cass, John Bell, Edward Everett, Thomas Corwin, 
Thomas Ewing, George Bancroft, Caleb Gushing, Horace 
Greeley, Schuyler Colfax, Charles Sumner, Simon Came- 
ron, John Sherman, Hannibal Hamlin, and many others. 

Most of the early Governors of Pennsylvania had no 
middle name — Thomas Mifflin, Thomas McKean, Simon 
Snyder, William Findlay, Joseph Hiester, George Wolf, 
Joseph Ritner, William Bigler, and James Pollock. 

Much has been said in praise of the enterprise, 



OTHER NOTED WESTERN PENN8YLVANIANS. 351 

courage, intelligence, and ^ aggressive leadership of the 
Scotch-Irish element in the population of Western Penn- 
sylvania. The Scotch-Irish are a masterful race, wher- 
ever found. But, while largely dominating and giving 
tone and character to the early settlement and subse- 
quent history of Western Pennsylvania, they are not en- 
titled to all the credit they have received. The people 
of that part of Pennsylvania have been from the first 
a really composite people. Virginia and Maryland fur- 
nished to that section nearly all its first settlers ; the 
French estabhshed no permanent settlements. Next came 
the Scotch-Irish in considerable numbers, with an occa- 
sional family direct from Scotland, and a few English, 
Celtic Irish, Welsh, and Huguenots, and then came many 
Pennsylvania Germans and other Germans. Afterwards 
came men from New York and New England, espe- 
cially to the northwestern section. All these strains of 
blood were represented in the settlement of Western 
Pennsylvania in its first hundred years, and to these 
have since been added very many latter-day Germans 
and representatives of other nationalities. So that, while 
it is true that the Scotch-Irish element has been and 
still is the dominating element in that section of Penn- 
sylvania, it has been greatly strengthened by the admix- 
ture of the other elements that have been mentioned. 
A curious illustration of the correctness of this state- 
ment is found in the fact that three of the noted judges 
and public men of Pittsburgh in the early part of the 
last century, namely, Henry Baldwin, Walter Forward, 
and Charles Shaler, were all natives of Connecticut. 




GENERAL INDEX. 



Not including the names of individuals or firms or names mentioned in the Chrono- 
logical Chapter, but including the names of oomfMUkies. 



■^« Page 

Agriculture in Pennsylvania 182, 183 

Allegheny Bessemer Steel Company. ..213 
Allegheny bridge at Pittsburgh.. 252. 253 

Allegheny City laid out in 1787 263 

Allegheny County organised in 1788. . 202 
Allegheny County, population of . . 265, 266 

Allegheny Portage Railroad 140-146 

Allegheny river, early navigation of 122, 123 
Aluminum, manufacture of, in Pa. .245-247 
Amity, the first Pennsylvania ship. . . 21 

Appalachian System 81-83 

Apprenticeship system, colonial 52, 53 

Armor i^ate, manufacture of, in Pa.. 241 

B. 

Baldwin Locomotive Works 182 

Baltimore and Ohio RaUroad. . 124, 161-164 

Bedford Company 188 

Bessemer process for making steel 209, 210 
Bessemer Steel Company, Limited. ... 215 

Bessemer steel, first basic, in Pa 233 

Bessemer steel, manufacture of. . . 232, 233 

Bethlehem Iron Company 231, 241 

Bethlehem, Moravian settlement at. . . 32 

Boatbuilding at Pittsburgh 123 

Boundaries of Pennsylvania. ... 15, 16, 75 

Braddock's defeat 257 

Braddook's Road 106 

Brady's Bend Iron Company 205 

Bridge, chain, first, in England 240 

Bridge, chain, first, in U.S. . 248-250, 254 
Bridges, early, in Pennsylvania. . . 102, 103 
Bridges, wire suspension, in U. S. 250-254 
Bridle paths in Pennsylvania. .102, 103, 107 
Brownsville, early shipping port... 119-121 

Buffaloes in Pennsylvania 96-101 

Bushy Run, battle of 1, 260, 307 

C. 

