Industrialist had roots in Hawley
Peter Becker Managing Editor
Tri-County Independent
June 12, 2017
Edward Laton Fuller became a wealthy coal and rail baron, and for a time controlled much of the salt mining interests in America. Achieving success in industry in the latter decades of the 19th and early 20th centuries, in more than one biographical account he did not fail to mention his birthplace, Hawley, Pennsylvania.
Born October 10, 1851 to Edward Charles Fuller and Helen (Ruthven), his father was a druggist in Hawley. It has not been determined where he set up shop. It appears, however, that the elder Mr. Fuller might have been the first pharmacist in Hawley. The Fullers arrived here in1851; the Pennsylvania Business State Directory published in May 1850 lists three druggists in Honesdale but none in Hawley.
The mid-19th century was a major turning point for the small village of Paupack Eddy, which became the linked in 1850 to the coal mining region to the west by the Pa. Coal Company (PCC) gravity railroad. The PCC invested heavily in the hamlet, and its name quickly became Hawley for the first president of the PCC. The quickly growing town became centered on the PCC and the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company which loaded the PCC's coal at Hawley. Many tradesmen were attracted to settle here, including, apparently Edward C. Fuller.
Fuller was born in Wyoming, Luzerne County, Pa., in 1826. He was a direct descendant of Dr. Samuel Fuller, who arrived at Plymouth, Massachusetts on the Mayflower in 1620.
The Fullers were wed in 1849. Following a couple years as a rope salesman, Edward C. studied to be a pharmacist, being apprenticed by a Dr. Throop. He became associated with him in the drug business, but when the partnership dissolved in 1851, Fuller came to Hawley.
The 1850 census listed him as a farmer at Exeter, Luzerne County. He was 24; his wife was 21. Their first born child, Charles, was an infant.
Edward Laton was their second child. Also born to them were James and Harry.
Their father was described as a "prosperous wholesale druggist" of Hawley in a 1902 article about his son, Edward Laton Fuller. The Fullers were only living in Hawley about a year.
Went to Scranton
They relocated to Scranton. The family's exit from Hawley may have been on the PCC's gravity railroad which led to Dunmore (which is near Scranton). The PCC gravity railroad regularly hauled passenger coaches and shipped other goods, besides coal.
What had been a small farming village known as Slocum Hollow, new industry was causing Scranton to rapidly grow. Built at first on iron and steel production, coal mining was becoming a major industry in this section. Scranton became a major railroad hub starting in 1856, with the establishment of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. That year the Borough of Scranton became charted as a city.
While his father continued his career in the city as a druggist, his son Edward embarked on an industrial path.
Coal & railroading
After his schooling and having accumulated sufficient capital, Edward L. Fuller invested in coal lands. He sold them and made larger purchases, and came to be regarded as on of the largest individual coal operators in the anthracite region. He owned several mining companies, not only coal but also those that mined limestone and salt.
He nevertheless, failed twice in the coal business. Most of the coal being shipped from the Lackawanna valley was under the control of a cartel of major producers and railroads serving the area. Independent producers, including Fuller, had to sell at the cartel's price in order to have their coal ship. On his third attempt, Fuller led an informal association of the independent producers, planning yo bypass the cartel by building a rail line to the D&H canal.
In 1890, he conceived the idea of an independent railroad to move coal to tidewater, by combining the New York, Wyoming & Western Railroad as a connection with the Erie & Wyoming Valley and the Delaware & Kingston railroad, which he had later organized.
Rails were purchased for this road and work was underway when the plan was defeated by the purchase of the PCC and the Erie & Wyoming Valley Railroad by the Erie Railroad. The news was announced in December 1900.
The cartel had perceived the plan as enough of a threat, to buy out all of the independent coal producers. Fuller also became president of the Genesee and Wyoming Railroad Company.
He had organized the Fuller Syndicate, a group of railroad investors which had acquired control of several railroad companies in an attempt to build a transcontinental rail network. Many others were trying to accomplish the same goal. The syndicate was abandoned due to the Financial Panic of 1907.
Salt interests
Soon after the railroad plan was defeated, Fuller sold his anthracite collieries and devoted his energies to the salt business as well as other interests. In 1892 he organized the Lehigh Salt Mining Co. and soon combined it with all of the New York salt mines in one organization, the Retsof Mining Co.
In 1901 he organized the International Salt Company, which was a holding company of six subsidiaries, including the Retsof operation and other companies in various states. This represented a considerable part of the rock salt and evaporated salt industry in the United States.
