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as no other localities offered any inducements. Accordingly, on March 14th, the commission ordered the first Court of Common Pleas to meet at the house of Joseph Davidson, in the Town of Burlington.

At that time the population of the county was 665, and its only postmaster, Thomas Kerr, of said Burlington.

FIRST OFFICERS

The first common pleas judges were John Davidson, William Miller and Gabriel Kerr. John Kelley was appointed temporary sheriff and W. G. Robinson clerk and recorder, while N. K. Cough was named by the court as prosecuting attorney.

The first election of officers in the county was held (at an expense of $27) April 7, 1817, when Joseph Davidson, Joel Brown and David Spurlock were chosen as commissioners. The first meeting of the county board was held at Mr. Davidson's house, on April 21, 1817, and resulted

in the appointment of Thomas Kerr as its clerk, as well as county treasurer.

JAIL, FIRST COUNTY BUILDING

The commissioners also appropriated $700 for the building of a jail, a combined log and frame structure ; John Morrison was awarded the log section and William Templeton the frame.

TAXES AND OTHER MONEY MATTERS

At this historic first meeting of the board of county commissioners the following rates of taxation were fixed : Horses, mules and asses, 30 cents a head ; neat cattle, 10 cents ; all other property, one-half of one per cent. Simeon Drouillard was the first tax collector.

The first money ever paid out by the county was $9.62 for books and traveling expenses of the clerk, who went to Gallipolis to make his purchases.

The second order on the county treasury was for $10 issued to David Spurlock for ten wolf scalps, which had been taken by James Webb.

The first money spent on any road in Lawrence County was by Sheriff Kelley, who was also road commissioner. It ran from Burlington to the Scioto County line and $525 was expended upon it.

FIRST MARRIAGE

Mr. Webb was appointed the first justice of the peace, and probably married the first couple in the county—John Ferguson and Elizabeth McCoy, on the 11th day of April, 1817.

FIRST JUDGES AND LAWYERS

The first meeting of the Common Pleas Court was held July 7, 1817, John Thompson, president of the court for the Second District, presiding. He was assisted by the local citizens already named. The grand jury

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was as follows : Edward Billups (foreman), Nathaniel Morrison, Augustus Smith; Elisha Hall, John Lunsford, Thomas Singer, Joshua Imes, Adam Farley, Charles McCoy, William Bruce, Richard Sumter, Daniel. Laffoon, Edward Miller, John Billups and Peter Lineberger, Jr. The expenses incurred by the jury amounted to $47!

At this session of court John O. Ladley, David Cartwell, John M. McConnell and John R. Cheatwood were admitted to the bar.

THE BURLINGTON, COURTHOUSE

In November, 1817, the commissioners ordered that $1,500 be appropriated for the building of a courthouse at Burlington, and the contract was awarded to Asa Kimball for $1,696. The work was completed in the fall of 1819, and as late as 1892 the Register was saying: " That old courthouse stands today, a little the worse for the wear and ravages of time. At present it is used for school purposes; but every time the powder mill explodes across the river there are fears that the last days of the courthouse have come:"

Among the best known lawyers who practiced in the old courthouse at Burlington, and afterward moved to Ironton, which became the county seat in 1851, were John S. George, E. Nigh and Ralph Leete.

TAXES FOR 1818

Fore the year ending June, 1818, the taxes collected in Lawrence County amounted to $1,933.

FOUNDING OF THE IRON FURNACES

John Means settled at Manchester, Adams County, Ohio, in 1819 and freed his slaves there, and spent the remainder of his life there, but was the prime mover in building Union Furnace in 1826. He was undoubtedly inspired by the establishment of such furnaces as the Argilite, the Steam and the Pactolus iron plants at Greenup, across the river in Kentucky. The Bellefonte, also at Greenup, was founded in the same year as the Union.

From the time Mr. Means started the Union Furnace, the Hanging Rock locality commenced to assume importance as a center of iron manufacturing. Like all of the early furnaces it was operated with charcoal ; in fact, there were few that used any other kind of fuel until the Civil war period, when bituminous coal commenced to have its day.

POPULATION IN 1820 AND 1830

While Hanging Rock was just coming into notice and Burlington was obtaining quite a reputation along the river as a shipping point, the population of Lawrence County about doubled; that fact being indicated by the census figures for 1820, which show a population of 3,499, and those of 1830, 6,366.

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CENSUS BY TOWNSHIPS, 1840, 1850, 1860

The population of Lawrence County by townships, as shown by the national census enumeration of 1840, 1850 and 1860, was as follows :

The census of 1860, directly preceding the Civil war period, was one of the most important ever taken, and it showed that the population of Lawrence County had more than doubled within twenty years. The enumeration for Upper, Hamilton, Elizabeth, Decatur and Washington townships was taken by J. S. Rodarmour, and his district returned 10,653 inhabitants.

J. L. Barber took the census of Fayette, Lawrence, Mason, Perry, Rome and Union townships, which embraced a population of 8,608.

B. F. Cory covered Aid and Symmes townships, which together had 2,226 inhabitants, and Thomas Davisson was assigned to Windsor Township, with a population of 1,689.

The explanation of the blanks noted in the tables for 1840 and 1850 is that Hamilton Township was included in Upper in 1850, and Washington Township was a part of Decatur in 1840.

