USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > Ohio, the future great state, her manufacturers, and a history of her commercial cities, Cincinnati and Cleveland > Part 3
USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Ohio, the future great state, her manufacturers, and a history of her commercial cities, Cincinnati and Cleveland > Part 3
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50
OHIO TO-DAY.
underlying their lands, and are of great value in consequence. There are some eight bituminous blast furnaces at or near Jackson C. HI. ; namely, Fulton, Globe, Huron, Milton, Ophir, Orange, Star, and Tropic. The population of the town is about three thousand five hundred.
The Hanging Rock region owes much of its prosperity to its happy location upon the Ohio River, which affords cheap transportation. for its products to all parts of the West and South. Those furnaces which are directly upon the banks of the river pre- sent a striking view to travelers, and give a good idea of what the region contains-the ones enumerated above constitute but a small portion of the eighty-five within the boundaries of this extensive region, located at the most favorable points. The char- coal furnaces of the interior use native ores alone, and first won for the iron of the region its high reputation. The tests* made of the products from one of these, the cold blast "Hecla," were equaled only by results obtained from two furnaces, respect- ively located at Toledo, Spain, and in Asia Minor. The region is one hundred and fifteen miles in length, extending seventy five miles north, and forty miles south, from the Ohio River. That portion of the ore belt which it embraces is eighteen miles in width, making in all an area of two thousand square miles that is included in the region. The region has added great wealth to the States of Ohio and Kentucky, but comparatively little, however, with what may be expected from it in the future. The railroad facilities of the region are limited; and when navigation on the Ohio is checked by the ice at one season, or the low water at another, the iron interests are seriously embarrassed. Hence, the advent of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad is anticipated with much anxiety, as it would be beneficial not only to the region, but prove of much advantage to the Cincinnati and other iron markets.
# These tests were made for the Government with reference to ordnance, by Captain Q. M. Wade, U. S. A., prior to the late war.
5 %
HANGING ROCK IRON REGION.
LIST OF BLAST FURNACES IN THE HANGING ROCK IRON REGION.
NAME OF FURNACE.
COUNTY.
built.
When
BY WHOM BUILT.
Capacity.
Daily ton
FUEL ..
Argillite
Greenup
1818 Richard Deering and Trimble Bros ..
Charcoal.
Ashland
Boyd
1869 Lex. and Big Sandy Railroad Co
40
Bituminous coal.
Amanda.
1829 Lindsey Poague and others.
5
Charcoal.
Alice .
Lawrence
IS75 .Etna Iron Works ..
00 Bituminous coal.
Bellefonte
Greenup
1826|A. Paull, George Poague, and others ..
14
Charcoal.
Blanch
Lawrence
1875 ;- Etna Iron Works ..
60
Bituminous coal.
Delfont
ISof Belfont Iron Works.
45
Buena Vista
Boyd
IS 18. Wm. Foster and others
15
Charcoal.
Backhorn
Lawrence ..
1833 James & Findley ..
15
Buffalo
Greenup.
IS51 L. Hollister, Ross & Co
15
66
Backeye
Jackson.
I851'C. Newkirk and others.
1 2
Bloom
Scioto
1832 John Benner and others.
15
Boone
Carter
1856. sebastian Effort and others
12
Cambria
Jackson
IS54 D. Lewi: & Co.
12
Caroline.
Greenup.
..
IS33 Henry Blake & Co.
3
Center ..
Lawrence .. 1342; Wm. Carpenter and others.
16
Cincinnati
Vinton
IS53|M'Clanberg and others ..
13
Clinton.
Bovd.
IS30 Poague Brothers.
2
66
Clinton
Scioto
1832 M'Collum and others.
II
Etna
Lawrence .. IS32 James Rodgers and others.
16
6.
Eagle.
Vinton
1852 A. Bentley and others
15
Empire.
Scioto
1846 Glidden Brothers.
7
Enterprise
Greenup
IS32 - Clingman.
3
Fulton.
Jackson
1865 Lewis Davis and others.
12
Franklin
Scioto
IS27 Daniel Young and others
7
Gallia.
Gallia
1847 John Campbell and others ..
15
Globe
Greenup 1833;George Darlington and others ..
3
Globe
Jackson
1872, Watts, Hoop & Co.
