|
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 21 CHAPTER II. SURFACE AND SUB-SURFACE. Topography—Elevated Points and Highlands—Nature and Productiveness of the Soil— Character of the Soil Dependent upon Geological and Geographical Conditions— Forestry— Climate, Crops and Water-Courses—The Coal and Clay-Bearing Strata. "Beautiful for situation." and enchanting in its environment, is old Columbiana County. The diversified beauty and grandeur of its scenery is not surpassed, if equaled, by any county in the State. Monotony in its topographical contour is unknown. Laving it’s the eastern and southern borders, are the Ohio and Big Yellow Creek, overlooked by hills, approaching in majesty the average mountain range. These break off in the second of townships from the east and south into undulating hills ; and these again as the interior, western and northern, sections are approached, modulate into elevated and slightly rolling plains and table lands. A goodly elevation is maintained ; scarcely a marshy or miasmatic acre is to be found in the entire county. Therefore a pure and wholesome atmosphere is everywhere encountered, while water is abundant and unsurpassed in purity. Originally Columbiana County was a solid, primeval forest. An old survey book—copied from the government surveys in 1836, and now in possession of J. B. Strawn of Salem, a former county surveyor—shows all section and even quarter-section corners marked by "witness trees." And the denuding of the land of these climate regulators and soil protectors, the forest trees, has not been so general. even in the portions well adapted to all kinds of husbandry, as haS been the case in moSt portions of the State and the country at large. ELEVATED POINTS AND HIGHLANDS. The average elevation of the county, as a whole, is probably as great as that of any county in the State. Round Knob, in Madison township, ranks No. 4 among the highest points in the State. the highest four being Hogue's Hill, near. Bellefontaine, Logan County, 1,540 feet above tidewater ; hill in Richland County, 1,475 feet ; hill near Bloomfield, Jefferson County, 1,434 feet ; Round Knob, Columbiana County, 1,417 feet. Salem is among the highest town sites in the State, the location of the palatial home of the late J. Twing Brooks, on Highland avenue of that city, which is 1,334 feet above sea-level, being, as it is claimed, the highest residence point in any city of the State. The railroad levels in various points of the county, which of course would naturally be much below the average elevation, will yet give a good conception of the elevations of the various parts of the county. A number of these, taken from the three railroads which circumscribe the county and also penetrate to its center, are as follows : 22 - HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY Feet Above Tidewater. State Line, P., Ft. W. & C. Ry. - 1,045 East Palestine, P., Ft. W. & C. Ry. - 1,014 Columbiana. P.. Ft. W. & C. Ry. - 1,113 Leetonia, P.. Ft. W. & C. Ry. - 1,017.56 *Leetonia, Erie Railroad Crossing - 1,018 Salem, P., Ft. W. & C. Ry. - 1,173 + Wodland Summit, P., Ft. W. & C. Ry. (3 ½ miles west of Salem) - 1,245 Homeworth, C. & P. Railroad - 1,150 Kensington, C. & P. Railroad - 1.130 Bayard, C. & P. Railroad - I,076 Moultrie, C. & P. Railroad - 1,103 Yellow Creek Summit, C. & P. Railroad - 1,116 East Rochester, C. & P. Railroad - 1,082 Salineville, C. & P. Railroad - 879 Wellsville, C. & P. Railroad - 688 East Liverpool, C. & P. Railroad - 693 Ohio & Pennsylvania State Line - 706 Teegarden, Erie Railroad - 1,043 Lisbon, Erie Railroad - 958 The bluffs above and almost overlooking Walker's sewer pipe works, midway between Wellsville and East Liverpool. are 1,198.36 feet above tidewater ; and as the river at that point is 649 feet above sea-level, the river hills rise there almost perpendicularly about 550 feet. The summit at this point affords one of the finest views to be found anywhere on the Ohio River, the hills and bluffs bordering which give very many such views. NATURE AND PRODUCTIVENESS OF THE SOIL. For general agricultural purposes the soil of the arable lands of the county—and with the exception of that on the more rugged hills in the southern section, it is practically all arable—is very productive. That in the south and center is deep and rather heavy loams, along the river bottoms and in the little dells * These figures illustrate the accuracy of the surveys made respectively by the Pennsylvania and Erie railroad companies. Taking their bearings or bench marks from tidewater, the engineers of the two companies came within a fraction of a foot—about five inches—of finding exactly the same elevation at a given point,—that where their lines cross each other at Leetonia. + The highest point on the P., Ft. W. & C. Ry. between Pittsburg and Chicago. among the hills ; while that in the northern section is lighter. The former is suited to the growing of grains and vegetables, while the latter is better adapted to the culture of fruits. The raising of small fruits is engaged in quite extensively, especially in Fairfield. Middleton and portions of Elkrun and St. Clair townships. The finest grazing sections are in the west and northwest, and dairy products and live stock are sources of good incomes and prosperous conditions to