250 - HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY

plant to be completed during the present year. Adjacent to it is springing up a new town, called Weirton, and the Tri-State Traction Company is contemplating running a line to that point and perhaps beyond which will open up a beautiful stretch of country. Surveys have been made and options obtained for another line directly across the country extending from Steubenville through Wintersville, Richmond, East Springfield, Carrollton etc. to Canton, 0. where it will connect with the general electric systems of the state. This will go through a virgin territory where wagon roads have furnished the only outlet, although it is rich agriculturally and otherwise.

TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE. .

While not a method of transportation in the ordinary sense of the word the telegraph and telephone are so closely connected with commercial interests as to wake reference to them appropriate at this place. The first telegraph office in the county was opened in 1847, in the second story of the old Union Savings Institution building on South Third street Steubenville, owned by H. G. Garrett where is now located the Union Deposit Bank. It antedated the railroad by five years and was known as the O'Reilly line with J. K. Moorhead, president ; J. D. Reed, secretary, and Jackson ITunt, superintendent of repairs, and the line stretched across the country from Pittsburgh. Messrs. Anson Stager, Fred Boise' and Mr. Bush opened the office, and the first message announced the departure from Pittsburgh, of Henry Clay on the steamer "Monongahela," for his Kentucky home. A large crowd awaited the arrival of the boat at the wharf, and White's band stationed itself on the roof of the wharf-boat, and was discoursing patriotic airs when the roof gave way letting the players down to the deck, fortunately without serious injury. The line consisting of three-ply wires was extended from Steubenville to Wheeling, Zanesville,

Columbus, Cincinnati, Louisville and intermediate points. Alexander Cures and Joseph Keith were the first messenger boys. The latter with David Moody was the first operator, learning to read by sound which was a great art in those days when the machine printed a series of dots and dashes representing the letters of the alphabet on a paper ribbon moving through the rolls. It is well to remember that telegraphing was in regular use here within three years from the time that the first experimental line was opened between Washington and Baltimore. In 1852, the line between Steubenville and Wheeling was destroyed by flood, and Mr. Moody opened an office in the old Edgington house at Holliday's Cove, and the steamers-`Diurnal" and "Winchester" carried messages to Wheeling. The wire was carried over the river above the present Pan Handle railroad bridge by means of a mast on the Virginia side and a large oak tree on the hillside on the Ohio side, very much as is now the upper ferry trolley. The short lines were shortly merged into the Western Union Company which, with the exception of the railroad telegraph, controlled all the business in this section until March 29, 1892, when the Postal Telegraph Company obtained an entry into Steubenville, and now there is the double system to nearly all points. The Western Union has 858.38 miles of wires in the county, and the Postal 234.50. Andrew Carnegie took some of his early lessons in telegraphing while a messenger in the Steubenville office, and in memory of that event gave the funds wherewith to erect the Carnegie library building.

The telephone arrived in 1881, being what was known as the Bell system. It was at first entirely local in its character, taking in the nearer suburban villages, with M. R. Wolf as manager. Gradually however its operations were extended until one can now talk to almost every part of the country. H. Sapp is the present manager.

A rival institution was inaugurated in

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 251

April, 1896, being a local organization under the name of the Phoenix Telephone Company.

The officers and directors were G. A. Maxwell, president ; R. J. Morrison, vice-president; J. A. McCullough, treasurer ; G. G. Gaston, secretary ; J. W. Forney, J. E. McGorwan, E. E. Erskine, J. S. Collins, superintendent.

It had no long distance connections, but made a specialty of taking in the rural districts which was a great convenience to the farming community, and it soon had more subscribers than its competitor. About two years ago it sold out to the National Company which practically rebuilt the line and made it one of the best in the country. It has also pursued the policy of affiliating with both the various local and long distance lines so that its system is most complete in every respect. It is the first company to lay underground wires in the city, an example worthy of imitation. At present there are fifteen telephone companies in Jefferson County, the Bell and the National taking the lead. The former has 1611.54 miles of wire divided as follows : Steubenville City and Township, including Mingo, 940.4; Toronto, 176 ; Saline Township, 34; Knox, 90; Island Creek, 72; Wells, 81.5; Warren, 114; Mt. Pleasant, 6; Smithfield, 76; Cross Creek, 22. National in Steubenville, 1682.04; Mingo, 40; Cross Creek Township, 64 ; total, 1786.04.

The other companies are as follows : Adena with 580 miles in Adena village and Smithfield, Mt. Pleasant, Warren, Wells and Steubenville Townships ; East Springfield with 80 miles in Salem and Island Creek Townships ; Bergholz, 94 miles in Springfield, Brush Creek and Ross Townships ; Columbiana, 24 miles in Saline ; Knoxville, 45 miles in Knox and Island Creek ; United States, 72 miles in Island Creek, Knox, Saline and Steubenville Townships ; Island Creek, 11 miles ; Annapolis, 5.5 miles in Salem and Wayne ; Unionport, 14; Bloomingdale, 12 in Cross Creek and Wayne ; James Wherry, 6 miles in Wayne, Salem, Island Creek and Cross Creek ; Reed's Mills, 20 miles in Wayne and Cross Creek ; Mt. Pleasant, 144.6 miles in Mt. Pleasant, Warren, and Smithfield Townships ; making a grand total 4,505 miles. The time seems to be rapidly approaching when the phone will be considered as necessary on the farm as the barn.

Four express companies operate from Steubenville and other points, the Adams, Wells Fargo, American and Pacific.

While these pages are being printed it is announced that a Pennsylvania charter has been secured for the Pittsburgh, Steubenville and Wheeling Railway Company, an electric line to be built from Pittsburgh to Steubenville, there to connect with existing systems. At Dover, Del., yesterday articles of incorporation were applied for for the Cincinnati & Pittsburgh Electric Railway Company of Huntington, W. Va., with a. capital stock of $1,000,000. It is thought the two concerns are connected and that a network of electric railways in the Ohio valley is projected in anticipation of a great increase in population and business resulting from the proposed improvement of the Ohio river.

CHAPTER XVI

NATURAL RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT

Immense Coal Fields and Their Product—Third County in the State—First in Fire

Clay—Petroleum and Natural Gas—Other Minerals.

It would be as difficult to tell when, where and by whom the first coal was dug in Jefferson County as it would to note who felled the first tree, and just about as important. It has already been noticed that there was a shipment of coal from Pittsburgh as early as 1803, and the deep gorges cut by the creeks and runs as well as by the river itself exposed veins of coal which could easily be utilized if desired. From cutting away the coal at the outcrop to running a gallery into the hillside was a natural and easy proceeding, and had there been any demand for the fuel it could have been easily supplied. But the country was still largely covered with forests which had to be cleared away before the land could he cultivated, and while felling trees was quite as laborious as digging coal yet they had to be felled anyway, and once down the best way to dispose of the fallen giant was to cut it up into cordwood. So wood was the general fuel for domestic purposes, all the earlier locomotives were wood burners. Coal was preferred on the steamboats as less dangerous, but even there the long trains of sparks from the chimneys indicated the use of the more combustible material. It was not until there had been an appreciable growth of manufacturing that coal, by reason of its superior quality for producing strong and steady heat could he said to be a general commercial product. In those days the idea that within a century there would be fears of a timber famine, would have been laughed at. In the chapter on geology of the county the different coal veins have been located and described, so that we can now proceed to their development for domestic and industrial purposes.

That the value of coal as a fuel was early appreciated is evident, for Bezaleel Wells operated a drift mine in 1810-11, and John Permar, James Odbert and others carried on the business in 1815-16. One Feltz Smith is said to have grubbed coal out of the hill at Rockville before these dates, and if so he may be honored as the pioneer in this direction. From this time the number of hanks rapidly increased, and by 1845 river shipments became active, coal being shipped as far as New Orleans in drifting flats, which became the immense tows of later days. As previously stated, the principal outcrop in the vicinity of Steubenville was the No. 8, or Pittsburgh, vein, which has played an important part during the last few years in the industrial development of the southern part of the county. While the output of these banks was considerable in the aggregate, the time was approaching when larger and more systematic efforts were needed, and preparations were started to reach the lower veins, which could only be done by means of

- 252 -

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 253

shafts. There was a record that in 1829 Adam Wise, while drilling for water on the western side of the city, had perforated a vein of coal eleven feet thick. So in 1856 a corporation was formed by James Wallace and others, under the name of the Steubenville Coal & Mining Company, in order that there might be secured a constant supply for manufacturing and domestic purposes in Steubenville, not subject to interruption from bad roads and other causes. Previous to sinking a shaft a well was drilled at the rear of the Ashland woolen factory, on Liberty Street, and a vein reported eight feet thick. So a shaft was begun, and, after many interruptions due to inexperience, the vein was reached and found to be only three feet nine inches thick. This was the vein afterwards known as No. 6, sometimes claimed to be No. 7. The managers were disgusted and out of funds and the shaft lay idle until February, 1858, when Louden Borland, H. K. Reynolds and Mr. Manful leased the mine for five years. The work still languished when Manful sold out to William Averick, an experienced English miner, when operations were resumed, this time with success. In 1865 the original company bought back the lease, which had been extended ten years, and installed James H. Blinn as manager and William Smurthwaite mine boss. They had 600 acres of coal land, and their domestic market, with shipments by rail and water, gave them a business of over 7,000 bushels per day, and the 100 coke ovens turned out 3,500 bushels of coke. In 1871 an additional shaft was sunk at Stony Hollow, about a mile north of the old shaft,

reaching the coal at a depth of 187 feet, the old one being 221 feet 4 inches, the vein being higher at that point and the surface lower. This shaft is still in operation, and although the advent of natural gas has interfered considerably with the domestic market, yet seventy-five men are steadily employed, and the latest improvements have been made in the way of ventilating fans, electrical machinery, etc. The officers are Geo. W. McCook, president and manager ; F. C. Chambers, secretary; Charles Peterson, bookkeeper, and William Smurthwaite, superintendent. William Smurthwaite, Sr., who has held this position for over forty years, has turned over the active management of the mine to his son, who has learned the business thoroughly under his father's supervision.

