USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > Cleveland, past and present; its representative men > Part 32
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Mr. Rhodes became early interested in the coal business, his first enterprise being in company with Messrs. Tod and Ford, in 1845, at the old Briar Hill mines, from which they raised and shipped by canal about fifty tons per week. This was considered a good busi- ness. In two or three years business increased to a hundred tons daily.
In 1846, another mine was opened in Girard. This was followed by the Clover Hill mine in the Tuscarawas Valley, previous to the opening of which the firm was changed by the death of Mr. Ford. The next opened was the Clinton mines in the Tuscarawas Valley. Then a mine in Fairview, Wayne county, which was the last large transaction with Gov. Tod as partner. In about 1855, Tod and Rhodes dissolved partnership, Mr. Rhodes taking Clover Hill, and Gov. Tod all the rest of the interests.
Whilst developing his coal interests, Mr. Rhodes made important discoveries of iron ore, the first being veins of black band ore, very similar to the English and Scotch, though richer. The veins of this ore in Tuscarawas are from five to fifteen feet thick. He also discov- ered and worked a vein of mountain ore that will also run from five to fifteen feet thick, and is easily mined, one miner being able to mine twenty tons per day after the earth has been removed. Mr. Rhodes spent several months in the ore fields of Scotland and Eng- land in 1868, and found the veins there not over two feet in thickness.
In the Tuscarawas Valley property, Mr. Rhodes has found seven
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veins of coal, five of which are very good, and he has worked the whole of them. There is also as good fire-elay as any yet discovered, the finest grade being pure sandstone, which stands fire as hearth- stones in furnaces better than any other. Shell ore, block ore, and limestone also exist in abundance. The iron enterprises in which Mr. Rhodes is interested are the Tusearawas Iron Company, formed about 1864, of which Mr. Rhodes is president. This company have three or four thousand acres of mineral land in the Tusearawas Valley, and the works have a capacity of a hundred and fifty tons per week ; also the Dover Rolling Mill Company, of which Mr. Baker is president. It makes all sizes of merchant and small T rail iron, having a capacity of about fifteen tons per day.
He is largely interested in a mining company near Massillon, having three engines and three openings there, and can mine a thousand tons of coal per day as soon as the road from Massillon to Clinton is completed. This will be the shortest coal bearing road, -for blast furnace coal-to Cleveland, by fifteen miles, for it connects with the Cleveland, Zanesville and Cincinnati Railroad at Clinton, thence to Cleveland by Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad at Hudson. A company was formed and sunk some eight hundred or nine hundred feet, within three miles of Canal Dover, on the line of this company, and found salt water of the very best quality, the water itself being almost strong enough to preserve meat. There is coal within twenty rods of the wells at ninety cents per ton, whereas in Syracuse and Saginaw they have to use wood, at a cost (at the former place) of seven dollars per cord. Mr. Cass, President of the Fort Wayne Railroad, and J. N. Mccullough, of the same and of the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad, are heavily interested in the road connections adverted to above.
At Fulton, three miles below Clinton, is another coal company in which Mr. Rhodes is interested. This mine yields about three hundred tons per day, and could double that amount if there were sufficient transportation. There are two engines and two openings at this bank.
Mr. Rhodes is also interested in three mines at Marseilles, Will- mington and Braceville, Illinois. He has taken a hearty interest in all improvements, and especially in the matter of railroads. He was interested in building the Northern Division of the Cleveland and Toledo Railroad, and was on the executive committee.
D. P. Rhodes and H. S. Stevens built the West Side street rail- road, and equipped it. He was also largely interested in building and
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equipping the Rocky River railroad. He is also interested in the Cleveland and Zanesville railroad project.
Dr. Upson, of Talmadge, and Messrs. Philpot and Camp were in the coal business when Mr. Rhodes commenced, and they have all disappeared. They only then received about one boat load of fifty tons per week by canal, whereas, the firm of Rhodes & Co. now handle from ninety thousand to one hundred thousand tons per year.
