Century history of Butler and Butler County, Pa., and representative citizens 20th, Part 4

Author: McKee, James A., 1865- ed. and comp
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1526

USA > Pennsylvania > Butler County > Butler > Century history of Butler and Butler County, Pa., and representative citizens 20th > Part 4

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The next move was made by Benjamin Niblock of Youngstown, Ohio; James M. Bredin, then of Butler, and Thompson Kyle, of Harrisville, who leased 50,000 acres of land lying in Mercer, Butler and Venango Counties. The lands in Butler County lay in Mercer, Marion, Cherry, Washington, Venango, Allegheny, and Parker Townships. The royalty paid to the land owners for these leases was ten cents per ton.

They then associated with them the firm of Wick, Wells & Company, of Youngs- town, Ohio; Shryock, Reynolds & Gill, of Meadville, Pennsylvania; Cunard & Mc- Henry, of London; and Jackson, of New York, and organized the Mercer Mining & Manufacturing Company. This company then opened mines at Pardoe, in Mercer County, and at Harrisville, Mercer Town- ship, in Butler County.

In 1868-69 this company built the Shenango & Allegheny Railroad from She- nango to Pardoe, and in 1872 the line was extended to Harrisville and Branchton. In January, 1876, an extension of the line was completed to Hilliard, in Washington Township, and other extensions into the various coal fields were made in 1880, 1882 and 1883. In the latter years the connect- ing line was built from Branchton to Butler.

The coal enterprise was undertaken on the supposition that the so-called Harris-

ville vein, four feet thick, was the principal mining vein of coal in that locality. On investigation it was found that a second vein of good mining coal existed in Bull Valley in Cherry Township. This vein is from five to six feet thick and is called the Burnett vein in honor of the man who first located it. In the same valley the Slope vein was subsequently discovered, and has proved to be one of the most valuable coals found in the region now reached by the Bessemer Railroad and its various branches. The mines in this region were operated for a number of years by Mr. Burnett, who then sold out to a Philadel- phia company. The Harrisville mine was operated by C. A. Jewell, who in 1882 opened the Oneida mine in Center Town- ship. Both of these mines have been ex- hausted. Following the development of the Harrisville mine the Union Coal & Coke Company operated a mine at Gomersol, in Cherry Township. Other mines were the Allegheny, the Buckeye, and the Eichbar, and the Erie Coal Companies operated mines in the vicinity of Anandale and Hilliard. The Stage mines at Claytonia were opened in 1894 and later Steele & Blair opened the Standard Mine on the Bessemer Railroad.

OPERATIONS IN 1908.

In 1908 there were twenty-five coal com- panies operating in Butler County employ- ing about 2,000 men. The total production of the mines for 1907 was about 865,000 tons. The principal operators in the dis- trict are The Great Lakes Coal Company, the Erie Coal & Coke Company, the Goff- Kerby Company, of Cleveland, Ohio, and the H. K. Wick Coal Company, of Youngs- town, Ohio. Among the independent oper- ators are W. K. Hamilton, Harry Hamil- ton, C. B. McFarland, the Turner Coal Company of Greenville, P. D. Sherwin of Butler, George Stage of Greenville. But- ler is in the third bituminous district with Armstrong, Clarion, Beaver, Lawrence

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

and Mercer Counties, and with the excep- tion of Armstrong County has the largest production of any county in the district. The Butler district has been remarkably free from strikes and the various forms of labor troubles that the operators in other districts have encountered. The dis- trict has also been remarkably free from mine disasters and the usual run of acci- dents caused by mine explosions and gas. This is accounted for from the fact that all the mines in the county are above the water level, and are almost entirely free from gaseous formations. The coal mined along the Bessemer Railroad and the Western Allegheny Railroad is all of a superior quality for steam purposes and the entire output of the mines is shipped north for distribution along the Great Lakes.

In addition to the above companies, the New Castle Coal Company and the Filer mines, having openings in Mercer County close to the line, are taking coal out from under farms in Butler County, the value of which is not included in the reports of the production for this county. In the southeastern corner of the county the Clark Coal & Coke Company have an open- ing just across the line in Armstrong County, and their main entries run into the coal lands in Butler County. This company has several thousand acres of coal land leased in Buffalo Township. The Kerr Coal Company, a branch of the Gug- genheimer interests, also have a large block of coal lands in Buffalo Township adjoining the Armstrong and Allegheny County lines, which was purchased out- right from the farmers. This company has an opening at Lane Station on the Butler Branch from which the coal in But- ler County will be mined. Along Buffalo Creek and Walker's Run the small mines operated by Wright, Kelley, Yeanig, and Beckman are still in operation and furnish fuel to the villages and farmers in the surrounding country.