20
Grant
Lawrence ..
1869 W. D. Kelly & Sons
16
Howar
Scioto
1853 John Campbell and D. T. Woodrow
15
Hope
Vinton .. IS54, Col. Putnam and others.
14
Hopewell
Greenup .. IS32 - Ward Forge, 1824 ..
Hecla
Lawrence .. 1833 R. B. Hamilton & M'Coy
IO
Harrison Scioto
1853 Eifort, Spellman & Co ..
12
Hamden Vinton
IS54 L. C. Damarin and others.
16
66
Hunnewell ! lately
Greenup ...
IS44 J. Campbell, J. Peters, J. Culbertson ..
16
Bituminous coal.
Huron
Jackson 1874 Huron Iron Company.
12
Ironton Lawrence IS75 Iron and Steel Company ..
40
Iron Hills now Carter 1873 Iron Hills Fur. and Mining Co.
Charcoal.
Jackson
Jackson 1838 J. Hurd, Young and others .. 1 2
..
Jefferson
1854. Jefferson Furnace Company.
14
Junior
Scioto 1832 Young Brothers and others ..
66
Kenton
Greenup ... IS56 John Warring and others ..
13
Latrobe
Jackson . 17854, W. M'Chee, 1I. F. Austin and others ..
12
..
Laurel
Greenup ... ' 184S/Wurtz Brothers
1 2
66
Bituminous coal.
Charcoal.
Bituminous coal. Charcoal.
66
66
( Greenup
Charlotte j
Keystone Jackson 1849 John Campbell, S. M'Connell & others. 15
66
16
52 -
OHIO TO-DAY.
NAME OF FURNACE.
COUNTY.
built.
When
By WHOM BUILT.
Capacity.
Daily tou
FUEL.
La Grange.
Lawrence
11836 Hurd, Gould & Co ...
Charcoal.
Lawrence ..
.. IS34 J. Riggs & Co ..
15
Limestone ..
Jackson
... 1855 Evans Walterhouse and others ..
12
Lincoln
... 1553.S. Baird and others ..
12
Logan
Hocking ... 1833
15
Madison
Jackson
.... 1554 John Campbell, J. P. Terry and others
1.4
Milton
..
.. 'IS33 R. Hamilton, J. Campbell, W. Ellison.
16
Mount Savage.
Carter.
'1845; Robinson M. Biggs and others.
17
Monroe
Jackson
1856 Jno. Campbell, W'm. M. Bolles & others
20
New Hampshire.
Greenup ... 1848'S. Seaton and Boyd Brothers.
Norton
IS73, Norton Iron Works.
45
Bituminous coal.
Oakland
1834 Kouns Brothers
Charcoal.
Orange
Jackson S64; Watson and others ..
16
Ophir
1874. Hon. II. S. Bundy and others
12
Olive
Lawrence .. IS46 John Campbell, John Peters. 66
IÓ
Charcoal.
Ohio
Scioto
IS445 David Sinton, T. W. Means.
15
Pine Grove.
Lawrence .. 1828 Robert Hamilton, A. Ellison.
16
Pennsylvania,
Greenup ... , 1848 Wartz Brothers.
12
Pactolus
IS24 ME Murty & Ward,
Pioneer.
Scioto
1856: W. Colvin, U. Tracy and others.
12
. :
Raccoon
Greenup .. 1833 D. Trimble, J. T. Woodrow and others
12
Richland
Vinton 1854|Westfall, Stewart and others ...
17
Star.
Jackson 1866:Isaac Brown and others ..
17
Bituminous coal.
Star ..
Boyd 1847|1. 3'Cullough and Lampton Brothers
Sandy
Greenup ... IS47 D. Young, Gilruth and others .. IS24 Shreeves Brothers.
I
Scioto
Scioto
IS2S Wm. Salters and others
12
Tropic
Jackson ... IS73 Tropic Furnace Company
Bituminous coal.
Union
Lawrence .. IS26 James Rodgers & Co ..
Charcoal.
Union
Hocking ... 1854
14
Vesuvins
Lawrence .. ' IS33 Huid, Gould and others.
IO
Vinton.
Vinton.