Cambria Iron Co. . 146, 195, 206, 208. 232 

Cambria Iron Works, when built 195 

Cambria Steel Co 195, 207, 214, 226 

Camden and Amboy Railroad... 163, 164 

Canal boats built of iron in 1836 128 

Canal, first, in the United States. .131, 134 
Canal transportation in the U.S. .130-138 

Canal tunnel, first, in the U. S 147 

Canals in Pennsylvania 130-138 

Carbondale and Honesdale Railroad.. 166 

Carnegie Steel Company 214, 241 

Carondelet Canal, building of 135 

Charcoal iron industry of Pa 201 

Charleston and Hamburg Railroad. . . 163 
Chemicals, manufacture of, in Pa. . 180, 181 



Page 
Cleveland Iron Mining Company. .221, 223 

Coal, anthracite 224. 225, 227, 228 

Coal, bituminous, in Pa. . . 120, 121, 224-228 

Coal, raw bituminous, use of. 230, 231 

Coal trade of Pittsburgh, beginning of 263 
Coke industry, beginning of, in Pa. . . 229 
Coke, production of, in Pennsylvania.. 227 
Columbia Railroad, building of . . . 140, 143 
Conestoga Lock and Dam Nav. Co. . . . 135 

Conestoga wagons described 105 

Conewago Canal, building of 135 

Connellsville coke, manufacture of . . . . 227 

Connelbville, early shipping port 117 

Copper, first mill at Pittsburgh. . 243, 244 
Copper, Lake Superi<Mr, development of 243 

Cornwall iron ore hills 216-219 

Cotton goods, manufacture of, in Pa.. 177 

Crefdd settlers of Gernumtown 27-30 

Crucible steel, manufacture of, in Pa. 231 

Cuban iron ores 223 

Cuban Steel Ore Company 223 

Cumberland Road, building of 109, 110, 313 

D. 

Delaware and Hudson Canal. . 163, 106, 252 

Delaware and Schuylkill Nav. Co 130 

Delaware Division Canal Company. . . 148 

Ddaware Indians 18, 14, 70-74 

Delaware river and bay, when named 12 
Despatch Transportation Company. . . 150 

Drovers in Pennsylvania 112, 113 

Dunkards in Pennsylvania 31, 32, 42 

Duquesne Steel Works, when built. . . 213 

Durham boats in Pennsylvania 114 

Dutch East India Company 12 

Dutch settlers in Pa.. .11-14, 37. 38, 40, 41 

E. 

Edgar Thomson Steel Co., Lim. . 210, 214 
Edgar Thomson Steel Works built in 

1873-1875 210 

Edgar Thomson Steel Works, remark* 

able rail record of 214 

English settlers in Pa 18, 37. 351 

Erie Canal, building of . .. 137, 138, 142, 143 

F. 

Ferries in Pennsylvania 102 

Finn's in Pennsylvania 11, 12, 37 

First emigrants from the Continent. . . 27 

Flat boats in Pennsylvania 115-123 

Forbes's Road, building of 106, 107 

Fort Amstel, Dutch capital in Delaware 14 
Fort Christina, Swedish settlement 13 



354 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Page I 

Fort Du Quesne 256-259, 261, 262 

Fort Elfsborg, Swedish settlement 13* 

Fort Fayette, when built 260, 261 

Fort Nassau in New Jersey 12 

Fort Necessity, surrender of 5, 257 

Fort Pitt abandoned by the British.. 260 

Fort Pitt, wlien named 258, 250 

Frankstown Road, building of... . 107-100 

Free Society of Traders 17, 21, 70, 85 

Freight rates, early, in Pa 110, HI 

French and English, struggle between 257 

O. 

