History of Columbiana County, Ohio and representative citizens, Part 18

Author: McCord, William B., b. 1844
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 912

USA > Ohio > Columbiana County > History of Columbiana County, Ohio and representative citizens > Part 18

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The "Encyclopedia Brittanica," in its edi- tion of 1880, gives credit to the town for being the first user of natural gas, in the following language :

"The city of East Liverpool, Ohio, is en- tirely illuminated, and to a large extent heated, by gas-wells which exist in and around the town. The light is of extraordinary brilliancy, and is so abundant and free that the street lamps are never extinguished, and much of the manufacturing and steam power of the town, which einbraces 22 potteries, giving employ- ment to 2,000 hands, is derived from the gas. The first 'well,' 450 feet deep, was opened in 1859, and up to the present year, 1879, neither it nor any of those tapped at later dates show any sign of failing."

Gas had been found in drilling for salt in the vicinity of Salineville during the first half of the century, and as early as 1850 it had been used for fuel in the boiling of salt along Yellow Creek. Before 1860, Philip F. Geisse, owner of the early-day Fulton Foundry, of Wellsvill >, had obtained gas and salt at a well in the vicin -- ity of Walker's sewer pipe works, established about that time midway between East Liver- pool and Wellsville, and had boiled the brine from the well by the aid of the gas. The new fuel was handled carelessly in those days, and in the latter '50's an explosion of gas occurred at the well in which Mr. Geisse was severely burned. Such accidents were frequent about the salt-wells at that period.' The dangerous gas was not welcomed by the salt drillers.

. In the early '60's a company of East Liver- pool men, headed by Col. H. R. Hill and Wil- liam Brunt, drilled for oil on the "bottom land" in the West End of the town, at the point where for years later a baseball park stood, and obtained, instead of the much d'esired fuel oil,

a heavy pressure of gas. In 1866 Messrs. Hill and Brunt determined to utilize the new fuel, and the two men laid small pipes from the well to their homes, in the upper part of the town. Crude fixtures were put in, and the gas utilized for lighting and in the grates for heating. Still the supply was greater than they could use, and so Brunt extended the pipe to. the engine room of his pottery, on Walnut street, where he used it under the boiler.

The natural gas was a curiosity at that ¿period. Occasionally the river overflowed the bottom land on which the well was located, and for weeks afterward water would drip from the gas jets, being forced through by the irregular pressure. Brunt and Hill decided to drill a second well near the first, and in July, 1877, the old "Bonanza" well was struck. It had seemingly unlimited pressure.

Connelly & Company, of Pittsburg, had or- ganized the East Liverpool Gas Company in 1870, and had built a small plant for the manu- facture of illuminating gas in the following year. But before 1875 Colonel Hill and J. M. Kelly had quietly bought up the stock of the company and taken charge, abandoning the manufacture of gas in that year and turning the product of the well in the West End into the old pipes. So the big "Bonanza" strike of '77 worked up enthusiasm to the highest pitch. The merchants of the town held a celebration, and natural gas became the fashion in the homes of the more well-to-do.

The gas-wells at East Liverpool lasted for over 10 years. Then gas in great quantities was struck in the Miller field, two miles east of Fairview, West Virginia, seven miles from East Liverpool, and the Ohio Valley Gas Com- pany was organized by Pittsburg capital to pipe the product to East Liverpool. An 8-inch main was run from the West Virginia field, crossing the river at East Liverpool. In that day there was no means of controlling the pres- sure at the wells, and a great stand-pipe was erected opposite the foot of Broadway, on the West Virginia side of the river, to reduce the pressure in the pipes. For two years the sur- plus gas roared through this stand-pipe, giving forth a flame 50 feet high. Enough gas was

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AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.

master at this one pipe to supply the entire community for a year, during that period. There were other escape pipes in East Liver- pool, and the gas lamps in the streets burned day and night. The supply was thought to be inexhaustible, and the waste of the fuel was immense. Families were supplied with light and fuel for from $12 to $36 a year-there being no means of measuring the amount of gas used.

