USA > Indiana > Greene County > Biographical memoirs of Greene County, Ind. : with reminiscences of pioneer days, Volume I > Part 16
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24
No. 3, Cincinnati Ore .- In the vicinity of the little town of Cincinnati, in the eastern part of the county, the ground in many places is profusely covered over with fragments of ore, even on the tops and slopes of the high- est ridges. About two and a half miles northeast of the
291
GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA.
town is a U. S. G. S. B. M., marked eight hundred and . fifty-three feet. The mark is in a steel plate imbedded in a large piece of sandstone at the top of the ridge. Ore is found at this level, but there are no workable deposits.
On the east side of Cincinnati the ore outcrops in the shale along the sides of the ridge, and these outcrops follow around the ridge to the south of the town and more or less ore is found fringing the hills to the west and also to the north. The elevation of the town is a little lower than the surrounding hills. The elevation marked on a telephone pole by the store at the turn of the road is eight hundred and twenty-five feet. Another U. S. B. M. at an elevation of eight hundred and eighty feet is marked on a steel post about half a mile south of Cin- cinnati at a fork in the roads.
On the Starling Hudson farm in the southwest quar- ter of section 28, south of Cincinnati, is to be found con- siderable ore intermixed with the shale. This deposit of concretionary ore covers about forty acres. It is to be found in a thickness of more than ten feet in some places, but in no compactness that would be considered a work- able ore. It is, however, very interesting geologically. At an elevation of seven hundred and seventy-five feet a thin bed of very fossiliferous limestone outcrops. Above this the ore is a constituent of the shales and sandstone : below the ledge of limestone the ore is concretionary and contains fossils or fragments of fossils, which have been replaced from the limestone fossils.
-
292
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
.
Deposit No. 4 .- On Anthony Williams' land, north- east quarter southeast quarter, section 21, township 7 north, range 4 west, is a deposit with an average thick- ness of five feet, and has an exposed frontage of two hun- dred and fifty feet. This is a brown, highly siliceous ore, which owes its origin to the filling of the sandstone with iron from mineral charged waters. Three drill holes were put down on the low ridge above the deposit.
Across the road is another deposit of red hematite, which is in compact nodular masses imbedded in the clay. The excavation shows over five feet of this ore.
On the Miller farm, southwest of Williams's, ore similar to the above is also found.
In the table of analysis sample No. I was taken from the siliceons ore, and sample No. 3 was from the red hem- atite deposit, but does not include the clay, and sample marked No. 10 is from another outcrop of the siliceous deposit on the southeastern point of the hill about forty rods from the first deposit.
Deposit No. 5 .- Southwest quarter of section 22, just east of the above deposit, is another opening from which ore was taken in the early days of the iron indus- try. It is a continuation of the deposit of red ore, but probably contains less.clay. The hills do not rise to great height above these ores, and both deposits would require on the average about fifteen feet of stripping. Samples Nos. 4 and 9 show the iron content.
293
GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA.
Deposit No. 6 .- On the John Bryan land, west side of section 9, township 7 north, range 4 west, is a deposit of red siliceous ore exposed to the south side of the ridge facing Richland creek.
The deposit is about forty feet above drainage and at an elevation of six hundred feet. The maximum thick- ness is about fifteen feet, and it has a frontage of more than five hundred feet, but the backward extent is small, as the ridge is narrow and but little trace of ore is to be found on the opposite side. The tonnage would probably amount to about twenty-five thousand tons. A vertical section of the ridge would be as follows:
Sandstone and clay with glacial material 15 feet
Sandstone 25 feet
Iron ore 15 feet
Sandstone 35 feet
Limestone down to creek. 10 feet
The analyses show an iron content of 42.01 per cent. The sample mark is No. 5.
Deposit No. 7 .- Adius B. Hayes's land, section 16, township 7 north, range 4 west. Along the sides of the ravines are large accumulations of kidney ore, some pieces weighing hundreds of pounds. These shales are full of these ores. In the stream below the shales is a ledge of siliceous ore due to the filling of the sandstone with iron. Only a short distance back in the ledge the iron content is to be found. These deposits might be worked out
-
294
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
along with the larger deposits. Sample No. 8, selected specimens from a number of concretions from this deposit.
