(RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE) PICTURE OF PLANT OF THE STEVENSON COMPANY, WELLSVILLE. (Torn down in 1905 to make way for a new steel structure.) AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 133 CHAPTER XI. IRON AND THE METAL TRADES. Gideon Hughes' Blast Furnace the First in Ohio—Curious Processes of the Pioneer Manufacturers— Struggling Foundries of Eighty Years Ago—New Lisbon an Iron Center in the Early Days—"Shipping Iron to Pittsburg"— Gloomy years of Failure at Leetonia —Foundries at Wellsville—Early Engine-Builders at Salem and Wellsville—Varied Finished Product Industries at Salem—First Tin Plate Ventures Prove Failures—Era of “Trust" Domination—Columbiana County a Battle Ground in the Great Labor Struggle of 1901—Statistics on Production. To build his log cabin without a nail, a spike a hinge—that was the problem that confronted the early settler. The weight of manufactured iron products rendered their transportation over the early roads across the mountains and into the wilderness next to impossible: and this necessity for home-made iron was what urged Gideon Hughes to build the first blast furnace in Ohio. THE FIRST BLAST FURNACE IN OHIO. Iron was to be found, cropping out on the surface, in the formations about New Lisbon. The ore was fairly grubbed out of the soil. Blackband and kidney ores. of fairly good quality, were found distributed at random amongst the loose drift of sand. gravel and rock, near the surface—fragments of old veins of ages before. Gideon Hughes was a Quaker. He built his furnace about one mile northwest of New Lisbon. on Beaver Creek. in 1807 turning out iron in the beginning of 1808. This is claimed to have been the first furnace west of the Alleghany Mountains. Some pig-iron was made. but the ultimate production of the furnace consisted chiefly of plow-shares. dog- irons. flat-irons, pots. kettles. Dutch-ovens and other household utensils used in that day, all made with the help of the little forge which stood beside the furnace. The machinery was propelled by water power from the creek, and the ore, obtained from the immediate vicinity, was Smelted by the use of charcoal, manufactured in sufficient quantity from the wood of the nearby forests. Heavy drafts were made on the surrounding timber and thousands of cords of wood were consumed to get fuel for the furnace. The charcoal was produced in pits of earth. 40 cords of wood being used to each pit. Stoves for burning wood were a specialty of Hughes' furnace from the beginning. Upon the sides of these stoves were the words. "Rebecca of New Lisbon"—the name Rebecca having been given the furnace by Hughes in honor of his wife. These old stoves were to be found occasionally in the farmhouses of the "back townships" for many years after the stack had gone out-of commission. Within 10 years Hughes had in operation at his furnace a tilt-hammer and forge, where he made wrought iron. The bellows of both the forge and furnace were propelled by water power. by means of an overshot wheel said to have been 25 feet in diameter. 134 - HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY In 1822 Joshua Malin persuaded Hughes to build a rolling-mill about three miles above the furnace, on the middle fork of the Little Beaver. Here he also erected forges and a new kind of nail machine that had just been introduced into this country. The venture seemed to be prospering, and the product was in great demand throughout this section. To convey iron from the furnace some two miles up the creek to the rolling-mill, it was decided to build a rude railroad along the hill on the west side of the creek, and this was undertaken a year or two before 1830. Hughes had not the money to finance the enterprise on so large a scale, however, and, after being of inestimable service to the early inhabitants in giving them cheap iron products at a time when the slow and laborious transportation from the East made their cost absolutely prohibitive, Giedon Hughes failed about 1830, and left the county, joining the Shakers' society some time later, at Lebanon, Ohio. After Hughes' failure, the furnace was run a number of years by Benjamin Wilson, Perry Doyle and others, but was soon abandoned. In two the remains of the stack could still be seen on the bank of the creek—as could also the hillocks in the neighboring hillsides where the surface earth had been worked over in a primitive way in obtaining the iron ore. FOUNDRIES OF EIGHTY YEARS AGO. Other nail-mills and foundries followed Hughes' enterprise and New Lisbon gave promise of being an active manufacturing town. Stores were opened up in the vicinity of the furnace, and preparations were made to lay out one section of land nearby in lots. About 1816 Joseph Carroll and John Hessin had made nails in New Lisbon by a crude process. The nails were made entirely by hand, each nail being cut off by a sort of treadle shears, then picked up by hand, placed in a vise, and headed by striking several blows with a heavy hammer. Henry Trunick, who had learned his trade in the nail business at Pipetown, near Pittsburg, came to New Lisbon in 1822, and with a man named Morse established an iron foundry on Beaver street. Morse died a few years later, and Trunick moved to Market street, where he carried on his business for many years. Several squares east of Trunick's residence, Root Brothers conducted a foundry for several years, but it was destroyed by fire about 1843. About the same time Joseph Wasson also ran a small foundry, and as late as 1849-51 Tinker Brothers conducted a sort of general iron works in what they called the "Long Row," at the north end of Jefferson street. They worked in cast and wrought iron, using Steam as a propelling power. "SHIPPING IRON TO PITTSBURG." The Second blast furnace in the county was located on a site chosen on account of the route of that ill-starred enterprise, the Sandy and Beaver Canal, on the argument that it would be a good point from which to ship iron to Pittsburg as well as to points west. And the furnace erected in 1840, in St. Clair township, on the route of the new canal, did actually Sell much of its product in Pittsburg during the few years of its operation. It was built by Arnold Downey, a Pennsylvanian, on section 15, St. Clair township, in the valley of Hazel Creek, a tributary of the Little Beaver. about three-quarters of a mile from the village of Calcutta. It was in operation about is months, using