USA > Ohio > History of the Upper Ohio Valley, with family history and biographical sketches, a statement of its resources, industrial growth and commercial advantages, Vol. II pt 2 > Part 10
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What is termed the "Four Foot Seam," about seventy-five feet above the Pittsburgh coal, is a valuable coal of great heating power. but interspersed with "nigger-heads" or sulphur stone, and with a larger per cent of incombustible matter, will be valuable in competi- tion with many other coals now used in large quantities, when the "Pittsburgh coal" is not a competitor. These two seams are co-ex- tensive with the county, but the second is not as valuable in the west side of the county as upon the east side.
The " Badgersburg coal," quite thin in seam at the river, increases in thickness until at Barnesville, it reaches a thickness of five feet and is extensively worked. These three seams are now worked, the first along the river front, up McMahan creek and its tributaries to near Glancoe, and up Wheeling creek to the west side of the county, and available with moderate shafting all over the county, the second for domestic use, where the first is not as easily accessible, and the third in the western part of the county, and jointly furnish an area of avail- able coal within the county, little if any less than 1,000 square miles, averaging more than four feet in thickness, of which not more than twelve square miles in area has been mined.
Early coal mining was for domestic purposes, and the first shipment of coal we have any record of was by Capt. John Fink, and was from the mouth of McMahan creek, where Bellaire is now situated, to Maysville, Ky., in 1832. A little later Mr. Fink began to boat coal to New Orleans, and building boats for this purpose, and mining coal to fill them was for a long time the principal business of the people set- tled about the mouth of McMahan creek. The coal mined from the hill south of the creek was hauled to the river in carts and shov-
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HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEV.
eled into boats and when the river raised floated to New Orleans, sel- ling it to sugar refineries at as much as $1.50 per barrel, containing two and three-fourths bushels, to be used in connection with wood to make the heat great and regular enough to produce the best results. The coal was carried out of the boat in a barrel with a rope bale which was swung over a pole on the shoulders of two men.
A few years later a family of English miners named Heatherington, consisting of the father John, and his four sons Jacob, John, Jr., Ralph and Edward, came to Pultney township and assisted in the develop- ment of the coal industry. In 1837 Jacob rented a coal bank from Captain Fink and purchased eight acres of land on credit and com- menced business for himself mining his own coal and wheeling it out on a wheelbarrow. He soon commenced shipping by river, and fur- nishing steamboats with fuel, finally building two boats and towing his coal to points down the river, and for many years mined and shipped more coal than any man in the county. He made money buying addi- tional land, increasing in wealth as the city of Bellaire grew up around him, until he is one of the heaviest taxpayers in the county and still actively engaged in mining, having two mines, one for river ship- ping and the other for supplying factories and families. Peter Shaver, five miles below Bellaire, on the Ohio river, was an early coal opera- tor, mining for steamboat and river shipping purposes. The great development of the coal industry in Belmont county has occurred since the construction of the Central Ohio railroad in 1854, and the subsequent construction of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh and the Cleve- land, Lorain and Wheeling roads, the latter being in fact the heaviest coal shipping road coming into the county. The following figures will show the growth of the coal industry within the past fifteen years in the county.
Coal Mined .- In 1875, 213,955 tons; 1883, 469,339 tons; 1886. 533.779 tons; ISS7, 721,76; tons: 1889, 822,148 tons. This is an increase of 300 per cent. in fifteen years, and a product exceeded by but five coun- ties in the state.
Limestone, Sandstone, Cement, Clays, Oil and Gas .- In the exposures along the streams emptying into the Ohio river there are disclosed strata aggregating 118 feet of limestone: 186 feet of sandstone; twelve feet of cement rock and 183 feet of clays and shales.
Limestone .- The distribution of limestone is pretty general over the county, but in larger quantities as the lower strata are reached next the river. They are generally.excellent carbonates, and make a good quality of quicklime for building purposes. Some of them have been used at the blast furnaces of the county and neighborhood as fluxes in the production of pig iron, and others have been ground as fertili/- ers and are likely to be used in greater quantities for these purposes in the future. The supply is unlimited.
Sandstonc .- There is an ample supply of sandstone, accessible in all parts of the county, chiefly used for home buildings and paving pur- poses, and within a few years, quarried and shipped beyond the
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BELMONT COUNTY, OHIO.
county for building purposes, but being generally of the softer and coarser grades than found in some of the northern counties of the state, they have not been produced in large quantities for shipment.
