CANALS OF THE STATE IN DETAIL. LEHIGH COAL AND NAVIGATION COMPANY. Erskine Hazard. John Farnum... BOARD OF MANAGERS AND OFFICERS, 1859-'60. .Philadelphia, Pa. | Andrew Manderson.... Philadelphia, Pa. 66 66 66 66 EDWIN WALTER, Treasurer and Secretary. J. LEISENRING, Superintendent and Engineer. PRINCIPAL OFFICE... LENGTH OF NAVIGATION-Stoddardsville to Easton..... -Divided into sections with lockage, dams, etc.-(according to the latest published statement of the Company)—as follows:— Kinds of Channels-descend ing navigation, } Length in Miles. No. of No. of Size of Size of Lift of Height by to to 360.87 ft E ft. deep. 100 ft. LENGTH OF RAILROAD-Whitehaven, on the Lehigh, to Wilkesbarre, on the Susquehanna, (double track).............................19.71 miles. LENGTH OF MINE RAILROAD-Main Line, Mauch Chunk to Summit Hill 625 miles. Branch Lines to the various mines..... 20.00 66 EQUIPMENT The Reports of the Company give no statement of the amount or cost of the Equipment upon the works. The Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company was organized on the 1st May, 1821, being a consolidation of the Lehigh Coal Company and the Lehigh Navigation Company. As early as 1793 a company was incorporated for the purpose of working the Lehigh coal fields. Purchases of land were made, and £10 were appropriated to open the necessary outlet to the Lehigh River and to a market. The cost of transportation was so great that the objects of the company were for the time abandoned, and the property was leased to other parties. In 1818 the lessees formed a new company with a capital of $55,000, for the improvement of the navigation of the Lehigh River, so as to allow the passage of boats laden with coal. The amount sent to market that year, which may be regarded as the commencement of the Anthracite Coal trade, was 365 tons. The coal was floated down in rude boats or arks, which were broken up on reaching Philadelphia. In 1823 the stock of the Company was increased to $500,000, and the river rendered navigable sixteen miles above Mauch Chunk. This improvement was mainly for the purpose of reaching valuable forests of pine. In 1827 the Mauch Chunk (Gravity) Railroad, the second railroad in the United States, was opened. The same year the State having determined upon the construction of the Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Canal, the Company deterInined to commence the construction of slack water navigation, which was completed in 1829, with an available depth of five feet. In 1831 the Gravity Road to the Room Run mines, and in 1835 the extension of the works of the company to the Beaver Meadow Region was commenced, and completed in 1838. The Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad was commenced in 1837, and completed in 1840. Up to 1841 the Company was prosperous, paying dividends annually. In that year its works were greatly injured by freshets. The cost of repairing them and of enlarging the canal to a depth of six feet involved the company in embarrassment, which resulted, in 1842, in placing its property in trust for the benefit of the creditors. The mortgage provided that no dividends should be paid so long as the principal or interest of any of the loans of the Company were due and unpaid, and in no case to exceed six per cent.-the balance to be held as a sinking fund for the redemption of the loans not due. No dividends were paid from 1st Jan., 1840, to 1st July, 1852, a period of twelve years. In that year 6 per cent. was paid, and at the same rate and for each year since that time. The results of the operations of the canal since the execution of the first deed will be seen in the profit and loss account of the company. No detailed statement of earnings and expenses previous to 1845 could be obtained. SHARE CAPITAL-Authorized, $2,500,000, in 50,000 $50 shares. Paid in, FUNDED DEBT $3,619,254: classified as follows 1st Mortgage, 6 per cent., bonds_ -$829,172 -dated 1st March, 1841, and payable, principal 1st March, 1861, and interest semi-annually, 1st March and 1st September, at Philadelphia. Will be paid on demand in anticipation of maturity, principal and interest. Unsecured, 6 per cent., bonds $2,773,726 -dated 1st March, 1850, and payable, principal 1st March, 1870, and interest semi-annually, 1st March and 1st September, at Philadelphia. Other unsecured, 6 per cent., bonds, dated and due at various times-- -----$16,356 FLOATING DEBT-$265,823 COST OF CANAL AND RIVER IMPROVEMENTS. ..$4,455,000 COST OF LEHIGH AND SUEQUEHANNA RAILROAD_ - . 1,380,000 Dr. INCOME ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31ST DECEMBER, 1859. $3,572,737 Total. $3,572,737 Dr. GENERAL STATEMENT 1ST JANUARY, 1860. Canal and river improvements -$4,455,000 Share capital. Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad... 1,380,000 | Mortgage loans Total... Cr. • $2,479,950 829,172 2,790,082 265,823 5,757 Cominon loans. 