POSTOFFICES IN 1850

By 1850 the following postoffices had been established in Lawrence County : Aid, in the township by that name ; Arabia, Mason Township ; Athalia, Rome Township ; Bartramville, Windsor Township ; Burlington (courthouse), Fayette Township ; Campbell, Decatur Township ; Coal Grove, Upper Township ; Greasy Ridge, Mason Township ; Hanging Rock, Hamilton Township; Ironton, Upper Township ; Israel, Perry Township ; Kelley 's Mills, Elizabeth Township ; Miller, Rome Township ; Olive Furnace, Washington Township ; Quaker Bottom, Union Township ; Rock

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Camp, Lawrence Township ; Russell's Place, Union Township ; Scott's Town, Windsor Township ; Simmons, Windsor Township ; South Point, Perry Township ; Symmes Run, Union Township ; Waterloo, Symmes Township, and Willow Grove, Elizabeth Township.

IRONTON FOUNDED

The Ohio Iron and Coal Company was incorporated in March, 1849, and on the third of the following May its directors resolved that "John Campbell, C. Briggs and W. D. Kelley be authorized to lay out a town on the lands of the company above the mouth of Storms Creek, for the purpose of encouraging the erection of manufacturing establishments and other purposes connected with the operation of the company ; that said town shall be called Ironton ; that suitable grounds shall be

RIVER FRONT AT IRONTON

appropriated in the laying off of said town for a market, courthouse and offices and for the public buildings of said town."

Ironton was thus platted and the first sale of lots on the town site occurred in June, 1849. Among the lands purchased at the mouth of Storm Creek for the site of the town was a tract on which stood the plant of the old Lagrange Furnace, built more than a dozen years before ; but the first important industry established by the company was the Ironton Rolling Mill. A lot had been deeded to the organizing company as a site for the factory, and preparations were being made to build not only the iron mill but the Iron Railway northward. The brightest days had passed—both for Hanging Rock as an industrial center and for Burlington as a shipping point and county seat.

COUNTY SEAT REMOVAL

At this stirring period in the young life of Ironton, John Campbell, George N. Kemp and William Lambert, its most energetic capitalists,

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circulated a petition for the removal of the seat of justice from Burlington to Ironton. "Ironton is and will be the Commercial and Business Centre of the county," says the paper named ; "the chief town of the county for trade, manufactures, and consequently the principal market, and as such will be the point to which the citizens of the county will resort for business.

"Ironton is nearer the Territorial Centre of the county than any other point on the river, an air line of twenty miles in any direction reaching to the utmost limit of the county, with the exception of the back sections of Washington township ; and nine of the thirteen townships of the county are nearer (or as near) to Ironton than to the present county seat, as also parts of the tenth township. .

“Ironton is nearer the Centre of Population of the county than any other river point, more than two-thirds of the inhabitants of the whole county being nearer to Ironton, and the townships of Upper, Elizabeth, Decatur, Washington and Symmes alone] all of which are much nearer Ironton than Burlington, contain nearly one-half of the inhabitants of the county.

ERECTION OF IRONTON COURTHOUSE

"The present Court House is well known to be in a dilapidated condition, inadequate to the wants of the county, of sufficient size to contain but part of. the county offices, and not affording convenience nor safe repository for the records of those it does contain ; consequently a new Court House must very soon necessarily be erected, and for the erection of which the lower end of the county will pay the larger portion of the taxes that might be levied ; but as a consideration for the erection of said building in Ironton during the year 1852, a public square, beautifully located on high ground, has been donated."

Citizens and supporters of Ironton had already subscribed $1,200 for the erection of the courthouse and $400 for the removal of the jail, conditional of course on the action of the voters as to the location of the county seat. The writer has had the privilege of examining a remarkable scrap-book, made by Charles. Campbell, son of the founder of Ironton, in which, among other priceless documents connected with the history of the Hanging Rock Iron Region, is preserved the original subscription paper circulated just before the issuing of the petition. About a hundred citizens signed it, some donating cash for the purposes designated, and others such labor as stone work, painting, hauling, iron work, etc. Thomas Murdock agreed to contribute $50 worth of brick, and Voglesang and Buchanan in in carpenter work.

The largest subscriptions in cash were made by the following : Ohio Iron and Coal Company (by John Campbell, president), $400, "to pay for removal of jail ;" George N. Kemp, $100 ; William Lambert, $100 ; Irwin Kelly, $50 ; S. Silverman, $50 ; H. and L. Cole, $50 ; John Culbertson, $50 ; J. E. Clark, $50 ; John Ellison, $50 ; Simon Parker, $30 ; Mr. Leeke, $25 ; E. J. Farwell, $25 ; A. T. Brattin, $25 ; H. Crawford, $25 ;

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J. H. Jones, $25 ; S. McClure, $25 ; M. Jones, $25 ; G. R. Bush, $20; George W. Willard, $20 ; James Sullivan, $20.