The Ohio Valley Gas Company quickly en- tered Wellsville, and in 1886 a second main, IO and 8 inches, was run to East Liverpool from the Beaver County field near Harshaville. In 1887, also, the Bridgewater Gas Company, controlled by Pennsylvania capital, with Mer,- ritt Greene, of Pittsburg, at its head, brought a line into the town from Shannopin, Pennsyl- vania, buying the old pipes of the East Liver- pool Gas Company. Gas flowed from the wells during the first decade by its own pressure, the first pumping station being operated by the Ohio Valley Gas Company at Midway, in 1895. The supply during these early years was a great benefit to the industries of East Liverpool and Wellsville, supplying the manufactories with cheap fuel, and giving the potteries of the ris- ing community a strong, steady heat for the burning of the ware. Early in the '90's, how- ever, the supply seemed on the verge of failure entirely, and many of the potteries returned to the use of coal for fuel. Later, new wells were turned in from the McDonald and other fields, and the supply replenished. The Ohio Valley Gas Company was organized in 1886, Thomas Creighton and the Goodwin Brothers, of East Liverpool, and John N. Patterson, of Pittsburg, being among the prime movers. , February 1, 1896, Charles A. Smith bought the stock of the company, and September 1, 1899, sold it to a company backed by Senator Flynn, of Pittsburg. The Bridgewater Gas Company came into East Liverpool in 1887, and in 1899 sold to the Fort Pitt Gas Company. Later the Fort Pitt sold to the Tri-State Light Company, which was a constituent part of the Manufact- urers' Light & Heat Company. The same year the Ohio Valley Gas Company was taken over by the Manufacturers' Light & Heat Company ;

and in 1905 all the natural gas interests of East Liverpool and Wellsville were in the' hands of this giant corporation, the largest natural gas corporation in the world, having a capitalization of $21,500,000. The stock is held chiefly by Pittsburg and Oil City people. H. B. Beatty, of Pittsburg, was president and H. E. Seibert, also of Pittsburg, secretary.

As many fortunes were lost as were made in the fields about East Liverpool, and Wells- ville during the early days of the excitement, and for years after the wells in the immediate vicinity of the two towns had failed the fever was revived, and drillers ventured forth per- iodically in the hopes of striking fresh veins.

SALEM'S GAS SUPPLY.

In 1903 H. H. Hyland began prospecting for oil and gas in Salem and Fairfield town- ships, and several good wells were struck, particularly in Salem township, to the south of Leetonia. In the summer of 1904 the Hy- land leases had been taken over by the Natural Gas Company of West Virginia, and by the fall of that year the gas had been piped, first into Leetonia and later into Salem, the com- pany having secured as many as 10 strong pro- ducing wells. The gas was utilized by the smaller manufacturing concerns and for domes- tic purposes, fuel and light. August 22, 1904, the first pipes were laid in Leetonia, and by October Ist the mains had reached Salem. Be- fore midwinter seven miles of mains had been laid in the streets of Salem, and many private and business houses had been connected up, together with several of the manufacturing concerns on the "Flats." During 1905 the production continued so strong that not more than two of the wells had been drawn upon for supply at any one time. The gas was secured at a depth of about 900 feet. A new pipe line was laid to Columbiana in the summer of 1905. George Heard was president and G. F. Batch- elor, secretary and treasurer of the company, with headquarters in Pittsburg.

Early in 1902 gas had been found in good quantities on the Fink farm, and an effort was made to secure franchises for piping it

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HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY

into Salem and Lisbon. Meanwhile the Colum- biana Gas Company was organized, and by September 1, 1902, the pipes were laid into Lisbon. The company in 1905 had seven pro- ducing wells in Center and Franklin townships. The officers of the company were: J. F. Stone, Coudersport, Pennsylvania, president ; J. C. Bowen, Buffalo, New York, secretary; J. B. Jones, Wellsville, New York, treasurer; W. E. Donnelly, Lisbon, general manager.

At many places in the county, other than those already mentioned, are found producing gas-wells that owe their existence to the search made for oil. On the farm of J. M. Felger, located on section 2, Fairfield township, is a gas-well that has produced steadily since 1903 with a rock pressure of 225 pounds. In No- vember of that year, Mr. Felger leased the oil right to McCormick & Company, of Economy, Pennsylvania, who found an abundant supply of gas, but no oil. Mr. Felger later bought

out the company and now utilizes the gas in heating and lighting his 9-room house. The supply is so large that he intends forming a company to pipe and sell the gas to the people of the district.

In 1905 nearly every important point in the county was therefore reachetl by the natural gas; and the artificial gas companies estab- lished 30. or 40 years before in Wellsville, Salem, East Liverpool and New Lisbon had given way to the fuel from the earth.

Ohio in 1902 stood third in population in the Union ; second in mineral products, third in agricultural and fifth in manufacturing. And in all of these Columbiana County had played the part of a pioneer during the early days. The State up to 1902, according to the govern- ment census .report issued in that year, had produced 24.4 per cent. of all the petroleum produced in the United States since the begin- ning of the petroeum production.

