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{{For|the person associated with the Mirai botnet|Mirai (malware)}} {{For|the person associated with the Mirai botnet|Mirai (malware)}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2023}}
⚫ ], founding partners of the Lehigh Coal Company, the Lehigh Navigation Company, the ], the ], the ], the ], and the ]]]
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2023}}
]
'''Josiah White''' (1781–1850) was a ] industrialist and key figure in the ]. '''Josiah White''' (1781–1850) was a ] industrialist and key figure in the ].


==Career== ==Career==
===Pennsylvania navigation development===
White began early factory-centered mill production in 1808 in ] ] near ], along with his partner, ], when they quickly found that their first mill at the ] to be much too small. Subsequently, they built a more elaborate and larger mill nearby to refine ] and produce cast iron artifacts and roll wrought bar iron goods, including nails and wire. The pair were especially influential after 1814 in helping make the American Industrial Revolution accelerate its building momentum by agitating for infrastructure investment, sponsoring two key river ] and the nation's first long railway,<ref>The ], 9.5 miles built in 1827, during the summer of which it carried passengers regularly, with a regular tourist passenger service added in 1829.</ref> and then after initial success, increasingly supplying an expanding part of the country's overall energy needs including that of other industrialists at a time when there occurred the prolonged first ] in the brief history of the country<ref>{{cite journal White began early factory-centered mill production in 1808 in ] ] near ], along with his partner, ], when they quickly found their first mill at ], to be much too small. They then built a more elaborate and larger mill nearby to refine ] and produce cast iron artifacts and roll wrought bar iron goods, including nails and wire. The pair were especially influential after 1814 in helping make the ] accelerate its building momentum by agitating for infrastructure investment, sponsoring two key river ] and the nation's first long railway,<ref>

The ], 9.5 miles built in 1827, during the summer of which it carried passengers regularly, with a regular tourist passenger service added in 1829.</ref> and then after initial success, increasingly supplying an expanding part of the country's overall energy needs including that of other industrialists at a time when there occurred the prolonged first ] in the brief history of the country,<ref>{{cite journal
|title=The Canal Age |issue=July 1, 1998 |title=The Canal Age |issue=July 1, 1998
|journal =Archaeology (Online)|accessdate=2016-06-12 |journal =Archaeology (Online)|accessdate=June 12, 2016
|institution= A publication of the Archaeological Institute of America |institution= A publication of the Archaeological Institute of America
|author = James E. Held | date= July 1, 1998 |author = James E. Held | date= July 1, 1998
| url=http://archive.archaeology.org/online/features/canal/ | url=http://archive.archaeology.org/online/features/canal/
|quote=On the settled eastern seaboard, forest decimation created an energy crisis for coastal cities, but the lack of water- and roadways made English coal shipped across the Atlantic cheaper in ] than Pennsylvania ], which was mined 100 miles away.<!-- Canals would benefit both the East and the Midwest. To add an important curlicue, the two were prime movers in bringing about mass production of anthracite pig iron, without which much of American industrial innovation, and the rapid growth of railroad transportation infrastructure would not have been cheap, or as possible so early.{{efn |quote=On the settled eastern seaboard, forest decimation created an energy crisis for coastal cities, but the lack of water- and roadways made English coal shipped across the Atlantic cheaper in ] than Pennsylvania ], which was mined 100 miles away.<!-- Canals would benefit both the East and the Midwest. To add an important curlicue, the two were prime movers in bringing about mass production of anthracite pig iron, without which much of American industrial innovation, and the rapid growth of railroad transportation infrastructure would not have been cheap, or as possible so early.{{efn|Anthracite production peaked in the early 1920s, then rapidly lost out to alternative fuels for both motive power and iron and steel production.

|Anthracite production peaked in the early 1920s, then rapidly lost out to alternative fuels for both motive power and iron and steel production. In the later case, this was more a function of iron sources in the east running down than iron production being cheaper by coking bituminous alone. It was however, and still is cheaper to coke bituminous and produce iron locally, than it is to ship iron ore to anthracite coal country. Such sales and mining of anthracite that continues today in the ], still support such specialty needs as are fired by anthracite burns. This was more a function of iron sources in the east running down than iron production being cheaper by coking bituminous alone. It was however, and still is cheaper to coke bituminous and produce iron locally, than it is to ship iron ore to anthracite coal country. Such sales and mining of anthracite that continues today in the ], still support such specialty needs as are fired by anthracite burns. }}
⚫ }} For more than a century, they had provided Europe with inexpensive, reliable transportation, and--->... George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and other founding fathers believed they were the key to the New World's future.