Joining this field on the south is that of the La Belle Iron Works, originally the Jefferson Iron Works, covering some 1,500 acres on both sides of the river. This concern for a number of years depended on a hill bank for its fuel, but in 1863 sunk a shaft and at a depth of 175 feet reached a vein averaging three feet nine inches. The demand for coal existed at its doors, and its product reached 5,000 bushels per day. and its 110 coke ovens turned out 2,500 bushels of their product per diem. When the Jefferson Works became involved in financial difficulties the mine was closed down and remained so for several years, but under the present La Belle management has been reopened, a current of water from the river which threatened its destruction controlled, and is once more in full operation with workings extending across the river into West Virginia.

Directly south of this was the shaft of the Ohio & Pennsylvania Coal Company, sunk in 1861-2 to a depth of 210 feet. It had twenty-eight coke ovens, and produced 600,000 bushels of coal annually, most of which was shipped to Cleveland and other points. Just below this was the shaft of the Swift Iron Works, of Newport, Ky., originally known as the Borland shaft. It was opened in 1862 to a depth of 240 feet, and shipped 800,000 bushels yearly by water and rail, and had its quota of coke ovens. Both these workings were absorbed by the Jefferson Iron Works, now the La Belle, and years ago ceased as independent enterprises.

About 1869 the Mingo Iron Works sunk a shaft and built coke ovens au the hill west of their plant, which theiy worked for

254 - HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY

a few years, but the vein began to be too thin for profit, and it was abandoned. The site is now covered with dwellings.

At the lower end of Brilliant, seven miles below Steubenville, the Lagrange Coal Company sunk a shaft to No. 6 vein, a depth of 261 feet, where the coal was five feet three inches thick, with two slate partings. It afterwards became the property of the Spaulding Iron Works.

Three miles below Brilliant a shaft 225 feet deep was sunk at Rush Run, where the coal was found nine feet thick in spots, but running down to two feet with slate partings, making an average of seven or eight feet. The shaft did a good business, but the upper works being destroyed by fire were not rebuilt, as the company's acreage was too nearly worked out to justify it. A belief prevailed that the coal worked here was the same as the great vein of the Hocking Valley, but this has not been verified.

At the upper end of the city was the shaft of the Steubenville Furnace & Iron Company, ninety-six feet in depth, bringing up 2,000 bushels per day, supplying a series of coke ovens and the local market. Half a mile above was the shaft of the Jefferson Coal & Iron Company (Bustard), seventy-six feet deep, with the usual coke ovens, whose principal customer was the C. & P. Railroad. Half a mile above this is the Alikanna shaft, and farther up the Cable. None of these shafts is now in operation, principally on account of having exhausted its particular field.

Concerning this vein the Geological Survey reports it as "the most interesting and important of all our coal seams. It attains greater thickness, occupies a wider area, and in different outcrops and phases supplies a larger amount of fuel than any other." Subsequent developments in the lower part of the county would seem to modify this last statement. In the same volume from which the above is taken are thirteen analyses of coal taken from the No. 6 vein in different parts of the state, which give the following instructive figures:

NOTE SHOWN

It will be noted that the Steubenville coal shows a larger percentage of fixed carbon than that from any other point, while the sulphur and ash, those detrimental qualities, are practically eliminated. An analysis of the S. F. & I., or Gravel shaft coke, gave the following:

Water and hydrogen - .72

Fixed carbon - 90.63

Sulphur - .27

Ash - 8.38

Total - 100.00

As the famous Connellsville coke usually has one per cent of sulphur and 10 to 14 per cent of ash, it is seen that the Steubenville coke makes a decidedly superior showing in this respect, and other things being equal should have held its own in the market against any and all competition. This it did for many years, but changes in the construction of blast furnaces made' a change in this respect. The Connellsville coke was harder than the Steubenville and better calculated to hold up the weight of ore and limestone piled on top of it in the furnaces. While the furnaces were small and the charges comparatively light, this made little difference, as the Steubenville coke was equal to the demands upon it. But as furnaces became enormously larger and the weight of the charges correspondingly greater, the hardness of the coke became an important factor in which the Steubenville coke, being made from softer coal, could not compete. Fortunately most of the coal immediately about the city was

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 255

mined before this condition of affairs arose. The busy days of the Steubenville mines may be roughly given from 1865 to 1880, although the aggregate output of the county was very small, compared with that of later years. The following from the state mine inspector's report for 1876 will give a fair idea of the conditions prevailing here during that period :

"I have in former reports alluded to the superior ventilation prevailing in this region, surpassing any other district in the state. I have never received a single complaint of bad air, but all the miners have united in bearing willing testimony to the salubrious condition of the mines. Entries and rooms alike are well and thoroughly aired, and the moving columns of wind strong and vigorous. There are no strikes in this region; there is no fault-finding with the bosses. The Market Street mine, one of the oldest of the series of shaft openings, has been worked continuously since the pit was sunk. The Stony Hollow pit is sunk at the advance workings on the north side of the old pit and the two shafts form one colliery, the entries being ten feet wide, the rooms eighteen feet wide, the pillars twenty-four feet thick by seventy-five feet long. If gas appears in the heads of •the rooms before the seventy-five-foot pillar is won, an air crossing is cut, so that there is not always regularity as to the length of the pillars. There are five stations in the mine, three on the north side and two on the south side. In these stations, owing to the thinness of the seam, the hauling mules cannot enter the rooms, and the cars, which hold twelve bushels each, are pushed out to the hauling roads by "putters," three putters being usually employed in a station of fourteen or fifteen rooms. The stations where the mules haul are located as near the center room as practicable, being generally from three to four pillars behind the working faces. These centers are moved forward as the workings advance. By this arrangement the putting roads are made shorter, and have equal men on each side of the mule road. Some years ago a panel or square of work was laid on the long-wall system, all the coal being cut away as the workings advanced forward, after the usual practice long-wall mining, but the result was deemed unsatisfactory, and the practice was abandoned. There is an abundant ventilation prevailing in every division of the mine, the amount of air in circulation reaching 50,000 cubic feet per minute. The air is split at the bottom of the shaft, one split going north and the other south. The south split is again split into two parts, a short distance from the bottom of the shaft, one-half going east. Six hundred feet ahead the eastern split is again divided, the northern division ventilating the last arm on the north side of the pit; thence it passes to the Stony Hollow pit, traversing a series of rooms there, and returns to the upcast. The south part of the east split travels south, ventilating a series of rooms, then uniting with the part it split from, airs the workings on the southwest, then moves north to the pillar workings, passing which it returns to the upeast at the old pit furnace.''

The report for 1877 adds :

"The plan of laying out the workings, which prevails at all the Steubenville mines, is modeled after the practice followed in the collieries in the north of England. The pillars left in the English mines are larger and stronger than those in Steubenville, because the pits are so much deeper in the old country, some of them reaching 800 to 2,500 feet of perpendicular depth. In Steubenville the rooms are eighteen feet wide, the walls and cross cuts twelve feet wide, the pillars twenty-four feet in thickness and seventy-two feet in length. The walls and rooms cross each other like latitude and longitude lines, the walls being driven on the butts and the rooms on the face of the coal. The main entries are ten feet wide. The miners get seventy-five cents per yard, besides the tonnage price for driving entry, but nothing is allowed for wall driving. The mine cars hold twelve and one-half to fifteen bushels, and are pushed out from the room faces to the stations on the hauling roads by putters or pushers. In Borland's shaft, Shetland ponies are used instead of putters. These ponies are only three feet two inches to three feet six inches high. This mine has a percentage of these hardy and useful animals underground. In the galleries and hauling roads a foot or more of the fire-clay floor is taken up to make height for the hauling mules. These roads are made five feet two inches high above the rail, and the track is laid with T iron. The coal hewers dig and load the coal, the deputies laying the track and setting props in the rooms. Every digger works by candle light, instead of the ordinary miner's lamp. The candles are made very small, there being twenty to the pound; they are fastened to the pillar side with a piece of soft clay. Three to three and a half of these candles are consumed per day by each miner. The candles give less light than the miners' lamp, but they make no smoke, and miners who are in the habit of using them prefer them to the lamp. Time deputies and drivers use lamps. In mining coal powder is used to knock it down, each digger firing three shots per day on an average, two in the top and one in the bottom coal. The workmen fire at all hours of the day; but a few ounces of powder suffices for a shot, and not more than three pounds of powder per man per week is needed for blasting purposes. No blasting is done in the solid coal; a shot is undercut to the depth of four feet, if the miner is a , skillful workman. The mice mules are kept day and night under ground; the stables are hewn out of the solid coal pillars at the bottom of the pit, and are dry, well aired and comfortable. The mules are fed at four o'clock in the morning by the fire viewers. Work commencing at six o'clock, an hour is allowed for dinner, and work ceases at five in the evening. The miners are paid every two weeks in cash. and there are no store orders forced on them, as is done in many other districts of time state. The miners live in town, and a large number of them own the houses and lots in which they live, and have, in many eases, other property. Fully one-half of them take daily newspapers, though it must be confessed that here, as well.as everywhere else in the Union, not a few spend their hard earnings in the saloons and soul-debasing pleasures."