STEVENSON CO.

OFFICE

THE STEVENSCHEDA

PLANT OF THE STEVENSON COMPANY, WELLSVILLE. (Torn down in 1905 to make way for a new steel structure.)

CHAPTER XI.

IRON AND THE METAL TRADES.

Gideon Hughes' Blast Furnace the First in Ohio-Curious Processes of the Pioneer Manu- facturers-Struggling Foundries of Eighty Years Ago-New Lisbon an Iron Center in the Early Days-"Shipping Iron to Pittsburg"-Gloomy Years of Failure at Leetonia -Foundries at Wellsville-Early Engine-Builders at Salem and Wellsville-Varied Finished Product Industries at Salem-First Tin Plate Ventures Prove Failures-Era of "Trust"' Domination-Columbiana County a Battle Ground in the Great Labor Struggle of 1901-Statistics on Production.

To build his log cabin without a nail, a spike, a hinge-that was the problem that con- fronted the early settler. The weight of manu- factured iron products rendered their trans- portation over the early roads across the moun- tains and into the wilderness next to im- possible ; and this necessity for home-made iron was what urged Gideon Hughes to build the first blast furnace in Ohio.

THE FIRST BLAST FURNACE IN OHIO.

Iron was to be found, cropping out on the surface, in the formations about New Lisbon. The ore was fairly grubbed out of the soil. Blackband and kidney ores, of fairly good ·quality, were found distributed at random amongst the loose .drift of sand, gravel and rock, near the surface-fragments of old veins of ages before. Gideon Hughes was a Quaker. He built his furnace about one mile northwest of New Lisbon, on Beaver Creek, in 1807, turning out iron in the beginning of 1808. This is claimed to have been the first furnace west of the Alleghanv Mountains. Some pig-iron was made. but the ultimate production of the furnace consisted chiefly of plow-shares, dog- irons, flat-irons pots, kettles, Dutch-ovens and

other household utensils used in that day, all made with the help of the little forge which stood beside the furnace.

The machinery was propelled by water power from the creek, and the ore, obtained from the immediate vicinity, was smelted by the use of charcoal, manufactured in sufficient quantity from the wood of the nearby forests. Heavy drafts were made on the surrounding timber and thousands of cords of wood were consumed to get fuel for the furnace. The charcoal was produced in pits of earth, 40 cords of wood being used to each pit.

Stoves for burning wood were a specialty of Hughes' furnace from the beginning. Upon the sides of these stoves were the words, "Rebecca of New Lisbon"-the name Rebecca having been given the furnace by Hughes in honor of his wife. These old stoves were to be found occasionally in the farmhouses of the "back townships" for many years after the stack had gone out of commission. Within 10 years Hughes had in operation at his furnace a tilt-hammer and ' forge, where he made wrought iron. The bellows of both the forge and furnace were propelled by water power, by means of an overshot wheel said to have been 25 feet in diameter.

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HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY

In 1822 Joshua Malin pursuaded Hughes to build a rolling-mill about three miles above the furnace, on the middle fork of the Little Beaver. Here he also erected forges and a new kind of nail machine that had just been introduced into this country. The venture seemed to be prospering, and the product was in great demand throughout this section. To convey iron from the furnace some two miles up the creek to the rolling-mill, it was decided to build a rude railroad along the hill on the west side of the creek, and this was under- taken a year or two before 1830. Hughes had not the money to finance the enterprise on so large a scale, however, and, after being of inestimable service to the early inhabitants in giving them cheap iron products at a time when the slow and laborious transportation from the East made their cost absolutely prohibitive, Giedon Hughes failed about 1830, and left the county, joining the Shakers' society some time later, at Lebanon, Ohio. After Hughes' failure, the furnace was run a number of years by Ben- jamin Wilson, Perry Doyle and others, but was soon abandoned. In 1900 the remains of the stack could still be seen on the bank of the creek-as could also the hillocks in the neighboring hillsides where the surface earth had been worked over in a primitive way in obtaining the iron ore.

FOUNDRIES OF EIGHTY YEARS AGO.

