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