Cement. Hydraulic limestone, or cement, is as general over the county as coal, and crops out on the east side of the county about fifty feet above the "Pittsburgh coal." This rock was first tested in 1871 by C. L. Poorman, who, with Isaac Booth, erected a cement mill that year with a capacity of 20,000 barrels per year. This mill has recently been idle, but has passed into the hands of pushing, energetic men, who intend to increase its capacity and put it in motion again. This cement rock is six feet thick, of which over four feet is first-class hy- draulic lime, and if care is taken in its separation, will produce a ce- ment equal to any in the country.
On the western side of the county, if geologists are not at fault in tracing the coal and other strata in Belmont county, there is another cement seam of nearly the same size, about forty feet above the one used at Bellaire, and not found in the west. This cement was first manufactured by Thomas C. Parker, who erected a mill in 1858 about one mile west of Barnesville. During the war the mill re- mained idle, but was started up again in 1868 with a force sufficient to produce about 12,000 barrels annually, for which he obtained a ready market.
The following analysis of the Barnesville cement, by Dr. E. S. Wayne, of Cincinnati, and the Bellaire cement, by Prof. Wormley, chemist of the Ohio geological survey, and compared with the Kings- ton, N. Y., and Shepley, English, shows their standing:
English. New York.Barnesville Bellaire.
Carbonate of Lime .
69.00
59.70
72.10
46.70
Carbonate of Magnesia. . .
.20
12.35
11.15
21.50
Oxide of Iron.
3.70
2.35
3.10
. . ..
Oxide of Manganese.
1.20
. . . .
Silica
18.00
15.37
S.47
19.50
Alumina
6.30
9.13
4.85
11.60
Water, loss, etc
1.30
I.IO
.33
.70
100.00
100.00
100.00
100.00
Fire Clar. - There are several seams of what is called fire clay, but none of them have yet been practically developed. A number of tests have been made by preparing this clay and making it into bricks, that have shown very excellent qualities and satisfied those who have made them that we have fire clay of high qualities; there has been no movement to develop their production and use. Within a recent period Mr. William Barnard, of Bellaire, has opened a stone quarry upon the top of the hill from which he was quarrying ruble stone for building purposes. There seemed to be a large amount of silica and mica in a part of the seam, and a test by the Bellaire blast furnace company established the fact that it made a much better lining for
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HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY.
their furnaces than any stone ever used, lasting in the intense heat of the furnace about twice as long as the stone shipped from Pennsyl- vania. This stone with the overlying strata of fire clay about five feet thick, is found along the river front the entire length of the county, south of Bellaire, and will some day be utilized for clay and brick purposes.
Gas and Oil .- Gas and oil have been found in nearly all parts of the county where drilling or excavating for any purpose has occurred. In the coal mines near Dillie's Bottom both gas and oil appear in small quantities. Gas is found in all coal mines in quantities danger- ous to life unless extreme care is taken in ventilation. At the coal mine at Captina, about ten miles from the river, on Captina creek, oil was found in quantities worth taking care of and a large number of wells have been sunk for gas or oil, and some of one or the other found in nearly all of them. Several wells have been drilled within two years in the neighborhood of Glencoe, on the line of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, ten miles west of Bellaire, and a pipeline laid from there to the river through which some oil has been pumped, and the claim made that one of these wells produced twenty barrels per day. Other wells followed, but there has been no such developement as warrants the conclusion that oil has been found or will be found in paying quantities. Two wells have been sunk at Barnesville for gas. They were both pronounced good wells, with a capacity to supply the town, and are to be piped for that purpose, but the average citizen is incredulous and it will be difficult to convince him that either gas or oil will be found in sufficient quantities to pay.
Manufacturing Industries .- The early manufacturing in Belmont county, like everything else, was primitive in its character and con- fined to grist-mills, saw-mills, woolen factories, nail makers and tan- neries. The horse-mill supplanted the hand-mill, morters, pounding block and dried skins, between which grain was pounded. The first hand-mill of which there is record, was built by a man named Clarke in Pease township, in 18oo, which was soon turned into a horse-mill. In 1804, John Harris built the first flouring mill run by water, on Wheeling creek, on section 24, in Colerain township, near where the present iron bridge spans Wheeling creek. It was used as a mill for sixty years. The same year George Gates built the first mill in the south part of the county, on Catte run, and a little later Judge Dillon built one on Captina creek, where the Potts-Dorsey mill now stands. In 1805, Caleb Engle built a log mill on McMahan creek, near the present site of Lewis mill. About this period and subsequently a number of mills were built along Wheeling, McMahan, Captina and Pipe creeks, growing in size and capacity as the country grew in pop- ulation and grain production, but most of the old mills have been abandoned or remodeled, and most of the grain is now ground at the two steam mills at Bellaire, two at Bridgeport, and one each at Barnesville, Flushing, Hendrysburg, Morristown, St. Clairsville, Fair- mont, Somerton, Powhattan, Captina, Armstrong's and Belmont.