the owners of the well-kept farms of these sections. Rural lands which, from the low figures paid by the early settlers, advanced at a period during and subsequent to the Civil War to anywhere from $40 to $100 an acre, have since that time experienced a decline in value. This has been due to a combination of circumstances. The bonanza farmers of the great West by the introduction of modern machinery, and the doing of business on a mammoth scale, have done much toward putting the small farmers of the country out of business, very much as the giant corporations are pushing to the, wall the small industries of the country. Then there is in this section of country a lack of thoroughness in the work of tilling the soil, which places farming in Columbiana and her sister counties almost in the rear rank in the general march of progress. Another reason for the somewhat unfavorable conditions prevailing in farming districts of the county is the fact that boys and young men of to-day do not stay on the farm. They acquire a fair education and then either enter the learned professions, or embark in some more lucrative business in the cities ; or else they learn trades which prove more remunerative or more to their tastes than farming. City life, to young people of the present day, presents greater attractions and wider fields of opportunity than country life. However, rural free delivery and quick transit by means of the trolley line are rapidly bringing city people and country people nearer each other's doors ; and these influences will in the course of a few years, it is believed, do much toward correcting a condition of affairs which has come to be greatly deplored. The late Edward Orton, for many years State geologist of Ohio, some years before his AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 23 death wrote concerning the "Soils and Forests of Ohio :"* FORESTRY. "The division of the State into a drift-covered and driftless region coincides as previously intimated with the most important division of the soils. Beyond the line of the terminal moraine, these are native, or. in other words, they are derived from the rocks that underlie them or that rise above them in the boundaries of the valleys and uplands. They consequently share the varying constitution of the rocks, and are characterized by considerable inequality and by abrupt changes. All are fairly productive, and some, especially those derived from the abundant and easily soluble limestones of the Upper Coal Measures, are not surpassed in fertility by any soils of the State. Large tracts of these excellent native soils are found in Belmont, Harrison, Monroe, Noble, Guernsey, Morgan, Jefferson and Columbiana counties. Wool of the finest Staple in the country has long been produced on the hills of this general region. Among the thinner and less productive soils which occupy but a small area are those derived from the Devonian shales. They are, however, well adapted to forest and fruit production. The chestnut and the chestnut oak, both valuable timber trees, are partial to them, and vineyards and orchards thrive well upon them. The northern sides of the hills throughout this part of the State invariably show stronger soils than the southern sides, and a better class of forest growths. The locust, the walnut and hickory characterize the former. The native soils of the Waverly group and of the Lower Coal Measures agree in general characters. They are especially adapted to forest growth, reaching the highest standard in the quality of the timber produced. When these lands are brought under the exhaustive tillage that has mainly prevailed in Ohio thus far, they do not hold out well, but the farmer who raises cattle and sheep keeps to a rotation between grass and small grains, purchases *What Professor Orton says of the soils, forests and climatic conditions of Ohio as a whole are applicable in main to Columbiana County. a ton or two of artificial fertilizers each year, and does not neglect his orchard or small fruits, can do well upon them. The cheap lands of Ohio are found in this belt. "The other great divisions of the soils of Ohio, viz., the drift soils, are by far the m0st important, alike from their greater area and their intrinsic excellence. Formed by the commingling of the glacial waste of all the formations to the north of them, over which the ice has passed, they always possess considerable variety of composition, but still in many cases they are Strongly colored by the formation underneath them. Whenever a stratum of uniform composition haS a broad outcrop across the line of glacial advance, the drift beds that cover its southern portions will be found to have been derived in large part from the formation itself, and will thus resemble native sedentary soils. Western Ohio is underlaid with Silurian limestones and the drift is consequently limestone drift. The soil is so thoroughly that of limestone land that tobacco, a crop which rarely leaves limestone soils, at least in the Mississippi Valley is grown successfully in several counties of Western Ohio, 100 miles or more north of the terminal moraine. The native forests of the drift regions were, without exception, hard wood forests, the leading Species being oaks, maples, hickories, the walnut, beech and elm. The walnut, sugar maple