LVRR Map
1 2016-08-10T14:17:31-04:00 Mathew Anthony b50f1fd9eb29f008269dd3bc236d7760bc234cf4 52 1 plain 2016-08-10T14:17:31-04:00 Mathew Anthony b50f1fd9eb29f008269dd3bc236d7760bc234cf4This page is referenced by:
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Packer's Later Years in the Lehigh Valley Railroad
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In 1871, Asa Packer testified before the Pennsylvania Committee on the Judiciary about “the present difficulties in the anthracite coal region” concerning “the great war that for hundreds of years has been waged between labor and capital.” To win the battle in the coal regions, workers resorted to strikes, which they hoped would threaten such a great financial loss to the owner that he would be forced to pay higher wages. When feeling empowered, owners would stop work in the mines so that laborers could not feed themselves or their families and would agree to lower wages. Negotiations often failed to resolve differences. The Judiciary Committee sought to resolve two questions. “Have the railroad companies by charging their present rates of freight violated their charters? Does the action of those companies in regard to freights, amount to an abuse of their privileges under their charters?”
For his part, Asa Packer testified that his charter did not limit what he could charge for transporting coal. The questions then turned toward the formation of a cartel in March of 1869. Packer replied that he did attend a meeting with different railroad executives, but stated that he did attend a meeting that agreed to reduce coal tonnage in order to keep shipping rates up. Interestingly, Packer also testified that “if there is a combination for the purpose of putting up the price of coal we should use all legal measures to prevent it.” Tiptoeing around the issue, Packer then spoke to the fact that the railroad executives all agreed to raise the price of coal transportation, “but there was no contract.” The committee questioned numerous individuals about railroad operators meeting to fix prices. All people examined acknowledged the existence of meetings, but they often noted the conventional nature of meetings of business leaders and denied formal arrangements in price fixing.
In 1872, more meetings of railroad executives followed. Franklin Gowen, president of the Reading Railroad, organized a meeting in New York City where the major railroad heads agreed to transport a certain percentage of the anthracite coal produced that year. The combination worked for the owners and the consumer and by 1873 coal returned to its pre-American Civil War price, while flour cost twice as much as its pre-American Civil War price. In 1874, prices dropped and coal operators offered a wage cut to their workers. Most workers rejected this deal, but a few did not. After six months, the “Long Strike” failed to bring about changes for the workers and they returned to their jobs with lower wages. In 1876, Asa Packer may have feared that he violated his charter or, perhaps, that legislators would consider his charter null and void and he withdrew from the transportation cartel organized by Gowen. The Lehigh Valley Railroad did not stick to its percentage quota and transported more coal to market than authorized. Gowen flooded the market and chastised Packer and his associates. Packer resisted returning to the fold without a higher quote, which he eventually received for the Lehigh Valley Railroad. Knowledge of the agreement spread and the New York and New Jersey legislatures looked into the deal. Neither assembly found it illegal. In the fall of 1878, the Lehigh Valley Railroad demanded a new deal. After Packer’s death, the Lehigh Valley Railroad did not sign any agreements with Gowen, but they struck up an informal deal that periodically shut down production to limit the amount of coal on the market. -
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Rapid Expansion of the Lehigh Valley Railroad
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Onward from its first inaugural year, the Lehigh Valley Railroad continued rapidly expanding its influence in an ever-growing industrialized America. Asa Packer continued to be at the head of the prosperous Lehigh Valley Railroad Company for the next twenty-four years. Under the supervision of Packer, the Lehigh Valley Railroad continued to build more and more tracks, along with acquiring smaller railroads and making connections with other railroads. The Lehigh Valley Railroad had expanded from its original main line from Mauch Chunk to Easton, to also include the Wyoming Division, the Pennsylvania and New York Canal and Railroad, the Beaver Meadow Branch, the Hazleton Branch, and the Mahanoy Branch. Such progress and growth must have been instrumental to the industrialization of the Lehigh Valley and beyond.
Asa Packer remained an influential figure in the operation of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, but it remains uncertain how actively he was involved in the everyday operations of the company. Asa usually spent three days a week in Philadelphia, at the headquarters of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, but what did he do the other four days of the week? He did make reconnaissance trips to Alabama, France, and England to find out more about the steel making process, perhaps to inquire about making stronger rails or maybe he had a desire to get into the steel industry, along with his coal and railroad industries. Asa personally purchased, on the behalf of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, the North Branch Canal in 1866, which would eventually add over 100 miles of track to the Lehigh Valley Railroad with the construction of the Pennsylvania and New York Canal and Railroad. In addition, Asa helped to found St. Luke’s Hospital in Bethlehem, in part so his workers had a hospital to go to if they were injured on the job. On top of that, Packer personally paid the medical expenses of his workers that were injured on the job, a virtually unprecedented benefit at the time. Packer was also elected as the president of the Lehigh Valley Railroad in 1862, but later resigned in 1864, only to be re-elected in 1868 and serve as the company’s president until his death in 1879. When not serving as president, he still served on the Board of Directors. Despite his executive position, his level of involvement in the company’s everyday affairs remains unanswered. However, it is probably safe to say that his presence was always felt within the company.
From 1855 to 1879 the Lehigh Valley Railroad had grown from its original road between Mauch Chunk and Easton, to include 658 miles of track as far away as Buffalo and New York City. Coal, steel, passengers, and various other freight could be carried via the Lehigh Valley Railroad to either the Great Lakes or to the Atlantic Ocean. And by 1879, the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company’s capital was $53 million dollars and carried 4.36 million tons of coal per year. Even for Asa Packer, the accomplishment of the Lehigh Valley Railroad must have been remarkable to him, given the fact that not even forty-years prior, people were still skeptical about the efficacy of railroads.