Other nail-mills and foundries followed Hughes' enterprise and New Lisbon gave promise of being an active manufacturing town. Stores were opened up in the vicinity of the furnace, and preparations were made to lay out one section of land nearby in lots. About 1816 Joseph Carroll and John Hessin had made nails in New Lisbon by a crude process. The nails were made entirely by hand, each nail being cut off by a sort of treadle shears, then picked up by hand, placed in a vise, and headed by striking several blows with a heavy hammer. Henry Trunick, who had learned his trade in the nail business at Pipe- town, near Pittsburg, came to New Lisbon in 1822, and with a man named Morse estab-

lished an iron foundry on Beaver street. Morse died a few years later, and Trunick moved to Market street, where he carried on his busi- ness for many years. Several squares east of Trunick's residence, Root Brothers conducted a foundry for several years, but it was de- stroyed by fire about 1843. About the same . time Joseph Wasson also ran a small foundry, and as late as 1849-51 Tinker Brothers con- ducted a sort of general iron works in what they called the "Long Row," at the north end of Jefferson street. They worked in cast and wrought iron, using steam as a propelling power.

"SHIPPING IRON TO PITTSBURG."

The second blast furnace in the county was located on a site chosen on account of the route of that ill-starred enterprise, the Sandy and Beaver Canal, on the argument that it would be a good point from which to ship iron to Pittsburg as well as to points west. And the furnace erected in 1840, in St. Clair township, on the route of the new canal, did actually sell much of its product in Pittsburg during the few years of its operation. It was built by Arnold Downey, a Pennsylvanian, on section 15, St. Clair township, in the valley of Hazel Creek, a tributary of the Little Beaver, about three-quarters of a mile from the village of Calcutta. It was in operation about 18 months, using the kidney and black ores obtained in the neighborhood. Charcoal and bituminous coal were used for fuel. W. S. Potts says in a contribution to the "History of the Upper Ohio Valley" that the furnace made from 12 to 15 tons of pig-iron every 24 hours, and that "the iron was sold in Pittsburg, where it had a good reputation for foundry pur- poses." The failure of the canal scheme was the cause of the abandonment of the project. By a curious coincidence, Andrew Carnegie, later to become the steel king of America, lived with his parents in East Liverpool, a few miles from the scene of this early venture, only a few years later. The Carnegie family spent the greater part of the years 1852 and 1853 in East Liverpool. It is doubtful, however,

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whether the youthful Carnegie knew or cared at that time anything about the struggles of the iron and steel pioneers of old Columbiana.

Ferdinand Keffer built a foundry in East Liverpool in 1838 and operated it for a number of years, but it was in the center and north, rather than in' the south of the county, that the making of iron, and the allied, finished- product industries developed in the early years.

BIRTH OF THE LEETONIA FURNACES.

There were foundries, some of them on a pretentious scale, in the northern part of the county back in the '30's, Salem men having made a name for their town during the early days for finished iron products of the forge and the foundry, but no attempt to enter the furnace and rolling-mill field was made until 1865, when the extensive furnaces at Leetonia were first projected.

The towns of Salem and Columbiana at that time had thriving foundries. East of Salem, in Salem township, were large deposits of iron. ore and a quality of coal, containing 95 per cent. of carbon, especially adapted to the manu- facture of pig-iron. . Smelting furnaces had been proposed there for years, and the comple- tion of the Ohio & Pennsylvania Railroad through the territory in 1851 (the road which afterward became the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago), with the commencement, in 1856, of the Niles & New Lisbon Railroad-which was six years in building-encouraged the boomers to seek capital that would engage in smelting in the vicinity of what was later to become the site of the village of Leetonia. In 1865 the Leetonia Iron & Coal Company was organized by J. G. Chamberlain, of . New Hampshire; William Matthews, of New Lis- bon; William Lee, of Randolph, New York; Judge Sutliff, of Warren, Pennsylvania, and Lemuel Wick, of Cleveland-the company be- ing named "Leetonia" in honor of Lee, the New York promoter. Wick was president and Chamberlain, general manager. The new com- pany purchased 200 acres of land on section 12, Salem township, from John Yoder and Ja- cob Anglemyer, with the right to the minerals

on the Frederick, Roller, Leyman and Kirsch farms. Subsequent purchases were made, until the company owned, 600 acres in fee simple, and the right to the minerals underlying sev- 'eral hundred more.

The company at once laid out a town, and named it Leetonia. In the winter of 1866-67 the blast furnace was built, and it was put in operation in the spring of the latter year. In the same year a second company was organized to build a furnace on the outskirts of the new town, and mainly through the efforts of Will- iam King, of Leetonia, a furnace, known as the Grafton Iron Works, was built in 1867.