General Assembly of Pa 10, 300, 342 

George's Creek Company 229 

German Reformed in Pa 30, 31, 30 

German settlers in Pa 6, 9, 40, 351 

Germans, Penn's love for 20 

Germantown, first settlers of 27-32 

Glass, manufacture of, in Pennsylvania 180 

Great Meadows, battle of 257 

Great Western Iron Company 205 



Hannastown, burning of, in 1782 74 

Hannastown, resolutions of 1775. . 301-303 
llarrisburg, Portsmouth, Mount Joy, 

and Lancaster Railroad Company. . 167 
Hessian prisoners, sale of, in Pa. . . 49-51 
Hessian soldiers in the Revolution. . . 50 < 
Homestead Steel Works, when built . . 213 | 
Huguenots, French, in Pennsylvania 31, 35 i 

37, 38, 40, 41, 351 ' 

I. 

I 

Imprisonment for debt in Pa 51 < 

Indians in Pennsylvania. ... 12-14, 70-74 

Iron ore, first use of Cuban 231 

Iron ore, first use of Lake Superior. . 231 

Iron ore in Pa.. .-. 174, 175, 216-219 

Iron works, early, in Pa 185-201 

Italians in Pennsylvania 7, 228 

J. and K. 

Jackson Mining Company 220 

James River Company 134, 135 

Juragua Iron Company 223, 231 

Keel boats in Pennsylvania 114-123 

Kelly Pneumatic Process Co 200, 232 

L. 

Jjike Cliamplain iron ores 223 

I^ke Superior iron ores 219-221, 223 

Leather, manufacture of, in Pa. . . 178-180 
Lehigh Coal and Nav. Co. 141, 147, 148, 166 

T^high Coal Company 147 

Ijehigh Crane Iron Company 230 

Lehigh Navigation Company 147 

lichigh Valley Railroad Company 172 

Lehigh Zinc Company 241, 242 

Little Schuylkill Navigation, Railroad, 

and Coal Company 168 

Liverpool and Manchester Railway Co. 157 

Ix)comotives, first, in the U. S 162-164 I 

Ix)comotives, manufacture of, in Pa. . . 182 | 
Lumber, production of, in Pa. . . . 177, 178 
Lutherans in Pennsylvania 31, 39 i 



M. Pace 

Mauoh Chunk Railroad 166 

Mennonitesin Pennsylvania.. 26, 27, 29-32 

40. 42. 68. 69 

Middlesex Canal Company 135 

Midvale Steel Company 241 

Miflsouri iron ores 222 

Mohawk and Hudson Railroad Co 163 

Monongahela Navigation Company ... 121 

Moravians in Pennsylvania 32, 38-il 

Mount Carbon Railroad Company. ... 168 

National Road, building of. . 10»-112, 313 

Natural gas, general use of 236 

Natural gas. production of, in Pa. 181, 182 

Negro slavery, act abolishing 58-61 

Negro slavery in Pennsylvania 54-60 

Negro slavery, protest against 56, 57, 66-69 

Negro slaves at Pa. iron works 61. 62 

Negro slaves in Pa. down to 1840. . 62-65 

Negro slaves owned by Penn 55, 56 

Negro slaves, statistics of 64, 65 

Negroes in cities of the U. S 7, 65. 66 

Negroes in PMinsylvania in 1900.. 65,66 

New England, civic pride in 2 

New Jersey Steel and Iron Company . 232 
New Orleans, early trade with. . . 118, 119 
New Wales, name proposed for Pa. 22-24 
Nickel, manufacture of, in Pa 242, 243 

0. 

Ohio, civic pride in 3 

Ohio Company 255, 256 

Ohio Steamship Navigation Company 125 
Open-hearth steel in United States 232, 233 
Otis Iron and Steel Company 233 

P. 

Pack-saddle described 104 

Palatinate described 33 

Paper, when first made in Pa 28 

Penn's charter in 1681... 11. 12. 14-17. 26 
Pennsylvania and Ohio Transp. Co . . . 150 
Pennsylvania Canal, building of. . 139-148 

Pennsylvania Canal Company 148 

Pennsylvania Canal, freight rates on . . 152 
Pennsylvania Canal in operation . . 149-155 
Pennsylvania Canal packet boats. . 154, 155 
Pennsylvania Canal, portable iron 

boats described 128, 129 

Pennsylvania Canal, sale of 145 

Pennsylvania Canal, section boats and 

carboats described 153, 154 

Pennsylvania Canal, transportation 

companies on 150. 151 

Pennsylvania, climate of 77-81 

Pennsylvania Coal Company 252 

Pennsylvania, counties of 84-87 

Pennsylvania divided into three parts 75 
Pennsylvania Dutch, origin of name 41, 42 
Pennsylvania, early navigation in. . 114-123 
Pennsylvania, few Indian relics in . . . 5, 6 
Pennsylvania first to develop petrole- 
um industry 234 

Pennsylvania, lack of civic pride in . . 1-10 
Pennsylvania largest consumer of nat- 
ural gas 237 



GENERAL INDEX. 



