Herman Samuel MacMinn. was nine years old when he went to East Bradford, Chester County, to live with his grandparents, April 16. 1858. He remained there for seven years when he returned to Williamsport.

He was educated in the common schools. Dickinson Seminary* and Williamsport Business College, finding his talents and an inheritance from his father. He worked under the latter supervision for four years, and was his father’s assistant in the making of surveys and the first map of Wildwood Cemetery, at Williamsport. He also worked from the bottom upward on the surveys, location and construction of the old Winslow Colliery Railroad, a length of 248 miles between Milton and Franklin, of which his father was chief engineer, becoming his assistant.

In the summer of 1867, he spent three months on preliminary surveys in the Eastern Shore of Maryland, for the Baltimore & Potomac Railroad. In March, 1870, going to Philadelphia, to accept a position as principal assistant engineer on the North Pennsylvania Railroad, in which he s])ent four years, at the end of that time he became assistant to the chief engineer on the Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad, from the Delaware River to Bound Brook, a distance of twenty-eight miles, in the state of New Jersey. Mr. MacMinn then built the Trenton Branch of the same road, being engaged in this engineering enterprise for two and one half years.

He then came to DuBois and for a year was in the employ of John DuBois, afterward, as division engineer on the construction of the Pittsburg and Lake Erie Railroad in charge of the western division.

Mr. MacMinn was, later, appointed general inspector of masonry and assistant engineer in the construction of the Pittsburg, Youngstown and Toledo Railroad, after the completion of this road he entered the employ of the Andrews Brothers, iron manufacturers of Youngstown. Ohio, and in their interest spent three months in the wilds of the northern Peninsula of Michigan examining some ore lands.

From there they sent him to the ore ranges in North Hastings County, Canada, where he discovered and opened up a small mining property, which proved to be small pocket of ore and was exhausted after about nine months operation.

Mr. MacMinn then went east to New York City in the interest of Mr. W. C. Andrews, to secure sites for the location of stations, for his steam plant which he was introducing for heating and power purposes in that city; this being accomplished, after a few weeks, Mr. MacMinn was sent again to Northern Micliigan to explore some lands on the Marquette Range, and again on the Menominee Range, where considerable time was spent with Diamond Drills.

In the meantime Mr. Andrews had his steam system installed and put into practical operation, he obtained the privilege of laying the pipes on Fifth Avenue, when he sent for Mr. MacMinn to take charge of the new work as assistant engineer, this engaged his time for fifteen months, when the Kings County Elevated Railroad in Brooklyn had obtained their charter to construct that road on Fulton Avenue. Mr. MacMinn was engaged in the location of the line from Fulton Ferry to East New York, a distance of about five miles. This work required about fifteen months, and construction was commenced only to be delayed by injunction proceedings, this, by the way, only prevented the work from going forward, for about a year, when the injunction was dissolved by the court; however, at the beginning of the delay Mr. MacMinn left Brooklyn and returned to DuBois, when in a short time he was engaged by the Andrews Chapin & Co., of Youngstown, Ohio, and Duluth. Minnesota, to examine the iron ore ranges north of Lake Superior, those of Vermillion and Mesaba Ranges, and at the head waters of the Mississippi river.

After a year spent in these regions, through a winter when the mercury was as low as fifty-two degrees below zero, Fahrenheit, and the summer temperature very high, exposed to the tormenting poisonous bites of the insects and miasmic atmosphere of forests and marches, camping out and making long journeys in canoe, and tramping Indian trails after many months, which was making inroads on his hitherto robust constitution, he resolved to make a change.

The opportunity came unexpectedly, in the oflfer of a position as assistant engineer on the Chicago & North Western Railroad with headquarters at Madison, Wisconsin. This appeared, on reflection, as a delightful change, and the ofifer was accepted.

The several roads in Wisconsin making up the division over which Mr. MacMinn was placed, included 800 miles; careful semi-annual inspections were required, a great deal of new work was carried out, numbers of men employed, and separated at long distances, and being entirely unfamiliar with the road heretofore, it required great exertion and constant work, from sixteen to eighteen hours every day. This was a task endured for nearly a year, when it became no longer endurable and Mr. MacMinn resigned his position and returned to DuBois, where he was engaged by Mr. John DuBois to make a survey of the DuBois estate, including nearly 20,000 acres in Clearfield County; also by Mr. A. C. of Lock Haven, for the survey of the Osbom Baum and Carrier lands, including several thousand acres in the vicinity of DuBois and Falls Creek.