The petition for the removal of the county seat stated that the conditions of the obligations thus incurred "are such that in case a majority of the voters of Lawrence County, at the next ensuing election vote for the removal of the County Seat of Lawrence County from Burlington to Ironton in said county, and whereas the citizens of Ironton and vicinity have made large subscriptions for the erection of public buildings in said town of Ironton, which said subscriptions are made payable to John Campbell, George N. Kemp and William Lambert ; now then if the said John Campbell, George N. Kemp and William Lambert shall well and faithfully apply said subscriptions for the purposes aforesaid, and put up and enclose for the use of said county a building suitable for a Court House—say 70 feet in length, by 45 in width, 2 stories high, say 36 feet

POSTOFFICE, IRONTON

in height, including stone work, the walls to be brick, 12 inches thick, with pilasters between the windows 4 inches thick and 3 feet in width, the roof of said building to be a principal roof and to be covered with white pine shingles, with heavy brick cornice, said building to have one large double door in front and to have 25 windows, say 10 feet in height.

"And they further agree to pay four hundred dollars for the purpose of removal of the present jail from Burlington to Ironton, and apply the unexpended balance of said subscriptions, if any, as the commissioners may direct.

"And in case the size and shape of the aforesaid buildings does not suit the commissioners of Lawrence County, then the said John Campbell, George N. Kemp and William Lambert agree to expend whatever amount the aforesaid building would cost in the erection of any sized building the commissioners may determine to build. Said buildings to be put on the public square donated by the Ohio Iron and Coal Company to Lawrence County, the whole work to be completed in the year A. D. 1852."

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The removal was supported by popular vote in 1851 and in the following year the courthouse was built on the square donated by the Ohio Iron and Coal Company. In fact, events for many years to come were quite likely to conform to the program laid down by that corporation, which embodied all that was substantial in Ironton.

PROPERTY VALUATION, 1856, 1866

A conclusive evidence of the substantial condition of the county during the immediate ante-war period is furnished by the assessor's figures for 1856, showing the number of acres in each township, with the land valuation.

DUTIES OF SUPERINTENDENTS

Besides furnishing the foregoing figures and facts, County Superintendent Dillon has contributed such a suggestive paper to the Ohio Educational Monthly for December, 1914, that it is herewith republished ; it

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conveys not only personal conclusions, but much general information applicable to every county covered by this work. In the discussion of his subject, "The Crucial Test of the County Superintendent," Mr. Dillon says : "The duties and powers of the county superintendent are so limited and varied and the implied powers so great, that it is very difficult at this early date to decide just what the Crucial Test will be. His duties are both delegated and implied and may be classified as clerical, executive and professional, the professional being the more essential whether they be delegated or implied.

"Among some of the implied powers are the following : To assist the county board in dividing the county into supervision districts ; consult with boards of education concerning courses of study, truancy, electrons for uniting tax duplicates, etc. ; determine for the county board the number of teachers to be employed, the number of district superintendents, the amounts to be apportioned to each district as its share of the county and district superintendents' salaries; help to arrange programs for school work; arrange and attend teachers' meetings; purchase material and supplies for the county board of education ; make the necessary arrangements for the annual institute ; assist in the consolidation and centralization of schools; defend the new school law, which is no small undertaking in our county ; and organize first grade high schools not merely for their intrinsic value, but with a view of having normal training schools in our county so our boys and girls may obtain their high school and professional training at home. This within itself may be the ' Crucial Test,' but I choose for the present to consider this only a part of it. Quite a few of the above named duties are performed by the county superintendent as the executive officer of the county board of education.

"The county superintendent has clerical duties to perform which are essential in his work but not necessarily decisive. He is secretary of the county board of education ; he calls a meeting of all the village and rural boards of education under section 4747-1, and acts as chairman of their meeting ; he is clerk of the county board of school examiners and as such makes a monthly report to the county auditor, under section 7820, and an annual report to the superintendent of public instruction under section 7836; he also certifies to the attendance of teachers at the annual institute to the superintendent of public instruction.

"Among some of the delegated professional duties we find the following : He issues certificates of promotion to pupils who have completed the elementary school work ; one day of the annual institute shall be under his immediate direction ; the making of a minimum course of study is usually turned over to him by the county board of education ; he nominates the district superintendents and holds monthly meetings with them ; he visits and inspects the schools under his supervision as often as possible ; he is a member of the county board of school examiners ; and when the time comes, he is to have supervision over the normal training schools of the county, nominating its director and instructors, and teach; ing not less than one hundred or more than two hundred periods.

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"Now, if I were to search diligently among all the duties enumerated above I do not think I could find that which would prove to be a 'Crucial Test.' A superintendent might be able to carry out every duty named and yet be a failure. He may have any or all of the qualifications that make him eligible as a county superintendent, enumerated in section 4744 and not succeed. He may have grown up in the county schools and yet never have been a part of them.

"If I were going to use one word only that would prove to be the `Crucial Test' of the county superintendent I should use the word `efficiency.' This word has a very, broad meaning, but I shall use it in a limited sense.

"The county superintendent should not only have a knowledge of books but of methods also. He should have a pleasing personality. He should be, not only a judge of men and women and children, but a leader also. He should have a broad knowledge of the needs of the county schools.

"Abraham Lincoln's success as president of the United States was not so much his own ability as a statesman as his proficiency to recognize ability in others. The county superintendent has the right to nominate his district superintendents except those enumerated in section 4740, and can nominate these when a vacancy occurs. If he is a good judge of men and has no political ax to grind or pre-election promises to fulfill for his_ political friends, he will be free to choose the most proficient without fear or favor from those who contributed to his election, and with nothing but the best interests of the schools to consider.

