
Proposals for Mining Coal. | 

THE “Beaver Meadow Railroad and | 
Coal Company” wil] receive proposals for | 
Mining and delivering from 30,000 to 60.000 | 
tons of their Coal, free from Slate and oth- | 
er impurities, inte their Cars at the Mines, | 
during the coming boating Season—and al- | 
so for transporting the same to their land- | 
ingat Parryville. The Company to furi- | 
ish the Cars and motive engines and engi- | 
neers. Thecontractors to keep the Cars | 
and engines In good running repair, supply | 
fuel, oil jéce. &c. &e. | 
Sealed proposals will he received for eith- | 
erdheold or new mines or both. They | 
must be sent to their Office in Philadelphia | 
by the 25th of March, instant. 
Persous desirous to Contract will receive 
further mformation at the Company’s office | 
Beaver Meadow ov at Philadelphia. 
Philadelpina March 91h, 1840 | 



Figure 18.—BEAvER MEADOW RAILROAD AND CoAL Com- 
PANY March 14, 1840, request for bids. Vancleve and 
Company were the successful bidders. (Mauch Chunk 
Courier.) 
navigation during the first year of operation were 
14,221 tons.”? 
The railroad, 10 miles in length, extended from their 
mines at Hazleton to an intersection with the Beaver 
Meadows Railroad at Weatherly. The coal then moved 
over the Beaver Meadows Railroad for 5 miles to Penn 
Haven, located 8 miles above Mauch Chunk. At Penn 
Haven, the coal was loaded into boats for movement 
down the Lehigh River. 
Anthracite was the fuel for the steam locomotives 
used on the road. Two locomotives were in operation 
during the first year and additional locomotives were 
planned to be purchased in the future as the demand 
for coal increased. 
In 1840, Ario Pardee, Robert Miner, and William 
Hunt, formed a company and contracted with the 
Hazleton Coal Company for the purposes of mining 
coal, transporting the coal to Penn Haven, and loading 
the boats at the river docks.** This contract was in force 
for several seasons and, in 1842, was extended to in- 
clude the marketing of a portion of the annual tonnage. 
The Hazleton Coal Company retained part of the 
tonnage which they marketed, but paid Pardee and 
Company a fee for this privilege. Pardee and Company 
72L.C.N.C., Annual Report for 1837 (Philadelphia: James 
Kay, 1838), p. 11. 
77H. C. Brapssy, History of Luzerne County (Chicago: 
S. B. Nelson and Company, 1893), p. 291. 
PAPER 72: ANTHRACITE IN THE LEHIGH VALLEY 
278-632 O-68—3 
——EE EE 
Buck Mountain Coal Co. 
PROPOSALS 
WILL be received atthe office of the 
Buck Mountain Coal Company in Philadel- 
phia, for the mining and delivering of coal 
in boats, at their landing at Lockport on 
the Lehigh, until the 15th day of August 
next. Their mines will be putin working 
order by the operation of syphons—the 
vein to be worked is about ten feet thick, 
free from slates and the dip about one foot 
in five’ The distance by their rail 10ad -to 
the canal is about four miles. The mine 
must be worked in twenty feet breast, leay- 
ing pillars of the same size. 
The company are making arrangements, 
which, after this year, willenable them to 
mine coal to the extent of from thirty to 
fifty thousand tons per annum, and it will- 
therefore be an object to any one fully com- 
petent to make application, with satisfacto- 
ry references. 
Such as may wish to contract, will no 
doubt examine the mines previously. Ad- 
ress SAM’L L. SHOBER, 
President of the Buck Mountain Coal 
Company, Philad’a. 
July 1, 1840. 
aude 



Figure 19.—Bucx Mountain Coat Company July 11 
1840, request for bids. (Mauch Chunk Courier.) 
’ 
negotiated a new contract in 1844 in which a royalty 
was paid to the Hazleton Coal Company for each ton 
of coal mined and marketed. 
The Buck Mountain Coat Company, incorpo- 
rated on June 16, 1836, was authorized to acquire coal 
lands in Sugar Loaf and Hanover Townships in 
Luzerne County. The company was also subjected to 
the same powers, restrictions, and immunities that were 
granted previously to the Hazleton Coal Company 
including the construction of a railroad, if market 
conditions justified such a means of transportation. 
Supplemental legislation permitted the company to 
hold coal lands in Northampton County."* 
Construction of the railroad started in 
was completed in 1840 (figure 19). The railroad was 
4 miles in length and extended from their mines at 
839, and 
Spring Mountain to the company’s coal breaker at 
Rockport, 15 miles above Mauch Chunk. During 1840, 
Pennsylvania Legislative Acts, 1838-39 (Harrisburg: 
Packer, Barrett and Parke, 1839), 145-146. These lands 
became a part of Carbon County in 1843 
113 
