USA > Ohio > Guernsey County > History of Guernsey County, Ohio, Volume I > Part 22
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CHAPTER XVII.
MINES AND MINING.
Every county has its special resources of wealth lavished on or within the earth from which the children of men may subsist, if perchance they take advantage of such hidden treasures. The Creator has pro- vided the raw material, and mankind must needs dig and delve and bring such deposits to the surface and appropriate them to their use and comfort. Here in Guernsey county, while the soil is not of that rich, productive character found in other sections of the country, it has stored beneath the surface rich coal fields and rich deposits of clay of various grades, from which brick, tile and pottery are successfully man- ufactured.
Coming to the matter of coal-bituminous or soft coal, as it is usually known-this chapter will speak especially, and incidentally of clays, gas and salt found here in commercial paying quantities.
The subject of mines and mining and of geology is to the ordinary reader a dry topic and is of most interest and value to the technical student of such sciences. From the earliest date it was known by pioneers that this county contained coal. Just what its value might be none of the first settlers knew or even conjectured. Wood was plenti- ful then and the matter of heating the cabins, business places, schools and churches was of but little consequence to the hardy pioneers who first set stakes in this goodly county away back in the first years of the nineteenth century.
Coal mining in this county was not developed to any great ex- tent until in the seventies and early eighties, after railroads had pene- trated this territory and given an outlet for the coal product.
At other places in this work some of the early coal mines have been referred to, hence need not be repeated here. The only object of this chapter is to make a lasting record of the coal mining industry at this, the close of the first decade of the twentieth century, that other men in later decades may have a report of it. The facts herein have been largely extracted from the chief mine inspector's report.
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Ohio had in 1908 (last official report) 50,276 men employed in the coal mines of the state. Of this number 112 were killed. Seventeen per cent of the coal mined was by the pick process and eighty-two by the machine process. The total tonnage mined in Ohio was 26,287,000. There are thirty counties in Ohio in which coal is mined commercially.
Guernsey county produced 1,985,248 tons of lump coal; 303,586 in nut coal; 637,614 tons of pea and slack coal, making a total of 2,926,448 tons. The rank among the other twenty-nine counties was fourth. Of this total tonnage, 41,673 tons was of the pick process of mining, while 2,884,775 tons were of the machine mine process. In the one hundred and twenty-nine pick mines there were one hundred and forty-one days worked and the amount of 30,304 tons produced in the county, or an average of one and six-tenths tons per day. The average cut of coal for each machine, per day, was thirty-seven tons. The total number of kegs of powder employed in the mines in 1908 was 18,904. The number of tons produced by each man employed about the mines of Guernsey county was, for that year, 595.
There were three new mines opened up in 1908 in this county, three suspended and one abandoned. There are twenty-nine "large mines" in this county and twenty-three "small ones," making a total of fifty-two mines being operated today. Of these, twenty-three are drift mines; thirteen, slope mines, and fifteen, shaft mines, making the total fifty-one. In these mines are used various ventilating methods. In twenty-five there are used fans, in twenty, "natural."
Of accidents in Guernsey county in 1908, there were eighty-three; sixteen fatal accidents ; forty-eight serious accidents and nineteen minor accidents.
Guernsey county is within the fifth Ohio coal district, which is composed of Guernsey, Coshocton, Tuscarawas and parts of Belmont and Noble counties. W. H. Turner was inspector for this district and re- sided at Cambridge in 1908. He made one hundred and twenty-two visits to mines within this county that year.
All mines in this county are working the No. Seven seam, which runs from five to seven feet in thickness, except Indian Camp, Union No. I and Morris, which are working No. Six seam, varying from two feet four inches to three and a half feet.
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DESCRIPTION OF THE LARGE MINES.
Eureka mine, operated by the Cambridge Coal and Mining Com- pany, of Parkersburg, West Virginia, is a slope, two hundred and twenty-five feet long, located on the Pennsylvania railroad, near Bycs- ville. Eighteen miners are employed. About seventy-five thousand dollars were expended before any results were had in this mine.
Ideal mine is a shaft seventy-five feet deep, located near Byesville, and is wned and operated by the Cambridge Collieries Company, Cleve- land. Fan ventilation and electric mining machinery are used.
Walhonding No. 1, owned by the Cambridge Collieries Company, is a shaft mine one hundred and twenty-five feet deep, near Pleasant City. Ninety-four miners and thirty day hands are kept at work.