"Some have said that the coarse of study is the most important work of the county superintendent but I can not agree with them. The course of study and daily program are very important but some teachers have done good work without a course of study and without a daily program except for the recitation periods.

"The county superintendent as a member of the county board of school examiners and clerk of the same can demand proficiency in learning, and this he should do, as a knowledge of the subject matter is of the highest importance, but 'Every applicant for a teacher's certificate shall be required to take in addition to the written examination, to test academic and professional knowledge, a practical test in actual teaching. Such test shall be made at any time during the preceding year or before the applicant receives his certificate, by a member of the board of examiners, a local supervisor, a teacher of method or any other competent person authorized by the county board of school examiners to make such test. Each applicant shall make a satisfactory showing in both written and practical tests.'

"The county and district superintendents will probably make all these tests, for the present at least, or until the normal training schools are established, and from their observation of actual work in the school room, they should be in a position to know when a person is proficient and also efficient. If we go about this work with a single purpose in view, to select only those who are efficient in their work, we are pretty

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sure to succeed, and I am inclined to believe that this will be the Crucial Test.' We may have to eliminate several old time teachers and quite a few younger ones, but the schools and school children are much more important than the teachers who are trying to instruct them. This is going to be a trying proposition for the county and district superintendents for they will have many loyal friends and good citizens in the school rooms who are not efficient teachers and if they can not be made so by wise supervision and training they should be eliminated, and the sooner it is done the better it will be for. the schools.

"The district superintendent shall be employed upon the nomination of the county superintendent but the board electing such district superintendent may by a majority vote elect a district superintendent not so nominated, and the local board shall employ no teacher for any school unless such teacher is nominated therefor by the district superintendent of the supervision district in which such school is located except by a majority vote. I take this to mean a majority of the whole board and not a majority of those present. .The will of the county and district superintendents may, and perhaps will be overruled and the purpose of the law defeated, but such instances will, we hope, be rare. If the county superintendent has a broad knowledge of the needs of the county schools; if he has good executive ability; if he is a good judge of ability in others and uses his wisdom in selecting his assistants; if he and his assistants use their best efforts as supervisors in helping the teachers to become efficient, and then eliminate those who do not, regardless of the final consequences, then we will see a great. Renaissance."

MEDICAL AND LEGAL COUNTY SOCIETIES

Both the lawyers and physicians of Lawrence County have organizations. Although in no way connected with the county government, as they are of more than local scope they are noted at this point in the narrative. The associations are the outcome of early attempts at professional cooperation, some of which had more strength outside of Ironton than those of the present.

In October, 1868, the physicians of Lawrence County met at the courthouse and organized a society with the following officers : N. K. Mosley, president; W. F. Wilson, vice president; E. Arnold, secretary; Jonathan Morris, treasurer. The only .other doctors present at the time were A. E. Isaminger, 0. Ellison and John S. Henry. That society dissolved some years ago, but in 1900 certain physicians of the county again assembled and formed the County Medical Association, of which W. F. Marting is president and 0. H. Snyder, secretary and treasurer. The present membership of the association is about twenty-five.

The Lawrence County Bar and Law Library Association was incorporated in February, 1911. It has a membership of twenty-three, with the following officers : Edward E. Corn (present common pleas judge), president ; L. R. Andrews, vice president ; Lindsey K. Cooper, secretary ; Jed B. Bibbee, treasurer and librarian.

CHAPTER III

THE IRON INDUSTRIES

WHEN IRONTON BECAME THE CENTER-PIONEER LAWRENCE COUNTY FURNACES-HANGING ROCK IN 1833—OLD ARGILLITE, OF KENTUCKY -OTHER GREENUP CONCERNS-BRUSH CREEK AND JAMES RODGERSPINE GROVE FURNACE FOUNDED-ARRIVAL OF JOHN CAMPBELL -INTRODUCTION OF THE HOT BLAST-FIRST FURNACE SHUT DOWN ON THE SABBATH-THE ELLISON AND ROBERT HAMILTON-J. RIGGS AND COMPANY-MR. CAMPBELL MAKES HANGING ROCK HIS HOME-THE CAMPBELL FURNACE INTERESTS- THE OLD COLD BLAST FURNACES-HAMILTON AND CAMPBELL PART COMPANY-THE HANGING ROCK OF 1846—CAMPBELL AND WILLARD, DELEGATES TO BUFFALO-SITE OF IRONTON CHANGES HANDS-WILLARD AND PETERS TO THE RESCUE -KELLY DIRECTED TO BUY THE ENTIRE SITE-THE HANGING ROCK RAILROAD FALLS THROUGH—DR. C. BRIGGS, DIPLOMAT—THE OHIO IRON AND COAL COMPANY-CHOLERA PRECAUTIONS-THE IRON RAILROAD-IRONTON ROLLING MILL BUILT-OTHER IRON FACTORIES- OAK RIDGE FURNACE AN ILL-FATED VENTURE-INDUSTRIAL CONDITIONS OF 1857—REVIVAL OF THE LATER '60S-BELFONT IRON WORKS FOUNDED-THE TRANSITIONAL '70S-LATER FURNACES-MEANS, KYLE AND COMPANY-EUGENE B. WILLARD-DEATHS OF JOHN CAMPBELL AND CALEB BRIGGS .THE HANGING ROCK IRON COMPANY- THE HECLA IRON AND MINING COMPANY-OLD HECLA FURNACE AGAIN- PROPOSED NATIONAL ARMORY-ABUNDANT CHARCOAL SUPPLY- PROPOSED NAVY YARD-THE CHARCOAL IRON COMPANY-LAST COLD-BLAST CHARCOAL. FURNACE BELFONT IRON WORKS-THE KELLY NAIL AND IRON WORKS-THE MARTING IRON AND STEEL COMPANY.

