Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1866-11-15
Bradford &epurter,
THE TowANDA COAL REGION.

THE TowAEDA COAL REGION.
Il is now just ten years since the Barclay
Il ii Road was completed, and we think it
III be well to place on record before they
lorgOtten, the principal facts, derived
m authentic sources, in regard to the
story Of the coal region ON the Towa..da
untain
The first discovery of coal in this region
| said, by the oldest inhabitants, to have
an made in the bed of Coal Run at Bar
BY, where the old Gatiss Opening was
rwards made, the out-crop being ex-
ed by the action of the water. This
in the year 1912, and the discoverer
a hunter named ABNaR or ABsALoM
aR The land belonged to ROBERT BAR
n " Of London, England, who owned
ey large body, consisting of ffty-one
acts, and containing, in all, nearly twen-
ne thousand acres, extending westward of
e point where the coal was discovered.
N BARCLAY had owned this land ever since the
" year 1874 and on his death, in 1880, he
devised it to his son, CHARLES BARCLAY, who
y IN Oct Der, 1858, sold the whole of these
lands to EDWARD OvERToN, of Towanda,
Y JoHy Ely and EDWARD NJ. DAVIS, of Phila-
A yhia, for eighty thousand dollars in
cash
The mines had been opened by HENRY
n 5Gss, who had purchased of BARCLAY the
surface right Of farm, where Barclay vii.
igc naa is, and coal had been mined and
@l by him, for the owner, for number of
ears, which was principally taken away
SEEDS in the winter, over road that was
amo3t impassable for wagons. Several hun
red IONS per annum of the coal were car
HEel I'll IN this way, some Of it even as far
ithaca N Y, where it was exchanged
salt. The blacksmiths about Owego
#d BinghamtOn, were also supplied, as
geI as those of Bradford county Much
twas also used for domestic purposes
Aessrs. OyERToN, ELY and DAVIS, sold to
llumber Of gentlemen in Philadelphia,
Undivided shares in the land purchased of
5@aAY, and two companies were organ
n sd called the Barclay Rail Road and
5al Company" and the "Schrader Land
gnPany" The name Of the former was
stewards changed to the Barclay Coal
.oapauy," and they became the owners of
SIX tracts of the best coal lands, con-
taining two thousand four hundred acres
Ill tie remainder of the lands, $3.50
acres, were conveyed to the Trustees of the
>clrader Land Company
The Barclay Rail Road, from the Canal
at Iowanda to the coal region, was sur
7eyed IN the summer of 1854, put uuder
contract, and the work commenced in the
spring Of 1856, and completed in the fall of
1876. Mr. OvERToN was the President Of
le Company up to this period, GEO. R.
JAT Treasurer and Secretary, I. T. WIER-
KAN the Chief Engineer, and V. E. & j. E.
TOILET the Contractors, at the gross sum
SIX thousand dollars per mile for the
grading and bridging. The iron was made
al the Rough and Ready Iron Works at
Vanville--it cost only fifty dollars per ton
and proved to be of pretty good quality.
The railroad is sixteen-and-a-quarte
niles long, including a gravity, or, self
acting inclined plane, which is half mile
ong, and which overcomes an elevation of
i15 feet The fourteen and half miles of
.ailroad, between Towanda and the foot of
the Plane, overcomes an elevation of six
hundred and seventy-six feet, or about one
half the whole difference Of elevation be-
tween the river and the coal. There is a
hort road of mile and quarter above
he Plane, which runs up sixty-eight feet,
md the coal schutes are eighty feet high,
making the coal thirteen hundred feet
above the river at Towanda.
The first boat load of coal was shipped
rom Towanda by canal October 10th, 1856,
and the shipments to the close of naviga-
ion, amounted to 1926 tons.
In January, 1857, Mr.. OvERToN, having
sold nearly all his interest in the company,
Mr.. GEO r. OAr, of Philadelphia, was cleo
,ed President, and he has held the office for
nearly ten years, till the present time ex-
cepting for a few months in 1861, when
Ar. Ely served in that capacity JAMES
NAcFARLAYE was appointed General Super
lntendent in February, 1857, and had the
entire charge of all the company's busi-
ness for more than eight years--the Presi-
dent and Directors living in Philadelphia,
and only occasionally visiting the property.
JAMES NJ. WARD has been General Superin-
tendent for the last year and half, since
Dir. MACFARLANE has had charge of the To-
wanda Coal Company's business.
In the spring of 1857, the Barclay Com
Pany had made extensive preparations for