Deposit No. 8 .- In the southeast quarter of section 4 and the northeast quarter of section 9, south of Sols- berry, are found large blocks of siliceous iron ore, also some outcropping ledges. This ore has been greatly over- estimated. It was recently estimated by a prospector as containing five hundred thousand tons of workable ore. The ore is due to the filling and replacing of the sand- stone, and it is doubtful if this line of deposit will prove to be of any practical value.
1
INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT OF GREENE COUNTY.
BY JOE E. TURNER, Proprictor Linton Daily Citizen.
How innocent were the aboriginal tribes which abided in or traversed this part of God's footstool of the vast stores of wealth that lay beneath the beaten trails of this, a once famous hunting ground; and how ignorant were they of the fertility of the surface which they trod in their pursuit of game, an abundance of which was then to be found in this locality. Not only game which afforded the excitement of the chase was abundant, but also fish and water fowls-a combination of conditions which made this spot, even in those early days, one peculiarly favored by Dame Nature in the lavish bestowal of things which made it a highly desirable place of abode. When deer ran wild over the grassy prairies of Nine Mile and through the virgin forests long since vanished before the woodman's ax, and thickets lain bare by the advance of civilization ; when the wild geese, ducks, turkeys and other water fowls sought recreation and sustenance in swampy regions of the historic old Goose pond-even then this was known as a favored spot on earth.
-
296
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
But the ignorance or innocence of the Indian regard- ing the natural resources other than those which were necessary to his comfort is not remarkable. Many gen- erations of his more progressive and intelligent successors in title to this great hunting ground knew little of the stored-up wealth within the bowels of mother earth, and, had they known, they, in all probability, would have been as unconcerned and passive as the noble red man.
But time, the evolution of human intellect, the in- vention of wonderful machines, the building of great ships and railways, the progress of the arts and sciences-all were necessarily a part of the plan conceived and consum- mated by the Master Architect when he gave the wealth of mineral that is the cornerstone of Linton's destiny.
As "necessity is the mother of invention," so inven- tion is the mother of the discovery and research of things a demand for which has been created by such invention.
The great deposits of coal which underlie Linton and vicinity were here always, yet the black diamonds were locked, as it were, in strong vaults of earth, whose doors were to be opened at the behest of Progress. When the first pound of Linton coal was thrown upon the mar- kets of the country that was the formal introduction to the world of what has proven the richest bituminous coal field in America, and then was set the solid foundation of a city whose future is resplendent with greatness, whose present is that of remarkable activity and progress, and whose past is interesting history.
-
-
-
297
GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA.
Had these been diamond fields it would have meant no more to Linton-possibly less. No commodity has a more ready market-no raw material is in greater de- mand and no mineral is more indispensable than coal. Yet, indiscriminately, as a fuel, no article is so common, but classed for practical uses the grades of coal are varied. Therein lies Linton's distinction and wealth. The product of this field is remarkable in its adaptability to all pur- poses, wonderful in its extent and unsurpassed in accessi- bility. The far-famed fields of the Quaker state are not greater in extent nor do not equal in quality of product the Linton region, though the latter is comparatively new and the industry in its swaddling clothes.
