Centennial history of Belmont County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 10

Author: McKelvey, A. T., 1844- ed
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1490

USA > Ohio > Belmont County > Centennial history of Belmont County, Ohio, and representative citizens > Part 10

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Up to the year 1825, corn, wheat and flax, had been the staple crops in the southern part of Belmont County, but when it was discovered that the rich hillsides of the border tier of townships were adapted to tobacco culture, and that the crop was far more remunerative than grasses or grain, it became the staple industry, and soon the log dryhouses became a marked feature of the tobacco farmer's home. The con- tinued cultivation of this exhausting crop has greatly impoverished much of the land in that section and the farmers are turning their atten- tion to sheep husbandry as a means of restor- ing the loss of fertility. Within the last decade, however, the industry became de- pressed by reason of prevailing low prices, and there was a marked falling off in the number of flocks and the yield of wool.

In 1870 the acreage of wheat in Belmont County was 19, 122. And the yield per acre was 12.25 bushels per acre. In 1899 the acre- age in wheat was 25,855, with a yield of 274,- 604 bushels or a fraction over 10 bushels per acre. The average yield of corn per acre in 1870 was 40.10 bushels ; in 1899, it was 30.07 bushels per acre. The census reported 124,070 sheep in Belmont County in 1890, while in 1900 there were but 84,760,-a decrease of 39,310. This decrease arises from causes above stated. In 1890 the wool clip of Bel- mont County amounted to 666,002 pounds, and in 1900 to 426,580, a decrease of 133,422 pounds.

GRAIN, LIVE STOCK AND FARM PRODUCTS.

The accompanying official reports of the live stock and crops grown upon the farms of Bel- mont County in 1900 will be of value as show- ing the marvelous growth of agriculture in the century just closed :

CEREALS.

Corn .895,204 bushels

Wheat

.274,604 bushels

Oats

133,704 bushels

Rye

854 bushels

Barley

572 bushels

Buckwheat

1,047 bushels

The growth of barley and rye as these fig- tires indicate is practically abandoned in Bel- mont County, and the little produced is fed to live stock.

LIVE STOCK.

Cattle 21,850

Mules

374

Sheep

84,760

Hogs 10,805

Horses

7,557

MISCELLANEOUS FARM PRODUCTS.

Pounds of wool produced. .426,580

Pounds of tobacco

.704,452

Bushels of Irish potatoes. .90,658

Bushels of clover seed.

Tons of clover hay. 2,047

6,372

Tons of timothy hay 3,050

Pounds of honey 3.957

Dozens of eggs .752,790

DAIRY PRODUCTS.

Milk produced

. 595,105 gallons

Butter 803,157 pounds

In the cultivation of the crops above men- tioned there were 1,913,426 pounds of com- mercial fertilizers used at a cost of $19,016.

FRUIT CULTURE.

Perhaps no part of the country has acquired a higher reputation for fruit culture than the hills of Belmont County. This is perhaps die in part to the cultivation of such fruits as are indigenous to our soil and climate. Doddridge in his notes says: "In early days blackberries grew in abundance in those places where short- ly before the settlement of the country the tim- ber had been blown down by hurricanes. When ripe, which was in the time of harvest, the chil- dren and young people resorted to the fallen timber in large companies under a guard for the purpose of gathering the berries. Wild

CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF BELMONT COUNTY,

raspberries of an agreeable flavor were found in many places. Gooseberries of a small size and very full of thorns, but of an agreeable taste, grew in some places in the woods. Whortleberries were never abundant in this section but grew in favorable localities.

"Wild plums were abundant in rich land. They were of various colors and sizes and many of them of excellent flavor. The wild plums of late years like our Damson plums fall off prematurely. An indifferent kind of fruit called buckberries used to grow on small shrubs on poor ridges.

"Our fall fruits were winter and fall grapes. Of these grapes we had several varieties and some of them large and of excellent flavor. Black haws grew on large bushes along the bot- toms of small water courses. The berries when ripe are large and make a fine appearance. Wild cherries were abundant in many places and are a very agreeable fruit. The crabapple was very abundant along the small water courses. The fruit of some of these trees were regarded as delicious."

As carly as 1801 the eccentric "Johnny Ap- pleseed" established his first nursery upon the head-waters of the Big Stillwater; thence he traversed the entire county planting seed wherever there was a settlement, furnishing stock to the poor and needy without money and without price.

A UNIQUE CHARACTER.'