and white hickory and to quite an extent the burr oak, are limited to warm, well-drained land, and largely to limestone land. The upland clays have one characteristic and all-important forest tree, viz., the white oak. It occupies vastly larger areas that any other single species. It stands for good land, though not the quickest or most generous, but intelligent farming can always be made successful on white oak land. Under-draining is almost always in order, if not necessary, on this division of our soils. The regions of sluggish drainage. already referred to, are occupied in their native state by the red maple, the elm, and by several varieties of oaks, among which the swamp Spanish oak is prominent. This noble forest growth of Ohio is rapidly disappearing. The vandal-like waste of earlier days is being 24 - HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY checked to some degree, but there is still a large amount of timber, in the growth of which centuries have been c0nsumed, annually lost. "It is doubtless true that a large proportion of the best lands of Ohio are too well adapted to tillage to justify their permanent occupation by forests, but there is another section, viz., the thin native soils of South Central Ohio, that are really answering the best purpose to which they can be put when covered with native forests. The interests of this part of the State would be greatly served if large areas could be permanently devoted to this use. The time will soon come in Ohio when forest planting will be begun, and here the beginnings will unquestionably be made. The character of the land when its occupation by civilization was begun in the last century was easily read by the character 0f its forest growths. The judgments of the first explorers in regard to the several districts were right in every respect but one. They could not do full justice to the swampy regions of that early day, but their first and second class lands fall into the same classifications at the present time. In the interesting and instructing narrative of Col. James Smith's captivity among the Indians, we find excellent examples of this discriminating judgment in regard to the soils of Ohio as they appeared in 1755. The 'first class' land of that narrative was the land occupied by the sugar tree and walnut, and it holds exactly the same place today. The 'second class' land was the white oak forests of our high-lying drift-covered districts. The 'third class' lands were the elm and red maple swamps that occupied the divides between different river systems. By proper drainage, may of these last named tracts have recently been turned into the garden soils of Ohio. but. for such a result, it was necessary to wait until a century of civilized occupation of the country had passed. These facts show in clear light that the character of the soil depends upon the geological and geographical conditions under which it exists and from which it has been derived. CLIMATE, CROPS AND WATER-COURSES. "From its geographical situation the climate of Ohio is necessarily one of extremes. The surface of the State is swept alternately by southwest return trades and northwest polar winds, and the alternations succeed each other in quick returning cycles. There is scarcely a week in the year that does not give examples of both currents. All 0ther winds that blow here are tributary to 0ne or 0ther, of these great movements. The return trades or southwest winds are cyclonic in their character; the northwest winds constitute the anti-cyclone. The former, depress the mercury in the barometer and raise it in the thermometer ; the latter reverse these results. The rains of the State are brought in by southwest winds ; the few cases in which notable precipitation is derived from currents moving, in any other direction than from the southwest really make no exception to the general statement, for in all such instances the rain falls in front of a cyclone which is advancing from the Gulf of Mexico. The protracted northeast storms that visit the State at long intervals, and the short southeast storms that occur still less frequently, are in all cases parts of greater cyclonic movements of the air that originate in the southwest and sweep out to the ocean over the intervening regions. "Between the average summer and winter temperatures of the State there is a difference of at least 40 degrees Fahrenheit. A central east and west belt of the State is bounded by the isotherms of 51 degrees and 52 degrees, the average winter temperature being 30 degrees and the average summer temperature being 73 degrees. Southern Ohio has a mean annual temperature of 54 degrees and Northern Ohio of 49 degrees. The annual range is not less than too degrees ; the maximum range is at least 130 degrees ; the extreme heat of summer reaches too degrees in the shade, while the `cold waves' of winter sometimes depress the mercury to 30 degrees below zero. Extreme changes are liable to occur in the course of a few hours, especially in winter when the return trades are overborne in a conflict short, sharp and decisive; with the northwest currents. In such cases the temperature sometimes falls 60 degrees in 24 hours, while changes of 20 degrees or 30 degrees in a day are not at all unusual. The winters of Ohio are very changeable. Snow