International Salt Company LLC is still in operation, and has headquarters in Clarks Summit, Pa. The firm produces winter weather deicing products.
Family
In 1876, he was married to Helen Maria Silkman. They had one son, Mortimer Bartine Fuller (1877-1931).
The Fullers resided at 622 Jefferson Avenue in Scranton. In 1902, he purchased several contiguous farms near Lily Lake at Waverly, Pa., northwest of Scranton, and made a large, working farm for a summer retreat. It became known as "Overlook" and remains in the family to this day. The farm has a commanding view of the Endless Mountains.
Helen Fuller frequently hosted large gatherings at Overlook. She was known as a civic philanthropist, pioneering the concept of free kindergartens and early childhood education. In 1905 the Helen Fuller Kindergarten was one of 25 in Scranton enrolling 750 children.
Mortimer became closely associated in the financial and industrial interests of his father, and was a successful businessman in his own right. His wife Kathryn became hostess of Overlook upon her mother-in-law's death.
"Steam engine of effort"
"Mr. Fuller had the welfare of the city deeply at heart, and was foremost in furthering all projects which could benefit it in any manner," a biographer in 1914 penned. He was on the board of Lackawanna Hospital, and with others, successfully lobbied for the hospital to come under state control. In April 1900 he and James P. Dickson appeared before the appropriations committee in the state legislature for this purpose, and had a meeting with the governor.
Fuller continued as a trustee of the newly formed State Hospital in Scranton. The new hospital would serve Lackawanna, Wayne, Susquehanna and Wyoming counties. He was head of the Municipal League of Scranton and served on the boards of the Scranton Board of Trade, the Chamber of Commerce and Pennsylvania Oral School for the Deaf. He was a trustee at the Second Presbyterian Church in Scranton. To celebrate their silver wedding anniversary, he and his wife funded an addition to the church.
An account written for his obituary remarked that the "dauntless business courage" was probably his most striking characteristic. "He, at many times overcame obstacles and disasters that would have conquered a less determined man," the obituary stated. The Scranton Times described him as follows, "Mr. Fuller was a very steam engine of effort. He had built up great enterprises… at home he worked many hours every day. When he traveled for alleged rest or recreation his stenographer was with him and he kept in touch with the several plants of his various companies by telephone and telegraph. Ordinary men might envy him his wealth, but they did not appreciate the tremendous physical effort spent in obtaining it."
Edward Laton Fuller died suddenly at Augusta, Georgia, where he had gone to recuperate, on January 20, 1909. He was 57. His wife died September 1, 1911.
Today, Fullers Overlook Farm is a diverse vegetable and livestock farm following "all organic practices," their Facebook page states. They have four season vegetable production, flowers, herbs, pasture raise pork. chicken and eggs, utilizing an ecologically based system. They are represented at various farm markets.
Main sources:
History of Scranton & Its People (1914) by Frederick L. Hitchcock
Collier Engineer, Mines & Minerals, Volume 22, Aug. 1908- July 1909
Genealogical & Family History of the Wyoming & Lackawanna Valleys, Pa. (1906)
The Successful American (Jan. 1902 issue)
https://www.tricountyindependent.com/story/entertainment/human-interest/2017/06/12/industrialist-had-roots-in-hawley/20640235007/
Peter Becker Managing Editor
Tri-County Independent
June 12, 2017
Edward Laton Fuller became a wealthy coal and rail baron, and for a time controlled much of the salt mining interests in America. Achieving success in industry in the latter decades of the 19th and early 20th centuries, in more than one biographical account he did not fail to mention his birthplace, Hawley, Pennsylvania.
Born October 10, 1851 to Edward Charles Fuller and Helen (Ruthven), his father was a druggist in Hawley. It has not been determined where he set up shop. It appears, however, that the elder Mr. Fuller might have been the first pharmacist in Hawley. The Fullers arrived here in1851; the Pennsylvania Business State Directory published in May 1850 lists three druggists in Honesdale but none in Hawley.
The mid-19th century was a major turning point for the small village of Paupack Eddy, which became the linked in 1850 to the coal mining region to the west by the Pa. Coal Company (PCC) gravity railroad. The PCC invested heavily in the hamlet, and its name quickly became Hawley for the first president of the PCC. The quickly growing town became centered on the PCC and the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company which loaded the PCC's coal at Hawley. Many tradesmen were attracted to settle here, including, apparently Edward C. Fuller.
