Erskine Hazard
Erskine Hazard (1789–1865) was an American industrialist who, with his partner Josiah White, helped launch big infrastructure projects in Pennsylvania and the Northeast that pushed the United States toward industrial growth.
Hazard was born in New York City on November 30, 1789. In 1810, he and White opened a foundry and wire-drawing plant near Philadelphia at the falls of the Schuylkill River. To showcase their factory, they built a small suspension bridge across the Schuylkill.
When tensions before the War of 1812 led to an embargo on British coal, Hazard and White secured a supply of anthracite coal from eastern Pennsylvania, a resource that was then barely used. Anthracite would become crucial for industry and shipping.
They founded the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company (LC&N) and built the Lehigh Canal, the Ashley Planes, the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad, and several other railroads and businesses, many lasting into the 20th century. They helped popularize anthracite coal for industry and transportation to Philadelphia via the Schuylkill valley.
Hazard, a trained geographer and surveyor, developed a grading technique for railways and roads: he divided the vertical height by horizontal distance to create a steady grade, then built the necessary supports. This method helped with the initial mule road from Summit Hill to the loading area at Jim Thorpe, and when rails were laid, it allowed a nine-mile descent to be completed quickly.
Hazard died in 1865, leaving behind wealth and thousands of jobs created by his and White’s work. Hazard Street in Summit Hill is named after him.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 11:18 (CET).