seldom remains 30 days at a time over the State, AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 25 but an ice crop rarely fails in Northern Ohio, and not oftener than once in three or four years in other parts of the State. In the Southern counties cattle, sheep and horses often thrive on pasture grounds through the entire winter. In spite of these sudden and severe changes the climate of Ohio is proved by every test to be excellently adapted to both vegetable and animal life. In the case of man and of the domestic animals as 'well, it certainly favors symmetrical development and a high degree of vigor. There are for example no finer herds of cattle 0r sheep than those which are reared here. "The forests of the State have already been described in brief terms. The cultivated products of Ohio include almost every crop that the latitude allows. In addition to maize, which nowhere displays more vigor or makes more generous returns, the smaller grains all attain a good degree of perfection. The ordinary fruit of orchard and garden are produced in unmeasured abundance, being limited only or mainly by the insect enemies which we have allowed to desp0il us of some of our most valued supplies. Melons of excellent quality are raised in almost every county of the State. The peach, alone of the fruits that are generally cultivated, is uncertain ; there is rarely, however, a complete failure on the uplands of Southern Ohio. "The vast body of water in Lake Erie affects in a very favorable way the climate of the northern margin of the State. The belt immediately adjoining the lake is famous for the fruits that it produces. Extensive orchards and vineyards, planted along the shores and on the islands adjacent, have proved very successful. The Catawba wine here grown ranks first among the native wines of Eastern North America. "The rainfall of the State is generous and admirably distributed. There is not a month in the year in which an average of more than two inches is not due upon every acre of the surface of Ohio. The average total precipitation of Southern Ohio is 46 inches ; of Northern Ohio, 32 inches ; of a large belt in the center of the State, occupying nearly one half of its entire surface, 40 inches. The tables of distribution show ten to twelve inches in spring, ten to fourteen inches in summer, eight to ten inches in autumn, and Seven to ten inches in winter. The annual range of the rainfall is, h0wever, considerable. In some years and in some districts there is, of course, an insufficient supply, and in some years again there is a troublesome excess, but disastrous droughts on a large scale are unknown, and disastrous floods have hitherto been rare. They are possible only in very Small portions of the State in any case. There is reason to believe, however, that the disposal 0f the rainfall has been so affected by our past interference with the natural conditions that we must for the future yield to the great rivers larger flood plains than were found necessary in the first hundred years of our occupancy of their valleys. Such a partial relinquishment of what have hithert0 been the most valuable lands in the State, not only for agriculture, but also for town sites and consequently for manufactures and commerce, will involve immense sacrifices, but it is hard t0 see how greater losses can be avoided without making quite radical changes in this matter. In February, 1883, and again in February, 1884, the Ohio attained a height unprecedented in its f0rmer recorded history. In the first year the water rose to a height of 66 feet 4 inches above the channel-bar at Cincinnati, and in the latter to a height of 71 feet 3-4 inch above the bar. The last rise was nearly 7 feet in excess 0f the highest mark recorded previous ts 1883. These great floods covered the sites of large and prosperous towns, swept away hundreds of dwellings, and inflicted deplorable losses on the residents of the great valley. "Are floods like these liable to recur at short intervals in the future ? The conditions under which both occurred were unusual. Considerable bodies of snow lying on frozen ground were swept away by warn h rains before the ground was thawed enough to store the water. These were the immediate causes of the disastrous overflows in both instances, and it may well be urged that just such conjunctures are scarcely likely to recur for scores of years to 26 - HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY come. But it is still true that we have been busy for a hundred years in cutting down forests, in draining swamps, in clearing and straightening the channels of minor streams; and finally, in underdraining our lands with thousand of miles of tile; in other words, in facilitating by every means in our power the prompt removal of storm water from the land to the nearest water-courses. Each and all of these operations tend directly and powerfully to produce just such floods as have been described, and it cannot be otherwise than that under their combined operations our rivers will shrink during summer droughts to smaller and Still smaller volumes, and, under falling rain and melting Sn0w, will swell to more threatening floods than we have hitherto known. The changes that we have made and are still carrying forward in the disposal of storm water renders this