USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > Columbus, Ohio: its history, resources, and progress : with numerous illustrations > Part 25
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OHIO HAS A LIKE SOURCE OF WEALTH.
Such is the economic value of coal. Now, how stands Ohio in regard to this combustible? Our state geologist, Professor Newberry, states that the productive coal area of Ohio, is not less than ten thousand square miles, and is probably nearly one- third of her whole area. It far exceeds the coal-fields possessed by any European nation, except Great Britain, and is quite equal to hers. We have seen the source of England's immense wealth and overshadowing power. We have in Ohio the same source of wealth and power ; all that is required is to put forth the will- ing hand and develop it. As has been said, the annual coal product of Great Britain is one hundred million tons, while that of Ohio, with as large a coal area, is only about four million tons. The people of Ohio have thus an inexhaustible treasure upon which they have scarcely begun to draw. Let it be at least uncovered.
LOCATION OF OHIO'S GREAT COAL-FIELD.
But in what portion of the State does this great treasure lie ? By an examination of the map appended to the first report of the Geological Survey of Ohio, it will be seen that the entire coal-field of Ohio lies in the eastern and southeastern part of the state, beginning at the north with Mahoning county, and erminating with Lawrence county at the south, having the
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counties of Stark, Holmes, Coshocton, Muskingum, Perry, Hock- ing, Vinton, and Jackson, on its western and southwestern boundary, and the Ohio river for its opposite limit. Here is the coal-field of Ohio, equal in extent to that of Great Britain, while from the former is drawn annually only one twenty-fifth part of the amount drawn from the latter.
COLUMBUS AND THE CENTRAL COAL-FIELD.
The geological map also discloses the fact that, viewing this great coal-field in its length from north to south, Columbus is situated directly opposite the center and within two or three hours by rail, not only of that center, but of the best and most productive portion of the entire field. There is no other city so situated that can be at all compared with it in population, in wealth, enterprise, or resources, and none within a hundred and fifty miles of this great coal center, that has, or is likely to have, leaving out of view the disadvantage of a distant location, the ability to compete with the capital and central city of Ohio.
COAL AND IRON.
In our advanced state of civilization, coal is essential, nay, indispensable for use as fuel for the production of steam and the manufacture of iron. Through its agency, as applied to these uses, citics in recent times have sprung up, in a day as it were, and become wise and enlightened, rich and powerful. There is nothing to hinder Columbus from becoming one of the greatest of such cities but her neglect or inability to grasp and wicld the mighty engine of progress lying at her very door.
It is one of the wise provisions of a bountiful Providence that, in this central mining region of which Columbus is the natural outlet and focal point, both coal and iron are found in great and, for aught that is known, in inexhaustible abundance. Thus we have within easy access, and as near as could be wished in order to approach the mineral center in all desirable directions, from this city as a focal point, the two great agencies of modern wealth and progress-coal and iron. Of the latter and its con- nection with the interests of our city, we shall speak hereafter. For the present we will present a few facts bearing on a min-
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eral, whose development must precede and accompany that of iron. The great deposit of coal in the immediate vicinity of Columbus, as it were, and easily accessible for mining and trans- portation, and known by various local names, as the "Nelson- ville coal," the "Straitsville coal," the "Sunday Creek coal," the "Upper New Lexington coal," the "Great Vein coal," the "Hay- denville coal," the "Lick Run coal," etc., is described in the Geological Report, as the
NELSONVILLE OR STRAITSVILLE COAL.
This seam of coal is spoken by Professor E. B. Andrews, of the Ohio geological corps, as one which will doubtless prove to be the richest in the State. At the time his first report was made, in 1870, of the geological survey of the second district, compris- ing the coal-field in Southeastern Ohio, south of the line of the Central Ohio railroad, he had not found the limits of the hori- zontal range of that coal-seam, either in Muskingum county to the north, or in Athens county to the south. It was everywhere of good working thick ness, and over a large area it measured from six to eleven feet. It was found to be thinner in the north, but on Sunday and Monday creeks, in Perry county, it was eleven feet, and on the Hocking, in the vicinity of Nelson- ville, it was seldom less than six feet. The professor had no doubt that it was one continuous seam, as it not only held uni - form relations to the lower rocks, from the Logan sandstone up, but it had, moreover, been traced from hill to hill throughout nearly the whole distance.