Fuller was born in Wyoming, Luzerne County, Pa., in 1826. He was a direct descendant of Dr. Samuel Fuller, who arrived at Plymouth, Massachusetts on the Mayflower in 1620.
The Fullers were wed in 1849. Following a couple years as a rope salesman, Edward C. studied to be a pharmacist, being apprenticed by a Dr. Throop. He became associated with him in the drug business, but when the partnership dissolved in 1851, Fuller came to Hawley.
The 1850 census listed him as a farmer at Exeter, Luzerne County. He was 24; his wife was 21. Their first born child, Charles, was an infant.
Edward Laton was their second child. Also born to them were James and Harry.
Their father was described as a "prosperous wholesale druggist" of Hawley in a 1902 article about his son, Edward Laton Fuller. The Fullers were only living in Hawley about a year.
Went to Scranton
They relocated to Scranton. The family's exit from Hawley may have been on the PCC's gravity railroad which led to Dunmore (which is near Scranton). The PCC gravity railroad regularly hauled passenger coaches and shipped other goods, besides coal.
What had been a small farming village known as Slocum Hollow, new industry was causing Scranton to rapidly grow. Built at first on iron and steel production, coal mining was becoming a major industry in this section. Scranton became a major railroad hub starting in 1856, with the establishment of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. That year the Borough of Scranton became charted as a city.
While his father continued his career in the city as a druggist, his son Edward embarked on an industrial path.
Coal & railroading
After his schooling and having accumulated sufficient capital, Edward L. Fuller invested in coal lands. He sold them and made larger purchases, and came to be regarded as on of the largest individual coal operators in the anthracite region. He owned several mining companies, not only coal but also those that mined limestone and salt.
He nevertheless, failed twice in the coal business. Most of the coal being shipped from the Lackawanna valley was under the control of a cartel of major producers and railroads serving the area. Independent producers, including Fuller, had to sell at the cartel's price in order to have their coal ship. On his third attempt, Fuller led an informal association of the independent producers, planning yo bypass the cartel by building a rail line to the D&H canal.
In 1890, he conceived the idea of an independent railroad to move coal to tidewater, by combining the New York, Wyoming & Western Railroad as a connection with the Erie & Wyoming Valley and the Delaware & Kingston railroad, which he had later organized.
Rails were purchased for this road and work was underway when the plan was defeated by the purchase of the PCC and the Erie & Wyoming Valley Railroad by the Erie Railroad. The news was announced in December 1900.
The cartel had perceived the plan as enough of a threat, to buy out all of the independent coal producers. Fuller also became president of the Genesee and Wyoming Railroad Company.
He had organized the Fuller Syndicate, a group of railroad investors which had acquired control of several railroad companies in an attempt to build a transcontinental rail network. Many others were trying to accomplish the same goal. The syndicate was abandoned due to the Financial Panic of 1907.
Salt interests
Soon after the railroad plan was defeated, Fuller sold his anthracite collieries and devoted his energies to the salt business as well as other interests. In 1892 he organized the Lehigh Salt Mining Co. and soon combined it with all of the New York salt mines in one organization, the Retsof Mining Co.
In 1901 he organized the International Salt Company, which was a holding company of six subsidiaries, including the Retsof operation and other companies in various states. This represented a considerable part of the rock salt and evaporated salt industry in the United States.
International Salt Company LLC is still in operation, and has headquarters in Clarks Summit, Pa. The firm produces winter weather deicing products.
Family
In 1876, he was married to Helen Maria Silkman. They had one son, Mortimer Bartine Fuller (1877-1931).
The Fullers resided at 622 Jefferson Avenue in Scranton. In 1902, he purchased several contiguous farms near Lily Lake at Waverly, Pa., northwest of Scranton, and made a large, working farm for a summer retreat. It became known as "Overlook" and remains in the family to this day. The farm has a commanding view of the Endless Mountains.
Helen Fuller frequently hosted large gatherings at Overlook. She was known as a civic philanthropist, pioneering the concept of free kindergartens and early childhood education. In 1905 the Helen Fuller Kindergarten was one of 25 in Scranton enrolling 750 children.
Mortimer became closely associated in the financial and industrial interests of his father, and was a successful businessman in his own right. His wife Kathryn became hostess of Overlook upon her mother-in-law's death.