During the time of this work and the years that followed, Mr. MacMinn was engaged almost constantly in various lines of work in his calling, in borough work, sewers, water supplies, town plots, and the location of the DuBois Electric Street Railway.

In the fall of 1896, Mr. MacMinn planned and located a private water supply for Mr. DuBois, one of the most complete to be found anywhere. The length of the line is about two and one quarter miles; fifteen hundred and forty-two feet of this passes through a ridge of solid rock by a tunnel but four feet high by three feet wide; the work was started in November at both ends and worked continuously for five months (except Sundays). But two men could work together on account of the contracted space. The headings came together on Wednesday at noon April 21, 1897.

A short distance below the tunnel a reservoir was constructed in a ravine, covering an area of two and two-thirds acres, containing 4,500,000 gallons, the water of the finest quality is obtained from fifteen springs and small streams flowing from the sandstone formation of Boons Mountain, nearly seventeen hundred feet above sea level, and conveyed through eighteen and twenty-inch vitrified pipe.

At the tunnel, which is sealed at both ends, the water is allowed to flow freely over the rock bottom which has a fall of but a quarter of an inch in every sixteen feet; at the end of the tunnel the water is again taken up and conveyed to the reservoir in a pipe. Each tributary line of six-inch pipe has for its inlet a small reservoir, receiving-box, arranged with settling basin, trap and screens to prevent any floating substance from entering the line, along the main line at several places are sediment basins. Each inlet reservoir is carefully fenced with wire to prevent any approach to the water. From the main reservoir the water is conveyed to the town a distance of about three miles.

In May and June of 1896, Mr. MacMinn made a survey for a railway line from DuBois to Centreville over Boons Mountain, a distance of eighteen miles, to determine the feasibility of reaching the timber tracts Mr. DuBois owned on Hicks Run in Elk and Cameron Counties; this project was abandoned and it was determined subsequently, to build up that stream from its mouth, Mr. MacMinn making the reconnoisance of this Route in April, 1902, from which he followed it up with the location.

To reach the distant lines of the several timber tracts several switch back tracks have been required, and the removal of the timber has been progressing since that time. The almost constant demand for some manner of work has deprived Mr. MacMinn of times usually allowed as vacation and recreation has been of rare occurrence with him, the only one of which he can recall with any degree of satisfaction was a trip to the Pacific Coast in the summer of 1891, occupying three months time.

Mr. MacMinn made the study of geology and mineralogy a pastime and his collection is on a large scale, his opportunities for collecting curios appealed to his fancy and these are in great number, along with his interest in Indian relics, compose a museum full of varied interest. The gathering together of all this collection was but the passing of many hours in strange lands and in the wilderness, away from home and friends, in an agreeable and contented frame of mind, and with it all his life has been a busy and useful one.

H. S. MacMinn was married first to Miss Mary Louisa Fowler, a niece of John DuBois, in Christ Church, Williamsport, Pa., November 23, 1875; she died without issue February 28, 1894.

Mr. MacMinn married secondly January 1st, 1869, Miss Cora F. Fisher, a daughter of William P. Fisher, of Unionville, Centre County, Pa. They have two children : ^larjorie and Dorathea. Mr. MacMinn first united with the Dutch Reformed Church, at Seventh and Spring Garden Streets, Philadelphia, in the year 1870, after coming to DuBois He and his wife united with the Presbjterian Church, his present wife [1911] is a member of the Society of Friends, [Quaker] of the Baltimore Yearly Meeting.

In politics Mr. MacMinn is a Republican and is now a member of the School Board and of the Building Committee. The family residence is on the corner of DuBois Avenue and Fourth Street, DuBois.1091


*Dickinson Seminary was a preperatory school for Dickinson College which became Lycoming College located in Williamsport, PA. The two institutions were closely related during the nineteenth century when they were both affiliated with the Central Pennsylvania Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 906