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EAST NORWEGIAN TOWNSHIP ______________________________________________________________

Current East Norwegian Township Government

"Reminiscences of East Norwegian Township"

(From "Pottsville Republican" "Morning Newspaper" March 26-29, 1934)

The history of East Norwegian Township was compiled by C. C. McCullough and N.S. Sterner, who wish to express their sincere gratitude to the following persons, without whose help this account could not have been written:  Mrs. Anna McCullough, Maurice Joyce, Thomas J. Fayhey, Miss Ellen Colahan, Rev. F. H. Ravnikar, Rev. L.M. Fetterolf, Mrs. Mary Wentz and Mrs. Margaret Haverty.

In the early nineteenth century, travelers journeying west through Pennsylvania, followed the "River to River" highway.  This road was so called because it carried traffic between the Delaware and Susquehanna Rivers.  The "River to River" highway ran through Schuylkill County.  The County receives its name from a stream which was discovered by Dutch explorers.  These pioneers passed the river's mouth without observing it, and for that reason called "Schuylkill", Dutch for "Hidden Stream".

In early times the county was divided into seven large townships.  One of these, traversed by the "River to River" road, was Norwegian Township, originally a vast extent of land including the area now covered by the City of Pottsville, that occupied by the Borough of St. Clair, that of Port Carbon and many others which later became independent of teh parent township.  Part of Norwegian and part of Schuylkill Townships were united to form a new district, called East Norwegian.   Later, the southern section of the new Township was incorporated as the Borough of Port Carbon, and the northwestern corner was included in the formation of Saint Clair, leaving East Norwegian Township within its present confines.

Let us travel this "River to River" road together, in fancy.  having come west some hundred miles from the Delaware River, we find ourselves in a village of miner's homes, and being weary of the journey, we decide to rest.  This is the Village of Coaquenac, populated by miners and a few farmers who came from England, Ireland and Wales, about 1829.

Coaquenac was the early name of the northern village in East Norwegian Township.  There was another village close by called Mill Creek.  The latter grew up about a grist mill, located in the northern part of the township.  this mill was operated by water power, and traces of the millrace can be still be fairly discerned, just west of the highway from Port Carbon to Saint Clair, and opposite the Reading Railway Co. Car Repair Shops.  The grist mill operated until about 1860.

The people of this neighborhood and of all the villages in the township sent their children to the only accessible school.  that was a schoolhouse built in 1829 by Abraham Pott, a resident of the village of Port Carbon.  Mr. Pott was an early champion of education.  He built the school at his own expense, prior to the acceptance of the common schools, and was effectively instrumental in planting the new system of common school education in the region, expending his money and voice in its behalf.

The miners whom we visit in retrospect walk daily to work at various mines.  Many men and boys were employed at Crow Hollow Shaft, sunk by Silverman and Evans, in the year 1831.  This was the original major coal mining industry in the township.  Nine years later, the firm of Milnes, Haywood and Snyder opened a shaft on the Mill Creek.  Mr. Snyder, of this company launched a mining project in the northeastern corner of the township in 1864.  his mine was in full operation two years later.  Just about this time (1863) the Crow Hollow Shaft operation passed into the hands of Kirk and Baum, who shipped 400 tons of coal per day.  The machinery for Snyder's mine was manufactured in the owner's shop in Pottsville.  Snyder's colliery, the new Crow Hollow colliery, and Mr. Price's mine at Raven's Dale, about a mile southeast of Snyder's, and opened at the same time, were operated by stem, but the smaller operations relied upon horse power.  As late as 1864, Mr. Joblin used horsed and windlasses to hoist coal at Feder Dam, located just north of the center of the township.

Much of the coal from these operations was shipped on the Mill Creek Railroad, in small wooden cars, drawn by horsed, and running on wooden rails.  The Mill Creek Railroad was laid from Port Carbon to Saint Clair in 1829.  (More about mining in East Norwegian Township)

SUNDAY  OBSERVANCES

We imagined our party to arrive in Coaquenae about the year 1830.  When Sunday arrives, we have slight choice of places to worship.  The Catholics must take the stage coach (running from Mahanoy City on questionable schedule) to go to Mass in Pottsville.  Still, we must consider ourselves fortunate for the improvements of tow decades, for until 1827, Mass was celebrated only by itinerant Jesuit Missionaries, visiting the vicinity on horseback every two or three weeks.  The first Protestant church, called the Union Church, was situated on the top of Lawton's Hill.  this was a log structure of three rooms:  one for devotional services, one to be used as a schoolroom, and the other was occupied by the janitor.  While this church was in services, one to be used as a schoolroom, and the other room was occupied by the janitor.  While this church was in service it stood wholly within Norwegian Township.  Then, at the time of the most recent political divisions, the line dividing East Norwegian Township and Norwegian Township was drawn through its crumbled foundations.