Mr. Rhodes has built his docks in this city, two of them are the largest on the line of the river. About seven hundred men are employed on works in which he is heavily interested, but nothing troubles him. He says : " If the men don't dig the coal or iron, they don't get paid for it, so I take it easy, and am giving my attention to farming. I have a stock farm of five hundred and forty-four and a half acres at Ravenna that I run myself, and I have another of eighty acres adjacent to the city, rented for gardening, and still another of twenty-six and a half acres, out on the Detroit road where I intend to build me a home to live and die in, if I do not die away from home." He is now only fifty-three years old, hale and hearty, and seemingly good for another score or two of years.
He has four children, the oldest and youngest being daughters. The oldest is the wife of M. A. Hanna, of the firm of Rhodes & Co. The oldest son, Robert, is a member of the same firm; the other son, James, has just returned from a long visit to the mineral fields of Europe and attending lectures on metallurgy and mining. By his observation and studies he has acquired an extensive knowledge of the old world and the modes of working mines. The youngest daughter, Fanny, is at school at Batavia, New York.
In 1867, Mr. D. P. Rhodes and J. F. Card being tired of the sale department of their coal business, and having immense interest in mines that required close attention, gave up their sale business in Cleveland to Rhodes & Co., a firm consisting of G. H. Warmington, M. A. Hanna, and Robert R. Rhodes, who are receiving and selling both coal and iron, the same as the old firm.
The sales of coal by the firm for the past two years amounted to one hundred thousand tons per year; together with a large trade in pig iron and ore. The Willson Bank and Massillon and also Briar Hill grades of coal are principally handled by this firm, who are also operators largely in the Pennsylvania anthracites.
The ores passing through Cleveland to supply the manufactories of the Mahoning Valley are from Lake Superior and Canada : the Canada ores forming quite an extensive item. The firm keep for sale
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many varieties of pig iron, the most considerable being that of the Tuscarawas iron, but including also the Lake Superior and Salisbury irons.
The business of the firm averages one million dollars per year, and extends through the entire chain of lakes, having agencies at Chicago and Milwaukee, and also on Lake Superior ports. The Chicago trade is steadily increasing, for which there are two or three good reasons, to wit: The city is growing very rapidly ; the Illinois coals are very inferior to those of Ohio, and the local demand for the product of the Illinois coal fields is very large, owing to the scarcity of wood.
DAVID MORRIS.
The importance of biography as a branch of historical literature is indisputable, and long before reaching this portion of our work the reader must have realized the truth, that in the life of the individual can be seen mirrored not only his individual struggles, " but all man- kind's epitome." The trouble, trials and labors of the one are but specimens of the struggles of the many who have to fight the battle of life, and who go down to their graves unchronicled. From the story of those whose experience is recorded, may be gleaned lessons of hope under the most discouraging circumstances, of perseverance amid difficulties, and assurances that labor and faith will eventually conquer. These lessons are forcibly taught in the history of the subject of the present sketch.
David Morris was born of respectable parents, in Sirhowy, Mon- mouth county, on the border of Wales, July 9th, 1819. His opportu- nities for acquiring an education were limited, but such as they were he made the most of, and obtained sufficient knowledge of the ordinary branches to enable him to successfully carry on business in after life. When about twenty years of age he emigrated to the United States, landing in New York, October 4th, 1839, in company with his mother
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and the remainder of the children, his father having arrived earlier, for the purpose of seeking a location. The first stop was made in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, thence they removed for a short time to Llewellyn, and afterwards to Primrose, Schuylkill county.
In 1841, he left his parents and went to Middlebury, Summit county, Ohio. He at once commenced digging coal for Mr. Philpot, with whom he had been acquainted in Wales. After a few months he commenced driving team on the railroad, and continued in that capa- city for about two years. The zeal and ability shown by the young man attracted the attention of his employer, and proved of signal assistance in pushing forward the work. So marked was the interest exhibited by Mr. Philpot in his assistant, that he favored a closer connection, and in 1843, his daughter, Dorothy Philpot, was married to David Morris. The young wife was a lady of more than ordinary good qualities, and the union proved a source of unfailing happiness, Mrs. Morris being not only an exemplary wife and mother in her home, but by her counsel and assistance materially advancing the business interests of her husband.