355 



Page ' 
Pennsylvania, history of naming of. 22*24 
Pennsylvania, length and breadth of. . 84 
Pennsylvania, mixed population of . . . 37 
Pennsylvania, native animals of . . . . 88-05 

Pennsylvania, native products of 88 

Pennsylvania, natural resources of 76 

Pennsylvania overgrown with woods. . 81 
Pennsylvania, Penn's description of. .77-70 
Pennsylvania, population of province. . . 35 
Pennsylvania, population of State. . 36, 84 
Pennsylvania Railroad Ill, 144-146 

148. 149. 166, 160-172 

Pennsylvania, rivers and lakes of . . 83, 84 

Pennsylvania, scenery of 76, 77 

Pennsylvania Steel Company 217, 231-233 

Petroleum discovered in Ohio 235 

Petroleum, earliest mention of 234 

Petroleum in Kentucky 235 

Petroleum in New York 234, 235 

Petroleum, production of 181 

Philadelphia and AUegheny counties, 

- growth of, in population 265, 266 

Philadelphia and Reading R.R. 137. 167-170 
Philadelphia and Reading Ry. Go. 167. 341 
Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad Co. 167 
Philadelphia, Ger., and Nor. Railroad. . . 166 

Philadelpliia named by Penn 10 

Philadelphia, settlement of 10, 20 

Philadelphia slave market 58 

Philosophical Society, report of 132 

Physical conformation of Pa 8, 

Pitt, Wm., no monument at Pittsburgh 5 
Pittsburgh and Boston Mining Co. 243, 244 
Pittsburgh and Connellsville R. R. . . . 162 
Pittsburgh Bessemer Steel Company. . 213 
Pittoburgh, first blast furnace in 1702. 108 

PitUburgh, first glass works at 263 

Pittsburgh, first iron foundry in 1805. 108 
Pittsburgh, first rolling miU in 1811-12. 100 
PitUburgh, first steamboat in 1811 . 124, 264 
Pittsburgh Gasette. first newspaper 

west of Allegheny mountains 263 

Pittsburgh had negro slaves 58 

Pittsburgh incorporated as a borough 262 

Pittsburgh. Manor of 261, 262 

Pittsburgh, second furnace in 1850. . 200 

Pittsburgh, when named 258 

Portland cement, production of, in Pa. 182 

Presbvterians in Pennsvlvania 34 

Protective tariff 202, 203, 333, 343-346, 340 



Railroad, first passenger, in the U. S. . 158 
Railroad, first passenger, in the world. 156 
Railroad, mileage of. in Pennsylvania. 165 
Railroads, early criticism of, in Eng- 
land 156, 157 

Railroads, early criticism of, in the 

United States 158-161 

Railroads, early, in Pennsylvania. 165-173 
Railroads, opposition to building 172, 173 

Rails, manufacture of, in Pa 202-215 

Redemptioners in Pennsylvania .... 43^53 
Redemptioners, Washington bought 43, 47 

Rees (James) &, Sons Company 120 

Reliance Transportation Company 128, 150 



8. Page 

Salt, discovery of, in Western Pa 238 

Salt industry of Pa 116. 238, 230 

Schuylkill and Susquehanna Nav. Co. 136 
Schuylkill Nav. Company. . . 137, 147, 148 