result inevitable, and to the new conditions we must adjust ourselves as best we can. CONTAMINATION OF THE RIVERS. "Another division of the same subject is the increasing contaminati0n of our rivers in their low-water stages. This contamination results from the base use to which we put these streams, great and small, in making them the sole receptacle of all the sewage and manufacturing waste that are removed from cities and towns. The amount of these impure additions is constantly increasing, the rate of increase being in fact much greater than the rate of growth of the towns. The necessity of removing these harmful products from the places where they take their origin is coming to be more generally recognized, and sewerage systems are being established in towns that have heretofore done without them. It thus happens, that, as the amount of water in the riverS grows less during summer droughts from the causes already enumerated, the polluted additions to the water are growing not only relatively but absolutely larger. When, now, we consider that these same rivers are the main, if not the only, sources of water supply for the towns located in their valleys, the gravity of the situation becomes apparent. It is easy to see that the double duty which we have imposed upon the rivers of supplying us with water and of carrying away the hateful and danger0us products of waste, cannot long be maintained. There is no question, however, as to which function is to be made the permanent one. The rivers cannot possibly be replaced as sources of water-supply, while on the other hand it is not only possible but abundantly practicable to filter and disinfect the sewage, and, as a result of such correction, to return only pure water to the rivers. During the first century of Ohio history not a single town has undertaken to meet this urgent demand of sanitary science, but the signs are multiplying that before the first quarter of the new century goes by the redemption of the rivers of Ohio from the pollution which the civilized occupation of the State has brought upon them and their restoration to their original purity will be at leaSt well begun." COAL AND CLAY VEINS. The "drift" (to use the term geologically) of the county and the clay and coal being spread over a large expanse, and intimately related to the surface and the soil, sharing liberally with the latter, in many cases, in the matter of revenue to the landholder, it will not be out of place here to give some description of the coal and clay veins. A writer in the "History of the Upper Ohio Valley" has compiled some interesting data on this subject, he having drawn upon the Ohio Geological Survey, and State Geologist Edward Orton's reports (heretofore quoted) for valuable material. From these authorities several paragraphs are quoted herewith : "The drift of the county belongs chiefly, perhaps entirely, to that division known as the iceberg drift. It is stratified, and yet the strata are very irregular, and the result, in many places, especially near the surface, would perhaps be better named by calling it assorted ; many times, in a horizontal Section of a rod square, the assortment will present from six to ten different types of arrangement, here pure sand, there pure gravel, here sand mixed with pebbles, there sand with large pebbles, etc. The clays belonging to this formation are usually PAGE - 27 - BLANK PAGE - 28 - PICTURES OF SEVERAL PICTURES AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 29 arranged in well defined strata and are usually found in the lower portions of the drift. The surface, assorted arrangement, Seems to have been the result of the irregular waves, in a shallow sea, produced by inconstant winds, modified by projecting headlands and indentations of the coast, or the sides of the valleys along which they are found. In the gravel beds of the drift it is not infrequently true that a cubic yard of the formation will furnish specimens of nearly all the rocks of the State, and als0 many fr0m beyond its 'limits. From itS heterogeneous make-up the drift becomes one of the most, if not the most. interesting and instructive of all the rocky formations of the earth. "The Tertiary of the age of mammals, the Cretaceous, Jurassic and Triassic of the age of reptiles, and the Permian of the Carboniferous age, are all wanting in Ohio, and in Columbiana County the Upper Coal Measures of the Carboniferous period are also wanting. Immediately beneath the alluvium and drift, already described, distributed over all the highlands of the county, are found the barren measures, which, in the geological column, are situated between the upper and lower coal measures, and consist of red and olive colored shales and the crinoidal limestone. In a section taken on Yellow Creek, at Salineville, they are about 235 feet in thickness, maintaining nearly the same thickness at points below Salineville. In the central and eastern portions of the county the same rocks cover the elevated lands. For instance, on Round Knob, in Madison township, there are 170 feet of the upper portion of this point made up of green and red shales and red sandstone, typical of the barren measures ; then comes the crinoidal limestone, and beneath this another great series of olive shales. streaked with red, with two small coal