COAL and IRON TRADE of the Mahoning Valley

     The coal fields of Ohio are second in importance only to the great coal fields of Pennsylvania, and comprise an area of 10,000 square miles, or 6,500,000 acres.  The estimated yield of twenty-seven cubic feet to the ton would give the coal deposits in Ohio, as here estimated, to be 209,733,333,340 tons.  It would require 51,200 years to exhaust these mines, were they operated at the same rate they are now being mined; or it would supply the entire demand at present made upon the colliers of the United States for 4560 years; or it would supply Great Britain with coal for 1600 years, with a production equal to that mined at the present time.  From a volume entitled "Coal Regions of America," we find the following brief outline of the coal seam in Ohio.
     "The coal basin is bounded on the west by a continuous but crooked line from the Ohio river, in Scioto county, to the Pennsylvania line wear Sharon, within a line running from that place to Ravenna, Akron, Wooster, Dover, Brownsville, Logan and Hanging Rock.  Or, to follow the line of outcrop more particularly, we have in the north, in Trumbull county, the boundary of the coal-field from where the Pymatuning creek crosses the State line, curving southward, and the other side of the curve being on Mahoning creek at Youngstown.  Thence the line is westward nearly along the north line of Mahoning county, from the northwest corner of which it puts out a long, slender cape through Portage into Geauga county, its west boundary being near the Cuyahoga river, until it enters Summit county.  From Ravenna the line is nearly southwest to the north line of Holmes county, except a well-defined cape running into the southeast corner of Medina county.  Thence southward it follows near

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the east line of Holmes and Knox counties, and includes the southeast corner of Licking county.  It then passes near the line between Fairfield and Perry counties, with a deep indentation at the Hocking river valley, extending to the west line of Athens county; thence westward and southwest to include the southeast part of Hocking county, three-fourths of Vinton, nearly all of Jackson, and the eastern part of Scioto counties.  The counties wholly covered with coal are Mahoning, Columbiana, Stark, Holmes, Tuscarawas, Carroll, Jefferson, Harrison, Belmont, Guernsey, Coshocton, Muskingum, Perry, Noble, Morgan, Monroe, Washington, Athens, Meigs. Gallia, Lawrence, and nearly all of Jackson.  All the counties of which the eastern or south-eastern parts only are covered with coal are Trumbull, Portage, Summit, Medina, Wayne, Licking, Fairfield, Hocking, Vinton and Scioto.  There are also some out liers or small detached basins in Wayne, Ashland, Richland and Knox counties."
     The discovery of mineral coal and its uses is an event of the present century. Coal was known to exist at various points in Northern Ohio when the forest was first penetrated by the early settlers. The first coal mining in Northern Ohio was done about the year 1810.  The coal was dug from a pit near Talmage, in Summit county, and used for many years for blacksmithing purposes.  About the year 1819 or 1820 Mr. Asaph Whittlesey and Samuel Newton opened a bank near that place, which was followed, a few years later, by the opening of other mines.  The coal as yet had never been tested for heating purposes, and aside from blacksmiths, there was no demand.  Coal was known to exist by the settlers in the Mahoning Valley, and as the country became more thickly settled, and wood began to be more scarce, coal was taken from the out-crops and used by blacksmiths, and also for fuel, a more systematic method of mining was soon adopted, and coal was teamed in large quantities to other places.  In 1810, David Tod was operating a mine at Brier Hill, and upon the completion of the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal from Akron, Ohio, to Beaver, Pa., he shipped a couple of boat loads to Cleveland for the purpose of introducing it as fuel on lake steamers, which was not easily accomplished, there being considerable hostility manifested towards it by engineers and firemen.  Mr. Tod, however, was not to be discouraged by these difficulties, and finally succeeded in making a successful experiment; and in 1815 coal supplanted wood on the