To say that Linton is fortunate is a modest statement of the facts. Not only is the city and vicinity fortunate in possessing the great fields of coal, but in other things as well. No section of country within the great, fertile val- ley of the Mississippi can justly lay claim to better lands adapted to agriculture. Time and progression have also wrought changes in this respect. The drainage of swamps and the reclamation of marshes have added thousands of fertile, fruitful acres to the territory. What were, of but comparatively recent years, bogs and thickets, covered with shrubbery and marsh grasses, are now vast fields of cereal. In truth, the desert tracts have been made to blos- som as the rose and the topography of a great section of country, particularly that for miles south of Linton, has
298
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
been completely changed. What only a few years ago was the resort and playground of fowls and animals is now the home of many a prosperous farmer, whose products are of exceptionally high grade. There is no exaggera- tion in the statement that the value of at least three thou- sand acres of land within close proximity of this city has been increased during the past decade twenty-fold. The taxable valuation of Stockton township, eliminating all reference to mineral wealth, has increased at a remarkable rate. It is a conceded fact that no tract of land is more productive of corn crops than those which have been re- claimed by drainage. Plethoric barns and granaries have taken the place of modest log stables and pens, and the spirit of progress and prosperity has superseded squalor and discontent. In pace with these changes the building of gravel and macadam roads has also been carried on. and now, through formerly impenetrable places, high and dry public roadways are found. Without burdensome taxation a system of gravel roads not equaled by any county south of Indianapolis has been constructed, and all these changes have been wrought within the past few years.
LINTON COAL.
In time the character of the lands surrounding Linton would have commanded sufficient attention of itself to draw investments of foreign capital here, but the coal in-
299
GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA.
dustry ranks pre-eminently above all other inducements, and must be considered the potent factor in the develop- ment of the country and the awakening of the spirit of enterprise in a section previously unknown outside of a limited territory. That the world is now looking toward Linton as the coming city of Indiana is attributable alone to the fact that here lies the broadest, richest fields of bitu- minous coal in America.
Geological conditions such as we have are rare. Not often can an excellent agricultural community boast of additional resources, but this is true with ours.
The greatness of the Linton coal fields does not lie alone in its extent, but in the quality of the product. Sci- entific investigation and practical tests have set at rest the minds of those who were, many years ago, skeptical as to the quantity of Linton coal and its marketable fitness.
The accessibility of the Linton coal and its adapta- bility to general purposes, for cooking, for manufacturing and domestic uses, places it at the head of fuel commodi- ties. It possesses many points of excellence not contained in other fuel, and that the great consumers are fast finding out this fact is evidenced by the growing and unprece- dented demand this season for Linton coal, even at a price much in advance of other coals which had many years been sold on their reputation and not upon their merits. Linton coal will stand the test in any furnace. Nature has provided it with all the elements desired in a good and
-
300
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
economical fuel, and has expunged it of all impurities. making it clean, compact, containing a larger percentage of combustible, volatile matter than most other coals, and yielding a greater amount of licat to a proportionate bulk.
A PECULIAR COAL.
The coal of Western Greene county is, to use the ex- pression of a famous patent medicine man, "peculiar to itself." Geologists call it non-eaking bituminous coal, but it matters very little, from a practical standpoint, what name it may boast; the brawny fireman who shovels it into the furnace is the man who best knows its virtues. He knows that when he puts a shovelful of Linton coal under the boiler every ounce of it goes to make steam. There are no cracking, sputtering pieces of slate and sul- phur, and no bulky clinkers to handle after the coal has burned. Linton coal leaves a white ash and few, if any, clinkers-a most uncommon thing in other coals. But the advantages of the Linton coal are manifold. Aside from its actual heating properties, probably its greatest advantage lies in the fact that it does not disintegrate by exposure to the elements. Some coal, upon being taken from the earth and exposed to air and sunshine or rain, will crumble into slack, or even dust, making it utterly unfit for shipment, or even for use after it has been mined for a few days. Linton coal, however, is as good after
30I
GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA.
it reaches Chicago and other markets, shipped in open cars and exposed to all kinds of weather, as it is the day it comes from the pit. It does not rot nor crumble, but retains its solid, compact form and all its native gases. This is a great commercial advantage, and gives our coal an enviable prestige.
Coal containing sulphur cannot be used in working iron, inasmuch as the sulphur is absorbed by the iron, making it brittle and less easily worked. This also ap- plies to the burning of sulphurous coal in highly heated furnaces, where the sulphur clings to the grate bars, chokes the draft and causes much inconvenience.
Contrary to conditions in many other fields, the coal in the great Greene county basin retains an almost nominal quality throughout the entire district. The coal of the Island Valley mine, the farthest south, to North Summit, or even to the new Hoosier, the northernmost mine sunk in the Linton field proper, varies but little in quality, all possessing the many excellent qualities enumerated above.
