Diary for 1854, 146 pages, every day has an entry, includes 24 pages of memorandum notes & cash accounts (mainly cash accounts) at rear. First page states "Geo. Johnson, Office Penna C. Co., Pittston, PA." [Pennsylvania Coal Company].

Diary for 1855, 136 pages, with every day having an entry, but one (3 July), includes 14 pages of memorandum notes and cash accounts (mostly cash accounts), at rear. This volume lacks the spine and the front board is detached. Front blank states "Geo. Johnson, Assistant Engineer, N.I. R.R., Toledo, Ohio" [Northern Indiana Railroad].

Diary for 1856, 146 pages, every day has an entry, includes 24 pages of memorandum notes and cash accounts (mainly cash accounts), at rear. First page states "Geo. Johnson, M.S. & N.I.R.R., Toledo, Ohio" [Michigan Southern & Northern Indiana Railroad].

Diary for 1862, 51 manuscript pages, with the entries being mainly for the first couple of months (1 January -3 February, and 7-15 February), then a couple of other days (11 March, 12 May, 10 June), and includes 5 pages of notes and cash accounts written in rear. While not stated, this diary was kept while Johnson was working for the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company.

The diaries for the years 1886 through 1922 cover the years when Johnson was retired from the Pennsylvania Cola Company, but he kept regular office hours at the Miners’ Bank, of which he was secretary from 1875 until his death in 1922, and was engaged in various business ventures. The diaries chronicle life in Pittston and the surrounding communities in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, and the Lackawanna and Wyoming Valleys.

       Early Anthracite Transportation

 

With the tapping of the rich deposits of anthracite in the Lackawanna and Wyoming valleys in Pennsylvania in the 1820s and 1830s, the problem of getting the coal to market confronted the engineers. Many schemes and plans were suggested for getting anthracite over the mountains with tidewater as its destination.

 

In 1823 the Pennsylvania legislature passed a law that paved the way for the incorporation of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company. It operated a canal from Honesdale to Rondout,New York along the Hudson River. The new concern started in at once to make a bid for the transportation of coal.

 

The "gravity road" was born with this idea. There was a series of ascending and descending planes across the Moosic Mountain first from Honesdale to Carbondale, later to Jermyn and thence to Archbald, the latter extension being built in 1846. Later on the road was extended to Olyphant and thence to Providence. This gravity line was abandoned in 1899.

 

While this was going on up the valley the Pennsylvania Coal Company came into existence. It brought up valuable coal lands between Dunmore and Pittston and to get its coal to seaboard proceeded in 1847 to build the gravity that skirted Scranton on the east. Port Griffith, two miles south of Pittston, and Hawley were the terminals of this line.

 

James Archbald, chief engineer of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company, made the survey for the Pennsylvania gravity road. The road was built under the supervision of Gideon Frothingham and William R. Moffet, and when opened in May, 1850, was operated by John B. Smith of Dunmore, who acted as general superintendent.  "The Pioneer" was a favorite train on the Pennsylvania gravity. "The Pioneer," Archbald, Frothingham, and Smith, are all mentioned in the diaries. John Ewen, an early president of the company, is also mentioned, along with many other early members of these companies. Our diary writer George Johnson started out as a civil engineer with the Pennsylvania Coal Company and later (after stops at the Northern Indiana Railroad and the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company), became its head land agent.

 

       George Dixson Johnson (1831-1922)

 

George Dixson Johnson was born on 2 October 1831, in Connecticut, son of Benjamin Johnson and Lucina Kennedy.  Originally pioneers in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, his parents moved to Connecticut before Johnson was born and seven years later they returned with their family to Dundaff, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. George Johnson's early days were passed on a farm. At 18 years old his parents passed away, leaving a family of 7 children, of whom he was the eldest.

 

In 1849 he came to of Pittston in the Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania, at that time a primitive mining village He lived with his Aunt and Uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Williams. Williams was the pioneer tinsmith in town. Johnson learned the tinsmith’s craft, and spent several years in this trade. He was entirely self-educated. A boyhood friend was Alexander Craig, who later became a master mechanic for the Pennsylvania Coal Company. Johnson learned much from Craig when Craig was a colliery engineer for the company.

 

Johnson married Ellen Sophia Robertson at Pittston, Pennsylvania. She was born on 9 June 1840, at Edinburg, New York and passed away 10 October 1912, at West Pittston, Pennsylvania. Before her marriage to Johnson, she conducted a school with her mother, Nancy Tiffany Day Robertson (1814-1888) and her sister Georgiana on Luzerne Avenue in Pittston, which eventually became the Johnson family home. Together Johnson and his wife had at least three children: Emily S., Bert Day, and Nathan Clarke. From at least the time of their marriage the couple lived at West Pittston, for the remainder of their lives.

 

Johnson was the land agent for the Pennsylvania Coal Company for thirty years (1865-1895) before he finally retired and gave way to E. M. Beyea, the son of Henry Beyea, the paymaster of the company. E. M. Beyea had worked for the company for years before his appointment as the new land agent.