For more than twenty years the Village of Hanging Rock was the administrative center of the largest furnaces in the Hanging Rock Iron Region of Ohio. From the time John Means and James Rodgers founded old Union, in 1826, until John Campbell and other iron masters decided that the mouth of Storms Creek was the proper site for an industrial and shipping town, with a railroad running north toward Chillicothe, until the incorporation of the Ohio Iron and Coal Company and the laying out of Ironton, in the spring of 1849, the Village of Hanging Rock promised to be the leading town in Lawrence County.

WHEN IRONTON BECAME THE CENTER

Portsmouth had already become quite a flourishing place. It was the terminus of the canal, controlled much of the profitable river trade, and

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the Scioto and Hocking Valley Railroad was already assured, and, within three years, actually built to Jackson. At the time Ironton was platted. seven furnaces had been established in Scioto County—Franklin, in 1827 ; Scioto, in 1828 ; Bloom, Clinton and Junior, in 1832 ; Ohio, in 1845, and Empire, in 1846. In Jackson County, which was about to be tapped by the Scioto and Hocking Valley line, old Jackson Furnace had been founded in 1838 ; Keystone Furnace was established in 1849, and just prior to the completion of the railroad, Buckeye Furnace was started. Within four years after the completion of the line to Jackson, the following furnaces were put in operation : In Jackson County—Iron Valley, 1853 ; Cambria, Jefferson, Latrobe, Madison and Young America, 1854 ; Limestone, 1855; Diamond and Monroe, 1856. In Vinton County— Hamden, 1851; Eagle, 1852 ; Cincinnati and Vinton, 1853, and Zaleski, 1858.

The foregoing facts are stated that the reader may obtain a general idea of the status of the iron industry, and of the region covered by this work, at the time that Ironton entered the field and Hanging Rock was virtually dropped by its old-time promoters. That transference of the Campbell interests to the new town was the initial step in a distinct epoch in the history of the county and the Hanging Rock Iron Region, the industrial and commercial center of which threatened to be fixed at Portsmouth.

PIONEER LAWRENCE COUNTY FURNACES

At this crisis the following Lawrence County furnaces had been established : Union, 1826 ; Pine Grove, 1828 ; Etna, 1832 ; Buckhorn, Hecla, Mount Vernon and Vesuvius, 1833 ; Lawrence, 1834 ; Lagrange and Centre, 1836; Olive, 1846. Of course, all these early furnaces burned charcoal for fuel. The Jackson County plants first adopted bituminous coal in the Ohio Hanging Rock Iron Region, the Diamond Furnace commencing to use it in 1856; the Belfont Iron Works, the pioneer establishment in Lawrence County to abandon charcoal, commenced to use coal in 1867.

With this rapid survey of the early iron industries of the region, the author turns back the time dial to note several features of interest connected with the founding and the founders of the pioneer furnaces which made Hanging Rock so famous. For most of the data here incorporated he is indebted to Charles Campbell and his historic scrapbook, which contains a' unique collection of original documents relating to those times when John Campbell, Robert Hamilton, James Rodgers, Andrew Ellison, James 0. Willard, and others less prominent, but nevertheless strong iron men, made the little settlement their home and the headquarters of their interests.

HANGING ROCK IN 1833

Dr. S. P. Hildreth, in his Geology of Ohio, has the following descriptive of the locality in 1833: "Four miles above the mouth of the Little

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Sandy on the Ohio river, and in the midst of the iron region, is the celebrated cliff of sandstone called the Hanging Rock. The upper portion of the cliff, which is nearly four hundred feet high, projects over the mural face of the rock like the cornice of a house. It is extended, also, for some distance up a small creek, which here puts into the river. The Ohio flows close to its base, while beneath and under its projecting walls is a forge for the refining of iron. The blasts of its immense bellows, added to the thundering noise of its immense hammer weighing more than a ton, echoing and reverberating under the walls of the cliff, afford no inapt emblem of the labors of the Cyclops under the caverns of Mount Etna. An abundance of iron ore is found in the vicinity, and a few miles back in the hills a furnace called the Etna furnishes the pigs for the anvils of the modern Cyclops. Bar iron of excellent quality is manufactured at this interesting spot.

"Near the top of the cliff is a bed of aluminous slate through which the water filtrates from above and, slowly evaporating from below, forms stalactites of alum, impregnated with sulphur of iron. In other parts of this deposit, more sheltered from the weather and more dry, the sulphate of magnesia is formed in transparent crystals of one or two inches in length."