the kidney and black ores obtained in the neighborhood. Charcoal and bituminous coal were used for fuel. W. S. Potts says in a contribution to the "History of the Upper Ohio Valley'' that the furnace made from 12 to 15 tons of pig-iron every 24 hours, and that "the iron was sold in Pittsburg. where it had a good reputation fur foundry purposes. The failure of the canal scheme was the cause of the abandonment of the project. By a curious coincidence, Andrew Carnegie, later to become the steel king of America. lived with his parents in East Liverpool. a few miles from the scene of this early venture. only a few years later. The Carnegie family spent the greater part of the years 1852 and 1853 in East Liverpool. It is doubtful, however, AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 135 whether the youthful Carnegie knew or cared at that time anything about the struggles of the iron and steel pioneers of old Columbiana. Ferdinand Keffer built a foundry in East Liverpool in 1838 and operated it for a number of years. but it was in the center and north, rather than in the south of the county. that the making of iron, and the allied, finished-product industries developed in the early years. BIRTH OF THE LEETONIA FURNACES. There were foundries, some of them on a pretentious scale, in the northern part of the county back in the '30's. Salem men haying made a name for their town during the early days for finished iron products of the forge and the foundry, but no attempt to enter the furnace and rolling-mill field was made until 1865, when the extensive furnaces at Leetonia ;were first projected. The towns of Salem and Columbiana at that time had thriving foundries. East of Salem, in Salem township, were large deposits of iron ore and a quality of coal, containing 95 per cent. of carbon, especially adapted to the manufacture of pig-iron. Smelting furnaces had been proposed there for years. and the completion of the Ohio & Pennsylvania Railroad :through the territory in 1851 (the road which afterward became the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago), with the commencement, in 1856, of the Niles & New Lisbon Railroad—which was six years in building—encouraged the boomers to seek capital that would engage in smelting in the vicinity of what was later to become the site of the village of Leetonia. In 1865 the Leetonia Iron & Coal Company was organized by j. G. Chamberlain of New Hampshire: William Matthews, of New Lisbon : William Lee, of Randolph. New York : Judge Sutliff, of Warren. Pennsylvania. and Lemuel Wick. of Cleveland—the company being named "Leetonia" in honor of Lee, the New York promoter. Wick was president and Chamberlain. general manager, The new company purchased 200 acres of land on section 12, Salem township, from John Yoder and Jacob Anglemyer, with the right to the minerals on the Frederick, Roller, Leyman and Kirsch farms. Subsequent purchases were made, until the company owned 600 acres in fee simple. ' and the right to the minerals underlying several hundred more. The company at once laid out a town, and named it Leetonia. In the winter of 1866-67 the blast furnace was built, and it was put in operation in the spring of the latter year. In the same year a second company was organized to build a furnace on the outskirts of the new , town, and mainly through the efforts of William King, of Leetonia, a furnace. known as the Grafton Iron Works, was built in 1867. In 1869 the Leetonia Coal & Iron Company erected another furnace, and built a rolling- mill, employing a large number of men. The growth of the new community during these years had been rapid. Tenement homes had been built, a company store opened and a bank chartered. So fast had been the increase in population that in May, 1869, it was incorporated as the village of Leetonia. From a farmhouse in 1865, the settlement had become by 1870 a village of 1,800 souls, and gave promise, the residents believed, of being one of the leading iron centers in the State. The company was during this period opening up large veins of coal. But the hard times of the early '70's struck the Leetonia Coal & Iron Company, and in 1872 it was compelled to make an assignment. The town was prostrated; there was distress in many homes in the months following. In November, 1873, however, the Cherry Valley Iron & Coal Company was organized to rejuvenate the enterprise. It purchased all the property and coal and ore rights of the deceased Leetonia Company, and assumed its indebtedness of $850,000. Four hundred men were put to work at the two furnaces, the rolling-mill and the mines, and the pay-roll amounted within a few years to $25,000 monthly. But in 1879, the iron business again languished and the works were again closed down. Later on, however, the company resumed and during the decade up to 1900 the works were run the greater portion of the time. Then in 1900, Pittsburg capital took hold 136 - HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY of the enterprise. Under the name of the Cherry Valley Iron Company, the company was reorganized, on May 1st of that year. the president and chief stockholder being Joshua W. RhodeS, son of Joshua Rhodes, of Pittsburg, the organizer of the National Tube Company ; E. N. Ohl, of Pittsburg, was made vice-president ; R. W. Fleniken, also of Pittsburg, Secretary and treasurer, and E. M. Peters, of Uniontown, Pennsylvania, superintendent. The new company. more than doubled the capacity of the old works during the first few years of its regime, increasing the production of pig-iron to 70,000 tons annually. The coal mines of the company were operated to an extent of 300 tons per day, the entire output being consumed at the company's coke ovens at Leetonia. The furnaces had been rebuilt in 1904, and the company was in 1905 by far the moSt important manufacturer of iron, from the ores, that had ever operated in the county. Lake Superior ore was being used. Around the Grafton furnace, which had been built in the latter part of 1867 west of the town, a settlement grew up in a few years that was known as "Grafton." The furnace had been named after John Graff, of Pittsburg, one of the principal promoters of the enterprise, and it was first put in blast October 9. 