CHAPTER XVIII.
Lehigh Township
Covering pages 740 & 741
Including sections on:
Early
Roads
Early
Settlement
Schools
Assessment
for 1883
Penn
Haven
THIS township, with
Lausanne, forms a triangle. It is bounded
on the east by the Lehigh River, which runs the entire length of the township;
on the west by Packer and Banks townships; on the north by Lausanne township
and Luzerne County. The Quakake Creek
flows eastwardly through the township, and empties into the Lehigh at Penn
Haven. Spruce, Laurel, and Indian Runs
form a stream that flows southeastwardly, and empties into the Lehigh below
Rockport. Leslie's Run rises near the
Luzerne County line, flows eastwardly, and empties into the Lehigh at Leslie's Run
Depot, in the north part of the township.
Broad Mountain constitutes the southern portion of the township. The Quakake Valley passes between it and
Bald Ridge, which reaches across the township from east to west, near the
middle. Its northwestern point is near
Weatherly, its eastern at the Lehigh River.
The settled portion of the township is from the northern slope of Bald
Ridge northward. The territory was
embraced in Lausanne township from 1808 till 1875, when it was set apart as
Lehigh.
-The first road within
the limits of the present township was a State road that ran from the Lehigh
and Susquehanna turnpike, at the Spring Mountain House, through Weatherly
borough, near Rockport, to White Haven.
The next of importance was the White Haven and Lausanne turnpike, which
was commenced in 1840. The portion from
the Compton House to Morrison's was completed in 1841, and was not a success
financially. The Lehigh Valley and the
Philadelphia and Reading Railroad run along the bank of the Lehigh River in the
township. The Beaver Meadow, Hazleton
and Mahanoy Division of the Lehigh Valley road runs through the township, and
connects with the main line at Penn Haven Junction.
-The assessment of
Lausanne township in 1808 shows a tract of land assessed to the Moravians. This tract was located along the Lehigh
River, on the site of the present village of Rockport. The Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company
finding it necessary to obtain a supply of lumber for building coal-barges,
purchased the lumber-right on this tract of the Moravians in 1824, and at what
is now Rockport erected four saw-mills and houses for laborers. The first settlement there was known as
Lowrytown, and was located on the high bluff above. Lumber was cut on the tract back of Lowrytown, and slid down the
mountain-side, about three hundred feet, to the mills, where it was sawed and
rafted, mostly to Mauch Chunk. Jedediah
Irish and Abiel Abbott were in charge of the mills. A store and chopping-mill were also built by the company. The raftsmen who went down with the rafts to
Mauch Chunk returned on foot, by what was called the "Indian Path,"
which led from Gnadenhutten to Wyoming.
These raftsmen were hardy, vigorous, and brave men, who feared no
danger. Among them were Spencer
Cassidy, Samuel Mantawny, Peter Steel, James Evans, Alexander Santee, and
Thomas Jenkins.
In the fall of 1839 the Buck Mountain Coal
Company contracted with Foster, Hogendogler, and Neleigh for the grading of a
railroad from the mines of the company to Rockport (a distance of about five
miles). A. L. Foster contracted to cut
a tunnel through the rock a distance of two hundred yards at the foot of the
inclined plane, which extended to the river from the side of the mountain. Mr. Foster sublet the tunneling to Peter
Dunworth. The work on the tunnel and
road was completed in the early fall of 1840, and in November of that year the
Buck Mountain Coal Company shipped the first boat-load of coal to Philadelphia
by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company's Canal. A little before this time lumber operations had practically
ceased, and making the place then known as "Grog Hollow" a
shipping-point for coal, gave it new impetus.
One hundred thousand tons of coal per year were shipped from that time
to 1862, when the canal was washed away, and the Buck Mountain Coal Company was
forced to seek another outlet. During
the building of the Upper Lehigh Navigation System, between 1836-39, the
laborers on the works, in numbers at least a thousand, were in the habit of
gathering on Sunday at Jake Morris' tavern (a small log building) and pitching
quoits, playing cards, shooting at a mark, jumping, fighting, and drinking
whiskey. The bar-room was small, and
Jake passed the whiskey out of the window in buckets, which were furnished with
tin cups, and passed among the men, who were ranged in line. This state of affairs continued till 1840,
when the Canal and Buck Mountain Coal Company's railroad was completed.
A post-office was established at Lowrytown
about 1830. Samuel Wolf was the
postmaster. He also had a store and
kept tavern on the Lehigh and Susquehanna turnpike. He continued business at both places till about 1839, the time of
the completion of the Upper Lehigh Navigation, when he sold out and
removed. He was succeeded in the
post-office at Lowrytown by Asa Packer in 1836, who served two years, and was
succeeded by R. Q. Butler, who served until 1844. While under the administration of Mr. Butler the name of the
post-office was changed from Lowrytown to Lockport. William C. Cortwright and many others filled the position
later. The present postmaster is Alfred
Shaffer. The office is in the depot of
the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad.