A VAST FIELD.
It is by no means remarkable that the mining indus- try in Greene county has reached such enormous propor- tions in the past few years. The output of coal today is treble that of five years ago, and even at that time it was feared by many that the Linton coal field had "seen its
302
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
best days." But if there is any one now who doubts that the development of coal land is only in its infantile form he is a stranger to established facts.
The current report of the state geologist says that coal was mined in Greene county as early as 1840, and many citizens of Linton today can remember when the old Sherwood mine was worked. That was about forty years ago, and there is a depression in the ground yet in the northeastern part of the city, showing the location of the old mine, which was a nucleus around which great mines have been developed. A few years later the Thorp mine was opened south of town on what was then thought to be a magnificent scale, and so following the Thorp mine came the Peewee, or Griffin mine, south of Island City, which was really the first shaft in this section which had anything like modern equipment and steam hoisting apparatus. By these numerous minings in various parts of Stockton township it became known that the country was underlaid with coal, but the superior quality and the enormous quantities of it were not then dreamed of. If the facts were really known no one who possessed a sufficient amount of capital dared invest it in a speculation the outcome of which was an uncertainty. Not until the late Colonel S. N. Yoeman, the real father of the coal industry in Greene county, became interested in the mat- ter. did the actual development of this coal field begin. This was in 1893, when, with a company of capitalists .
GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA. 303
known as the Island Coal Company, he opened up the "Ai" or Island City shaft, equipping it with modern ma- chinery and inducing the Pennsylvania Company to ex- tend the branch road to the mine, the coal company build- ing the roadbed at its own expense. Likewise Dugger & Neal secured its extension to Dugger, where they had a paying, well equipped mine in operation.
But even at that late date no one had the courage to predict that the opening of the coal fields would develop the slumbering, swampy portion of Stockton township into an Eldorado and the antiquated village of Linton into the modern, hustling city it is today.
True, there has been an evolution, but it is not re- markable, inasmuch as capital hesitated until it found be- yond doubt that the natural conditions were here, which only needed the twin brothers of capital and labor to de- velop. Nature has been lavish in bestowing upon the western townships of Greene county great riches, yet it remained for means and men to develop these gifts before the real fruits thereof could be enjoyed.
Would any one have believed in 1885, or even in 1890, that the enormous quantity of one million seven hun- dred thousand tons of coal would be mined and shipped out of Linton in a single year? But it was done last year, and the labor of nearly four thousand men was re- quired to accomplish it. This year, under normal condi- tions, will see an output of two million tons. A corre-
304
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
sponding increase will follow year by year until the coal industry shall have developed from its budding state into the full-blown flower of magnitude which means the gath- ering of other industries and building up of a great county and a greater city.
We know to a certainty that there are now over two hundred square miles of undeveloped coal lands in this vicinity ; we know that what has already been taken out is comparatively insignificant, though laboring men who have produced it, whose homes are here and who spend their money here, have been paid thousands of dollars for their work. Who, then, can fail to see the brilliant future of our city and county ?
Fuel is a great inducement for the location of a great many factories, and while our city has not been as fortu- nate in the past as our remarkable natural resources would seem to merit, there are abundant reasons for the hope that the time is not far distant when we shall locate nu- merous factories to swell our commercial and industrial developments. There is a movement of late which prom- ises great prosperity to coal mining communities-that is, the tendency of factories to leave the larger cities and lo- cate where they may be in close proximity to raw mate- rials. Coal is the chief "raw material" in the manufac- ture of almost all products.
Linton is already recognized as the first coal produc- ing city in the state. Superiority of our coal fields and
305
GREENE COUNTY, INDIANA.
their extent is admitted, and the advantages for the loca- tion of manufactories are unequaled anywhere. Previous to 1901 the Linton field had been at a great disadvantage, compared with other fields, on account of the lack of fa- cilities for moving the output and placing it upon the mar- ket. The condition has been overcome by the completion of new railways, which give us direct shipping facilities to all the great markets. Three direct lines of railway to Chicago, others to the east, west and the south, afford Linton unsurpassed advantages.