In 1847, Mr. Morris, in connection with W. H. Harris, contracted with Lemuel Crawford for mining the Chippewa bank by the ton. After two years, he took the management of the work for Craw- ford & Price, the latter having purchased an interest. He then went to Girard to work his own mines at that point. The coal being of an excellent quality, and the demand constantly increasing, these mines became a source of great wealth, engrossing large capital, and giving employment to a host of workmen. Instead of the one mine which he found, his original enterprise, his estate now comprises the Mineral Ridge mines, which have been worked about eighteen years, and have yielded about a hundred and fifty tons per day ; the Girard mines, worked about the same period, and yielding two hundred tons daily; and mines at Youngstown, which have been worked eight years. The pay roll of these mines now bears about $12,000 per month, and the freight bills on the railroad average $3,000 per week. The coal is mostly brought to Cleveland, whence it is shipped to Chicago, Milwaukee, Haniilton, and Toronto, a large amount going to the latter place.
In 1856, Mr. Morris moved to Cleveland, the amount of business transacted with this city making this step prudent. Here the firm of Crawford, Price & Morris was formed, which subsequently became Price, Crawford & Morris, and finally Morris & Price. On the 15th of February, 1862, he died in the forty-third year of his age.
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Mr. Morris was active, industrious, and unfailing in his watchfulness over the interests in his charge, both when an employee and when an employer. His industry set a good example, which those under him were induced to follow, and in this way labors which would have wearied and discouraged men with a less energetic and industrious manager, were performed with cheerfulness. He was a man of few words, but his manner and acts spoke more forcibly than words, and his men learned to obey and respect an employer, who, instead of ordering and lecturing them, quietly showed them how he wished a thing by setting about it with them. He was careful to restrain his passions, and to act from judgment instead of from impulse. In this way he was not only successful in business, and respected by his business associates, but possessed the esteem and confidence of his workmen, who, when he lay in his last illness, gathered anxiously to learn every item of intelligence that could be learned in regard to his condition.
Mr. Morris was simple and unpretending in his habits, and of a religious turn of mind. He felt his obligations to God, and during his later years, especially, was diligent in his attention on Divine worship. In the closing days of his illness, he was constantly engaged in prayer, and departed this life in the assured hope of a peaceful and joyous hereafter.
The disease that carried him off was typhoid fever, with which he was at first seized in Cleveland, where he lay at his residence for some weeks. On his partial recovery he visited Girard, where he suffered a relapse, and after a lingering illness, died at the residence of his parents. He was buried in Youngstown cemetery, the funeral exercises being attended by one of the largest assemblages of friends ever congregated at that place on a similar occasion.
It was feared that with his death the operation of his works would cease and a large number of people be thus thrown out of employ- ment. But a short time before his death he had expressed the desire that the works should be carried on after his departure the same as before it ; "because," said he, "to stop the work would do much harm to others and no good to us." Mr. Morris appointed his wife, Mrs. Dorothy Morris, and Mr. Robert McLauchlan, executors of his will, and trustees of the estate. Mr. McLauchlan, who had been for a number of years engaged with the firm previous to the death of Mr. Morris, and therefore familiar with all its business detail, had the additional qualification of being an able financier, and possessing a practical knowledge of all branches of the coal interest, and above
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all, a character for unimpeachable integrity. His administration has been eminently successful.
Mr. Morris left a wife and six children to mourn his loss, the eldest of whom, Mary, is now the widow of the late A. V. Cannon, and the second, William, is a member of the firm of Ward, Morris & Co., coal dealers. The third, John, is engaged at one of the estate mines, at Niles, Ohio, the rest being quite young.
W. I. PRICE.
W. I. Price was born in Nantiglo, South Wales, May 21st, 1823, and came to the United States with his father when about twelve years of age. His father settled at Paris, Ohio, where the subject of this sketch remained until he grew up to man's estate, when he removed to Cleveland, and was engaged as book-keeper with Messrs. Camp & Stockly. The confidence of his employers in his business ability and integrity was soon manifested by their sending him to Chicago as their agent in the coal business. His stay in that city was marked by several severe fits of sickness, and he was eventually compelled to leave that post and return to Cleveland.
Soon after his return he became interested with Lemuel Crawford, in the business of mining coal, in the early development of which branch of trade he filled a conspicuous and important part. He often related, after the coal interest had assumed large proportions, the dificulties to be surmounted in introducing coal as an article of fuel, especially on the steamboats. Frequently he has sat up all night watching for the steamers to come in, and then almost gave away coal in order to induce their officers to use it.