We may be permitted to say in passing that many of the choicest apples in existence today originated in the nurseries of "Jolinny Apple- seed." And the fruit growers of Ohio owe a (lebt of gratitude to this philanthropist for his untiring efforts, and unflagging zeal in the cause of pomology. John Chapman, better known as "Johnny Appleseed," was born in the vicinity of Boston, Massachusetts, in 1773, and early became widely known throughout the counties of Western Pennsylvania, West Vir- ginia, and Eastern Ohio, on account of his pas-

sion of producing apples from seed. How he obtained the idea of growing choice apples from seed and finding a sale for his trees is not known, but it is enough to know that before the close of the 18th century he was frequently seen with ax in hand and a bag of apple seeds on his back, wending his way through the set- tlements to the wilderness, there to practice his cherished theory.

His method of operation after securing a suitable situation was to clear away the under- brush, deaden the trees and then sow his apple- seed.

This done he enclosed it with a brush fence, and during the summer cultivated the young trees and looked up suitable places for other nurseries. In the fall he returned to the set- tlement, procured another stock of seeds and at the proper season again wended his way to the wilderness and repeated the previous year's operations.

The Western Country was rapidly settled and as soon as the pioneers made their clear- ings Johnny was ready with his apple trees. The price of the trees was of little consequence. He seemed to derive intense satisfaction in see- ingthem transplanted in orchards. The benevo- lence of this ecentric man was unbounded. He generally went barefooted, but if he had a pair of shoes and saw any one whom he thought needed them he would take them off and give them to the person. Among his many eccentricities was one of bearing pain with the fortitude of an Indian warrior. He gloried in suffering and would often thrust needles and pins into his flesh withont a tremor. Ile hardly ever wore shoes except in winter, but if traveling in summer time and the roads hurt his feet, he would wear sandals and a big hat with one side very large and wide and bent down to keep the heat from his face. He was religiously inclined and at an early day ci- braced the doctrines of Swedenborg. Almost the first thing he would do when he entered a house and was weary was to lie down on the floor with his knapsack for a pillow and his head toward the light of the door or window and he would say, "Will you have some fresh

*From an article in Upper Ohio Valley, written by the author in 1900,

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.

news right from Heaven?" and carefully take out his old worn books, a Testament or two, and several books, exponents of the faith that Johnny so zealously lived.

A prominent nurseryman and pomologist of Ohio in an article published in 1846 thus speaks of "Johnny Appleseed :" "Obscure and illiterate though he was, he was in some re- spects another Dr. Van Mons, and must have been endued with the instinct of his theory. His usual practice was to gather his seeds from seedling trees, and take them from as many different trees as were to be found within the range of his rambles and from those particu- lar trees affording the highest evidence in their fruit that the process of amelioration was be- gun, and was going on in them.

"At first his visits were necessarily extended to the seedling orchards upon the Ohio and Monongahela rivers, but, when orchards of his own planting began to bear, his wanderings westward ceased. It is known that he planted a nursery in Belmont County, but what became of it is now a matter of conjecture."

A REMARKABLE APPLE TREE.

The soil of Belmont County seems peculiarly adapted to the growth and development of the apple, and the trees of a past generation have attained a great age and marvelous dimensions.

The following account of an "old time" ap- ple tree will attest the truth of this statement :

Thomas and Prudence Willians were pio- neer settlers near the present site of Barnes- ville, Ohio, on the farm since owned by the late Peter Sears. In the spring of 1807, Prudence went on horseback, alone, to Redstone, Penn- sylvania, a distance of near 100 miles, a large part of which was a wilderness road. Her purpose was to obtain fruit trees; these she carried home behind her, and planted them her- self. The last one was blown down in a storm Seventh Month 10th, 1896. It was a beautiful tree and had given to a great size.

By measurements taken a few years before it was blown down, it was nine feet four inches in circumference at the smallest point between

the roots and forks, and 10 feet at 18 inches above the ground. It had four large branches, one of which measured four feet in circumfer- ence, another five feet, another five feet two inches, and the other five feet 11 inches ; these measurements were taken at 18 inches from the junction of the forks. It was believed to be the largest apple tree in Belmont County. There were other trees brought and planted but the exact number is not known ; but within the knowledge of persons now living on the farm, there were one pear tree and a dozen or more apple trees, most of which, so far as known, were seedlings.

