History of Stark County, with an outline sketch of Ohio, Part 28

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892? ed
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1060

USA > Ohio > Stark County > History of Stark County, with an outline sketch of Ohio > Part 28

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adjacent counties, we find many drained or filled lake-basins, where peat and marl now hold the place formerly occupied by water. The extent of this kind of surface is, however, not great, as Stark has little marsh land, and, since it is so abundantly supplied with excel- lent coal. it is scarcely probable that the scat- tered patches of peat will ever become of im- portance, as a source of fuel. As fertilizers. however, the muck and shell-marl will be of great practical value, especially on light and open soils, such as that which covers most of the county. It may be important. therefore, for the farmers who have patches of swamp upon their land to test them by boring, to ascertain whether they are underlain by strata of peat or marl, which may be used to cheaply fertilize their fields.

In most parts of Stark County, the surface deposits are such as have been transported to greater or less distances from their places of origin, and it is only on the hills of the south- ern townships that we find the soil derived from the decomposition of the underlying rocks. Numerous facts indicate that the coun- ty has formerly been traversed from north to south by a great line of drainage. This is now imperfectly represented by the Tuscara- was River, but it is evident that this, though a noble stream. is but a rivulet compared with the flood which onee flowed somewhat in the direction it follows, from the lake basin into the Ohio. The records of this ancient river are seen in the deeply excavated channels,

166

HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY.

now filled with gravel, in the Tuscarawas Val ley, and between Canton and Massillon. In the valley of the Tuscarawas an extensive series of borings has been made for coal, and these have revealed the fact that this stream is now running far above its former bed, and that it does not accurately follow the line of its ancient valley. That old valley is in many places filled with gravel, and is now so thor- oughly obliterated as to give to the common observer little indication of its existence. A few facts will show, however, that this inter- esting feature in the surface geology of Stark County has a real existence. The borings made for coal east of the present river, in Lawrence and Jackson Townships, have, in many in- stances, been carried below the present streams without reaching solid rock, and heavy beds of gravel are found to occupy a broad and deep valley, which lies for the most part on the east side of the present water-course. From Fulton to Millport, and thence to Mas- sillon, many borings have been made, and in these, where the course of the auger was not arrested by bowlders, the drift deposits have often been found to be more than 100 feet in thickness. As the rock is exposed on both sides of the river at Massillon and Millport, it is seen that the river is running on the west side of its ancient trough, and, though it here has a rocky bottom, east of the present course, the rock would not be found, even at a considerably greater depth. Just how deep the ancient valley of the Tuscarawas is in this section of the county, there are no means at hand of ascertaining: but we learn from the salt-wells bored at Canal Dover that the bottom of the rocky valley is there 175 feet below the surface of the stream. Another, and perhaps the most important of these an- cient lines of drainage, runs between Canton and Massillon. At the " Four-Mile Switch," half way between these towns, rock comes near the surface, and coal has been worked at Bahney's mine and other places in this vicin- ity. Explorations have been made, which show that between "Four-Mile Switch" and Massillon is a ridge of rock, which lies be- tween two valleys, viz., that through which the Tuscarawas flows, and another, completely filled, between Massillon and Canton.

Between Massillon and Navarre, the road for the most part lies upon a terrace, the surface of which is about seventy-five feet above the river. This terrace is part of a pla- tean, which extends in some places more than a mile east of the river. It is composed of gravel and sand, of which the depth is not known. On the other side of the Tuscarawas, the rock comes to the surface, quarries have been opened, and borings for coal have been made, which show that, for some miles below Massillon, comparatively little drift covers the rock. It is evident, therefore, that the ancient river channel passed under the terrace over which the road runs from Massillon to Na- varre. Below Navarre, the river sways over to the east side of its ancient valley, striking its rocky border on the "Wetmore Tract." Here the gravel-beds, which filled the old valley, are on the west side of the river.

The succession of the rocks which come to the surface in Stark County will be most readily learned by reference to the general section, which is as follows:

FEET

1. Soil and drift deposits. 10 to 100

2. Shale and sandstone of barren coal meas- ures only found in hilltops of Osna- burg, Paris, Nimishillen and Wash- ington . .. 30 to 50

3. Buff ferruginous limestone, Osnaburg and Paris .. 0 to 6

4. Black-band-iron ore.

Osnaburg and

Paris. . 0 to

5. Coal No. 7. same localities as No. 4. .. 1 to 3

6. Fire clay .. 1 to 8

7. Shale and sandstone, sometimes con- taining a thin coal seam near the middle hills of Washington, Nimi- shillen, Paris, Osnaburg and Saudy ; hilltops of Pike, Bethlehem and Su- gar Creek. 75 to 110