seams just as they are found in the western border of the county and upon the highlands of Carroll County. In Unity township, the hills are covered with the same gray, green and red shales of the barren measures, which, lie immediately above coal No. 7 (Burnett Joy's seam). In the southeast corner of the county the highlands are capped with a mass of the same type of shales immediately over the representatives of the coal measures of workable thickness. Upon some of the hills forming the water shed between the Little Beaver and the Sandy, and also about the sources of the west and middle forks of Little Beaver, a similar accumulation of shales is found, which has been referred to the barren measures and are so classed in the geological report of 1878. Immediately below these barren measures we find the workable measures of the lower coal series, consisting, through this portion of its area, of seven veins, five, and probably six, of which are above the level of the Ohio River at the mouth of Big Yellow Creek, at low water, and one or two of them below that point, though, possibly, not below the lowest part of the partially filled trough of the valley at that point. These veins are not all distributed over all parts of the county, neither are they of uniform thickness where found. It is estimated that the lowest vein of this series, and the lowest coal measure having any commercial value as coal, in Northeastern Ohio, is not more than 150 feet, or 200 feet. below the lowest exposed surface of land in Ohio River's bed at low water, at the southeaster corner of the county. "Coal No. 1, of Northeastern Ohio, is probably identical with coal A of the Pennsylvania geologists, where it is largely mined as the Sharon or Ormsby coal. It is there sometimes covered with considerable areas of conglomerate, by a margin of from 20 to 50 feet, as presented in Ohio, though at Some points in Ohio near its northwestern outcrop, the conglomerate is but little below it, and a few miles away rises to an elevation considerably above. Some have regarded No. 1 the most valuable of the coal veins of Ohio. Future developments may or may not sustain this view. Analyses of No. 1 coal from nine mines located in six different counties give results which may be stated in a general way as follows : Specific gravity ranging from 1.247 to 1.284 moisture, from 2.47 to 7.75 ; volatile combustible matter., from 31.27 to 40.10 ; fixed carbon, from 51.79 to 64.25; ash, from 1.16 to 4.20, and sulphur, from .53 to 1.21 ; the figures in each case express parts in a hundred. 30 - HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY "Coal No. 2 lies from 40 to t00 feet above N0. 1. This varying interval is due to inequalities in the lower coal which seems to have been disturbed before No. 2 was deposited. Unsually this is a thin vein, having no economic importance, but it is a constant feature of the sections of rocks in the northern portion of the coal field, and in a few places is of practical value. Through Mahoning, Trumbull, Summit, and Stark counties it is generally kn0wn as the 15-inch seam, varying frsm 12 to 18 inches. In Holmes County it is usually a cannel, from 2 to 272 feet. Near Millersburg it has a local expansion reaching 6 feet in thickness. Coal No. 2 is not found at the surface in any part of Columbiana County, except in the low valley of the Ohio. It is believed to have been met with in borings at several points in the county. Future investigations may determine whether it exists within the county of sufficient thickness to make it valuable. Analyses show that it contains less fixed carbon, more ash, and more sulphur than coal No. t. "Coal No. 3 varies much both in thickness and quality within limited areas, some places strongly tending to the cannel, and at others bituminous. In some parts of the State it is so thin as to have no practical value. At the mouth of Yellow Creek this is the lowest exposed vein, and is known as the creek vein because it lies near the level of the creek for some miles in the neighborhood of Irondale. Along Yellow Creek it is from 3 to 4 feet thick, a bituminous coking coal, but contains more sulphur than some of the coals that overlie it. In the valley of the Middle Fork, between Teegarden and Lisbon, coal No. 3 is found in the bed of the stream ; a little lower it is nearer the surface of the water in the creek. Above Lisbon it has been extensively worked and shipped to Youngstown to be used in the furnaces and rolling mills, much of it being coked before it is shipped. The Little Beaver runs upon the sand rock which underlies coal No. 3, from the point named above Lisbon to near its mouth, and coal No. 3 is opened and worked at many points along the course of the stream. On the north side of the stream it varies from 3 to 4 feet in thickness, and on the south side it is generally thinner, and in some places it is very thin. "Along the Ohio River. between the mouth of Yellow Creek and the State line, No. 3 is opened at many points, but is thinner than further north, seldom, if ever, reaching the depth of 3 feet. At some points near the river, it has been found less than one foot in thickness. No. 3 is also found in the bed of Bull Greek, but no definite description of it there is found. At Washingtonville No. 3 is found with its overlaying