All bore abundant crops of good fruit. This one outlived the others many years. It was a very beautiful, dome-shaped tree and the own- ers so highly prized this "ancient landmark," though set by hands unknown to them, that the two main parts of the tree, which were showing signs of separating from decay, had been held together for several years by a strong iron rod and chain, obtained for the purpose by the late Peter Sears, who was a great ad- mirer of fruit trees and lover of fruit.

FRUIT YIELD.

The census reports of the yield of fruit in Belmont County in 1899 are as follows :

Cherries, 35 acres yielding. 341 bushels

Plums, 53 acres yielding. 115

Apples, 5,384 acres yielding 119,321

Peaches, 514 acres yielding 51

Pears, 70 acres yielding 719

Grapes, 84 acres yielding. .101,500 pounds

This table indicates the lowest yield of fruit in many years. Tender varieties such as peaches, cherries and plums were almost en- tirely destroyed by frost. The yield of fruit in some townships in the county in 1902 is greater than the above for the entire county.

The destruction wrought by the ravages of codling moth, curculio, and pear blight and rot, has compelled the fruit growers to resort to spraying with insecticides and fungicides as a preventive, and three and often four sprayings a season are necessary to secure a perfect crop

CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF BELMONT COUNTY,

of fruit; and this work is performed with much labor and expense.

In addition to the above reports there are 373 acres devoted to small fruits such as straw- berries, raspberries, currants and blackberries that yielded a total of 13,626 bushels, the larger part of which are strawberries which have be- come a leading industry in many sections of Pease, Pultney, Colerain, and Richland town- ships. In 1889, Barnesville in Warren town- ship was the center of the berry industry of Belmont County, producing alone upwards of 30,000 bushels annually. But the business in that section has been practically abandoned be- cause of limited shipping facilities and remote- ness from good markets. The fruit growers in the townships above named for the most part find good local markets in the cities of Wheel- ing, Bellaire and Martin's Ferry, where the berries are transported in wagons the same day they are gathered.

In the horticultural field several varieties of fruit of exceptionally good quality have origi- nated in Belmont County. Among these I men- tion the Belmont or Gate apple, one of the most luscious and beautiful fall or early winter apples, and very hardy and productive. This originated in the orchard of Judge Ruggles from a seedlingplantedby "Johnny Appleseed." Another profitable apple because of its great productiveness and good keeping qualities is the Bentley Sweet, named after Major Bentley. This apple of late years has been affected with a bitter rot which may be controlled in a great measure, by spraying. Young trees of this variety not over 10 or 12 years of age have borne as much as three barrels of marketable apples per tree, that will keep readily in good storage from October until May.

The Colerain grape, a choice white grape that originated in Colerain township, is highly esteemed because of its great productiveness and delicious flavor.

PRICE OF FARM PRODUCTS IN 1902.

The prices of farm products with the possible exception of wheat are higher at the close of

the first century than at any period in the his- tory of the county. The published quotations on the 8th day of May, 1902, were as follows :

Wheat, per bushel. 75

Corn, per bushel. 75

Oats, per bushel. 60

Potatoes, per bushel. $1 15

Apples, per bushel. 1 50

Timothy hay, per ton.

Clover seed, per bushel. 15 00

8 00

Butter, per pound. 25

Eggs, per dozen.

LIVE STOCK.

Prime cattle, per cwt. $6 50

Prime hogs, per cwt .. 7 15

Prime sheep, per cwt. 5 00

Prime lambs, per head. 8 00

While the prices of farm products are high, the cost of production is correspondingly high. Because of the great demand for men to op- erate the mines, and build the railroads and motor lines in course of construction, farm la- borers are scarce, and good hands receive from $1.25 to $1.50 per day or from $20 to $25 per month with the privilege of homestead, garden and cow pasture free. Whereas at the opening of the century, the best farm labor was em- ployed at 50 cents per day, and regular hands at from $10 to $12 per month.

The progress in the field of agriculture in the century just closed has been marvelous. The sickle, the scythe, the rake and the flail are abandoned for gathering crops, and today on every farm are model binders, mowers and rakes, operated by horse or steam power. Steam threshers are in every neighborhood, and double cultivators, smoothing harrows and drags are in common usage for the cultivation of the soil.

VALUE OF FARMS AND LIVE STOCK.

The value of the farms and live stock of Bel- mont County is placed at $15.789.420. In the last decade the representatives of large capital- ists and coal organizations have been travers- ing Belmont County and purchasing the six- foot vein of coal underlying the farming lands.

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.

Since 1900 the competition among buyers has been very active; as a result fully two-thirds of this coal vein has been sold, at prices rang- ing from $10 to $30 per acre.