Woolen Mills.The first fulling mill of which there is authentic
481
BELMONT COUNTY, OHIO.
record, was erected by John Warnock, on McMahan creek, in 1813, and is still in existence and owned by John McNeice. In 1817, Sam- uel Berry built a fulling mill in Wayne township, and the next year put in carding machinery. Several other woolen mills followed on the several streams, but perhaps the most complete woolen mill ever erected in the county was built by G. L. & J. Boger, at Powhattan, in 1850. It had good machinery and turned out excellent cloth and blankets, but the business of manufacturing woolen goods has never been much developed in the county, although it is one of the leading wool-producing counties in the state.
Early Tanneries .- Hugh Park established a tannery in section 18, Colerain township, in 1799, which is the earliest of record. He con- tinued the business for fifty years. Nicholas Rogers started a tannery at Morristown at an early date, of which there is no authentic record. Others followed at St. Clairsville, Barnesville and Hendrysburg.
Distilleries .-- Distilleries came with the early settlers, and have been persistent in their existence. The first of record, and there were no " moonshiners" in those days, was owned by Josiah Dillon in connection with a horse mill, within the present limits of St. Clairs- ville, on the lot afterward occupied by the Friends meeting house. Michael Grove ran a still house in St. Clairsville at an early date also, and Major Thompson, who was one of the early settlers in that place, says " distilleries were quite numerous, and could be found on nearly every other farm." At present there are but three distilleries in the county, only one of which is in operation; one in Pease town- ship, one in York township, and one in Kirkwood township. The York township distillery, by John Rumser, is the only one in operation.
The Iron and Steel Industry .- In iSOS there were two cut nail fac- tories in St. Clairsville, and in 1810, James Riggs came from the state of Maryland and started the largest factory of this kind ever estab- lished in the county. He erected a factory with three forges, and over the entrance had a sign in large letters, " James Riggs' Nail Fac- tory." Each forge turned out daily from fifteen to twenty pounds of nails, which sold readily at thirty cents per pound. During the war of 1812 he did a large business and made money, but the "cut nail machine" was invented soon after, and the rapid decline in the price of nails ruined the wrought nail business. There are now in the county two nail factories - the Laughlin, at Martin's Ferry, with 192 machines, and the Bellaire nail works, with 150 machines, capable of turning out about 17,000 kegs of assorted cut nails per week.
Blast Furnaces. - The first blast furnace in the county was erected in 1857 by Cyrus Mendenhall, Moses Mendenhall and George K. Junkins, near Martin's Ferry. They had made some tests of the ore found in the adjacent hills, and purchased fifty acres of land on which it was found. This furnace was the first built southwest of Pittsburgh, and east of Lawrence county, Ohio. It was soon discovered that the native ore needed admixture with other ores to produce good pig iron, and the furnace was removed in 1865 to the bank of the river,
31 -- B.
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482
HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY.
at its present site, between railroads and river. The furnace subse- quently passed to the control of the Benwood, W. Va., rolling mill, and has run steadily, except when off for repairs, and produces about 100 tons of mill iron per day. In 1872 the Bellaire blast furnace was erected by the Bellaire nail works company, with a capacity of about sixty tons per day, but the furnace has since been enlarged, and im- proved machinery and methods adopted by which the capacity has been increased to about 140 tons per day.