⚫ }}</ref> — where forests had grown remote from population centers through over logging, charcoal and imported coal were increasing in price rapidly, and fire wood was growing dearly expensive.<ref name=Hagner>
⚫ For over a century, they had provided Europe with inexpensive, reliable transportation, and--->... George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and other founding fathers believed they were the key to the New World's future.
⚫ }}</ref> where forests had grown remote from population centers through over logging, charcoal and imported coal were increasing in price rapidly, and fire wood was growing dearly expensive.<ref name=Hagner>
{{cite book|ref={{harvid|Hagner|loc=Falls of the Schuylkill}} {{cite book|ref={{harvid|Hagner|loc=Falls of the Schuylkill}}
| url= https://archive.org/stream/earlyhistoryoffa00hagn/earlyhistoryoffa00hagn_djvu.txt | url= https://archive.org/stream/earlyhistoryoffa00hagn/earlyhistoryoffa00hagn_djvu.txt
| title= Early history of the Falls of Schuylkill, Manayunk, Schuylkill and Lehigh navigation companies, Fairmount waterworks, etc. | title= Early history of the Falls of Schuylkill, Manayunk, Schuylkill and Lehigh navigation companies, Fairmount waterworks, etc.
| author= Charles V. Hagner | author= Charles V. Hagner
| location= , 819 & 821 Market Street, Philadelphia | publisher= |date = 1869 | location= , 819 & 821 Market Street, Philadelphia | publisher= |date = 1869}}, p46, ''"At that time wood was the universal fuel, and, was annually getting scarcer and higher in, price."''</ref>
}}, p46, ''"At that time wood was the universal fuel, and, was annually getting scarcer and higher in, price."''</ref>


White was a mill owner, and early pioneer in the advancement of civil engineering, mining, iron production, ]. and ], boat and barge shipping & construction. An innovative open-minded pragmatist, most of all in response to the energy crises in the early 19th century, his focus from 1815 on was mostly about the mining, and delivery of anthracite coal to others for their manufacturing and domestic heating needs in everyday life. Having taken over an 1808 speculative charter to build locks and mill races along the ]'s Falls of the Schuylkill, which today is the shoreline alongside ]. Historican Charles V. Hagner wrote that, "Erskine Hazard was the partner of Josiah, White in the iron and wire business; in the, erection of the locks and mill-seats he had, another partner, Joseph Gillingham. They finished the locks and canal on the western side of, the river and two mills were built there — one a sawmill, the other for making white lead." These were in addition to the two main mills of White and Hazard, which were on the east or left bank.{{sfn|Hagner|loc=History of the Falls of the Schuylkill & etc.|p=46}} White was a mill owner, and early pioneer in the advancement of civil engineering, mining, iron production, ]. and ], boat and barge shipping & construction. An innovative open-minded pragmatist, most of all in response to the energy crises in the early 19th century, his focus from 1815 on was mostly about the mining, and delivery of anthracite coal to others for their manufacturing and domestic heating needs in everyday life. Having taken over an 1808 speculative charter to build locks and mill races along the ]'s falls, which today is the shoreline along the ] region of Philadelphia. Historican Charles V. Hagner wrote that, "Erskine Hazard was the partner of Josiah, White in the iron and wire business; in the, erection of the locks and mill-seats he had, another partner, Joseph Gillingham. They finished the locks and canal on the western side of, the river and two mills were built there — one a sawmill, the other for making white lead." These were in addition to the two main mills of White and Hazard, which were on the east or left bank.{{sfn|Hagner|loc=History of the Falls of the Schuylkill & etc.|p=46}}