In his annual report State Geologist Blatchley, who has, with his assistants, made an exhaustive research of the coal deposits in this section of the state, says that the supply of natural gas is constantly decreasing and that the end of that fuel, at least for manufacturing purposes, will soon be here. He says further that the state of In- diana contains a coal supply suitable in quantity to supply their needs for many centuries to come. Of course the re- port of the state geologist can be relied upon as impartial and correct, and he does Linton the honor of according to it the most advantageous conditions in the state for the location of factories.
There is absolutely nothing that can be said to dis- prove these statements. In fact, the present is fulfilling abundantly the predictions of such men as Colonel Yeo- man, who many years ago pointed out Linton as the com- ing city of southern Indiana, and what the future has in store for western Greene county cannot be easily over- estimated.
Within the past few months ( 1907-1908) a move- ment has begun, backed by ample capital, that promises
20
306
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
even more for this community than the most optimistic citizen had imagined in his mental pictures of the future greatness of Greene county.
The tests of Linton coal for its coke-making ele- ments has progressed to the extent that it is practically assured at this time that within the next two years this entire field will be dotted by ovens, thus furnishing em- ployment not only to the miners of the coal every day in the year, but to hundreds, perhaps thousands, of workmen in the coke industry. Then it will naturally follow that manufacturing concerns, quick to realize our vastly su- perior advantages, will seek locations here. Even now a company of millions of capital is promising to set this great enterprise on foot, and this article, to do justice to the "industrial development of western Greene county," . would need to be revised ere the close of this decade.
-
Joe Most
JOSEPH MOSS.
Standing out distinctly as one of the central figures in the industrial and financial history of Greene county, is the name of Joseph Moss, of Linton. Prominent in local affairs of a business nature and equally so in matters of public interest, with a reputation for distinguished service second to none of his contemporaries, there is to- day no man in the city of his residence more honored, and all who come within the sphere of his influence unite in rendering due tribute to his sterling worth as a neighbor, business man and citizen. The Moss family has been identified with southern Indiana since the pioneer period, the name being closely interwoven with the settlement. growth and subsequent development of Washington and Greene counties. Aquilla Moss, the subject's grandfather, a Kentuckian by birth, settled in the former county prior to the twenties, and about 1825 moved to a tract of land three miles northeast of Linton where he cleared and im- proved a good farm on which he spent the remainder of his life. His wife Sarah Harrah, also a native of Ken- tucky, now lies by his side in an old family burying ground on the homestead which he carved from the wil- derness, and the name of both are honored in the com- munity they helped to establish more than eighty-three years ago. Among the children of the worthy couple was a son by the name of William G. Moss, who was born in November, 1823, in Washington county, Indiana, and
308
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
who married Jennette Rector in 1841, whose birth occurred in 1823, in the county of Lawrence. William G. Moss was reared to manhood on the original home- stead in Stockton township, and in due season became a successful farmer and representative citizen, beginning with forty acres and increasing the same to the home place of one hundred and sixty acres, later acquiring four hundred acres in the same locality, this making him one of the largest real estate holders in the township of his residence. He continued to live on this place until 1854, . when he removed his family to Linton, and two years later he was elected sheriff of Greene county. filling the office by re-election four years, during which time he made his home in Bloomfield. In 1860 he was further honored by being elected to represent Greene county, in the lower house of the general assembly, in which he served one term and in November of the same year he returned to his farm where he spent the remainder of his days, dying on January 30, 1899, his wife following him to the silent land August 7th, of the year 1901. Wil- liam G. and Jennette Moss were the parents of ten chil- dren, seven of whom are living, namely: Joseph, whose name introduces this sketch; Mrs. Sarah M. Turner, Stephen, Barnet S., Rebecca, wife of Alexander Beasley ; Mary E. who married Joshua D. Neal, and Julia R., now Mrs. George E. Humphreys ; the other three dying at ages ranging from three to six years.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.