During the period under consideration the No. 8 or Pittsburgh vein, as well as others, continued to be worked industriously, adding considerably to the output. Beginning with the old Groff or Diamond mine at the mouth of Yellow Creek, where

256 - HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY

were found the wonderful fossil fishes already described, there was a string of drift mines all along the river front. The Groff was originally worked in No. 6, which it exposed on the hillside about seventy-five feet above the C. & P. Railroad tracks, and as it was worked out it ascended towards a plateau over the mine, back of which was a higher hill containing a vein of No. 7 fifty-two feet above No. 6 and four to five feet thick. The firm excavated to the top of the plateau and built an incline through the opening to No. 7, taking the coal therefrom down through the old workings to the railroad, which they supplied for a number of years.

R. G. Wallace opened a drift in the Rogers vein thirty inches thick, which he used in brickmaking and other local industries. Wallace, Banfield & Co. penetrated the Strip vein at Irondale, six feet thick, for their tin mill, now defunct. Local banks stretch up Yellow Creek for twenty-five

miles or more. Between Yellow Creek and Alikanna most of the mines were and are operated by connections with the various brick and fireclay works to be noticed hereafter. The No. 8 coal being harder than No. 6, continued to be a favorite for domestic purposes in Steubenville, and various mines about the city turned out an aggregate of 8,000 to 10,000 tons a year, including the George's Run, Tweed, Hill, Miller, Bates and other mines. The Gilchrist mine above Brilliant has long done a good river business, as has also the Kelley mine, near Portland (now Rayland). The Walnut Hill Mines, three miles below Rayland, have a drift into No. 8, 185 feet above the railroad, where the vein is five and one-half feet thick and a roof vein of two feet more. At this point the Steubenville vein, at a depth of 100 feet, is only a foot in thickness. Local banks are numerous all over the county, which supply the needs of the neighborhood in which they are located, but before proceeding to what has become the principal coal fields of the county it will be of interest to give an analysis by Prof. Wormley of coal taken from the older banks :

We have already referred to the effect of the Lake Erie, Alliance & Southern Railroad in developing coal lands around its terminus at Nebo or Bergholz, in Springfield Township, where the Yellow Creek

No. of Vein and Location

Specific Gravity

Moist-ure.

Ash

Volatile Matter

Fixed Carbon

Sulphur

Sulphur

in Coke.

No. 3. Sloane's Station (Toronto), bottom

No. 3. Sloane 's Station (Toronto), middle

No. 3. Sloane 's Station (Toronto), top

No. 4. Strip Vein, Irondale

No. 4. Hammondsville

No. 5. Croxton 's Run

No. 5. Elliottsville

No. 6. Lower Bench, Rush Run

No. 6. Upper Bench, Rush Run

No. 6. Lower Linton

No. 6. Upper Linton

No. 6. Steubenville Shaft

No. 6. Lower Bench, Lagrange

No. 6. Upper Bench, Lagrange

No. 7. Sloane 's (Toronto)

No. 7. H. Fleming, Island Creek

No. 7. Elliottsville

No. 8. Lagrange Lower Bench

No. 8. Lagrange Upper Bench

No. 8. Wintersville Lower Bench

No. 8. Wintersville Upper Bench

No. 8. Richmond Lower Bench

No. 8. Richmond Upper Bench

No. 7. Twenty-foot shaft. I. C. Tp

1.283
1.302
1.328
1.320
1.333
1.294
1.300
1.373
1.315
1.283
1.283
1.308
1.284
1.284
1.323
1.363
1.323
1.301
1.305
1.373
1.338
1.409
1.342
1.282

2.00
1.55
1.25
1.20
.90
1.40
1.00
1.90
1.40
1.50
1.00
1.40
1.81
1.77
1.70
1.50
.90
1.50
1.40
1.90
1.60
1.30
1.60
2.85

5.75
5.85
9.45
12.20
13.00
8.10
7.00
4.60
4.80
3.90
3.70
1.80
3.76
1.65
6.70
7.50
7.20
4.00
4.50
8.40
6.40
14.70
6.10
7.80

34.20
36.45
32.25
31.60
30.70
32.60
31.60
31.30
32.20
32.30
35.60
30.90
39.21
38.73
32.30
31.90
31.10
37.10
35.60
32.50
34.60
30.30
33.80
30.35

58.05
56.15
57.05
55.00
55.40
57.90
60.40
62.20
60.60
62.30
59.70
65.90
53.96
57.21
59.30
59.10
60.80
57.40
58.50
57.20
57.40
53.70
58.50
59.00

5.71
1.97
1.93
2.36
2.03
2.50
2.60
2.06
2.08
1.23
2.29

.98

1.26

.64

3.90
5.35
5.49
2.99
2.44
4.42
3.35
3.95
4.06
4.31

2.22

1.14

.49

1.20

1.18

1.26

1.37

.96

1.12

.69

1.13

.38

......

......

2.08
3.40
2.60
1.10
1.36
1.86
1.75
2.08
2.06
2.67

258 - HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY

Another mine of the same company has a capacity of 1,600 tons per day and employs 350 men. It has four entries, but the coal is all handled at one tipple. Two electric motors are used to haul the coal; in fact, the patient mule has been replaced by electric power, in most of the Jefferson County mines. A sample here showed a little less carbon and a little more ash than the other mine. Prof. Brown, of the Geolpgical Survey, remarks : "This mine has been opened fifty-seven or fifty-eight years, and although in a very bad place and very poorly cared for, the roof, as far as examined, showed no signs of giving way. Many of the rooms are twenty-five to thirty feet span, and the :,asts have rotted away, yet the roof remains intact. What is known as the Meigs Creek coal appears in section 28, but not of workable 'thickness. A vein of Pomeroy or Redstone coal twelve inches thick is found in the southwestern quarter of section 15, twenty-nine feet above the bottom of No. 8. This territory promises to be an important mining district for at least fifty years or more.

Warren Township is crossed by Short Creek, which has cut a deep though rather narrow valley. While the coal dips towards the river, yet it is high in the hills on the river front, owing to the depth of the valley. The mine of the Ohio & Pennsylvania Coal Company at Yorkville has a capacity of 700 tons run of mine and 400 tons of screened coal per day. The moisture in a sample from this mine indicated 3.13 ; volatile matter, 37.88 ; fixed carbon, 50.79 ; ash, 8.22. Another section gave : moisture, 4.57 ; volatile matter, 32.40 ; fixed carbon, 54.03 ; ash, 9. At Yorkville the seam is 192 feet above the C. & P tracks; at Tiltonville, a mile farther north, 2121/2 feet; at Rayland, less than two miles above, 272 feet, and in the southeast quarter of section 8, 297 feet. Near Rayland the Ames limestone is less than a foot thick and 197 feet below No. 8 coal. Farther north it thickens and the interval between it and the coal increases, being 213 feet in Section 8.

In Wells Township the seam has suffered more from erosion than in any of the others above mentioned. The valleys are numerous and deep, and the coal lies near the tops of the hills. The mine of Dewland & Cox at Brilliant supplies that town and the surrounding county with fuel. It shows 51.55 carbon and 10.46 ash. The coal rises rapidly to the north, being 343 feet above the track at Brilliant. Here the Ames limestone is five feet thick, and 238 feet below the coal.

No. 8 coal in Wayne Township is found in the ridges south of the P., C., C. & St. L. Railway and its principal opening is the McFadden mine of the Wayne Coal Company. The railroad company has taken most of the output. It varies in thickness from four feet two inches to four feet ten inches, and its analysis, from a damp sample, gave moisture, 5.05 ; volatile matter, 35.88 ; fixed carbon, 51.12 ; ash, 7.95.

As already stated there is considerable No. 8 coal in Steubenville Township, supplying the local market, and small areas are found in Island Creek, Cross Creek, Salem, Springfield, Ross and Knox Townships.

Owing no doubt largely to their careful management, Jefferson County mines have been to a remarkable extent free from those terrible disasters which at times have thrown scores of families into mourning. The worst occurred at the Rolling Mill mine July 5, 1865, not long after it was opened, when an explosion of gas killed six out of the nine miners who went down the shaft that morning. Individual accidents have been very. rare in the Steubenville mines, but of late years more frequent in the southern section of the county, partly from falling roofs and partly from electrocution-by the machinery installed to facilitate operations. The original miners in this section were originally English and Scotch, generally, who were intelligent and careful, while of late years the immigration from Southern Europe has brought a class of inexperienced persons, ignorant of local conditions and language, consequently less capable of caring for themselves. In 1907,

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 259

out of twenty-seven fatal accidents in this county, twenty of the victims were foreigners, fifteen of the accidents being due to falling roofs. The serious but not fatal accidents of that year are reported at seventy-one, minor at nineteen, making a grand total of 117 out of the 815 reported in the state. The total number of mine employes for that year was 5,787.

Machine mining began in this county in 1897, when 28,967 tons were mined by machines out of a total of 774,790. The proportion rapidly increased until 1907, when out of a total of 4,648,263 tons mined, 4,054,845 were taken out by machinery. The blast and pick will not be entirely superseded, but it is evident that they must remain far in the rear.

The following table, showing the number of tons of coal mined during the last thirty-five years, indicates the tremendous strides made by this industry. There has been, on the whole, a steady advance, though with some fluctuations, the first jump following the opening of the mines in the south end, when production was doubled, and the next following the introduction of mining machines, of which there were 221 in the county in 1907 :

Total No.

Tons Mined.

Tons Cut by Machines.