Sohwenkfelders in Pennsylvania 32 

Scotch-Irish in Pa. . 6, 0, 10. 33-37, 30. 351 

Second settlement in Pa 24, 25, 133 

Servants, bonded white, in Pa 43^3 

Sharon Iron Company 231 

Shawnese Indians 74 

Ships, ocean, built at Pittoburgh. . 120, 123 

Sigua Iron Company 223 

Silk industry of Pennsylvania. . . 175, 176 

Southern iron ores 222, 223 

Southern States, civic pride in 3 

Spanish-American Iron Company 223 

Spelter, manufacture of, in Pa. . . 241, 242 
Stage coaches in Pennsylvania... Ill, 112 

Stage houses in Pennssdvania 113 

State Road in Pennsylvania 106, 107 

Steamboat building, decline of 126 

Steamboats, early use of. in Pa. . . 124, 125 
Steamboato, first built in W. Pa. 124-126 

Steamboat, first iron, in U. S 126-120 

Sunbury and Erie Railroad Company 148 

Superior Iron Company 208 

Susquehannock Indians 14 

Swanandael. Dutch settlement at 18 

Swedish Lutherans 20, 21 

Swedish settlers in Pennsylvania. . . 11-15 

10, 20, 21. 37. 40 

Swiss settlers in Pennsylvania. . 37, 38, 40 

T. 

Tinicum, Swedish settlement at 13 

Tinplates and teme plates 240, 241 

Troy Steel Company 233 

Tunnel, first railroad, in the U. S. . . . 144 

Tunnels, first canal, in the U. S 147 

Turnpikes, early, in Pennsylvania 104-107 

IT. 

Union Canal Company 136-138, 147 

Union Transportation Company 150 

Upland, Swedish capital 14, 18, 10 

United States Iron and Tinplate Co. . 240 
United States Steel Corporation. . 212, 340 



Walking purchase, the 70-73 

Welsh settlers in Pa. . 6. 18, 20. 38, 40. 351 
Western Indians, conspiracy of. . 250, 260 

Western Pa. in the Ohio valley 84 

Western Transportation Company 150 

West Newton an early shipping port. 117 

Whisky insurrection of 1704 117 

Wicaoo, Swedish settlement at 10 

Wire rope, first works, in Pa 252 

Woolen goods, production of, in Pa. . 176 

Y. 

Youghiogheny Slack water Company.. 122 

Z. 

Zinc, Pennsylvania a small producer. . 184 



PERSONAL INDEX. 



Not including names mentioned in the Chronological Chapter on pages 267-288 or 
names of companies in the General Index, but including firm names. 



A. Page 

Acheson, David 313 

AereliuB. Israel 61, 02, 187. 217 

Adams, David 199 

Adams Family 289 

Adams, John Quincy 314 

Adlum, John 132 

Agnew, Judge Daniel 349 

Agnew, David 231 

Agnew, John Park 231 

Albert, George Dallas 298. 300. 304, 305, 308 

Alderson, Barnard 317, 319 

Alexander, Hugh 330 

Allen, Professor J. A 99-101 

Alien. WUliam 216 

Alrich, Peter 54 

American Ethnological Society 315 

American Philosophical Society 131-133, 293 

Amherst, General 298 

Anderson, Colonel Robert 15 

Anshuts, George 63, 64. 194, 198-200 

Ansley, Mr 243 

Aigall, Captain Samuel 12, 132 

Ashe, Thomas 98. 260 

Ashman, George 188 

Atkinson. G. W. P 200 

Avery, Rev. Charles 244 

B. 
Baer. George F 341 

Baird. Professor Spencer F 90. 101 

Baker, Melchor 315 

Baldwin, Judge Henry 197, 349, 351 

Baldwin, Blatthew W 143 

Baldwin, Robinson, McNickle & Belts- 
hoover 199 

Bancroft, George 259, 350 

Barnard, General J. G 251 

Bamett, John 109 

Bass^, Detmar 190 

Bausman, Rev. Joseph H 97 

Beatty, Rev. Charles 121 

Beaver, General James A 40 

Beck, Dr 100, 101 

Becker, Rev. Peter 32 

Beelen, Anthony 124, 199 

Belknap, Bean & Butler 199 

Beltshoover, Daniel 190 

Bender, Charles 249 

Benner, General Philip 190 

Benton, Thomas H 343 

Bessemer, Sir Henry. 208, 209, 215 

Biddle, Owen 188 

Bigler, Governor William 39, 350 

Bingham, Thomas and William.. . 150, 151 
Bishop, J. Leander (historian) . .28. 186, 187 