The mines operating were as follows : The Sharon Coal & Lime Company, in Slippery Rock Township, operating the Buhl Mines Nos. 3 and 4, employed 177 men. Their output was 98,400 tons. These mines are on the Wolf Creek Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

The Goff-Kirby Company of Cleveland, Ohio, were operating in Marion and Venango Townships at Anandale Station and Murrinsville under the title of Butts Cannel Coal Company. They employed 253 men, and the output of their Anandale mine No. 2 was 165,000 tons, and of their No. 3, 36,000 tons.

The Bessemer & Lake Erie Coal Com- pany, operating the Jefferson mine, em- ployed 120 men and had an output of 86,000 tons.

The Erie Coal & Coke Company em- ployed eighty-nine men in their Keystone Mine No. 1 and had an output of 77,500 tons.

The Lochrie Brothers Coal Company at Argentine employed eighty men in their Pennsylvania Mine No. 1 and had an out- put of 59,000 tons. This company is oper- ating in Washington and Venango Town- ships.

The Standard Coal Mining Company at Argentine employed eighty-nine men and had an output of 57,000 tons.

The Nellie Coal Company employed seventy-eight men at their Nellie Mine in the same district, and had an output of 49,000 tons.

The Mutual Coal Mining Company em- ployed seventy-one men at the Royal Mine, in the Argentine district, and had an out- put of 43,768 tons.

The Chicora Coal & Coke Company at Chicora, on the Baltimore & Ohio Rail- road, employed fifty men and had an out- put of 40,906 tons.

F. A. Mizner employed fifty-nine men at the Grant Mine in Venango Township, and had an output of 31,625 tons.

George Stage & Son employed forty-

HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY

three men at the Stage Mine at Claytonia, and had an output of 18,000 tons.

The Pittsburg Coal & Fuel Company operating the Wahlville No. 2, in Jackson Township, employed thirty-five men and had an output of 15,340 tons.

Samuel Sherwin operating the Kinkade Mine near Karns City employed forty-six men and had an ouput of 13,216 tons.

The Maines Coal Company operating the Maines Mine in Center Township, three miles north of Butler, employed seventeen men and had an output of 8,884 tons.

The Erie Coal Mining Company em- ployed twelve men at their Claytonia mine, on the Bessemer Railroad, and had an out- put of 7,420 tons.

Thomas Evans, lessee of the Butler Coal & Coke Company, employed twenty- two men at the Jamisonville mine, in the Bessemer Railroad, and had an output of 6,824 tons. This mine is now operated by Mariana & Smith.

The Grace Coal Company employed twenty-five men at the Evans City shaft on the main line of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and had an output of 5,500 tons. This mine is now operated by the Turners, of Greenville.

The Hallston Coal & Coke Company em- ployed fifteen men at the Hallston mine on the Bessemer Railroad, and had an output of 4,784 tons.

The Branchton Coal Company employed seventeen men at the Branchton mine and had an output of 973 tons.

P. D. Sherwin employed fifty-eight men. at the Sherwin mines on the Bessemer Railroad, and produced 23,000 tons. This mine is on the Dr. McCandless farm in Clay Township. The same operator em- ployed thirty-three men at the Enterprise mine at Karns City and had an output of 10,000 tons. The Enterprise mine is on the Taylor and Riddle farms and has been in operation since 1886.

The future of the coal business in Butler County is full of promise. The operations

for the past thirty years have all been con- fined to the northern half of the county and it is only recently that large mining operations have been carried on in the townships south of Butler. The Wahlville and Evans City mines on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad are the only ones of im- portance in this section, while the Kerr Company and the Clark Coal & Coke Com- pany are operating in the southeastern corner of the county and have their open- ings in Armstrong County. The full ex- tent of the coal beds in the southern town- ships have not been defined, except as they are located by the drill in operating for oil. These records are not reliable as to the exact thickness of the vein, but they are known to vary from three feet to at least eight or ten feet. All of the coal mined in Butler County is of an excellent quality both for fuel and steam purposes, and the close proximity of the fields to the Pittsburg district makes the future pros- pect very bright.

IRON ORE AND LIMESTONE.