⚫ During the ], he directed the effort to find a way to ignite and burn effectively anthracite coal, and succeeded.{{efn|The historical society writing'' 'The Delaware and Lehigh Canals' ''re-relates the amusing tale also found verbatim in Hagner — that long exhaustive attempts to burn anthracite had gone poorly all day long after much experimentation, so an upset employee slammed the door shutting the last batch into a furnace and left with the whole crew. From another source, it is suggested the group went to a nearby pub, probably for a meal. Within a half-hour a worker returning for his forgotten coat discovered the furnace glowing red hot, having been given a proper draft behind the closed door. Summoning the departed crew, the work group was able to run three batches of iron into the rolling mill making unheard of production before the heat of the furnace needed replenished{{sfn|Hagner|loc=History of the Falls of the Schuylkill & etc.|p=43}}}}
During the ], he directed the effort to find a way to ignite and burn effectively anthracite coal, and succeeded.{{efn
⚫ | The historical society writing'' 'The Delaware and Lehigh Canals' ''re-relates the amusing tale also found verbatim in Hagner — that long exhaustive attempts to burn anthracite had gone poorly all day long after much experimentation, so an upset employee slammed the door shutting the last batch into a furnace and left with the whole crew. From another source, it is suggested the group went to a nearby pub, probably for a meal. Within a half-hour a worker returning for his forgotten coat discovered the furnace glowing red hot, having been given a proper draft behind the closed door. Summoning the departed crew, the work group was able to run three batches of iron into the rolling mill making unheard of production before the heat of the furnace needed replenished{{sfn|Hagner|loc=History of the Falls of the Schuylkill & etc.|p=43}}
⚫ }} This alone would give him a place in history, but that was but a start. Along with his partner, ], he also helped found numerous companies, most either mining operations or transportation enterprises opened to establish a better transportation infrastructure for transport of this coal, people, and other industrial materials needs such as ores, timber, and finished goods in the ], the ], the Greater ], and ] regions. Having commissioned anthracite shipment by mule train from up the Schuylkill, in 1815 White and Hazard started the ] machinations as commissioners, but were not selected by investors to become the operations managers elected to work out ways and means. Subsequently, the managers selected a slow plodding approach with which the partners quarreled, championing instead a means to deliver coal down river much more quickly using temporary dams and artificial freshets in order to produce revenue from one way traffic delivering coal. This method was rejected by the managers, resulting in the belated first deliveries of coal on the Schuylkill Canal only in 1823, while their method delivered record amount of 365 long-tons of anthracite coal down the Lehigh Canal to Philadelphia in December 1820, four years ahead of promises. Their ] are credited with being the earliest known example of ], the companies each sourcing at least part of the needs of the next domino in the chain.


Along with his partner, ], White helped found numerous companies, most either mining operations or transportation enterprises opened to establish a better transportation infrastructure for transport of this coal, people, and other industrial materials needs such as ores, timber, and finished goods in the ], the ], the ], and ] regions. Having commissioned anthracite shipment by mule train from up the Schuylkill, in 1815 White and Hazard started the ] machinations as commissioners, but were not selected by investors to become the operations managers elected to work out ways and means.
⚫ His innovations reached into finished goods as well, having learned how to burn anthracite for industrial iron processing, he experimented with a succession of fireplace and furnace grates until he created artifacts allowing use of the stone coal to replace expensive fire wood for heating. In 1818 White's wire works built the first (temporary) wire suspension bridge {{convert|400|ft}} over the Falls of the Schuylkill using trees and tall buildings near the river to string catenary cables from which a board walk was suspended attached by wires. Ever looking for better ways in the 1820s he and Hazard experimented with ] production of smelted pig iron using charges of anthracite in ], and succeeded in part, perhaps as much as any in America, for their processes could not always reliably repeat, so were not commercially viable in the long run. This primed them to import skills and necessary equipment when news of successful use of anthracite pig iron processes arrived from Wales in 1838; subsequently he invested heavily and had, as the operating manager, had the ] invest in the ] backing the importing of professional talent from Wales to establish the first sustainably-successful ]s of the region in ],{{efn|High Tech Furnaces, came first in ], then the more famous nearby ] and ]—all long before Pittsburgh.

}} and established the first ] (steel cable) factory in the United States in Mauch Chunk, which enabled ] and up ] conversion and expansion of ].
⚫ The managers selected a slow plodding approach with which the partners quarreled, championing instead a means to deliver coal down river much more quickly using temporary dams and artificial freshets in order to produce revenue from one way traffic delivering coal. This method was rejected by the managers, resulting in the belated first deliveries of coal on the Schuylkill Canal only in 1823, while their method delivered record amount of 365 long-tons of anthracite coal down the Lehigh Canal to Philadelphia in December 1820, four years ahead of promises. Their ] are credited with being the earliest known example of ], the companies each sourcing at least part of the needs of the next domino in the chain.

