In this second column, we continue to write about dredging for coal in the Lehigh River. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson Putt recall the family connection to the Lehigh River. They wrote the following account of their family’s memories on the Lehigh.

Coal reclamation was carried out by Albert Ebersole, of Reading, and Henry Phillips, along the Schuylkill River near Shoemakersville. Henry Phillips also ran a dredging operation at Catasauqua and operated a business at Laurys Station. Albert Ebersole previously worked at Slate Dam.

Wilson D. Putt was raised in Reading and was a nephew of Albert Ebersole. He founded and operated the Lehigh River Steam Coal Company at Packer Dam, East Mauch Chunk (now Jim Thorpe), around 1930. This operation continued until the 1942 flood.

Around that time, he started a dredging operation at the Three Mile Dam near Lockport. Jonathan Reber had a dredging operation at the lower end of the Three Mile Dam. After a while, Reber moved to Parryville.

Initially, he had two pump boats, two tugboats and four scows. They started with one dump truck, then acquired another. With the innovation of Putt, a method of screening the coal from the river took place on the shore.

At the washery, the tables vibrated and screened the debris from the coal. Water washed the sand and rocks from the coal, and after it settled, the debris was removed.

After the Clean Water Act came into effect, the rocks and sand were piled on the property. They had a McCormick tractor with troughs attached and a scraper line was used. Wilson recalls cranking in the front of the radiator to get the tractor going. Dump trucks were used to haul coal to be used at the zinc company. They had a 9-ton 1942 Mack single axle truck which hauled coal to Palmerton.

For every ton of coal, they paid a royalty payment to the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company since they owned the river rights. Around 1930, mules walked along the paths and pulled boats loaded with coal along the canal to the zinc company.

Later, a 1946 single-axle, 13-ton Mack truck and a heavy trailer were purchased to haul truckloads of coal. The anthracite was unloaded at the Chestnut Ridge Railway yard in Palmerton. Chutes filled the cars that took the coal to the East and West plants.

When the trucks unloaded behind the Beers’ Five and Ten cent store into cars owned by the zinc company, the scales weighed the coal that was brought in.

Putt’s son, Wilson Albert, recalls working at the dredging operation while a teenager. The day after school stopped for the summer, he was working with the operation until the day before school started again. He also accompanied his dad when they did repairs on a Saturday. Work was basically done by hand.

During the dredging operation, there was no electricity, no cellphones or modern technology as today. Later, the pump was powered by an International UD-6 diesel engine. There was a hand-pumped gas tank, a shed that held a drill press and tools, spare parts, nails and bolts. A main shed was built to house the trucks.

At that time, it took an hour from the residence and business in East Mauch Chunk to get to Lehigh Township and an hour to drive back each day. They worked 55 hours a week and many long hours each day.

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We will be concluding the dredging series in two weeks. Please join us.