Samuel Wolf kept a store at Rockport from 1830 to 1836, when it was
purchased by Asa and R. W. Packer, who kept it till their canal contract was
finished, when they sold to A. L. Foster, who was about to commence
explorations for coal at Buck Mountain.
He sold out his interest in the fall of 1839 to Reed & Butler, who
continued business until Thomas Broderick (now, 1883, mayor of Wilkesbarre)
took the contract to mine and deliver the Buck Mountain coal in boats at
Rockport. At this time he established a
store, which R. Q. Butler entered as clerk, and the store of Reed & Butler
was discontinued. This store was
continued till the freshet of 1862, which destroyed the canal. Rockport to-day contains a church, a hotel (kept
by Mrs. Charles McGill), a school-house, post-office and store, depot, and several
dwellings.
A Methodist Church was organized at Rockport about 1851. The Rev. John H. Vincent, of New Haven, Conn., famous in Sunday-school work and in connection with the Chautauqua Scientific and Literary Association, preached in this church when he was nineteen years of age. It has had many pastors, and is not at present in a very prosperous condition.
SCHOOLS
-There are but three
school-houses in the township, located at Rockport, Penn Haven, and at a point
north of the poor-house, on the Leslie Run road. The directors of schools since the organization of the township,
in 1875, have been as follows:
1875.-C. A. Weiss, B. A.
Hainey.
1876.-David Petry, Jacob
Hellinger.
1877.-Joshua Kingle, John
F. Blakslee.
1878.-John Shafer, Edwin
Fritz.
1879.-Charles McGill,
Jacob Petry.
1880.-Michael Meyers,
John F. Blakslee.
1881.-Hugh Dever, Reuben
Serfass, Jacob Hellinger.
1882.-Edwin Fritz, Alfred
Shaffer.
1883.-Michael Meyers,
Jacob Hellinger.
The poor-house of the
Middle Coal-Field Poor District is situated in the northern part of this
township.
-The justices of the
peace for Lausanne township since 1847 were mostly residents of Rockport. The following are the names of the justices
since the organization of the township:
George Stetler, elected
March, 1876.
Patrick Laughlin, elected
March, 1878.
Conrad Heimer, elected
March, 1879.
Michael Meyers, elected
March, 1880.
A. S. Steigerwalt,
elected March, 1882.
John Shaffer, elected
March, 1883.
ASSESSMENT FOR 1883
-A summary from the assessment-roll of this
township for 1883 is here given. It
contains one hundred and eighty-nine taxable inhabitants. The total tax is one hundred and eighty
dollars and forty-seven cents. The Buck
Mountain Coal Company are assessed on twenty-three lots, three houses, and five
acres of land at the old store. The New
Jersey Central Railroad Company is assessed on a house at each of the places
given,--"Turn Hole," Penn Haven, Oxbow, North Penn Haven, Stony
Creek, Rockport, Cains, Mud Run, Osterman Run, Hetchel Tooth, and Drake's
Run. The Lehigh Valley Railroad(1) is assessed on two
hundred and forty-three acres of land on the Porter House tract, one hundred
and ninety-seven acres at Balliet's, four hundred and twenty-five acres at
James Moore's, and one hundred and eighty-seven acres at Penn Haven Junction,
and a house at each of the following-named places; "Turn Hole,"
Bannon's, and Booth's. The farmers, who
were assessed as such in 1883, are Christian Ramsey, Samuel Simon, John
Shaffer, George Stetler, John Torny, William H. Taylor, Isaac West, John
Wallace, Charles Carroll, James Connor, Anthony Felder, Anthony Cull, Patrick
Connor, John Graaf, Conrad Hineer, Hiram Hineer, Barney Heeney, Jacob
Hellinger, Michael Hailey, Frank Kingle, Adolph Luman, Gabriel Miller, David
Miller, William McDonnell, Michael Meyers, Edward McGill, and Jacob Petry.
PENN HAVEN
-The settlement at this
place was commenced in 1838 by the Hazleton Coal Company as a shipping-point
for coal. The Beaver Meadow Railroad
was used from 1838 to 1852. After the
freshet of 1850 the company constructed a branch road from Hazel Creek bridge
to the mountain-top at Penn Haven, from whence the coal was conveyed to the
railroads by the river by two inclined planes twelve hundred feet in length and
four hundred and thirty feet descent.
These were later abandoned, and coal is now shipped by routes more
advantageous.
Penn Haven Junction is the point where the
Mahanoy, Beaver Meadow, and Hazleton Branches diverge from the main line. The depot and a hotel are the only buildings
of any importance.
(1) In 1843 the Lehigh Navigation Company was assessed on seventy acres of land, four log houses, and eight lock-houses.
END
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From
The History of the Counties of Lehigh & Carbon, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
By
Alfred Mathews & Austin N. Hungerford
Published in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1884
Transcribed from the original in August, 2002 by
Vincent
E Summers
[3X-great-grandson of David Weatherly Sr., namesake of the town of Weatherly]
Web page by
July 2002