 

George Johnson had previously worked for the Pennsylvania Coal Company in the 1850s, resigned, went to work for the Northern Indiana Railroad briefly (1854-1856), where he worked on the railroad's "Middle Grounds" project, he then worked for the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company (1856-1862), before returning to the Pennsylvania Coal Company where he finished his career, retiring in 1895.

 

In 1857 when Johnson was engaged as a civil engineer for the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company he supervised the rebuilding of the gravity road over the Moosic Mountain, new planes were established for the purposes of increasing the speed of trains. In the following year, he had charge of the construction of the extension of the gravity road from Archbald to Olyphant.

 

Johnson was one of the initiators and stockholders of the Ferry Bridge Company, and was actively interested in the laying of the first water pipe line across the river between the Pittstons. He was also one of the nine original directors of the Miners' Savings Bank in 1869 and was a director for 53 years in a row, the last original surviving director, and from 1875 until his death was the bank’s secretary.

 

George Dixon Johnson died 19 October 1922 at West Pittston, Pennsylvania.

 

       Description of the Diaries

 

When the 1854 diary begins, Johnson is working for the Pennsylvania Coal Company, at Pittston. He is doing work on mine surveys, drafting, and leveling, of the various slopes and the "grand tunnel." He also appears to have the responsibility of drawing up lists of rents on houses and lots, making leases, etc., showing that early on he was also working as a land agent.  In the evenings he studied the German language, and on Sundays he attended Sunday school and religious services. Johnson also makes the occasional visits to friends' houses, and a cousin who lived nearby.

 

By the end of January, Johnson asks for a recommendation because he wanted to leave the company for another, but his supervisor wouldn't give him one, as the company wanted him to stay and be the assistant to the mine superintendent. However, by February, he gives notice that he will be leaving the company to take a job with the Northern Indiana Railroad at Toledo, Ohio, working on the "Middle Grounds" project. On 21 March 1854, he packs up and leaves Pittston for Toledo, stopping first at Buffalo to visit friends, then at Chicago where he visits his father and other friends, before traveling back to Toledo to begin his new job with the railroad.

 

After moving over to the Northern Indiana Railroad, Johnson continues to keep track of his day to day activities in his office, what he does, where he goes, who he meets, etc. He is working on tracings, and other work pertaining to piles, for piers, bridges, passenger and freight houses, etc. It was a rather large project involving the construction of a drawbridge, piers, a dock, etc. This work continues for the rest of 1854 throughout 1855, and into 1856.

 

The project that Johnson was working on was the building of the railway bridge across the Maumee River in 1854 at Toledo, Ohio, as well as Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana Railroad's freight and passenger terminals. These terminals were built on what was then known as the "Middle Grounds," a low marshy island separated from the mainland just above the mouth of Swan Creek by a bayou. This island was built up with fill from the material removed from a deep cut a mile long which formed the approach from the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana Railroad to the railway bridge.

 

The diary includes much on Johnson's work on the "Middle Grounds," he spends considerable time working on this project. The "Middle Grounds" was a valuable geographic spot, the most practical place to put facilities for the transfer of freight from ship to rail, or rail to ship. This project took place only twenty years after the founding of Toledo, Ohio, which came into existence after the Toledo War (1835-1836), also known as the Michigan-Ohio War, an almost bloodless boundary dispute between the state of Ohio, and the adjoining territory of Michigan.

 

The 1862 diary is incomplete, with entries for only the month of January, half of February, and another couple of days. According to biographical data found online, he is supposedly working at this time (1862), for the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company. Johnson left the company at some point during the year and returned to work with the Pennsylvania Coal Company.         

 

Diary for 1854, 146 pages, every day has an entry, includes 24 pages of memorandum notes & cash accounts (mainly cash accounts) at rear. First page states "Geo. Johnson, Office Penna C. Co., Pittston, PA." [Pennsylvania Coal Company].

Diary for 1855, 136 pages, with every day having an entry, but one (3 July), includes 14 pages of memorandum notes and cash accounts (mostly cash accounts), at rear. This volume lacks the spine and the front board is detached. Front blank states "Geo. Johnson, Assistant Engineer, N.I. R.R., Toledo, Ohio" [Northern Indiana Railroad].

Diary for 1856, 146 pages, every day has an entry, includes 24 pages of memorandum notes and cash accounts (mainly cash accounts), at rear. First page states "Geo. Johnson, M.S. & N.I.R.R., Toledo, Ohio" [Michigan Southern & Northern Indiana Railroad].

Diary for 1862, 51 manuscript pages, with the entries being mainly for the first couple of months (1 January -3 February, and 7-15 February), then a couple of other days (11 March, 12 May, 10 June), and includes 5 pages of notes and cash accounts written in rear. While not stated, this diary was kept while Johnson was working for the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company.

The diaries for the years 1886 through 1922 cover the years when Johnson was retired from the Pennsylvania Cola Company, but he kept regular office hours at the Miners’ Bank, of which he was secretary from 1875 until his death in 1922, and was engaged in various business ventures. The diaries chronicle life in Pittston and the surrounding communities in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, and the Lackawanna and Wyoming Valleys.