In 1869 the Leetonia Coal & Iron Company erected another furnace, and built a rolling- mill, employing a large number of men. The growth of the new community during these years had been rapid. Tenement homes had been built, a company store opened and a bank chartered. So fast had been the increase in population that in May, 1869, it was incor- porated as the village of Leetonia. From a farmhouse in 1865, the settlement had become by 1870 a village of 1,800 souls, and gave. promise, the residents believed, of being one of the leading iron centers in the State.

The company was during this period open- ing up large veins of coal. But the hard times of the early '70's struck .the Leetonia Coal & Iron Company, and in 1872 it was compelled to make an assignment. The town was pros- trated; there was distress in many homes in the months following. In November, 1873, however, the Cherry Valley Iron & Coal Coni- pany was organized to rejuvenate the enter- prise. It purchased all the property and coal and ore rights of the deceased Leetonia Com- pany, and assumed its indebtedness of $850,- 000. Four hundred men were put to work at the two furnaces, the rolling-mill and the mines, and the pay-roll amounted within a few years to $25,000 monthly. But in 1879, the iron business again languished and the works were again closed down. Later on, however, the company resumed and during the decade up to 1900 the works were run the greater por .. tion of the time.

Then in 1900, Pittsburg capital took hold

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HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY

of the enterprise. Under the name of the Cherry Valley Iron Company, the company was reorganized, on May Ist of that year, the president and chief stockholder being Joshua W. Rhodes, son of Joshua Rhodes, of Pitts- burg, the organizer of the National Tube Company ; E. N. Ohl, of Pittsburg, was made vice-president; R. W. Fleniken, also of Pitts- burg, secretary and treasurer, and E. M. Peters, of Uniontown, Pennsylvania, superin- tendent. The new company more than doubled the capacity of the old works during the first few years of its regime, increasing the pro- duction of pig-iron to 70,000 tons annually. The coal mines of the company were operated to an extent of 300 tons per day, the entire output being consumed at the company's coke ovens at Leetonia. The furnaces had been re- built in 1904, and the company was in 1905 by far the most important manufacturer of iron, from the ores, that had ever operated in the county. Lake Superior ore. was being used.

Around the Grafton furnace, which had been built in the latter part of 1867 west of the town, a settlement grew up in a few years that was known as "Grafton." The furnace had been named after John Graff, of Pittsburg, one of the principal promoters of the enter- prise, and it was first put in blast October 9, 1867. Nearly 150 acres of land were pur- chased, lying on both sides of the Pennsylvania Railroad, containing valuable coal and ore de- posits. In a few years the company built a second stack, and increased its production to 2,400 tons of metal per month. For more than 15 years the management continued unchanged, Graff being president of the company and Henry King, secretary and treasurer. From 1885 to 1888 the works were run under the proprietorship of Graff. Bennett & Company. of Pittsburg; from 1888 to 1890, MIcKeefrey & Hofius, and from July 1, 1890. to August I. 1892, McKeefrey & Company were the pro- prietors. At the latter date the Salem Iron Company was organized and took over the property, when the concern entered upon an- other season of almost unexampled prosperity. The furnace was rebuilt in 1894. Only pig-

iron was made, from Lake Superior ore, and in 1905 250 tons daily was the output. The officers of the company in 1905 were: John McKeefrey, president; W. D. McKeefrey, vice-president and general manager ; N. J. Mc- Keefrey, secretary and treasurer; and S. R. Fellows, superintendent.

Misfortune seemed to pursue the metal trades ventures about Leetonia and Colum- biana villages during the early days. Sheets & Holmes were pioneers in the stove-making business at Columbiana, operating a small shop there for several years after 1835. But the business was not a success, and the shop was finally occupied by a smithy. Strickler Broth- ers, however, began an enterprise in 1858 that promised a substantial industry for Colum- iana village, in the manufacture of agricultural implements. In the early '60's grain drills and hay-rakes were made specialties by the company, and in 1865 the business passed into the hands of W. W. Wallace, of Pittsburg, who named the factory the "Enterprise Agricul- tural Works." E. S. Holloway was superin- tendent of the works in 1868, and by 1870 they had increased to four times their original size. In 1873 Alexander Wallace introduced the manufacture of stoves and ranges, but a few years afterward, on August 2, 1877, the entire factory was destroyed by fire and was never rebuilt. . \ new foundry was built a year or two after to replace the burned works, but it was never put in operation.

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History of Columbiana County, Ohio and representative citizens, Part 18

Author: McCord, William B., b. 1844 Publication date: 1905 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Biographical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 912

Author: McCord, William B., b. 1844
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 912