Editing Beaver Meadows, Pennsylvania (section)

===19th century===
In 1800, [[Lausanne Township, Pennsylvania|Lausanne]] was created to provide local government for what is essentially all of present-day [[Carbon County, Pennsylvania]]; the eventual townships of East Penn, Lausanne, Mahoning, Banks, Towamensing, Lower Towamensing and Penn Forest; [[Pennsylvania township]]s being the most rural of organized municipal governments under the commonwealth constitution.

In 1826, Mauch Chunk, which is present-day [[Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania|Jim Thorpe]], and other townships were split out of Lausanne and the center of that township was moved northwards. In 1843, [[Banks Township, Carbon County, Pennsylvania|Banks Township]] was organized, and incorporated the small settlement of Beaver Meadows within its larger girth.<ref name=BM/>

In 1812, the secrets of burning [[anthracite]] were mostly yet to be discovered, revealed, and promoted (widely publicized) by [[Josiah White]] and [[Erskine Hazard]] but blacksmiths were several decades into knowing how to use it as an auxiliary fuel to complement bituminous or charcoal in forge fires, so by 1813 a modest pit mine was opened to provide coal for Berwick and Bloomington. The settlement's first dwelling was built in 1804 of logs. The first houses were built along the main thoroughfare, today's Broad Street east of the junction between Berwick St. (the continuation of the turnpike and Rt-93 to Hazelton) and Main St. westwards to Junedale, [[Tresckow, Pennsylvania|Tresckow]], and [[Tamaqua, Pennsylvania|Tamaqua]].

Nathan Beach discovered [[coal]] in 1812, and opened a quarry in 1813,<ref name=BM/> shipping his coal initially west by wagon to Berwick and Bloomsburg over the Berwick-Nescopeck Toll Bridge. With road improvements, he was able to ship his coal to [[Lausanne Landing]] where [[ark (river boat)|ark]]s were being built by the Lehigh Coal Mine Company and coal could be transported to Philadelphia.

In 1817, stymied by the slow movements of the [[Schuylkill Canal]] [[board of directors]], White and Hazard began the improvements making the one-way [[Lehigh River|Lehigh]] [[Canal|Navigations]] in 1818, and travel Lehigh River downstream grew steadily safer. By the end of 1820, the new [[Lehigh Canal]], still rough and unfinished, nonetheless enabled a record 365 long-tons to be shipped to [[Philadelphia]].

By 1823, steady shipments allowed self-funding and the canal was being re-engineered and a gradual conversion begun into a system with two-way locks; its success in providing the affordable fuel to meet the young nation's energy demands, the [[Erie Canal]] opening, followed by the news of railroad events in Britain in 1825 began whole chains of events spurring industrial production and railroads.<ref>See for example, the [[Main Line of Public Works]] with ambitions to link Philadelphia by canal to Pittsburgh and Lake Erie.</ref>

In 1826, Colonel William H. Wilson moved to the town and built a tavern. In 1831 James Lamison became citizen No. 3 and also opened a tavern.<ref name=BM/> By that time the [[Beaver Meadow Railroad and Coal Company]] had been formed and was subscribing stock. It was chartered on April 13, 1830, and the industrial revolution was about to begin using Beaver Meadows as a center. The company laid tracks down the valleys from Beaver and Black Creeks, the tributaries dumped into the Lehigh below and near Penn Haven Junction where the railroad expected to ship to the Lehigh Canal.

[[Room Run Railroad]] was occupying space assumed free by the Beaver Meadows planners assumptions. In 1830, operating managers [[Josiah White]] and [[Erskine Hazard]] of the [[Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company]] (LC&N Co.) opened new mines, now freed of immediate  or further improvement needs of the Lehigh Canal or the [[Summit Hill and Mauch Chunk Railroad]], in the area of present-day [[Nesquehoning, Pennsylvania|Nesquehoning]] and building a two-mile [[funicular railway]] called the Room Run or Rhume Run Railroad to increase volume shipped by the company. The two railroads contended for the same space. At one point, both companies put armed men into the field, but an amicable settlement was reached but for a rate dispute to break out. This resulted in  a resolve to build the railroad all the way to Easton, but a deal was reached after the railroad reached past Mauch Chunk to [[Parryville, Pennsylvania|Parryville]], where auxiliary barge loading facilities were built.

{{blockquote|The earliest settlement in Banks Township [of 1886] was made in that portion which was in 1897 set off to form the borough of Beaver Meadow. The township was contained within the territory of [[Lausanne Landing|Lausanne]] until January, 1842, when it was separately organized, being named in honor of Judge Banks, then on the bench of Northampton county, of which Carbon formed a part until 1843.
|author=Brenckman|publication=''History of Carbon County'', Chapter XIII. 1884, 1913 ed.}}

The Beaver Meadow Railroad & Coal Company bought {{convert|200|acres}} and subcontracted [[coal]] operations to A.H. VanCleve and Co., opening their own mines.

By 1833, they began local operations and construction of the railway along the surveyed right of way. Strong-armed by LC&N Co., the company got a change in charter and continued downstream along the Lehigh until LC&N Co. blinked and granted acceptable shipping rate terms.<ref name=BR/> In 1835 they contracted for the first wood-burning steam locomotives to operate in Northampton and Carbon counties, which began operations in 1836. They also demonstrated that a railroad could be built over 30 miles through mountainous country. The Beaver Meadow Railroad became an operational success, and an inspiration.

In 1846, investors began the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad Company to link [[New York Harbor]] at [[Jersey City, New Jersey|Jersey City]] via [[New Jersey]] to the [[Susquehanna River]] and then the great lakes via a line across the [[Delaware River|Delaware]] and up the [[Lehigh River|Lehigh]] Rivers. They were successful, and represented the beginning of the [[Lehigh Valley Railroad]], whose oldest parts, the Beaver Meadows Railroad, were absorbed in 1866.