By reason of these sales an enormous sum of money, estimated by conservative men at two million dollars, has been paid to the farmers of the county for this single vein of coal, thus relieving the financial embarrass- ment of those in debt and adding millions to the wealth of the farming community.

MINING RESOURCES.

The coal measures of Ohio, and particularly the upper coal measure, can be seen and stud- ied better in Belmont County, perhaps, than any other locality west of the Ohio River. Thomas Emerson, late of Belmont County, and the well known geologist, says: "The Pitts- burg seam of coal underlies the entire area of Belmont County. It is the great seam so ex- tensively mined at Pittsburg, so well known in the iron factories, and which has for years sup- plied so large a part of the coal commerce of the Ohio River. This seam is mined at out- crops in 10 of the 16 townships of Belmont County.

THE DEPTH OF THE SEVERAL COAL VEINS.

"The rise of the stratum towards the North- west brings it to the surface along the creek valleys in Flushing, Kirkwood and Union townships. The same causes together with the great depth to which the stream has eroded makes this seam accessible along Wheeling Creek and its larger tributaries, for the distance of 19 miles from the river; that is, in Wheel- ing, Colerain, Richland and Pease townships. It is accessible all along the eastern border of the last named townships, of course, by virtue of the depth of the river valley, and down the river to Bellaire where the dip carries it below the river level. It disappears below the level of the creek at Franklin station, at which point it is largely mined. In Mead township, near the mouth of Pipe Creek, it again outcrops as

it does also in York township for the distance of five miles along Captina, where the stream crosses the anticlinal. In Washington and Wayne townships, it could easily be reached by shafts at alinost any point along the valley of Captina. On the old Danford homestead near the Wayne township line, an oil well sunk by A. C. Danford, reached the Pittsburg seam at the depth of 39 feet, and the seam is reported to be 1712 feet at this point.

"This is the greatest thickness this seam is known to have. The next greatest, perhaps, is an outcrop in Union township on the land of Isaiah Lee in section 31. Here it reaches a thickness of 10 feet. Its usual thickness is about six or seven feet.

"In Warren township, the Pittsburg coal, if indeed it does not outcrop, would be easily ac- cessible by shaft along Stillwater. Down the Leatherwood, west of Barnesville, a seam the same as mined in the Barnesville shaft, and believed to be the Pittsburg, is mined in hill- sides. In Goshen and Smith, the Pittsburg coal is not seen, but it might, if it were needed. be reached by shaft in either of these town- ships.

"Over the Pittsburg coal, and separated from it usually by four or five feet of slate or soap- stone shales, there is a seam of limestone about 25 feet thick. Between this and the next coal seam above, there is an interval of 30 to 40 feet. This interval is filled mostly with limestone, one bed of which, about six feet in thickness, possesses good hydraulic properties and is known as the Bellaire cement. About seven feet deep, sometimes less, lies coal number eight, a seam usually a foot or eighteen inches in thickness, but sometimes reaching four fect. "Coal number eight C is the third seam in importance of the coals of Belmont County. Lying from 80 to 90 feet above the Pittsburg coal, it is scarcely noted where that seam is accessible, but it outcrops along the creeks, sometimes for many miles after its great neighbor has disappeared, in which cases its true value is recognized. Along Captina it is visible as far as Armstrong's Mills. In Wayne township it is again brought to the sur-

CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF BELMONT COUNTY,

face perhaps by an anticlinal arch, where it is well known as the lloreb coal. On Mc- Mechen's Creek it is known as the Glencoe coal. It is mined along Wheeling Creek above where the Pittsburg seam disappears, as far as the crossing of the Uniontown & Flushing Turn- pike. At Flushing it is now known as the Tunnel seam.

"Between coal number eight C, and the next seam above number nine, there is an interval of about 70 feet, though it seems to be as little as 40 feet at some places, and as much as 85 feet at others. This interval is filled with a greater variety of strata than any other series of equal extent in the county. It contains the famous Parker cement, with a great variety of limestones, sandstones and slates. Coal number nine is a comparatively thin and un- important seam, but it is reported by Professor Stephenson of the State Survey to be very per- sistent and seldom less than 30 inches thick. In the Barnesville shaft, it is found in its proper place immediately over the limestone series and is two feet thick. After the forma- tion of coal number nine, it appears to change to some point west of the Ohio and southwest of Belmont County.