All Protestant sects worshipped at the Union Church, described above, until 1811; but in later years, a Baptist Church was erected in Belmont, a village in the extreme east of East Norwegian Township.  Belmont was a village of only about 40 families, yet it supported the church.  However, there was no resident pastor.  A minister, Mr. Markins, of Saint Clair, preached in Belmont on Sundays.  This church was burned in 1861.  We will see later that Belmont had yet another Baptist Church.  There were but four Catholic families in Belmont.

While resting from our journey on the "River to River" road, let us roam leisurely about the tranquil villages of this township before returning to the turmoil of 20th century progress.  As we walk, early on Monday morning, down the road connecting Saint Clair and Port Carbon, and termed Port Carbon Ave., we meet many women carrying buckets.  These buckets are filled with water from the mill-well, a well hole located near the grist mill.  This water is to be used for the Monday morning washing.  Having seen wells in all the gardens, we inquire why this trip is made to the mill-well, especially when there are so many chores to be done about the houses with the meagre conveniences of the 19th century.  We are apprised that the water in the individual wells is "hard" and unsuitable for laundering, whereas the mill-well contains "soft" water which will readily dissolve soap, the render the washing less laborious.  This well was in every day use until 1884.

 A  COMMON  OVEN

Further down the turnpike we come upon an animated gathering of housewives, grouped about what appears to be a mound of earth, covered by a shed.  Curious to know the cause of this gathering, we approach the structure, and find it to  be a huge bake oven.  We come closer, see on woman with a long iron hook dragging out large, globose (not mis-spelling), nut-brown loaves of bread, and passing them to her daughter, who carries them into the house and burnished their tempting crusts with melted butter.  The oven is located west of Port Carbon Ave., just north of the stream from Snyder's mine.  Seeing no fence enclosing the oven, we inquire to whom it belongs, and we are told that the oven is owned in common by all the families of the village.  A man standing close by, hears our queries, and notice sour interested scrutiny.  He accosts us, introduces himself, and ask would we like him to explain these structures.  Of course we are eager to hear.

The ovens, he points out, are built of stone, mortar and brick.  The bases are constructed of large, dressed stone, bound together by lime mortar.  On top of this is erected a temporary form of wood or sand, covered with boards.  A barrel may be used for a small oven, but care must be taken to add some kind of removable material to each side of the barrel, near the top, so that the finished structure will not be semi-circular and in section, inside.  On either side, behind and on top of the form, bricks are laid.  A chimney is built at the back.  More elaborate ovens have an additional chimney at the front.  A small opening is left at the front of the pole, to permit access to the interior.  After the mortar sets, the sand is withdrawn and the wooden form burned out.  this debris is cleared away, leaving a well-sealed grotto, with plumb walls and a dome-shaped roof.  (If the cylindrical contours were continued down to the floor.  The outer rows of loves would be burned because of their adjutant position with the hot ceiling.)

On the night before baking day, certain select woods are placed in the oven, and these are ignited on the following morning.  when the fuel is burned, the ashes are raked out with a wooden line.  Wood is used for the protection of the masonry.  If the oven is at the proper temperature, the loves are placed into it.  "How," we inquire, "can it be told whether the oven is at the proper temperature?" 

We have been walking slowly down the road, as our guide explains this quaint custom, and now we arrive at another of these common ovens.  This one is also west of the turnpike, and about a quarter mile south of the former one.

"Watch what this woman does, and you will see," he replies.

The woman just finishes cleaning out the ashes as we arrive.  Then she extends her arm, bare to the elbow, into the heated chamber, and as she oscillates her hand rapidly, counts to 15.  She quickly withdraws her hand, and nods an affirmation to several girls about her.  They slide the smooth, white loves--24 of them--into the cavity, push the first ones back with a poker, close the iron doors, sealing them with bits of grass, place another piece of iron over the chimney, and with the exact interval, learned only by long observation, until the loves are baked.

These common ovens were used until about 1870. but long before that time, some people began building their private ovens.  Two skilled masons, Edwin Sterner, of Port Carbon, and William Brennan, of Spencerville, built many of these structures.

VISIT TO  SPENCERVILLE

We continue on our walk southward along Port Carbon Ave. for another half mile.  Here we turn west cross the Mill Creek Railroad, then the Mill Creek, and visit the little village of Spencerville.  Spencerville was named for its founder.   We are struck by a certain characteristic of the people of this community, which we had already noticed to be true of the people in the other villages of East Norwegian Township.  That is their neatness and personal cleanliness.   This was to be exemplified in later years by a certain Mr. McCormick, who lived close to Spencerville.  Mr. McCormick was superintendent of loading cars in Palo Alto Railroad yards in 1872.  It was  a dusty, dirty job, nevertheless, Mr. McCormick always come home from work in the evening as clean as the man who spent his 10 hours in a swivel chair.  Mr. McCormick did not stand alone in this quality; he was typical of the people throughout the township.

Old English Sayings