IS53 Ino. E. Clark, Jno. Culbertson & others
20 Cckeand bit. coal.
Washington
Lawrence .. 1853 John Campbell, Jolin Peters and others
17 Charcoal.
Wellston
Jackson
1875 Wellston Coal and Iron Company
15
Bituminous coal.
Zaleski
Vinton
Waters and others.
Projected
Lawrence ..
Sheridan Iron and Coal Company
Bituminous coal. . :
Projected 66
H. Campbell & Sons ..
The first iron smelted in the region was at a cupola built in 1815, by Richard Deering.
--------
Bituminous coal. Charcoal.
Monitor
Lawrence .. 1868 John Peters and others.
13
Mount Vernon
Boyd 66
Bituminous coal .. =
Oak Ridge.
.. 1856, Prof.W. W. Mather, Gen. O. M. Mitchell
61
66
Charcoal.
Steam
Twin Furnaces
-------
66
IS73 Milton Furnace and Coal Co.
53
POMEROY REGION.
POMEROY lies at the apex of a great horseshoe bend of the Ohio, and is the county- seat of Meigs County, which borders on the river for six miles below Pomeroy, and forty-five miles above. Below Pomeroy lies Middleport, a flourishing town, and further down is the village of Lower Pomeroy. Above Pomeroy are Minersville, Carlton, and Syracuse-the latter being four and a half miles from the Court-house in Pomeroy; while still further above Syracuse is the town of Racine. Opposite Syracuse, in Mason County, West Virginia, is New Haven; further down lies Hartford City; and opposite Pomeroy, where the valley is wide, is Mason City, which aspires to become the county-seat of Mason County in the place of Point Pleasant. Below Mason City are Clifton, Newcastle, and West Columbia.
The hills on either side of the river are some three hundred feet high, and in them lies a five and a half foot stratum of coal, nearly horizontal, there being a dip to the south-east of about thirty feet to the mile. The coal lies in Pomeroy at about forty feet above high-water mark. Above the coal rises a stratum of sandstone about sixty feet thick, which, in many parts, is exposed in perpendicular crags. < All the water-courses head in caves, at the end of tortuous ravines, in this ledge of sandstone.
The whole region is thus inclosed in walls of rock, except toward the river, and to the east and west where Kerr's Run, in the upper part of Pomeroy, and Leading Creek, below Pomeroy, the latter a considerable stream, connects this valley with the Ohio. Neither of these valleys, however, is available for an entrance into Pomeroy, as the former, although excellently adapted for a road-bcd, stretchcs too far toward the east, while the latter, besides entering the river too far to the west, presents unusual obstacles to the construction of a road-bed. Besides this, apart from the region directly bordering on the river, the peculiar formation of the southern part of Meigs County, with its strata of slippery clay, makes the construction of a cheap road-bcd impossible.
THE EXISTING ROAD-BED.
Fortunately for the prospect of the extension of the Narrow Gauge Railroad to .
Pomeroy, the immense difficulties above indicated have already in a great part been
-
54
OHIO TO-DAY.
overcome, and overcome in such a manner as peculiarly to favor the new enterprise. although in completing that portion of the work which has already been done, the resources of the mineral district have been severely taxed.
The line chosen, after exhaustive surveys by the Directors of the Atlantic and Lake Erie Railroad (Pomeroy to Toledo, three-fourths of which is now graded, and a small portion under iron), is equally available for a road toward the west and toward the north. Indeed, in reaching Mud Fork, the point of junction with the proposed railroad to Jackson County, a distance of thirteen miles, the Toledo line makes nine miles in a westerly direction, and only five toward the north. It enters Pomeroy from the valley of a tributary of Leading Creek through a tunnel (already opened) one thousand one hundred and sixty-seven feet in length. and strikes the river at a point half a mile below the Court-house of Pomeroy, and opposite the westeru part of Mason City.
It has been supposed by some persons interested in the Narrow Gauge road that to have entered the town by cutting a lower summit to the eastward, over which the county road reaches the river at the Court-house, would have been advisable. This would, however, have necessitated an increased length of one and a quarter miles with heavy embankment for the entire distance -- while neither the open space needed at the terminus nor free access to the river by inclined planes could have been obtained, owing to the upper valley being already occupied by buildings.