Walhonding No. 2, owned by the Cambridge Collieries Company is a shaft one hundred and sixty-one feet deep, located a mile and a half from Buffalo, on the line of the Baltimore & Ohio (eastern branch), and here modern improvements obtain.
The Hartford, operated by the above company, with W. H. Davis, of Byesville, as managed, is a shaft mine eighty-five feet deep, on the Bal- timore & Ohio railroad. It has fan ventilation and electric machinery for mining. Here one hundred and eighty men are employed and fifty-seven day men.
Trail Run No. I, also the property of the above collieries company, is a shaft mine seventy-five feet deep, situated near Trail run, on the Pennsylvania road. Fan ventilation and electric machines are installed. One hundred and nine miners are employed and fifty-nine day men. Trail Run No. 2, operated by the same coal company, is a shaft mine one hundred and twelve feet deep, uses fans and has electric appliances. Two hundred miners find work in this extensive mine.
The Detroit mine, owned by the Cambridge Collieries Company, is a shaft one hundred and eighty-five feet in depth, near Ava. Fan ven- tilation and electric machines are used in operating the mines. One hundred and seventy-five miners are worked at this mine and seventy- five day hands.
Midway mine is located near Byesville, on the Pennsylvania road. Fifty-one men are used in mining coal here. Fan ventilators and electric machines are employed here.
Blue Bell mine is a shaft eighty-five feet deep, located near Blue (16)
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Bell. Ohio, and operated by the Cambridge Collieries Company. Here about one hundred and fifty men are employed.
Imperial mine is located at Derwent, this county, on the Pennsyl- vania road; is a shaft mine one hundred and ten feet deep. It is oper- ated by the Imperial Coal Company. Fan ventilation and electric mining machines obtain.
Ohio No. I, a drift mine near Cambridge, on the Pennsylvania railroad, is owned by the O'Gara Coal Company, Chicago. Thirty- two miners are worked here and fourteen day hands. This was called Nicholson No. I.
Ohio No. 2, owned as above, is a shaft mine sixty-five feet deep. One hundred and thirty-two miners are employed and fifty day men.
Red Oak mine, located near Byesville, operated by J. R. McBurney, Cambridge, has a furnace ventilation, compressed air mining and pump- ing appliances. Twenty men find work here and five day hands.
Murray Hill slope mine, near Klondyke on the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, is operated by the Akron Coal Company. Forty miners and sixteen day men are employed.
Klondyke slope mine is situated near Klondyke, Ohio, and is a hundred and fifty foot slope mine, employing ninety miners and thirty- one day men. Several accidents have occurred here.
King's mine, operated by the Morris Coal Company, of Cleveland, is a shaft mine one hundred feet deep, near Lore City, employing two hundred miners and eighty day men.
Old Orchard mine is operated by the Morris Coal Company, of Cleveland, is a shaft mine forty-eight feet deep, near Mineral Siding.
Black Top mine, owned by the last named company, is located in this county and employs one hundred and thirty-four men.
Cleveland mine No. I is a shaft almost two hundred feet deep, lo- cated near Senecaville and is operated by the Morris Coal Company. One hundred and thirty-five miners are employed and forty-eight day men.
West Branch mine is located near Byesville, operated by the Clin- ton Coal and Mining Company; is a sixty-five foot slope mine on a switch of the Pennsylvania railroad. Coal was discovered here in 1903.
Buckeye mine, located near Byesville, is operated by the National Coal Company. It is a hundred and fifteen foot slope. One hundred and eighteen men are employed as miners and thirty-five day men.
Little Kate No. 2 is a slope mine three hundred feet long, and is .
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on a switch leading from the Baltimore & Ohio road, near Blue Bell. It is owned and operated by the National Coal Company of Akron. Thirty-three miners and eighteen day men are employed.
White Ash mine is located near Byesville and is operated by the Puritan Coal Company, Cambridge. Fan ventilation and electric min- ing machines are employed. Here twenty-four miners and eight day men are employed.
The Puritan mine, owned by the Puritan Coal Company, Cam- bridge, is a shaft one hundred and six feet deep, situated near Derwent, on the Pennsylvania railroad. It has fan ventilation and employs one hundred and twenty-seven miners and forty-two day men.
The Forsythe mine, located near Mineral Siding, is a slope of one hundred and ten feet in depth. Here one hundred and seventy-six miners find employment and fifty-eight day men. It is owned by the Forsythe Coal Company, Cambridge.
