History of Columbiana County, Ohio and representative citizens, Part 3

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

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*What Professor Orton says of the soils, forests and climatic conditions of Ohio as a whole are applicable in the main to Columbiana County.

HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY

checked to some degree, but there is still a large amount of timber, in the growth of which cen- turies have been consumed, annually lost.

"It is doubtless true that a large proportion of the best lands of Ohio are too well adapted to tillage to justify their permanent occupa- tion by forests, but there is another section, viz., the thin native soils of South Central Ohio, that are really answering the best purpose to which they can be put when covered with native for- ests. The interests of this part of the State would be greatly served if large areas could be permanently devoted to this use. The time will soon come in Ohio when forest planting will be begun, and here the beginnings will unques- tionably be made. The character of the land when its occupation by civilization was begun in the last century was easily read by the char- acter of its forest growths. The judgments of the first explorers in regard to the several districts were right in every respect but one. They could not do full justice to the swampy regions of that early day, but their first and second class lands fall into the same classifica- tions at the present time. In the interesting and instructing narrative of Col. James Smith's captivity among the Indians, we find excellent examples of this discriminating judgment in regard to the soils of Ohio as they appeared in 1755. The 'first class' land of that narrative was the land occupied by the sugar tree and walnut, and it holds exactly the same place to- day. The 'second class' land was the white oak forests of our high-lying drift-covered dis- tricts. The 'third class' lands were the elm and red maple swamps that occupied the divides between different river systems. By proper drainage, may of these last named tracts have recently been turned into the garden soils of Ohio, but, for such a result, it was necessary to wait until a century of civilized occupation of the country had passed. These facts show in clear light that the character of the soil de- pends upon the geological and geographical conditions under which it exists and from which it has been derived.

CLIMATE, CROPS AND WATER-COURSES.

"From its geographical situation the climate of Ohio is necessarily one of extremes. The

surface of the State is swept alternately by southwest return trades and northwest polar winds, and the alternations succeed each other in quick returning cycles. There is scarcely a week in the year that does not give examples of both currents. All other winds that blow here are tributary to one or other, of these great movements. The return trades or southwest winds are cyclonic in their character ; the north- west winds constitute the anti-cyclone. The former depress the mercury in the barometer and raise it in the thermometer; the latter re- verse these results. The rains of the State are brought in by southwest winds; the few cases in which notable precipitation is derived from currents moving in any other direction than from the southwest really make no exception to the general statement, for in all such instances the rain falls in front of a cyclone which is ad- vancing from the Gulf of Mexico. The pro- tracted northeast storms that visit the State at long intervals, and the short southeast storms that occur still less frequently, are in all cases parts of greater cyclonic movements of the air that originate in the Southwest and sweep out to the ocean over the intervening regions.

"Between the average summer and winter temperatures of the State there is a difference of at least 40 degrees Fahrenheit. A central east and west belt of the State is bounded by the isotherms of 51 degrees and 52 degrees, the average winter temperature being 30 de- grees and the average summer temperature be- ing 73 degrees. Southern Ohio has. a mean annual temperature of 54 degrees and Northern Ohio of 49 degrees. The annual range is not less than 100 degrees ; the maximum range is at least 130 degrees ; the extreme heat of summer reaches 100 degrees in the shade, while the 'cold waves' of winter sometimes depress the mercury to 30 degrees below zero. Extreme changes are liable to occur in the course of a few hours, especially in winter when the return trades are overborne in a conflict short, sharp and decisive, with the northwest currents. In such cases the temperature sometimes falls 60 degrees in 24 hours, while changes of 20 dgrees or 30 degrees in a day are not at all unusual. The winters of Ohio are very changeable. Snow seldom remains 30 days at a time over the State,

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.

but an ice crop rarely fails in Northern Ohio, and not oftener than once in three or four years in other parts of the State. In the Southern counties cattle, sheep and horses often thrive on pasture grounds through the entire winter. In spite of these sudden and severe changes the climate of Ohio is proved by every test to be excellently adapted to both vegetable and animal life. In the case of man and of the domestic animals as well, it certainly favors symmetrical development and a high degree of vigor. There are for example no finer herds of cattle or sheep than those which are reared here.