The locality chosen, in addition to its central position, offers peculiar advan- tages for the construction of a railroad bridge over the Ohio. It is not improbable that the proposed Narrow Gauge road from Washington to Cincinnati and Chicago, and the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad as well, in seeking an outlet to Toledo and the North, may find this their most advantageous point for crossing the Ohio.
The road-bed approaches the river in a wide embankment at a height of about thirty feet above high-water mark, while the valley in which it lies offers unoccu- pied space for depots and yards. On the Virginia side the bank is solid and is never overflowed, while the breadth of the river bottom gives abundant space for the approach from the south.
In passing outward from Mud Fork the line meets with obstacles which, taken together, are only second in magnitude to the tunnel. The way is directly blocked by two high ridges, largely composed of slippery clay, and the valley road itself requires embankments for a considerable distance. Nearly all of the light work on the road-bed
POMEROY REGION. 55
bis, however, been done, and a greater portion of the heavy work also; the value of work done amounting to $125,000.00. The work of three miles of the line has already cost about a hundred thousand dollars. A considerable amount, however, remains to be done, especially as the hill has slipped on either side of one of the cuts already jegun, and the tunnel, though the excavation is completed, requires to be timbered.
From Mud Fork the Toledo line; turns north, while the proposed line to Jackson County follows the even bed of a small creek westward, with easy grades. to a low taleland, the distance to the boundary of Meigs County, opposite Wilkesville, being about seven miles.
In coming to Pomeroy, the proposed Narrow Gauge road will obtain the use of the A. and L. E. rond-bed at a low rate; and should the former desire to use the road-bed before it is completed by the A. and L. E. R. R., the value of the work put upon it will be credited in abatement of the rent to be charged.
POPULATION.
By the census of 1870, the population of Pomeroy, a city of the second class, was stated to be five thousand eight hundred and twenty-four; and its extent has largely increased in the five years that have elapsed since that census was taken. Taken with it, the dozen communities, of which Pomeroy is the center, are estimated to number from twenty to twenty-five thousand souls. Of these, the number of those engaged in the mining of coal has been fixed at about three thousand.
MINERAL RESOURCES.
The COAL vein lying directly below the sandstone ledge in the hills is the only vein that has been, as yet, worked to any considerable extent. It is, however, known that there are at least two veins of coal within reach by shaft-mining. The amount of coal mined yearly is estimated at about sixteen million (16,000,000) bushels, of which about six millions are consumed on the spot, and ten millions exported.
The SALT brine is of unusual strength and purity, and is pumped from artesian wells of a depth of from nine to eleven hundred feet. There are twenty-six salt fur- naces, whose actual annual yield is estimated at from five to seven millions of bushels of salt-their full capacity at from one-third to one-fourth more.
BROMINE, of perhaps an annual value of a hundred thousand dollars, is manufac- tured from the "bittern" or "bitter-water" remaining after the salt has been extracted
.
56
OHIO TO-DAY.
from the brine. If report be correct, the world obtains its chief supply of this invalu- able drug from the Ohio River mineral district. An enterprise has also been lately set on foot to manufacture soda and concentrated lye. The " bittern" may itself, indeed, become, in time, an important source of revenue. It contains in great quan- tity the ingredients which give their efficacy to some of the most famous healing springs. Its curative properties, in cases of rheumatism, are well known. Indeed, a bucketful of bittern, added to a bath-tub half full of pure water, gives a bath almost identical with those of Saint Catherine's, in Canada -- a spring which has long been a resort of invalids from all parts of the country.
OTHER INDUSTRIES.