Page 

Bittinger, Lucy Forney 349 

Black, Chaunoey F 337, 340 

Black, George 151 

Black, Henry and James 336 

Black, Judge Jeremiah S 331, 336-340 

Blackfan, Rebecca 55 

Blaine, James G 349 

Boggs, Andrew 63. 64 

Boker, George H 4 

Bolles, Albert S. (historian) 47, 51 

Boone, Daniel 36 

Boscawen, Admiral 298 

Boucher, John N. 63, 299, 304. 306, 308, 309 

Bouquet, Colonel Henry 106. 107. 121 

258-260,307 

Bourne, Annie Nettleton 47 

Bowman. Jacob 193 

Brackenridge, Judge Henry M 341, 349 

Brackenridge, Judge Hugh H 849 

Braddock, General Edward 5, 267 

Bradford, Andrew 24 

Bradford, William 58 

Brashear, John A 349 

Breading, Nathaniel 192 

Brice, Calvin S 345 

Brock, Colonel R. A 47 

Brodhead, Colonel Daniel 97 

Brodhead, Richard 310 

Brown, David Paul 339 

Bninot, Felix R 349 

Br>'an. Judge George 59 

Bryoe, James 318 

Buchanan, James 337, 340. 350 

Buell, Augustus C. (historian) 21. 80 

Burd, Colonel James 120 

Burrell. Thomas 195 

Burt, William A 220 

Butler, John B 254 

Butler, Colonel William 309 

C. 

Oilhoun, John C 343 

Cameron, Simon 330, 350 

Campbell, Colonel John 261 

Campbell, William 249 

Carey, Henry C 4. 333-335 

Carey. Mathew 4. 334 

Carnegie, Andrew 201. 210-213. 215. 316-330 

Carnegie, Brothers & Co 211, 213 

Carnegie, McCandless & Co 210 

Carnegie, Phipps & Co.. Limited.. 233. 241 

(Carnegie, Thomas M 211 

Otrondelet, Governor 135 

Carothers, Captain 146 

Carr, Sir Robert 54 



PERSONAL INDEX. 



357 



Page 

CuToll, Charles (of CarroUton) 161 

Ous, General Lewis 338, 860 

Chandler, Professor Charies F 235 

Chapman, T. J. (historian) 58, 123-126 

258, 261. 264, 349 

Charles the Second 11. 15, 22 

Charlevoix, (explorer) 234 

Chase, Salmon P 333 

Chauncey, Elihu 167 

Chevalier, Michel 145 

Clark dE Thaw 151 

Caark, Thomas 151 

Claypoole, Jamea 54 

Cleveland. Grover 121. 343, 344, 350 

Clinton. DeWitt 125 

Coffin. Admiral Sir Isaac 157 

Colder, Lieutenant-Governor 131 

Coleman, George Dawson 217. 218 

Coleman. Robert 49. 216-218 

OiUins, (historian) 118 

Colwell, Stephen 4, 335 

Connell, Zachariah 117 

Connolly. John 301 

Conway, William B 341 

Cooper, Hewitt 4c 0> 232 

Cooper. Peter 162 

Cope, Frederick J 159 

Covode, John 349 

(3dwan, Christopher 199 

Cowan, Edgar 349 

Craig & Bellas 155 

Craig & O'Hara 263 

Craig, Bellas dE Co 150 

Cnug, Isaac (antiquarian) 349 

Craig, Major Isaac 191. 260 

Cn^g, NeviUe B 97. 191. 261. 349 

Cram, William Everitt 89 

Cramer's Magasine Almanac 200 

Oawford. A. L 220 

Crawford, Captain 120 

Crawford, WUliam H 314 

Cromwell, Thomas 188-190 

Cronemeyer, W. C 240 

Curtin. Governor Andrew G 64 

Curtin. Roland 64 

D. 