"The forests of the State have already been described in brief terms. The cultivated pro- ducts of Ohio include almost every crop that. the latitude allows. In addition to maize, which nowhere displays more vigor or makes more generous returns, the smaller grains all attain a good degree of perfection. The ordinary fruit of orchard and garden are produced in un-' measured 'abundance, being limited only or mainly by the insect enemies which we have allowed to despoil us of some of our most valued supplies. Melons of excellent quality are raised in almost every county of the State. The peach, alone of the fruits that are generally cul- tivated, is uncertain; there is rarely, however, a complete failure on the uplands of Southern Ohio.

"The vast body of water in Lake Erie af- fects, in a very favorable way the climate of the northern margin of the State. The belt immediately adjoining the lake is famous for the fruits that it produces. Extensive or- chards and vineyards, planted along the shores and on the islands adjacent, have proved very successful. The Catawba wine here grown ranks first among the native wines of Eastern North America.

"The rainfall of the State is generous and admirably distributed. There is not a month in the year in which an average of more than two inches is not due upon every acre of the surface of Ohio. The average total precipita- tion of Southern Ohio is 46 inches ; of North- ern Ohio, 32 inches ; of a large belt in the center of the State, occupying nearly one half of its

entire surface, 40 inches. The tables of dis- tribution show ten to twelve inches in spring, ten to fourteen inches in summer, eight to ten inches in autumn, and seven to ten inches in winter. The annual range of the rainfall is, however, considerable. In some years and in some districts there is, of course, an insufficient supply, and in some years again there is a troublesome excess, but disastrous droughts on a large scale are un- known, and disastrous floods have hitherto been fare. They are possible only in very small portions of the State in any case. There is reason to believe, however, that the disposal of the rainfall has been so affected by our past interference with the natural conditions that we must for the future yield to the great rivers larger flood plains than were found necessary in the first hundred years of our occupancy of their valleys. Such a partial relinquishment of what have hitherto been the most valuable lands in the State, not only for agriculture, but also for town sites and consequently for manu- factures and commerce, will involve immense sacrifices, but it is hard to see how greater losses can be avoided without making quite radi- cal changes in this matter. In February, 1883, and again in February, 1884, the Ohio attained a height unprecedented in its former recorded history. In the first year the water rose to a height of 66 feet 4 inches above the channel-bar at Cincinnati, and in the latter to a height of 71 feet 3-4 inch above the bar. The last rise was nearly 7 feet in excess of the highest mark recorded previous to 1883. These great floods covered the sites of large and prosperous towns, swept away hundreds of dwellings, and inflicted deplorable losses on the residents of the great valley.

"Are floods like these liable to recur at short intervals in the future? The conditions under, which both occurred were unusual. Consider- able bodies of snow lying on frozen ground were swept away by warm rains before the ground was thawed enough to store the water. These were the immediate causes of the disastrous overflows in both instances, and it may well be urged that . just such conjunctures are scarcely likely to recur for scores of years to

HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY

come. But it is still true that we have been busy for a hundred years in cutting down for- ests, in draining swamps, in clearing and straightening the channels of minor streams, and finally, in underdraining our lands with thousand of miles of tile; in other words, in facilitating by every means in our power the prompt removal of storm water from the land to the nearest water-courses. Each and all of these operations tend directly and powerfully to produce just such floods as have been de- scribed, and it cannot be otherwise than that under their combined operations our rivers will shrink during summer droughts to smaller and still smaller volumes, and, under falling rain and melting snow, will swell to more threaten- ing floods than we have hitherto known. The changes that we have made and are still carry- ing forward in the disposal of storm water renders this result inevitable, and to the new conditions we must adjust ourselves as best we can.

CONTAMINATION OF THE RIVERS.