The professor had yet to trace the seam south of the Hocking hills, between them and the Cincinnati and Marietta railroad, but knew it to extend to a considerable distance south of Nel- sonville. It dips below the Hocking river, not far from the mouth of Monday creek, but is reached by shafts at various points as far down the Hocking as Salina and Chauncey.
THICKNESS OF THE SEAM.
Professor Andrews, in his first report, gives some measure- ments of the seam which are interesting. At Nelsonville and vicinity, the coal measured from six feet to six feet four inches.
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In Green township, Hocking county, near the northwestern outcrop of the seam, the coal was a trifle thinner, measuring in total thickness five feet seven inches. The seam, in its northern and northeastern extension, grew thicker.
At Straitsville, Salt Lick township, Perry county, the seam measured eleven feet. In the same township, the following measurements were found on different farms: nine feet ten inches, eight feet four, and nine feet four inches.
South of Straitsville, on the Snow fork of Monday creek and its tributaries, the coal was everywhere largely developed. The measurements on the lower part of Snow fork showed six feet of coal. Near the head of the east branch, in Salt Lick town- ship, Perry county, the " big seam " was seen largely developed. No measurement was taken, but the coal was claimed to be eleven feet thick. From this point, crossing the high ridge to the northeast, the geologists came down into the west branch of Sunday creek and found coal in the low valley. There it ranged from six to eleven feet in thickness. At Gaver's mill, and on adjacent land, near Coal Dale post-office, Salt Lick town- ship, the seam measured six feet two inches ; half a mile above, the coal was seven feet thick and of an excellent quality.
In Monroe township, Perry county, on the west branch of Sunday creek, the coal measured eleven feet. The exposure showed a magnificent body of very superior coal. The coal in this valley generally lies low, but in mining it to the north and northwest, every advantage can be taken of the dip for easy mining and drainage.
On the branch of Sunday creek, running through the south- east section of Pleasant township, Perry county, the coal was found in full thicknesss, measuring at one bank eleven feet two inches, with several clay partings. In this neighborhood the coal lies too low for easy drainage, but the difficulty can be ob- viated. A. vast body of coal in the hills to the north can be mined up the dip from this valley. There is scarcely any limit to the coal, which is rendered accessible by the various branches of Sunday creek in Pleasant, Monroe, and Salt Lick townships. The great body of high lands which constitute the divide be- tween the waters flowing south and those flowing north through
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Jonathan's creek into the Moxahala and Muskingum, and west through Rush creek into the upper Hocking, is doubtless under- laid with this coal. The coal-seam constitutes a vast sheet of eleven feet in maximum thickness in the south, but gradually growing thinner, to four and five feet, in its northern outcrop along the Zanesville and Cincinnati railroad. Professor An- drews says the value of the upper Sunday Creek valley, as a coal-field, can not be overestimated.
North of Straitsville, the higher grounds take the coal. Two and a half miles east of Maxville, in Monday Creek township, Perry county, the coal measured, to the roof of the entry, seven feet eight inches. To the northeast, the coal extended through the hills, and was seen not far from Bristol, in Pike township, Perry county. There the thickness was four feet two inches, with the usual partings.
The Nelsonville seam of coal, which has been traced into Mus- kingum county, has a very extensive range. It had been traced, at the time Professor Andrews' first report was made, over a belt of country forty miles long, and averaging twelve miles wide. To the northwest, the coal rises in the hills and disap- pears. To the east and southeast, it dips below the valleys. The deeper the valleys the greater the southeastern extension of the coal.
Speaking of this seam of coal, which he says has the open- burning character, Professor Newberry, chief geologist, speaks of it as the "Hocking Valley Coal," found fifty or sixty miles southeast of Columbus, and over an area estimated by Professor Andrews, who had carefully studied that district, of not less than six hundred square miles, maintaining a thickness of from six to eleven feet, with a remarkable uniformity and purity of composition.
QUALITY OF THE COAL.
Professor Andrews, as well as Professor Newberry, classes this coal among the dry open-burning or furnace coals that do not coke and adhere in the furnace, and can be used in the raw state for the manufacture of iron.