Daniel, John W 346-348 

Darlington. Wm. M 349 

Davis, Arthur V 246, 247 

Davis (James M.) & Co 150-152 

Davis. Phineas 164 

Day. Sherman (historian) 22, 103, 186 

Defebaugh, James £. (historian) 177 

Deland, Margaretta Wade 349 

Delaroche, Joseph 234 

De la Warr. Lord 12 

Denny, E 190 

Denny, Governor William 259 

Depue, Daniel 189 

DeVries, David Pietersen 13 

Dewey, Admiral George 319 

Dickens, (Tharles 51, 154 

Dickinson, Jonathan 185, 186 

DiffenderfTer, Frank Ried.... 35, 43, 44. 48 

50, 51, 57, 218 

Dillon, Moctes 191 



Page 

Dinwiddle, Governor 255, 257 

Dock, Jacob 150 

Drake.£dwinL 235,236 

Drinker, Henry 8 147 

Docherty, Bernard 300 

Dougherty, John , . 150, 151 

Douglas, Stephen A 340 

Dunmore, Lord. 801 

Du Quesne, Marquis 256 

E. 

Ecuyer. Otptain Simeon 260 

Edgar. William C 204, 205 

Edinger, Judge James 91 

Edmondson. Captain 262 

Ege, George 50 

Elder Cyrus 341 

Elder, Dr. WUliam 331-336, 340 

Elder, Dr. William Gore 331 

Egle, Dr. William H. (historian). . 112, 238 

Elgar. Captain John 126, 127 

EUet. Jr., Charles 250 

Eshleman, H. Frank 134 

Ewings, of Fayette county 349 

P. 

Ferree. Madame 31 

Field FamUy ^ 289 

Finley, Judge James 248, 249, 254 

Firmstone, William 229 

Fisher, Sydney George (historian) .... 70 

Fitch, John 124 

Forbes, General John 107, 120, 257-259. 307 

Force. Peter 301 

Forney. John W 333 

Forward, Chauncey 336. 337, 340 

Forward. Judge Walter 336. 349. 351 

Foster, Henry D 349 

Foster, Stephen C 349 

Fox, George 26 

Franklin. Benjamin 4. 134. 291 

320. 339. 348, 350 

Franklin Institute 207 

Fraser. John 300 

Friti. George 207 

Friti, John » 207. 208. 241 

Fulton. Robert 87. 124, 125, 292 

Gage, General Thomas 260 

Galbraith. Robert 107, 108 

Gallatin, Albert 97. 312-315, 350 

Gannett, Henry (geographer) 84, 165 

Garfield. General James A 340 

Geary, General John W 349 

George the Third 50. 302 

Gerehart &, Reynolds 195 

Gibson, Colonel John 58 

Gibson. John 191. 192 

Gibson. Judge John Bannister. .4, 338-340 

Gilchrist, Percy C 215 

Goets, George W 233 

Gordon. Thomas F.. .73. 136, 147, 196, 197 

(jorman. A. P 345 

Ciormly, John 198 

Gowen. Franklin B 168 

Graeff. Abraham Op den 66-68 

GraefT. Dirck Op den 66-68 



358 



PERSONAL INDEX. 



Pace 

Graff, Bennett & Co 200 

Graff, Henry 161 

Grant. General U. S 3. 307. 328 

Greene, General Nathanael 305, 350 

Gregory & Co 231 

Gnibb Faqiily 216-218 

H. 