Leatherwood No. 2 mine is operated by the Leatherwood Consoli- dated Coal Company, of Toledo. Fifty-three miners are employed and twenty-one day men.
Guernsey Brick mine, situated near Byesville, is operated by the Guernsey Clay Company. Furance ventilation, picking and mule hauling are the mining methods employed here. Nine men are employed as miners and two day hands.
Indian Camp is a drift mine located near Union No. I, and is oper- ated by the same company as the last named.
SMALLER MINES OF THE COUNTY.
Besides the larger coal mines in Guernsey county may be named the following: The Morris, Burris, Wild Cat, Keenan, Carter, Hollings- worth. B. L. Galloway, Webster No. I, Webster No. 2. Montgomery, Sayer, Hall, McCormick, Spencer, Bates, Lingo and Briar Hill.
In the way of fire clays, there was mined in this county in 1908, five thousand eight hundred tons of superior fire clay.
SALT MANUFACTORY.
We mentioned several months since that Elza Scott, of this vicin- ity, who owns very extensive coal mines on the Central Ohio railroad, east of this place, and who for a number of years past has been exten-
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sively engaged in shipping coal, was engaged in boring for salt. Mr. Scott succeeded in striking a very strong vein of salt water at a depth of nearly one thousand feet, and his works are now in successful operation. He now runs one furnace, and makes daily from twenty-five to thirty barrels of salt, of very superior quality. It is estimated that the well affords sufficient water to make from fifty to seventy-five barrels of salt a day. Although Mr. Scott has already expended about fifteen thousand dollars in the erection of his works, he intends soon to start another furnace and run the well to its full capacity. We are glad to learn that Mr. Scott's enterprise is being well-rewarded pecuniarily. His net daily income from his salt manufactory alone is fifty dollars, and will be about one hundred dollars per day after the erection of another furnace .- Times, February 7, 1865.
NATURAL GAS.
Within about three miles of Cambridge, in a direct line, on the premises of David Sarchet, Sr., is an inexhaustible salt well, from which constantly flows a stream of salt water several inches in diameter, and with it a large and constant supply of natural gas, which can be ignited at any time by merely holding a lighted match near the flowing stream. We have the authority of a scientific gentleinan from the east, who visited this well during the oil excitement here, for saying that there is an abundance of gas flowing from this well to light up a place much larger than Cambridge, and that it could easily be conducted here for that purpose at no very great cost ; and he expressed great surprise that steps had never been taken to utilize so valuable a production of nature. The subject is one which should sufficiently claim the attention of the city fathers as to cause them to make such investigation of the matter as to ascertain the feasibility of the plan, and what the cost would be, and, if not too great, measures should be be instituted to light our fast igrowing little city with it. This subject is brought to our mind by noticing an item stating that Erie, Pennsylvania, has been lighted up with natural gas, that flows from a well sunk near that place. Informa- tion in regard to the matter could doubtless be obtained by writing to the Erie Gas Company, Erie, Pennsylvania. The subject, we think, is at least worthy of a little investigation by our city authorities .- Times, November 3, 1870.
STORC
OLD SARCHET HOUSE, BUILT 1807.
First house erected in Cambridge, in which was the first store, in which the first church was organ- ized, and in which the first funeral ser- mon was preached. Location, north- east corner of Seventh St. and Wheeling Ave.
First Methodist Church in Cambridge. Dedicated 1835, by Dr. Joseph M. Trimble. Building and ground cost not more than $500.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE CITY OF CAMBRIDGE.
Cambridge, the county seat of Guernsey county, derived its name from Cambridge in Maryland, from whence came many settlers in 1808. The buildings of the present city reflect the enterprise and plans of its citizens and property owners. There are today more than five square miles of territory within its limits and it has a population of about fifteen thousand, largely American and English-speaking people. The good, modern class of business houses, factories, churches, schools and residences bespeak of thrift, taste and wealth. Modern Cambridge, from a municipal standpoint, is the direct outgrowth of splendid natural advantages, supplemented by an untiring effort of progressive business men. The coal mines in the immediate vicinity employ upwards of four thousand five hundred men, who are paid good wages, while the mills, factories and railroad shops employ fully twenty-five hundred more. The city draws a retail trade from a radius of twenty miles and in this territory reside almost fifty thousand people.