OLD AEGILLITE, OF KENTUCKY

Nearly twenty years before Doctor Hildreth wrote the foregoing, and a decade before Union was started at Hanging Rock, there lived in the vicinity of old Pactolus Furnace, in Greenup County, Kentucky, one Richard Deering, a farmer, but who, as a side venture, engaged in salt-boiling. He was quite above the average of his class and day for enterprise and investigation, and was also considerable of a mechanic. While engaged in farming and salt boiling on his lands, he noticed iron ore in his fields and on the hill-sides, and. bethought him that he might do some smelting, as in his Pennsylvania home. In 1815 he therefore constructed a crude cupola and charged it with a small quantity of iron stone. The result proved so satisfactory that he engaged four or five moulders to run his iron into hollow ware.

The success of that crude attempt induced Mr. Deering, in 1818, to form a partnership with David and John Trimble for the erection of the Argillite Furnace, the first iron plant to be established in the Hanging Rock Iron Region. It was located in Greenup County, Kentucky, six miles southwest of Greenupsburg, upon the left bank of Little Sandy River. The stack, 25 feet high and 6 feet "bosh," was cut solid in a cliff of black slate—hence, called Argillite—with only two sides for arches. A dam, thrown diagonally across the river, with a massive undershot waterwheel, furnished power for the blast. The iron produced was made into hollow ware on week days and run into pigs on Sundays. The blast cylinder and water wheel were made by John Deering, whom his brother had engaged for that purpose. The original capacity of the Argillite was one ton daily ; it was classified as "cold blast."

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OTHER GREENUP CONCERNS

The second furnace to be erected in the Hanging Rock Iron Region was the Pactolus, built in 1824 by McMurty and Ward. Its daily capacity was two tons.

The Hopewell Furnace, built in Greenup County during 1832, originated in the Ward Forge, erected in 1824.

Old Steam Furnace, also a Greenup County concern, was built by the Shreeves Brothers in 1825, and the fourth iron manufactory in the region, the Bellefonte, was completed the same year by A. Paull, George Poague, and others.

BRUSH CREEK AND JAMES RODGERS

But previous to the first smelting of iron in the Hanging Rock Region, Brush Creek Furnace in Adams County—the first erected in the State of Ohio—was in blast by 1811. It was built by Ellison, James and Colonel Paull. In 1826 the firm name of Brush Creek Furnace Company, by which the management was known, was changed to James T. Claypoole and Company. This was the first furnace erected in the United States which was run by steam ; the engine which operated it was built by the Pitts Steam Engine Company, who sent James Rodgers to install it: While engaged in that work, Mr. Rodgers had a chance to examine much of the region about, from the standpoint of a practical iron man, and the result was that, in association with Mr. Means, John Sparks and Valentine Fear, he commenced the Union Furnace at Hanging Rock, on the 4th of July, 1826, under the firm name of James Rodgers and Company. He completed it within the year.

Mr. Rodgers built the famous Etna Furnace in 1832 and remained its head.until a few weeks before his death in June, 1860. He was a keen, persevering Scotch-Irish Pennsylvanian and, although he became a widely known leader in the industrial and public affairs of Southern Ohio, even after the center of such activities in his home county was Ironton he continued to reside at Hanging Rock and died there. He was early identified with the Ohio Iron and Coal Company and was for years the president of the Iron Bank and the Lawrence Rolling Mill, at Ironton. His public service commenced before̊ he located at Hanging Rock with his election to the lower house of the Legislature as a representative from Adams County. Both in 1828 and 1831 he represented Lawrence and Scioto counties in that body, while in 1837 he was elected to the State Senate for the district comprising Lawrence, Gallia, Athens and Meigs counties. In 1849 Lawrence and Scioto counties again sent him to the Assembly. None of the other old furnace men were so honored by the suffrage of those who knew and trusted them as business men and employers.

PINE GROVE FURNACE FOUNDED

In 1828 Robert Hamilton and Andrew Ellison, two other iron masters and master minds of the region, erected Pine Grove furnace and estab-

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lished a business which endured longer than any other one industry in Lawrence County.

ARRIVAL OF JOHN CAMPBELL

In 1832 John Campbell, then a young man of twenty-four, reached Hanging Rock in search of employment, and remained in the vicinity for nearly twenty years, and a leader in the development of the Hanging Rock Iron Region for about three score years.

In 1836 Hurd, Gould and Company opened Lagrange furnace on the western borders of Storms Creek, about four miles northeast of Hanging Rock, Vesuvius, a few miles further north, having been established in 1833.

INTRODUCTION OF THE HOT BLAST

In 1837 a new era dawned upon the iron business in the Hanging Rock Iron Region and of the country, caused by the introduction of the hot blast. Three or four furnace men met at Vesuvius, and there agreed that they would test the principle ; that they would employ a man to put up a hot blast at Vesuvius, and if it proved satisfactory, Hurd, Gould and Company were to pay all expenses ; if a failure, the expense was to be divided among the parties to the experiment. The result was so successful as to mark a great step in the progress of the industry. William Firmstone was the man selected to install the hot blast—the first, it is believed, in the United States.

