Area History:History of Schuylkill County, Pa: 1843 History of Schuylkill County by Sherman Day; reprinted by the Southwest Pennsylvania Genealogical Services Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Elizabeth Del Valle USGENWEB NOTICE: Printing this file by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. ______________________________________________________________________ -----pg 613----- of these veins have been exhausted above the water level, as far as the owners on the streams have a right to work. Those who have no accommodating stream to cut through their land for them, are therefore obliged to adopt the mode of tunnelling. The lateral drifts are generally let out to clubs of three or four miners in each, at so much per ton. These men drive their car in along the drift. One of them with his pick digs out the breast above the car in the shape of a broad chimney, letting his lumps fall against some rails placed it the foot of the breast; when a load is thus accumulated, the miner below draws one of the rails- the coal falls into the car, and is trundled out into the world. The miner thus keeps working upward till he reaches the out-crop. To prevent the mountain falling in where the coal has been taken out, stout props and cross-pieces are placed at intervals along the drift and the breast. This propping requires an immense quantity of timber, and the hills around Pottsville have been consequently despoiled of' their original forests. When a mine has been long exhausted and abandoned, these props decay, and the earth caves in. Lines of these unsightly holes begin to appear in many parts of the region about Pottsville- some of them for half a mile continuously. On the West Branch, about three miles above Minersville,is a little miner's hamlet called Coal Castle. A little west of this place, at the “jugular vein” in Broad mountain, a coal mine took fire in the winter of 1838-39, and has since defied all attempts to extinguish it. It has even roasted the rocky strata of the mountain above it, destroying every trace of vegetation along the line of the breast, and causing vast yawning chasms, where the earth has fallen in, from which issue hot and sulphurous fumes, as from a volcano. The mine was ignited by a careless miner, who, to moderate the temperature, placed a hanging grate at the mouth of the drift. The fire communicated to the props, and then to the railroad, and such a heat was soon caused that it must have cracked off lumps of coal to feed the flames. It seems scarcely possible that the compact vein itself can be on fire, although such may be the case. Two unfortunate miners perished in the mine. The lessee, Mr. Dougherty, after trying various expedients to extinguish it, abandoned it, with a heavy loss. NEW CASTLE, on the Sunbury turnpike, was laid out on the opening of the coal trade, and such houses as it has are substantially built of stone but it has increased very slowly. SCHUYLKILL HAVEN is situated on the left bank of the river, four miles below Pottsville, and immediately below the junction of the West Branch. Fertile farms and very picturesque scenery surround the town, and the bright river here meanders among the broad meadows as if delighted with being unrestrained by the rocky precipices of the coal region. This place was laid out in 1829, by Mr. Daniel J. Rhodes and others. The West Branch railroad here communicates with the Schuylkill Navigation, and the transhipment of the coal has created a business, upon which the town has thrived. It now contains two or three churches, schools, a weigh lock for canal boats, a grist and saw mill, and two bridges across the Schuylkill. The population may be estimated at about 700. The county almshouse, one mile east of Schuylkill Haven, is a spacious brick edifice, with a fine farm attached, which does great credit to the county. -----pg 614----- At Scollop hill, three miles below Schuylkill Haven, the canal passes through a long and expensive tunnel. The West Branch railroad brings in the product of many rich mines. It has been constructed in a substantial manner, and of such dimensions that the heavy cars of the Reading railroad, with which it here intersects, may run upon it. What effect this circumstance may have upon the welfare of Schuylkill Haven, by dispensing with the necessity of trailshipment, remains to be determined. In the annexed view, part of one of the churches is seen on the left- in the fore-round is the river and basin, with its numerous boats and rail- Schuylkill Haven road tracks and a little beyond, on the right, is the bridge of the Reading railroad. TAMAQUA was laid out in 1829, by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Co. on the Little, Schuylkill river, 17 miles above its junction with the main stream, and 15 miles east of Pottsville. It lies in a deep valley, shut in by the Sharp and Locust mountains. It is now quite a smart village, with some half dozen stores, several taverns, two churches, a car and coach manufactory, and 465 inhabitants. It depends for its support upon the mines that surround it. Like the other coal towns, it is built on a scale of magnificent distances. There are several detachments, or regiments of houses, on the main road, up the river, down the river, and on the hill. Above the village, on a high eminence, stands the Catholic church, bidding defiance, as it were, to the Lutheran or Presbyterian church, which looks down from another eminence. The annexed view was taken at the western entrance of the street, on the Pottsville road. On the hill cast of the village, the large mansion erected by Mr. Burd Patterson, and now occupied by Mr. Franklin, makes quite a conspicuous appearance. The Lehigh Co. own large tracts of coal-lands in this vicinity. A continuation of the Little Schuylkill road, to connect with the Quakake and Catawissa railroad, was projected; but the Catawissa road has not been made. A stage-road connects Tamaqua with the Mauch Chunk rail- ------pg 615----- Tamaqua road, five miles east, and with the Schuylkill Valley railroad, four miles West. PORT CLINTON is a thriving place, laid out in 1829, at the mouth of Little Schuylkill river. It has grown up by the shipment here of the product of the mines around Tamaqua. PINE GROVE is situated on the right bank of the Swatara. creek, in the valley between the Kittatinny and Second mountains. about 14 miles west of Pottsville. A branch of the Union canal has been extended to this place; and a railroad extends up the Swatara, four or five, miles, to the coal-mines on Lorberry creek, and the main branch of Swatara, above Sharp mountain. About 20,000 tons of coal were shipped from, this region in 1841. A forge has been established here since 1828. This region, before the coal-trade commenced, was settled by a few scattered German farmers and lumbermen, from Lebanon co.