1867. Nearly 150 acres of land were purchased, lying on both sides of the Pennsylvania Railroad. containing valuable coal and ore deposits. In a few years the company built a second stack, and increased its production to 2,400 tons of Metal per month. For more than 15 years the management continued unchanged. Graff being president of the company and Henry King, secretary and treasurer. From 1885 to 1888 the works were run under the proprietorship of Graff. Bennett & Company of Pittsburg: from 1888 to 1890. McKeefrey & Hofius, and from July 1, 1890. to August 1, 1892, McKeefrey & Company were the proprietors. At the latter date the Salem Iron Company was organized and took over the property, when the concern entered upon another season of almost unexampled prosperity. The furnace was rebuilt in 1894. Only pig-iron was made, from Lake Superior ore, and in 1905 250 tons daily was the output. The officers of the company in 1905 were: John McKeefrey, president ; W. D. McKeefrey. vice-president and general manager ; N. J. McKeefrey, secretary and treasurer; and S. R. Fellows, superintendent. Misfortune seemed to pursue the metal trades ventures about Leetonia and Columbiana villages during the early days. Sheets & Holmes were pioneers in the stove-making business at Columbiana, operating a small shop there for several years after 1835. But the business was not a success, and the shop was finally occupied by a smithy. Strickler Brothers. however, began an enterprise in 1858 that promised a substantial industry for Columbiana village, in the manufacture of agricultural implements. In the early '60's grain drills and hay-rakes were made specialties by the company. and in 1865 the business passed into the hands of W. W. Wallace. of Pittsburg. who named the factory the "Enterprise Agricultural Works.” E. S. Holloway was superintendent of the works in 1868, and by 1870 they had increased to four times their original size. In 1873 Alexander Wallace introduced the manufacture of stoves and ranges, but a few years afterward, on August 2, 1877, the entire factory was destroyed by fire and was never rebuilt. A new foundry was built a year or two after to replace the burned works, but it was never put in operation. In Leetonia. also, a number of the early metal trades ventures failed to achieve prosperity. The Leetonia Iron & Coal Company built a nail-mill in 1871. but discontinued operations the year following. Davis Brothers established a foundry for making stoves and light castings in 1871, and the business later passed into the hands of a company. of which Perry Beard was president. The works burned in 1876, and were not rebuilt. J. D. Chamberlain headed the Leetonia Automatic Fire Alarm Company, which built in 1869, but it discontinued operations rive years later. being bought out by the Telegraph Supply Company, Of Cleveland. In May, 1875, however, the Leetonia Tool AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 137 Company was organized, for the manufacture of mining and railroad tools, The original capital was $10,000, and Zachariah Tetlow . was president of the concern, which prospered from the start, In the fall of 1902 the concern removed to Salem and continued the business with increased capacity, In 1905 the officers were : H, S, Wilson, president Frank Trotter, secretary and treasurer C. M. Day, vice-president ; and Henry T. Collins, manager, Their output in 1904 was about $25,000, The Leetonia Boiler Company was organized in 1871 by Garver & Reeves. In the fall of the same year this firm sold to J, C, Thullen, Some years after, Thullen sold to Woodward Brothers, who in January, 1901, organized the Leetonia Boiler Company, In 1905 the company was doing a good business in the manufacture of boilers and tanks, The officers were: E, M, Peters, president : S, M, Garlach, secretary ; and John Woodward, treasurer, OLD FOUNDRIES OF WELLSVILLE, In 1836, Philip F, Geisse, a practical machinist and foundryman who had come to Wellsville from Philadelphia about a year earlier, formed a partnership with Levi Bottenberg, and built a small plant, which later developed into the extensive Fulton Foundry & Machine Works, and was for upwards of 70 years one of the chief industries of the town, Mr, Geisse a few years later purchased the Bottenberg interest and for more than 30 years was the sole proprietor, However, in 1840 he opened a general store and warehouse to be conducted in connection with his growing business and transferred an interest in the new branch of business to Wallace Fogo, who while in his employ had lost an eve at the blacksmith forge, The store and warehouse was operated as a side issue under the name of Geisse & Fogo, But up until 1871 the foundry and machine works—an industry which continued from year to year to grow in the now thriving c0mmunity—were operated by Mr, Geisse, Starting with the manufacture of stoves, plows, plowshares and some other specialties of the founder's craft, the business grew until it embraced the manufacture of steam engines, car axles, car wheels, etc., and along in the '50's and early ‘60's boat-building was added, When the railroad which afterward became the Tuscarawas branch of the Cleveland & Pittsburg, was built, Mr, Geisse took a heavy contract to furnish the rolling stock equipment of the line—an enterprise in which he lost heavily, through the failure of the original company which built the branch road, For many years prior to the establishment of the Cleveland & Pittsburg shops at Wellsville, the Geisse foundry gave employment to more men than all the other Wellsville manufacturing concerns combined, In 1871 Mr, Geisse sold the foundry and machine works to Samuel and T, B, Stevenson (brothers), who had learned the trade with him—the senior brother having been superintendent for some years, In 1876, Thomas B, Stevenson having withdrawn from the firm. Alexander Denham, a retired dry go0ds merchant, secured an interest, forming the partnership known as Stevenson & Denham. This firm continued until 1898, when the firm of Stevenson Company was incorporated, with Samuel Stevenson, Charles and William Stevenson ( sons), Mrs. Susie Sweitzer (a daughter), and F, M, Hawley as stockholders, In 1903 the plant had been practically rebuilt and considerably enlarged, two traveling cranes and other modern machinery having been installed. The monthly pay-roll amounted to. $2,400, and the output was about $100,000. per annum, In the '50's Joseph Ady started a small machine shop near the old Wellsville Cemetery, and just north of Cleveland & Pittsburg Railroad shops and yards, Ady went out of the business in 1864, In that year the Menough Brothers.