8. Coal No. 6, same localities as No. 7. 2 to 6

9. Fire clay. 2 to 5

10. Gray and black shales, with iron ore near base. .40 to 60

11. Coal No. 5, "thirty-inch spam." south. ern and eastern portion of the county. 2 to 3

12. Fire clay. 2 to

13. Shale and sandstone, sometimes con- taining thin coal. 40 to

14. Putnam lill limestone. 0 to 1

15. Coal No. 4, "upper limestone seam 1 to 6

16. Fire clay. . 1 10 5

17. Shale and sandstone, sometimes with thin coal and limestone. 20 10

18. Zoar limestone ... 0 to

19. Coal No. 3, "lower limestone coal 0 to 3

20. Fire clay 1 to 8

HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY.

167

FEET

21. Shale and sandstone, sometimes with thin coal at base .. .... 50 to 60

22. Massillon sandstone, sometimes with thin coal at base ... .30 to 100

23. Gray or black shale. 5 to 50

2.1. C'oal No. 1. " Massillon coal 0 to

25. Fire clay 1 to 5

26. Shaly sandstone. ) to 50

27 Conglomerate. .20 to 50

The strata enumerated in the foregoing sec- tion all belong to the carboniferous system, and, with the exception of a limited area im the northwestern corner, where the conglomer- ate appears, the entire area of the county is occupied by the coal measures. The only outerops of the conglomerate occur in the extreme northwestern portion of the county, in the corner of Lawrence Township, so that it might as well be omitted from enumeration among the rocks of the county, except that it underlies, at no great depth, all portions of the surface, and deserves notice as the easily recognizable base of the productive coal meas- ures. It should also be mentioned in this connection that some of the higher sandstones of the coal measures sometimes contain peb- bles, especially that over Coal No. 6; but the pebbles in these beds are usually quite small rarely exceeding a bean in size-so that there is little danger that they will be con- founded with the true conglomerate.

The coal measures of Stark County are composed, as usual, of sandstone, limestone, shale, fire-clay, coal. ete .. and include all the lower group of coal seans-seven in number. Of these, the lowest, or, as we have named it, Coal No. 1. the Massillon, or Briar Hill seam. is one of the most valuable in the entire series. This is well developed in Stark County, and forms one of the most important sources of business and wealth. The coal which is ob- tained from this seam is generally called the Massillon coal, and is so well known that little need he said of its character. Though vary- ing somewhat in different localities, as a gen- eral rule it is bright and handsome in appear- ance, contains little sulphur and ash, is open burning, and possesses high heating power. By long and varied trial, it has proved to be one of the most serviceable coals found in the State. In Stark County, it is somewhat more bituminons than the coal of the same seam in

the Mahoning Valley, but it is more like it in composition than its appearance would indi cate. The Massillon coal is well adapted to a great variety of uses. It is successfully employed in the smelting of iron in blast fur naces, and is there used in the raw stato. It is also a good . rolling-mill coal, serves an excellent purpose for the generation of steam. would do well for the manufacture of gas, and is the most highly esteemed household fuel in all the districts where it is used. This combi nation of excellences makes it a special favor ite in the markets of the lake ports, and main tains for it an active demand.

The Massillon coal seam, being generally out by the valley of the Tuscarawas, forms a great number of onterops in the western part of the county, and in that region more than a hundred mines are opened into it. As the dip of all the rocks in the county is southeast. it passes out of sight east of the Tuscarawas Valley, and along the eastern margin of the county it is at least 200 feet below the surface. It will thus be seen that it ought to underlie nearly all the county, but it unfortunately happens here, as in Summit and Mahoning- this coal lies in limited basins, and is absent from a larger part of the territory where it belongs. It is therefore of much less practi cal value than it was supposed to be before the irregularity of its distribution was ascer tained. Nevertheless, the most important question connected with the geology of Stark County is that of the presence or absence of the Massillon coal in the townships east of where it is mined. Unfortunately, but little light has been thrown upon this subject by any explorations yet made, and. from the peculiar character of this coal seam, it is quito impossible to predict, with any certainty. what will be the result of a systematic search for it where it lies deeply buried. Between the valley of the Tusearawas and the western margin of the coal area in Wayne County, numerous onterops of the Massillon coal have been found. a number of important basins have been opened, and now many thousand tons are annually mined in this district.