Nail, Iron and Steel MMills. - The first nail mill in Belmont county was erected in 1867, at Bellaire, by a company organized under the name of " Bellaire Works," the charter members were: Thomas Har- ris, Jr., A. L. Wetherald, James B. Gonell, J. P. Harden, G. R. Leasure, Herman Hartenstein and H. L. Beck, with a capital stock of $155.000. In March, 1867, the name was changed to Bellaire nail works. B. R. Cowan, now clerk of the United States district court, of the southern district of Ohio, was the first president of this company; D. J. Smith, secretary. It was started with twenty-five nail machines, but had scarcely started when almost entirely destroyed by fire; was promptly rebuilt. In 1872 the capital stock was increased to $375,000, and a blast furnace erected, and the number of machines increased to ninety. In 1875 the capital stock was again increased to $500,000, and in 1884 a large steel plant, the first in eastern Ohio, erected at a cost of $200,000. This establishment, when running full in all depart- ments and on double time in steel plant, has a capacity to produce 50,000 tons of pig iron, 75,000 tons of steel billets and slabs, and 300,000 kegs of nails yearly, and employs 600 hands on a monthly pay roll of $35,000. These works are located on the bank of the Ohio river, and the Cleveland & Pittsburgh, Baltimore & Ohio, and Cleve- land, Lorain & Wheeling railroads run through their premises and into their stock yards.
The present officers are: President, James Wilson; secretary, A. B. Carter; superintendent steel works, J. C. Cabot; superintendent of furnace, Edward Jones, Jr .; superintendent of nail department, William Sharp.
The Laughlin Nail Company --- In 1873, William Clark and others organized "The Ohio City Iron and Nail Co.," and erected their works north of Martin's Ferry, on the land of William Clark. The mill was started in March, 1874, with fifty nail machines, and run until May, 1876, when the low price of nails and the stringency of the money market, the company being a large borrower, forced its sus- pension. For a time the Benwood nail company leased and run the mill until sold in 1878 to the Laughlin nail company, organized April, 1878, with Alexander Laughlin, president; W. L. Glessner, secretary, and A. L. Wetherald, superintendent. When this mill was purchased by this company it contained but fifty nail machines-it now contains 192 -- the second largest cut nail mill in the world. The number of employes amounts to about 275. The monthly pay roll amounts to about $?0,000.00. The capacity of the works is 10,000 kegs steel cut nails per week. The value of the product for ISSo-running about
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3
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483
BELMONT COUNTY, OIIIO.
half time-amounted to about $750,000.00. The present officers are W. L. Glessner, president; F. M. Strong, secretary; William Lewis, mill manager, and M. A. Chew, factory manager. When the present company bought the mill, their product was iron nails, now the pro- duct is steel nails, and the steel is made by their own steel plant located at Mingo Junction, Ohio.
The /Etna Iron and Nail Works .- The /Etna Iron and Nail works company was organized in 1873, with a capital stock of $200,000, with W. H. Holloway as president, W. H. Tallman, secretary, and Levi Jones, manager. The works were located in Pease township, north of Bridgeport, and went into operation in 1874, manufacturing small T rail, sheet and bar iron. The works, by careful management, were kept running during the hard times following the panic of 1873 and ever since, being enlarged several times, and now has a large trade in sheet and corrugated irons, employing a large number of men, run- ning steadily on good pay. The present officers are: President, W. H. Tallman; secretary, John A. Topping; general manager, B. M. Caldwell.
The Standard Iron Company .- This company was organized in ISS2, with L. Spence, president, and W. T. Graham, secretary, with a capi- tal of $200,000, for the manufacture of sheet and plate iron. The works are located north of Bridgeport, in Pease township, and have been successfully managed. The present capital is $350,000, with a bi-weekly pay roll of about $11,000, and produces annually 15,000 tons of plate and sheet iron and steel, galvanized iron, corrugated V crumped and beaded roofing and siding and ceiling. The present officers are: L. S. Delaplain, president, and W. T. Graham, secretary.
The Foundry Business .- The foundry and machine shop business is confined to the towns of Barnesville, Bellaire, Bridgeport and Martin's Ferry, the latter leading. The first foundry in Belmont county was started at Martin's Ferry, about the year 1837. in connection with the manufacture of threshing machines. There are now two foundries and three machine shops in Martin's Ferry, the largest being known as the Ohio Valley Agricultural works of L. Spence, devoted to the production of agricultural machinery and general machine shop work, employing about thirty hands. In 1836 Wiley & Griffith manufac- tured the first threshing machine in Martin's Ferry, and since then a number of others have engaged in the business, including Benjamin Iloyle, Griffith, Moore & Sanders, E. J. Hoyle, Griffith & Co., E. J. Hoyle & Bros., Henry Ileberling, A. D. Rice, Hobensack & Reyner, and White & Wiley. At present 1. Spence and Hoyle Bros. are engaged in the business. The Mann & Co. Foundry and Machine works, Martin's Ferry, was first started in 1837 as a foundry to make threshing machine castings and under several different owners con- tinned that business until it passed into the hands of Culbertson, Wiley & Co., who enlarged the works, increased their capacity and commenced making heavy castings for rolling mills, blast furnaces, etc., and added a machine shop for the construction of heavy mill machinery. Wiley & McKim succeeded the above firm and they in
484
HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY.
turn were succeeded by Mann & Co., who are now doing a good busi- ness on portable and stationary engines, mill machinery, etc.
