19TH CENTURY LEDGER OF THE BUILDING OF DAM AND LOCK NO. 5 ON THE MONONGAHELA RIVER, PENNSYLVANIA
This is a great 19th century day book or ledger recording the debits and credits of the workers who built Dam and Lock No. 5 on the Monongahela River at Denbo (two miles above Brownsville) for the Monongahela Slackwater Navigation Company. The ledger dates 1854 to 1857.
There is an index of names at the beginning of the ledger and many entries record the number of days worked in exchange for boarding, sundries, and/or cash. James Beatty is mentioned numerous times and the assumption is he may have been a foreman for the work done under contract by Burns and Ross. Daniel Williams is also mentioned numerous times for providing boarding. Sylvanus Lothrop was the chief engineer and his assistant was Mr. Charles Stewart of Lycoming.
[Sylvanus Lothrop was a prominent PA canal engineer and businessman who constructed the first locks and several major bridges on the Monongahela River in the 1830s and 1840s. Lothrop Hall, a unique residence facility in the heart of the University of Pittsburgh’s renowned Medical Center, is named for him.]
[Charles Stewart, son of Alexander Stewart, was born in Nippenose township, February 15, 1816. He received his education at the Kirkpatrick school at Milton, Pennsylvania, and became a civil engineer. In 1836 he was employed by the Williamsport and Elmira railroad, and finished twenty-five miles of the same to Ralston. In 1838 he was employed as rodman on the Pennsylvania canal during its construction, and in 1839 was appointed assistant engineer of said canal, which office he filled until it was abandoned by the State. He made the first estimate of work on the Sinnemahoning division, and was assistant engineer under Thomas Bennett in the construction of the dam near Lock Haven until 1842, when he was transferred to the position of canal repairer until 1846. He then went to Canada, where he built two lock foundations for the Buhorway canal of ton feet of water. In 1847 he was a contractor on the Hudson river, continuing two years, and on February 15, 1849, he and his brother, William, sailed for California, remaining until 1851 and building three reservoirs for San Francisco. In 1854 he took charge of the building of two locks and dams on the Monongahela river and the repairing of four old locks. In 1859 he made a survey for slackwater on the Big Sandy river, from its mouth to Peach Orchard, for the Peach Orchard Coal Company. In 1861 he surveyed the Little Pine, a branch of the Cumberland river, for a slackwater navigation company. In 1862 he built a railroad for Phelps & Dodge from their mills on Pine creek to the canal. In 1863-64 he was engaged in the Dodge mills. He also built a dam on the Kanawha river, near Charleston, West Virginia. He married Susan, daughter of William Harris, who was once sheriff of Lycoming county. Mr. Stewart died, December 26, 1889, a prominent member of the Second Presbyterian church. He was a Republican in politics, served as city engineer of Williamsport for twenty years, was secretary and treasurer of the Williamsport Bridge Company for many years, was treasurer of Wildwood cemetery for some years, and was a director in the First National Bank of Williamsport. His only child, Joseph G. Stewart, of Williamsport, was born in Woodward township, May 28, 1854. He was educated in the public schools, Dickinson Seminary, and the Williamsport Commercial College. He is a civil engineer by profession, has followed that occupation for many years, and after the death of his father he was secretary and treasurer of the Williamsport Bridge Company until it was sold to the county. He has also been assistant city engineer of Williamsport, is a stockholder in the First National Bank, and is a Republican in politics. He was married in 1886 to Anna, daughter of Robert Gibson, and to this union have been born two children: Sarah and Charles.]
In addition to laborers, there were masons (Patrick Coonay, Jacob Messinger, James Stevens, Ephraim Shearer, William White); carpenters (Thomas Quail, John Woodfield, Hiram Simpson, Kirtus Schemerher, George Wilbert, Thornton Hess, James Hicks, Isaac Linn, James Moffat, William Gibson); blacksmiths (Jackson Cox, James Hall, John Mullaby); stone cutters (Samuel Gaskill, John Boyle, Donohue & King, James Tattersall); Westley Frost a saddler; Samuel Hartman a portman; John W. Harris a fireman; John Bishope a teamster; Isaac Jones an engineer; John Herbertson a foundryman; and many more. Some company names mentioned include: R. Robeson & Co. (Pittsburgh), Moorhead Dull & Co., Fahnestock & Brothers (Pittsburgh), Crawford & Murphy, Dilworth & Bidwell (a well-known Pittsburgh firm). There are pages for Monongahela Slackwater Navigation Company and for Expenses for Dam No. 5.
From http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/: "Many local residents remember old Lock 5 at Brownsville, a taxpayer-built and operated facility that operated until the mid-1960's. Not many folks realize that it was preceded by an earlier Lock 5 at Denbo, part of the Monongahela River’s first slackwater navigation system. The Denbo facility was constructed and owned by stockholders of the Monongahela Navigation Company (MNC). The privately owned MNC built four locks and dams between Pittsburgh and North Charleroi prior to 1845. In the years that followed, coal mines continued to open further sound on the Monongahela River. By 1856 two more locks and dams, MNC Lock 5 at Denbo and MNC Lock 6 at Rice’s Landing, were placed into operation.
Where was Lock 5 at Denbo, and what did the dam look like? The lock was a single chamber, located on the west (Washington County) side of the river and made of smooth-dressed cut stone. It was 50 feet wide, 158 feet long, and could lift a boat about eleven feet. The wooden lock gates at Denbo were hand operated by means of chains wound around hand-powered capstans located on top of the lock walls.
The Denbo dam was 620 feet long and built of stone-filled timber "cribs," large logs stacked alternately at right angles to each other. These open cribs of seven to nine feet each were filled with stone and gravel….
MNC Lock and Dam No. 5 at Denbo commenced operations in 1856 and was immediately busy. The Monongahela River was carrying more tonnage than any other inland river in the United States, despite its relatively short length, and that eventually spurred the U.S. government to get involved with the locks and dams on the Monongahela."
PRICE: $450