1874
1875
1876
1877
1878
1879
1880
1881
1882
1883
1884
1885
1886
1887
1888
1889
1890
1891
1892
1893
1894
1895
1896
1897
1898
1899

1900
1901
1902
1903
1904
1905
1906
1907
1908

92,309

108,226

166,582

145,646

125,000

99,492

389,679

198,228

309,214

202,022
316,777
271,329
275,666
293,875
243,178
500,000*
571,909
666,187
879,500
670,867
997,888
861,185
670,867
744,790
829,526
935,979

971,209

1,303,308
1,789,452
2,320,419
2,495,375
3,337,799
2,998,476
4,648,263
3,565,008

28,967
106,703
2,114,376

295,547
453,886
971,062
1,245,880
1,914,322
2,794,683
2,425,314
4,054,845

The leading coal mines of the county, as given in the state mine inspector's .report, are as follows :

American Sewer Pipe Company, Blyth Coal Company, Bergholz Coal & Electric Light Company, Dexter Coal Company, Eastern Ohio Coal Company, East Ohio Sewer Pipe Company, Glens Run Coal Company, Jefferson Coal Company, Kaul-Oberkirch Company, Labelle Iron. Works, La Grange Coal Company, Magyar Coal Company, Morris-Poston Coal Company, Ohio & Pennsylvania Coal Company, Roby Coal Company, Russell Coal & Mining Company, Steubenville Coal & Mining Company, W. E. Smith, James Speaks, Shannon Coal Company, Toronto Fire Clay Company, United States Coal Company, Wayne Coal Company, Witch Hazel Coal Company, M. L. Williams Coal & Coke Company, Wolf Run Coal Company, W. & L. E. Coal & Mining Company, and Youghiogheny & Ohio Coal Company.

From the same report we glean the following particulars regarding individual mines :

Jefferson Coal Company 's mines. Owned and operated by the Jefferson Coal Company. John Simpson, Piney Fork, general manager. Mines Nos. 1 and 2 located at Piney Fork, on L. E. A. & W. R. R. Mines Nos. 3 and 4 are located about three miles south of Nos. 1 and 2, on same railroad. These mines are drift openings. William Simpson superintendent of Nos. 1 and 2. William Wilson superintendent of Nos. 3 and 4. Fan ventilation. No. 1 employs 114 miners and 35 day men. Richard. Wilson mine boss. No. 2 employs 100 miners and 33 day men. Albert Thorpe mine boss. No. 3 employs 109 miners and 31 day men. Fred Aspinwall mine boss. No. 4, new mine opened opposite No. 3. Coal dumped over

260 - HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY

the same tipple. Employs 6 miners and 5 day hands.

Goucher—Situated about two miles west of Brilliant; owned and operated by the Dexter Coal Company, Pittsburgh. M. D. Gibson, superintendent ; J. 0. Buddy, mine boss.

United States Mines. — Bradley — Situ- ated in Crow Hollow. Owned and operated by the United States Coal Company, of Cleveland. H. E. Willard, Cleveland, Ohio, general manager; William Wagner, superintendent. All the United States mines at this point, nine in number, are drift openings. Transportation is provided by the W. & L. E. and L. E. A. & W. Railways. Four liundrd and forty-eight miners and 165 day men are employed. Five hundred electric volts are carried in all these mines.

Edgar, No. 1, situated near Glen's Run, on the W. & L. E. R. R., owned and operated by Glen's Run Coal Company. Clyde Maurer, superintendent, and Robert Nicholson, Dillonvale, mine boss. Drift opening. Employs 98 miners and 24 day men.

Rush Run, No. 1, owned and operated by same company. Howard Ulrick, superin tendent ; John Coss, mine boss. Drift opening. Employs 63 miners, 25 day men. Furnace ventilation. No. 2, three miles north of No. 1. William H. Werker, superintendent; Evan Evans, mine boss. Employs 78 miners and 32 day men. No. 3, James Scarfpin, boss. Employs 39 miners ; 12 day

Men.

United States Mines.--Plum Run—Located at Rhodesdale. Owned and operated by the same company- as the United States mines at Bradley, same general manager. William Wagner, superintendent; was succeeded during the year by Joseph Gray. Mr. Wagner taking charge of Bradley mines. Drift openings; 341 miners and 121 day men employed. Four mines.

Connor, No. 1—Situated at Connorville, on the W. & L. E. R. R. Owned and operated by the W. & L. E. Coal & Mining Company. Fred Hornickel, Dillonvale, Ohio, general superintendent. Drift opening. Employs 60 miners and 26 day men. J. H. Campbell, superintendent, succeeded during the year by Fred Aspinwall. James Gray, mine boss. Connor No. 2, located opposite Connor No. 1. Owned and operated by the same company, with same management. Employs 86 miners and 26 day men.

La Belle, at Steubenville—P. J. Harrigan, superintendent ; William Lafferty, boss. Employs 98 miners, 25 day men.

High Shaft, Steubenville —William Smurthwaite, superintendent ; Matthew Cassner, boss. Employs 28 miners, 22 day men.

Carman No. 1—At Carman, on P., C., C. & St. L. R. R. Owned and operated by the Wayne Coal Company, Pittsburgh, Pa. D. J. Wise, superintendent ; Andy Arrott, mine boss. Drift opening; 68 miners and 20 day men employed. Mine has resumed operations after several months' idleness, due to mine being so wet. Fan ventilation. Carman No. 2 suspended.

Jean--At Salt Run, on C. & P. R. R. Owned and opeated by the Blythe Coal Company, Pittsburgh, Pa. George Vandyke, Brilliant, Ohio, superintendent and mine boss. Drift opening; 17 miners and 5 day men employed. Furnace ventilation. Pick mine.

Russell—At Tiltonsville. Owned and operated by the Russell Coal & Mining Company, Cleveland, Ohio. George AleKi tri ck, superintendent ; Seth Williams, mine boss. Drift opening. Employs 64 miners and 13 day men. Furnace ventilation.

Kelly, owned and operated by the Lewis Coal Company, Wheeling, near Warrenton, on the C. & P. R. R. Thomas Jones, superintendent ; William Nixon, boss. Drift opening. Employs 48 miners, 19 day men.

Florence—Located at Florencedale, on L. E. A. & W. R. R. Owned and operated by the Witch Hazel Coal Company, Youngstown. D. J. Jacobs, superintendent; Samuel Madison, mine boss. Drift opening. Employs 34 miners and 1.9 day men.

Wabash—Located at Parlette, on Wabash Railroad. Owned and operated by the

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 263

Wabash Coal Company, Cleveland, Ohio. William Bates, superintendent; Thomas Rankin, mine boss. Slope opening; 54 miners and 21 day men.

Dorothy, near Rayland, on W. & L. E. Owned and operated by the M. L. Williams Coal & Coke Company, Pittsburgh. George M. Anderson, superintendent ; Joseph Robinson, boss. Drift opening. Employs 96 miners, 16 day men. Pick mine.

Lagrange, at Brilliant, owned and operated by the Lagrange Coal Company. James Morgan, superintendent and mine boss. Shaft opening to No. 6 seam ; reached at a depth of 265 feet and about 3 1/2 feet thick ; 8 miners and 7 day men ; fan ventilation.

Portland, near Connorsville, on W. & L. E. Railway. Owned and operated by the Rayland Coal Company. George W. Kline, superintendent; John Barth, boss. Drift opening; 29 miners and 15 day hands. Changed from pick to machine mining.

Walnut Hill, Nos. 1 and 2, near Yorkville, on C. & P. R. R. Owned and operated by O. & P. Coal Company, Cleveland. William Neath, superintendent ; Abel Armitage, mine boss. Drift openings. Employs 94 miners and 50 day hands.

Zerbe—Located at Amsterdam, on the L. E. A. & W. R. R. Operated by the Ohio & Pennsylvania Coal Company, Cleveland, Ohio. George Wagoner, superintendent ; John Wolf, mine boss. Shaft opening, 185 feet deep, penetrating the No. 5 seam of coal, 5 feet thick. About 150 miners and 50 day men employed. The coal is all cut by electric chain machines and hauled to the shaft bottom by motors, mules being used to gather it to the motor passways. Mine was formerly ventilated by a six-foot electric fan and a ten-foot steam fan, but these have been replaced by a twenty-foot Brazil fan, the ten-foot fan being kept in reserve. A new first motion engine was installed, which will be equipped with larger drums and a larger rope, capable of hoisting more coal, and contributing to the safety of the men while riding on the cages.

Deal—Two miles west of Bergholz, on the L. E. A. & W. R. R. Operated by the E. Deal Coal Company, Bergholz. Idle.

X. L., at Bergholz, operated by the Bergholz Coal & Electric Light Company. J. S. McKeever, superintendent; John Peterson, mine boss. Slope opening to No. 6 seam three feet thick ; mule and rope haulage ; machine mining. Employs 65 miners, 15 day men.

Elizabeth, at Wolf Run, on L. E. A. & W. Railroad. Operated by Wolf Run Coal Company, Cleveland. Valentine Coe, superintendent; James Campbell, boss. Shaft opening, penetrating No. 5 seam at a depth of 293 feet ; coal 4 feet 8 inches thick; ventilated by a 14-foot Capell fan ; motor haulage and machine mining; 95 miners and 45 day men. This is a model mine, equipped with the most modern machinery; has an electric hoist, steel tipple and telephone service in the mine, the equipment equal to any in the state.

West Pittsburgh—Two miles east of Bergholz, on the L. E. A. & W. Railroad. Operated by the Eastern Ohio Coal Company, Cleveland. Matthew Speicher, superintendent ; Evan Griffith, mine boss. Slope opening to No. 5 seam of coal, 51/2 feet thick; fan ventilation, machine mining, motor and mule haulage, double entry system and about 160 miners and 42 day men employed.

Amsterdam, at Amsterdam, on the L. E. A. & W. R. R. Operated by the Youghiogheny & Ohio Coal Company, Cleveland. D. J. Williams, superintendent ; Edward Lee, mine boss. Shaft, 276 feet deep, penetrating No. 5 seam, 4 feet thick. Machine mining, mule and motor haulage, fan ventilation ; 130 miners and 50 day men.