The small percentage of ash ; the unusually complete combus- tion, giving a fine blaze and little smoke ; the large percentage
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of fixed carbon giving great heating power, and the small amount of sulphur to create in combustion unpleasant sulphur- ous fumes, all combine to render the coal of this great seam one of the very best known coals for household use. For the gen- eration of steam it is highly esteemed. It has been used in roll- ing mills at Columbus and Marietta with strong approval.
One of the most important practical questions connected with this coal is its adaptation to the smelting of iron. It has been seen that the percentage of sulphur is relatively small ; that the ash is small, and that the amount of fixed carbon is large. It is also a dry-burning coal, and can be used in the furnace in the raw state. Where the seam is thickest, six or seven feet of the coal can be obtained, which, in all the qualifications named, would be remarkably adapted to be used in furnaces in the raw state.
After a careful examination and comparison of the analyses made by Professor Wormley, chemist to the Ohio geological corps, of numerous specimens of this coal from the leading mines in Perry, Hocking, and Athens counties, Professor An- drews states his conclusion, in an emphatic sentence, which he italicizes, thus :
" That the time is not far distant when the coal of this greatest of Ohio coal-seams will be largely used in the manufacture of iron, there can be little doubt."
The New Straitsville coal has been introduced into the Colum- bus gas-works as a gas-coal. At first thought, the fact that the sulphur in the coal passes off with the gas, a fact which fits the coal admirably for furnace use, would seem to militate against the idea of using the coal for gas-making. It is found, how- ever, that the gas possesses such remarkable illuminating power as to more than compensate for the extra expense and trouble of purifying it. The illuminating power of the gas, according to the photometric tests of Professor Wormley, the state inspector of gas, ranges from seventeen to nineteen sperm candles, with an average of eighteen candles. The power of the gas from the Youghiogheny coal, the standard gas-coal of the Western States, is, by the same tests, from thirteen to fifteen candles. Mr. G. Douty, the superintendent of the Columbus gas-works, states
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that by his photometer he also finds the illuminating power of the New Straitsville gas to be on an average of eighteen can- dles, while the average of that of the Youghiogheny coal is but fourteen candles. The great advantage in brilliancy, added to the comparative cheapness of the coal, will more than counter- balance the other defects of the coal as a gas-coal.
This, in regard to the coal of the great seam as a gas-making coal, is the result of new investigations briefly referred to in the second geological report, published in 1871. These investigations were made in the New Straitsville region, and were called for by the building of a branch railroad from Logan to that district, and the opening of several extensive mines, where the seam of coal is from ten to eleven feet thick. The coal from this new mining district had been considerably used in the blast-furnace and in gas-works. Professors Andrews and Wormley visited the mines, and together selected samples of coal to represent the different portions of the seam from roof to floor.
The result of the analysis of these samples, as to the illumi- nating power of the gas, has been already stated. From the same analysis, and a comparison with the furnace coals of England, it was seen that the Straitsville and Nelsonville coals do not contain sulphur enough to injure them for use in the blast-furnace. Pro- fessor Andrews states in his second report, as the result of his re- examination, that there are doubtless areas in the coal-field where more sulphur will be found, for no seam of coal is every- where free from visible sulphur; but it can not be doubted that, as a rule, the coal-seam, where it is best developed, in the Hocking, Monday Creek, and Sunday Creek valleys, will serve an admi- rable purpose for iron-making. The fact that the finest No. 1 foundry iron has been made from this coal, proves conclusively the capabilities of the coal in this respect.
CONCLUSION.
We may here fitly conclude this branch of our subject in the language of Professor Andrews, slightly modified. The geo- graphical situation of Columbus, with a vast coalless district ex- tending north and northwest of it for hundreds of miles, its ac- cessibility to this great coal-seam of enormous quantity and
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superior quality, and with rare advantages for mining and draining, make our city, as a point for profitable enterprise and investment, worthy the attention of the people of the State, and of iron-masters and capitalists everywhere.
COLUMBUS COAL-MINING COMPANIES.