The maker of the Universe used a lavish hand when he created the mineral re- sources of Butler County. The develop- ment of the petroleum and gas fields cre- ated wealth never dreamed of by Croesus, and no sooner had this wonderful source of riches begun to decline than men began to delve into the hills in search of minerals, with results that are astonishing to the expert mineralogist and almost unbeliev- able to the ordinary layman. The extent of the coal beds and their development in the last years has been already commented on. Iron ore and limestone are taken to- gether for the reason that the only deposits of iron ore to be found in the county are on top of the ferriferous limestone and these deposits were worked as early as 1805. It was not until one hundred years later that the true value of the limestone was discovered and this many years after the old "tea kettle" furnaces had been

1334564

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

dismantled and the manufacture of iron . in the county abandoned.

According to the geological maps of Pennsylvania the entire area of Butler County is underlaid with a bed of ferrifer- ous limestone that varies from eighteen feet at the Harrisville mines in the North- west section of the county to twenty-eight feet at West Winfield in the Southeast section. This limestone outcrops along the hills of Slippery Rock and Muddy and Wolf Creeks in Muddy Creek, Brady, Cherry, Washington, Venango, Marion, Mercer, Slippery Rock, and Worth Town- ships. In the Northeast section of the county the outcrop is in Allegheny and Parker Townships, along Big Bear Creek and Little Bear Creek, while the only out- crop in the Southeast section is along Rough Run in Winfield Township. Fol- lowing the direction of the Harrisville and Brady's Bend anticlinals, this bed of lime- stone dips to the Southwest at the rate of seventeen feet to the mile, and in the vicin- ity of Butler Borough is two hundred and fifty feet under the surface. In the South- ern tier of townships it is from three to four hundred feet, and in the Northern part of Allegheny County it is six hundred feet beneath the Pittsburg coal.

The only other limestone in the county is known as the Crinoidal, and is found in but one locality. That is, at the top of the hill, one mile East of Sarvers Station in Buffalo Township, near Buffalo Presbyte- rian church. The Crinoidal is found five hundred and fifty feet above the ferrifer- ous limestone, near the top of the hills and has little merchantable value.

EARLY FURNACES AND OPERATIONS.

The pioneers soon discovered the fer- riferous limestone and the deposits of iron ore that accompany it and a number of small furnaces were early established along the valleys of the Connoquenessing, the Slippery Rock, Bear Creek and Rough Run. The iron ore at these places was

found in pockets and in sufficient quanti- ties for the small operations of that day, and the limestone proved to be of an ex- cellent quality for fluxing purposes.

The first furnace was built in the Con- noquenessing valley by Dr. Detmar Basse Muller, and was in operation as early as 1805. It was just outside the limits of Butler County, at the mouth of Pine Run. The product of this furnace was manufac- tured into stoves and farm implements for the use of the residents of the Connoque- nessing Valley in Butler County long be- fore Pittsburg was thought of as an iron town.

Mount Etna furnace was built in 1822 on Slippery Rock Creek by Dr. John Thompson, who came from New Lisbon, Ohio, and purchased a large tract of land in Slippery Rock Township. He erected a cold blast charcoal furnace for the manu- facture of pig iron, and in 1823 he erected a forge for the manufacture of bar iron, built a saw-mill and a grist-mill, employed many men and did an extensive business. Financial difficulties overtook him in 1829 and the property was sold at sheriff's sale, David McJunkin becoming the purchaser. Thompson afterward returned and paid every dollar of his indebtedness. McJun- kin operated the property for about seven years and then rented it to Ephraim Rose, John Near & Co., and Robert McGowan, successively. William S, Bingham also operated the furnace before it went out of blast in 1840. The capacity of the plant was fifteen tons a week and the iron was hauled to Pittsburg at a cost of five dollars per ton. The location of this old iron plant is at Etna mills on the Butler and Mercer Road.

HICKORY FURNACE.

The second furnace to be built on the Slippery Rock was at the site of Kiester's mill, a few miles further up the creek from Etna furnace, and was known as Hickory furnace. Joseph C. Swearingen, who

HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY

owned five hundred acres of land in the vicinity of the old Slippery Rock park, built the furnace in 1836 and projected a large business, which ruined him finan- cially. The property was sold to Charles C. Sullivan, of Butler, and William Stew- art, who rented the plant to William Jack. After a few years the owners took charge and under the management of Stewart the property was operated at a profit. The Kiester grist-mill, now operated by S. M. Cheesman, was built in 1843 by Stewart and Sullivan. Robert Allen operated the old furnace for a few years before it went out of blast in 1860. Good iron was made at both the Etna and Hickory furnaces, but they were driven out of the market by the competition of concerns having better advantages for shipping.