The firm of Crawford & Price was formed in 1850. With persistent energy it continued to push its coal business until it assumed consid- erable proportions, when, in 1856, Mr. David Morris became a partner, and the firm name was changed to Crawford, Price & Co., and again in 1858, to Price, Crawford & Morris. In 1857, the firm of Price,
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Morris & Co. was established in Chicago, and Mr. Price was, during much of his time, actively engaged in the extensive coal transactions of that firm.
Mr. Price was married to Miss Harriet Murray, who died in 1 50, after two years of married life, leaving one child, which only survived her three months. He was married again August 27, 1856, to Miss Caroline Anderson, of Manchester, Vermont, daughter of Rev. James Ander- son, of the Congregational church.
Being in ill health at the time of his second marriage, Mr. Price, with his wife, took a trip to Europe, visiting his old home in Wales, and returned with his health so much improved that he was scarcely recognized by his friends.
The year 1857 was a most trying time for business men. Mr. Price's labors were arduous in the extreme ; his energy was unbounded, and the labors he was compelled to perform doubtless so over-taxed his strength that he had not sufficient vitality to recover.
In the Fall of 1858, he had the first serious apprehensions for his health. A bronchial difficulty from which he suffered, was aggravated by traveling and exposure, and in the Spring of 1859, he went to New York for advice. He was told to make another trip to Europe. This advice was followed, but he returned very little benefited. After a few weeks he started with his wife on a tour south, intending to remain there during the Winter. Reaching Charleston, S. C., about the middle of November, he remained but a short time, and then set out for the Sulphur Springs, at Aiken. Here he improved rapidly, but as the cold came on, and the accommodations were poor, it was thought advisable to go further south. At Savannah he remained a short time, and after wandering from point to point, arrived early in February at New Smyrna, where a large company of English hunters made their headquarters. Here they found better food and accom- modations. After wandering through the South until about the middle of May, they returned to New York, where they were met by the partner of Mr. Price, Mr. Morris, and Mr. Price's brother Philip. The latter accompanied them to Manchester, Vermont. The moun- tain air of that region stopped the cough of the invalid, and from Thursday, May 17th, to Monday 21st, he was able to sit up, and was attending to business with his brother all the morning of the last named day. A friend from Brooklyn called, and with him he con- versed for half an hour. On rising to bid him good bye, he was seized with hemorrhage, and asked to be assisted to bed. He never spoke more, and died in fifteen minutes. His remains were brought to
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Cleveland and interred in Erie street cemetery, but were afterwards removed to Woodland. The last illness of Mr. Price was borne without a murmur.
Mr. Price was modest and retiring in manner, affable in disposition, and benevolent to a fault. He was most beloved where best known. In business circles his integrity was proverbial, and his financial ability everywhere acknowledged. Few men have died so sincerely regretted by those who knew him.
James Anderson Price, the only child of the subject of this sketch, was born April 22d, 185S, and though yet very young, presents in personal appearance and disposition an exact counterpart of his father.
D. W. CROSS.
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In the Spring of 1855, when the coal trade of Cleveland was, comparatively, in its infancy, and before the Mahoning Railroad was built, the late Oliver H. Perry and David W. Cross set about investi- gating the coal deposits in the Mahoning Valley, which resulted in their making some leases of coal lands, and in purchasing a coal tract of about one hundred and fifty acres. known then as the old Heaton coal bank, of Mineral Ridge coal. In January, 1856, Perry, Cross & Co. commenced operations in earnest, opened an office and coal yard on Johnson & Tisdale's dock and mined and brought to Cleveland the first cargo of Mineral Ridge coal. It came by the way of the Penn- sylvania and Ohio canal from Niles, Trumbull county, Ohio.
At that time, when a gold dollar was only worth a dollar, the coal was mined at forty cents per ton, the canal freight about one dollar and seventy-five cents per ton, " dead work," handling, dockage, &c., about seventy-five cents, making the total cost of that coal on the docks in Cleveland ready for delivery, about two dollars and ninety cents per ton.
This mine produced about a hundred tons per day. The company that year also received about eight thousand tons of Briar Hill or "block coal" from Powers' bank, about two miles below Youngstown. This coal was also brought in by canal boats.
