Josiah White

Josiah White and Erskine Hazard-founding partners of the Lehigh Coal Company, the Lehigh Navigation Company, the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company, the Lehigh Canal, the Summit Hill & Mauch Chunk Railroad, the Ashley Planes, the Lehigh & Susquehanna Railroad.

Josiah White (1781–1850) was an key industrialist along with his partner Erskine Hazard in making the American Industrial Revolution maintain its building momentum after 1814 by supplying an increasing part of the energy needs of other industrialists at a time when there occurred the 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.[1] He 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. Most of all in response to the energy crises in the early 19th century, his focus from 1815 on was all about the mining, and delivery of anthracite coal to others for their manufacturing and domestic heating needs in everyday life.

During the War of 1812 he directed the effort to find a way to ignite and burn effectively Anthracite coal, and succeeded.[lower-alpha 1] This alone would give him a place in history, but that was but a start. Along with his partner, Erskine Hazard, 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 Greater Delaware Valley, the Lehigh Valley and Wyoming Valley regions. 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. White's wire works built the first wire suspension bridge over the Schuylkill, he invested heavily in the Crane Iron Company backing the importing of professional talent from Wales to establish the first blast furnaces of the region in Catasauqua,[lower-alpha 2] and established the first wire rope (steel cable) factory in the United States in Mauch Chunk which enabled the Ashley Planes and up cable railway conversion & expansion of the Summit Hill & Mauch Chunk Railroad.

Lehigh Coal Company and Lehigh Navigation Company

Main article: Lehigh Coal Company

In 1814, Josiah White & Hazard had 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 (now Summit Hill) 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 township 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.[2] The act of March 20, 1818, incorporating the 'Lehigh Navigation Company', "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[lower-alpha 3] should they not deem the mode of navigation adopted by the undertakers sufficient for the wants of the country. ”
— Fred Brenckman (emphasis added), History of Carbon County, 1913

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 Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company, the Lehigh Canal, the Summit Hill & Mauch Chunk Railroad, the Ashley Planes, the Lehigh & Susquehanna Railroad  

Other Companies

This is a list of other enterprises histories mention Josiah White backed, or had a hand in supporting:

See also

 

Notes

  1. ↑ The historical society writing 'The Delaware and Lehigh Canals' relate the amusing tale that attempts to burn anthracite had gone poorly all day long, so an upset employee slammed the door shutting the last batch into a furnace and went home. Within a half-hour other workers discovered the furnace glowing white hot, having been given a proper draft behind the closed door.
  2. ↑ High Tech Furnaces, came first in Catasauqua, then the more famous nearby Allentown and Bethlehem—all long before Pittsburgh.
  3. ↑ TBDL02 Where exactly Stoddartsville was in the 19th century needs established.

 

References

Footnotes

  1. ↑ James E. Held (July 1, 1998). "The Canal Age". Archaeology (online). A publication of the Archaeological Institute of America (July 1, 1998). Retrieved 2016-06-12. 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 mined 100 miles away.... George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and other founding fathers believed they were the key to the New World's future.
  2. ↑ TBDL01-quote that list with dates of prior bills

Places on the NRoHP

A number of his works, including several separated sections of the Lehigh Canal are individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).[1]

NRHP-listed works of Josiah White include:

 

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
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