FIRST UTILIZATION OF WASTE GAS

In the meantime John Campbell had been coming forward as one of the leading iron men of the Hanging Rock Region, young though he was. In 1833 he had formed a partnership with Messrs. Hamilton and Ellison in the erection and operation of the Mount Vernon furnace, which was the northernmost plant then in Lawrence County, being located in the southwestern corner of Symmes Township. As this was Mr. Campbell's first venture as a proprietor he naturally took a keen interest in the development of Mount Vernon, and by 1841 one important result of his practical studies and experiments became evident. In that furnace he first placed the boilers at the tunnel head of the furnace stack, applying the waste gas to the production of steam—a plan afterward generally adopted by the charcoal furnaces of the Hanging Rock Iron Region, as well as in other sections of the United States.

FIRST FURNACE SHUT-DOWN ON THE SABBATH

The famous Hecla furnace, just east of what was to be the town of Ironton, was erected by Hamilton and McCoy, in 1833, and in 1840 Mr. Hamilton became the sole owner of Pine Grove furnace. Now Robert

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Hamilton was not only a broad, successful iron master and business man, but a conscientious Christian gentleman, and when he found himself the sole proprietor of Pine Grove, one of the most prosperous furnaces in operation, he determined to bring religion into the every-day life of his home community. The step which he took was a bold one, as the furnace men were not strict observers of the Sabbath.

Mr. Hamilton was convinced that if iron was an article given by the Creator for the use of man, it could be manufactured without breaking one of his express commands. Therefore, having made extensive repairs and improvements of his plant, under the direct superintendency of N. Riter, he again put the Pine Grove furnace in blast and on December 20, 1844, "shut down"—that day being the Sabbath ; an experiment which, so far as known, had never been tried in America. The practice, thus inaugurated by Mr. Hamilton, was followed by successive proprietors until the Pine Grove ceased business in 1897.

THE ELLISONS AND ROBERT HAMILTON

In clearing up the interesting items which attach to the history of the early furnaces and furnace men holding the stage before the birth of Ironton, the writer can conceive of no more effective and authoritative way than to quote from a manuscript of Mr. Campbell entitled "Statements of John Campbell and wife, and of others, made in the year 1875 and up to 1890."

According to that authentic paper, Andrew Ellison, first cousin of Mrs. John Campbell's mother, came to Hanging Rock from the Pine Grove furnace, in 1832. With Robert Hamilton he had built that plant in 1828. Mr. Ellison died in 1836, and at his own request was buried above ground in a coffin covered by an iron casket, over all being built a vault made of wood.

Robert Hamilton came from Pennsylvania and clerked at a furnace in Adams County before locating at Hanging Rock. He 'assisted in the building of Mount Vernon furnace in 1833, opened the coal mines at New Castle and built the Hanging Rock Railroad running to them. The Ellisons and he were the wealthiest iron masters in the early days. Mr. Hamilton married Nancy Ellison, an aunt of Mrs. John Campbell, which was the beginning of his success and fortune.

John Campbell, young Andrew Ellison, Robert Hamilton and others had built the Mount Vernon, William Ellison, an uncle of Mrs. John Campbell, managing it from 1833 to 1835. Mr. Campbell superintended it from 1835 to 1846, when he moved to Hanging Rock, and to Ironton in 1850.

J. RIGGS AND COMPANY

In March, 1833, was commenced the Hanging Rock Forge, which was the beginning of the Hanging Rock Rolling Mill. The stockholders in the forge were the same as those interested in the Lawrence furnace, or

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Crane's Nest—viz., James Rodgers, Robert Hamilton, Andrew Ellison, Dyer Burgess and Joseph Riggs, under the firm style of J. Riggs and Company.

Mr. Campbell had the active superintendence of the building of Lawrence, and after its completion Andrew B. Ellison became its superintendent and Mr. Campbell, clerk. The latter had the privilege of taking stock, but declined, although he loaned J. Riggs and Company $1,500 to be applied in its construction,

It is said that while Mr. Camphell was clerking for that firm and assisting in the building of the forge, he obtained the impression that the company did not care for his services, because they did not express themselves definitely on the subject. So he had his trunk quietly taken down to the river for the steamboat, in order to leave. Just as it was disappearing over the bank Andrew Ellison espied it and called him back. The explanation resulted in his remaining in the iron district.

MR. CAMPBELL MAKES HANGING ROCK HIS HOME

In January, 1835, Mr. Campbell visited his home in Brown County, Ohio, and borrowed money from his father and aunt, which enabled him to invest in other furnace properties. The Mount Vernon enterprise also proved very profitable, he being manager of it from June, 1835, to July, 1846, when, as stated, he located at Hanging Rock.

While a resident of that place, Mr. Campbell lived in the Andrew Ellison home, which he had purchased from the widow. In 1852 Robert Hamilton bought from his son-in-law, Samuel B. Hempstead, the large house just above Hanging Rock. James Rodgers, another of the great iron masters of the early period, lived Hanging Rock during the ante-Irontonian period, his death occurring in 1858.

THE CAMPBELL FURNACE INTERESTS

In those days it did not require much money to erect or own furnaces. Thus, Mr. Campbell had less than $1,000 when he came to Hanging Rock, which, with a small sum which he borrowed from relatives, enabled him to get a firm foothold at Mount Vernon. The original daily capacity of that plant was about sixteen tons, its actual output being considerably less for some time. But the furnace so prospered under his management that he was enabled to subscribe largely to the building of the Greenup (Campbell, Peters and Culbertson) in 1844 ; to the Olive (John Campbell and John Peters), north of the Buckhorn, in 1846, and Gallia Furnace, still northeast in Gallia County, in 1847. These furnaces, in turn, kept him in funds for building Keystone, Jackson County, in 1849 ; Howard, Scioto County, 1853 ; Washington (John Campbell, John Peters and others), near the northern boundary of Lawrence County, in 1853, and Monroe, also in Jackson County, in 1856.