— William J. and George , Menough—started a foundry on the Ady site, In 1868 the partnership was dissolved, George W, continuing the business alone until 1901, when the Menough Foundry Company was organized. Ge0rge , Menough and his sons. being the stockholders, The foundry had a capacity of five tons a day of general castings,. and in 1903 there were 23 men on the pay-roll. 138 - HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY In 1850 the Wellsville Manufacturing Company was organized by Messrs, Finch and Harvey, for the manufacture of stove castings, etc,, but the enterprise did not prove profitable, and was discontinued after an experience of about eight years, Hugh Alexander, in 1865, started a small foundry in Wellsville, for the manufacture of iron amalgam (bronzed) bells; also plows, and wheels and axles for coal cars, Owing to strong competition and the panic times of the early '70's, his business had proved less profitable than formerly, and by 1880 it had been abandoned altogether, N, and O, Cope opened a foundry and machine shop in Salineville in 1849, and continued it until 1869, when it came into the possession of , W, Orr, Mr, Orr in 1873 converted it into a planing-mill, which he operated until 1878, when the works were abandoned, SALEM'S ENGINE BUILDERS, Four brothers, sons of Joel Sharp, Sr,, a Quaker who had come over from Pennsylvania with his parents and settled near Salem in 1808, established for Salem early in the century a reputation for the making of steam engines, All four brothers, Thomas, Simeon, Clayton and Joel, were natural mechanics, and first worked at carpentering, Thomas went to Cleveland during the '30's, became a machinist and about 1840 established a sawmill there, his brother Joel, the youngest of the family, following him there in 1841, and working in his mill for a time, In 1842 Thomas arranged to return to Salem, while the younger brother went into the plant of the Cuyahoga Furnace Company to learn his trade, Thomas Sharp announced on his return to Salem that he would open a shop for the building of steam engines, The same year, 1842, he turned out his first steam engine, The castings used for it were brought to Salem in wagons from a Cleveland foundry, and were deposited in Sharp's little shop—an abandoned foundry—on what was then known as "Foundry Hill," In a year or two Thomas Sharp was joined in his new enterprise by two of his brothers, Simeon and Clayton, and in 1848 the fourth brother, Joel, returned from Cleveland and entered the firm, Between 1848 and 1850, the four brothers took from the Ohio & Pennsylvania Railroad projectors the contract for furnishing the ties and stringers for i 1 miles of the railroad, then building between Alliance and Pittsburg, and to fulfill this contract the Sharps built a sawmill, still continuing the engine works, however. In 1851 the brothers separated, and Thomas Sharp leaving the firm shortly afterward and established himself in a shop on West Main street, which he continued for many years, the firm name undergoing many changes, From this shop went out during the next 25 years many men who afterward stood at the head of some of the largest manufacturing establishments in the country, The shop on West Main street burned in April, 1894, and Thomas Sharp died in 1896, aged 88 years, On Thomas Sharp's withdrawal from the original partnership in 1851, the brothers reorganized as Sharp, Davis & Bonsai!, the members of the firm being Simeon and Joel Sharp, Milton Davis and Joel S, Bonsall, and the concern becoming known as the Buckeye Engine Works, In that year the total working force was only 12 employees. The new firm quickly achieved fame, however, through the improvements introduced on the early steam engines, On April 27, 1865, the works burned to the ground, inflicting a loss on the owners of between $50,000 and $75,000, with no insurance, The plant in that day was probably the largest in any line of manufacturing in the county, It was quickly rebuilt, and the business resumed within less than a year—notwithstanding the loss of immensely valuable patterns in the fire, In December, 1870, the concern incorporated as the Buckeye Engine Company, with a capital of $250,000, the-following being the officers : President, Joel Sharp : vice-president, Milton Davis: secretary and treasurer, T, C, Boone; superintendent. Joel S, Bonsall : assistant superintendent, Simeon Sharp, The establishment became in the succeeding 30 years the most widely known of all the metal trades concerns PAGE - 139 - BLANK PAGE - 140 - PICTURE OF PLANT OF THE AMERICAN SHEET $ TIN PLATE COMPANY, WELLSVILLE AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 141 in the county, and in 1904 had an annual out., put exceeding $500,000, with over $500,000 in vested. The plant was, in 1905, running at full capacity, "single turn," For a number of years prior to 1903 the plant had been operated "double turn," with a proportionate output. Milton Davis and Simeon Sharp retired from active business in 1892, and Davis' son, L D. M. Davis, became vice-president of the company. Later, on Col, T. C, Boone's death, his position as secretary and treasurer was taken by Stephen B, Richards, Joel Sharp died July 2.8, 1898, and Joel S, Bonsall succeeded him in that year as president, Mr. Bonsall's son, C, S, Bonsall becoming superintendent. Joel S, Bonsall died June 2, 1902, and was succeeded as president by H. H. Sharp, In 1905 the officers of the Buckeye Engine Company were: H. H. Sharp, president : C. H. Weeks, vice-president F. A, Pope, secretary and treasurer ; and C. S. Bonsall, superintendent. Commencing in 1900 new buildings were erected and a series of improvements inaugurated which almost doubled the capacity of the entire plant. The Buckeye Engine Company was in 1905 employing, when running "double turn," in round numbers 400 men, or 300 on "single turn." A new style of gas engine was being built, which was introduced in 1905. The product of the Buckeye Engine Company has long had a national, and even international, reputation. EARLY FOUNDRIES 1N SALEM, Before Thomas Sharp built his historic engine, Salem had boasted a struggling foundry, established some time prior to 1834, by one Nicholas Johnson. In 1834 or 1835 Zadok Street bought the place, which was located on Dry street, and gave to that locality the name "Foundry Hill," which it bore for many years afterward. Street conducted the business in a small way for a number of years, and