MARION FURNACE.

Marion furnace was built in 1850 by Robert Braden and James Kerr in the present limits of Marion Township. It was a cold blast, charcoal furnace, and was the third one built in the valley of the Slippery Rock. The capacity of the fur- nace was about eighteen tons per week, and the product was shipped to Pittsburg. The owners operated the plant until 1862, when it was abandoned.

MAPLE AND KENSINGTON FURNACES.

The first operations on Bear Creek were built Maple furnace. It was a stone stack, cold blast, charcoal furnace, but was after- ward run with a steam engine. In 1847 the property was purchased by Henry Graff of Pittsburg, and in 1854 M. S. Adams became the owner and operated the plant until 1865, when it was abandoned on account of scarcity of ore. This fur- nace produced about forty tons of iron per week and gave employment to thirty to forty men.

Kensington furnace was built in 1846 by Church, Carothers and Crawford and was

operated by them for five years. It was a charcoal furnace and had a capacity of six tons of iron per day. It was aban- doned for the same reason as Maple fur- nace. The iron ore in this locality is irregular in its formation and runs to pockets. Both these furnaces are in Alle- gheny Township.

WINFIELD FURNACE.

Winfield furnace on Rough Run in Win- field Township, was built in 1844 by Will- iam Spear, who operated it until 1856, when the property was purchased by the Winfield Coal & Iron Company. Soon after William 'Stewart, who had success- fully operated Hickory furnace, became owner and conducted the business until 1864, when the enterprise was abandoned. The original furnace was a thirty-foot stack set on a twenty-foot base, and was fired with charcoal, which was manufac- tured on the furnace property. The blast was first run by water power and later by steam. Its capacity was about forty tons of iron per day, which was hauled to Free- port and shipped by rail or boat to Pitts- burg. To the casual observer of the day the closing of the furnaces on Bear Creek and Rough Run was the expiring act of the iron industry in Butler County and there was little to be hoped for in the future. Destiny had other things in store for the county and fifty years later the site scene of a great industrial activity.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF LIMESTONE.

About the time the last furnace was closed in Butler County the oil fields began to attract attention and for thirty years the iron ore and limestone beds were for- gotten. In the meantime there had been wonderful development in the Pittsburg district in the manufacture of iron and steel, in railroads, in the construction of public roads, and the manufacture of Port- land cements. All of these industries used

in 1844, when George and James Bovard of the "tea kettle" furnace was to be the

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

immense quantities of lime and limestone and they began to look about for a source of supply. One of the first men to see the possibilities of the limestone business in Butler County was Webster Keasey, of Winfield Township, who was raised near the site of the old furnace.

THE WEST WINFIELD RAILROAD.

In 1890 Joseph Brittain, of Butler, who was then carrying on a number of enter- prises in the county, went to Rough Run to buy timber to be manufactured into railroad ties and billstuff. Webster Kea- sey met him and pointed out the possibili- ties of the lime, coal, and fire clay indus- tries at the old furnace site, if a railroad could be built into the place. Brittain was a man of action and was quick to formulate a plan. He purchased the Henry Keasey tract of land, which adjoins the furnace property, that day and the next day he closed a deal with the manager of the fur- nace property in Pittsburg by which the latter agreed to furnish $40,000 and Brit- tain $40,000 to build a railroad from the Butler branch to Winfield furnace. Armed with this agreement Brittain went direct to the head men of the Pennsylvania Rail- road Company at Philadelphia and pre- sented his proposition. The next day he came away with a contract which bound the railroad company to build the branch road within a stipulated time. The strange part of the story is that Brittain did not have a dollar in cash when he closed the contract with the railroad company, and he had no financial backing; his part of the contract was to be paid in railroad ties. Brittain died before the road was com- pleted and his enterprises failed, with the single exception of the railroad.

In 1891 the Rough Run Manufacturing Company purchased the Henry Keasey farm of 177 acres adjoining the furnace tract and erected a salt works, which they operated until 1893, when the business be- came unprofitable; the plant was closed

down and the land was leased to the lime company.

The limestone industry had its inception in 1893 when Webster Keasey and J. A. Ransom leased the tract of the Rough Run Manufacturing Company and opened the mine that is in operation at the present time. Later the Acme Lime Company, Limited, was organized with J. A. Ransom president, J. J. Haas secretary and treas- urer, and Webster Keasey superintendent.