limestone. It is here 3 to 4 feet thick. "Throughout the greater part of the outcrop of the lower coal measures in Ohio, and at distances varying from 20 to 90 feet above coal No. 3, is found coal No. 4, associated with a bed of limestone and iron ore, essentially the same as No. 3. The two veins are frequently so near alike in arrangement and quality as to make it difficult to distinguish them when both are not present. The varying thickness of the intervening rocks, similar to the interval between No. t and No. 2, show most clearly that there is not absolute parallelism among the coal measures, but only an approximation thereto. Coal No. 4 is exceeding variable both as to thickness and quality. At many points it separates into two or more branches, with fire clay or shale between them. Sometimes the parting becomes so complete as to form two workable seams of coal. No. 4 varies in thickness from 1 foot or less to 2, 3, 4, 5. 6 and 7 feet. Its quality also varies from nearly worthless to very good, from very soft to hard, cubical coal, and from bituminous to cannel. In Columbiana County, No. 4 is largely mined at Leetonia, and largely promotes the, most important iron manufacture of the county. The Cherry Valley Iron Company reaches it here by an incline 70 feet below the surface. It is here only 28 to 30 inches in thickness. but is remarkably pure, and makes an excellent article of coke. At Washingtonville it— is 20 feet higher than at Leetonia, but has about the same thickness and quality. The same vein is. and has been. extensively worked at New Albany and below, and is here of very good quality and unusual thickness. In the Salem shaft, about l00 feet AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 31 below the surface, the same vein is cut and is there of good quality and 2 1/2 feet thick. The same vein is found at Smith's Ferry on the state line about 2 feet thick and of good quality, and along the Ohio to the mouth of Yellow Creek the outcrop may be seen at frequent intervals, showing much the same thickness and quality. In the valley of Yellow Creek No. 4 lies fr0m 18 to 30 feet above the creek vein (No. 3), and in the lower part of the valley has taken the name of strip vein, because it was formerly worked by stripping off the overlying materials. Along this valley it has an average thickness of 2 1/2 feet, and is of very good quality, being in great demand and commanding good prices. "In the railroad cut at the mouth of Yellow Creek, and about 50 or 60 feet above the strip vein No. 4, is found coal N0. 5, here thin, but higher up the valley it attains a thickness of 3 to 3 1/2 feet, and is here known as the Roger vein. As we ascend Yellow Creek the fall in the stream becomes greater than the dip of the strata, so that at Salineville coals No. 3, No. 4, and No. 5, were all below the valley. In the valley of Middle Fork, at Teegarden's mill, No. 5 is to be seen in the bed of the creek. At Lisbon and below, No. 5, lies just below the fire clay and hydraulic limestone, which has been worked in that vicinity. Along the valley near Lisbon, and also in the lateral valleys, it is thin, reaching a thickness rarely of more than 2 feet; but about 2 miles l0wer down the valley, it locally thickens to 4 and even 5 feet. It is here known as the Whan coal, and is of excellent quality. This enlargement is within narrow limits and has been nearly worked out. From this point to the Ohio River its outcrop ,may be seen on many 0f the hills of the Little Beaver, but it is thin, rarely more than 2 feet thick. It is also found in Middleton township, ab0ut tw0 feet in thickness, and a good bituminous coal. At Washingtonville, coal No. 5 lies about 90 feet above coal No. 4, and is 2 1-3 to 2 1-2 feet thick (upper 6 inches slaty). On the hills s0uthwest of Salem the horizon of No. 5 is reached, but its outcrop has not been described. At Alliance this coal is worked at a shaft, north of the P.. Ft. W. & C. Railway, and is here 3 1/2 to 4 feet in thickness, and is a fairly good coking coal. Through the southern and eastern townships of Stark County this vein is found, and is generally kn0wn as. the 30-inch vein, and is of good equality. Throughout the Ohio coal field this vein shows much irregularity in thickness, at some points reaching 4 to 5 feet, and at others being entirely wanting. Analyses show this coal to compare well with No. 3 and No. 4, in chemical make-up. "Coal No. 6 is the most important of all the coal seams of the Ohio coal field, because of its general distribution over that field ; its accessibility over large areas; its unusual thickness, and its general good quality. In the n0rthwestern corner of Holmes County at its northwestern outcrop, it is only 2 feet thick, but over most of the field where it has been found it ranges from 4 to 13 feet in thickness, about the last named figure being reached in the Straitsville region, in Perry County and borings in the southeast part of the State, where it lies entirely below the surface, have shown it to vary from 8 to 12 feet in thickness. By Pennsylvania geologists our coal N0. 