PACKER, ASA. 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



713 



oiously. His penetration of mind now enabled 

 him to sou what the circumstances demanded, 

 and in 1831 he opened a small store on the 

 bank of the Luhigh, giving up his charge as a 

 boatman, although retaining a money interest 

 in several boats. Combining the knowledge 

 he had gained with his experiences as a car- 

 penter and builder, he opened a boat-yard and 

 began to build boats, and contracted for build- 

 ing looks on the upper Lehigh, which he com- 

 pleted in 1837. He became well known as a 

 contractor in all the Lehigh country, and in 

 1838 he engaged to build boats at Pottsville for 

 the transportation of coal to New York City. 

 This work caused a change in the route of 

 transportation to the new cnnal from that by 

 the way of Philadelphia. He was now fully 

 embarked in the mining and transportation 

 of coal, and had entered upon the career of 

 prosperity and fame in which he achieved great 

 success. In 1851 he succeeded in awakening 

 public interest in his plan for the Lehigh Val- 

 ley Railroad, and having obtained the neces- 

 sary subscriptions ho submitted his plan for 

 the construction of the road from Mauch Chunk 

 to Easton. In 1855 the work was opened for 

 business, with its connecting branches above 

 Mauch Chunk to Hazleton and Mahanoy City. 

 After this success, Mr. Packer proposed to tho 

 company to extend their road north and con- 

 nect with the Erie Railroad near or on tho 

 New York State line. This carried the new 

 road along the windings of the Lehigh River, 

 through tho narrow gorge in the mountains, 

 across the Wyoming Valley, and up the Sus- 

 quehanna River to Towanda, thus opening up 

 the entire anthracite region of Pennsylvania. 

 As he had foreseen, this gave at once an enor- 

 mous impetus to the coal-mining business, anJ 

 developed other interests and industries in a 

 proportionate degree, adding greatly to the 

 wealth of the State and its active prosperity. 

 Under Mr. Packer's charge as president, the 

 road became an immense success, and speedily 

 made its projector known and popular not only 

 in the coal regions, but throughout the State. 

 But all this was not accomplished without vast 

 struggles under difficulties. He was really 

 swamped financially, but friends came to his 

 aid and carried him through ; and ere long he 

 was rewarded by returning millions, and by a 

 substantial hold upon the vast resources of the 

 Lehigh Valley, which ultimately made him the 

 richest man in Pennsylvania. 



Early in his career he became interested in 

 political affairs. In 1844 ho was elected to the 

 State Legislature. His object was to secure 

 the creation of a new county, of which Mauch 

 Ohunk should be the county seat. He suc- 

 ceeded in obtaining the formation of the pres- 

 ent county of Carbon. He then held for five 

 years the position of Judge of the County 

 Court. Afterward he was twice elected a 

 member of Congress, serving from 1853 to 

 1857 with honor to himself and to the satisfac- 

 tion of his constituents. He became a prom- 



inent Presidential candidate, and received in 

 tho Democratic Convention held in New York 

 in 1868 tho vote of Pennsylvania through four- 

 teen ballots, and was withdrawn in favor of 

 General W. S. Hancock. In 1869 he was nom- 

 inated by the Democrats of Pennsylvania as 

 their candidate for Governor, and such was his 

 popularity that he failed of an election by only 

 4,500 votes. In the previous year General 

 Grant, the Republican candidate for the Pres- 

 idency, carried the State by a majority of 25,- 

 000 votes. 



He solved the labor question in his district 

 by founding the Lehigh University. A strike 

 occurred among the boatmen on the Lehigh 

 Canal, and they collected with their boats on 

 the pool of the river, above the dam at Easton, 

 with all the uncontrolled passions and disor- 

 derly excesses that accompany such excite- 

 ments in the coal regions. Mr. Packer, having 

 been himself a boatman a few years previous, 

 and in the full confidence of his kindly feel- 

 ings and his knowledge of their thoughts and 

 needs, went to them for a friendly talk on the 

 situation. He had no fear of his life in meet- 

 ing this excited crowd, although from per- 

 sonal experience he knew the temper of these 

 turbulent men. However, they would not lis- 

 ten to him, but seized him and flung him into 

 the river. Without exasperation, and without 

 accounting this outrage an additional reason 

 for severity in pursuing the leaders of the mob 

 to punishment, he viewed it as an outburst of 

 passionate ignorance, and his answer to the 

 outrage was a great free school. It would 

 take a generation to disperse the ignorance, 

 but the rising generation should have the ben- 

 efit of all that free tuition and the wise dis- 

 posal of his wealth could give it. The founda- 

 tion and endowment of this university was the 

 crowning act of his benevolence. The imme- 

 diate object is to furnish free of cost to young 

 men of talent and ambition a place for a col- 

 legiate education of a practical character, such 

 as can be turned to account in the more im- 

 portant walks of professional and business life 

 at the present day. The endowment of the 

 university reached a million and a half before 

 his death. In 1878 a library building was 

 erected at a cost of $70,000, having a shelf ca- 

 pacity for 60,000 volumes. Other buildings for 

 public use were erected by him, among which 

 was an Episcopal church in Mauch Chunk. He 

 was a man at once gentle and firm ; amiable in 

 discussion and inflexible after decision. He 

 was greatly esteemed and beloved by those 

 who knew him, and his most honorable monu- 

 ment will be the memory of the noble quali- 

 ties and virtues with which he adorned the 

 character of the workingman and most use- 

 ful private citizen. 



PENNSYLVANIA. Tho annual session of 

 the Legislature commenced on January 7th. 

 In the Senate A. J. Herr of Dauphin County, 

 Republican, was elected President pro tern, by 

 a vote of 32 to 17, which was about the rela- 