⚫ His innovations reached into finished goods as well, having learned how to burn anthracite for industrial iron processing, he experimented with a succession of fireplace and furnace grates until he created artifacts allowing use of the stone coal to replace expensive fire wood for heating. In 1818 White's wire works built the first (temporary) wire suspension bridge {{convert|400|ft|disp=flip}} over the Falls of the Schuylkill using trees and tall buildings near the river to string catenary cables from which a board walk was suspended attached by wires. Ever looking for better ways in the 1820s he and Hazard experimented with ] production of smelted pig iron using charges of anthracite in Mauch Chunk in present-day ], and succeeded in part, perhaps as much as any in the United States, for their processes could not always reliably repeat, so were not commercially viable in the long run.

This primed them to import skills and necessary equipment when news of successful use of anthracite pig iron processes arrived from Wales in 1838; subsequently he invested heavily and had, as the operating manager, had the ] invest in the ] backing the importing of professional talent from Wales to establish the first sustainably-successful ]s of the region in ],{{efn|High Tech Furnaces, came first in ], then the more famous nearby ] and ], all long before Pittsburgh.}} and established the first ] factory in the United States in Mauch Chunk, which enabled ] and up ] conversion and expansion of ].


===Lehigh Coal Company and Lehigh Navigation Company=== ===Lehigh Coal Company and Lehigh Navigation Company===
⚫ In 1814, White and Hazard obtained the last two punts the Lehigh Coal Mine Company (LCMC) had managed to pole down river to ], having lost more boats than reached the safety of the docks, the bitter fruits of over a years work by the working party sent out the year before to build boats and mine coal to fill them. They soon learned the LCMC was not intending to send out other expeditions, being of a mind they'd lost sufficient money, so White and Hazard felt the companies rights could be leased and set out to examine Lehigh's course, and tour the mine site along ] to examine why both mining and delivery of coal was supposedly so difficult.
{{expand section|date=August 2016}}

⚫ In 1814, White and Hazard obtained the last two punts the ] (LCMC) had managed to pole down river to Philadelphia, having lost more boats than reached the safety of the docks, the bitter fruits of over a years work by the working party sent out the year before to build boats and mine coal to fill them. They soon learned the LCMC was not intending to send out other expeditions, being of a mind they'd lost sufficient money, so White and Hazard felt the companies rights could be leased and set out to examine Lehigh's course, and tour the mine site along ] to examine why both mining and delivery of coal was supposedly so difficult. They concluded the surface outcrops at the mine located in what today is ] would be easy to mine with the proper digging tools capable of breaking the hard mineral. Examination of the mountainous terrain back towards the Lehigh, they conceived a wagon road which descended steadily to a point above the river, so loading of boats could be done by chute. Lastly, they concluded the necessary river depth could be achieved for a safe down descent by employing a ] that sprang to mind as he examined the situations. In the event, they returned home filled with enthusiasm convinced that good management could achieve a regular supply of coal to customers in Philadelphia. In short order they obtained an option on leasing the mining and other rights held by the despondent owners of the LCMC, and began activities promoting the venture.
They concluded the surface outcrops at the mine located in what today is ] would be easy to mine with the proper digging tools capable of breaking the hard mineral. Examination of the mountainous terrain back towards the Lehigh, they conceived a wagon road which descended steadily to a point above the river, so loading of boats could be done by chute. Lastly, they concluded the necessary river depth could be achieved for a safe down descent by employing a ] that sprang to mind as he examined the situations. In the event, they returned home filled with enthusiasm convinced that good management could achieve a regular supply of coal to customers in Philadelphia. In short order they obtained an option on leasing the mining and other rights held by the despondent owners of the LCMC, and began activities promoting the venture.