"Coal number to, known generally in Bel- mont County as the Badgersburg coal, and in Guernsey and Noble counties, as the Cumber- land coal, is second in importance only to the Pittsburg seam, of all the coals of the upper measure. It is accessible in those townships where the Pittsburg seam is not.

"Within this body, about 75 feet above coal number 10 in Goshen township, lies a fine flag- stone formation. Coal number 11, the next in order, is an unimportant seam either thin or so split up with slate as to be of little value. In Goshen township, where it seems to be best de- veloped, it is usually found to be nearly four feet thick. Thirty-five or 40 feet above coal number HI in the western part of the county is coal number 12. Coal number 12 is a much thicker and better vein than coal number 11. It is mined extensively and-is valned higher by the farmers of the ridge sections.

"Above this and separated from it by an in-

terval of sandstone is coal number 13. This seam is seen in the hilltop (generally double ) as far north as Morristown and St. Clairsville. It thickens toward the south, till in Washing- ton township it reaches a thickness of six feet. Above coal number 13 at an interval of about jo feet there is a six-inch seam of splint coal which has been supposed to be the highest seam of the county, but there is an 18-inch seam of the Upper Barren measures at least 25 feet higher than this but it is of little importance.

"A deep well recently drilled, one and one- half miles northwest of Flushing, gives the fol- lowing record : The Pittsburg seam of coal was struck at 97 feet, 60 feet of limestone being passed through in the interval. At 595 feet a coal seam seven feet thick was reported and another seam five to six feet thick was found at a depth of 700 feet, and still a third seam, three to four feet thick at 815 feet. From the above discoveries we can scarcely estimate the wealth of the mineral resources underlying our lands."

THE PIONEER COAL SHIPPER.

Up to 1830 the mining of coal was for do- mestic purposes only, and little or no value was attached to it for shipping purposes. In 1832 Capt. John Fink, an old steamboat man who was familiar with the demands of the trade for coal in Southern cities, began to build coal boats for the purpose of shipping coal to the New Orleans market. Mines were opened near the mouth of MeMechen's Creek, and Captain Fink became the pioneer in the coal shipping industry of Belmont County. As illustrating the primitive and laborious methods employed in the mining of this coal, we need only men- tion that the bulk of it was shoveled into carts and reshoveled into flatboats, which upon the rise of the river were floated to New Orleans to be used in furnishing heat for sugar re- fineries. These boats were unloaded by deck- hands who carried the coal off in a barrel at- tached to a rope bail, which swung over a pole on the shoulders of two men.

The Heatheringtons followed in 1837. Jacob

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.

Heatherington and his family of four sturdy boys rented a coal bank from Captain Fink and bought eight acres of land upon which to carry on operations. These men were skilled English miners of experience and they operated the mine with great profit, supplying passing steamers with thousands of bushels of coal daily, in addition to what was furnished the homes and factories of the growing city of Bel- laire. From this humble beginning Mr. Heath- erington in 1870 had accumulated a large for- tune, and had built himself an imposing resi- dence at a cost of $35,000. Until the opening of the Cleveland & Pittsburg, Baltimore & Ohio, and Cleveland, Lorain & Wheeling railroads, the mining of coal for shipment was confined to the operations along our river front.

Today there are upwards of 50 square miles of the six-foot vein of coal along the line of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad that is being mined and loaded into cars by gravitation, while along the line of the Cleveland, Lorain & Wheeling road there are over 100 miles of this same Pittsburg coal vein in operation, that is likewise loaded by gravitation.

These mines yield tens of thousands of bushels of coal daily, and employ an aggregate of nearly 3,000 miners, that receive for their labor a total of $170,000 per month.

These figures do not include the coal on Cap- tina, which is a comparatively undeveloped field, nor the many thousands of bushels of coal mined and consumed daily in the operation of the numerous mills and factories along our river front.

THE MINES IN OPERATION IN 1902.

The commercial mines in operation in Bel- mont County at the opening of the 20th century are the Crescent mines, the Boggs' inines, the Maple Hill mine, the Taggart mines, the Flush- ing mines, the Wheeling Creek mines, the Echo, Black Diamond and Ohio and West Vir- ginia mines, operated by the Troll Brothers on a branch of the Baltimore &Ohio Railroad; the Standard and Glen mines, along the same road; the Captina mine near Armstrong's

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Centennial history of Belmont County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 10

Author: McKelvey, A. T., 1844- ed Publication date: 1903 Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1490

Author: McKelvey, A. T., 1844- ed
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1490