"Steam engine of effort"
"Mr. Fuller had the welfare of the city deeply at heart, and was foremost in furthering all projects which could benefit it in any manner," a biographer in 1914 penned. He was on the board of Lackawanna Hospital, and with others, successfully lobbied for the hospital to come under state control. In April 1900 he and James P. Dickson appeared before the appropriations committee in the state legislature for this purpose, and had a meeting with the governor.
Fuller continued as a trustee of the newly formed State Hospital in Scranton. The new hospital would serve Lackawanna, Wayne, Susquehanna and Wyoming counties. He was head of the Municipal League of Scranton and served on the boards of the Scranton Board of Trade, the Chamber of Commerce and Pennsylvania Oral School for the Deaf. He was a trustee at the Second Presbyterian Church in Scranton. To celebrate their silver wedding anniversary, he and his wife funded an addition to the church.
An account written for his obituary remarked that the "dauntless business courage" was probably his most striking characteristic. "He, at many times overcame obstacles and disasters that would have conquered a less determined man," the obituary stated. The Scranton Times described him as follows, "Mr. Fuller was a very steam engine of effort. He had built up great enterprises… at home he worked many hours every day. When he traveled for alleged rest or recreation his stenographer was with him and he kept in touch with the several plants of his various companies by telephone and telegraph. Ordinary men might envy him his wealth, but they did not appreciate the tremendous physical effort spent in obtaining it."
Edward Laton Fuller died suddenly at Augusta, Georgia, where he had gone to recuperate, on January 20, 1909. He was 57. His wife died September 1, 1911.
Today, Fullers Overlook Farm is a diverse vegetable and livestock farm following "all organic practices," their Facebook page states. They have four season vegetable production, flowers, herbs, pasture raise pork. chicken and eggs, utilizing an ecologically based system. They are represented at various farm markets.
Main sources:
History of Scranton & Its People (1914) by Frederick L. Hitchcock
Collier Engineer, Mines & Minerals, Volume 22, Aug. 1908- July 1909
Genealogical & Family History of the Wyoming & Lackawanna Valleys, Pa. (1906)
The Successful American (Jan. 1902 issue)
https://www.tricountyindependent.com/story/entertainment/human-interest/2017/06/12/industrialist-had-roots-in-hawley/20640235007/
Industrialist had roots in Hawley
Peter Becker Managing Editor
Tri-County Independent
June 12, 2017
Edward Laton Fuller became a wealthy coal and rail baron, and for a time controlled much of the salt mining interests in America. Achieving success in industry in the latter decades of the 19th and early 20th centuries, in more than one biographical account he did not fail to mention his birthplace, Hawley, Pennsylvania.
Born October 10, 1851 to Edward Charles Fuller and Helen (Ruthven), his father was a druggist in Hawley. It has not been determined where he set up shop. It appears, however, that the elder Mr. Fuller might have been the first pharmacist in Hawley. The Fullers arrived here in1851; the Pennsylvania Business State Directory published in May 1850 lists three druggists in Honesdale but none in Hawley.
The mid-19th century was a major turning point for the small village of Paupack Eddy, which became the linked in 1850 to the coal mining region to the west by the Pa. Coal Company (PCC) gravity railroad. The PCC invested heavily in the hamlet, and its name quickly became Hawley for the first president of the PCC. The quickly growing town became centered on the PCC and the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company which loaded the PCC's coal at Hawley. Many tradesmen were attracted to settle here, including, apparently Edward C. Fuller.
Fuller was born in Wyoming, Luzerne County, Pa., in 1826. He was a direct descendant of Dr. Samuel Fuller, who arrived at Plymouth, Massachusetts on the Mayflower in 1620.
The Fullers were wed in 1849. Following a couple years as a rope salesman, Edward C. studied to be a pharmacist, being apprenticed by a Dr. Throop. He became associated with him in the drug business, but when the partnership dissolved in 1851, Fuller came to Hawley.
The 1850 census listed him as a farmer at Exeter, Luzerne County. He was 24; his wife was 21. Their first born child, Charles, was an infant.
Edward Laton was their second child. Also born to them were James and Harry.
Their father was described as a "prosperous wholesale druggist" of Hawley in a 1902 article about his son, Edward Laton Fuller. The Fullers were only living in Hawley about a year.
Went to Scranton
They relocated to Scranton. The family's exit from Hawley may have been on the PCC's gravity railroad which led to Dunmore (which is near Scranton). The PCC gravity railroad regularly hauled passenger coaches and shipped other goods, besides coal.