in 1847 the foundry was purchased by Snyder & Woodruff, who commenced casting stoves. Isaac Snyder was a designer and pattern-maker, and his skill and taste helped to make the wares popular. The establishment was burned in the fall of 186, but the firm bought a site on lower Depot street and continued the business, The new buildings were substantial brick structures, and in 1871 extensive additions were built, In 1868 Messrs. Snyder and Woodruff each took a son into the firm, and the business continued under the name of Snyder, Woodruff & Company. The firm became widely known, and its annual sales aggregated at this time 5,000 stoves. Fourteen varieties of cooking and 20 kinds of parlor and dining room stoves were turned out, and nearly 1,000 tons of iron were consumed yearly in the manufacture. In May, 1871, the Smilers retired from the partnership, and the firm became J, Woodruff & Sons, with a capital of S52,500. In 1905 the works had been increased one-third in capacity, employing 55 to 60 men, James Woodruff, the head of the company, had died in 1903, at the age of 86,. J. S. Woodruff became president and J. M. Woodruff, secretary and treasurer. In 1854 Levi A. Dole invented a hub-boxing machine. A. R. Silver, who was then foreman of the Woodruff carriage shop, became interested in the invention, and the two men in the fall of the same year rented a part of a little shop on High street, in which a lathe and blacksmith forge were placed—and thus was born what later became the Silver & Deming Manufacturing Company, of Salem, Dole perfected other patents, and the business grew, THE SILVERS AND THE DEMINGS. In 1856 the firm moved into one wing of the Buckeye shop. Two years later they were again compelled to seek more room, and bought a warehouse where . J. Clark & Company were afterwards located. In 1865 John Deming bought a third interest, and Dole died in 1866. In that year the firm became Silver & Deming,. En 1874 the company bought the buildings formerly owned and occupied by the Etna Manufacturing Company, the same year being, incorporated as the Silver & Deming Manufacturing Company, with an authorized 142 - HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY capital of $150,000. Early in 1890 Albert R. Silver and his sons retired (to organize a new enterprise), and the Demings in the summer of that year reorganized as the Deming Company. The first officers of the reorganized company were: John Deming, president; A. H. Harris, vice-president; W. L. Deming, secretary; W. F. Deming, treasurer ; and Andrew Potter, superintendent. In 1905 the officers were: W. F. Deming, president ; W. L. Deming, secretary; F. J. Emeny, chief engineer. In 1880 the concern commenced the manufacture of hand and power pumps. They enlarged their line of goods after 1890, making a much larger and heavier line of pumps. In 1905 the company was manufacturing the following articles: Pumps and hydraulic machinery, well and pump fixtures, including cistern. well and wind-mill pumps; iron and brass cylinders, well supplies, hydraulic rams, spray pumps and nozzles, triplex power pumps, artesian-well pumping engines, etc. The company's plant is located on Depot street, Broadway and Etna street. They employ about 250 men, and their goods are sold in all parts of this as well as in many foreign countries. During 1904-05 the capacity of the plant was almost doubled by the erection of new buildings and the installment of new machinery. Just prior to the withdrawal of the Silvers from the Silver & Deming Manufacturing Company, the officers of the latter company were: A. R. Silver, president; John Deming, vice-president; Walter F. Deming. secretary ; William Silver, treasurer ; and E. W. Silver. superintendent. In 1890 the Silver Manufacturing Company was organized, locating northeast of the Deming Company's plant, where large buildings were erected. During the next 15 years the company entered on a large scale upon the manufacture of the following articles : Carriage-maker and blacksmith tools. band saws. butchers' tools, 'Ohio" hand and power feed cutters. "Ohio" self feed ensilage cutters and blowers, metal bucket chain elevators, feed mills. steam cookers and root cutters. The original officers of the company were: R. Silver, president; H. M. Silver. vice-president; A. O. Silver, secretary; William Silver, treasurer; E. W. Silver, superintendent. In 1905 E. W. Silver was president ; H. M. Silver, vice-president; A. O. Silver, secretary, and William Silver, treasurer. That year. the capital stock was increased from $150,000 to $160,000. One hundred and twenty-five men were employed. A new machine shop was built in 1905. This comparatively new manufacturing concern in Salem was acquiring an almost world-wide fame and the demand for its product was constantly increasing. Among the early establishments was the Eagle Foundry, first operated on Ellsworth avenue, Salem. by H. Kidd and G. Allison. In. 1864 it passed into the hands of R. H. Garrigues, who converted it into a machine shop, and for some years manufactured horse powers and threshing machines. His son, Norman B. Garrigues, continued the business for some time after the death of the father, and the shop finally passed into the hands of the Sheehan Manufacturing Company, whose chief product was riveting machines, but some other novelties were made. In 1904 the works had closed down, a portion of the machinery having been removed to Ravenna, where it was understood the business was to be continued. In 1868 a second stove foundry was established. adjoining the Woodruff stove works on Depot street, by Henry King, Furman Gee and Henry Schoffer. under the firm name of King. Gee & Company. In May. 1869. the company incorporated as the Victor Stove Company, with nine members. The smaller interests were absorbed by Daniel Koll and Furman Gee, who continued the business until 1879, when It passed into the hands of Daniel Koll and son. A third company built the Perry stove works in 1867, under the firm name of Baxter, Boyle. & Company. The concern incorporated in 1870 as the Perry Stove Company, with $60,000 capital. but on August 12, 1872, the plant was visited' by a disastrous fire. The works were rebuilt in the same year, and the plant added to greatly during the next few years. About 1881, however, the Perry Stove Company received a sufficiently liberal offer from Mansfield. Ohio. to cause the removal of AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 