|
CHAPTER I.
NATURAL AND IMPROVED RICHES
pg. 235
NEGLECT NEAR-BY RICHES - BACK TO THE SOIL -
GEOLOGY OF THE COUNTRY - THE COAL VEINS - COKING COALS - GRADES
OF IRON ORES - CLAIMS FOR NATIVE ORES - THE DIFFERENT CLAYS -
THE MAXVILLE LIMESTONE - GREAT CEMENT DEPOSITS - MINERAL STRATA
OF THE COUNTY - NATURAL GAS - AS AN APPLE COUNTRY -
HORTICULTURAL HISTORY - RISE OF THE ROME BEAUTY - SET-BACK OF
1885-90 - NELSON COX - GOSPEL OF SPRAYING INTRODUCED - MARKETS
NO LONGER GLUTTED.
The Hanging Rock Iron
Region may be generally described as a strip of country between
the Scioto and Hocking valleys, and geologically extending
across the bed of the Ohio River into Kentucky, about seventy
miles in length and twenty-five in width; it lies in a
northeasterly and southwesterly direction, two-thirds within the
State of Ohio. That district is in the western rim of the
great Allegheny coal basis, and Lawrence County is near the
middle of the edge. The result is that its deposits both
of coal and iron were richer and more valuable for industrial
purposes than those developed elsewhere in the region, and the
condition of the furnaces in the Hanging Rock and Ironton
neighborhoods was an index of the status of the entire region.
NEGLECT NEAR-BY RICHES -
It has been with
Lawrence County as with numerous other sections of the United
States; in mining and developing such standard treasurers as
iron and coal, which lay deep in the earth, its early residents
overlooked its wealth in fireclays, sandstone, limestone and
cement, which were nearer the surface, easier to be obtained
and, therefore, neglected.
BACK TO THE SOIL -
A still later awakening
was over the discovery that horticulture, especially apple
culture, had everything in its favor in Lawrence County.
The orchards enjoyed a period of prosperity in the '70s and
'80s; then came a season of insect-attacks and fungous diseases,
and several years of discouragement among those whose trees had
been ravaged, as well as of scientific investigation and the
determination of preventives on the
[pg. 236]
[pg. 237]
part of those who were hopeful. Within
more recent years, therefore, horticulture has again found its
way to the front as a promising and a profitable industry.
In another important way Lawrence County is going back
to the soil, and taking the riches which are nearest at hand.
Several of the old furnace companies, which have retained large
tracts of land, originally covered with primeval growths of
hardwood and which were denuded in the manufacture of charcoal,
have replanted with the original varieties of trees and are now
reaping the rewards of second and even third growths; railroads,
wagon makers, cabinet makers and a dozen other classes of
manufacturers are calling for these hardwoods, which were never
more in demand.
The foregoing may give a clear general idea of how the
material progress of Lawrence County has been based on its
natural products.
GEOLOGY OF THE COUNTRY
-
The bulk of existing
information regarding the geological formation below the surface
soil of the county is still gathered from the State Survey of
1837-38, prosecuted under Prof. W. W. Mather, state
geologist, and his six assistants; among the latter was Dr.
Caleb Briggs, to whom as we have already noted, the people
of Lawrence County and of the Ohio Hanging Rock Iron Region are
mainly indebted for what they know of the geology of those
sections of the state.
The county lies in what are known as the Lower Coal
Measures, of which Sciotoville is the western limit, and,
besides shale and sandstone, that geological series contains
beds of limestone, iron ore, bituminous coal, cement and fire
and potters' clay.
THE COAL VEINS -
There are seven
distinct veins of coal in Lawrence County, but what are known as
Nos. 1, 2 and 3 are not utilized, and No. 4 only to a small
extent, mainly as a source of supply for old Olive Furnace, in
the southern rim of Washington Township just above Decatur.
Lower Kittanning, or No. 5, has been extensively mined at New
Castle, in the northeastern corner of Hamilton Township, on the
property of the Hanging Rock Iron Company. For fifty years
this seam was the main reliance for the furnaces at Hanging
Rock, the steamboats coaling there, the Iron Railroad and the
manufactories of Ironton. Pittsburgh has also produced
excellent coke from No. 5. No. 6, or the Sheridan vein, is
about sixty feet above No. 5, and has been mine to a
considerable extent at and near Sheridan, in the southern part
of Perry Township on the Ohio River. No. 7, the Waterloo
seam, is principally located about eight miles north of Ironton
in the valley of Symmes creek and in the townships of Aid,
Lawrence, Decatur and Symmes. The vein averages about five
feet in thickness and, on the whole, is considered the most
valuable deposit in the county.
COKING COALS -
GRADES OF IRON ORES -
CLAIMS FOR NATIVE ORES -
THE DIFFERENT CLAYS -
THE MAXVILLE LIMESTONE -
GREAT CEMENT DEPOSITS -
MINERAL STRATA OF THE COUNTY -
NATURAL GAS -
AS AN APPLE COUNTRY -
HORTICULTURAL HISTORY -
RISE OF THE ROME BEAUTY -
SET-BACK OF 1885-90 -
NELSON COX -
"In 1847 Roswell
Gardner became the owner of some land in the southern part
of Windsor township and planted a small farm orchard but got the
western fever and moved to Illinois a few years later and
Nelson Cox moved on it in February, 1854, and began to
enlarge the clearings and destroy the fine timber which would be
worth a fortune today if it were here yet. People laughed
at him for going out on the hills with a young wife but as time
went by and the young apple trees began to bear, the orchard
business appealed to him and he set out sixty acres in apples in
1860 and some other fruits but the neighbors tried to laugh him
to scorn, saying he could never pick and use so many apples and
could not sell them. Time has proved they were wrong and
he was able to care for the crops and make some money and build
a good house in 1870, and then was instrumental in organizing
and building Pomaria church in 1871 and making other
improvements as he had the means. When orcharding was on
the wane from 1885 to 1890 people began to study the situation
and science was brought into use and experiments made to see if
remedies could be found to overcome the insects and fungi that
were ravaging the crops.
GOSPEL OF SPRAYING INTRODUCED -
MARKETS NO LONGER GLUTTED.
<
BACK TO TABLE OF CONTENTS > |