Besides the furnaces of an early date in Lawrence County already mentioned were the following : Buckhorn built in 1833 by James and

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Findley, original daily capacity fifteen tons; Centre, built by William Carpenter, in 1836, capacity sixteen tons; Etna, built in 1832 by James Rodgers and others, with a daily capacity of sixteen tons.

THE OLD COLD BLAST FURNACES

In the very early days, the cold blast was furnished by a small engine located at the base of the stack, supplying enough air to make one ton of iron per day. The pioneer iron men let the gas from the furnace escape into the open air and patiently fired the boiler with stone coal. One ton of iron required a little over two tons of the rich red ore on the outcrop and about two hundred and fifty bushels of charcoal. Two ore carts with oxen would haul both the fuel and the ore and a little limestone. The charcoal was made next the furnace. After 1840 the furnace plants expanded and more money was spent both for lands and buildings.

HAMILTON AND CAMPBELL PART COMPANY

We now approach the events which led to the founding of Ironton, the buying of its present site, the deflection of the Iron Railroad from Hanging Rock, the incorporation of the Ohio Iron and Coal Company and the final platting of the town. As pithily stated by an old-timer, "but for some difficulty between Mr. Campbell and Robert Hamilton, Ironton would have been an Up-river Extension of Hanging Rock."

THE HANGING ROCK OF 1846

The project of founding a new industrial town further to the southeast, on a higher site than Hanging Rock, with a promise of better dock facilities and a safer distance from Portsmouth, was backed primarily by Mr. Campbell with his characteristic enthusiasm and expanded per, sonal means. When he came to Hanging Rock to reside, in 1846, he wrote these words regarding it: "We could soon have a town with 10,000 inhabitants. We would extend one branch of the railroad through the headwaters of Raccoon, where there is crib timber ; another fork through Ross County to Chillicothe, and so on to Columbus, intersecting with other roads running north. In this way we could take all freight and travel from the canal, and make Hanging Rock the largest town between Columbus and Wheeling; the railroad would cut off all trade from Gallipolis and Portsmouth ; then it would have no opposition to contend with. Provisions would come cheap from the interior. It would be far enough from any other city to become one of the largest in the West. On our own energy all would depend. Why should it not go on ? Why should we not be the actors in this? We have the capital. We have the capacity. Why should we not have the energy ?"

Much of the letter quoted and all of the enthusiasm manifest in it, might be applied to Mr. Campbell's attitude toward the proposed new town above Hanging Rock.

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CAMPBELL AND WILLARD, DELEGATES TO BUFFALO

While Ironton was in embryo, national politics was agitating the professional and industrial leaders of Lawrence County as never before. In view of the fact that both the democratic and the whig parties, in their national platforms of 1848, evaded the question of excluding slavery from the territory acquired from Mexico, Ralph Leete, with Dr. C. Hall, of Burlington, and John Campbell, of Hanging Rock, left the democratic party, and J. F. Wheeler, the Proctor Brothers and James O. Willard, deserted the whigs. A county convention was called by them at Burlington to elect delegates to the Free Soil convention at Buffalo. Strong resolutions were adopted against the admission of any more slave states into the Union, and among the delegates appointed to the _Buffalo convention were Messrs. Campbell and Willard. They left in June, 1848, and assisted in the nomination of Van Buren and Adams.

An active and aggressive campaign was made in Lawrence County, during which Mr. Leete and Dr. Hall held and addressed thirty meetings. The Buffalo ticket received fifty-six votes in the county, and that was the foundation of the republican party in the county.

SITE OF IRONTON CHANGES HANDS

While Messrs. Campbell and Willard were absent in Buffalo a large part of the present site of Ironton had changed hands. William D. Kelly, born and bred near the old Etna Furnace, where he had engaged in farming since boyhood, and become financially interested in that plant, bought the Davidson Farm and other property at and near the present site of Ironton while the gentlemen named were absent on their political
mission.

Mr. Campbell had intended to buy that property himself with the design of founding a town at the mouth of Storms Creek should Hanging Rock not prosper. As stated by his son : "He thought that the farm would sell for half-price any how, and the convention was important ; but while he was gone, William Kelly purchased it. When Mr. Campbell returned he entered into negotiations with Robert Hamilton to extend the Hanging Rock Railroad to Chillicothe. He himself was elected president of the Hanging Rock and Chillicothe Railroad and J. W. Dempsey, secretary. But their proposition did not suit Mr. Hamilton and his propositions, in turn, were rejected by them. Mr. Campbell then quietly urged on old Mr. Dempsey, Mr. Willard and others, the purchase of land at Storm's Creek above Hanging Rock, or above Storm 's Creek, for the location of a town and terminus of another railroad. And here is an interesting episode.

WILLARD AND PETERS TO THE RESCUE

"On the evening of October 31, 1848, James O. Willard and John Peters met upon the road as they were passing to and fro from Hanging

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