⚫ {{cquote|No sooner had White, Hazard, and Hauto obtained a lease of the coal lands in what is now Mauch Chunk than they applied to the Legislature for an act authorizing them to improve the navigation of the river. They stated in the petition their object of getting coal to market, and that they had a plan for the cheap improvement of the river navigation, which they hoped would serve as a model for the improvement of many other streams in the State. Their project was considered chimerical, the improvement of the Lehigh being deemed impracticable from the failure of the various companies who had undertaken it under previous laws.<ref>name=Woeful>TBDL01-quote that list with dates of prior bills</ref>

⚫ The act of March 20, 1818, incorporating the Lehigh Navigation and Coal Company, "gave these gentlemen the opportunity of ruining themselves, since many members of the Legislature predicted would be the result of their undertaking." The various powers applied for and granted in the act embraced the whole scope of tried and untried methods of effecting the object of getting "a navigation downward once in three days for boats loaded with one hundred barrels, or ten tons," with the reservation on the part of the Legislature of the right to compel the adoption of a complete slack-water navigation from ] to Stoddartsville. Knowing the bill was coming up in the spring of 1818, the partners had contractors and hires prepped and ready...}}


⚫ Erskine Hazard-founding partners of the Lehigh Coal Company, the Lehigh Navigation Company, ], the ], ], ], ], and the ].
{{cquote
⚫ |No sooner had White, Hazard, and Hauto obtained a lease of the coal lands in what is now Mau Chunk than they applied to the Legislature for an act authorizing them to improve the navigation of the river. They stated in the petition their object of getting coal to market, and that they had a plan for the cheap improvement of the river navigation, which they hoped would serve as a model for the improvement of many other streams in the State. Their project was considered chimerical, the improvement of the Lehigh being deemed impracticable from the <u>failure of the various companies who had undertaken it under previous laws</u>.''<ref
⚫ name=Woeful>TBDL01-quote that list with dates of prior bills</ref> The act of March 20, 1818, incorporating the ], "gave these gentlemen the opportunity '''of ruining themselves''', as many members of the Legislature predicted would be the result of their undertaking."'' The various powers applied for and granted in the act embraced the whole scope of tried and untried methods of effecting the object of getting "a navigation downward once in three days for boats loaded with one hundred barrels, or ten tons,"'' with the reservation on the part of the Legislature of the right to compel the adoption of a complete slack-water navigation from Easton to Stoddartsville
Knowing the bill was coming up in the spring of 1818, the partners had contractors and hires prepped and ready ...}}


===White's Manual Labor Institute===
Erskine Hazard-founding partners of the Lehigh Coal Company, the Lehigh Navigation Company, ], the ], ], ], ], and the ].
A boarding school was established by the ] in the state of Indiana through a bequest at White's death in 1850.<ref name=institute>{{cite book |last=Green |first=Alice Patterson |date=1929 |title=White's Institute: A Glimpse into its Past and Present |url=https://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16066coll52/id/24 |location=Munice, Indiana, USA |publisher=Scott Printing Company |language=english |access-date=September 28, 2023}}</ref>{{rp|9}} It opened in 1861 as a mixed-race boarding school, intending to "take boys and girls without distinction of color"<ref name=institute />{{rp|7}} and educate them on spiritual and vocational matters. Two decades after opening the Institute, the Society of Friends "decided to undertake some special Indian Educational work on contract for the Government"<ref name=institute />{{rp|11}} in 1882. By 1886, White's Institute had become a fully-fledged ], with a representative of the Society of Friends referring to it as such.<ref name=zemanek>{{cite thesis |last=Zemanek |first=Alysha Danielle |date=2017 |title=Indiana school days: Native American education at St. Joseph's Indian Normal School and White's Manual Labor Institute |url=https://hdl.handle.net/1805/14020 |degree=M.A. |publisher=Indiana Univeristy |access-date=October 23, 2024}}</ref>{{rp|70-71}} Among the graduates of this school was ] in 1887.


===Other companies=== ===Other companies===
White also was a founder of ], which began producing coal in 1813. The company was the first to employ steam locomotives, which used throughout the ] region of eastern ].
{{expand section|date=August 2016}}
This is a list of other enterprises histories mention Josiah White backed, or had a hand in supporting:
* ]. Beaver Meadow began producing coal in 1813, using ground transportation. The mining and railroad operation began producing volumes of coal in 1833, employing the first steam locomotives in the ].