What had been a small farming village known as Slocum Hollow, new industry was causing Scranton to rapidly grow. Built at first on iron and steel production, coal mining was becoming a major industry in this section. Scranton became a major railroad hub starting in 1856, with the establishment of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. That year the Borough of Scranton became charted as a city.
While his father continued his career in the city as a druggist, his son Edward embarked on an industrial path.
Coal & railroading
After his schooling and having accumulated sufficient capital, Edward L. Fuller invested in coal lands. He sold them and made larger purchases, and came to be regarded as on of the largest individual coal operators in the anthracite region. He owned several mining companies, not only coal but also those that mined limestone and salt.
He nevertheless, failed twice in the coal business. Most of the coal being shipped from the Lackawanna valley was under the control of a cartel of major producers and railroads serving the area. Independent producers, including Fuller, had to sell at the cartel's price in order to have their coal ship. On his third attempt, Fuller led an informal association of the independent producers, planning yo bypass the cartel by building a rail line to the D&H canal.
In 1890, he conceived the idea of an independent railroad to move coal to tidewater, by combining the New York, Wyoming & Western Railroad as a connection with the Erie & Wyoming Valley and the Delaware & Kingston railroad, which he had later organized.
Rails were purchased for this road and work was underway when the plan was defeated by the purchase of the PCC and the Erie & Wyoming Valley Railroad by the Erie Railroad. The news was announced in December 1900.
The cartel had perceived the plan as enough of a threat, to buy out all of the independent coal producers. Fuller also became president of the Genesee and Wyoming Railroad Company.
He had organized the Fuller Syndicate, a group of railroad investors which had acquired control of several railroad companies in an attempt to build a transcontinental rail network. Many others were trying to accomplish the same goal. The syndicate was abandoned due to the Financial Panic of 1907.
Salt interests
Soon after the railroad plan was defeated, Fuller sold his anthracite collieries and devoted his energies to the salt business as well as other interests. In 1892 he organized the Lehigh Salt Mining Co. and soon combined it with all of the New York salt mines in one organization, the Retsof Mining Co.
In 1901 he organized the International Salt Company, which was a holding company of six subsidiaries, including the Retsof operation and other companies in various states. This represented a considerable part of the rock salt and evaporated salt industry in the United States.
International Salt Company LLC is still in operation, and has headquarters in Clarks Summit, Pa. The firm produces winter weather deicing products.
Family
In 1876, he was married to Helen Maria Silkman. They had one son, Mortimer Bartine Fuller (1877-1931).
The Fullers resided at 622 Jefferson Avenue in Scranton. In 1902, he purchased several contiguous farms near Lily Lake at Waverly, Pa., northwest of Scranton, and made a large, working farm for a summer retreat. It became known as "Overlook" and remains in the family to this day. The farm has a commanding view of the Endless Mountains.
Helen Fuller frequently hosted large gatherings at Overlook. She was known as a civic philanthropist, pioneering the concept of free kindergartens and early childhood education. In 1905 the Helen Fuller Kindergarten was one of 25 in Scranton enrolling 750 children.
Mortimer became closely associated in the financial and industrial interests of his father, and was a successful businessman in his own right. His wife Kathryn became hostess of Overlook upon her mother-in-law's death.
"Steam engine of effort"
"Mr. Fuller had the welfare of the city deeply at heart, and was foremost in furthering all projects which could benefit it in any manner," a biographer in 1914 penned. He was on the board of Lackawanna Hospital, and with others, successfully lobbied for the hospital to come under state control. In April 1900 he and James P. Dickson appeared before the appropriations committee in the state legislature for this purpose, and had a meeting with the governor.
Fuller continued as a trustee of the newly formed State Hospital in Scranton. The new hospital would serve Lackawanna, Wayne, Susquehanna and Wyoming counties. He was head of the Municipal League of Scranton and served on the boards of the Scranton Board of Trade, the Chamber of Commerce and Pennsylvania Oral School for the Deaf. He was a trustee at the Second Presbyterian Church in Scranton. To celebrate their silver wedding anniversary, he and his wife funded an addition to the church.
An account written for his obituary remarked that the "dauntless business courage" was probably his most striking characteristic. "He, at many times overcame obstacles and disasters that would have conquered a less determined man," the obituary stated. The Scranton Times described him as follows, "Mr. Fuller was a very steam engine of effort. He had built up great enterprises… at home he worked many hours every day. When he traveled for alleged rest or recreation his stenographer was with him and he kept in touch with the several plants of his various companies by telephone and telegraph. Ordinary men might envy him his wealth, but they did not appreciate the tremendous physical effort spent in obtaining it."
