Lumberjacks and Flying Logs: The Glen Union Lumber Company (Clinton County)

Glen Union's tramway takes a loaded log car across the river
Image Retrieved From: Sunset Along Susquehanna Waters by Thomas Taber III

    Sometimes the most colorful stories come from the most unexpected places. The tiny riverside hamlet of Glen Union in Clinton County is a perfect example. Looking at it now, it doesn’t appear to be more than a collection of seasonal camps. You’d never would have thought that in its heyday, it was a flurry of activity. Perhaps most interesting of all, it was the only place in the state that you could see loaded railroad cars suspended in the air. 

   Named for the two glens formed by Baker's Mill Run and Baker Run, the community of Glen Union was established by the West Branch Coal, Iron Ore & Lumber Company (WBCI&L). The company had attempted to extract the area's bountiful natural resources, but the remote location combined with financial difficulties caused the company to founder. The majority of the town was on the south bank of the river. On the opposite bank was the post office and railroad station. No bridges were built to facilitate access to the north bank. Anyone wishing to cross would have to acquire a boat until the river froze in the winter.  


    Not much happened in Glen Union after the WBCI&L folded, however where one company had failed another would succeed. In 1889, the Glen Union Lumber Company was incorporated by John Beecher of Pottsville and Coleman K. Sober of Lewisberg. 15,000 acres were initially purchased, but soon grew to 35,000 acres. Smaller diameter trees  suitable for prop timber in mine shafts were the main target of the operation. A saw mill was constructed at the mouth of Mill Run to cut any timber of larger diameter. When built, the mill was capable of cutting 40,000 board feet a day.


    Finished lumber and mine props would be need to be shipped out on the Pennsylvania Railroad. There was just one hiccup, how to get them across the river to the station on the opposite bank? A ferry and floating bridge were proposed, but both were deemed impractical due to the river’s  seasonal flooding and freezing. After much deliberation, it was decided to utilize an innovative form of technology to transport cargo across barriers, an aerial tramway. It would be the second of three aerial tramways built for logging in Pennsylvania and the first of two used in Clinton County.

 

A drawing of the tramway
Image Retrieved From:

    Two seventy-foot tall towers were constructed on each bank of the river; two steel cables stretching 850-feet-long connected them. A steam-powered winding engine on the north bank powered the winches that moved the cables. Maximum capacity for the tramway was rated at 20 tons. This calculation was put to the test when the company’s two steam locomotive were moved across the river, thankfully without any issues.

 

The company's geared Heisler-type locomotive.
Image Retrieved From:gearedsteam.com

    With all the necessary equipment across the river, moving logs with the tramway was relatively straightforward. One loaded railroad car at a time was pushed and secured onto the tramway’s carriage. The car then took the three minute trip to the other side where it was unloaded. 160 car loads of prop timber was reportedly shipped in just the first half of 1891 alone. 


    In 1893, the Middleburg Post contained an ad by C.K. Sober for workers. Wages ranged from $1.00 - $1.25 a day depending on a man’s “ability and usefulness.” Closing the ad was the following statement, “Men who drink or get drunk need not apply". The company had at least one boarding house for its workers. Most of the men who worked out in the woods slept and ate there in hastily constructed camps. Life for these “wood hicks” was just as rough as the terrain in which they worked.


    Accidents and deaths were common on logging railroads and Glen Union’s was no exception. Several occurred over the years the company was in operation (there were most likely more that never made the papers).

• In April 1891, Superintendent Henry Grove died when he leaped from a runaway log car and fell under the wheels.-Democratic Watchman

• On August 28, 1897, three Italian workers were riding a lone railroad car when it ran out of control down the steep grade. After traveling two miles, the speeding car smashed into a loaded railroad car. One man died a few hours after the accident, another was expected to die, and the third “may recover.” - Scranton Tribune

• In September 1900, Adam Berry of Rote, who worked as a chopper for the company, was killed instantly when a hemlock tree he had just cut glanced against a smaller neighboring tree as it fell, pulling it back and releasing it like a whip that struck him. Berry’s skull was fractured, “from his nose to the back of his head.” - Democratic Watchman

• George Snyder, a logging camp foreman, was reported as receiving treatment in Mill Hall after receiving an “ugly ax cut” below the knee in May 1902. - Democratic Watchman

    Such were the perils men faced on a daily basis. For many, the reward at the end of the season was well worth the danger of losing life or limb.


    For the year 1906, the company was recorded as cutting 3,589,000 feet of pine, hemlock, oak, and other hardwoods. Three years later, the last timber was cut. Like many other logging operations, the buildings and track were dismantled and the equipment sold off. All that was left was the marred treeless landscape.

 

Men unloading prop timber onto Pennsylvania Railroad cars
Image Retrieved From: Sunset Along Susquehanna Waters By Thomas Taber III

    As decades passed, Glen Union slowly faded into what you can see today. Glen Union’s story, though worn by time is still fascinating to study.  The use of the aerial tramway had been a resounding success that proved the method was sound. Though the aerial tram would only be used once more during the state's lumber era, it was highly utilized in later decades in the western United States.   

    Exploring the remnants of this story are just as intriguing. The foundation of the north tramway tower is the most prominent reminder on that side of the river. Others lie along the old railroad grades that climb and twist their way through the hollows of the renewed forest that has been growing since the last tree was felled long ago. 

 

The remains of the north tower's foundation
Author's Image

Looking across the river to where the south tower would have stood.
Author's Photo

The anchor bolts still sticking out of the foundation piers
Author's Photo

Information Retrieved From:

-Defebaugh, J. E.(1906). History of the Lumber Industry of America. American Lumberman. Retrieved From: https://www.google.com/books/edition/History_of_the_Lumber_Industry_of_Americ/MxILAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0

-Forney, M. (1892). A novel cable transfer. The Railroad and Engineering Journal 66,319-320. Retrieved from: https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Railroad_and_Engineering_Journal/IMZLAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=glen+union+lumber+co+%2B+tramway+%2B+hoist&pg=PA319&printsec=frontcover

-Linn. J. (1883). History of Centre and Clinton Counties. Louis H. Everts. Retrieved from: https://archive.org/details/historyofcentrec00linn/page/514

-Maynard, D. (1875). Historical view of Clinton County. Enterprise Printing House. Retrieved from: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo1.ark:/13960/t5cc26q8w;view=1up;seq=159

-Taber III, T. T. (1972). Sunset along Susquehanna waters. Lycoming Printing Company Inc