== Notes == == Notes ==
Line 54: Line 64:
| url = http://www.mtn-top-hs.org/01_The%20History%20Of%20The%20Ashley%20Planes%20page%201%20thru%2013.pdf | url = http://www.mtn-top-hs.org/01_The%20History%20Of%20The%20Ashley%20Planes%20page%201%20thru%2013.pdf
| title = The History Of The Ashley Planes 1843 – 1948 | title = The History Of The Ashley Planes 1843 – 1948
| access-date = 2016-05-05 | access-date = May 5, 2016
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160509112700/http://www.mtn-top-hs.org/01_The%20History%20Of%20The%20Ashley%20Planes%20page%201%20thru%2013.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160509112700/http://www.mtn-top-hs.org/01_The%20History%20Of%20The%20Ashley%20Planes%20page%201%20thru%2013.pdf
| archive-date = 2016-05-09 | archive-date = May 9, 2016
| url-status = dead | url-status = dead
}} }}
Line 69: Line 79:
}} }}
* {{cite web * {{cite web
| url=http://articles.mcall.com/1986-06-08/news/2521866_1_parton-coal-industry-lehigh-coal | url=https://www.mcall.com/1986/06/08/ex-executive-recalls-decline-and-fall-of-lehigh-coal-and-navigation-co/
|title=Ex-executive Recalls Decline And Fall Of Lehigh Coal And Navigation Co. |title=Ex-executive Recalls Decline And Fall Of Lehigh Coal And Navigation Co.
| date=1986-06-08 | date=June 8, 1986
|author=Frank Whelan |author=Frank Whelan
| publisher=The Morning Call, June 08, 1986 | publisher=The Morning Call, June 8, 1986
|quote= Lehigh Coal and Navigation controlled 8,000 acres of coal lands running from Jim Thorpe to Tamaqua, 14 miles away. This comprised the entire eastern end of the southern anthracite field.}} |quote= Lehigh Coal and Navigation controlled 8,000 acres of coal lands running from Jim Thorpe to Tamaqua, 14 miles away. This comprised the entire eastern end of the southern anthracite field.}}
*


=== Footnotes === === Footnotes ===
Line 84: Line 93:


NRHP-listed works of Josiah White include: NRHP-listed works of Josiah White include:
*], along the ] ] and vicinity, NRHP-listed<ref name=nris/> *], along the ] ] and vicinity, NRHP-listed<ref name=nris/>
*], Lehigh Gap to S Walnutport boundary ], NRHP-listed<ref name=nris/> *], Lehigh Gap to S Walnutport boundary ], NRHP-listed<ref name=nris/>
*], Lehigh River from Hopeville to confluence of Lehigh and Delaware Rivers, ], NRHP-listed<ref name=nris/> *], Lehigh River from Hopeville to confluence of Lehigh and Delaware Rivers, ], NRHP-listed<ref name=nris/>

Latest revision as of 18:56, 23 October 2024

For the person associated with the Mirai botnet, see Mirai (malware).

A 19th century illustration of White

Josiah White (1781–1850) was a Pennsylvania industrialist and key figure in the American Industrial Revolution.

Career

Pennsylvania navigation development

White began early factory-centered mill production in 1808 in water powered ironworks near Philadelphia, along with his partner, Erskine Hazard, when they quickly found their first mill at East Falls, Pennsylvania, to be much too small. They then built a more elaborate and larger mill nearby to refine pig iron and produce cast iron artifacts and roll wrought bar iron goods, including nails and wire. The pair were especially influential after 1814 in helping make the American Industrial Revolution accelerate its building momentum by agitating for infrastructure investment, sponsoring two key river navigations and the nation's first long railway, and then after initial success, increasingly supplying an expanding part of the country's overall energy needs including that of other industrialists at a time when there occurred the prolonged first energy crisis in the brief history of the country, where forests had grown remote from population centers through over logging, charcoal and imported coal were increasing in price rapidly, and fire wood was growing dearly expensive.

White was a mill owner, and early pioneer in the advancement of civil engineering, mining, iron production, water transport. and railroad development, boat and barge shipping & construction. An innovative open-minded pragmatist, most of all in response to the energy crises in the early 19th century, his focus from 1815 on was mostly about the mining, and delivery of anthracite coal to others for their manufacturing and domestic heating needs in everyday life. Having taken over an 1808 speculative charter to build locks and mill races along the Schuylkill River's falls, which today is the shoreline along the East Falls region of Philadelphia. Historican Charles V. Hagner wrote that, "Erskine Hazard was the partner of Josiah, White in the iron and wire business; in the, erection of the locks and mill-seats he had, another partner, Joseph Gillingham. They finished the locks and canal on the western side of, the river and two mills were built there — one a sawmill, the other for making white lead." These were in addition to the two main mills of White and Hazard, which were on the east or left bank.