The several coal-mining firms of this city employ 1,145 miners, and have invested in the coal business a capital of $1,466,000. The number of tons of coal mined in 1872, amounted to about one million. This large amount was brought to this city, and a greater portion distributed to different points in this State and the West, and also to Canada.
PETER HAYDEN .- The mines of Peter Hayden, of this city, are located at Haydenville, Hocking county, fifty-four and å half miles distant from this city. Mr. Hayden's coal-vein is six feet thick. He is represented here by Charles H. Hay- den, at the Post-office Arcade, and at Nos. 8 and 10 East Broad street.
W. B. & F. S. BROOKS .- The mines of W. B. & F. S. Brooks, of this city, are situated at Nelsonville, on the Hocking Valley railroad, distant from this city sixty-two miles. The coal-vein is six feet and three inches in thickness. Mr. Brooks & Son are represented here by themselves in person. Office, corner High and Rich streets.
T. LONGSTRETH .- The mines of T. Longstreth, of this city, are located at Nelsonville, on the Hocking Valley railroad. His business is represented here by himself, at his office, No. 106 North High street.
Mr. Longstreth's coal-vein is six feet thick.
THE STRAITSVILLE MINING COMPANY .- This company is represented in this city by D. F. Suydam, No. 2 East Town street. Their mines are located at New Straitsville, Perry county, on the Hocking Valley Branch road, about sixty-seven miles distant from this city. The thickness of the coal-vein is ten feet and four inches. The lands of the company are said to be also rich in iron ore.
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E. A. FITCH & Co .- The mines of this firm are situated at Nelsonville, Straitsville, and Lick Run. Their vein of coal is from seven feet to eleven and a half feet in thickness. The firm is represented here by E. A. Fitch and Wm. McCrory, at No. 3 North High street.
THE STRAITSVILLE COAL AND IRON COMPANY .- This company was incorporated May 1, 1869, with a capital stock of $250,000, divided into shares of $100 each. The incorporators were: M. G. Mitchell, W. B. McClung, S. Baird, A. G. Conover, R. E. Neil, J. C. Knight, Wm. F. Staunton. Officers were elected May 3, 1872, as follows: Directors-William Dennison, B. E. Smith, W. B. McClung, A. G. Conover, James M. Kinkaid; president, W. B. McClung; secretary and treasurer, Gordon Moodie.
The company's mines are situated at New Straitsville, Perry county, distant from this city sixty-two miles. Their coal vein is eleven feet and a half thick. Their business office in this city is located at 221 North High street. Their representative here is James Patterson, at the Columbus and Cleveland Railroad freight office.
IRON RESOURCES.
If coal lies at the base of modern civilization and progress, it is iron that rears the superstructure. We have read of the iron age in Roman literature, but ours is justly styled the iron age, because that metal has come into such universal use among civilized men and contributes in so many ways to human ad- vancement. The extent of its manufacture and the uses to which it is applied, make iron symbolize in the present, as it has in the past, the stage to which a nation or community has attained in subduing the elements of nature, and making them minister to the purposes, the convenience, and the happiness of man.
The increased and increasing manufacture of iron, and the manifold uses to which it has been and is likely to be applied, form the great distinctive feature of this latter part of the nine- teenth century. In some of its innumerable forms, it helps, gratifies, and blesses all. As it lends a bright color to the blood
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and imparts vigor to the body and mind of man, so it enters into all the departments of our material life, strengthening, supporting, and embellishing all .
INCREASE IN IRON MANUFACTURE.
It has been clearly established that the development of the iron manufacture is dependent upon the growth of popula- tion and the spread of civilization. In 1855, to go no further back, the annual production of iron in the world had reached about seven million tons, of which Great Britain produced one-half, and the United States one-seventh. The average con- sumption of Great Britain was one hundred and forty-four pounds; of the United States, eighty-four pounds, and of the whole world only seventeen pounds per head of the population. The estimate, by A. S. Hewitt, a competent authority, for the present year (1872), is that the annual production of the world will be double that of 1855, or reach fourteen million tons, to which Great Britain will contribute one-half, and the United States one-seventh as before. In the meantime the consumption in England has risen to two hundred pounds; in the United States to one hundred and fifty pounds, and in the whole world, to thirty pounds per head.