1,453,789 | Unpaid dividends 54,514 1,071,490 Balance to Profit and Loss 3,166,898 1,210,254 21,663 The net earnings for fifteen years have been $8,053,668. The dividends paid in the meantime have been $1,101,365. The balance, after the payment of interest, has gone to the profit and loss account, and is held by the contingent fund. The investments of the contingent fund are at par as follows:-Pennsylvania State 5s, $400,000; Pennsylvania RR. 2d mortgage bonds, $200,000: Lehigh Crane Iron Company's bonds, $300,000; North Pennsylvania Railroad 1st mortgage bonds, $100,000; Lehigh Valley Railroad 1st mortgage bonds, $16,000; Delaware Railroad 1st mortgage bonds, $10,000; Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company's 6 per cent. 1st mortgage bonds, $436,335. Total, $1,462,335. There are chargeable against the balance standing to the credit of Profit and Loss Certificates of "Scrip Shares" issued as recommended by resolution passed at the meeting of the stockholders held 1st May, 1855, as follows: Certificates for 9,905 shares) 1855. 1856.. 1857. This "Scrip," however, is unavailable to the holders, the mortgage for 1842 forbidding larger dividends than 6 per centum per annum. This disability the Company now proposes to overcome by the immediate payment of the bonds due in 1861, with a view to enable the stock and scrip holders to realize the full benefits earned by its property and works. The several issues were 20, 25 and 30 per cent. on the present share capital, and were made prospectively as extra dividends. SUMMARY OF THE LIABILITIES AND ASSETS OF THE LEHIGH COAL AND NAVI GATION COMPANY, FROM 1ST JANUARY, 1853, To 1ST JANUARY, 1860. 1853. LiabilitiesCapital stock.... 1,569,800 1,985,850 2,474,600 2,475,900 2,479,700 2,479,900 2,479,900 2,479,950 Common Loans.. 4,353.827 4,050,554 3,586,078 3,091,498 3,091,498 3,091,498 2,790,082 2,790,082 Mortgage Loan Floating Debt... Unpaid divid.... Arrears of int. Profit and Loss.. Assets 929,342 837,492 832,792 373,150 831,792 907,996 1,164,673 1,689,955 2,252,686 2,548,964 2,704,983 2,900,054 3,166,898 Canal improv'ts. 4,455,000 4,455,000 4,455,000 4,455,000 4,455,000 4,455,000 4,455,000 4,455,000 Total 8,204,534 8,441,405 9,019,455 9,027,158 9,329,993 9,451,063 9,291,156 9,592,196 For the year 1859, the shipments of coal were from the following points of delivery, and in the following quantities, viz: Shipped at Mauch Chunk from— Spring Mountain Mines.. 30,348 Shipped at Rockport from Colerain. 21,450 Buck Mountain Mines.. 101,851 Total from White Haven... 71,399 German Pennsylvania.. Pea and dust coal.. Total from East Mauch Chunk...... 150,407 -making a total shipment on the company's navigation of 1,050,659 tons. In addition to the above there were taken from the company's mines at Tamaqua 56,205 tons. The distribution of the coal was as follows: Consumed on the line of the Lehigh Canal.. Tons. 188,779 255,404 600,506 Of the coal that entered the Delaware Division Canal, 263,745 tons reached Bristol; 301,419 tons passed, by the outlet lock at Wells' Falls, into the navigable feeder of the Delaware and Raritan Canal; leaving 41,342 tons as the quantity consumed on the line of the Delaware Division Canal. STATEMENT of the amount of coal transported on the Lehigh Navigation from the commencement of operations in 1820 to the present time: 1st 10 years... 166,131 2d 10 years. 1,319,963 | 3d 10 years.. 4,317,749 4th 10 years 10,311,755 Average.. 16,613 Average.. 131,996 Average 431,775 Average... 1,031,175 -making for the forty years embraced 16,115,598 tons, or a yearly average of 402,889 tons. ..... ..... STATEMENT of the total tonnage (including coal) ascending and descending the Lehigh Navigation for the years named: COST OF WORKS, ETC., EARNINGS, EXPENSES, ETC. YEARLY Cost of road, Profit of Year. coal lands, Water and ground mines. rents, etc. 1846. 1845. $6,629,891 93 $176,050 $161,889 $35,957 6,821,975 93 232,672 $373,896 1847. 93 7,017,865 292.553 1848. 7,160,033 93 1849. 1850. 1851. 1852. 1853. 1854. 1855. 230,516 52,347 575,416 102,906 472,510 202,563 33,881 722,999 225,610 29,050 804,715 378,821 26,734 1,090,652 167,136 923,516 146,378 6 7,169,927 93 735,278 7,241,654 93 699,626 7,263,971 93 481,472 1858. 7,288,273 93 466,212 1859. 7,288,789 93 454,463 186,609 31,616 672,688 97,763 574,925 148,794 6 252,769 31,224 1,019,271 209,125 810,146 148,518 6 864,657 237,176 627,481 148,744 6 15 ys. 106,699,920 1,395 6,703,926 2,892,706 506,143 10,102,775 2,049,107 8,053,668 1,101,365 Aver.. 7,113,328 93 446,928 192,847 33,743 673,518 136,607 536,911 The Schuylkill Navigation Company, one of the earliest of the kind in the United States, was incorporated on the 15th March, 1815, with a capital of $500,000. The work of construction was commenced in 1816, and completed between Philadelphia and Reading in 1824, and between Reading and Port Carbon in 1825. The canal as originally constructed was 36 feet wide and 4 feet deep, with locks 13 feet 6 inches in width by 80 feet in length. Its capacity was for boats of about 30 tons burden. Sixty-three miles of the improvement was canal and 45 of slack water navigation. An enlargement was soon after commenced which was completed in 1832, and which allowed the passage of boats of 80 tons burden. In 1845, in consequence of dangerous rivalry with which the company was threatened by the competition of the Reading Railroad, it was determined again to enlarge the capacity of the canal. This enlargement was completed in the latter part of September, 1846. The width of the canal was increased to 70 feet and its depth to 6 feet-the smallest locks constructed were 18 by 110 feet, and capable of passing boats with cargoes exceeding 200 tons. The summit level has a total elevation of 616 feet, which is overcome by 70 locks having an average lift of 8 feet. The early history of this company was one of great success. The canal |