Among the prominent manufacturers are the Pomeroy Iron Company, who started under the present style in 1863. They manufacture six thousand tons iron single turn, and forty thousand kegs of nails annually, giving employment to two hundred hands. The Pomeroy Salt Company, with a capital of $75,000, manufacture eleven hundred bushels of common, fine, and coarse grade salts daily, employing twenty -six hands. H. S. Horton, President; H. M. Horton, Secretary and Treasurer. The Sugar Run Furnace, V. B. Horton, President; Geo. B. Grow, Secretary and Treasurer; capital, $30,000 ; manufacture eight hundred barrels dairy and fine salt daily ; employ twenty hands. The Dalwey Salt Company, V. B. Horton, President; E. J. Horton, Secretary and Treasurer ; capital, $80,000; manufacture one thousand six hundred bushels of fine, table, and coarse salts daily; employ thirty-five hands. Windsor Salt Company, Miners- ville, Ohio; V. B. Horton, President; E. J. Horton, Secretary and Treasurer; capital, $50,000; make one thousand five hundred bushels fine and dairy salt daily; employ thirty hands. Minersville Salt Company, Minersville, Ohio; V. B. Horton, President; W. G. Penney, Secretary and Treasurer; capital, $70,000; capacity, one thousand two hundred bushels fine salt daily; employ twenty- five hands. Middleport Salt Company, Middleport, Ohio. Riverside Salt Company, Antiquity, Ohio; R. R. Hud- son, President ; Robert Stobart, Secretary and Treasurer; capacity, four thousand bushels fine salt per diem ; capital, $50,000; employ twenty hands. And other salt works located at Coal Ridge, Sutton, and Syracuse. The Pomeroy Machine Company ; E. J. Horton, President; Albin Davis, Secretary and Treasurer ; capital, $50,000; employ twenty hands. Pomeroy Coal Company ; incorporated 1858; V. B. Horton, President ; H, S. Horton, Secretary and Treasurer; capital, $125,000; mine about eight hundred
POMEROY REGION. 57
thousand bushels annually; employ seventy hands. The Gibson House, kept by G. W. Todd, is all that the most exacting traveler could ask; the finest procurable cooked in a manner that makes his guests think they are really at home. Mr. Todd has lived in Pom- eroy for twenty-three years, leaving it occasionally to cross the plains in search of gold, though invariably returning in search of eatables, thinking there is no place like home.
FACILITIES FOR SHIPPING.
To those familiar with the navigation of the Ohio, the peculiar advantages of Pom- eroy, both for shipment toward Pittsburg and toward Cincinnati, are well known. Lying half-way between these two centers of business, it is itself a terminal point for the more important traffic from Cincinnati, and the nucleus for an extended system of river transportation on light draught boats in either direction.
The mineral district alone supports a fleet of boats and barges, most of which are built along its shores; and its position, with reference to the suddenly arriving and too often suddenly disappearing rises of the Ohio, makes it singularly available as a general shipping point. The rises come, for the most part, from the upper streams, the Youghi- cgheny and Monongahela and the Kanawhas. By taking the river when the flood reaches this central point transportation is opened in either direction for boats of deep draught for a longer period than from other points; and the facilities are all at hand for making the utmost use of the opportunity. To illustrate, iron shipped from Jackson County to Pomeroy can reach Pittsburg twenty-four hours sooner, and much cheaper, than if shipped from Portsmouth; while in going down on a rise it reaches Cincinnati at the same time as if sent from Portsmouth, and Pomeroy, not being a way station, pays no more for freight than Portsmouth.
THE ENTIRE MINERAL DISTRICT ONE TERMINUS.
Although the various manufactories above mentioned are dotted along the river banks for many miles on either side of the river, the railroad depots will be easily access- ible to them all, except for short periods, when the ice stops all navigation. Along the entire bend of the river, of which Pomeroy is the center, the river-bed is depressed, and forms a pool of such depth that even at the lowest stage of the river heavy freights can be transported from one end of the mineral district to the other. Each important man- ufactory owns its inclined plane to the river, and the barges and tow-boats are already at hand to transport freights to the inclined planes of the railway freight depots.
8
58
THE MINERAL RESOURCES OF SOUTH-EASTERN OHIO,
AND THEIR PROSPECTIVE DEVELOPMENT.
LETTER FROM PROFESSOR E. B. ANDREWS.
IRON ORE.
This valuable mineral is found in greater or less abundance in all the counties of the district through which the lower coal-measures range. These are Muskingum, Licking, Perry, Hocking, Athens, Vinton, Jackson, Scioto, Lawrence, and Gallia. In small quantities, it is found in- several other counties. Furnaces are found in all the the counties, named except Licking, Perry, and Athens; but they are most abundant in Vinton, Jackson, Scioto, and Lawrence. The ores of the district are generally of great excellence and purity, and the iron made from them has a very high reputation. Full and accurate analyses of many of these ores were made by Prof. T. G. Wormley.