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steamers on the lower lakes.  Large quantities were subsequently mined and shipped to Cleveland from the Mahoning Valley by Mr. Tod, and but a few years elapsed until the mining and shipping of coal became a prominent industry later, the opening of the Cleveland and Mahoning Railway from Cleveland to Youngstown, traversing the heart of the coal region, gave fresh impetus to the mining interests.
     The discovery that the coal in the Mahoning Valley could be used in reducing ores without coking, was the result of mere accident, in the year 1845; and then the iron made from the use of the raw coal proved to be of a superior quality to that produced by the use of coke.  This discovery was of incalculable benefit, both to coal operators and iron manufacturers, and extensive operations were soon entered into for the mining and shipping of coal, and the erection of manufacturing establishments, which consumed large quantities at home in manufacturing iron and its products.  The State geologist, in his report of the Geological Survey of Ohio, says: "The coal of the Mahoning Valley, nearly all of which is a first-class coal, superior to that from any other coal field in the State, and not excelled by any bituminous coal mines anywhere.
     "The coal is generally remarkably free from sulphur and other impurities, containing a small per cent, of ash and a large per cent, of fixed carbon.  As the analysis of specimens taken from various openings, and published in the chemist's re port, will show : It is generally a dry, open burning coal, it mechanical structure causing it to take fire rapidly through the centre of the largest pieces, especially adapting it to the smelting of iron.
     The coals in this valley were the first bituminous coals mined in the country for the reduction of iron ores without cokeing, a fact which made them widely known, and gave them at the time a reputation above all other bituminous coals.  Nothwithstanding continuous explorations have largely increased our knowledge of the coals of the country, and have brought to notice of manufactures many varieties of great excellence, these still maintain the reputation thus acquired.  They are still the standard with which iron making coals are to be compared."
     The coal mines in the Mahoning Valley are principally located in the townships of Brookfield, Liberty, Vienna, Hubbard, Weathersfield and Houland in Trumbull county, and

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Austintown, Youngstown and Coitsville townships in Mahoning county.  In our exhibit of the coal trade in this region, we had hoped to give a complete report.  In this, however, we are somewhat disappointed, as there are some mines in operation from which we could get no statistics.  Below we give reports from works located contiguous to Youngstown, and, as great care was used in gathering the data, it may be considered a fair report.  The total number of men employed in these mines is 3,480, to whom are paid for labor $1,821,480 per annum.  There was 507,375 tons of coal mined in 1873, employing a capital of $1,670,000.  The number of acres of coal land being worked is 6,680, which is valued at nearly $5,000,000.  C. A. & W. C. Andrews. - The works of this firm are known as the Tyler Bank, having a capacity of 200 tons per day, and the Holliday Bank with a daily capacity of 400 tons.  Both these mines are sitauted near Vienna, and contiguous to the Vienna Branch of the C. & M. R. R., with which it is connected by private tracks.  The firm owns here 800 acres of land, employing at both mines 275 men, and has invested $100,000 in prosecuting the business.

     Andrews and Hitchcock own and operate the Burnett bank which was opened in 1863 by the Burnett Coal Co.  It has a daily capacity of 450 tons, and the Love bank, which they opened in 1872, with a daily capacity of 400 tons.  The works are connected with the Hubbard branch of the C. & M. R. R., by lateral tracks.  There was mined from these works in 1873, 86,896 tons of coal.  A six months' strike during this year greatly diminished their production.  The firm gives employment, in both mines, to 325 men, and own 350 acres of coal land.  Their capital is $200,000.

     Ashland Mines are located at Mineral Ridge, were opened in 1856 by Jonathan Warner, and are now owned by Armes, Warner & Co.  The daily capacity of the mines is 80 tons.  The firm employs 40 men, who mined, in 1873, 8,000 tons.

     Cambria Mines. - These mines are located at Mineral Ridge, and were opened by Morris & Price in 1850, and have a capacity of 150 tons of coal and black band ore per day.  There are 125 men employed, who mined, in 1873, 12,000 tons - about one-third of the production being ore, which underlies the coal vein.

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     Church Hill Coal Company's works were opened in 1866, by the above named company, and are located at Church Hill.  The daily capacity of the mine is 450 tons.  The company employs 200 men, and have a capital of $200,000.

     Foster Bank is owned by Messrs. C. H. & W. C. Andrews and W. J. Hitchcock, is situated on the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad, two and a half miles south of Youngstown, and was opened in 1874 by the Foster Coal Company.  The works have a capacity of 500 tons of coal per day.  The firm employs 200 men, and owns 350 acres of land.  Their capital invested is $85,000.
     Foulk's Mine was opened by Osborne, Wallace & Co., in 1873; is situated at Mineral Ridge, near Weatherfield, and is now owned by Messrs. Warner & Ormsbey, who employ about 50 men.  They rained, in 1873, 8000 tons.

     Klein Bank was opened in 1868, by the Tod Iron Company, by whom it is now operated.  It is located in Liberty township, and has a capacity of 250 tons per day.  This Company gives employment to 102 men, who mined, in 1873, 17,500 tons.     The capital invested is $65,000. 

     Kyle Coal Company's Mines, owned by J. & D. Stambaugh, Henry Tod, and Struthers Iron Company, was opened in 1872.  It employs 80 men, and mined, in 1873, 30,000 tons of coal.  The company owns 300 acres of coal land, and has a capital invested of $60,000.

     Mahoning Coal Co.—This Company, composed of the Himrod Furnace Co. and Brown, Bonnell & Co., has under its control four mines in good yielding condition, viz The Long Bank, two miles west of Hubbard, which was opened in 1864, by the Mahoning Coal Co., and has a daily capacity of 120 tons.  No. 3 bank, one mile west of Coalbridge, in Hubbard township, which was opened in 1870.  The Stewart bank was opened in 1870, and has a daily capacity of 300 tons; and the McKennie bank, situated about one mile south of Youngstown, which was opened in 1868, the daily capacity of which is 200 tons.  This company is open ing a slope near Youngstown.  The capacity is not yet tested.  The Company owns 1000 acres of coal land

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and gives employment to 600 men.  There were mined from these banks, in 1872, 130,000 tons, and in 1873 81,000 tons.  They built and own five miles of rail road track, connecting their works with the C. & M. R. R., and have a capital invested of $225,000.

     McCurdy Coal Co.—The works of this company are situated in Liberty township, near Vienna, and were opened in 1871.  The shaft has a daily capacity of 300 tons of coal.  The Company employs about 100 men, and mined, in 1873, 30,000 tons of coal.  They own 300 acres of coal land, and employ a capital of$100,000.  A branch track was built and is owned by this Company, one and a half miles in length, by which the works are connected with the C. & M. R. R.

     McKinuey Shaft was opened at Mineral Ridge, in 1871, by Wick, Powers & Co., and is now operated by Jonathan Warner.  This shaft has a daily capacity of 200 tons.  There are employed 100 men, and the products for 1873 were 10,000 tons of coal and black-band ore.

     Morris John & Co. - This shaft is situated at Mineral Ridge; it was opened in 1856, by Tod, Mills & Co., and is now owned by J. Robbins, Jr.  The daily capacity is 150 tons.  There are employed about 150 men.  In 1873 the product was about 20,000 tons.  There is a capital of $20,000 invested in the works.

     Peacock Mines were opened in 1853, by Rice, French & Co., and are now owned by Jonathan Warner.  They are situated at Mineral Ridge, and employ 50 men.

     Pennell Bank was put in operation in 1871, by the New Lisbon Coal Company.  This company mined, in 1873, 20,625 tons of coal.  The capacity of their colliery is about 150 tons per day. They own 250 acres of land, and employ an average of 60 men.  Their works are situated in Austintown.

     Powers Coal Co. - This company opened a mine in 1869 in Liberty township, which has a daily capacity of 300 tons.  The company employs 175men, who mined, in 1873, 75,000 tons.  The capital stock of this company is $100,000.

     Vienna Coal and Iron Co. - This company operate two mines, which were opened in 1869, and are known as Vienna Mines, Nos. 1 and 2, and have a daily capacity of 600

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tons.  The company gives employment to 300 men.  They own 900 acres of coal land and represent a capital of $300,000.

     Wise Coal Shaft was opened by the Girard Iron Company in 1868, and is now operated by the Wise Coal Company, who own six hundred acres of land.  The daily capacity of the company is 250 tons. here are employed here about 150 men, and the coal mined in 1873 was 30,000 tons.  The capital invested is $63,000.

     From the following works we failed to receive statistics in time for publication: Haroff Mines, Foster Coal Company, Packard Coal Company, Wick & Wells bank, Moore & Co., Ohlton Coal Co., Harris, Maurer & Co., Jacobs & Son, and the mine operated by Messrs. Andrews Bros.

IRON.

     The enterprising settlers of the Western Reserve were also the pioneers of the iron business of this State.  Clendenin, Montgomery & Mackay, of Youngstown, built the first furnace in Ohio, at the mouth of Yellow Creek, on the Mahoning, in 1808, within ten years after the settlement of this region.  Before that time all the castings and all the bar iron required on the Reserve was, like the grindstones, brought from great distances, at a heavy expense.  Iron was almost a precious metal.  This establishment was what is called among iron masters a "pocket furnace," eight feet across the boshes, and about thirty feet high.  It stood like all the old furnaces, against a bluff, and was charged over a bridge built from the bank to the top of the stack.  Its ruins are still visible a short distance below the Mt. Nebo mine.  It was, of course, a charcoal furnace, with cold blast, driven by water power, producing only a ton and a half to two tons per day.  In 1809, James Heaton built a refining forge on Musquito Creek, where is now the prosperous village of Niles, in Trumbull county, for the manufacture of bar iron with charcoal, from the pig of the Yellow Creek furnace, and which produced the first hammered bars of the State.  The second furnace in the State was erected on Brush Creek, Adams county, near the Ohio river, in 1811.  In 1812, James Heaton built a furnace at Niles.  Daniel Eaton & Sons, in 1813, purchased the Yellow Creek furnace, and also built another on the same creek, at the falls, two or three miles above. Thirty years

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afterwards the business of making iron with bituminous coal in a raw state, in the United States, originated in this vicinity.  The history of this great industry is worthy of attention.  About 1815, Aaron Norton, of Middlebury, near Akron, put a charcoal furnace in blast, using a water power half a mile above the village.  In 1819, Asaph Whittlesey built a forge on the Little Cuyahoga, a mile and a half below Middlebury, where the present railways cross that stream.
     The new business soon began to develop rapidly in the Lake Shore region.  Along the northern slopes of the sand ridges, which lie near to and parallel with the shore, are frequent beds and bunches of bog iron ore, deposited from springs that issue from the ridges.  It is a lean ore of about 25 per cent., but makes a soft and valuable metal, especially for castings.  Most of it was run into stoves, kettles and other hollow ware for domestic uses.  These establishments are now in ruins, and their localities have passed from the public remembrance.  As most of their proprietors needed capital, and however energetic they may have been most of them were unfortunate in the results.  We will do something to preserve their memories, by inserting a condensed abstract of the owners and situations of the old charcoal furnaces of the Reserve.  They were not then, as iron works are now, a presage of personal wealth and position.  With the pioneer iron men it was an experience of toil, perplexity and risk, that more often ended in pecuniary ruin:

STATEMENT OF THE EARLY COLD BLAST FURNACES AND FORGES, OF THE WESTERN RESERVE, OHIO, WITH THE DATE OF ERECTION, LOCATION, NAMES OF BUILDERS AND OWNERS, AND WHEN ABANDONED.
(Prepared by Col. Whittlesey, of Cleveland, for J. Wiggins' "Cleveland as It is.")
1808 - Yellow Creek, Trumbull Co., Mackey, Montgomery & Clendenin.
1809 - Musquito Creek (forge), Niles, Trumbull Co., James Heaton - 1845.
1812 - Musquito Creek (forge), Niles, Trumbull Co., James Heaton - 1857.
1813 - Yellow Creek Falls, Dan Eaton & Sons - 1833.
1816 - Middlebury, Portage county, Aaron Norton - 1842
1819 - Little Cuyahoga (forge), Asaph Whittlesey- 1850.
1824 - Geauga Furnace, Painesville, INcorporate Company, in operation till recently.
1825 - Concord, Lake county, Incorporate Company, destroyed by fire.
1825 - Perry, Cuyahoga county, Thorndike & Drury - not known.
1825 - Madison, Lake County, Root & Wheeler.
1832 - Madison, Lake county, Clyde Company - 1838.
1832 - Elyria, Lorain county, Herman Ely - 1835.
1832 - Conneaut, not known - not known.
1832 - Elyria (forge), Norton & Barnum - not known.
1834 - Dover, Cuyahoga county, Barber & Hoyt, Cuyahoga Steam Furnace Company - run until recently
1834 - Florence, Huron county, Ford, Wilkinson & Co. - 1840.
1835 - Mill Creek, near Youngstown, not knwon - 1850
1835 - Middleburg, Cuyahoga Co., near Berea, D. Griffith & Co. - 1850.
1840 - Akron, Ford, Tod & Rhodes - 1855.
1840 - Valley Forge, below Cuyahoga Falls, D. J. Garrett & Co. - 1845.

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     In July, 1845, Himrod & Vincent, of Mercer county, Pa., blew in the Clay Furnace, not many miles from the Ohio line, on the waters of the Shenango.  About three months afterwards, in consequence of a short supply of charcoal, as stated by Mr. Davis, their founder, a portion of coke was used to charge the furnace.  Their coal belongs to seam No. 1, the seam which is now used at Shoron and Youngstown, in its raw state, variously known as "Free Burning Splint" or "Block Coal," and which never makes solid coke.  A difficulty soon occurred with the cokers, and, as Mr. Himrod states, he conceived the plan of trying his coal without coking.  The furnace continued to work well, and to produce a fair quality of metal.
     At the same time Messrs. Wilkinson, Wilkes & Co. were building a furnace on the Mahoning, at Lowell, Mahoning county, Ohio, intended to use mineral coal from seam No. 1, on which they owned a mine near Lowell.
     A sharp correspondence occurred in 1869 between the partisans of the Clay furnace and those of the Lowell furnace, as to their priorty priority in the use of raw coal.  The credit of making the first iron with raw bituminous or semi-bituminous coal, in the United States, belongs to one of these firms.  An account of the blowing in of the Lowell Furnace, on the 8th of August, 1846, may be seen in the Trumbull Democrat, of Warren, dated Aug. 15th, 1846, where it is stated that to "these gentlemen (Wilkinson, Wilkes & Co.,) belongs the honor of being the first persons in the United States, who have succeeded in putting a furnace in blast with raw bituminous coal."  According to Mr. Wilkes, writing from Painesville, Apr. 2d, 1869; this furnace was run with coke several months, but at what time it does not state.  It is admitted that Mr. David Himrod, late of Youngstown, produced the first metal, with raw coal, about the close of the year 1845, and has continued to use it ever since.  The friends of Wilkinson & Co. claim that it was an accident, and a necessity, while their works were built and intended for raw coal.
     Our exhibit of the coal trade in the Mahoning Valley, establishes the fact that this mineral is to be found here in inexhaustible quantities.  And our theory that ores can be brought to the coal and made into iron, and iron manufactured into its various uses, at a greater advantage than by transporting the coal to iron, is also an undisputed fact; but in order to satify the credulous, and to obviate any possible chances of contradic-

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tion, and the appearance of partiality in our arguments, we have compiled the following table, showing the number and the names of the furnaces now in operation in the Valley, using this fuel in the manufacture of pig iron, with the date of their establishment and their location:

TABLE

SHOWING THE BLAST FURNACES IN MAHONING VALLEY, 1875.

     There are about 800 men employed at these furnaces when in operation, to whom are paid annually for work $480,000.  The capital invested is nearly $3,000,000.

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     In the Mahoning Valley there are now in operation nine rolling mills, where all kinds of merchant iron is made.  Connected with these establishments are factories for the manufacture of nails, spikes, nuts, washers, &c.  The following table shows the number of rolling mills in the Valley, the names of the proprietors, when established, and their location:

LIST OF ROLLING MILLS IN MAHONING VALLEY, IN 1875.

     The number of men employed in these works is reported to be 2,445, whose wages amount to $1,656,000 per annum.  The capital invested in these works will not fall short of $6,000,000.
     Apart from these there are in operation, in Youngstown, Girard, Niles and Warren, foundries, machine works, nut and washer works, spike works, &c, which do a very large business in these branches, and which swell the value of the manufactured products in the Valley to many millions of dollars annually.

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OFFICIAL DIRECTORY

JOHN R. DAVIS.......................................................Sheriff
ALEXANDER DICKSON.........................................Treasurer
JAMES K. BAILEY...................................................Auditor
E. K. KNOWLTON...................................................Clerk
S. B. REIGER............................................................Recorder
I. A. JUSTICE...........................................................Prosecuting Attorney
M. V. B. KING..........................................................Probate Judge
H. M. BOARDMAN..................................................Surveyor
ROBERT WEASNER................................................Coroner
J. M. JACKSON, Coitsville; JONATHAN SCHIL-
     LINGER, New Middleton; SAM. WALLACE,}   Commissioners
     Youngstown.
GEO. D. WETZEL, North Jackson; JOS.
     C. SCHNURRENBERGER, Greenfield; A.}        Infirmary Director
     D. WOOD, Canfield,
DANIEL FINK.......................................................County Auctioneer.

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CITY OFFICIALS

WILLIAM M. OSBORN,......................................................Mayor
              {S. K. SHEDD, HENRY C. ROWLAND,..............First Ward
              {D. V. TILDEN, JOHN A. WOODS,.....................Second Ward
Council {GORDON PARISH, JOHN S. BESORE..............Third Ward,
              {GEORGE T. LEWIS, HUGH KING,....................Fourth Ward,
              {GEORGE DANIELS, HENRY TOULMIN,.........Fifth Ward
G. J. WILLIAMS,.................................................................Clerk,
H. B. SHIELDS,...................................................................Treasurer
GEORGE F. ARREL,...........................................................Solicitor
OWEN EVANS,...................................................................Marshal
J. L. ALEXANDER..............................................................Street Commissioner
F. E. APPLETON.................................................................Civil Engineer
F. O. ARMS, LLOYD BOOTH, JAS. CARTWRIGHT}.....Water Works Trustees
J. W. ROSS..........................................................................Chief of Fire Department
D. N. SIMPKINS,.................................................................Weigh Master

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JOHN M. EDWARDS, GEORGE McKEE, JOHN D. RANY .............Justices of the Peace.
L. T. FOSTER, JOHN BROTHERS, W. T. HUGHES, ........................Trustees
G. J. WILLIAMS...................................................................................Clerk
T. H. WILSON......................................................................................Treasurer
ASAHEL MEDBURY,..........................................................................Assessor
D. H. ARNOLD, WM. CASEY, M. DONNELLY, ...............................Constables.

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FIRE DEPARTMENT

     Companies belonging to the Department meet at their Hall, south Hazel street, first Thursday evening of every month.

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SOCIETIES.

     Western Star Lodge, No. 21, F. & A. M. -  - Meets Friday evenings, in Masonic Hall, over Savings Bank, Public Square.
     Mahoning Council, No. 45, R. S. M. - Meets Wednesday evenings, in Masonic Hall, over Savings Bank, Public Square.
     Hillman Lodge (Masonic). - Meets first and third Wednesdays of each month, in Masonic Hall, over Savings Bank, Public Square.
     Youngstown Chapter, No. 93, R. A. M., - Meets Thursday evenings, in Masonic Hall, over Savings Bank, Public Square.
     St. John's Commandery, No. 20, K. T. - Meets Monday evenings, in Masonic Hall, over Savings Bank, Public Square.
     Mahoning Lodge, K. P - Meets every Friday evening, in Arms' Hall, Federal street.
     O. U. A. M. - Meets every Wednesday evening, in Hamilton's Block Hall, Federal street.
     Hebron Lodge, No. 55, I. O. O. F. - Meets every Tuesday evening, in Ritter's Hall, Federal street.
     Youngstown Lodge, No. 403, I. O. O. F. - Meets every Wednesday evening, in Ritter's Hall, Federal street.
     Pymatuning Encampment, No. 14, I. O. O. F. - Meets second and fourth Mondays of each month, in Ritter's Hall, Federal street.
     Youngstown Lodge, S. of T.- Meets every Monday evening, in Arms' Hall, Federal Street.
     Banner of Israel Lodge, No. 99, A. J. O. K. S. B. - Meets every alternate Sabbath at their Hall in McEwen, Shields & Baileys drug Store
 

YOUNGSTOWN BUSINESS DIRECTORY

The following is a complete and classified list of the different industrial and professional pursuits conducted in Youngstown, and the names are those who are engaged in them.