The lime company operated three kilns, one patent steel jacket kiln, one steam drill, and one stone crusher with a daily capacity of two hundred tons of crushed stone. The daily capacity of the kilns was six hundred bushels of burnt lime. Hous- ton Brothers of Pittsburg were the suc- cessors of the Acme Lime Company, and they in turn disposed of the plant to the A. G. Morris Lime & Stone Company of Tyrone, Pennsylvania, which had formerly been a competitor of the West Winfield Company. The Morris company has a capital of two hundred thousand dollars invested in the plant that is now in oper- ation, and the daily output is ten acres of raw stone and from three to five cars of burned lime. The raw stone is used for fluxing purposes in the manufacture of iron and steel and of late years a large percentage of the output of this mine is used in the construction of State highways.

The ferriferous limestone at this point is twenty-eight feet thick and the lower edge of the stratum is twenty-five feet above the water level of Rough Run. Its analysis shows ninety-six per cent. of car- bonate of lime, and it is considered one of the best gray limes in the country. The strata is the same as that of Buffalo fur- nace and Brady's Bend, and extends from the northeast to the southwest through Winfield and Buffalo Townships. The limestone in West Winfield is being mined the same as coal, and the Morris company is one of the largest plants-the only one of its kind-in the world. At this point

HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY

the limestone lies in three separate veins, and has developed an abnormal thickness of twenty-eight feet. The two lower veins are being mined, and the top vein is left in as a roof. The value of this limestone deposit may be estimated in a rough way by anyone who cares to make the calcula- tion. The land owner is paid a royalty of three cents per ton for the raw stone. Estimating the weight of the limestone at one hundred and forty pounds per cubic foot, the value per acre varies from one thousand dollars to twenty-five hundred dollars, depending on the thickness of the stratum.

OTHER MINERAL DEPOSITS.

The wealth of this part of the county in minerals cannot be estimated by the value of the limestone. In addition to the fer- riferous limestone, six veins of coal are found above the limestone which run from two feet six inches to four feet. These veins are the Upper Freeport, Lower Free- port, and Upper Kittanning Coals, while the Clarion coal bed lies twenty-five feet beneath the limestone. The Summit iron ore underlies the Freeport coal, and was the source of supply of the old Winfield furnace and the Buffalo furnace in Arm- strong County. This iron ore was also the supply for the Brady's Bend operations in the middle of the last century, and out- crops in Clarion County. The Buhrstone iron ore is also found in this locality under the lower Kittanning coal. The Mahoning sandstone is found in the upper strata, and the Homewood sandstone is found twenty- five feet above Rough Run.

The Clarion County fire clay is also found, and varies from ten to fifteen feet in thickness. This vein of fire clay is also being operated as is also the Homewood sandstone, and is a source of large profits to the owners of the land.

In the northwest section of the count, limestone was developed in a small way at an early date and was used for fluxing pur-

poses at the old furnaces, and by the farm- ers for fertilizing purposes on their land.

About 1895 the attention of the superin- tendent of mines of the Carnegie steel in- terests was called to the limestone forma- tion along the Bessemer Railroad in Butler County as a possible source of supply for the Carnegie Steel Mills. Then an in- vestigation of the territory and an analysis of samples of the ferriferous limestone showed that the limestone of Slippery Rock, Mercer and Cherry Townships was admirably suited for manufacturing pur- poses, and that it contained ninety-six per cent. of carbonate of lime. Following out the suggestion, the Carnegie company leased a large block of territory and opened the mines at Wick Station and Harrisville Station on the Bessemer Rail- road, which now furnishes employment for a large number of men and is one of the principal sources of supply for the United States steel industries. The limestone stratum at this point is only a few feet beneath the surface, and is obtained by first stripping the soil from the top. These operations are among the most ex- tensive of the Carnegie interests.

Ochre was found along the Connoquenes- sing Creek at an early day, and was used in mixing paints. A frame house erected by Walter Lowrie where the jail now stands was painted with this yellow clay ground in oil.

LEAD MINES.

Lead is said to exist along the valley of the Connoquenessing, although the geolo- gists have never been able to locate it. The early pioneers related stories about the Indians who came to Butler as early as 1820 and offered to tell the settlers where to find lead on payment of a sum of money. These Indians, it is said, went down along the creek below Butler and re- turned with all the lead they could carry and took it home with them. They would not allow anybody to go with them when

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Century history of Butler and Butler County, Pa., and representative citizens 20th, Part 4

Author: McKee, James A., 1865- ed. and comp Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1526

Author: McKee, James A., 1865- ed. and comp
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1526