"Another division of the same subject is the increasing contamination of our rivers in their low-water stages. This contamination re- sults from the base use to which we put these streams, great and small, in making them the sole receptacle of all the sewage and manu- facturing waste that are removed from cities and towns. The amount of these impure addi- tions is constantly increasing, the rate of in- crease being in fact much greater than the rate of growth of the towns. The necessity of re- moving these harmful products from the places where they take their origin is coming to be more generally recognized, and sewerage sys- tems are being established in towns that have heretofore done without them. It thus happens, that, as the amount of water in the rivers grows less during summer droughts from the causes already enumerated, the polluted additions to the water are growing not only relatively but absolutely larger. When, now, we consider that these same rivers are the main, if not the only, sources of water supply for the towns located in their valleys, the gravity of the situ- ation becomes apparent. It is easy to see that

the double duty which we have imposed upon the rivers of supplying us with water and of carrying away the hateful and dangerous pro- ducts of waste, cannot long be maintained. There is no question, however, as to which func- tion is to be made the permanent one. The riv- ers cannot possibly be replaced as sources of water-supply, while on the other hand it is not only possible but abundantly practicable to filter and disinfect the sewage, and, as a result of such correction, to return only pure water to the rivers. During the first century of Ohio his- tory not a single town has undertaken to meet this urgent demand of sanitary science, but the signs are multiplying that before the first quar- ter of the new century goes by the redemption of the rivers of Ohio from the pollution which the civilized occupation of the State has brought upon them and their restoration to their original purity will be at least well begun."

COAL AND CLAY VEINS.

The "drift" (to use the term geologically) of the county and the clay and coal being spread over a large expanse, and intimately related to the surface and the soil, sharing liberally with the latter, in many cases, in the matter of revenue to the landholder, it will not be out of place here to give some description of the coal and clay veins. A writer in the "History of the Upper Ohio Valley" has compiled some in- teresting data on this subject, he having drawn upon the Ohio Geological Survey, and State Geologist Edward Orton's reports (heretofore quoted) for valuable material. From these authorities several paragraphs are quoted here- with :

"The drift of the county belongs chiefly, perhaps entirely, to that division known as the iceberg drift. It is stratified, and yet the strata are very irregular, and the result, in many places, especially near the surface, would per- haps be better named by calling it assorted; many times, in a horizontal section of a rod square, the assortment will present from six to ten different types of arrangement, here pure sand, there pure gravel, here sand mixed with pebbles, there sand with large pebbles, etc. The clays belonging to this formation are usually

VIEW ON EAST MAIN STREET, SALEM

POTTERS' NATIONAL BANK BUILDING, EAST LIVERPOOL

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, EAST LIVERPOOL

CARNEGIE PUBLIC LIBRARY, EAST LIVERPOOL

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.

arranged in well defined strata and are usually found in the lower portions of the drift. The surface, assorted arrangement, seems to have been the result of the irregular waves, in a shallow sea, produced by inconstant winds, modified by projecting headlands and indenta- tions of the coast, or the sides of the valleys along which they are found. In the gravel beds of the drift it is not infrequently true that a cubic yard of the formation will furnish speci- mens of nearly all the rocks of the State, and also many from beyond its limits. From its heterogeneous make-up the drift becomes one of the most, if not the most, interesting and instructive of all the rocky formations of the earthı.

"The Tertiary of the age of mammals, the Cretaceous, Jurassic and Triassic of the age of reptiles, and the Permian of the Carboni- ferous age, are all wanting in Ohio, and in Columbiana County the Upper Coal Measures of the Carboniferous period are also wanting. Immediately beneath the alluvium and drift, already described, distributed over all the high- lands of the county, are found the barren measures, which, in the geological column, are situated between the upper and lower coal meas- ures, and consist of red and olive colored shales and the crinoidal limestone. In a section taken on Yellow Creek, at Salineville, they are about 235 feet in thickness, maintaining nearly the same thickness at points below Salineville. In the central and eastern portions of the county the same rocks cover the elevated lands. For instance, on Round Knob, in Madison township, there are 170 feet of the upper portion of this point made up of green and red shales and red sandstone, typical of the barren measures ; then comes the crinoidal limestone, and beneath this another great series of olive shales, streaked with red, with two small coal seams just as they are found in the western border of the county and upon the highlands of Carroll County. In Unity township, the hills are cov- ered with the same gray, green and red shales of the barren measures, which, lie immediately above coal No. 7 (Burnett Joy's seam). In the southeast corner of the county the highlands are capped with a mass of the same type of