As the last seventeen years have doubled, it is safe to esti- mate that the next seventeen will double the world's annual production of iron, so that in 1889 it will amount to twenty- eight million tons. Should Great Britain continue, as hereto- fore, to supply one-half of the annual product, there will remain fourteen million tons to be made by the rest of the world. The bulk of this additional product can only be supplied by the United States. As the resources of this country for the manu- facture of iron have hardly begun to be developed, and as Great Britain can not possibly maintain her rate of increase, owing to the limits of labor and raw material that she must soon reach, it is argued by Mr. Hewitt, who has devoted both time and ability to the careful study of the subject, that such will be the increased demand for iron, and such the development of the means for its cheap and rapid production in this country, that
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we shall annually produce ten million, and probably fifteen mil- lion tons before the close of the present century.
" This means," says Mr. Hewitt, " that twenty-five million to forty million tons of iron ore shall be annually extracted from our mines, and that our coal production will reach one hundred million tons per annum, required for iron and other branches of industry. It means that an investment of capital to the amount of five hundred million dollars at least, and probably one thou- sand million, shall be made in opening mines, erecting works, and supplying the requisite machinery of production."
SHALL OHIO SHARE IN THE IRON MANUFACTURE?
The question presents itself: Shall Ohio, already rivaling, or about soon to rival the most advanced of her sister States in many other productions, take her share in this great iron in- terest? She may not be so richly endowed as some other parts of our common country in iron ores, but she has a fair portion of these, and has the means in her hands to supply any defi- ciency. She has an inexhaustible coal-field, so easily worked and so situated that the richer crystalline ores found in other States must inevitably be brought within her borders to be smelted and manufactured. "It is certain," says our state geol- ogist, "that nowhere can an abundant supply of mineral fuel suitable for smelting the Lake Superior ores be so cheaply ob- tained as in Ohio."
But we are told by the authority just quoted that in the varie- ties of iron ore usually found associated with coal, Ohio is richer than any of those States that share with her the great Alleghany coal-basin. Her iron district is in the main identical with her great coal-field, and, like the latter, includes the eastern and southeastern part of the State ..
COLUMBUS AS AN IRON CITY.
Columbus is situated, in regard to the iron territory of Ohio, precisely as she is in respect to the coal-field. For both, she is the natural outlet and point of concentration. There is no other city in the State possessing such unequaled facilities and such natural advantages for becoming the great iron-producing and
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commercial city of the West. The rich agricultural territory that surrounds her, the manufactures of textiles and fabrics that will inevitably spring up when required, and her capacity for expanding her limits, and for building houses and other struc- tures to any extent desired, will enable her to sustain a popula- tion equal to that of any city in the Union, and afford ample room for all the processes of manufacturing industry, and the en- terprises of trade and commerce. Already the iron manufac- ture has opened up in our city with the fairest prospects of suc- cess. Capital will flow in, and the infant manufacture will soon be increased a hundred-fold; our population will be doubled, trebled, and quadrupled, and our prosperity be placed on a secure and immovable basis, as soon as our advantages, present and prospective, in respect to coal and iron, are under- stood. Once fairly started in the iron manufacture and trade, success is certain.
From Columbus, as a center, railroads now radiate and others will soon radiate, penetrating the great mining region at all de- sirable points, and affording for its rich products cheap and quick transportation. Besides, railroads are in operation, and others will be shortly, that will bring to our city such iron ores from the West and Northwest as may be desired to use with the native ores of Ohio for the manufacture of the finer grades of malleable iron and steel. Such are some of the advantages for the transportation of ores and fuel that Columbus offers to the iron-master and the capitalist.
We have already spoken of the rich and apparently inex- haustible coal strata lying at the very threshold of Columbus. It is now in order to detail briefly the iron ores lying in similar close proximity to a city destined to be the greatest iron mart west of the Alleghanies.
THE VARIETIES OF IRON.
In the great coal and iron district of Ohio, according to Pro- fessor Newberry, are found all the varieties of iron that are ever associated with coal-blackband, kidney ore, stratified ore, or, as it is termed, black ore, and, in less abundance, brown hema- tite, the hydrated peroxide of iron. Blackband is a bituminous
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