Diamond—Two miles east of Hammondsville, on the C. & P. R. R. Operated by the Diamond Coal & Clay Company, Wellsville. R. J. Borden, superintendent and mine boss. Slope opening 150 feet long to No. 3 seam, 3 1/2 feet thick. Machine mining, mule and rope haulage, fan ventilation, and about 27 miners and 9 day men.,

Strip Vein, No. 4, at Irondale, operated by the East Ohio Sewer Pipe Company.

264 - HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY

W. E. Williams, superintendent and boss. Drift opening. No. 4 vein 28 inches thick. Machine mining, mule haulage, fan ventilation. Employs 10 miners and 5 day men. Worked on the long wall system with a Morgan-Gardner machine. Creek Vein, No. 3, Edward Williams, boss ; drift ; No. 3 coal 3 1/2 feet ; mule haulage, natural ventilation ; 4 miners and 1 day man.

Dillon No. 4—Located at Herrick, on the W. & L. E. R. R. Operated by the W. & L. E. Coal Mining Company. Fred Hornickel, superintendent ; S. S. Little, mine boss. Drift, No. 8 seam, 5 feet thick ; machine mining, mule and motor haulage, fan ventilation, and about 90 miners and 30 day men empliTed.

Long Run, at Long Run, on W. & L. E. Railroad. Operated by the W. & L. E. Coal Mining Company. Fred Hornickel, superintendent, with several different mine bosses during the year. Worked under same conditions as the two previous mines. Ninety-six miners and 48 day men employed.

Dillon No. 2—Located at Dillonvale, on the W. & L. E. R. R. Operated by the W. & L. E. Coal Mining Company. Fred Hornickel, superintendent ; Thoburn Waite, mine boss. Drift mine, No. 8 seam, 5 feet thick. Employs 190 miners and 65 day .men. Machine mining, fan ventilation, motor and mule haulage. This is one of the oldest mines along the W. & L. E. and has several hundred acres of old works gen: erating carbonic acid gas, but fortunately all on the return airway. Having a splendid top and practically no water with which to contend, it is an easy matter to keep the mine in good condition.

Dunglen, Nos. 1 and 3; at Dunglen, on the W. & L. E. R. R. Operated by the Morris-Poston Coal Company, Cleveland. Frank Rogers, superintendent and mine boss. Drift openings to No. 8 seam 5 feet thick ; machine mining, fan ventilation, motor haulage and about 134 miners and 34 day men employed in the two mines, which are connected. Dunglen No. 2, coal hauled to

same tipple as No. 1. Employs 70 miners and 19 day men.

Roby No. 2, drifts Nos. 3, 4 and 5—Located at Ramsey, transportation W. & L. E. Railroad. Operated by the Roby Coal Company, Cleveland. William Moke, Adena, superintendent ; George Chamberlain, assistant superintendent ; William Waldron and Louis Murdock in charge of drifts. Coal, No. .8 seam, 5 feet thick ; fan ventilation, machine mining, mule and motor haulage. The three mines employ about 280 miners and 65 day men. Coal all goes over one tipple, the equipment being extensive and first class throughout.

The smaller coal mines, of which report is made and not previously noted, are the following, all pick mines and drift opening :

Roger, at Calumet ; W. B. Robb, superintendent; furnace ventilation ; Roger seam. Employs 11 men. Ohio Valley, Toronto ; Oliver Connor, superintendent ; natural ventilation ; Roger seam ; 11 men. Forest City, Toronto ; W. B. Franey, superintendent ; fan ventilation ; Roger seam ; 20 men. Great Western, Toronto ; R. M. Franey, superintendent ; furnace ventilation Roger seam ; 5 men. Calumet at Elliotlsville ; Frank Hartford, superintendent ; Roger seam ; 11 men. These mines are all owned by the American Sewer Pipe Company. Ohio River Sewer Pipe, at Empire ; H. E. Stratton, superintendent ; natural ventilation; Roger seam ; 1.3 men. Stratton Fire Clay, Empire ; H. S. Stratton, superintendent ; furnace ventilation ; Roger seam ; 14 men. J. H. Smith ; natural ventilation; Roger ; 4 men. Kaul-Oberkirch, Toronto ; George Myers, superintendent ; natural ventilation ; Roger ; 8 men. Ikis, at Adena; wagon transportation ; natural ventilation ; No. 8 seam, 5 feet thick ; mule haulage; double entry system. Casner, Adena ; natural ventilation ; No. 8, 5 feet ; mule haulage ; double entry. Hamilton, Adena ; natural ventilation ; No. 8 ; ox haulage ; 5 miners and 1 day man.

Through the courtesy of the State Minirg Department. we are able to give the

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 265

total output of the state by counties for 1908. While the aggregate was somewhat smaller than in 1907, yet Jefferson County maintains her relative position. Following are the figures :

TOTAL TONNAGE FOR THE YEAR 1908.

Counties

Tons Mined.

Athens

Belmont

Carroll

Columbiana

Coshocton

Gallia

Guernsey

Harrison

Hocking

Holmes

Jackson

Jefferson

Lawrence

Mahoning

Medina

Meigs

Morgan

Muskingum

Noble

Perry

Portage

Scioto

Stark

Summit

Trumbull

Tuscarawas
Vinton
Washington
Wayne

4,170,995
5,591,719
439,080
516,780
366,805
13,692
2,926,448
447,805
1,282,647
18,768
836,997
3,5655008
180,265
86,326
18,103
482,630
217,036
436,947
208,192
2,108,050
88,543

8,460
524,052
103,299

7,534
1,331,248
183,542

1,304

125,525

Total

26,287,800

FIRE CLAYS.

While the fire clays of Jefferson County do not figure in the statistics quite as heavily as coal, yet as a factor in building up Local industries they are a close second. The county produces one-eighth of all the coal mined in the state and over one-fifth of all the fire clay. In 1906 the county's output was 477,862 tons, out of an aggregate of 2,126,179 in the state. There was a slight falling off in 1907, being 450,111 tons out of 2,177,174. The number of men employed was 221 out of 1,443 in the state, over one-seventh of the whole. The counties next after Jefferson in clay production are: Tuscarawas, 327,942 tons ; Summit, 285,277 ; Stark, 248,783. It is of interest to note that the entire production in the state for 1884 was 168,208, of which Jefferson County contributed 21,300, or a little over one-eighth, so that the local increase has been relative as well as absolute. Fire clay is found all over the county in connection with the coal veins, but the greatest development has been along the Ohio River, beginning about five miles above Steubenville and extending to the northern limits of the county, both sides of the river having almost a continuous line of mines and works turning out fire brick, tiling, sewer pipe and all forms of terra cotta work, as well as shipping the clay in its raw state. Toronto is the center of this industry, and it is said that at one time at least there was a greater number of steam whistles within hearing of a single point than at any other section of the country.

An impetus was given to this industry about twenty-five years ago by the discovery that this clay was particularly adapted to the manufacture of vitrified street paving brick, which has been largely used in Steubenville and elsewhere. The first brick street pavement was laid in Steubenville in 1884, and is now being relaid, not because the bricks are worn out, but because the street has been torn up so frequently for different purposes that it has become too rough for travel, where portions of the pavement have been left undisturbed they appear as though they were good for another quarter of a century. Steubenville now has upwards of twenty miles of paved streets, all of fire bricks, which have demo strated their superiority for this purpose. Most of the bricks used are 8 1/2x4x2 1/2 inches, thoroughly vitrified, and laid on a sand and gravel bed ; boards, which are used as a foundation in some cities, not being necessary here. The crown is about six inches for a forty-foot road, the bricks being placed on edge and after rolling given a temporary covering of sand, and in some cities a coating of tar. The cheapness of this kind of paving, and the facility with which it can be removed for sewers, water mains and repairs cannot fail to make it still more popular in the future. As

266 - HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY

indicated elsewhere, experiments have dem- onstrated that in the long run' it is more economical than macadam for country roads, as well as cleaner and better in other respects. These bricks, when thoroughly burned, have a greater resisting power than granite, according to tests at Pittsburgh, where No. 1 spalled at 32,200 pounds, not crushed; No. 2 cracked at 36,700 pounds, spalled at 42,200 ; No. 3 spalled at 27,400, not crushed ; No. 4 spalled at 32,600 pounds, not crushed ; No. 5 spalled at 44,200 pounds, not crushed. On the other hand, a public granite test at Cincinnati gave the following: Virginia granite, No. 1 cracked and crushed at 30,200; No. 2 stalled at 22,000, crushed at 30,100; No. 3 cracked at 28,600, crushed at 45,280. New Hampshire granite, No. 1 spalled at 13,850, crushed at 21,900 ; No. 2 cracked at 18,290, crushed at 19,530; No. 3 cracked and crushed at 20,130. Maine granite, No. 1 cracked at 16,880, crushed at 20,000; No. 2 cracked at 17,130, crushed at 39,140. Georgia granite, No. 1 cracked at 18,590, crushed at 20,200; No. 2 spalled and cracked at 14,870, crushed at 18,320 ; No. 3 spalled at 17,370, crushed at 19,520 ; No. 4 cracked at 16,320, crushed at 17,500 ; No. 5 spalled at 15,700, cracked and crushed at 20,080. A two-inch square cube of well seasoned oak cracked at 10,900 and crushed at 12,540 pounds. The percentage of iron in Jefferson County bricks has a great deal to do with their hardness and durability, qualities that are lacking in fire bricks made elsewhere. The following analyses show the composition of the different Jefferson county clays :

Beginning at Hammondsville, in the northern end of the county, there are several veins of fire clay four feet thick, and at the mouth of the Yellow Creek are three veins, two of four and one of five feet. Coining two miles down to Port Homer, and at Empire, twelve miles above Steubenville, we find the principal vein under No. 3 coal eight to nine feet thick. At Calumet and Freeman's it varies from seven to eleven feet, and at Toronto it reaches thirteen feet. The advantages of such a seam, with coal above and below, are apparent. It varies from there to Steubenville and below. A shale is also found in this section which makes a superior quality of building brick. The clay industry will be further noticed in the chapter on manufactures. Following are the mines reported:

American Sewer Pipe No. 8-W. B. Robb, Calumet, Ohio, superintendent. Sixteen men employed. Drift opening; furnace ventilation. Minor Fire Clay-Empire. E. S. Minor, superintendent. Drift opening; natural ventilation; ten men. American Sewer Pipe No. 7-Frank Hartford, Empire, superintendent. Shaft opening. Suspended all year. Natural ventilation. Standard Fire Brick, Congo Mine-Alexander Hayes, Empire, Ohio, superintendent. Thirty-one men. Natural ventilation. Ohio River Sewer Pipe-H. E. Stratton, Empire, superintendent. Shaft opening; natural ventilation. Seven men. Stratton Fire Clay-H. S. Stratton, Empire, superintendent. Shaft opening. Eleven men. Natural ventilation. Great Northern Sewer Pipe Company-H. S.