Edward Laton Fuller died suddenly at Augusta, Georgia, where he had gone to recuperate, on January 20, 1909. He was 57. His wife died September 1, 1911.
Today, Fullers Overlook Farm is a diverse vegetable and livestock farm following "all organic practices," their Facebook page states. They have four season vegetable production, flowers, herbs, pasture raise pork. chicken and eggs, utilizing an ecologically based system. They are represented at various farm markets.
Main sources:
History of Scranton & Its People (1914) by Frederick L. Hitchcock
Collier Engineer, Mines & Minerals, Volume 22, Aug. 1908- July 1909
Genealogical & Family History of the Wyoming & Lackawanna Valleys, Pa. (1906)
The Successful American (Jan. 1902 issue)
https://www.tricountyindependent.com/story/entertainment/human-interest/2017/06/12/industrialist-had-roots-in-hawley/20640235007/
Peter Becker Managing Editor
Tri-County Independent
June 12, 2017
Edward Laton Fuller became a wealthy coal and rail baron, and for a time controlled much of the salt mining interests in America. Achieving success in industry in the latter decades of the 19th and early 20th centuries, in more than one biographical account he did not fail to mention his birthplace, Hawley, Pennsylvania.
Born October 10, 1851 to Edward Charles Fuller and Helen (Ruthven), his father was a druggist in Hawley. It has not been determined where he set up shop. It appears, however, that the elder Mr. Fuller might have been the first pharmacist in Hawley. The Fullers arrived here in1851; the Pennsylvania Business State Directory published in May 1850 lists three druggists in Honesdale but none in Hawley.
The mid-19th century was a major turning point for the small village of Paupack Eddy, which became the linked in 1850 to the coal mining region to the west by the Pa. Coal Company (PCC) gravity railroad. The PCC invested heavily in the hamlet, and its name quickly became Hawley for the first president of the PCC. The quickly growing town became centered on the PCC and the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company which loaded the PCC's coal at Hawley. Many tradesmen were attracted to settle here, including, apparently Edward C. Fuller.
Fuller was born in Wyoming, Luzerne County, Pa., in 1826. He was a direct descendant of Dr. Samuel Fuller, who arrived at Plymouth, Massachusetts on the Mayflower in 1620.
The Fullers were wed in 1849. Following a couple years as a rope salesman, Edward C. studied to be a pharmacist, being apprenticed by a Dr. Throop. He became associated with him in the drug business, but when the partnership dissolved in 1851, Fuller came to Hawley.
The 1850 census listed him as a farmer at Exeter, Luzerne County. He was 24; his wife was 21. Their first born child, Charles, was an infant.
Edward Laton was their second child. Also born to them were James and Harry.
Their father was described as a "prosperous wholesale druggist" of Hawley in a 1902 article about his son, Edward Laton Fuller. The Fullers were only living in Hawley about a year.
Went to Scranton
They relocated to Scranton. The family's exit from Hawley may have been on the PCC's gravity railroad which led to Dunmore (which is near Scranton). The PCC gravity railroad regularly hauled passenger coaches and shipped other goods, besides coal.
What had been a small farming village known as Slocum Hollow, new industry was causing Scranton to rapidly grow. Built at first on iron and steel production, coal mining was becoming a major industry in this section. Scranton became a major railroad hub starting in 1856, with the establishment of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. That year the Borough of Scranton became charted as a city.
While his father continued his career in the city as a druggist, his son Edward embarked on an industrial path.
Coal & railroading
After his schooling and having accumulated sufficient capital, Edward L. Fuller invested in coal lands. He sold them and made larger purchases, and came to be regarded as on of the largest individual coal operators in the anthracite region. He owned several mining companies, not only coal but also those that mined limestone and salt.
He nevertheless, failed twice in the coal business. Most of the coal being shipped from the Lackawanna valley was under the control of a cartel of major producers and railroads serving the area. Independent producers, including Fuller, had to sell at the cartel's price in order to have their coal ship. On his third attempt, Fuller led an informal association of the independent producers, planning yo bypass the cartel by building a rail line to the D&H canal.