Its location is fifty-six miles from Wheeling and eighty-five from Columbus, and its original plat is located in township 2, range 3. The place was platted by Jacob Gomber and Zaccheus A. Beatty, June 2, 1806. The first houses were made from logs of the forests which were a part of the tract of land upon which the new town was surveyed by the pioneer fathers. Among the first of these rude, but quite comfortable houses was that of the Sarchets, erected in 1807, and in which was kept the first store. In it was organized the first church society (the First Methodist Episcopal) and in it was preached the first funeral sermon. Its exact location was on the northeast corner of Wheeling avenue and Seventh streets. It remained standing until recent years and is now superseded by a good business house.
In a March number of the Cambridge Herald, in 1888, the author gave the history of what he termed "The Oldest House In Town," in the following language :
The old three-story log building on the west end of Wheeling ave-
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nue, now being taken down, is a relic of the past. The old logs are a reminder of the days when the present site of Cambridge was a forest of timber, tall oaks and poplar, which had stood the blasts of many a western wind, covered the landscape, telling to pioneers the richness of the soil. In those early days the more and larger the timber, the more desirable the land. As we looked today at this old structure, logs of oak and poplar, hewed to a line with corners notched square and plumb, we were led to think of the boldness and hardihood of those pioneers who entered the wilderness to hew out these ponderous structures. This age would not be equal to the task. This house was built by Judge George Metcalf, and was the second house built on the town plat. The old John Beatty house. which stood on a lot now part of the Taylor block, and was destroyed by fire some years ago, was the first. What year this house was built is not certainly known, but it was just a new structure in 1806, when Thomas Sarchet settled in Cambridge. Built as it was on the top of the hill, it was first two stories. It was built for a tavern and was located on what was intended to be the main street of Cambridge. But at the time of its building, the principal thoroughfare, the Zane trace, passed north of it. When the National road was graded through the hill, the cut, still shown on the south, was much higher on the north side, and left the house high up on the bank. This was in the year 1826. We may say that for twenty-two years it was a two-story tavern. Judge Metcalf made the excavation under the house and built in the under story, having it completed with the completion of the National road through Cambridge in 1828, and from that time continued the tavern in the three-story house, being the first three-story house in Cambridge, and he continued to occupy it as a tavern up to 1843. The name of the house has always been the Mansion House. Judge Metcalf was followed by a Mrs. Greer, and she by George Hawn. These occupied it but a few years, and it has since been a general tenement house for more than thirty years.
Judge Metcalf's taven had a reputation far and wide. Many were the horsemen who would, on their journeys, strive to make Metcalf's to stay over night or for dinner. And the jolly stage passengers were more jolly after having dined at the Judge's. We might fill pages telling of the balls, quiltings and wool pickings, where "joy was unconfined," with- in the log walls of this old house, when there was no "high crust" or "low crust," but "men were men for a' that," and women too, "though clad in hodden grey and a' that." In the rear of this old house was a beautiful
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grass plat, well shaded, where in the summer time the table was spread, and art and nature vied with each other to make dinner or supper hour a feast which the gods might envy.
In 1812, the first company raised in Guernsey county for the war, commanded by Cyrus P. Beatty, were given here a free dinner, and later on this grass plat, on great occasions, general muster or first court day, would be filled with tables, and the clanking of knives and forks and dishes told full well that good cheer and happiness surrounded the board.
We now remember of but one accident of note that happened at this old house. In the fall of the year 1837, a horseman named Levi Morgan stayed over night, and was furnished a room in the third story. In the morning he was found lying dead on the pavement. It was supposed, the window being up, that he had rolled out. There was nothing among his effects to show where he came from. His horse, saddle and bridle, and what little money he had, was used for the expense of his burial, and for a stone to mark his grave, which reads:
LEVI MORGAN, Died September 22nd, 1837. "Be ye therefore ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh."
EARLY HISTORY, SETTLERS, ETC.
(Published in the News in 1872.)
All classes of the mechanical arts essential to the wants in starting a town in the backwoods were represented among the first settlers-car- penters, wagonmakers, blacksmiths, cabinetmakers, shoemakers and weavers. To build a cabin was but the work of a day. Many accounts are given where the timber was taken from the stump, the cabin raised, roofed and floored, with puncheons, and a regular "housewarming" had at night in the way of "tripping the light, fantastic toe."