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In the year 1859, Hon. Henry B. Payne, who had an interest in the original purchase of coal lands, with a view of establishing his son, Nathan I'. Payne, in business, bought the entire interest of Mr. Perry in the concern, and the business was continued in the name of D. W. Cross & Co. Mr. N. P. Payne, then an active young man just from his collegiate studies, took charge of the retail trade, and I-aar Newton had charge of the books. In 1860, arrangements were made with the late Lemuel Crawford to run his Chippewa and Briar Hill mines in connection with the Mineral Ridge mines, and it resulted in forming the company known as Crawford, Cross & Co., for one year, at the expiration of which time the firm of Cross, Payne & Co., com- posed of D. W. Cross, Nathan P. Payne and Isaac Newton, carried on the business. This firm made extensive explorations for coal. They discovered and opened the Summit bank coal mines, near Akron. built a locomotive railroad three miles long to the canal at Middle- bury, and to the Cleveland & Zanesville and Atlantic & Great West- ern railroads; repaired the feeder canal from Middlebury to Akron. built a basin capable of holding eight canal boats, extensive sliutes, docks, &c., capable of handling four thousand five hundred tons per day. This coal tract includes between three and four hundred acres. The coal is a superior quality of the Massillon grade, about four and a half feet thick, and for steam, manufacturing and domestic uses is claimed to have no superior. The company employed at this mine from seventy-five to a hundred and fifty men ; built extensive shant works for elevating coal to the surface ; erected about forty comforta- ble tenements for the workmen and miners, and, in short, used all their past experience to make this a model mine. It is the nearest coal bank to Cleveland now open.
They also, in connection with the late W. A. Otis, Charles A. Of and James Lewis, leased and purchased several hundred acres of coal lands in Brookfield, Trumbull county, Ohio, and opened the extensis works known as the Otis Coal Company's bank.
A shaft on this tract was sunk to the coal eight by sixteen feet an i a hundred and fifty-five feet deep, in sixty-one days by Isane Halten !. superintendent, through solid rock, said to be the quickest work ever known in the valley. This tract produces an excellent quali. of the Briar Hill grade of coal; a locomotive railroad contrets a with a branch of the Mahoning Railroad, and the works are capusb e of mining and raising three hundred tons of coal per day.
In February, 1867, Mr. Cross retired from the business, and the present firm of Payne, Newton & Co., composed of N. C. Pode
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Isaac Newton and Charles J. Sheffield, now carry on the extensive business of the entire concern. They have ample facilities for mining and handling five or six hundred tons of coal per day.
After the completion of the Cleveland & Mahoning Railroad the Pennsylvania and Ohio canal was abandoned, the Railroad Company having obtained control of the stock, and fixed so high a tariff as to cut off all competition with themselves. This effectually killed the canal, except that portion between Akron and Kent. The active trade on this part of the Pennsylvania and Ohio canal will insure its preservation, and as it is an important feeder (supplying water and trade) to the Ohio canal, the State will undoubtedly take possession of it. The capital invested by this concern in the coal trade is about $250,000.
Since his retirement from the coal trade, Mr. Cross has been actively interested in the Winslow Car Roofing Company and the Cleveland Steam Gauge Company, both carrying on their manufac- tories in Cleveland.
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Religious.
LTHOUGH originally settled by people from Connecticut, Cleveland was not in its early days distinguished for its religious characteristics. Old inhabitants narrate how in the infancy of the settlement the whisky shop was more frequented than the preaching meeting, whenever that was held, and how, on one occasion, a party of scoffing unbelievers bore in mock triumph an effigy of the Saviour through the streets. A regular meeting of infidels was held, and burlesque celebrations of the Lord's Supper performed. Still later, when the business of slaughtering hogs became an important branch of industry, it was carried on regularly, on Sundays as well as on week-days, and as this was a leading feature in the year's doings the religious observance of the day was seriously interfered with during slaughtering season. Trade on the river, in the busy season, went on with but little regard for the Sundays, except that Mr. John Walworth invariably refused, although not a church member, to conform to the usage of his neighbors in doing business on that day. Unlike the modern emigrants from New England, the Cleveland pioneers did not carry the church with them.
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