shales immediately over the representatives of the coal measures of workable thickness. Upon some of the hills forming the water shed be- tween the Little Beaver and the Sandy, and also about the sources of the west and middle forks of Little Beaver, a similar accumulation of shales is found, which has been referred to the barren measures and are so classed in the geological report of 1878. Immediately below these barren measures we find the workable measures of the lower coal series, consisting, through this portion of its area, of seven veins, five, and probably six, of which are above the level of the Ohio River at the mouth of Big Yellow Creek, at low water, and one or two of them below that point, though, possibly, not be- low the lowest part of the partially filled trough of the valley at that point. These veins are not all distributed over all parts of the county, neither are they of uniform thickness where found. It is estimated that the lowest vein of this series, and the lowest coal measure hav- ing any commercial value as coal, in North, eastern Ohio, is not more than 150 feet, or 200 feet, below the lowest exposed surface of land in Ohio River's bed at low water, at the southeaster corner of the county.

"Coal No. I, of Northeastern Ohio, is prob- ably identical with coal A of the Pennsylvania geologists, where it is largely mined as the Sharon or Ormsby coal. It is there sometimes covered with considerable areas of conglomer- ate, by a margin of from 20 to 50 feet, as pre- sented in Ohio, though at some points in Ohio near its northwestern outcrop, the conglomerate is but little below it, and a few miles away rises to an elevation considerably above. Some have regarded No. I the most valuable of the coal veins of Ohio. Future developments may . or may not sustain this view. Analyses of No. I coal from nine mines located in six different counties give results which may be stated in a general way as follows : Specific gravity rang- ing from 1.247 to 1.284: moisture, from 2.47 to 7.75 : volatile combustible matter, from 31.27 to 40.10: fixed carbon, from 51.79 to 64.25; ash, from 1.16 to 4.20, and sulphur, from .53 to 1.21 ; the figures in each case express parts in a hundred.

HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY

"Coal No. 2 lies from 40 to 100 feet above No. I. This varying interval is due to in- equalities in the lower coal which seems to have been disturbed before No. 2 was deposited. Uusually this is a thin vein, having no economic importance, but it is a constant feature of the sections of rocks in the northern portion of the coal field, and in a few places is of practi- cal value. Through Mahoning, Trumbull, Summit, and Stark counties it is generally known as the 15-inch seam, varying from 12 to 18 inches. In Holmes County it is usually a cannel, from 2 to 21/2 feet. Near Millersburg it has a local expansion reaching 6 feet in thick- ness. Coal No. 2 is not found at the surface in any part of Columbiana County, except in the low valley of the Ohio. It is believed to have been met with in borings at several points in the county. Future investigations may determine whether it exists within the county of sufficient thickness to make it valuable. Analyses show that it contains less fixed carbon, more ash, and more sulphur than coal No. I.

"Coal No. 3 varies much both in thickness and quality within limited areas, some places strongly tending to the cannel, and at others bituminous. In some parts of the State it is so thin as to have no practical value. At the mouth of Yellow Creek this is the lowest ex- posed vein, and is known as the creek vein be- cause it lies near the level of the creek for some miles in the neighborhood of Irondale. Along Yellow Creek it is from 3 to 4 feet thick, a bituminous coking coal, but contains more sulphur than some of the coals that over- lie it. In the valley of the Middle Fork, be- tween Teegarden and Lisbon, coal No. 3 is found in the bed of the stream; a little lower it is nearer the surface of the water in the creek. Above Lisbon it has been extensively worked and shipped to Youngstown to be used in the furnaces and rolling mills, much of it being coked before it is shipped. The Little Beaver runs upon the sand rock which underlies coal No. 3, from the point named above Lisbon to near its mouth, and coal No. 3 is opened and worked at many points along the course of the stream. On the north side of the stream it varies from 3 to 4 feet in thickness, and on the

south side it is generally thinner, and in some places it is very thin.

"Along the Ohio River, between the mouth of Yellow Creek and the State line, No. 3 is opened at many points, but is thinner than further north, seldom, if ever, reaching the depth of 3 feet. At some points near the river, it has been found less than one foot in thick- ness .. No. 3 is also found in the bed of Bull Creek, but no definite description of it there is found. At Washingtonville No. 3 is found with its overlaying limestone. It is here 3 to 4 feet thick.