143 the works to that city, The Victor stove works of Daniel Koll and son, subsequent to 1879, incorporated as the Victor Stove Company. In 1905 I. G. Tolerton was president ; W. H. Koll, secretary and treasurer and superintendent; and Charles Sweney, assistant superintendent, Their output was about 10,000 annually of ranges, heating stoves, cook and gas stoves, and they employed 70 men, ORIGIN OF THE MULLINS COMPANY, Decorative cornices, vases, busts and metal .statuary were made as early as 1872 in Salem by Kittredge, Clark & Company, which firm laid the foundation for the immense business in later years of the , H, Mullins Company, In the spring of 1872 Kittredge, Clark & Company established a plant for the manufacture of galvanized iron cornices and ornamental. architectural novelties on Depot street, in the buildings occupied some years previous by the Salem Manufacturing Company, The designs were modeled first in clay, then cast in plaster and then made into iron shapes. The business prospered, and a few years later the company absorbed the National Ornament Company, of Toledo, moving the Toledo works to Salem. So prominent was the company in the trade at this time, that it received a large contract for the decorative features of the buildings at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876. Mack's "History of Columbiana County" published in 1879, says of the company at that time: "Much credit is due them for the introduction of pure architectural forms in this day of mongrel architectural follies, The company possesses a well-filled library, composed of native and foreign works on architecture, which furnishes the designers rare facilities in this department," The Kittredge Cornice & Ornament Company succeeded the original firm, and, in April, 1878, Thompson, Boyle & Company secured control of the plant, First as Thompson, Boyle & Company, then as Thompson & Bakewell, the business was carried on until February, 1882. At that time H. Mullins, of Salem, purchased Thompson's interest, and the firm name became Bakewell & Mullins. Mullins bought out his partner in February, 1890, and continued the business in his own name, enlarging the. plant and entering extensively into the manufacture of statuary, January 15, 1905, the concern was incorporated as the W, H, Mullins Company, the officers being: W. H. Mullins, president ; R. J, Thomson, vice-president; C, C, Gibson, secretary ; W, P, Carpenter, treasurer : W, C, Hare, general superintendent ; and J, H, Blackburn, purchasing agent, In 1905 the business had sb increased as to give employment to 250 to 300 men, The company's line of manufacture's were, principally, sheet metal architectural ornaments, statuary, fire-proof window frames and sash, skylights, store fronts, cornices, building trimmings in general, rowboats and launches—in the latter of which viz,, rowboats and launches) a very large trade had been secured, One of the solid manufacturing concerns of Salem, doing a steadily increasing business from its establishment in 1875 up to 1905, has been the Novelty Works. of W. J. Clark & Company. At the first the manufacture of the "Novelty" oil-tank, shipping cans, measuring pumps, elevator buckets and patented novelties in sheet, wrought and cast metals, automatic fountains and metal spinning of all kinds was entered into. Trade in these articles extended to all parts of the United States, The company was incorporated in 1896, and beside the "Quick as Wink" hose-coupler, in the manufacture of which a very large business had been established, many other articles had been added to their lines of manufacture, The company was employing from 33 to 40 men, Tice officers of the company were : , C, Clark, president and treasurer; J. Clark, vice-president and manager ; and I. A. Clark, secretary, What were known as "The Industrial Works" were established in Salem in 1872 by Edwards & Morlan, In 1875 the sole proprietorship was vested in M, L. Edwards, Mr. Edwards was a practical machinist, having been for about 18 years, from 1854 to 1872. 144 - HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY connected with the Silver & Deming concern, during eight years of which period he was its foreman, Among the products of the Edward shop were meat choppers, lard and tallow presses, sausage stutters, blacksmiths tools of various kinds, etc, Of many of the articles which he manufactures, he was the inventor, In 1905 Mr. Edwards still continued the old business, making a number of specialties and doing a general jobbing and new line of work as a machinist, Several early enterprises in the history of the town, which gave promise of great things in their day, were almost forgotten with the events of the last quarter of the old century. One of these was the Quaker Manufacturing Company, first established by Charles R, and J. Oscar Taber in 1854. for the manufacture of stationary engines. The firm in 1856 became Taber, Pope & Street, and a large brick building was erected near the railroad, fronting on Depot street. Taber Brothers eventually became sole proprietors, and on the death of Charles R, Taber, in 1869. the Quaker Manufacturing Company was incorporated. with Leonard Schilling, as president, the capital stock being $80,000. The company made a specialty during the later years of its life of the manufacture of the "Quaker" mower and reaper, but it finally suspended business shortly after 1870, Attempts to mine the coal and iron ore in the southern part of Perry township resulted in the organization of the Salem Coal & Company, in December 17, 1869. the incorporators being Joel Sharp, Leonard Schilling., Amos Rail:, James Woodruff and John Baker. Samuel Chessman was elected president of the new company: Leonard Schilling, secretary, and T. C. Boone, treasurer. The company was capitalized at $100,000 and attempts were made at mining coal and ore, but the lack it transportation facilities prevented the success of the project, The Etna Manufacturing Company was also organized about 1864, j. T. Brooks being largely interested, The company carried on a large business in mowers and reapers for number of years, the annual product at one tune being 1,500 machines, The company continued business about 1872, “STEEL COMBINE” INTERESTS IN COLUMBIANA COUNTY. Columbiana County is unique in the fact that nearly all her great manufacturing. inter-! ests, have, during the years marked by the organization of the great “combines,” escaped “trust” domination, This is true especially of the iron, steel and allied metal trades. The king arm of the United States Steel Corporation and its subsidiary companies, which were organized during the seven years preceding 1905, enfolded only three of the iron and steel concerns in the county—the Salem Wire Nail Mill Company. organized in 1885: the Wellsville rolling-mill, first established in 1874, and the Beaver tin plate mills of Lisbon, built in 1894. The Salem Wire Nail Mill Company was incorporated in August, 1885, with a capital of $300,000 (which was afterward increased to $500,000), and the plant at Salem started operations on the last day of that year, The original company was headed by Joel Sharp, of Salem, who was the first president of the concern. The plant employed over 200 men from the start, and in 1889 the company absorbed a second plant of the same capacity at Findlay, Ohio. The Salem mill was one of the first concerns taken into the original wire combine, —The American Steel & Wire Company, on its formation in 1894: and, on the absorption of the "wire combine- by the United States Steel Corporation, in toot, the Salem plant of course became a part of the larger concern, The "combine” continued to run the Salem plant, however, at the expense of properties in other cities which in some cases lay idle for years: and, as the Salem mill had never been organized by the iron workers, it was never affected by the labor troubles that in later years beset various mills under the Steel Corporation, The capacity of the Salem plant in 1905 was given at from 550,000 to 600,000 kegs of nails a year, and it employed, when running full, about 300 men. That year a large new warehouse was built, AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 145 THE WELLSVILLE ROLLING-MILL. The career of the old Wellsville rolling-mill for the first two decades after it was founded Was a checkered one, including a woeful array f business failures, a later period during which its product made it famous among iron men the country over, and, still later, a leading part in the titanic struggle of 1901 between the then newly organized United States Steel Corporation and the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers. In the early days of the history of the mill it was looked on as a complete failure; after almost 0 years of spasmodic operation, the steel "combine" pronounced the plant one of its best paying properties, In 1873, one William Morgan, at the head of a party of mechanics, coming from Pittsburg. but most of them haying recently come over from Wales, proposed to the people of Wellsville to build a mill for the manufacture f tin plate, on condition that the town would Tender certain assistance. A committee of citizens took up the matter, and in a short time $16,000 in money and real estate was placed at the disposal of a co-operative association. Which was styled the American Tin Plate Company, The men themselves had but little capital; but very soon they had buildings, and equipped with machinery and stock representing a value of about $75,000 they began the manufacture of tin plate—the first, it is claimed, ever made in this country, Chiefly through lack of working capital. however, the enterprise failed in a few months. The operatives, about 50 in number, with their families - strangers in a strange land—were in dire distress. But they were helped by the town people and country folk as well, The Welsh people are proverbial for their quaintly sweet singing of songs ; and for a time men and women Would go from place to place, singing their beautiful Welsh songs in return for the provisions given them. A company backed by A. Marchand, of Alliance, attempted to make something out of the mill, but with no better success than the original projectors. In 1877 the plant was sold by the sheriff to satisfy original claims, and was bought in for Black, Daker & Company, of Pittsburg ,but another failure followed in about a year. Then, a year or so later, parties who still held claims against the old concern turned it over to W. D. Wood, of Pittsburg. and it was at once equipped with new machinery and put in condition to "make good." The W, Dewees ood Company had an extensive plant at that time at McKeesport. and the Wellsville plant was taken over to increase the company's capacity for the fine planished and Russian iron of which it was the sole producer in the United States. The product of the Wellsville mill was therefore unique under the Wood management, and the product of much higher value than the sheet steel mills operated elsewhere in the country. Persifor F, Smith, of Pittsburg. was manager of the plant from the time of the ood purchase. The Wood interests were among the last to be brought into the American Sheet Steel Company on its organization in 1898. and when the "combine" assumed control. P. F. Smith was made manager of all the Western plants of the sheet steel company, with headquarters at Pittsburg, D. S. Brookman becoming manager at Wellsville. MILLS AT IRONDALE AND LISBON, Wellsville's early venture was no exception in the history of the attempts during the '70's and the '80's to make tin plate in America. Many enterprises with the same end in view met disaster in different parts of the country (luring that period. It was not until the passage of the McKinley tariff by Congress in 1889 that the American mills succeeded in the effort to wrest the market from the Welsh and English manufacturers. And, singularly enough. what is claimed to have been the first mill in America to make tin successfully under the McKinley tariff was started only a few miles from Wellsville. at Irondale, just over the Columbiana and Jefferson County line. A sheet steel mill had been built at Irondale 1870. by Morgan & Hunter, of Alliance. The mill operated only a few years, and then shut 146 - HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY down. When the McKinley tariff made tin a protected industry, William Banfield, of Wellsville, headed a company which took over the old mill and converted it into a tin plate plant: and here, in 1890, was produced the first American tin that ever competed successfully with the Welsh product in the American market. The Irondale mill, and its tin. figured prominently in the tariff campaigns of the next few succeeding years as an argument for protective tariff ; and the mill continued to operate, with William Banfield as