During the War of 1812, he directed the effort to find a way to ignite and burn effectively anthracite coal, and succeeded.

Along with his partner, Erskine Hazard, White helped found numerous companies, most either mining operations or transportation enterprises opened to establish a better transportation infrastructure for transport of this coal, people, and other industrial materials needs such as ores, timber, and finished goods in the Schuylkill Valley, the Lehigh Valley, the Delaware Valley, and Wyoming Valley regions. Having commissioned anthracite shipment by mule train from up the Schuylkill, in 1815 White and Hazard started the Lehigh Canal machinations as commissioners, but were not selected by investors to become the operations managers elected to work out ways and means.

The managers selected a slow plodding approach with which the partners quarreled, championing instead a means to deliver coal down river much more quickly using temporary dams and artificial freshets in order to produce revenue from one way traffic delivering coal. This method was rejected by the managers, resulting in the belated first deliveries of coal on the Schuylkill Canal only in 1823, while their method delivered record amount of 365 long-tons of anthracite coal down the Lehigh Canal to Philadelphia in December 1820, four years ahead of promises. Their Lehigh Coal and Navigation Companies are credited with being the earliest known example of vertical integration, the companies each sourcing at least part of the needs of the next domino in the chain.

His innovations reached into finished goods as well, having learned how to burn anthracite for industrial iron processing, he experimented with a succession of fireplace and furnace grates until he created artifacts allowing use of the stone coal to replace expensive fire wood for heating. In 1818 White's wire works built the first (temporary) wire suspension bridge 120 metres (400 ft) over the Falls of the Schuylkill using trees and tall buildings near the river to string catenary cables from which a board walk was suspended attached by wires. Ever looking for better ways in the 1820s he and Hazard experimented with blast furnace production of smelted pig iron using charges of anthracite in Mauch Chunk in present-day Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, and succeeded in part, perhaps as much as any in the United States, for their processes could not always reliably repeat, so were not commercially viable in the long run.

This primed them to import skills and necessary equipment when news of successful use of anthracite pig iron processes arrived from Wales in 1838; subsequently he invested heavily and had, as the operating manager, had the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company invest in the Lehigh Crane Iron Company backing the importing of professional talent from Wales to establish the first sustainably-successful blast furnaces of the region in Catasauqua, and established the first wire rope factory in the United States in Mauch Chunk, which enabled Ashley Planes and up cable railway conversion and expansion of Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway.

Lehigh Coal Company and Lehigh Navigation Company

In 1814, White and Hazard obtained the last two punts the Lehigh Coal Mine Company (LCMC) had managed to pole down river to Philadelphia, having lost more boats than reached the safety of the docks, the bitter fruits of over a years work by the working party sent out the year before to build boats and mine coal to fill them. They soon learned the LCMC was not intending to send out other expeditions, being of a mind they'd lost sufficient money, so White and Hazard felt the companies rights could be leased and set out to examine Lehigh's course, and tour the mine site along Pisgah Ridge to examine why both mining and delivery of coal was supposedly so difficult.

They concluded the surface outcrops at the mine located in what today is Summit Hill, Pennsylvania would be easy to mine with the proper digging tools capable of breaking the hard mineral. Examination of the mountainous terrain back towards the Lehigh, they conceived a wagon road which descended steadily to a point above the river, so loading of boats could be done by chute. Lastly, they concluded the necessary river depth could be achieved for a safe down descent by employing a quasi-lock gate that sprang to mind as he examined the situations. In the event, they returned home filled with enthusiasm convinced that good management could achieve a regular supply of coal to customers in Philadelphia. In short order they obtained an option on leasing the mining and other rights held by the despondent owners of the LCMC, and began activities promoting the venture.