The first hotel opened to the public in the town proper was by George R. Tingle, in a part of the old house still occupied by the Tingles. Travelers were notified that it was a house of security and safety, by the sign of the cross keys. A little later George Metcalf opened the Mansion House, now the Sidle House, then a one-story building, and Captain
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Knowls opened the "Traveler's Rest," in the old log house that stood on the Webster lot. At the close of the war of 1812 and for years after, Cambridge could boast of six hotels in good running order, with open bars where whisky was sold at three cents a drink.
The first store was opened by John and Thomas Sarchet, in the room now occupied by T. C. Marsh for a cigar and tobacco store, in which was retailed dry goods, groceries and the regular "old hardware" by the gallon.
The first brick house was built by John Sarchet, on the Shoufield corner; the second, front of the Fordyce house, by Jacob Gomber. The sawed lumber used in construction of the first house was whipsawed by two Scotchmen, named Landy and Miller, who had a mill erected on the Presbyterian church lot, where lumber was sawed to order.
THE WHIPPING POST IN CAMBRIDGE.
On the whipping-post in Cambridge, Colonel Sarchet wrote in the Times, in the spring of 1906, as follows :
The first session of the common pleas court of Guernsey county, held in the new court house, was the August term, 1816. The journal reads : "The court of common pleas was held in the court house in Cambridge, Guernsey county, Ohio. Present: Hon. William Wilson, presiding judge : Jacob Gomber, Robert Spears and Thomas B. Kirkpatrick, asso- ciate judges. The first jury case called was: The State of Ohio vs. Samnel Timmins, indicted for uttering base coin. The following jury was called: James Thompson, John Tedrick, James Bratton, William Pollock, William Allen, Hugh Martin, Jesse Marsh, Thomas Roberts, Andrew McClary, George McCleary, John Huff and James Lloyd." Samuel Timmons was found guilty in the case for the same offense, and was sentenced by the court to receive, in one case, nineteen lashes on his bare back, and in the other case, twenty lashes. He was whipped on two different days. On the first day nineteen lashes and on the next day twenty lashes. This was a case of speedy execution. There was no motion for stay of execution or arrest of judgment. Elijah Dyson. sheriff, did the whipping. It was done in the presence of the grand jurors who found the indictments and of the jurors who found him guilty. and others who were in attendance at court and citizens of the town. The whipping was in public. A large oak tree, perhaps two feet in diameter, that stood near where the large elm now stands on the southwest corner
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of the square, had been shattered by a windstorm from the west. It was broken square off apast the centre some eight or ten feet from the ground and slivered down to the ground on the east side. This stump had stood there for many years until the bark was off it. Its west side was smooth. The prisoner was stripped down to below the waist. Then he was tied by the arms around the stump with a cord and also with a cord around his legs and around the stump. It was said that the lashes were well laid on and that the blood flowed at every cut. This old stump was used as a hitching post within the memory of the writer. Certainly at this day this would seem brutal and inhuman, yet brutality may be protected. This was the only case of whipping in this county. Judge Wilson was known throughout his district as the "Whipping Judge."
There was introduced at the beginning of the present (1906) Legis- lature a bill to re-establish the whipping post for the punishment of cer- tain minor crimes. The whipping post law under the old constitution of Ohio was repealed by the Legislature of 1829-30. Gen. James M. Bell, Esq., was the representative from Guernsey county and the speaker of the House. He opposed the repeal of the law, and in a speech favoring its continuance, gave substantially the same reasons as did President Roosevelt in his message to the present (1906) Congress, advocating a whipping post law for the punishment of minor offenses.
EARLY DEEDS MADE.
All about was a wilderness. The Sarchets were the first purchasers of lots in the town, and, after the Beatty house, built the first cabin on the town plat. The second Guernsey settlers came to Cambridge in June, 1807. The deeds were all made to Guernsey settlers, except one to William Marsh. The deeds to out-lots were not made until the county was formed in 1810. In the fall of 1807 the settlement had grown to the proportions of a hamlet, consisting of log cabins, located along the main thoroughfare, now Wheeling avenue, as follows, and all inhabited by a sturdy people: Thomas Sarchet, two cabins at what is now the corner of Seventh street and Wheeling avenue, on north side of latter; across the street to the southward were those of John Sarchet ; on the west lot on the corner of West Eighth street were the cabins of Peter Sarchet ; on what is now the National Hotel site were those of James Bichard, and then on the next corner east those of Thomas Naftel: on what is now the Doctor Ramsey and C. B. Cook dwellings were the cabins of
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