GUIDE-BOOK

OF THE

LEHIGH VALLEY RAILROAD

AND

ITS SEVERAL BRANCHES AND CONNECTIONS;

WITH AN ACCOUNT, DESCRIPTIVE AND HISTORICAL

OF THE

PLACES ALONG THEIR ROUTE;

INCLUDING ALSO

A HISTORY OF THE COMPANY FROM ITS FIRST ORGANIZATION AND INTERESTING FACTS CONCERNING THE ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF THE COAL AND IRON TRADE IN THE LEHIGH AND WYOMING REGION.

HANDSOMELY ILLUSTRATED FROM RECENT SKETCHES.

PREFIXED TO WHICH IS A MAP OF THE ROAD AND ITS CONNECTIONS.

PHILADELPHIA:

J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.

1873

BEAVER MEADOW

Excerpt pp. 127 - 129

This town (pleasantly situated on elevated ground, 16oo feet above tide-water) was first settled about 1833, although at that time the original house, built in 1804, was still standing, It derives its name from, Beaver Creek (running near by), upon which a dam is said to have existed, built by the beavers.

In 1806, the Susquehanna and Lehigh Turnpike, running from the Nesquehoning Creek and above to the Susquehanna, was completed and opened to the public.

Coal was taken away from Beaver Meadow as early as 1812, being conveyed to Berwick and Bloomsburg, where it was used in blacksmithing. Subsequently to 1826, it was also hauled to the Landing Tavern (just above Mauch Chunk), and sent thence by arks to Philadelphia, and sold at eight dollars per ton.

The Beaver Meadow Railroad and Mining Company was incorporated in 1830, and built the first road from its mines to Parryville (where the coal was tran-shipped to the canal-boats) about forty years ago, the first extensive opening of the mine being in 1831. The first President of the company was Mr. Samuel D. Ingham, Secretary of the Treasury under General Jackson. The trains in those primitive days consisted of fifteen cars of small tonnage, and were drawn southward by small engines, carrying on the down trip several mules to aid in the return. The business of the road gradually increased from year to year, until from being the means of transporting a small quantity of coal for the company's own mines at this point, in 1837, amounting to 33,617 tons, it became the outlet for numerous operations in the neighborhood, carrying nearly 750,000 tons of coal in 1859.

Since the removal to Weatherly of the machine- and car- repair-shops, formerly located here, the business of the place is almost exclusively that connected with the mining of coal in the neighborhood. At these shops there were built, under the superintendence of Hopkin Thomas and Aaron H. Van Cleve, some of the first four-wheeled and six-wheeled locomotives ever constructed in the State. It may be interesting to note in this connection that Mr. Thomas was the first to introduce the burning of anthracite coal in locomotives. There are churches belonging to the Presbyterians and Methodists. The population is 6oo.

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Rev. April 2010