No sooner had White, Hazard, and Hauto obtained a lease of the coal lands in what is now Mauch Chunk than they applied to the Legislature for an act authorizing them to improve the navigation of the river. They stated in the petition their object of getting coal to market, and that they had a plan for the cheap improvement of the river navigation, which they hoped would serve as a model for the improvement of many other streams in the State. Their project was considered chimerical, the improvement of the Lehigh being deemed impracticable from the failure of the various companies who had undertaken it under previous laws. The act of March 20, 1818, incorporating the Lehigh Navigation and Coal Company, "gave these gentlemen the opportunity of ruining themselves, since many members of the Legislature predicted would be the result of their undertaking." The various powers applied for and granted in the act embraced the whole scope of tried and untried methods of effecting the object of getting "a navigation downward once in three days for boats loaded with one hundred barrels, or ten tons," with the reservation on the part of the Legislature of the right to compel the adoption of a complete slack-water navigation from Easton to Stoddartsville. Knowing the bill was coming up in the spring of 1818, the partners had contractors and hires prepped and ready...

Erskine Hazard-founding partners of the Lehigh Coal Company, the Lehigh Navigation Company, Ashley Planes, the Lehigh Canal, Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad, Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company, Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway, and the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad.

White's Manual Labor Institute

A boarding school was established by the Society of Friends in the state of Indiana through a bequest at White's death in 1850. It opened in 1861 as a mixed-race boarding school, intending to "take boys and girls without distinction of color" and educate them on spiritual and vocational matters. Two decades after opening the Institute, the Society of Friends "decided to undertake some special Indian Educational work on contract for the Government" in 1882. By 1886, White's Institute had become a fully-fledged American Indian Boarding School, with a representative of the Society of Friends referring to it as such. Among the graduates of this school was Zitkala-Ša in 1887.

Other companies

White also was a founder of Beaver Meadow Railroad and Coal Company, which began producing coal in 1813. The company was the first to employ steam locomotives, which used throughout the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania.

Notes

  1. The historical society writing 'The Delaware and Lehigh Canals' re-relates the amusing tale also found verbatim in Hagner — that long exhaustive attempts to burn anthracite had gone poorly all day long after much experimentation, so an upset employee slammed the door shutting the last batch into a furnace and left with the whole crew. From another source, it is suggested the group went to a nearby pub, probably for a meal. Within a half-hour a worker returning for his forgotten coat discovered the furnace glowing red hot, having been given a proper draft behind the closed door. Summoning the departed crew, the work group was able to run three batches of iron into the rolling mill making unheard of production before the heat of the furnace needed replenished
  2. High Tech Furnaces, came first in Catasauqua, then the more famous nearby Allentown and Bethlehem, all long before Pittsburgh.

References

Footnotes

  1. The Summit Hill & Mauch Chunk Railroad, 9.5 miles built in 1827, during the summer of which it carried passengers regularly, with a regular tourist passenger service added in 1829.
  2. James E. Held (July 1, 1998). "The Canal Age". Archaeology (Online) (July 1, 1998). A publication of the Archaeological Institute of America. Retrieved June 12, 2016. On the settled eastern seaboard, forest decimation created an energy crisis for coastal cities, but the lack of water- and roadways made English coal shipped across the Atlantic cheaper in Philadelphia than Pennsylvania anthracite, which was mined 100 miles away.... George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and other founding fathers believed they were the key to the New World's future.
  3. Charles V. Hagner (1869). Early history of the Falls of Schuylkill, Manayunk, Schuylkill and Lehigh navigation companies, Fairmount waterworks, etc. Caxton, Remsen, and Haffelfinger, 819 & 821 Market Street, Philadelphia. {{cite book}}: External link in |location= (help)CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link), p46, "At that time wood was the universal fuel, and, was annually getting scarcer and higher in, price."
  4. Hagner, p. 46, History of the Falls of the Schuylkill & etc..
  5. Hagner, p. 43, History of the Falls of the Schuylkill & etc..
  6. name=Woeful>TBDL01-quote that list with dates of prior bills
  7. ^ Green, Alice Patterson (1929). White's Institute: A Glimpse into its Past and Present. Munice, Indiana, USA: Scott Printing Company. Retrieved September 28, 2023.
  8. Zemanek, Alysha Danielle (2017). Indiana school days: Native American education at St. Joseph's Indian Normal School and White's Manual Labor Institute (M.A. thesis). Indiana Univeristy. Retrieved October 23, 2024.

Places on National Register of Historic Places

A number of White's works, including several separated sections of the Lehigh Canal are individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).

NRHP-listed works of Josiah White include:

External links

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
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