East of the Tusearawas Valley, the geolog- ieal structure is obseured by heavy masses of drift, and Coal No. I has not been mined or

168

HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY.

found to any extent on that side of the river. Near Millport, however, and still further north. and east around Mud Brook Church, important basins of coal have been discovered. and it is probable that, when the real difficul- ties of the search on this side of the river are overcome, i. e., when certain clews that can be followed up shall have been found it will be learned that valuable deposits of coal stretch eastward far beyond any present knowledge.

Considerable boring has been done in the central and eastern portions of the county, and such as might be supposed would go far to decide the question of the reach eastward of the Massillon coal, but these explorations have not proven the existence of any consider- able body of this coal east of the river. It should be said, however, that of the borings made, only such as were made for the express purpose of finding coal are worthy of any confidence. The oil-wells, by which the whole county has been pierced, were bored for oil. and nothing else. As a general rule, every other product was neglected, and where coal seams were passed through, the evidence of the fact afforded by the sand-pump was un- heeded.

On the eastern line of the county, few bor- ings have been made which can be depended upon for giving any accurate information. At Limaville, in the northeastern corner of the county, the Briar Hill coal has been struck in several holes. These borings, and others at Canton, show that the belief that no valuable deposits of the Massillon coal exist cast of the Tuscarawas River, is without a solid founda- tion. and it is predicted that some most im- portant and valuable coal basins will be reached in the eastern portion of the county, and where their presence has not been sis- pected. The borings at Limaville show the lower coal of workable thickness. It exists over a considerable area in that vicinity, as it was found in a number of holes running with great regularity. The well was located near Limaville Station, the well head ten feet above, or 570 above Lake Erie. The coal was struck 165 feet from the surface, or 405 feet above the lake. This shows a dip of about 100 feet from the nearest outerop of the coal in Tallmadge, eighteen miles north of west,

and about the same dip from the vicinity of Ravenna, fifteen miles due north: but the coal lies higher here than at Massillon, south- west, or Youngstown, northeast, a fact due, doubtless, to one of the folds which traverse our coal fields.

The Massillon coal district is, practically, one of the most important in the State. The number of miners employed here is about fif- teen hundred. A capital of over $2,000,000 is used in the production of coal, and the an- nual yield of the mines may be estimated at 1,000,000 tons. Most of this coal goes to Cleveland, by way of the Lake Shore & Tus- carawas Valley, Cleveland, Mt. Vernon & Co- lumbus, and other railroads, and by the Ohio Canal. A large amount is consumed in and about Massillon, where it is used for a consid- erable variety of manufactures. The most important use to which this coal is here put is for iron-smelting, since it is the fuel exclu- sively used in the two furnaces at Massillon, and one at Dover. These furnaces have been in operation for many years, and that which they produce has a well-established and excel- lent reputation. It is for the most part made of black-band iron ore, and closely resembles the Scotch pig. This is not surprising, since the materials and methods employed are almost exactly the same as those used in Scotland. These have proved remunerative during years of experience, yet the methods of the Scotch iron-masters can be easily shown to be suscep-

tible of improvement. By adding close tops to the furnaces, increasing their dimensions and the temperature of the blast. there is little doubt that most important economy in the use of the fuel may be effected. With the present method of manufacture, the Massillon furnaces consume three and a half to four tons of coal for every ton of iron made. This is certainly a wasteful use of fuel, which, from its great excellence and limited quantity, ought to be husbanded with the greatest care. The Massillon coal constitutes a great source of wealth to the county, and is the mainspring of many industries; but the fact should be recognized that this is a capital which is daily being exhausted, and, when exhausted, can never be reproduced. All the coal basins now known abont Massillon will be worked out

169

HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY.

within a generation, and, although new dis- ' the stone quarry of Warthorst & Co., at Mas- coveries will certainly be made, and much territory will become productive whore the coal is not now supposed to exist, still the valne of the coal is so great, and the consump- tion of it so rapidly increasing, that it is to be feared not many years will elapse before the supply from this region will be exhausted.

A list of the principal mines in the Massil- lon district is as follows :*

Rhodes & Co. (Old Willow Bank), daily produe tion .. 150

Rhodes Coal Co., daily production 350

(. H. Clark & Co .. daily production. . 150

Williamson Coal Co .. daily production 1.50

The Ridgeway (J. P. Burton). daily production

Massillon Coal Mining Co., daily production. ... 350 Youngstown Coal Co., daily production. 350 Crawford Coal Co .. daily production. 150

Willow Bank (new). Henry Hohz, daily produc tion. . 300

Buckeye, daily production 100

Fulton Coal Mining Co., daily production. 150

There are many other mines-the " Grove." the " Brookfield," the " Mountain," the " Stof- for," the " MeChe," etc. - of which there is no detailed report at hand. The analysis of this coal is as follows:

Specific gravity 1.253

1,261

1.247

1.317

1.25/

1.328

Water.