The supply of the best ores is very great, and although not strictly inexhaustible, yet enough to last for many generations at a rate of consumption far greater than the present. For the most part the ores of the district are smelted with charcoal, but this form of fuel must, erelong, be exhausted, and the use of bituminous coal or coke be rendered necessary. Fortunately, the supply of bituminous coals is, proximately, at hand, of a quality which warrants the belief that our ores may be successfully smelted by them. It is not to be expected that the change from charcoal to bituminous coal will be made in all cases without the looked-for transitional trials and failures which almost always accompany great industrial changes; but with good ore and good coal, the iron-maker, who, to a thorough knowledge of the science of iron-making adds good judgment and sagacity, can hardly fail of success.
The Kentucky coal, used so successfully at Ashland and Ironton, Ohio, proved itself to be good furnace fuel from the very first commencement of its use in suitably constructed furnaces. From this we hope that many of our Ohio coals of equal promise will authenticate themselves as furnace coals at the outset. For the proper distribution of these coals there will be needed some additional means of railroad transportation; but as generally the distances are not great, this difficulty is not insuperable.
.
. .
59
MINERAL RESOURCES OF SOUTH-EASTERN OHIO.
COAL.
This important element of modern industry and progress is found in nearly all of fy counties of the Second District. The productive coal-measures include, in whole or in iri. the following counties: Scioto, Lawrence, Jackson, Vinton, Hocking, Perry, Lick- ing, Muskingum, Morgan, Athens, Gallia, Meigs, Washington, Noble, Guernsey, Monroe, and Belmont. The area of coal in a few of the counties is limited, but in none is coal entirely wanting. In many counties coal is found in almost every township, generally lying in accessible seams in the hill-sides. Mining by shafts beneath the general surface in the rare exception in the district. There are coal shafts on the Hocking River, below Neh-onville; at Jackson, in Jackson County, on the Ohio River, above Pomeroy, in Meigs County; in Guernsey County, east of Cambridge; and on the Ohio River, below Bullair, in Belmont County. Generally, there will be found an inexhaustible supply of coal in the hills, which can be mined under the most favorable circumstances.
The coal is every-where bituminous, sometimes, though rarely, appearing in the modified form of cannel. Cannel coal is nowhere extensively mined in the district, and, as a general rule, it is less valuable than the usual bituminous coals.
Caking and non-caking coals are well represented in quantity and quality. The latter we found almost exclusively in the lower coal-measures. For the blast furnace, where coal is to be used without coking, the non-caking must be employed.
Such coal is found in Muskingum, Perry, Hocking, Athens, Jackson, and Gallia, and perhaps in one or two other counties. The lowest seam of coal in the series is generally non-caking in character. Two seams, next above in Jackson County, are also dry- burning. The Nelsonville seam, still higher in the series, is, in most of its range, of the same character, and so, over limited areas, are some of the seams above this. There appears to be almost every possible gradation between the dryest of non-caking coals and those which soften and swell in burning and are in the highest degree caking in quality.
It is impossible to give an estimate in figures of the quantity of coal in the district, but the aggregate is enormous-enough to allow of a rapidly increasing production and use for long ages to come. The quantity is, indeed, so great, that much of it must remain unused for hundreds of years. It will be remembered that ours is not the only coal- field in the West. There are vast supplies of coal in Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Indiana, besides the more distant coal-fields of Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, etc. From many of these States there is already active competition with the Ohio coals.
60
OHJO TO-DAY ..
What can be done with our coal? It is not enough to be the possessor of a raw material like coal; we must be able to use it or sell it.
It should be used at home so far as possible. There is vast power in coal, which we in Ohio should utilize. Prof. Henry, of the Smithsonian Institution, well says: "No civilization is possible without a concentration of power. The ancients had their power in slaves. The pyramids were built by slave-labor. Athens had four hundred thousand slaves and twenty thousand masters. The civilization of those days was supported by the brute forces of man. The civilization of to-day is supported by the brute forces of nature. The latent force of the coal puts the life of a thousand horses into an engine. One ton of our best anthracite burned in our best engines is estimated as being equal to two years of labor of an able-bodied slave, working ten hours a day; and, counting thirty years for his life, fifteen tons of coal would be equal to the life of an able- bodied slave."
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