In 1890, he conceived the idea of an independent railroad to move coal to tidewater, by combining the New York, Wyoming & Western Railroad as a connection with the Erie & Wyoming Valley and the Delaware & Kingston railroad, which he had later organized.
Rails were purchased for this road and work was underway when the plan was defeated by the purchase of the PCC and the Erie & Wyoming Valley Railroad by the Erie Railroad. The news was announced in December 1900.
The cartel had perceived the plan as enough of a threat, to buy out all of the independent coal producers. Fuller also became president of the Genesee and Wyoming Railroad Company.
He had organized the Fuller Syndicate, a group of railroad investors which had acquired control of several railroad companies in an attempt to build a transcontinental rail network. Many others were trying to accomplish the same goal. The syndicate was abandoned due to the Financial Panic of 1907.
Salt interests
Soon after the railroad plan was defeated, Fuller sold his anthracite collieries and devoted his energies to the salt business as well as other interests. In 1892 he organized the Lehigh Salt Mining Co. and soon combined it with all of the New York salt mines in one organization, the Retsof Mining Co.
In 1901 he organized the International Salt Company, which was a holding company of six subsidiaries, including the Retsof operation and other companies in various states. This represented a considerable part of the rock salt and evaporated salt industry in the United States.
International Salt Company LLC is still in operation, and has headquarters in Clarks Summit, Pa. The firm produces winter weather deicing products.
Family
In 1876, he was married to Helen Maria Silkman. They had one son, Mortimer Bartine Fuller (1877-1931).
The Fullers resided at 622 Jefferson Avenue in Scranton. In 1902, he purchased several contiguous farms near Lily Lake at Waverly, Pa., northwest of Scranton, and made a large, working farm for a summer retreat. It became known as "Overlook" and remains in the family to this day. The farm has a commanding view of the Endless Mountains.
Helen Fuller frequently hosted large gatherings at Overlook. She was known as a civic philanthropist, pioneering the concept of free kindergartens and early childhood education. In 1905 the Helen Fuller Kindergarten was one of 25 in Scranton enrolling 750 children.
Mortimer became closely associated in the financial and industrial interests of his father, and was a successful businessman in his own right. His wife Kathryn became hostess of Overlook upon her mother-in-law's death.
"Steam engine of effort"
"Mr. Fuller had the welfare of the city deeply at heart, and was foremost in furthering all projects which could benefit it in any manner," a biographer in 1914 penned. He was on the board of Lackawanna Hospital, and with others, successfully lobbied for the hospital to come under state control. In April 1900 he and James P. Dickson appeared before the appropriations committee in the state legislature for this purpose, and had a meeting with the governor.
Fuller continued as a trustee of the newly formed State Hospital in Scranton. The new hospital would serve Lackawanna, Wayne, Susquehanna and Wyoming counties. He was head of the Municipal League of Scranton and served on the boards of the Scranton Board of Trade, the Chamber of Commerce and Pennsylvania Oral School for the Deaf. He was a trustee at the Second Presbyterian Church in Scranton. To celebrate their silver wedding anniversary, he and his wife funded an addition to the church.
An account written for his obituary remarked that the "dauntless business courage" was probably his most striking characteristic. "He, at many times overcame obstacles and disasters that would have conquered a less determined man," the obituary stated. The Scranton Times described him as follows, "Mr. Fuller was a very steam engine of effort. He had built up great enterprises… at home he worked many hours every day. When he traveled for alleged rest or recreation his stenographer was with him and he kept in touch with the several plants of his various companies by telephone and telegraph. Ordinary men might envy him his wealth, but they did not appreciate the tremendous physical effort spent in obtaining it."
Edward Laton Fuller died suddenly at Augusta, Georgia, where he had gone to recuperate, on January 20, 1909. He was 57. His wife died September 1, 1911.
Today, Fullers Overlook Farm is a diverse vegetable and livestock farm following "all organic practices," their Facebook page states. They have four season vegetable production, flowers, herbs, pasture raise pork. chicken and eggs, utilizing an ecologically based system. They are represented at various farm markets.
Main sources:
History of Scranton & Its People (1914) by Frederick L. Hitchcock
Collier Engineer, Mines & Minerals, Volume 22, Aug. 1908- July 1909
Genealogical & Family History of the Wyoming & Lackawanna Valleys, Pa. (1906)
The Successful American (Jan. 1902 issue)
https://www.tricountyindependent.com/story/entertainment/human-interest/2017/06/12/industrialist-had-roots-in-hawley/20640235007/
Family Members
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