HaU. Charles M 245-247 

Hamilton, Alexander 306, 335, 350 

Hamilton, James (Mayor of Phila.)* • • 52 

Hamlin, Professor 100 

Hampton, Judge Moses 341, 349 

Hancoek. John 305. 350 

Hanks, Nancy 36 

Hanna, Charles A. (liistorian) 35 

Harbaugh, Mathias &, Owens. 209 

Harbaugh, Springer 209 

Harley, liswis R 45 

Harmar, General Josiah 306 

Harris's Directory of Pittsburgh 120 

Harrison, Benjamin 344, 350 

Hartranft, General John F 32, 39 

Hayden. John 191, 192 

Hayes, William B 199 

Hays, John 243, 245 

Hasard. Samuel (historian) 22, 23 

Hendricks, Gerhard ! 66-68 

Hendricksen, Captain Cornelius 12 

Hiester, Governor Joseph . 39, 294. 350 

Hildenbrand. Mr 252 

Hildreth, Dr. S. P 235 

Historical Society of Pennsylvania . . . 144 

Hoar, Judge E. R 340 

HoUiday. John 195 

Hoopes, Townsend & Co 196 

Homaday, WiUiam T 98. 99 

Houck, Hon. Henry 85 

Howe, Thomas M 243, 244 

Howe, General William 304 

Hudson, Henry 12 

Hulbert, Archer Butler 99, 106 

107, 115, 116, 124 

HuU, George H 222 

Hunt, Captain Alfred E 246. 247 

Hunter, Joseph W 110 

Huntingdon, Countess of 87 

Hus, John 32 

Hussey, Dr. Curtis G 231, 243. 244 

Hussey (C. G.) & Co 244 

Hussey. Wells & Co 200, 231 

I. 

Ingersoll, Robert G 340 

Irving, Washington 306 

J. 

Jackson, Andrew 192, 199, 339, 350 

Jackson & Updegraff 192 

James, Mrs. T. P. (historian) 185, 187 

Jamison, Major S. S 238 

Janney, Samuel M 14, 22, 85, 93 

Jansen, Reynier 24 

Jasper, John and Margaret 26 

Jeans, James Stephen 156 

Jefferson, Thomas 236, 237, 291 

306, 312, 313, 320, 350 

Jenkins. Howard M. (historian) 54 



Page 

Johnson, Andrew 328, 338, 360 

Johnson, William 238 

Johnston (Alexander) A Co 194 

Johnston. (Governor William F 194 

Johnston. William G 349 

Joncaire, Captain de 234 

Jones, Captain William R 212 

K. 
Kakn, Peter 99 

Keith, Sir WiUiam 187 

Kelley, George W 90 

KeUey, William D 4 

Kelly, Colonel John 100 

Kelly. Rachel 3 

KeUy. William 209. 215, 232 

Kiokenapawling, (Indian chief) 107 

Kier, Samuel M 129. 236 

Kimball, Gertrude Selwyn 259 

King, George 8 195, 206 

Knox, General Henr>' 191 

Knox, John 326 

Kossuth, Louis 336 

Kunse, Rev. John Christopher 47, 296 

Kyashuta, (Indian chief) 97 

L. 

Lacock. General Abner 342, 349 

La Fayette. Blarquis de 305. 314 

Laughlin A Co 200 

Lea, Henry Charles 4 

Lee, Arthur 262 

Lee, General Robert £ 3, 308 

Leeoh & Co 150, 151 

Leiper, Thomas 168 

Lenni Lenape 13 

Leonard, Reuben 200 

Lesley, J. Peter 82, 83 

Lewis, General Andrew 237 

Lewis, George 200 

Lincoln, Abraham 3, 36, 320 

321, 327, 338, 860 

Lincoln. Dr. Charles H 301 

Lincoln, John 36 

Livingston, Philip 2 

Livingston, Robert R 124. 126 

Lobingier (Christopher) & Brother. . . . 194 

Logan, James 56, 72, 187 

Loomis, Professor 100 

Lowrie Family 349.350 

Lukens. John (Surveyor General) 132 

Luther, Martin 326 

Lyon, William M 232 

Lytle, Milton S. (historian) . .*. 188 

M. 

McCandless, Judge Wilson 394 

McCaellan, General George B 306 

McClurg, Joseph 198. 199 

MoCook. Colonel John J 327 

McDermett. William 191 

McElwee, Thomas B 62 

McFaden (John) & Co 150 

McKinley, WiUiam 321, 350 

McKnight, Dr. W. J 89 

McLanahan. J. King 128 

McMaster, John Bach (liistorian) 67 

Mack, Alexander 31 




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