manager. until the organization of the American Tin Plate Company, in 1899, which absorbed the Irondale plant, and then in turn was itself absorbed in 1901 by the United States Steel Corporation. Lisbon first made tin in 1894. The town in 1893 offered a substantial bonus to the Beaver Tin Plate Company, an organization of practical tin men, and a 6-mill plant was built the following year on the banks of the Little Beaver. C. W. Bray, of Youngstown, was president of the company: I. M. Scott, of Bridgeport. secretary and treasurer, and George Evans, superintendent. The plant was successfully operated by the original company until the organization of the "tin plate combine," to which it was sold on December 19, 1898, STEEL STRIKE OF 1901. All three of these plants, the Wellsville. Irondale and Lisbon. played a prominent part in the battle between the steel workers and the newly organized Steel Corporation in 1901. All were properties of the "combine** at that time—as was also the Salem nail-mill. but the Salem plant had never been unionized, and ran steadily throughout the struggle. The United States Steel Corporation had taken possession of the plants of its subsidiary companies early in 1901, The Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers. at its convention in Milwaukee that year, had virtually thrown clown the gauntlet to the newly organized combine, The first gun of the strike was fired at the Wellsville mill. In June the management at Wellsville announced the discharge of a number of its workmen, among them men who had been attempting to unionize the plant. The Wellsville mill we at that time being run "open"—union and non-' union men being allowed to work in the plant by agreement between the men's organization and the American Sheet Steel Company. The reinstatement of the discharged men was demanded, and on the refusal of the Wellsville management. President T. J. Shaffer, of the men's organization, called a strike at all the steel mills under his jurisdiction. Within week the strike had extended to every Steel Corporation plant controlled by the Amalgamated Association in the country. During July and August the fight centered at Lisbon an; Wellsville, the "combine" attempting to operate both mills non-union. At Wellsville the attempt succeeded : at Lisbon it failed. Late in August the Irondale mill was also successfully reopened, The struggle was settled in September, but the Wellsville mill remained non-union, and the Steel Corporation never reopened the Lisbon and Irondale plants. The mill at Lisbon lay idle until January 1, 1905, when it was purchased from the Steel Corporation by persons representing the National Brass & Copper Company, of Pittsburg and refitted as a copper and brass mill. The Irondale plant was dismantled, and the machinery taken to Chester. West Virginia, opposite East Liverpool. where a plant had been bui in 1897, by Pittsburg parties. for the manufacture of sheet steel. and had been sold to t American Sheet Steel Company on its organization, but had never been operated by the "combine.” This mill was started in 1902, ran steadily. During the first years of the new century, Wellsville citizens made efforts to increase the iron interests of the city, After a fire which destroyed the works of the Carroll-Porter Boiler & Tank Company, on lower Penn Avenue, Pittsburg, in 1901, the Wellsville Board of Trade offered the company a bonus $10,000 in cash and $15,000 worth of land to locate its new works in Wellsville. The company built in Wellsville in 1903. opening on November 30th of that year. J. W. Porter was AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 147 the head of the concern, but in 1905 the active management was given over to J. W, Porter, Jr., and J, E, Porter. Other extensive foundries, growing out of the pottery and clay-working industries of East Liverpool, grew up at that place during the latter half of the century, for the manufacture Of clay-working and pottery machinery—of Which more extended mention is made in the chapter on clay and pottery manufactures in this work. STATISTICS ON PRODUCTION. Statistics on the production of iron and finished metal products in Ohio have generally been meager and unreliable, and in some years no tabulated report by counties has been presented by the Secretary of State, Fur instance, in his report for, the year 1870-71, the Secretary of State says that Columbiana County is credited with the manufacture of 19,767 tons of pig-iron, but, having received no report on this industry from 19 counties of the State, he declines presenting any table of results, In 1873 the report shows 33,901 tons of pig-iron made at Leetonia, and none made at any other point; 4.487 tons of bar, nail and rod iron were produced; 1,000 tons of stoves and hollow ware and 611 tons of all other castings : 165 steam engines and 129 boilers, In 1875 the county is credited with the following production of machinery : Sugar and grain mills, 6o; portable sawmills, 23 ; reaping, mowing and threshing machines, 311: plows, 100; steam engines, 73; boilers, 67, The report for 1878 showed 38,400 tons of pig-iron produced; two lonely tons of sheet iron and 185 tons of boiler iron; 1,200 tons of stoves and hollow ware and 400 tons of all other castings. The report for 1880 showed 65,093 tons of pig-iron produced: 5,614 tons of bar, nail and rod iron 900 tons of sheet iron; 1,760 tons of stoves and hollow ware; 668 tons of all other castings : and tin, copper and sheet iron ovate to the value of $4,000, It is remarkable that the report of the Secretary of State for 1903 does not give the statistics of iron and steel and their products, The production of iron ore was never large in Columbiana County : and, with the opening of the great fields of superior ores in the Lake regions, Ohio ceased to be an important State in iron ore production, In 1887 the production of iron ore reached its height in Ohio, the State reports showing 87,965 tons of black- band and 287,500 tons of hematite to have been produced in that year, From that time ii gradually declined, the State mining report for 1903 saying : "The iron industry of the State has come to be of such limited output that it scarcely rewards any effort to collect statistics, only two counties reporting for the year 1903, Lawrence and Scioto, The total amount produced was 12,995 tons, a gain of 2,314 tons over the year 1902, when four counties reported on the output of iron ore,