LOCATION

Water

Silicia Acid

Iron.

Alumina.

Lime.

Mag-

nesia.

Fixed

Alkalis.

McFadden 's Drift under Coal No. 3, Toronto

McFadden & Carlisle under Coal No. 3

Under Coal No. 3, Elliottsville

Under Coal No. 3, Elliottsville

Silica Clay, Elliottsville

Clay No. 13, Elliottsville

Bottom under Coal No. 3, Toronto

Top under Coal No. 3, Toronto

Under Coal No. 3, Empire

Between Coals Nos. 6 and 7, Elliottsville

Under Coal No. 3, Croxton's Run

5.30
9.35
4.10
8.55
5.40
12.70
6.40
8.60
4.50
6.70
8.70

70.00
57.25
77.65
59.20
66.75
44.75
62.90
56.60
65.40
63.80
58.10

2.22
1.94

3.32

2.70
4.25
6.30
Trace
Trace
2.00
.80
1.20

19.38
28.66
12.78
26.10
19.35
16.62
25.90
29.00
24.20
26.60
29.60

.15
.15
.55
1.05
.65

11.65
.55
.95
.80
.80
.40

.34
.24
.45
.75
1.00
3.87

.53

.78

.54

.36

.54

2.90

2.55

1.30

1.53

2.05

3.17

3.50

3.67

2.30

.60

1.75

NOTE.-here as elsewhere through this work Sloan's and Toronto indicate the same place, Elliottsville and Calumet.Shanghai and Empire, and Lagrange and Brilliant, the former being the old names.

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 267

Stratton, Empire, superintendent. Shaft opening; natural ventilation. Employs eleven men. Kaul-Oberkirch — George Myers, Toronto, superintendent. Slope opening. Employs eleven men. Natural ventilation. Ohio Valley—Oliver Connor, Toronto, Ohio, superintendent. Shaft opening. Thirteen men. Natural ventilation. Owned by American Sewer Pipe Company. Forest City—Owned by American Sewer Pipe Company. W. B. Franey, superintendent. Sixteen men. Slope opening. Fan ventilation. Great Western—Owned by American Sewer Pipe Company. W. B. Franey, superintendent. Shaft opening. Fan ventilation. Twelve men: Little Giant--Owned by Toronto Fire Clay Company, Toronto, Ohio. Henry Nicholson, superintendent. Twenty-five men. Fan ventilation. Calumet—Owned by American Sewer Pipe Company. Frank Hartford, superintendent. Slope opening. Eleven men. Furnace ventilation. East Ohio—At Irondale, operated by the East Ohio Sewer Pipe Company. W. E. Williams, superintendent and mine boss. Shaft, sixty-seven feet deep to No. 1 seam of clay, seventeen feet thick. Fan ventilation, mule haulage, and employs ten miners and three day men. This mine has an excellent top, is very dry, the clay very hard, and is generally found in excellent condition. Standard—At Iron-dale. Operated by the Standard Fire Brick Company. L. McDanlis, superintendent Matthew Henry, mine boss. 0. Drift to No. 3 seam nine feet thick. Mule haulage. Employs five miners and two day men. McLain & Dando—One mile east of Irondale. Operated by the Irondale Brick Company. Fred Dando, superintendent Edward Grimes, mine boss. Slope opening to No. 3 seam ten feet thick.

A recent boring at Irondale indicates a clay vein sixty feet thick.

NATURAL GAS AND OIL.

As late as 1889 the present writer, in giving a resume of the gas and oil condiLions, remarked that "While Jefferson County has figured as a shipper of petroleum, yet it cannot be said to be a producer!" The prediction was hazarded, however, that the situation might be changed by the time those words were in print, which has been more than verified. It is necessary, however, to go back as far as 1864 to note the beginning of the efforts to find oil in Jefferson County, gas at that time not being considered as valuable commercially, although it had been used in some sections. The oil excitement which had prevailed in northwestern Pennsylvania had reached Smith's Ferry and Little Beaver Valley, where there were Steubenville investors, not to their profit, but the reverse. Shortly after a test well was sunk to a depth of 1,200 feet on the Farmer place below Mingo, and one or two others in the county with no tangible results, and all further efforts in this direction were abandoned for twenty years. In the meantime some parties drilling for oil on the West Virginia side of the river twelve miles above Steubenville, struck a strong flow of gas which was ignited and for months furnished a beacon along the river by night and an object lesson of how natural resources could be wasted. Soon after a tremendous flow of gas was struck near Hickory, Pa., which was also ignited and burned cubic feet by the million. Finally somebody conceived the idea of using the first named well in the manufacture of lamp black, and the gas was conducted to a building where innumerable jets were placed against soapstone plates, producing pure carbon. This establishment burned down and the owners of the well sold its product to brick manufacturers in New Cumberland, who by this time began to appreciate the advantages of this kind of fuel. The conclusion was that if natural gas existed in paying quantities on one side of the river there was no reason why it should not do so on the other, and several wells were sunk in and around Steubenville. Some of them furnished a light gas supply for awhile, but they had no staying qualities and soon gave out.

268 - HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY

More or less gas was generated in the coal mines, which was used for a limited extent for lighting, but there was not sufficient to make it commercially valuable. Two wells were sunk by the Jefferson Iron Works at the lower end of Steubenville, the first in September, 1884, and the other a few months later, both of which struck a fair gas vein at 1,250 feet, but they were exhausted within a year, and although the first one was afterwards drilled to a depth of 2,500 feet no more gas was found. In 1885 a well was sunk on the Stokely place by J. J. Gill a short distance above, striking a light flow, but with good staying quality. It was used in the "glory holes" of the Beatty glass k -use nearby until that concern went out of business, when it was turned into "The Grove" residence, which it supplied until the erection of the Pope tin mill in 1902, when it was abandoned. Some wells were sunk in the north end of the city and also on Wills Creek without result, and the conclusion was reached that if natural gas was wanted here it must be brought in from the outside. At this time (1886) some Philadelphia capitalists organized a corporation under the title of Royal Gas Company for the purpose of supplying Steubenville and vicinity with natural gas. A large field was secured in the Hickory district, nineteen miles from the city, and. they proceeded to sink nine wells with excellent results. Two eight-inch mains, with a ten-inch part of the way, were laid to the city, piping under the river. At that time the pressure at the wells was 420 to 500 pounds to the square inch, giving a pressure in the pipes of 250 pounds. The manufacturing district of the city was encircled by a high-pressure main carrying 75 to 125 pounds, from which spread a network of smaller mains with a pressure of but a few ounces for domestic consumption. It supplied 10,800,000 cubic feet of gas every twenty-four hours, displacing over 600 tons of coal. The system was afterwards extended to Mingo, where a light gdsser had been drilled, and also to Wellsburg and Brilliant. At the latter place the Spaulding Iron Works drilled in a well in May, 1883, which showed a good pressure, but it was rendered useless by salt water. A paying well has been recently sunk below that point. Toronto and Empire were supplied with gas by the Ohio Valley and Bridgewater Companies, but the Royal Gas Company took their place, and having since reorganized under the name of Tri-State Gas Company, has greatly extended its field both of production and consumption.

A new era. was now at hand. Jefferson County, which had long been a consumer and had tried to become a producer of oil and gas, was now to take the latter position. In 1889 Josiah C. Ault and Benjamin N. Linduff, having secured a lease on the James Blackburn farm in Island Creek Township, sunk a well a short distance below the Knoxville bridge on the creek and reached the Berea grit, which is the oil producing "sand" of this section, at a depth of about 1,000 feet, when a 30-barrel well was secured. This was the pioneer well of the county to get a pipe connection. Lands of the Morrow heirs, John Smith, Frank Brady, Ault, Kellermeier, Williamson, Chas. Shane, Morrison, Winters and Squire Morrow were secured, and up to August, 1901, forty-five wells had been sunk, of which seven were dry, the others ranging from five to fifty barrels, the greater number being eight to ten barrels. The highest production was about 500 barrels per day, and the salt water mixed with oil in the Berea has given the field good staying quality, and it is still putting out about 100 barrels per day. The original well was named the "Old Maid." This field lies in Sections 5, 11, 16, 17 and 22 of Island Creek Township and is about three miles in length with a maximum width of less than one-fourth of a mile. McKeown well No. 2 on the Morrow farm is probably the deepest of the lot, being 1,241 feet. What is known as the "salt sand" was struck at 570 feet, and 867 was base of "Big Injun."