"Throughout the greaten part of the out- crop of the lower coal measures in Ohio, and at distances varying from 20 to 90 feet above coal No. 3, is found coal No. 4, associated with a bed of limestone and iron ore, essentially the same as No. 3. The two veins are frequently so near alike in arrangement and quality as to make it difficult to distinguish them when both are not present. The varying thickness of the intervening rocks, similar to the interval be- tween No. I and No. 2, show most clearly that there is not absolute parallelism among the coal measures, but only an approximation thereto. Coal No. 4 is exceeding variable both as to thickness and quality. At many points it separ- ates into two or more branches, with fire clay or shale between them. Sometimes the parting becomes so complete as to form two workable seams of coal. No. 4 varies in thickness from I foot or less to 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 feet. Its quality also varies from nearly worthless to very good, from very soft to hard, cubical coal, and from bituminous to cannel. In Columbiana County, No. 4 is largely mined at Leetonia, and largely promotes the most important iron manufacture of the county. The Cherry Valley Iron Company reaches it here by an incline 70 feet below the surface. It is here only 28 to 30 inches in thickness, but is remarkably pure, and makes an excellent article of coke. At Washingtonville it is 20 feet higher than at Leetonia, but has about the same thickness and quality. The same vein is, and has been, ex- tensively worked at New Albany and below, and is here of very good quality and unusual thickness. In the Salem shaft, about 100 feet

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.

below the surface, the same vein is cut and is there of good quality and 21/2 feet thick. The The same vein is found at Smith's Ferry on the State line about 2 feet thick and of good quality, and along the Ohio to the mouth of Yellow Creek the outcrop may be seen at frequent inter- vals, showing much the same thickness and quality. In the valley of Yellow Creek No, 4 lies from 18 to 30 feet above the creek vein (No. 3), and. in the lower part of the valley has taken the name of strip vein, because it, was formerly worked by stripping off the over- lying materials. Along this valley it has an average thickness of 21/2 feet, and is of very good quality, being in great demand and com- manding good prices.

"In the railroad cut at the mouth of Yellow Creek, and about 50 or 60 feet above the strip vein No. 4, is found coal No. 5, here thin, but higher up the valley it attains a thickness of 3 to 31/2 feet, and is here known as the Roger vein. As we ascend Yellow Creek the fall in the stream becomes greater than the dip of the strata, so that at Salineville coals No. 3, No. 4, and No. 5, were all below the valley. In the valley of Middle Fork, at Teegarden's mill, No. 5 is to be seen in the bed of the creek. At Lisbon and below, No. 5, lies just below the fire clay and hydraulic limestone, which has been worked in that vicinity. Along the val- ley near Lisbon, and also in the lateral valleys, it is thin, reaching a thickness rarely of more than 2. feet; but about 2 miles lower down the valley, it locally thickens to 4 and even 5 feet. It is here known as the Whan coal, and is of excellent quality. This enlargement is within narrow limits and has been nearly worked out. From this point to the Ohio River its outcrop may be seen on many of the hills of the Little Beaver, but it is thin, rarely more than 2 feet thick. It is also found in Middleton township, about two feet in thickness, and a good bitumin- ous coal. At Washingtonville, coal No. 5 lies about 90 feet above coal No. 4, and is 2 1-3 to 2 1-2 feet thick (upper 6 inches slaty). On the hills southwest of Salem the horizon of No. 5 is reached, but its outcrop has not been de- scribed. At Alliance this coal is worked at a shaft, north of the P .. Ft. W. & C. Railway,

and is here 3 1-2 to 4 feet in thickness, and is a fairly good coking coal. Through the south- ern and eastern townships of Stark County this vein is found, and is generally known as the 30-inch vein, and is of good quality. Throughout the Ohio coal field this vein shows much irregularity in thickness, at some points reaching 4 to 5 feet, and at others being entire- tirely wanting. Analyses show this coal to com- pare well with No. 3 and No. 4, in chemical make-up.

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History of Columbiana County, Ohio and representative citizens, Part 3

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