6 is known as the upper Freeport seam, and the limestone under it as the Freeport limestone. Throughout Columbiana County this vein is widely distributed. It is the big vein of the Yellow Creek valley, having a thickness of from 4 to 7 feet. Near Lisbon this coal is mined on the Aster, Shelton, Teegarden and Martin farms, ranging from 4 to 7 feet in thickness. Further down the valley of the Middle Fork, No. 6 does not show either so thick or so good, but in the valley of the West Fork and the regions adjoining it, it shows a thicker deposit and better quality. At Smith's Ferry, No. 6 is reported 4 feet thick, soft and sulphurous. Along the Ohio River, below this point, No. 6 does not crop out on the bluffs so thick nor so good as in many other parts of the county. Just above Steubenville it dips below the river, and is the seam mined in the shafts, both there and lower down, at Mingo. Lagrange, Rush Run, etc. No. 6 is mined at many points in Middleton township ; is of good quality, and is, usually, nearly 4 feet thick. It is about 4 feet in thick- HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY - 32 ness at East Palestine, there known as the Carbon Hill mines, and there of good quality. It is feet thick. It is found in the hills south and west of Salem, from 3 to 5 feet thick. No. 6 is the chief vein worked in Butler, Knox, West and Hanover townships, and usually ranges from 3 1/2 to 4 1-2 feet in thickness, always of fair quality and sometimes good, but usually contains sulphur, so that it is not good for making artificial gas, but is good for most other uses for which coal is applied. "Coal No. 7 is the upper seam of the lower coal series, that is of workable thickness and practical value. In some counties, especially Tuscarawas, it is found nearly associated with a rich deposit of black band ore. It is worked in Eastern Carroll County, where it is of good quality. At Salineville it lies 54 feet above No. 6, and near the mouth of Big Yellow Creek it is from 50 to 70 feet above No. 6. At Salineville it is known as the Salineville strip vein, and is here overlaid with 300 feet of barren coal measures, marked by heavy beds of red shale; crinoidal limestone lies 250 feet above it. At the mouth of Yellow Creek it is known as the Groff vein. Southeast of Lisbon, No. 7 is found near the hill tops, is about 2 1-2 feet thick, and is there about 60 feet above No. 6. Through the area between Gavers, West Point and Williamsport, No. 7 is frequently seen; at some points it is near 4 feet thick and of good quality. At several points between Clarkson and Fredericktown No. 7 is worked, and is about 3 1-2 feet thick, and good quality. It is worked near East Palestine, of good quality, and about 3 feet thick. "As a general rule, all the veins of coal described have veins of fire clay immediately under them. And these vary in thickness from a foot or two to 20 feet or more; and the clay is regarded amongst the best found, for all the purposes of manufacture of sewer pipe, drain tile, ornamental designs, or hollow ware of most classes ; and from it is made a fire brick equal to the best made elsewhere. Having the coal measures in mind, it may be assumed that a vein of fire clay is associated with each, as a rule. "Wherever the barren measures are spread over the surface to any considerable thickness, the crinoidal limestone is usually associated with the gray and red shales of these measures. Under coal No. 6, throughout Eastern Columbiana County, there is a seam of limestone from 2 to 8 feet thick, but it disappears or is only occasionally seen farther west. Ore beds are found amongst the formations that present an outcrop along the valleys of the county, sometimes presenting the characteristics of the black band ore, and more frequently the nodular type. The ore found and worked along the Middle Fork is mostly found in masses of sand and gravel." ' A survey and map made as early as 1854, an even half century ago, by Prof. Forrest Shepherd, of New Haven, Connecticut, for the Ohio Diamond Coal Company, whose property was situated in Jefferson County, on the left bank of Yellow Creek, near its junction with the Ohio, and near the Columbiana County line, gives a vertical section of the various strata at that point. The lowest stratum at the level of the river, was iron ore, which was succeeded by coal, 3 to 5 feet ; a "great bed of fire clay; coal ; iron ore; slate; sandstone; white clay; very rich calcareous ore ; fossiliferous limestone ; coal ; sandstone ; coal, 8 feet ; sandstone; slaty limestone ; coal ; slate, thick bed ; coal ; iron ore; heavy bed of limestone; sandstone; good for building; coal, 5 feet." The total thickness of coal in the seven veins was about 30 feet, of which 21 feet were workable. It may be added that several of these veins, which extend under and beyond the southern boundary of Columbiana County, have been worked with good results for almost 50 years. During the past 10 years new coal-fields have been developed, and preparations are being made to develop, on a large scale. still others ; but this rapidly growing industry, in connection with the comparatively new source of wealth,—the production of oil and gas direct from the earth,—will be made a subject for treatment in another chapter. It is confidently believed that within the next 10 or, 20 years the increase in the natural products of Columbiana County. from the soil, mine and gas and oil well, will have reached a point far beyond the fondest expectations of 10 or 20 years ago. ago |