During the years 1891-2 The Toronto Oil and Gas Company drilled twelve wells back of that village in the northeast corner of

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 269

Island Creek Township, mostly in Section 36. Of these three were failures, but six were gas producers. The closed pressure was originally 325 pounds to the square inch. There being no salt water, the wells did not require packing. The Tri-State Gas Company purchased the wells and piped the gas to Toronto. Other holes were drilled in the township about this time, a dry hole on the Robertson farm in the eastern half of Section 7, one on the Dobbs farm in Section 33, one on the Walker farm near the west line of Section 10, one on the Finley farm and one on the Powell farm in Section 34, two dry and a small producer in the northeast quarter of Section 5, two dry in the southwest corner of Section 12.

In 1895 George Given, a well-known operator, leased the Featner, McCook, Brew, Gould and Lewis farms in Sections 2, 3, 8 and 9 of Cross Creek Township, near Gould's Station on the P. C. C. & St. L. Ry., and drilled his first well on the Featner place. It started off at 125 barrels per day, and created quite a sensation, as it was the largest well in the county up to that time. It declined rapidly, however, and was abandoned Within a year. The second well started at only 10 barrels per day, but it was a stayer. Work of development went on rapidly and by 1898 sixty wells had been drilled, those on the Brew farm being the best producers. Several gas wells were drilled on the western edge of the field, furnishing a good supply of fuel. Generally the gas produced by the wells was small, so they had to be pumped from the start. The production at one time reached 1,200 barrels per day, but by August, 1901, at least twenty-five of the sixty producers had been abandoned, and the production dropped to 200 barrels per week, and has remained at about that figure. The oil has a bright red color, and commands the Pennsylvania price, as it does generally in this region. The wells were shot at first with thirty to 200 quarts of nitroglycerine, and many were shot a second time, this charge as a rule being smaller than the first one. A

tragic feature in the life of this field was the explosion of a quantity of nitroglycerine in a hillside cabin. It was supposed to have been started by the two men in charge creating a jar in opening the door. The force was such as to shake buildings in Steubenville four miles distant in an air line. Not a trace of the building or contents remained, and only a few fragments of the men, if we except fine shreds of flesh which clung to the trees nearby. The Berea here is found at 1,200 feet and has an average thickness of about thirty-three feet. In the southeastern corner of the township, Section 25, a dry hole was sunk, and also in Sections 7, 13, 14 and 19.

In 1896 J. J. Crawford, having leased some tracts in Sections 14, 15, 20 and 21, including altogether about half of one square mile lying on the east and west sides of the village of Knoxville, drilled in a well which started at only two barrels per day. The next one, however, came up to twenty-seven barrels, but the fifteen following wells were light or dry, so that the aggregate did not exceed 100 barrels per day. A few years later a company composed of D. J. Sinclair, William Freudenberger and others purchased this property and extended it fifty acres southeast on the Cooper farm. They put down a number of wells and brought the daily production up to 500 or 600 barrels. The wells are all light producers, and there being no salt water to give them staying qualities the present output is small. In 1901 four wells were drilled east of town, which gave a pressure of 325 pounds to the square inch, which were sold to the Tri-State Gas Company. The oil wells are west of town on the west slope of an anticlinal, and the gas wells on the summit The grit here is fifty feet thick.

The Jennings Oil Company about 1902 opened up a pool at Sugar Grove, between Empire and Knoxville, in which were a number of, good wells turning out 100 barrels or more per day. It still has about twenty-five producing wells. Other parts of Knox Township have been quite thoroughly

270 - HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY

tested, with a dry hole on the river bank in the northeast corner of the township, three gas wells near Empire, dry hole on the Sapp farm in the southwest corner of Section 33, small gas well on the river bank near Calumet, dry hole in the village of Toronto, small gas well on the Gaston farm in the southeast corner of Section 31, dry hole on Wasson farm in southwest corner of Section 1, dry hole on Snyder farm in southeast corner of Section 2, dry hole on Fitzpatrick,s farm in northeast corner of Section 3, two dry holes on Taggart farm in the northeast corner of Section 4, two dries on western half of Section 10, one on the McGhie and others on the Runyon farm, two oils and three dries in the northeast corner of Section 16, dry on Cooper farm in the northeast corner of Section 15, two dries on the southern half of Section 14, one on Mills and one on Andrews farm, one oil and three dries in the northwest quarter of Section 13, dry on the Swickard farm in the southwest corner of Section 20. Since then the Swickard Oil Company, composed of Joseph M. C. Feely, H. G. Simmons and others, has developed a small field here by drilling ten wells, about half .Of which are dry. The production reached fifty barrels per day, and is now about thirty barrels.

During the winter of 1899-1900 a well was drilled at Port Horner in the southeast corner of Saline Township, reaching the Berea grit, it is said, at a depth of 715 feet, which produced a couple of barrels per day. In the spring of 1900 a second well was sunk, which started at 100 barrels per day, but rapidly declined, the oil being light and not a good stayer. This field included parts of Sections 5 and 6, and in it were drilled about twenty wells, most of which were dry. The Berea along the river front here was reported at a depth of 600 to 620 feet, and 598 feet on the opposite side. If this is correct, and we confess to some skepticism, it is only half the depth given elsewhere in the county, and as the Geological Survey remarks, " sugests a low arch with the Port Homer wells on the western slope." In other parts of the township the Maple and Frink farms south of Irondale were tested with light results ; two dry holes were drilled near the river in the extreme southeastern part of the township, dry in southeast corner of Section 5, dry on McCullough farm near west line of Section 7, dry in Section 8 near mouth of Yellow Creek, two dries on Mills and Gray farms in southwest quarter of section 11, three wells on Taylor farm in southeast quarter of Section 17, two of which produced some oil, third dry; dry on Burnett estate near south line of Section 18, small producer later abandoned on Yellow Creek along the eastern line of Section 13, and dry hole near the middle of same section, two small oil wells and one dry on Leatherberry farm in Section 23, a dry in Irondale.

In Smithfield Township J. J. Crawford in 1895-96 opened a small field on the Galbraith farm in Section 11. The first well was drilled approximately 1,560 feet and made a showing of oil. A second well was drilled in 1900, with a depth of over 1,600 feet. During that and the next year five wells were drilled, one producing twenty-five barrels per day, and finally dropping to six and ten barrels, the others being dry. On the Runyon farm in Section 17 a well was drilled 1896 to a depth of 1,607 feet, with the following record :

Thickness of Formation, feet.

Total

Depth, feet

White Shale

Hurry Up Sand

Black Shale

Bastard Limestone

First Cow Run Sand

White Shale

Second Cow Run Sand

White Shale

Black Shale

Coal

Black Shale

First Salt Sand

Black Shale

Second Salt Sand

Big Injun Sand

Slate

Squaw Sand

Slate and Shale

Berea Sand

10

60

10

10

50

60

25

65

50

9

20

80

110

55

250

25

20

358

35

315

375

385

395

445

505

530

595

645

654

674

754

864

919
1,169
1,194
1,214
1.572
1,607

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A dry well was drilled on the Kithcart farm in Section 15 in 1896, a dry near Adena in Section 32, two dries on Sutherland farm in Section 28, two on Thompson and Henry farms in Section 29, a dry on J. B. Smith farm in Section 30, one of 1,700 feet on William B. Scott farm in Section 5, two on Sutherland and Cope farms in Section 6, two near eastern margin of Section 14 and one near western margin of Section 8. Piney Fork gave a light show. It will be seen that of the twenty or more wells drilled in this township only one was a practical producer.

Brush Creek makes a small showing. A dry well was drilled on the Hickman farm in the northeast quarter of Section 2 in the fall of 1900. One drilled the previous summer on the McBane farm in the southeast quarter made a showing of gas, but no oil. A dry well was drilled on the Dorrance farm in the southeast quarter of Section 23, and more recently a small producer on the Moore farm in the southwest quarter of Section 31.

Ross Township enjoys the distinction of actually producing the first oil for commercial purposes in Jefferson County. In 1865, when efforts to discover oil in other sections were unavailing, a company was formed under the name of Springfield and Yellow Creek Oil Company for the purpose of testing this territory, which had not been lacking in indications of the oleaginous fluid. In 1866 they located a well at the mouth of Brimstone Run near Moore's Salt Works, now Pravo, and at 500 feet struck quite a flow of oil, most of which ran down the creek and was lost. A pump was then put in and about 200 barrels secured, which was hauled to Hammondsville and shipped by rail. The well soon gave out, and the salt water was used in the manufacture of salt until 1871, when it was abandoned. In 1870 a Pennsylvania company sunk a well 1,000 feet, getting plenty of salt water, but no oil. In later years three wells were sunk on the E. George farm in the southeast corner of Section 23, of which one yielded some oil, but it is now abandoned. On the A. George farm in the northeast quarter of Section 28 the same number of wells was drilled with the same result. Two dry holes were drilled on the McLain farm in the northern part of Section 6. The oil here is found in the "Big Injun," instead of Berea, which may account for the small quantity.

But little has been done in Springfield township. There is a dry hole on the Dorrance farm in Section 4 near Bergholz, and one on the Calhoun farm in the southeast quarter of Section 8. There was a showing on Wolf Run, but most of this township may be considered as wildcat territory.

Salem Township shows some oil production. A dry hole was drilled on the Graham farm in the southwest quarter of Section 23, and one on the Kirk farm in the northeast quarter of Section 22. Several holes were drilled around Richmond, some with good indications, but without tangible results. Later, however, the Osage Oil Company developed a field about Mount Tabor with paying results, having about a dozen wells producing oil and gas. Considerable territory has recently been leased on the west side of the township, but not yet developed.