The Belmont Foundry at Bridgeport, was established in 1849 by William B. Dunlevy, sold in 1853 to James Gray, who sold in 1855 to the present firm, Woodcock & Son, who have run the foundry suc- cessfully on stove and miscellaneous castings. The first foundry in Bellaire was erected in 1870, in connection with the Bellaire Imple- ment and Machine Works, C. L. Poorman, president, which in 1879 passed to the Etna Glass and Manufacturing company, and is still running in connection with the machine works. About the same time a stove foundry was erected in South Bellaire, by Parks & Co., that rapidly increased in business, was enlarged several times, was incor- porated as the Ohio Valley Stove company in 1883, and was com- pletely destroyed by fire in 1888. A new company has since been organized and the contracts sold for the erection of a new foundry on the same grounds. The foundry now owned and run successfully by J. H. Watt & Bros., at Barnesville, was erected in 1862, by Joseph Watt, assisted by his son, J. II. Watt. It passed to the presentm an- agement, his three sons, in 1867, and they have developed a very large business in the construction of coal bank cars, using a self-oiling car wheel, patented by the firm. They now employ twenty hands on the construction of these cars, and will this year enlarge their works to meet increasing orders.
The Glass Industry .-- For years Belmont county has been in the lead in the production of flint and window glass in the state of Ohio, having eleven flint glass factories and six window glass factories. The discovery of gas in the northwest part of the state has temporarily drawn attention from this part of the state, and secured the new fac- tories erected within the past two years, but Belmont county factories are all running, and when gas fails as a fuel, will again take the lead in this industry.
The Excelsior Glass Works .- In 1849, Ensell & Wilson erected a small furnace, the first in the county, on the grounds now occupied by the Excelsior Glass works, and run it as " Bottle works" until 1852. when it passed to Wallace, Giger & Ensel. It had a precarious exist- ence, passing in turn to Dites & McGranahan, and Ilohn & Sonner. until in 1861. Michael and James Phillips, of Wheeling, then built a new furnace, but lacking means, James McCluney, of Wheeling, be- came a partner, and in 1863, Joseph Bell, also of Wheeling, entered the company now styled Sweeney, Bell & Co. The factory was rap- idly enlarged before 1868, until it had three ten-pot furnaces, and is the largest factory in this county. In 1876 this factory passed into the hands of a Wheeling company that has run it with success.
The Belmont Glass Works .- The second factory organized in the county to make flint glass was organized in 1866, in Bellaire, by prac- tical glass men from Pittsburgh and Wheeling, in the name of Barnes, Fanpel & Co., with a capital of $10,000. They erected a ten-pot fur- nace at the foot of Cemetery Hill, with necessary buildings, and commenced the production of "table ware." The company was in-
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485
BELMONT COUNTY, OIIIO.
corporated in 1869 with Henry Fanpel, president, and Charles Cowen, secretary. A second furnace was erected in 1872, and the works greatly enlarged, and has been run with varying success ever since, furnishing more practical men to start other factories here and else- where than any other in the state. Its present capital is $79,250, when full it employs 160 men, pay roll $2,000 per week, and produces about $150,000 worth of glassware per annum. The present officers are M. Sheets, president; II. M. Kelley, secretary; Harvey Leighton, factory manager.
National Glass Works .-- The National Glass works, Bellaire, were organized in 1870, by James Dalzell, Francis Eckles, Robert Crangle and others, and a ten-pot furnace erected on lands of Capt. John Fink, south of the creek. In 1873 the factory passed into the hands of a joint stock company, which failed in IS;7, and was then pur- chased by Albert Thornton and John Rodafer, and has since been run in the name of Rodafer Bros., on lamp chimneys, lantern globes, and some specialties. Capital, $35,000; hands employed, 120; annual products, $75,000. The business is managed by the three brothers.
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