7.50

5 60

6,95

3.70

4 10

2.40)

Ash

1.000

3.90

3.18

1.60

1.6 1

13.50

Volatile combustible

31.00

30.30

32.35

30 50

32.90

35 20

Fixed carbon.

61.00

6 20

57.49

64 20

61.49

48.90

Total 10.00 100.00 100,00 100.00 100,00 100 00 0,88 Sulphur 0 29 3.50 0 68 1.07 0.975 Gas, colic feet per pound ... 3 42 3.15 0,19 .... 3 64

....

The specimens are from the following mines: 1. Lawrence Coal Company. lower bench. 2. The same, upper bench. 3. Blue Chippewa. 4. Fulton Mining Company. 5. Burton's coal, lower bench. 6. Same. npper bench (thin and slaty ).

Some doubt has been expressed among the residents of Massillon whether the coal that erops out at Bridgeport is identical with that worked elsewhere in this vicinity. It is thin- ner, and lies somewhat higher than that in most of the neighboring mines. Still. its physical character and composition, as well as its relation to the associated rocks, seem to prove that it is really Coal No. 1. A similar phase of the Massillon coal is seen in the mine of the (ferman Coal Company, just north of State Report, 1578.

sillon. Here, also, the coal is thin, very much laminated, and even somewhat slaty. This peculiarity of structure may be attributed to the fact that the coal seam in these two mines is overlain by a great mass of sandstone, which. when all the materials were in a soft and plastic condition, must have pressed down upon the coal in such a way as to reduce its thickness and give it its laminated structure. Borings made in the vicinity of Bridgeport and Massillon have failed to find any lower seam, and it is scarcely possible that there should be another below that mined. The section at Bridgeport is precisely what it should be if the Bridgeport coal were Coal No. 1.

The diminished thickness of the coal in the Bridgeport and German Companies' mines may be due to another canse, i. e., as well in the bottom of the marsh, where the coal acen mulated as peat, and on which, being relatively high, the peat was thin It is well known that the "swamps." or lowest portions of the coal mines, have the thickest coal in them, and this is simply because the peat was deep- est there. On the ridges or swells of the bot- tom, the coal is thin and high, because the top only of the peat bed reached over them. The barren ridges which so often separate the coal " swamps " were islands in, or the shores of the coal marshes. These rose above the water- level. and on their slopes the peat diminished in thickness upward till it came to an edge. When covered with clay and sand, and com- pressed to solid coal, that was thickest where the peat was thickest in the bottoms of the basins. and thinned out to nothing on the slopes which bounded these basins.

The Massillon coal is usually overlain by a few feet of shale. and above this is found a massive sandstone, which is known as the Massillon sandstone. The stone of this strat tum varies considerably in texture in different localities and different layers, but mich of it affords very excellent buikling material, as well as good grindstone. In these. a large and active industry has been created about Massillon, Warthorst & Co. giving employ mont to 100 men, and shipping 300 and 100 car-loads of block-stones, and 1.500 to 2,000

170

HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY.

tons of grindstones per annum. The product of this quarry is mainly sold in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Baltimore. The stones for dry grinding plows and springs, etc. - are especially esteemed. In Paul's quarries, near Fulton, a light variety of this stone is ground up. and the sand shipped to Pittsburgh for the manufacture of glass.

In many parts of Stark County, borings have indicated the existence of a thin seam of coal above the massive Massillon sandstone, and it is sometimes referred to by drillers as the "Fifteen-inch Seam." but it is oftener from six to twelve inches. Though persistent over a large area, it has rarely any economie value, and deserves notice simply as a tolera- bly constant feature in the section, and one that is liable to be mistaken for the lower coal. The distance which separates it from the Mas- sillon seam is quite inconstant, and varies from sixty to one hundred feet. In another county, this seam becomes of workable thiek- ness, and it has therefore been named in the reports as Coal No. 2. Another thin coal- seam is also sometimes found immediately beneath the Massillon sandstone, but this is frequently cut away by the forces which de- posited this rock. It may be seen. however, at several of the quarries in the vicinity of Massillon.

At a distance of from 150 to 200 feet above Coal No. 1, occurs the lowest of the two lime- stone seams which traverse this as they do many other, of our coal-bearing counties. In Stark County, Coal No. 3 is sometimes absent, some- times has a thickness of a few inches, and rarely becomes of any economic importance. From twenty-five to tifty feet above it oceurs the second limestone coal (Coal No. 4). This is well developed in Stark County, and in some cases has considerable value. In the subterranean, rocky ridge, which lies between the valley of the Tuscarawas and the old channel west of Canton, both the limestones referred to, and sometimes both limestone coals, may be seen, the upper one only being of workable thickness. Coal No. 5 lies usually about fifty feet above the gray limestone over Coal No. 4. As a general rule, in Stark County it is two and a half to three feet in thickness, and has much less value than in

Tusearawas County, where it is sometimes four feet thick and of superior quality. West of Navarre, Coal No. 5 has been opened in several places, and is about three feet thiek -- a soft coking coal, of fair quality. In Pike Town- ship, this coal is found on both sides of the Nimishillen, somewhat back from the stream, here, as at Mineral Point, holding its normal position about midway between Coals No. 4 and 6. It is in this region, known as the "Thirty-inch Seam," and the coal it furnishes is generally good. Toward the south, this seam attains its best development at Mineral Point, in the adjacent county.

Typical exposures of Coal No. 5 may be seen at the mine of David Miller, in Section 12, Canton Township, three miles cast of the city of Canton, and in several other openings made in this seam south of this point. The coal in Miller's mine is twenty-eight to thirty inches thick, overlain by gray shale, with its characteristic deposit of nodular iron ore. The coal is bright and good, more free from sulphur than that of the seam below, more open-burning than the next higher seam (No. 6), which is so extensively mined in Osnaburg Township. In that part of the county lying south and east of Canton Township, the higher hills reach up to the Bowen Coal Measures, and the black-band ore, which lies over Coal No. 7. occurs in some of the hilltops of Osna- burg and Paris. Coal No. 6 is here the prin- cipal seam worked. This generally lies con- veniently above drainage in the valleys of Osnaburg and Paris. while in the lower part of these valleys, which are traversed by streams draining into the Sandy. Coal No. 5 is exposed in numerous localities as far up the Sandy as Minerva, and it is opened on many farms for local nses. In the very bot- toms of these valleys, in a few places, Coal No. 4, with its overlying Putnam JIill limestone, is reached, but it is scarcely worked, except along the Sandy. In Nimishillen and Wash- ington Townships, as the land is high. Coal No. 5 is generally buried beneath the sur- face. In Lexington Township, however, on the north side of the divide, the tributaries of the Mahoning have opened the lower coals freely, and, at Alliance, Coal No. 5 lies ten feet below the station (500 feet above Lake

171

HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY.

Erie), and is worked in a shaft thirty-one feet deep, in the western part of the village. The coal is here three and a half to four feet in thickness. of fairly good quality, but, from the want of cover. rather soft, and contains considerable sulphur.

Coal No. 6 lies some fifty feet above Coal No. 5, or from eighty to one hundred feet above the upper of the two lower limestones, and is one of the most important and wide- spread coal seams in the State. It is the " Big Vein" of Columbiana County, the shaft coal at Steubenville, the most important seam of Holmes, Tuscarawas and Coshocton Counties, and is also the "Great Vein" of the Hocking Valley district. In Stark County, it runs through all the hills east and south of Canton. It is the coal mined at several of the mines in Osnaburg, and is thence transported for black- smiths' use to all parts of the county. In this region, it varies from four to six feet in thick- ness, and erops out and is worked in numerous localities in Osnaburg and Mapleton. Passing thence southward. it loses in thickness and importance, until, in the edge of Tuscarawas County, it becomes less valuable than the next lower seam. At Waynesburg it appears well, and then reaches around through the high- lands of Paris and Washington into Columbi- ana County, retaining its volume and value all the way to the State line. At New Frank lin, in Paris. it shows a scam five feet ten inches thick, with the usual slate parting eighteen inches above the bottom. It extends from this point northward, through Washing- ton, as far as Alliance, but becomes thinner in this direction. In all parts of Stark Conn- ty. Coal No. 6 is a coking coal. generally of good thickness, and capable of atfording an excellent fuel for blacksmiths' nse or the gon eration of steam. When coked, it may be used for iron-smelting. It sometimes con- tains considerable sulphur, but this may, how- ever, be eliminated by washing. In the southern tier of townships Sugar Creek. Bethlehem, Pike and Sandy-Coal No. 6 is found in most of the higher hills. It is, how ever, in this region, thinner and less pure than in the southeastern portion of the county. Its best development seems to be in Osnaburg and Paris. It here lies for the most part. conven-

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History of Stark County, with an outline sketch of Ohio, Part 28

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892? ed Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey Number of Pages: 1060

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892? ed
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1060