Wayne Township has been quite prolific in dry holes. A well on the Reed farm in the northwest quarter of Section 23 in 1899 found the sand at 1,200 feet, with a thickness of forty-one feet. The well made a show of oil and considerable gas. Another, drilled on the Blackburn farm in the same section, turned out the same. Other dry holes are : one on Hervey farm in the northwest ,quarter of Section 28, one on the O'Brien farm in the southeast quarter of Section 24, one on the Starr farm in the northwest quarter of Section 18, two in Section 17, one on the Maxwell farm in the northwest quarter, and one on the Simeral farm in the southeast quarter, one on the Miser farm in the southwest quarter of Section 12.

Mount Pleasant Township has developed a small production at Emerson and also at Laurelton. Dry holes have been drilled in

272 - HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY

the southwest quarter of Section 4, one in the northeast quarter of Section 18, and one in the northwest quarter of Section 29.

Besides the gas well at Brilliant, ruined by the flood of 1884, Wells Township has developed both oil and gas territory. In 1899-1900 William Carnill opened an oil pool in what was called Limestone district, on the upper waters of Rush Run. He sunk half a dozen wells on a small territory, some of which started off at 300 to 400 barrels apiece. They have continued since as light pumpers. Another effort was made below Brilliant, where a strong flow of gas was found one well, the Nichols, yielding 3,000,000 cubic feet per day, the largest gas well in the coL,Ity previous to the strikes west of Steubenville. Gas was also found on Rush Run and about New Alexandria, which was purchased by the Tri-State Gas Company and piped to Steubenville and Mingo. Here, as elsewhere, the success of one produced the usual crop of dry holes, among them being one belonging to the Bank of Smithfield in the southwest quarter of Section 21, one in the northeast quarter of Section 28, one on the Puntney farm in the southwest quarter of Section 18, one in the southwest quarter of Section 35, one on the Hundman farm in the northeast quarter of Section 12, one on the Ekey farm in the southeast quarter of Section 11.

Warren Township, if we except the little pool at Laurelton, reports one dry hole at Portland. There are people who know when they have enough.

We now come to a change in the oil development of the county, when within a radius of two or three miles of Steubenville was to be found the most prolific oil field in this part of the country, and the end is not yet. The little fields of which accounts have been given above were quietly yielding their quota of oil, naturally decreasing,, and it looked as though no fortunes were to be made by that means in this neighborhood. But in 1905 Castner Bros., who had already become somewhat interested in oil, sank a test well on the Black farm at the forks of Wills Creek in

Island Creek Township, two and one-half miles from Alikanna station. It came in a 200-barrel producer, which attracted others to that field, taking in the Prince, Vaughn and Elson farms by Jennings & Crawford and Sinclair & Freudenberger. Although the field was limited in area there were soon thirty producing wells turning out 1,000 barrels per day, some of which are still fair producers, and the extension still good for seventy-five barrels. Adjoining this was the Pleasant Hill field, developed by H. B. Luntz in 1906, on the farms of William Ford, D. McCullough, Sanders, Presbyterian Church and King heirs lot. This ran up to 700 barrels, with little or no salt water, but is now practically out of business.

Swinging our radius to the eastward with the court house as a center we strike the Holliday 's Cove field, directly across the river from Steubenville, whose derricks have, become as familiar objects from the city as the trees around them. In November, 1906, a company, composed of Cyrus Ferguson, Albert Lee and others sunk a well on the Emmett McCune farm, and got a good showing of salt water. Two wells were then located on the Hyndman farm and one on the Thomas McKim farm. The latter showed up 100 barrels, and soon there were about thirty wells on 2,300 acres, some of them giving 120 barrels. Others came in and some fifty additional wells have been sunk, the late ones creeping down the steep hillside opposite the city. The greatest production from any one well was 300 barrels per diem, and the field 2,000 barrels. It is still holding up at 1,200 barrels. The field is about two and one-half miles long, with an average width of half a mile.

The next point on the circle is known as the Follanshee field, just above the new town of that name and opposite the lower end of Steubenville. In 1907 the La Belle Iron Works of Steubenville, desiring to prospect for gas, purchased a tract from the Ohio River Realty Company, just east of the P. W. & Ky. railroad track and began

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 273

drilling. A good flow of gas had been found a short distance below and about twenty years ago there had been some very strong wells about three miles down the river. Instead of finding gas they got a sixty-barrel oil well. The realty company, which still owned considerable land between the railroad and the river put down a well in January, 1908, and had a 400-barrel gusher. Then derricks went up all over the field until there were at least seventy-five of them, and during the following summer the production ran up to 3,000 barrels. It is estimated that upwards of $1,500,000 worth of oil has been taken from this field during the last eighteen months, and it is still yielding some 300 barrels per day. The realty company recently sold out to Ferguson & Company for a large sum (1909).

As the Follansbee field was found to extend to the water,s edge it was easily imagined that it might reach across the river into Ohio. Accordingly in 1908 Donaldson & Company procured a lease of the Miller farm immediately south of Steubenville corporation limits, and soon had a 150-barrel well. Some tests northward failed to develop anything, but on the south the Risdon farm, Mingo town lots, Van Kirk, Lavelle, Brettelle and Carmen properties led over to the Means farm with good producers to the southwest, and thence to the bottom lands of Cross Creek on the Oto farm. Since then Neville & McMillan have completed a second test on the Wabash Railroad right of way and have a small pumper. This location is 500 feet southwest of the Unity Oil Company's No. 4 on the Otto farm. This, no doubt marks the limit of the pool, somewhat over a mile in length. As this field included the village of Mingo, with numerous small lots, there was a great rush to get holdings and erect derricks, with the result that the production soon ran up to the neighborhood of 2,000 barrels, and almost as rapidly declined, and now the Miller and Otto wells and a few others aggregating 100 or 150 barrels are all that are left of a boom that was as lively while it lasted, as that of a Western mining camp. It is said that only two companies really made money in this pool, which was so speedily drained by its seventy-five or more wells.

While this was going on The Manhattan Oil Company began experimenting on the England farm southwest of Steubenville and about a mile from the Mingo field. They drilled two or three wells and got some oil. Afterwards Mr. Smathers took a lease on the Spillman farm of eleven acres close by on Permar ,s Run. Here he got a fifty-bar rel well, and began to work down the run towards the city, getting wells 1,500 feet east of his first one. He was now near Mount Calvary Cemetery, owned by the Steubenville Roman Catholic Churches, and a company was organized to test it. Ferguson and others under the name of the Warner Oil Company secured the Johnson and Edward McCauslen farms. The wells on the former place were small, but the first well on the McCauslen farm proved good for about 150 barrels, and No. 2 well near Mount Calvary entrance early in 1909 showed up 500 barrels. Castner Bros. had leased the Wiggenton place touching Mount Calvary, McCauslen and Union Cemetery grounds, and about May 1, 1909, struck a flow of oil that ran thirty-two barrels an hour or 768 barrels per day for several days, when it dropped down to a regular 300 to 400 barrel well. There was no doubt now that a fine oil field had been found, probably the best yet discovered in this section. Castner Bros. rushed their wells as rapidly as possible, and their No. 6 Wiggenton yielded 200 barrels. At this writing they are getting from their lease about 1,000 barrels per day. The Mount Calvary company, although meeting with some misfortune, put down several wells, and are getting thirty barrels per day. Crossing the Steubenville and Richmond pike the gas and consolidated oil companies struck a big gasser on the Tait place, and the Curn Company the same on the Minton lot. The only dry wells so far in this field are one on the Simmons lot west of the belt, and one on Mount Calvary. The George

274 - HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY

Bair lot north of the pike gave a fair oil well between two gassers. The pool appears to run 22 1/2 degrees north of east, and among the developments on the east are an eighty-barrel well on the Jordan place, and a big gasser turning to oil on the Brady farm. The latter indicated 9;000,000 cubic feet of gas per day, but on drilling a little deeper oil was found. Drilling is in progress on the Smith place, and two wells on the Linduff and five on the Hutterly farm are light producers. Ferguson & Company brought in a good well on the Dunbar place joining Union Cemetery, and Ault & Linduff on the. George Dunbar farm.

Ferguson & Company leased 35 acres on the west side of Union Cemetery, and on Friday evening, July 9, brought in a 300-barrel well. They have sunk other wells on this tract and leased additional ground from the cemetery association. Castner Bros. have been testing to see how far this pool extends towards Wills Creek. One well on the Bustard farm came in dry and a second was also. The producing wells in this pool now number about twenty and the output is 2,300 barrels per day. The total daily output in the county is between 3,000 and 4,000 barrels. The territory has been pretty thoroughly tested, but there are still some unexplored sections to attract the wildcatter in search of the oleaginous fluid. A heavy storm on the evening of July 12, 1909, leveled a number of derricks to the ground, but they have been replaced. The gauges of the best producers are as follows : Castner Bros.' Nos. 1 to 6, Wigginton Bros.' farm, 665 barrels ; J. 0. Bates & Co., Nos. 1, 2 and 3, Hutterly heirs, farm, 195 barrels ; Lee Oil Company, Nos. 1, 2, and 3, E. E. McCauslen farm, 335 barrels ; Everett Oil Company, No. 1, Union Cemetery lot, 220 barrels, and Mount Calvary Oil and Gas Company, Nos. 6, 7 and 8, 200 barrels. Development of this field is now complete.

OTHER MINERALS.

Limestone has not figured largely in the reports of mineral resources of Jefferson County, although it is found in abundance and of superior quality. In early days it was used extensively in the manufacture of lime, its freedom from magnesia making it superior for use in cement where exposed to the weather. It has also been largely used in road construction, but not for building purposes, the abundant and more easily worked sandstone superseding it for that purpose. The strata are ten to twenty feet thick, generally containing 80 to 90 per cent carbonate of lime, and practically no phosphorous, giving to stone a special value as flux in furnaces. Following are analyses of four specimens by the State Geological Survey: