(RETURN TO THE MAHONING AND TRUMBULL COUNTIES INDEX)

650 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY

ben Joslin and Job Reynolds, overseers of the poor; John Sanderson and Amadeus Brooks,. fence viewers ; Lucius Frisby, lister ; Linus Tracy, appraiser; Matthew Laird, Job Reynolds, Zimri Baker, Noble Stron Levi Pinney, Anson Hatch and Guien Crawford, supervisors; Lucius Frisby, constable ; Luther Frisby, treasurer.

The Grand River flows through much of the township and runs north into Ashtabula County as Mesopotamia is the northeastern most township of Trumbull County. The township has an unusual number o smaller streams, including Coffee, Mill, Swine, Andrews, Plum an Garden creeks, giving it much water power as well as making it good agricultural territory. There is no railroad in the township.

Mesopotamia Center is the only village and is the trading center as well as the seat of government for the township. It is a pleasant village with good stores and rural industries. The village square is adorned with a splendid marble shaft erected in memory of the soldiers of the Civil war. The Center is also the headquarters of Mesopotamia Grange.

The first school in the township was opened in a room in Seth Tracy's cabin in 1803, with Samuel Forward as the teacher. A schoolhouse was built on the Tracy farm in 1806. The ,rural schools that sprang up in later years were finally centralized and Mesopotamia now has a good high school and grade classes. Jay T. Frampton is principal of the high school and Cynthia Northway, Gem Hanawalt, Verl Davis and Cora Jenkins grade school teachers.

Rev. Joseph Badger was the first clergyman to visit Mesopotamia Township, and a Presbyterian congregation was formed in 1817. The first church was built in 1822 and replaced by a larger building in 1843. Subsequently this became a Congregationalist body. The first Methodist Episcopal body was formed probably prior to 1820 and the first house of worship built in 1830. The Universalists once flourished in Mesopotamia, but eventually passed out of existence.

Township officials of Mesopotamia include, Roy Nye, F. E. Bates and W. Barb, trustees ; Cecil Clark, clerk ; H. D. Walker, treasurer; H. J. Wilcox, justice of the peace.

CHAPTER XXXII

INDUSTRY IN THE MAHONING VALLEY

ITS HUMBLE BEGINNINGS, EARLY VICISSITUDES AND GRADUAL DEVELOPMENT ALONG VARIOUS LINES

Industry in the Mahoning Valley may be said to have had its beginning long before white men came here to live. The native Indians had selected spots where the growth of trees was thin, or where storms had blown the timber down and fires had burned over the ground, on which they planted corn, the labor being performed entirely by the squaws, since the noble Red Man disdained all forms of exertion other than hunting or making war, or peithaps occupying himself occasionally in the fashioning of implements for these purposes. The Indians also made sugar in the maple groves, although where they obtained the vessels in which the boiling was done has never been satisfactorily explained. This was not civilized industry, however. Industry as we know it began in the Mahoning Valley with the making of salt by boiling saline water flowing from the earth at springs located about nine miles west of the present City of Youngstown.

Although salt had been made at these springs, perhaps for centuries, by the Indians, the first work of this kind performed by white men there seems to have been done about the middle of the eighteenth century, when adventurous individuals from the western part of Pennsylvania began making trips to these springs and boiling the water to secure for personal use a supply of salt, now so abundant and cheap, but at that time exceedingly scarce. There are no records to substantiate the assumption, but it is probable that some of these salt manufacturers retailed their product among neighbor pioneers in Washington and Westmoreland counties, Pennsylvania, and may even have found a market for some of it at Pittsburg, although that settlement seems likely to have had, even at that early day, a more dependable source of supply.

At any rate, the infant industry in the wilderness had reached the proportions of a regular enterprise in 1785, when, in order to satisfy the Indians and carry out the campaign he was then making against squatters in territory west of Pennsylvania and north of the Ohio, General Harmar ordered the destruction of four log cabins erected at the Salt Springs, together with that of some wooden vats sunk into the earth there and used by these pioneers of industry in the Mahoning Valley. The point at which these buildings stood, together with the springs from which the salt came, has been covered by a fill on which the Baltimore &

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Ohio Railroad traverses that locality, and thus a really historic spot is robbed of much of the interest it might otherwise have held for the visitor. The names of the men who thus began the manufacture and commerce which have since sent products from this valley in tremendous volume to all parts of the civilized world are nowhere preserved, nor is anything known positively as to whence they came, what were their adventures among the objecting savages, or what became of them in the end.

THE CELEBRATED SALT SPRINGS, IN WEATHERSFIELD TOWNSHIP, WHERE

SALT WAS MADE AS EARLY AS 1755

This illustration is from a painting by Joseph N. Higley, from a photograph taken by him about 1903, just before the springs were covered by a railroad fill.

The next industry was agriculture, which began almost immediately after John Young had laid out the town to which he gave his name. Youngstown was founded as an agricultural community, the central portion being, surveyed into lots of sufficient size for houses and similar buildings, with a circle of "out lots" somewhat larger in size and probably intended for gardens ; and surrounding all the principal portion of Young's purchase was mapped into farms.

It appears that the presence of either coal or of ore was not suspected by the original purchaser of the land, and that the value of these minerals was undreamed of by the first settlers. Their expectations

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were confined to the development of fertile and prosperous farms surrounding a village containing only such small factories and mechanics as could produce the simple necessities of life unobtainable elsewhere because of the lack of roads and not to be had from the soil. Such a situation naturally led to the early establishment in a small way of many industries, such as grist mills, sawmills, hat factories, boot shops, blacksmith shops, furniture shops and similar establishments in which the ideal economic condition of the laborer and capitalist being the same person was realized and from which the early settlers satisfied their simple wants in the way of things that could be produced only by skilled labor and could not be made in the home. Youngstown had the earliest of these industries. Its first hatmaker was F. Townsend, whose shop was located near Spring Common. Abraham was the name of the first chair-maker, and Kilpatrick that of the first blacksmith. A Mr. Bruce, whose first name has not been preserved, was the original manufacturer of boots and shoes, probably only of boots, for that was the style of footwear, used by the earliest pioneers, both male and female, almost exclusively. Between 1805 and 1810, according to the recollections of Roswell Grant, an uncle of Gen. U. S. Grant, whose boyhood was spent in Youngstown, there were in the village, in addition to the establishments above-named, two hotels, one of which was conducted by Col. William Rayen and the other by Samuel Stuart and Col. James Hillman ; two stores, one kept by Henry Wick and the other by Hugh Bryson ; one lawyer, Homer Hine, and one doctor, Chas. C. Dutton. Youngstown was at that time the largest village in the valley, although Warren, Canfield and Poland were already established.

AGRICULTURE

Farming being the first permanent industry to gain a foothold in the Mahoning Valley, as well as one of the most interesting in the conditions surrounding its beginning, this will be treated first. Practically all the original settlers, as has been noted, came here with the intention of becoming farmers. Their first task after selecting a piece of land and securing the title to it, which was usually done by making a small payment in cash and executing a mortgage for the remainder of the price, was to erect a home. Some sort of shelter must be found at once for the family, but there being as yet neither crops, machinery nor cattle, the barn could wait. Sometimes the settler came alone and built a cabin before his family arrived, but more frequently they came together. The home-builder selected a location, usually close to a spring and on well drained land; for the ground was more inclined to be marshy than that found in the eastern states from which he had come. His next step was to clear away the trees in order to let in the sunlight and prepare f or the cultivation of the ground. In this process the most suitable timber for use in building a cabin was selected and the remainder piled in heaps for burn ing. No one at that date thought of building with any other material than logs. These logs were sometimes hewn flat on the sides with a broadaxe, sometimes left round, with the bark attached. As soon as a

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sufficient number of timbers was ready, word was sent to the neighbors in every direction that on a certain day the "raising" would occur. The mere statement of this fact was understood as an invitation, and such was the neighborliness of the times that anyone accidentally or purposely overlooked felt aggrieved at being denied an opportunity to assist Feuds of long, standing sometimes arose from failure to notify some member of the community of such an affair.

Some of the pioneer houses are still standing, having defied the ravages of time for more than a century, and here and there one may still be found in use, although, of course, since supplied with modern floors and windows in place of the puncheon floors and greased paper window panes used by the builders. In their erection the settlers seldom used nails, the place of these being taken by pins fashioned with axes so dexterously as to astonish the modern resident, whose acquaintance with an axe may be confined to its occasional use in his own woodshed. These axes were, next to the flintlock rifle owned by the settler, his most precious possession, and in the use of them he acquired astounding skill.

Clearing of the land proceeded rapidly, but much trouble was experienced with the stumps and roots, which had to be burned or left to rot in the ground, since there was at that time no such process as removing them by stump-pulling machines or dynamite. Fortunately the earth was loose and very fertile, so that, while nature was dealing with the stumps and roots it was necessary to merely scratch the surface in order to secure a good crop from the virgin soil. The universal law of compensation operated in another way to favor this infant industry; for the pioneer farmer had less trouble than his modern successor with insect pests and seldom suffered much from drought or excessive rain. The earth was clothed in primeval woods, and the forests contributed much to the regular rainfall so important for the farmer. Fences were built first of small logs and later of rails split from the abundant timber.

It seems that, even from the first, the farmers of the Mahoning Valley were equipped with iron-pointed plows, and had tools with cutting edges for various purposes, but they were woefully short of implements as well as of horses. Oxen were therefore generally used on the farms. It is rare that a team 0f oxen is now seen anywhere in the eastern or middle western states, and in the Mahoning Valley the horse is passing as attractive force on its well developed farms. But there was a time when the patient ox not only drew the plow, but also trampled out the corn, much as in Scriptural days. The first agricultural fair in the Mahoning Valley was held at Youngstown in 1821, the grounds being along the north side of the river west of Market Street. At this fair one of the chief events was a plowing contest between two teams of horses and one team of oxen, in which the oxen won the prize handsomely, making straighter furrows and breaking up more ground in a given time than the horses.

Reaping was done with the sickle and the scythe and threshing with the flail. The new farmer usually took care to bring with him a cow, but at first there were few really domesticated hogs, animals of this species being confined to the "razor-back" variety running and breeding in the

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woods and being half wild in nature. Some sheep were raised almost from the beginning in order to provide wool for use in making hose and woollen cloth, but the prevalence of wolves made sheep-raising a hazardous business and led to the general cultivation of flax, from which linen could be made. The grains grown were practically the same as those now grown most successfully in this locality. Corn came first; being raised most quickly and requiring the simplest treatment to make it edible. Wheat was grown for flour, but little of this was sold outside of the community. Oats grew well and rye was raised extensively for the stills, which were numerous beyond belief, no less than thirteen of hese now prohibited contrivances being in operation at one time in Poland Township during the early days. Potatoes, buckwheat and other foods were successfully cultivated, the great numbers of wild bees in-t reasing the fruitfulness of all grains and fruits requiring pollenization. All small fruits were plentiful in the woods, but the larger fruits in domesticated and improved varieties were almost unknown, there being no apples in the valley until some trees brought here on horseback by one of the first-comers reached the bearing stage. It was at first thought that grapes would grow splendidly in this climate, but efforts to propagate hem on a large scale failed, and the grape, probably because of the regular moisture and humidity, has never been grown to any great extent as far south as the Mahoning Valley, although it is successfully cultivated farther north.

The early farmers had their trials as well as their pleasures and advantages. There were no roads and practically no markets. It was necessary to hoard carefully every cent that could be realized in order to provide money for the payment of taxes, contributions toward the salary of the preacher and the teacher and occasional settlements with the doctor, who was of necessity sometimes summoned from a distance. There were times when a prosperous farmer, with property valued at thousands of dollars, would not have cash enough to pay the postage on a letter. There was no actual want and little discomfort attending these features of farm life because the things really necessary could always be obtained by trading farm produce at the stores, but the luxuries to be had in that way were few and even some of the necessities, as we now regard them, were not available. For instance the first lemon brought to the Western Reserve was used with great eclat at a Fourth of July celebration at Poland some years after the founding of that village and lent, we are informed by the early chronicler, a peculiar and most enjoyable flavor to the huge bowl of punch which was a feature of that occasion.

In modern times farming in the Mahoning Valley has developed in the same degree that other things have gone forward. There are now few farms without a tractor ; few country homes without a telephone. Many farmhouses are equipped with hot and cold water, bathrooms and other modern features. Automobiles have taken the place of the horse and buggy, and rural mail delivery reaches every nook and corner of the district. There are no trees to fell, no stumps to remove, no wolves to prey on sheep, no bear to raid the hogpen. But also there are no wild

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turkeys, no deer, no fish, no wild bees to store honey, and few of the wild nuts and fruits that were once so plentiful. The character of farming has changed to meet the change in conditions and to supply the markets most available and profitable. Much dairying is done, in which the fields are sown to furnish crops designed as fodder for the milk herd. Orchards are growing rapidly in number, and flourish under the scientific methods modern farmers have learned from the state experimental farms and are adopting everywhere. There is no longer the old-time happy-go-lucky method of planting wheat or corn or some other crop on the same ground on which it had grown well the previous year. Rotation of crops and scientific fertilization is the ordinary practice.

Both Trumbull and Mahoning counties have now well established and energetically managed county fair associations, and the annual gathering of choice local farm products at these is not excelled in many counties of Ohio. Much fine stock is to be found on the farms, and while neither Trumbull nor Mahoning can compete with the magnificent dairy herds that have made Geauga County famous all over the United States, there has been a marked improvement in recent years along these lines.

In 1915 the agricultural interests of Mahoning county were advanced by the purchase and equipment of a fine experimental farm in Canfield Township, where investigations and experiments of peculiar value are being carried out under the direction of a county agricultural agent provided by the State. Doubtless similar farms will be soon provided in other counties of the district. Full details concerning this movement together with other information concerning modern agriculture, will be found in the chapter dealing with township histories.

Farm life under modern conditions is much less lonely and children reared in the country have a far better opportunity for education than was formerly the case. In fact the system of graded schools now in operation in most of the townships provides instruction almost equal to that offered in cities and towns. Many townships maintain high schools, or central schools of the higher grade, and provide transportation for children to and from their studies. Thus life on the farm has lost its old-time characteristics, if we except the fact that it is still and probably will always be a life of labor and diligence if it is to be rewarded with success. It is unfortunate that the farmer finds it impossible to offer to his children the same allurements to be found in the city, for this fact takes away from the farms many of their best young men and women. At the same time this condition reacts to the advantage of urban communities which attract these youth. It is surprising how many of the most active, able and successful men in Mahoning Valley communities have been reared on farms, securing there a schooling in diligence and self-denial. as well as a rugged health and vitality that have given them a distinct advantage in the swifter race of business and the professions.

At the time this work is written, prosperity attends the agricultural industry in the Mahoning Valley, as it does everywhere in this country. Prices of food stuffs have advanced so that all who have these to sell are reaping excellent profits. The only difficulty is the scarcity of, labor, which is attracted away from the farms by the more exciting life

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of the city as well as by the extremely high wages being paid for labor of all kinds. This, however, is only an aggravation of a condition which has always affected the farmer, and is probably one of the basic results of the long continued policy which has developed our manufacturing industries more rapidly than would have been possible Under any other policy. Indications are that a tendency to return to the farm is beginning to make itself felt and the next few years may see a change in this situation.

FLOURING AND SAW MILLS

Among the most urgent needs of the early settlers were lumber and flour. At first they made these entirely by hand, skillfully selecting logs and splitting or hewing them into shape or grinding grain between revolving stones, both slow and laborious methods. The natural eagerness with which the pioneers sought out and appropriated points suitable for the erection of mills is shown by the fact that the second recorded transaction for the purchase of real estate in the Mahoning Valley was the deed for a mill site at the mouth of the Yellow Creek, in the present Town of Struthers, made by Turhand Kirtland to John Struthers, Esq., August 30, 1798. During the same summer Mr. Kirtland had also laid out a site for a mill in Poland and planned a dam across Yellow Creek at the point in that village where a mill now stands. There was an abundance of timber and great need for machinery to saw it, as well as for mills to make cornmeal and wheat flour, so that within a few years after white men came to reside in this locality there were numerous grist mills and sawmills erected at various points along the Mahoning and on streams tributary to it. The early flouring mill was a crude structure in both its exterior and its equipment. It was usually located at a waterfall, or else below a dam from which water was conducted by a "race" or a "forebay" to a large wheel having on its rim buckets or boxes into which water poured when these were at the highest point and by its weight caused the wheel to revolve. The machinery attached was made entirely of wood, remarkable skill being shown in the formation of gear wheels and similar contrivances. The grinding was done between two stones, known as "burrs." The best quality of these was imported from France, but at first most of those used in this locality were of native stone. In these were cut grooves radiating from the center, and into the grooves the grain was fed from a hopper through a hole in the stone. As the upper stone revolved, the lower being usually fixed, the grain worked its way through the raidal grooves outward and was ground between the two. Flour thus produced was course, but a skillful miller could make a surprisingly good grade if he had good grain. Of course the flour was dark in color, since the hull of the grain was ground with the rest and the method of separating this from the flour itself was not efficient. All of these mills were operated on a trade basis, the miller taking "toll" amounting to one-tenth of each grist brought in by the farmer and returning the remainder to the sack. In addition to wheat, these mills ground corn and other grains, making also

Vol. I—42

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a coarse mixture known as "chop," which was used as feed for stock. The mills were often equipped to saw lumber, the machinery for this purpose consisting of a cross-head saw oscillated up and down as the log was moved forward on a carriage operated by a ratchet device. The circular or band saw was unknown at that time. When there was no grain to grind the miller would saw logs, of which there was always an abundance. A curious custom, growing out of the moral duty which the first millers felt they owed to the community, to provide it with food, was the refusal to use power for sawing at any time or under any conditions if there was grain to be ground.

The first grist mill in the Mahoning Valley was erected at what is now known as Lanterman's Falls, in Mill Creek Park, Youngstown, by John and Phineas Hill, in 1798 or 1799, the machinery being made on the ground and installed by Abraham Powers, who came here for that purpose and worked with the two brothers. The "burrs" in this mill were made from a native boulder secured at a point which is now the intersection of Lincoln and Holmes streets, in the City of Youngstown. So far as the actual construction of a special building and the installation of machinery is concerned, this mill undoubtedly deserves to rank as the first manufacturing establishment in the Mahoning Valley. A curious incident, illustrating not only the wildness of the locality, but also the method of the native Indians for taking care of their children, is recorded by the builders of this mill. One day as they were at work two Indian women, one of whom had a "papoose,"—a baby—strapped to a piece of bark and hung over her shoulders, passed close by. They were in pursuit of a deer, and when they saw the white men at the mill, the women stopped and the one with the baby removed the child and stood it, with its bark reinforcement, against a tree in sight of the mill builders. The huntresses then proceeded on their way and came back several hours later with a deer on their shoulders. During the interval the Indian baby had not made a sound or even moved an eyelash, so the story goes.

EARLY IRONMAKING

The first blast furnace in the Mahoning Valley, if not indeed the first west of the Allegheny River, was erected in 1802, according to the best information obtainable, although there has been some dispute concerning the exact date. It was built at a point on Yellow Creek, near its junction with the Mahoning River, and about 500 feet north of the dam now forming Lake Hamilton, by James and Daniel Heaton. This furnace was, as may be easily believed, a very crude and inefficient contrivance, although its erection must have required much labor and great faith, if not a great deal of capital. The contrast between it and the modern blast furnace is even more interesting than that between the first grill mill and the large establishments of that kind now common. This furnace was about twenty feet in height and square, the base being about fourteen feet on each side. Three sides were of native stone found on the ground, and the fourth was formed by a steep bluff,

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against which the stack was built, with the double purpose of saving labor and furnishing a method by which charcoal, limestone and lean native ores could be hauled to its top. The interior was roughly lined

THE FIRST BLAST FURNACE ERECTED IN THE MAHONING VALLEY AS IT

APPEARS TODAY

(Photo by H. W. Weisgerber.)

with slabs of stone and on one side, about a foot above the bottom, was an opening through which the molten iron was dipped out with ladles. The blast was furnished by what was known as a "trompe," which consisted of a wooden tank with one opening at the top and another some

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distance lower down and at one side. Into the top of this tank was conducted the water from Yellow Creek, which, as it rushed into the tank, carried with it considerable air. This air rose through the water into a dome at the top, being compressed by the weight of the water and thus forming a continuous pressure for the blast. The apparatus required careful designing and a steady stream of large volume, neither of which seems to have been available. Consequently the furnace never worked well and was operated for only a brief period. Two years after it was built the Heaton brothers parted company, Daniel buying the interests of James and later improving the furnace, in fact rebuilding it. This rebuilt furnace was named "Hopewell," and for about six years produced from two to three tons of iron per week. Its product was used in the manufacture of cast iron utensils, stoves and similar articles to be disposed of to the householders and farmers of the vicinity. This old furnace was abandoned after. 1812, at which time the men employed at it were all drafted into the army and the few Mahoning Valley citizens who did not go to war were unable to buy the product. Its rough, massive walls still stand, although they have not been warmed for more than a hundred years. Trees grow all about it, as the illustration shows, and this structure, once perhaps the greatest center of industry in the Mahoning Valley, is now visited only by the curious or by those whose veneration for old-time things leads them to explore the jungle by which it is surrounded.

When James Heaton became discouraged with the furnace on Yellow Creek he did not lose faith in the Mahoning Valley. Going to Weathersfield Township, he bought a tract of land on Mosquito Creek, within the present City of Niles, on which he saw the possibility of developing water power, the only form of mechanical power then known. The tract he purchased there secured the water rights on both sides of the creek from its confluence with the Mahoning far enough northward to permit the erection of a dam, and in the succeeding years he constructed there a mill dam which has been repeatedly enlarged and rebuilt and is still in use. At this dam was soon built also a sawmill, and later, in 1809, a blooming forge in which was manufactured the first bar iron made in the State of Ohio. From these two industries, established by adventurous and energetic pioneers, have sprung the majestic mills and furnaces that now line the

Mahoning for more than twenty miles and annually produce one-sixth of all the iron and steel made in America.

The second blast furnace in this locality was, like the first, located on. Yellow Creek, about half a mile north of the Heaton stack. It was begun by Robert Montgomery, who came from Pennsylvania in 1805, or early in 1806. He at once entered into a contract with John Struthers for sufficient land for a furnace site, which included, as usual, wooded land for the manufacture of charcoal and a supply of ore to be obtained from deposits along the banks of the creek at points where it had been uncovered by the action of the water, as well as from the bed of the stream. It might be said in passing that the ores available at this point were even leaner than the native ores used later at other places in Youngs-.

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town, and that neither of these ores averaged more than 25 to 28 per cent. of iron, or a little more than half the iron content of Lake Superior ores now used. They were, however, somewhat easier to reduce and liquify, owing to their lumpy formation, and were also comparatively free from phosphorus, although they carried so much sulphur that it would have been impossible to use them successfully with any fuel other than charcoal.

Before the Montgomery furnace was completed, David Clendennin came from the vicinity of Baltimore and acquired an interest in the enterprise, so that the new furnace was actually started by Montgomery and Clendennin. Somewhat later James Mackey and David Alexander, who had been employed about the furnace as bookkeeper and superintendent, appear to have secured an interest, and the firm then became Montgomery, Clendennin & Company. The second furnace was a great improvement over the first. It was blown by means of a water wheel and walking beam, through which was operated a crude form of air compressor. The cold blast thus produced, while- it was very low in volume and pressure compared with that used in the modern furnace, was at least not laden with moisture, as was the air blown into the first Heaton stack. According to the recollection of David Loveland, who was born in 1801 and reared on the Loveland farm, now known as Loveland Hill, about one mile from the Montgomery furnace, it was operated only about two years until financial difficulties arose which were instrumental in ending its usefulness forever. Mr. Loveland, in a statement made in 1878 and recorded by Robert M. Haseltine, relates that Montgomery had made only a small payment on the land he purchased from Struthers, and that when the remainder of the price was due the capital of the company had all been used up and it was unable to meet the obligation. Struthers brought action to compel payment, and all the teams, wagons and implements used about the furnace were attached, making its operation impossible. Montgomery, Clendennin & Company were able to borrow the remainder of the purchase price from an east-. ern relative of the Averills, then living at Poland, and immediately tendered the money to Struthers, demanding a deed. It was then dis covered that Struthers himself had never received a deed for the land and, of course, could not comply with this demand. The final result was an action for damages brought by the furnace company and a verdict in its favor for $12,000. This verdict was compromised later, but in the meantime the War of 1812 had begun, the men employed about both of the Yellow Creek furnaces were either drafted or enlisted, and neither of the stacks could be kept in operation.

In the interval Daniel Heaton, who had remodeled the original Heaton furnace, sold it, in 1808, to the new company, which operated it for some time, returning it to Heaton before the complications of war had forced suspension of furnace operations. There is 'a difference of opinion as to reasons for the failure of this first effort to consolidate Mahoning Valley industries. The Heatons have left a statement attributing it to the failure of Montgomery, Clendennin & Company to make payment as stipulated. David Loveland's recollection of the matter, how-

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ever, is that the Heaton furnace did not come up to expectations or representations and was returned to the original owner on that account.

The Napoleonic wars involved England for many years, demanding all of her iron and a great deal of her other manufactures, so that, for a period of about twenty years before the War of 1812 the severe competition which American industries had originally suffered from across the sea was greatly reduced and many of these, especially the manufacture of iron, enjoyed domestic markets, such as they then were, without interference. With .the fall of Napoleon in 1815, former conditions were soon restored and the infant industries of America languished to such an extent that in 1824 Congress was forced to adopt a protective tariff policy. In the interim, however, the pioneer blast furnaces of the Mahoning Valley could not be profitably operated and were allowed to lie idle. They were never again fired up.

The closing of the two Yellow Creek furnaces was responsible for the erection of the third Mahoning Valley furnace, which was built by James Heaton, probably with the cooperation of his brother Daniel, at Niles, in 1813. James Heaton had depended on the Yellow Creek stacks for iron to keep his bloomery going, and he was not the sort of man to allow a successful enterprise to perish if it could be saved. He borrowed, from his brother, John Heaton, by means of a mortgage on all of his property at Niles, the sum of $1,448.00. With this he erected a furnace at the present site. of the old high school building at Niles. This stack was of about the same size as those previously described and constructed in about the same manner. It was operated on ore gathered in the creek beds around Niles and hauled to the furnace in wagons. This had, like other native ores, to be roasted or calcined before it was fed into the furnace with charcoal as fuel. This stack had a capacity of two or three tons of iron per day, and the product was run out into sand beds and formed into pigs, instead of being dipped from the hearth and cast, as was done at the previous furnaces. Records show that it was usual to secure about 30 per cent. of the weight of calcined ores in iron, and the operation of the furnace required about a dozen men, all but two of whom were engaged in providing the ore and charcoal.

With the iron made from this furnace. James Heaton continued the operation of his bloomery until better times came under the tariff of 1823, and later, with his son, Isaac Heaton, provrded for the additional supply of iron needed by the erection of a furnace on Mill Creek, where water power and ore could be found together.

James. Heaton called his Niles furnace "Maria," after his only daughter, who applied the torch that lighted it for its first run. From its product he made, in addition to blooms, castings, such as stoves, kettles, etc.; but the greater portion of the iron was hammered into bars with a drop hammer operated by water power. These bars and such castings as could not be sold or traded in the neighborhood, were shipped down the Mahoning in flat boats, and then towed up the. Ohio to Pittsburg, where they could be sold, as that city was then beginning to be a source of supply for the eastern markets.

It was conditions such as this that led- the early manufacturers as

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well as the merchants and farmers to take steps to have the Mahoning River declared a navigable stream. They felt it necessary to reach the outside world with their products, for there was no other way to obtain cash for the payment of taxes and such other transactions as could not be carried on by barter and trade. They could pay their employes in goods, as they did; and give them a dollar at the Fourth of July and another at Christmas, without provoking a strike; for industrial conditions were as different from those of the present as were other things. But they had to, have some money and there was no roadway other than the river to where money could be obtained. The Mahoning was made a navigable stream in 1806 from its mouth to some distance above Warren, although anyone could secure permission to dam it on condition that a by-pass or chute through which a 21-ton boat could pass was constructed at the same time.

James Heaton continued to operate his bloomery, furnaces and other enterprises at Niles until 1830, when he sold out to Heaton & Robbins, a firm of which his son, Warren Heaton, was a member. Four years later Robbins retired and Warren Heaton continued the business until his death in 1842. The Maria furnace was then leased to different parties, none of whom succeeded in 'making its operation profitable owing to the changing conditions and the growing scarcity of ore and charcoal. Finally, during the time it was being operated by Robeson & Battles, the discovery of black-band ore in the coal mines at Mineral Ridge was made, and immediately the continued operation of furnaces in the Ma-honing Valley became not only feasible, but also profitable. Nevertheless, the old Maria furnace became obsolete with the rapid march of events and was torn down. Nothing now remains to remind the people of Niles of the industry on which their flourishing city was founded, except the original dam and mill race on Mosquito Creek, and the old flouring mill, which is still in successful operation, although the present building is only about eighty years old.

The fourth and last charcoal furnace to be erected in the Mahoning Valley was built by Isaac Heaton on Mill Creek, as previously mentioned. Its site is now occupied by a handsome pavilion in Mill Creek Park. Isaac Heaton had built a woolen factory on Mill Creek in 1822 and operated it until 1830, but found it unprofitable. He then undertook the construction of a furnace and got it into blast in 1832, operating it for ten years with more or less success and then selling it to Kirk & Rockwell, who continued to run it for some years. Its fate was sealed even sooner than that of other contemporaneous stacks by the fact that it was on the wrong side of the river and could obtain neither canal nor railroad facilities after these reached the locality. Isaac Heaton, after selling his Mill Creek furnace, purchased a furnace in Venango County, Pennsylvania, and later sold that and went to Kinmundy, Illinois, at which place he bought a quarter section of land and lived on it as a farmer until his death on March 12, 1872. His wife, who was Elizabeth R. Robbins, a daughter of Alexander Robbins, builder of the first flat boat launched on the Mahoning, was living in 1884 and furnished the above facts concerning her husband and the Mill Creek furnace.

664 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY

With the building of the Mill Creek stack-1831 to 1832—it seemed as if the iron industry had reached its zenith in this locality. So far as could be seen there was no logical reason for the erection of additional furnaces. The two first erected had been idle for twenty years and were already overgrown by briers and trees. There was no more ore in sight, and this, as well as wood for making charcoal, was beginning to be found only at greater distances. The growth of population and its increasing needs were not alone sufficient to make a market for more iron and

PIONEER PAVILION MILL CREEK PARK

Built on site of the first blast furnace erected within the present city limits of Youngstown

there was no means of transporting it elsewhere. Apparently the local iron industry was doomed. As a matter of fact no additional furnaces were built in the Mahoning Valley for fifteen years. Two incidents then occurred that completely changed the situation and laid the foundation for the enlargement of activity in this line and for a period of prosperity that did not end until it had established the industry on a basis which guaranteed its continued growth, even in the face of competition from other localities more favored in some ways.

The first of these important occurrences was the discovery that a seam of material supposed to be slate existing under the coal at Mineral

YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 665

Ridge was really iron ore, and the second Was the use of Mahoning block coal as a fuel for blast furnaces.

These two discoveries were made within a few months of each other. The black band ore was recognized by John Lewis, a Welsh miner, early in 1845. He noticed this supposed slate rock while at work in the mine and being made curious by its weight examined it more closely, coming to the conclusion that it was iron ore similar to what was known as "black-band" ore in Scotland, where he had worked as a miner. Some of the ore .was taken to the Maria furnace, then owned by James Ward & Co , and tested, with the result that it was immediately recognized as a valuable find. It produced a fine-grained, soft, iron, with such fluidity that it was especially suitable for casting intricate patterns, then the only method known for producing such forms in iron. Later this ore, which formed the bottom in mines at Mineral Ridge and was from eight to eighteen inches thick, was all used, even that in abandoned workings being taken out. It was used principally at Niles and Brier Hill, although some of it was mixed with Lake Superior ores at all of the furnaces in the Valley. At Brier Hill and the Warner furnaces at Mineral Ridge, it was so skillfully mixed with other ores as to produce an exceptionally fine grade of iron, which became widely known as "American Scotch Pig" and "Warner's Scotch Pig." With the use of raw coal as a blast furnace fuel, the charcoal era in the Mahoning Valley may be said to have closed in 1846, and with the mining of black-band ore, a short time later, the use of native ores known as "kidney" ores was at an end.

One additional furnace was erected in the Mahoning Valley after that at Mill Creek, and this may be said to have been the last built in the charcoal era, although it was intended to use both coal and charcoal. This was the Eagle furnace, built by William Philpot, David Morris, Jonathan Warner and Harvey Sawyer in 1846. It was located at the present site of Heller Brothers' lumber yards in the western end of Youngstown. This stack was built at the foot of a bluff and on the bank of the canal. It was a famous furnace, achieving a reputation by producing twenty-eight tons of iron in one day, a record never before equaled in the Mahoning Valley. This proud distinction continued for nine years, when the Eagle's plumes were drooped to the Phoenix, erected by Crawford & Howard in 1854 on the present site of the Republic Iron & Steel Company's Bessemer plant. The Phoenix had a capacity of forty tons per day, and this was soon afterward exceeded by the Falcon, a stack erected not far away by Charles Howard, who had in the meantime disagreed with his partner in the Phoenix.

The Phoenix was not only the first furnace to make forty tons of iron a day, but it was the first to be built in the open, away from a bluff, its owners being courageous enough to defy the custom of using a hill as a skip hoist in order to locate it near the canal, from which they doubtless expected to obtain transportation of at least a part of their ore and fuel, as well as by which they could ship the product. This furnace had a skip hoist, of- course, and it was curious enough to justify a short description. Two platforms arranged at one side of the stack were con-

666 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY

nected by a rope in such a way that when one was at the top, the other would be on the ground. Each platform had for its bottom a tank, and a large pipe carried water to the tanks when they were raised to a level with the platform at the top of the furnace. When the barrows containing the burden were wheeled on the lower platform, the pipe was connected to the tank of the platform then at the top and this tank filled with water. The weight of this water caused the tank to descend, raising the loaded platform, and while its load was being transferred to the furnace, another load was placed on the empty platform and the water again permitted to fill the upper tank and escape from that on the ground, when the lifting operation was repeated. Perhaps in the light of present practice this was a slow performance, but it at least replaced men and mules for the work of filling the furnace.

The Eagle furnace had introduced an innovation in the form of stoves for heating the blast. Hitherto the air had been blown into the furnace cold, or in some instances slightly warmed by passing it through cast iron pipes located in the tunnel-head; but at the Eagle, which was a wonderful furnace in its day, the blast was heated in cast iron stoves placed on the ground and fired, partly with coal and partly with gas caught in pockets placed in the walls near the top and forced down through pipes by the pressure resulting from the resistance which the burden offered to their escape from the open top. The air compressor was also driven by a steam engine. The fact that this engine had been discarded as worn out by a Mississippi River steamboat and had so little power that when it broke down, as it often did, the walking beam could be kept going by the men about the furnace, did not prevent it from being a great improvement over water power. This furnace was the immediate forerunner of the majestic stacks of today. It averaged about seventy tons of iron per week and was regarded as about the last word in blast furnace engineering. Later the use of charcoal was abandoned at the Eagle, and only Brier Hill coal used for fuel. It was at this furnace that the first effort was made to operate continuously day and night.

THE RAW COAL FUEL ERA

The discovery that Mahoning Valley -coal could be used without coking for blast furnace fuel was made in July, 1845, by David Himrod, later a prominent Youngstown ironmaster, while he was operating a small stack called the Clay furnace, owned by Himrod & Vincent and located in Mercer County, Pennsylvania. It was, like so many other important discoveries, largely the result of accident. As charcoal was growing scarce and a supply was not always available, Mr. Himrod had arranged for coking coal found near his furnace, which is much the same as that of the Mahoning Valley, although not quite so rich in carbon, and using this coke in combination with charcoal. The coking was done in what were known as "coke ricks," the coal being piled with wood and covered with earth during the process. It was an operation requiring skill and when some trouble occurred with the men who were carrying it on at a time when the supply of charcoal was short, Himrod made

YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 667

the experiment of using raw coal in .order to prevent the stack from "freezing up." To his surprise, the furnace continued to work fairly well, although producing iron of a rather poor quality. It seems probable, however, that the honor of bringing about the use of Mahoning block coal as a blast furnace fuel is really due to Hon. David Tod, then engaged in mining and shipping coal from his mines at Brier Hill, for soon afterward Wilkes, Wilkinson & Company, a concern in which Tod was interested as a partner, successfully started at Lowellville a furnace, which had been designed to use this coal exclusively. This Lowellville stack, the original of the present Mary Furnace of the Sharon Steel Hoop Company, was under construction when Himrod's experiment was made, was blown in on block coal in 1846 and used this fuel successfully and exclusively for many years. It was designed by William McNair and started under the supervision of John Crowther, who had been in charge of a furnace at Brady's Bend, in Pennsylvania.

The Himrod Furnace Company was at one time among the most important producers of pig iron in the Mahoning Valley. It was incorporated under the laws of New York in 1859 by Vincent C. Himrod, A. B. Cornell and others, Himrod being the largest local owner. This company erected three furnaces in Crab Creek, Youngstown, just north of Federal Street, the first being completed in 1859, the second in 1860, and the third in 1868. The company got into financial difficulties in the panic of 1873 and went into the hands of a receiver, Robert Walker, of Poland, then connected with a number of important enterprises, acting in this capacity. He leased the furnaces to the Brier Hill Iron & Coal Company in 1887, which operated them about one year, after which they were abandoned. The two older stacks were dismantled about 1888, and the other when the property was purchased as a site for its new works by the William B. Pollock Company after the South Market Street plant was burned in 1900.

Although the native ore supply in the Mahoning Valley had always been of a rather precarious sort, being confined to pockets in the hills, bog ore found along the creeks, and the black-band ore mentioned above, this disadvantage was no greater than that suffered by most other furnaces, for until the discovery of the great ore beds in the Lake Superior region there were few large deposits of iron ore available in this country. It was more than overcome from this time forward by the abundance of a cheap and excellent fuel, and the establishment of transportation facilities by the opening of the canal and the building of railroads, so that from 1845 onward the iron industry grew rapidly. In thirty years following no less than twenty-one blast furnaces were erected in the Mahoning Valley. These furnaces, with the names of their builders, the dates of their erection, and the capacity claimed for them, were as follows

The rated capacity of these furnaces is very generally exceeded in practice, and their total production of iron may be conservatively stated at 4.000,000 tons per year, or sixteen times that of the furnaces in operation in 1875.

Of the old type, only one remains, the small furnace at Niles, which

YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 669

is still charged by hand. All are equipped with tops, and all but one have modern skip hoists, eliminating the necessity for men at their tops. Many of these furnaces, however, are the old stacks first listed, rebuilt perhaps many times, and improved so as to make them thoroughly modern. The Struthers stack is the only merchant furnace left in the Valley—that is, it is the only one that sells its product in the open market, all the others being owned and operated by corporations having steel works in which the iron is used, generally before rt is allowed to cool.

There are but two puddling furnace plants left in the Mahoning Valley —once the greatest production center for this kind of iron in the country, with the exception of Pittsburgh. These are the Byers plant at Girard, which operates eighty-eight puddling furnaces, and the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company's, which has forty-six. With the coming of the Bessemer converter the passing of the puddling or "boiling" furnace was tragically swift, and with the development of the modern blast furnace the old type of stack disappeared almost immediately. The iron and steel industries never tolerated antiquated or inefficient methods, and no sooner had something better been discovered than old equipment was scrapped. This was made necessary by keen and merciless competition, but it was also in keeping with the spirit of the industry, Which has always been aflame with zeal for progress. The skies overhanging the Valley were lighted by the glow of Bessemer converters almost before the glare from topless furnaces had died down. The puddling furnace has been supplanted by the volcanic open-hearth, and in place of the pioneer hammer and slow muck bar train we have thundering blooming mills, rolling down a five-ton ingot in a few seconds.

When it was learned that native coal could be used as fuel in place of the charcoal which was becoming costly and scarce, it was thought in Youngstown that cheap and efficient fuel was assured for the furnaces for all time, as the coal deposits were considered inexhaustible. The rapid development of the furnace industry, with the accompanying growth of transportation and the iron-working business, soon demonstrated that this was an error, and the tremendous demand for native coal led to its being mined at such a rate that the deposits were soon exhausted. Even before this occurred the price of this coal had become very high. By this time Connellsville coke was to be had, however, and once again the industrial future of the district was made secure. At first this coke was mixed with Brier Hill coal, and later it was used extensively. This introduction of coke began about 1867, and by 1873 there were 3,763 beehive ovens in the Connellsville district. In 1875 very little coal was used in any of the Mahoning Valley stacks. At about the same period black-band ore disappeared and was supplanted by the iron oxides of Lake Superior and ores from other fields.

After exhaustion of the local ore supplies became an accomplished fact, a considerable quantity of iron ore was imported from Missouri, the greater portion of this coming from the celebrated "Iron Mountain" mines. Until about 1875 it is probable that about half of the ores consumed in this locality came from that point and from mines in the vicinity of Lake Champlain, in New York State.

670 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY

At this time a tremendous quantity of coke is consumed in the blast furnaces of the Mahoning Valley, and almost all of it is made in byproduct ovens. The large installations necessary for this operation involve the expenditure of millions, but they are highly efficient and economically as well as financially very profitable investments. In the process of making coke for blast furnace fuel, the companies equipped with such facilities are enabled to recover from the gases driven off in carbonizing the coal enough valuable by-products to cover much of the expense involved, and, after these products are extracted, the gas is burned in furnaces and under boilers, making a convenient and highly efficient fuel.

THE IRON-WORKING INDUSTRY

Although closely related to the making of iron, the working of this metal is and was an essentially different proposition and should be described separately. It may be said to have had its beginning in the Ma-honing Valley in 18o9, with the establishment of a bloomery at Niles by James Heaton, referred to in previous pages. In spite of the crude appliances at his command, Heaton produced excellent iron, using a process, or rather a series of processes of sufficient interest to merit a brief description here. The rough pigs cast in sand beds from metal as it flowed from the furnace were remelted in a charcoal fire and recast into plates one inch thick and about two feet square. These plates were cooled and broken up, the pieces being reheated until the metal assumed a pasty form, a light blast being used to assist in this. Then the iron was worked and gathered in halls on the end of an iron rod, and these, while still hot, were hammered into blooms. The blooms were again heated and again hammered, the product this time being a finished bar. The process was somewhat similar to that of puddling, which was introduced into this country from England about 1813. It was, however, much slower and much more expensive because of the repeated operations as well as because the furnaces were inefficient and it was difficult to secure enough heat to conduct the work rapidly. The product was iron as good as has ever been produced. From bars formed in this way the early blacksmith hammered many articles now made much more rapidly, but also having a much shorter life. Some of the work of these old time blacksmiths was really remarkable, but it was no more remarkable than the astonishing endurance of the iron, and bolts, nails, and other articles they hammered into shape from it more than a hundred years ago are often found in practically the same condition as when they left the hands of the artisan.

The second effort to work iron in a manufacturing way was made by Spencer & Company in 1840. They installed a small forge, worked by means of a steam engine, in a building located on the ground occupied at this time by Smith's brewery, in the western section of Youngstown, where they operated for a short time. Like many other pioneers in industry, they soon got into financial difficulties and their forge was sold under legal process. The purchaser was Asahel Tyrrell, of Tyrrell

YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 671

Hill. He removed the machinery to that place. When he proceeded to take down the stack, however, he met with an injunction and in the resulting litigation Hon. John Crowell and Judge Rufus P. Ranney, both later to win national fame as lawyers, were the opposing counsel. The plaintiff against Tyrrell was John Stark Edwards, a lineal descendant of his namesake in Revolutionary days. The court decided that the stack was a part of the plant, and Youngstown's first ironworking industry passed away to Tyrrell Hill and oblivion. The third rolling mill in the valley was built at Niles in 1841, and will be described later.

The fourth venture of this kind was made by the Youngstown Rolling Mill Company, formed by a group of local capitalists in 1846. They built a small mill designed to roll bars and bands, nails, sheets and a few other products from iron refined by a charcoal fire and light blast. The plant was equipped with eight nail cutting machines, and contained four puddling furnaces, two heating furnaces, one annealing furnace, one muck bar train, one ten-inch bar train, and one nail plate mill. This was quite an establishment for that early day and it had a rated capacity of about seven tons of bar iron and nails daily, but this output was seldom reached. One of the reasons for this was the difficulty in securing skilled workmen.

This was the first finishing mill in the Mahoning Valley, and probably the first in the Western Reserve, to make products other than iron bars. Its projectors were Henry Manning, William Rice, Henry Heasley, Hugh B. Wick, Henry Wick, Jr., Caleb B. Wick, Paul Wick, James Dangerfield, Harvey Fuller, Robert W. Tayler, Isaac Powers and James McEwen. The plant was located north of the canal on "The Flat," in the then southwest part of the city, on land now occupied by the Republic Iron & Steel Company. In spite of the business ability and energy of these incorporators, among whom may be recognized some of the ablest of original pioneers, the enterprise was not successful and, after being operated for a short time, it was shut down and remained idle until 1855. The plant was then sold for $25,000 to Brown, Bonnell & Company, under whose management it became not only the leading industry of the Mahoning Valley for many years, but one of the great iron works of the world.

Brown, Bonnell & Company was a firm composed of Joseph H. Brown, William Bonnell, Richard Brown and Thomas Brown, practical iron workers who had been employed in the industry at New Castle, Pennsylvania, had accumulated a little money, were possessed of ambition to succeed, and were equipped with the experience their predecessors lacked, while Dame Fortune also smiled on their enterprise. This firm started up the "Old Mill," but it was only a short time until additional capital was secured and extensive additions made. In 1864 a large additional mill was erected to meet the tremendous demand resulting from the Civil war. Soon afterwards the Phoenix and Falcon furnaces were acquired, together with coal mines providing fuel. In 1875 the firm was incorporated under its original firm name and still further extensions made to the works. At this time the equipment consisted of three blast furnaces, fifty-four puddling furnaces, eleven

672 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY

heating furnaces, forty nail machines, bar mills and other machinery. Railroad facilities had been provided and the fuel supply was obtained entirely from local coal mines and from beehive coke ovens at Dunbar, Pennsylvania, all owned by the company.

In 1879 the plant of Brown, Bonnell & Company was sold to a group of capitalists from outside of this district. The new owners were represented by Herbert C. Ayers. They purchased the majority stock and retained the name of the concern, electing the following officers: President, Herbert C. Ayers; vice-president and treasurer, F. H. Matthews; secretary, Asa W. Jones; general superintendent, John I. Williams; directors, Herbert C. Ayers, F. H. Matthews, A. W. Jones, John I. Williams, Ralph J. Wick, D. P. Ellis, C. A. Otis, Amasa Stone and W. H. Harris. Some changes and additions were made in the mills and they were operated by the new company until 1899, when they were sold to the Republic Iron & Steel Company.

In 1863 a plant known as the Enterprise Iron Works was erected in Youngstown. It was located along the Mahoning River, on the site now occupied by the Lower Union Mills of the Carnegie Steel Company. The projectors were Shedd, Clark & Company, and the mills were designed chiefly for the production of hoop and band iron, which, it may be said in passing, is an important product of the Union mills today. The company had no blast furnaces and secured its iron from the merchant furnaces of the valley, refining it in forty puddling furnaces, heated, as was always the case at that period, with coal or coke. In 1864 this concern, which had some of the usual difficulties attending the establishment of new mills, was reorganized and became Cartwright, McCurdy & Company, a firm which, like Brown, Bonnell & Company, was destined to become famous among ironmasters and to add to the reputation and prosperity of Youngstown in no small' degree. The original builders of this mill were Samuel K. Shedd, William Clark, Edward Clark, James Cartwright and Richard Lundy. The firm of Cartwright, McCurdy & Company was composed of James Cartwright, William H. McCurdy, Charles Cartwright, Samuel J. Atkins, William B. Haseltine and William E. Parmelee, all names honored and familiar to Youngstowners whose memories extend backward a generation. The new owners enlarged this plant until it was one of the most important in the country. They purchased the Eagle furnace and installed much rolling mill machinery. When the plant was merged, in 1892, in the Union Iron & Steel Company, it contained, among other equipment, two 8-inch muck bar trains, one 16-inch 3-high bar mill, and one 8-inch band mill. This mill was originally known as "The Little Mill," and the Brown, Bonnell plant as "The Big Mill," but while in the hands of Cartwright, McCurdy & Company, it outgrew its local name completely, having more than boo men on its payroll and making many different products in large tonnages. In 1892 this plant was consolidated with another, built in 1870 somewhat farther west by the Youngstown Iron Company, and the two were operated by a combination known as the Union Iron & Steel Company. It was from this that the names now used to distinguish these mills from one another

YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 673

arose, one being called the Lower Union Mill and the other the Upper Union Mill. In 1899 the Union Iron & Steel Company sold its property to the National Steel Company, which operated these mills under the name of the American Steel Hoop Company and later sold them to the Carnegie Steel Company, the present owner; and this has itself become a subsidiary .corporation, being owned by the United States Steel Corporation.

The Union Iron & Steel Company was organized on August 3, 1892 ; its property was taken over by the National Steel Company on February 27, 1899, and that company sold out to the American Steel Hoop Company on April 15, 1899. The last named company was acquired by the Carnegie Steel Company, with the National Steel Company, in 1903.

In 1871 the Mahoning Valley Iron Company, afterward Arms, Wick & Company and the Wick & Ridgeway Iron Company, built a rail mill plant on Crab Creek, in the northwestern section of Youngstown, although at that time it was not within the city limits. This firm was a joint stock company officered by Caleb B. Wick, president ; George Tod, vice-president ; Ralph J. Wick, secretary, and Myron C. Wick, treasurer. This mill was one of the largest in the Mahoning Valley and was excellently equipped, having a capacity of i,000 tons of iron rails and similar products per week. It was finished and put into operation just in time to encounter the terrific depression of 1873, which caused an almost absolute cessation of railroad building and destroyed the market for its principal product. All other lines of iron production were severely affected. The mill was, however, operated until 1875, when it was closed down and remained idle until 1879. The property was then taken over by the Brown-Bonnell interests, who had failed in a bitter legal fight to recover control of the plant sold to Herbert Ayers and his friends, as stated in a previous paragraph. The new owners abandoned the production of iron rails, which were becoming obsolete, and successfully operated the plant on other lines until it was sold to the Republic Iron & Steel Company, along with other properties in this district.

In 1878 Andrews Bros. & Company, who had erected two blast furnaces at Haselton, in Youngstown, purchased and dismantled a rolling mill which had been operated at Niles for some years before that date by Harris, Blackford & Company, and removed it to their Youngstown plant. The Andrews firm was composed of Chauncey H., Lawrence G. and Wallace C. Andrews, Lucius E. Cochran and James Nielson, the last two having been interested in the Niles plant, which had not proven successful in its original location. This was the beginning of what is now the Haselton plant of the Republic Iron & Steel Company. In 1882 it employed about 50o men and was being rapidly expanded, so that at the time of its sale to the last named corporation it was an important property.

In 1885 Chauncey H. Andrews, of the firm of Andrews Bros. & Company, donated a tract of eight acres of land on the south side of the Mahoning River, in the eastern suburbs of Youngstown at that time, to the American Tube & Iron Company, of Middletown, Pennsylvania, in consideration of the erection thereon of a tube mill plant. Doubtless

Vol. I-43

674 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY

Mr. Andrews was more or less influenced by his desire to create additional markets for local iron, but he was also a most energetic and public spirited citizen and his donation of this land, now worth an immense sum of money, must have been dictated also by his desire to benefit his city. The company built a tube mill, the first in the Mahoning Valley, on this site, beginning the production of pipe on October 16, 1886. Charles H. Mattheson was general superintendent of this plant, a position which was later held by Walter H. Kauffman. The American Tube & Iron Company was absorbed by the National Tube Company in 1899, and after a short time the new company abandoned this mill, removing the machinery to McKeesport. This plant was one of the first, if not the first, in Youngstown to have built about it a fence. Up to that time the mills had been open to the public, but here the workmen were required to use employment checks to gain entrance and outsiders had to secure a pass before entering the plant. It was a new experience and we are told by old residents that it was not a welcome arrangement and caused some dissatisfaction among the employes.

The above paragraphs describe the important iron and steel work which had been erected in the lower Mahoning Valley up to 1890, as nearly as is possible in their chronological order.

Reference will now be made to some of the other establishments which had to do with the growth of industry in the Mahoning Valley. most of these having been located in and about Youngstown, then as now the principal center of industry in the Valley.

In 1856 Homer Hamilton & Company established, at the corner of Boardman and Canal Streets, in Youngstown, a foundry and machine shop, which became an important institution in the early history of this city. This was the foundation of the widely known engine building establishment of the William Tod Company, now owned by the United Engineering & Foundry Company. It was purchased by William Tod & Company in 1878, and by that corporation sold to the United Engineering & Foundry Company in 1915.

The Lake Superior Nut & Washer Company started a plant at Youngstown in 1864 and operated it for several years. This plant was located among the trees that then lined the north bank of the Mahoning east of Market Street. Its original owners were John B. Ayre, Samuel Hale, Gustavus D. Simonds, George W. Simonds and Joseph G. Butler, Jr. This plant was later sold to Arms, Bell & Company, who operated it for some time. The machinery was later sold and removed to another city.

The Youngstown Bridge Works was once an important industry at Youngstown. Its plant was located east of the Center Street bridge, on land now owned by the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company. This plant was sold to the trust about 1900, and was dismantled, the equipment being combined with that of some other plants operated by the American Bridge Company.

In the same locality the Falcon Foundry and Machine Works was operated until some time after 1872, and Arms, Bell & Company conducted a nut and bolt factory in Youngstown at about the same period.

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In 1870 George Turner & Son established the Youngstown Spike Works on Crab Creek.

The manufacture of gas was begun in Youngstown in January, 1867. The mains at first extended only the length of Federal Street. In 1872 the mains were carried over the river to the south side and served a row of houses along that side of the river. Electric light was first used in Youngstown in 1888, at which time a private plant was installed by the G. M. McKelvey store. It was used to illuminate a tower on the building and was a great curiosity. Soon afterward a plant was put in at the Brown-Bonnell works.

One of the industries of the olden time that brought fame if not prosperity to Youngstown was the William Anson Wood Mower & Reaper Works, which sent mowers and reapers to all parts of this country and even abroad until the late '80s, when its equipment and the design of its product failed to keep up with the times and it was no longer successful. The plant was destroyed by fire in 1888, and was not rebuilt, the business being transferred to Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Booth, Millard & Company's foundry was also an important industry at one time. It later became, with a shop started by Brocklen & Jones, a part of the United Engineering & Foundry Company, and that plant occupies the original site of both these old industries.

The Morse Bridge Works, the Forsythe Scale Works, Andrews & Company's Stove Works, Woodworth, Lane & Company's Glass Roofing Works, the Youngstown Carriage Works, the William Tod Engine Company's Works, are among establishments well remembered by older citizens, but, with the single exception of the Youngstown Carriage Works, utterly gone or conducted under new names. The last named concern has survived the vicissitudes of more than half a century and is still in successful operation although, like Othello, it finds its occupation gone and has turned to the repairing and painting of automobiles as a substitute for the once profitable business of building carriages.

Doubtless other establishments existed and were once of interest in Youngstown, but this list includes about all that had enough prominence to be remembered through the years.

ROLLING MILLS IN 1880

According to the census of 188o, there were in the Mahoning Valley at that time the following rolling mills, producing principally bar iron, made in many different kinds and sizes, with a number of other products, among which were nails and spikes. A number of these had blast furnaces, the output of which is evidently included in these figures :

Name of Firm and Location

Annual Capacity Tons

No. of

Employes

Year Built

Brown, Bonnell Co., Youngstown

Cartwright, McCurdy & Co., Youngstown

Wick, Arms & Co., Youngstown

25,000

10,000

850

900

600

50

1846

1863

1876

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Mahoning Valley Iron Co., Youngstown

Youngstown Rolling Mill Co., Youngstown

Corns Iron Co., Liberty Twp. (Trumbull Co.)

Falcon Nail & Iron Co., Warren

Jesse Hall & Son, Hubbard

Niles Iron Co., Niles

L. B. Ward, Niles

Ward Iron Co., Niles

C. Westlake & Co., Warren

4,500

8,000

7,200

11,000

4,000

12,000

7,500

14,000

9,000

363

350

200

180

125

280

150

200

75

1871

1871

1873

1867

1872

1872

1864

1841

1870

The census of 1880 gives the number of puddling furnaces in operation in the valley as 248; the number of spike machines as 97; the nu her of rolling mill employes as 3,293; the number of blast furnace em ployes as 755, and the number of coal miners as 3,157.

EARLY INDUSTRIES AT WARREN

At Warren, where John Young seems to have been the first builder, as he was at Youngstown, industries of a domestic character were established as rapidly as the growth of population justified them, but little or no effort was at first made to develop ironmaking, and the flourishing steel industries now located there are of comparatively recent origin. The first blast furnace was not erected at Warren until 1870, and it was also the last enterprise of the specific character, at least up to the present, although a modern stack is now projected there in connection with the works of the Trumbull Steel Company.

The first grist mill was built at Warren by Henry Lane, Jr., and Charles Dally. They began the work in June, 1800, and with the help of their neighbors, who had been compelled to take their grain to Lanterman's Falls over very bad roads, the dam across the river was well under way before winter set in. It was washed out, however, the following spring and the mill did not get into operation until 1802. S00n afterward another grist mill was erected at Warren by George Lovclace and Ephraim Quinby, and later still a woolen mill, with carding machinery operated by water power, was built there by Levi Hadley, Warren being therefore in advance of Youngstown in the starting of the woolen industry. As the Warren folk had been glad to haul their grain fifteen miles over bad roads to be ground, so the Youngstown people were willing, for about two years only, to haul their wool the same distance to have it carded for spinning into yarn.

Horace Stevens was the first maker of hats at Warren, and he could produce from the native wool in his little shop, a very respectable "beaver." as well as woolen hats of other kinds. Samuel Chesney made furniture and coffins. Jacob Harsh conducted a blacksmith shop, and Henry Stiles a harness shop. Walter King was the watchmaker, styling himself also a silversmith. There were five stores in Warren in 1816,

YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 677

most of them occupying a single room in an ordinary dwelling, as was often the custom among the merchants of those days. In 1816 Benjamin Stevens took over the Hadley Woolen Mill, installed spinning and weaving machinery and turned out very good satinet and fulled cloth. This enterprise attained considerable growth and an honored old age, being abandoned only in the last decade of the Nineteenth Century, after surviving numerous changes of ownership, a disastrous fire and the other vicissitudes of almost a century.

The next industrial enterprise at Warren to reach considerable proortions and continue for a long period was a furniture factory started ere in 1845, by Truesdell & Hitchcock. It was located in a small frame building about where the Erie depot now stands. After two years Mr. Hitchcock, who had been making furniture at Girard for a number of years, moved his equipment to Warren and became a partner with Truesdell. The firm then opened a store on Main Street. In 1867 both store and factory were burned, within a few weeks of each other, and although the loss to the partners was heavy, they at once rebuilt the factory and opened their store in another building, later erecting a new store, in which they continued the business for many years and attained considerable success, their plant being at one time among the most important industries at Warren.

In 1848 Edward Spear, for many years one of the prominent figures in business life at Warren, began the manufacture of doors, sash and blinds in what was then regarded as the largest and most completely equipped planing mill between Pittsburgh and Cleveland. This business continued until 1862 under the direction of the founder, who took one of his sons into partnership in the interval. In the year named the business was purchased by Warren Packard and conducted by him until 1872. It was then destroyed by fire and later rebuilt on a larger scale by McBerty & McCormick, and conducted by them until 1876, when it was sold by them to W. B. Payne. This enterprise is now conducted by C. L. Wood, the product being sash doors and similar materials.

The firm of H. C. Reid & Company conducted a machine shop and foundry at Warren for many years, doing a variety of work. This plant was established in 1865 and, like so many of Warren's industrial establishments in those days of poor fire protection, was burned out twice. After the first fire, only a year subsequent to beginning operations, the firm bought the machine shop and foundry of Hill & Medbury, in which it continued business until 1873. In that year a fire started by a discharged employe destroyed the entire establishment, entailing a loss of about $50,000. After some delay, the works were again erected and are still in operation, being known as the Trumbull Manufacturing Company, which has a large and complete foundry and machine shop and does an extensive business.

The Warren Machine Works was one of the most important of the early enterprises in that city. It was established in 1850, the first superintendent being W. H. Hall and the owners a number of Warren business men. In 1878 this plant was bought by Judge Kinsman, who conducted it for some time, and later it was operated by F. Kinsman. Still

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later this property was merged into the Trumbull Manufacturing Com pany, already referred to.

The first carriage factory at Warren was started by Davison & M Cleary in 1830. They did business in a small way for several years an then separated. McCleary later taking in as a partner H. C. Belden, an the two building up a large business. At one time their concern employe fifty hands and made most of the light vehicles used in the Upper Ma, honing Valley. This establishment was typical of the old-time carriage shop, in which complete vehicles were made and repair work done at the same time. In 1869 the business changed hands and was conducted for five years by Belden & Goist, who later sold it, the purchaser being William Drennen, who operated the plant for some time. This establishment is no longer in existence.

In 1838 a steam saw and gristmill, the first establishment of this kind to use steam power in the Mahoning Valley, was started at Warren. It was not successful, and the property was later acquired by Daniel Derr, who sought to add to the revenue by the manufacture of whiskey. This was an entirely legitimate and thoroughly respectable business at that time, even in Warren, and it was profitable until about 1861, when the increase in revenue taxes following the beginning of the Civil war, together with other conditions brought about by the same cause, put the distillery out of business. The mill was operated until 1869, when it was involved in one of the disastrous fires occurring at Warren and was never rebuilt.

D. W. Camp established a factory for the manufacture of bagging at Warren in 1859, and later added a flouring mill. He used material obtained as residue in the operation of a flax mill at Farmington. The business was later incorporated with a capital of $200,000, and was for many years one of the largest and most successful of Warren's industries.

Only one blast furnace has been built at Warren during its entire history, and; in spite of the great development in the steel industry in that vicinity during recent years, no plant there is now equipped with facilities for making its own iron. The furnace referred to was built in 1870 by William Richard, who used in its construction cut stone from the locks of the canal. It was a thirty-ton stack, located along the canal bed and designed to provide iron for the foundries and one rolling mill then in operation at Warren. The foundries have been referred to. The rolling mill was known as the Packard & Barnum Iron Company, was founded about 1865 and at first consisted of a steam hammer and some other equipment for making forgings. It was very successful and in 1871 the proprietors decided to enlarge it by the installation of six puddling furnaces and an 18-inch muck bar mill. They probably overreached their capital, for in 1873 the firm failed and the plant was taken over by William Richards, who also owned the blast furnace. Richards added ten puddling furnaces and two heating furnaces, making the plant a quite respectable iron establishment. In 1877 it was partially destroyed by fire, and two years later Richards sold it to Covington Westlake, who changed the name and operated the plant under the title of the Westlake

YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 679

Rolling Mills. He also put in machinery for making chains, pins and other similar articles and increased the number of men employed to 175, making this the largest manufacturing establishment in Warren for a number of years. It was finally bought by Henry Wick, of Youngstown, who reorganized it under the name of the Trumbull Iron Company, and conducted it for some time, J. A. Campbell, now president of The Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company, being general superintendent. The plant was acquired by the Union Iron & Steel Company, about 1892.

RUINS OF LOCK ON OLD OHIO AND PENNSYLVANIA CANAL

This company dismantled the rolling mills and other machinery, removing the greater part of it to Greenville, Pennsylvania, and some of it to Youngstown. The blast furnace was stripped and later razed, the stone, being used for building purposes.

The Warren Tube Company was founded at that place in 1889, the promoters being almost entirely Akron business men. Among them were Albert and David Page, William Palmer, Jacob Koch and E. B. McCrum. Winslow Alderdice was the first manager. The manufacture of iron tubes at this plant was not, for some reason, a commercial success, and when the National Tube Company was organized, the plant was

680 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY

taken over by that combination. The tube mills were dismantled the manufacture of this product was discontinued. For a time it idle, but it was started up again with Samuel Siddle as the owner. plant is still in operation as a foundry and machine shop.

One of the most interesting stories in connection with the industries at Warren is that of the Packard Electric Company, later known as the New York & Ohio Company and now a unit of the General Electric Company. With this is also involved the story of the Packard automobile, famous all over the world. This company was organized by W. D. and J. W. Packard, sons of one of the pioneer iron masters of Warren. J. W. Packard was the mechanical genius of the family. In 1884 he graduated from Lehigh University and at once began experiments with mechanical contrivances of various sorts, centering his energies on the electric lamp and the automobile. Going to New York he donned overalls and secured a job in the Sawyer-Han Electric Works, one of the first concerns to manufacture incandescent electric lamps. After learning the practical side of the business he returned to Warren and with his brother organized the Packard Electric Company, and bought a factory that had been erected in 1880. As the outgrowth of that enterprise Warren has become the second largest producer of electric lamps in the United States, the factories of the General Electric Company there employing many hundreds of people. From it came also the present Packard Electric Company, the largest maker of gas engine ignition cable in the country.

In 1896 J. W. Packard purchased a tricycle which was operated by - a primitive gasoline engine. He experimented with this for several years and finally purchased, in 1898, the first automobile having four wheels to be made in this country. After trying to improve this machine for some time he decided that it was faulty in design and proceeded to build a real automobile. The result was the production, in 1899, of the first gasoline car of the Packard line, which was built in the small shop at Warren and tried out on the streets of that city.

The new car having demonstrated its ability to run, little difficulty was found in organizing a company to manufacture it, and a considerable plant was erected in Warren. In a few years it was necessary to increase the force of mechanics beyond that which could find homes in Warren, and after an unsuccessful attempt was made to provide additional housing facilities on the part of the city, the factory was removed to Detroit. At that time about 200 men were employed. The Packard factories have since grown to most important industrial units, employing about 6,000 men. The transfer of this interest to Detroit probably decided the future of that town as the center of the automobile industry, which might otherwise have remained at Warren, a place in every way admirably located for that distinction.

The Stiles Timber Company was a concern which for a time achieved prominence and importance at Warren. It did a very large business for about eight years in the late '9os, cutting and marketing much of the splendid oak timber that covered a large part of northern Mahoning and all of Trumbull County. This concern furnished a considerable part of

YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 681

the oak timbers used in the construction of the Panama Canal. It is still in business, but its operations have dwindled considerably, owing to the exhaustion of the native timber.

Warren's first electric light was produced by a dynamo set up on a truck and located near the bridge over the Mahoning by J. W. Packard in 1891. A portable steam engine furnished the power and the system consisted of three lights hung over the street at central points. They attracted much attention and were the foundation of the present Warren Electric Company.

Warren's more important industries at this time are modern steel works described elsewhere, and the remainder of its present day industries are referred to in the chapter giving the history of the municipality.

EARLY INDUSTRIES AT NILES

Reference has already been made to the establishment at Heaton's Furnace, the original name for the present city of Niles, of a grist mill and bloomery at which the first bar iron in Ohio was manufactured. The dam and millrace connected with this pioneer industry are still to be seen, and a flouring mill is still in operation on the site of the mill, although the original establishments have otherwise disappeared, together with the Old Maria Furnace, which was a later addition to them. They had a long life, however, and were for many years the only industries of importance in that immediate locality, the blast furnace surviving until 1854 and being operated in all about forty years. James Heaton was succeeded in 1830 by Heaton & Robbins, a firm composed of his son and son-in-law, and later Robbins left the firm and Warren Heaton continued the business until 1842, when he died. The old furnace was then leased to McKinley, Reep & Dempsey, later to Jacob Robison & Co., Robison & Bowell, and finally to Robison & Battles, its last operators. At the expiration of their lease no one could be found willing to undertake its operation and it was torn down.

Early in 1841 a firm composed of James Ward, William Ward and Thomas Russell moved a plant they had established at Lisbon, Ohio, to Niles and began the operation of a rolling mill, probably the first one west of Pittsburg, and thus gave to Niles, in addition to the honor of being the first place at which bar iron was made in Ohio, also the credit of being the first place at which iron was rolled west of the Allegheny River.

This firm was known as James Ward & Co., and it was destined to play a prominent part in the history of Niles as well as of the entire Mahoning Valley. Its plant contained one stand of muck bar rolls and three puddling furnaces, the latter being among the earliest in this country. The Wards had come from England and brought with them this new method of working iron. It gave them a great advantage and, in spite of the difficulty they found in securing sufficient pig iron, they soon built a prosperous business and shipped their product to all parts of the west to be then reached by way of the canal, which had just commenced business. They made bar iron, horse-shoe iron, sheet, bar and

682 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY

a special mixture of iron and steel scrap called "Dandy Tire" iron, the forerunner of the present mixtures of this kind, which was in great demand for wagon tires because of its good welding and wearing qualities. Later Geo. C. Reis became a partner in this firm, which gradually expanded its equipment until it was among the leading makers of iron in the Mahoning Valley.

After the abandonment of the Old Maria Furnace in 1854, James Ward & Co. leased the Falcon Furnace at Youngstown for a number of years, and in 1859 built a new furnace, called the Elizabeth, on the opposite side of Mosquito Creek from the old stack. This was a modern furnace for those days, having a capacity of 40 tons per day and being 65 feet in height, with a diameter of 14% feet at- the bosh. It remained in operation at Niles until 1881, when it was dismantled and removed to Youngstown by the Mahoning Valley Iron Company, into the hands of which it had fallen during the final readjustment following the financial troubles of the builders in 1874. It is still in operation and is now known as the Hannah Furnace of the Republic Iron & Steel Company.

The business of James Ward & .Co. continued to grow and expand in a gradual and sound way until the opening of the Civil war, when it became, like all other iron works, very prosperous. Its progress was interrupted by the tragic death of James Ward, the founder and principal partner, who was assassinated while on a visit to the Elizabeth Furnace after attending church on the evening of July 24, 1864. Following this occurrence, the business was conducted by William Ward until the settlement of his brother's estate, which conveyed the majority interest into the hands of James Ward, Jr., his only surviving son, who occupied a commanding position in the enterprise from that time forward. Under his management in 1866 the firm built a practically new mill with much increased capacity on the site of the original plant. The next year it erected the plant known as the Falcon Iron & Nail Works, a subsidiary company being organized for this purpose. In 1867, James Ward sent a man to Russia to study the method of making "Russia" iron, a highly finished and planished sheet much in demand for the manufacture of stoves and commanding a fabulous price because it had to be imported from abroad. He was probably led into the belief that this was feasible by the success which had attended the making of a substitute for Scotch pig iron from black-band and Lake Superior ores. After the expert returned and reported that "Russia" iron could be produced in this country, the Ward interests built the "Russia" Mill, a plant that secured for Niles some brief notoriety, but brought no great profit to its builders or to the town. The mill was completed in 1868. The roll stands and other parts of the plant where the sheets were treated were enclosed and carefully guarded, and for months every effort was made to produce a sheet as good as the Russian product. The experiment was at last given up and the mills devoted to the production of ordinary black sheets.

The expansion of the Ward operations proved to have involved over-extension on the part of the corporation, and when the financial depression of 1873 came on it was "spread out" to such an extent that

YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 683

it could not weather the storm. A receivership was the only solution, and the affairs of the company were turned over to John M. Stull of Warren and J. R. Gust of Smithville, appointed by the court for that purpose. They endeavored to keep the business together and handle it in such a way as to protect the creditors, but without avail. The conditions were such that the leading creditors were compelled to take over such parts of the works as they could hope to operate, and the result was a breaking up of the old and honorable concern established more than thirty years before and known from one end of the country to the other for its conservatism and good credit. Another result was a desperate struggle on the part of numerous other concerns, many of which were involved. Almost every merchant furnace in the Valley was affected, and some of them had difficulty in avoiding failure. The first Ward failure, as it is known, occurred in February, 1874.

A company known as Harris, Blackford & Co., and composed of Niles people, built a plant at Niles in 1865, the equipment consisting of bar, sheet and puddle mills. This concern failed in the panic of 1873, and was purchased by C. H. Andrews and L. E. Cochran, of Youngstown, who operated it for some time as the Niles iron Company and finally removed it to Youngstown, where it became part of the plant of Andrews Bros. & Co., later to be absorbed by the Republic Iron & Steel Company.

After the failure of James Ward & Co., in 1874, the parties heavily interested in that concern made efforts to keep the various mills in operation, a number of companies being formed for that purpose. One of these was known as L. B. Ward & Company, the principal interest in this being owned by Lizzie B. Ward, wife of James Ward, Jr. This company took over the "Russia" Mill, which it operated for a number of years, James Ward, Jr., being manager of this plant as well as that of the Ward Iron Company, another corporation organized to operate the original Ward Rolling Mills.

Another enterprise closely connected with the Ward Mills, although built and operated by a separate company, was the Ward Furnace. This stack was built in 1870 by William Ward & Company and operated by that firm until 1875, when it was caught in the aftermath of the original failure and passed into the hands of trustees appointed on the petition of creditors. It was then blown out and remained idle until 1879, at which time it was purchased by John R. Thomas, repaired and enlarged and operated successfully until it was bought by the National Steel Company. It is now owned by the Carnegie Steel Company and enjoys the distinction of being the only furnace in the Mahoning Valley operated without an automatic dumping device for charging the burden.

The Falcon Iron & Nail Works were built in 1867, being one of the large extensions made by the original Ward interests under the management of James Ward, Jr. They were equipped with twelve puddling furnaces and three roll trains and designed to produce nail plate sufficient to keep in operation forty-four nail cutting machines. These works were, of course, involved in the calamity that overtook the firm of James Ward & Co. in 1874, and in the reorganization that followed

684 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY

they were taken over by creditors. From 1875 the officers of this company were John Stambaugh, president ; Henry Wick, vice president; Myron I. Arms, secretary and treasurer. This organization, composed of Youngstown men, operated the plant successfully until it was sold to the American Steel Hoop Company in 1899. It was soon afterward dismantled and the equipment distributed to other points. For many years this was one of the most important industries at Niles.

After the receivership the original Ward plant had been taken over by a new company known as the Ward Iron Company. In the depression of 1884-87, both this company and the concern known as L. B. Ward & Co. failed, this disaster causing the failure of the banking firm of A. G. Bentley & Co., as well as a number of other concerns more or less closely related to the James Ward enterprises and built on a somewhat similar system of financing. When this occurred the old Ward Mill was shut down and never operated again. The Russia Mill, operated by L. B. Ward & Co., was taken over by the Falcon Iron & Nail Company. In 1891 this company built the McKinley Tin Plate Mill at Niles, the first enterprise of importance in this line to be undertaken in the United States. In doing this a third honor was conferred on Niles, that town being selected as the birthplace of an industry which has exemplified the possibilities of a protective tariff in building American manufactures and has become one of the most important lines of production in this country, now exporting its product to all parts of the world.

The Globe Foundry & Machine Works is among the oldest industries now in operation at Niles. It is a foundry and manufacturing establishment started in 1858 by Thomas Carter. In 1873 it was consolidated with the firm of James Ward & Company, but in 1874 reverted to original owners, by whose descendants it is still operated successfully.

The Niles Boiler Works, established in 1871 by Jeremiah and George Reeves, is still in successful operation and is an important and modern plant.

Briefly stated, the above contains the history of industries at Niles of any considerable importance previous to 1900. Those established since that period are fully described in another portion of this chapter, many details being there given which are impossible in connection with the industries of a generation or more ago. It may be noted here also, that, with the exception of Youngstown, Niles and Warren industries, which seem to have been at all times closely connected with the general industrial, situation of the Mahoning Valley, no attempt has been made to describe separately the early industries of the various towns and villages, these having been adequately covered in the chapters devoted to the local history of these communities. There have been, however, a few enterprises of such curious and general interest as to justify a deviation from this rule.

One of these was a pottery plant established in 1816 at the Salt Springs, in Weathersfield Township, by a firm known as Orrin, Dunscom & Bristol. Little can be ascertained concerning this enterprise, as few records have been left by its promoters and subsequent owners. It was in operation up to about 1850, however, and produced various kinds of

YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 685

glazed and unglazed ware. It was probably abandoned because of the discovery of better grades of clay elsewhere, but it seems to have been the progenitor of the extensive modern works producing materials of a similar kind at East Liverpool. Boyhood recollection is that the principal product of this concern was an article forming at that time a part of the necessary equipment of bedrooms.

Another was the discovery of blackband ore in a coal mine at Mineral Ridge, which had so large a part in the destiny of the Mahoning Valley from an industrial point of view. The first coal was mined at Mineral Ridge in 1835, being taken from a drift driven into a hill on the farm of Michael Ohl, in Austintown Township. This mine was opened by Roger Hill, a coal miner from Pennsylvania, whose practiced eye had detected the outcrop. He found the coal four feet thick, the lower portion being a peculiarly heavy material resembling in some ways anthracite. Hill secured a sample of the latter, thinking he had found anthracite coal. It would not burn, so, this was left in the mine and the top portion of the vein taken out as a market was found for it. Until 1855, by which time a considerable portion of the coal deposits at Mineral Ridge and in other portions of the Mahoning Valley had been mined, this bottom strata was left untouched. Then John Lewis, a Welsh miner who had been employed at Monmouthshire, England, but was then working in one of the mines operated by James Ward & Company, suspected that the "rock" was really iron ore, being struck by its resemblance to Scotch blackband. He told Mr. Ward of this and was instructed to mine some of the material for a test. It was taken to the old Maria furnace, calcined in the usual way, and charged into the burden. The result was an excellent grade of iron and a much larger yield than had yet been obtained from native ores. Later every working containing this ore was remined, and a considerable portion of the available deposit was smelted before its true value was discovered, which was not until 1868. Previous to that time considerable difficulty was experienced with this ore, although it was a great improvement over the kidney and bog ores formerly used, and probably prevented the total eclipse of the iron industry when those were exhausted.

But in 1878 Carl A. Meissner, now chairman of the Coke Committee of the United States Steel Corporation, then a young chemist at Brier Hill, discovered that by mixing blackband ore and Lake Superior ores in the right proportions it was possible to produce an iron as good as could be imported. This valuable deposit of ore was exhausted within ten years of this discovery, every accessible ton of it being removed from the mines.

The first coal was shipped to Cleveland from Mineral Ridge in 1857, by Rice, French & Company.

MINERAL RIDGE FURNACES

William Porter built a blast furnace at West Austintown in 1857-58 and operated it for two years on ores secured from local deposits. It

686 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY

was known as the Meander furnace, being located on the banks of Meander Creek. This stack was sold to Jonathan Warner and Capt. James Wood, of Pittsburgh, in 1860, when its builder became financially involved. It was later removed to Mineral Ridge and rebuilt and improved. A second furnace was also built at Mineral Ridge by Mr. Warner, in company with others, in 1863. Later the company operating this furnace became involved, and it was purchased by Mr. Warner. In 1870 both these furnaces were purchased by James Ward, Jr., of Niles, whose wife was associated with him in the transaction, but a year later they were, for some reason, again taken over by Mr. Warner. When the Ward disaster came in 1874, Jonathan Warner was involved and the furnaces were tied up for a time. Before their operation was resumed the coal and ore deposits in their vicinity had become so depleted that they were never again lighted. Both stacks have long since been torn down. It was at one of these old Mineral Ridge stacks that Jonathan Warner first successfully produced the grade of iron known as "American Scotch," making it from blackband ore alone, instead of from a mixture, as was done in the production of "Brier Hill Scotch," some years later.

About 1870 an establishment known as the Brown Iron Works, at which a foundry and machinery for the building of mine cars formed the principal feature, was started at Mineral Ridge. Later it passed under the management of a man named Ohl, and still later, about 1897, it was taken over by a new company, named the Mineral Ridge Manufacturing Company, largely composed of Youngstown men, and the manufacture of hoists begun. This company sold the plant in 1904 to Young & Webb, who continued to operate it under the same name. It has since been reorganized as the Ohio Steel Products Company, which has greatly enlarged the plant and equipped it with new machinery, as well as extending its operations to other lines.

EARLY INDUSTRIES AT GIRARD

The beginning of the iron industry at Girard was the blast furnace erected there in 1866-7 by the Girard Iron Company. This company was composed of David Tod, William Ward, William Richards, and Joseph G. Butler, Jr. It was a partnership, and the agreement on which it was based is reproduced herewith because it shows vividly the manner in which business was conducted in those days among the men who afterward had so much to do with the development of the Mahoning Valley. This agreement was as follows :

"David Tod, William Ward, William Richards and Joseph G. Butler, Jr., agree td associate themselves together for the purpose of erecting and working a blast furnace at or near the village of Girard, Trumbull County, Ohio. And for said purpose, agree as follows :

"1st—That the name of the firm shall be 'Girard Iron Company.

"2nd—The capital stock shall be One Hundred Thousand Dollars, of which each of the partners shall furnish or contribute one-fourth, or Twenty-five Thousand Dollars, and pay or furnish the same as re-

YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 687

quired from time to time for the business of the firm—and to equalize the payments, an interest account, at the rate of seven per cent., shall be opened between the partners.

"3rd—The said William Richards shall be the manager of said business, and as such shall superintend the construction and working of the furnace, and the said Richards on his part agreeing hereby faithfully and diligently to devote his time and attention to the said business.

"4th—The said Butler, it is agreed, shall be the General Agent of the Company, and as such Agent, shall have charge of the books, monies and affairs of the company, the purchase of stock, sale of iron and assisting the said Richards in the discharge of his duties, the said Butler agreeing hereby to devote his attention faithfully and diligently to the business of the firm.

"5th—The said. Richards and Butler shall have such reasonable compensation for their services until said furnace shall go into blast as the said Tod and Ward may fix and determine, and thereafter such compensation as may be fixed by the company to be in both cases paid by the firm.

"6th—The said Tod and Ward each agree to advise with the said Richards and Butler as to the management of said business, when called upon for said purpose, and to take a general interest therein ; but, as they are to be the sole judges of what may be faithful performance of this duty on their part, they are not to be allowed any compensation therefor.

"7th—Neither party shall sell or dispose of or encumber in any way his interest or any part thereof in the capital or business of said firm for the term of five years from this date, without the consent in writing of at least two other members of the firm, nor shall the death of either party within the term of five years in any manner interfere with or disturb the continuance and business of the said firm for said period ; and to secure a faithful performance of this latter provision, each of the said parties agree to execute a will within a reasonable time hereafter, authorizing his executors or administrators to comply with the same.

"8th—The said David Tod and William Richards agree to sell to the said firm a site for said furnace, with a suitable quantity of ground to be selected by the said parties as soon as practicable, at the rate of One Hundred Dollars per acre.

"9th—The said Tod, for the firm of H. Tod & Co., agrees to transfer and assign to the said Girard Iron Company firm the coal lease and rights therein granted by John Wise and Ethers to the said H. Tod & Company of the land known as the Widow Wise farm, at the cost price thereof to said H. Tod & Co., with interest; provided the said Ward, Richards and Butler elect to take the same at any time before the first day of April next.

"Brier Hill, February 5th, 1866.

"DAVID TOD,

"WILLIAM WARD,

"WILLIAM RICHARDS,

"JOSEPH G. BUTLER, JR."

688 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY

Having formed their partnership with this simple document, the parties at once proceeded to erect what they proposed to make the most efficient blast furnace in the country. Mr. Richards had been sent to Europe to study the matter of design, and he found, at Dowlais, Wales, a stack that seemed to meet the specifications desired. He came home and erected the furnace, only to find that in some way the blue prints which he carried in his head had become slightly jumbled and the stack was practically upside down. This was the first furnace in the Mahoning Valley to be built of brick, and these were laid by Christ Deibel. The woodwork and trestles were built by John Allison, a brother-in-law of President McKinley. The furnace had as a power plant an engine and boiler removed from a Mississippi River gun boat. The new furnace had also a bell top and many other improvements, but it would not work and had to be taken down and rebuilt, a task which left the projectors very little capital.

They were not discouraged, however, and finally the furnace was working in good shape and producing iron of fine quality at a profit, the result justifying the faith placed in the two younger men by Governor Tod and William Ward, both older and more experienced but far less enthusiastic. This furnace was rebuilt a number of times and operated almost continuously, under different management, until it was finally sold to the A. M. Byers Company, which has erected there a large puddling plant at which iron for its Pittsburg tube mills is produced. The Girard furnace was the first in the Mahoning Valley to use a bell top, and in an old account of it the fact is mentioned that some difficulty was being found in inducing the men to work around it, as they were afraid of the gas and also of explosions. It was a very good furnace after it was gotten into working order, but, in spite of all the efforts made to insure its efficiency, was hardly the best in the country or even in the locality.

The early industries at Girard are treated more fully in the historical sketch of that village. In general it may be said that they consisted of a grist mill, a tannery and the usual small establishments in a community until the erection of the blast furnace above referred to. When the coal mining era began this town was an important center of that industry, and many mines were opened and worked in its vicinity.

In 1872 the Corns Iron Company built at Girard a rolling mill equipped with thirteen puddling furnaces and muck bar mills sufficient to roll the output of these furnaces. It was operated until in the early '90s, when it was sold to the Trumbull Iron Company, which later was taken over by the Union Iron & Steel Company. After a long and stubborn strike at this plant, which occurred after it became, through the combinations of that period, the property of the American Steel Hoop Company, the plant was dismantled.

In the meantime the extension of the Carnegie Steel Company's Ohio Works, the Brier Hill Steel Company, and other interests have approached the village so closely that they may be said to be a part of it and have added much to its business life and prosperity. These and the mills and furnace of the A. M. Byers Company make Girard a busy place.

YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 689

Industrial progress in the Mahoning Valley kept with that in other localities following the Civil war, but here expansion had been confined almost entirely to iron and allied industries. This fact will have been made apparent by the preceding pages, which have dealt, however, chiefly with individual enterprises.

Of the iron industry as a whole it may be said that in the late '80s Youngstown had become a most important center. It had one establishment rated as the largest single iron works in the world and others not far behind this in point of production and reputation.

From a "statistical abstract" issued by the Mahoning Valley Iron Manufacturers' Association for the period from July t, 1888, to July t, 1889, the following interesting facts concerning the iron industries of this district at that time have been obtained.

The member companies, evidently all the blast furnace operators and iron manufacturers of the Valley at that time, were : The Mahoning Valley Iron Company, the Andrews & Bros. Company, Girard Iron Company, the Ohio Iron and Steel Company, Falcon Iron and Nail Company, the Brier Hill Iron & Coal Company, Cartwright, McCurdy & Company, the Youngstown Steel Company, the Hubbard Iron Company, the Trumbull Iron Company, the Youngstown Rolling Mill Company, Andrews & Hitchcock, Coleman, Shields & Company, Thomas Furnace Company, Summers Bros. & Company, and the Struthers Furnace Company.

The greater part of these establishments are already familiar to the reader. Coleman, Shields & Company was a sheet manufacturing concern at Niles which operated sheet mills at that period, and also made sheet iron stoves.

Summers Bros. & Company was a firm operating a sheet mill at Struthers. This plant was afterward sold to the American Sheet & Tin Plate Company. It as well as many similar plants of smaller size are referred to in the chapters devoted to the communities in which they were located.

Henry 0. Bonnell was president of the Mahoning Valley Manufacturers' Association, and J. H. Sheadle was secretary. From its statement for the year ending July r, 1889, it appears that during that year shipments of finished material from Mahoning Valley Rolling mills were:

Gross tons of muck bar.

Net tons of finished iron

Gross tons of pig iron.

7,153

173,176

326,370

The amount of freight paid to the five railroads then serving the industries of the Valley during that year is given as follows :

New York, Lake Erie & Western

Pennsylvania Company

Pittsburg & Lake Erie

Pittsburg & Western

Lake Shore & Michigan Southern

$ 482,644.18

381,595.68

246,143.63

366,785.56

125,403.36

Total

$1,602,572.41

Vol. I-44

690 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY

The principal market for pig iron was then apparently in Pittsburgh; finished products went largely to the west and next to the lake trade. No mention is made of steel in this report, although it seems probable that at least some steel was being rolled on Valley mills at that time. If such was the case the iron manufacturers made no mention of the fact, either in their incoming or outgoing shipment reports.

On the death of Mr. Bonnell, Jos. G. Butler, Jr., became president of the Mahoning Valley Iron Manufacturers' Association. This organization, which had done much for the stability and success of the local industries, was disbanded and its place taken a few years later by the Bessemer Iron Association.

THE TRANSITION FROM IRON TO STEEL

From 1885 the iron industry began to decline for two reasons. In the first place Bessemer steel was rapidly coming to the front and supplying the market with a much cheaper and for most purposes better product. In the second place, the depression which preceded the election of Grover Cleveland in 1892 and was sharply accentuated after that event had a marked effect on this industry. Demand was reduced. An effort to reduce manufacturing costs had brought about serious labor troubles. There was a time during this period when every rolling mill between Warren and Lowellville was in financial straits, and although it may be said to the credit of Youngstown ironmasters that not a single establishment in that city ever failed to liquidate its indebtedness in full, the industry was in no position to embark on a new line requiring large capital and involving the scrapping of much costly machinery.

Without considering these facts it may seem surprising that, when other and far less progressive districts were already producing Bessemer steel in large quantities, the men who had developed the iron industries of the Mahoning Valley should have been still depending to a great extent on the demand for iron, or satisfied, at any rate, to secure steel for fabrication on their mills from outside sources. Whatever may have been the cause for this situation, it is a fact that no successful move was made toward the erection of a steel plant along the Mahoning until 1892. Five or six years before that date a group of Youngstown manufacturers had attempted to form a combination for this purpose, and negotiations had proceeded so far that Capt. "Bill" Jones, a famous steel man from Pittsburgh, had been approached with a proposition to act as manager of such an enterprise. The difficulty of securing an agreement as to the value of the various plants which were to form the combination prevented it from materializing.

No figures exist to show the production of the Mahoning Valley iron mills and furnaces during the year preceding the erection of the first steel plant here in 1894, but the statistics prepared by the American Iron & Steel Institute for 1892 are of much interest. These figures cover the territory then known as "The Valleys," this being the Ma-honing and Shenango valleys. In 1915 these valleys, with some adjacent territory, were erected into a new district, known as the Youngs-

YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 691

town District, by the American Iron & Steel Institute, and it is therefore possible to compare the growth of production in this territory during the twenty-six years from 1892 to 1918, which is the latest year for which statistics on this point are available. The figures for 1892 are equally instructive when compared with those for 1889, given on a previous page, as they show the rapid decline of the iron business here during that interval. It should be understood that the following figures, with the comparisons shown, are only relatively accurate, and those for the earlier years may have been more or less incomplete. They are for approximately the same territory, however, and are accurate enough, to show the tremendous development of the steel industry during that period.

PRODUCTION IN THE YOUNGSTOWN DISTRICT-1892-1918

1892

1918

Number of blast furnaces

Number of rolling mills and steel works

Production of pig iron, gross tons

24

16

2,604,344

51

47

6,250,611

Production of steel ingots and castings, gross tons

1,599,699

7,326,196

Production of finished hot rolled products

- Net tons -

Wire rods

Plates and sheets

Merchant bars

Skelp

Other hot rolled products

77,316

86,223

423,229

13,583

225,306

1,133,712

791,691

701,376

913,913

Total, net tons

600,349

3,765,998

Plates

Black sheets

Black plate for tinning and tin mill specialties

100,110

248,451

431,419

453,842

Total, net tons

1,133,712

Production iron and steel pipe

Production galvanized sheets

Production tin and terne plate

39,513

38.7

532,835

128,028

494,411

It will be seen that in 1892 almost 3,000,000 tons of pig iron were produced in the Mahoning Valley. Of this the greater portion was refined in puddling furnaces, but a considerable quantity was sold in the open market, and not a little of this came back to this district after being made into steel in other places and was rolled on Youngstown mills. It is probable that a portion of every product named in the foregoing table was of steel, with the exception of skelp. The use of steel for making pipe was then in an experimental stage, and there is no record

692 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY

of any steel skelp being rolled in this district until somewhat later. The day of iron was declining and that of steel had already dawned.

THE FIRST STEEL PLANT

The handicap of paying freight on Youngstown pig-iron to Pittsburgh and Wheeling, and also on the steel which was there made from it and returned to Youngstown rolling mills, had, long been apparent, but lack of means, and some lack of harmony, delayed the building of a steel plant at Youngstown until, in July, 1892, representatives of all the principal rolling mills and furnaces joined in the formation of the Ohio Steel Company. The directors, representing the different interests which sold pig-iron and used steel, were Henry Wick„ who was made president ; H. 0. Bonnell, vice president ; J. G. Butler Jr., secretary; Myron C. Wick, E. L. Ford, L. E. Cochran and Edmond L. Brown. On the death of H. 0. Bonnell on February 9, 1893, Mr. Butler was made vice president and Maj. James L. Botsford a director.

A large part of the $600,000 which was at first thought necessary was raised by local subscriptions and, with Julian Kennedy as engineer, plans were made for a Bessemer plant with two eight-ton converters blowing side by side. Various locations were considered, but Youngstown itself secured the plant as against outlying tracts by a bonus of $25,000 in cash and the exclusion from the city limits, with the higher tax rate, of 171 acres of the Hawkins farm lying west of the river, which is still the site of the Ohio works of the Carnegie Steel Company.

A few days after ground had been broken for the erection of the plant on this site the Democratic success in the November election, with the certainty of disturbances in the tariff, ushered in a period of sharp and continued depression which raised some question about the wisdom of going on with the new enterprise, and which by the financial conditions which it brought about greatly retarded its progress. The work was continued during the winter, however, and nearly all contracts for machinery awarded, but when Thomas McDonald came as superintendent early in February, 1893, with his practical and successful experience as manager of the converting department of the Duquense Works, he revised changes, and plans for two ten-ton converters blowing back to back, which were afterwards built, were adopted. This caused a considerable alteration in other arrangements and greatly increased the cost of the plant, but experience since has abundantly proved the wisdom of the change then made.

The capital stock was increased from $750,000 to $1,000,000, but because of the stringent financial conditions the increase was placed with difficulty. At the first annual meeting in July, 1893, James Parmelee was made a director, representing himself and Charles W. Harkness, who had made a large subscription. Construction went forward but with some hesitation, for during the summer of 1893 every mill in Youngstown was shut down completely for more than four months, and it was not until the beginning of January, 1894, that the stockholders definitely decided to complete the plant as soon as possible, including

YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 693

the large supplemental mill for making small billets and sheet bars, with all the buildings and equipment pertaining thereto. There were no other changes in the organization until in May, 1894, William H. Baldwin was made secretary, which position he filled during the existence of the company.

Although because of the scarcity of work contracts were placed at low figures, the necessary expenditure due to the enlarged plans ran up ere long to more than $1,500,000 for the total cost of the plant. An increase in the capital stock from $1,000,000 to $1,250,000 was provided for, but it was necessary to raise the additional money by a stockholders' loan of $250,000 for three years, convertible if desired into capital stock at the end of that period.

Finally construction was finished far enough to permit the starting of the great plant on February 4, 1895. The thermometer that day was 4̊ below zero Although no invitations were given, and only a few of the directors and their immediate families or friends were expected, others had somehow penetrated the inclosure, and several hundred people were gathered about the converter house to witness the blowing of the first heat.

About 10 o'clock the south converter, filled with molten metal, was turned up, and soon the long, brilliant flames roared from its mouth, while showers of sparks fell on the surrounding snow. When the flame dropped there was a halt, with sudden signals to those on the converter platform to go down, and to the crowd below to disperse, which they did as the converter still stood bolt upright. Not until afterwards did they learn that during the blowing of the heat the hydraulic pressure had gone off because of a break 400 feet away in the main pressure pipe. If the blower had not had presence of mind to stop on discovering this, and had attempted to turn the converter back, he would have dumped its liquid contents on the wet, frozen ground, caused an explosion, killed most of the- crowd, and wrecked the plant. The break was remedied by closing a valve, the heat poured, and the ingots made from it were successfully rolled on the mills in the afternoon. The manufacture of steel in Youngstown had begun.

In the subsequent operation of the plant thus started, the machinery, notwithstanding some incidental mishaps, worked well, and demon-, strafed the correctness of its design. The only defect was in a shortage of steam, which was temporarily remedied by installing a half dozen old railroad locomotives, which furnished steam from their boilers. The mill organization, under Mr. McDonald's wise selection and supervision, showed equal excellence, for at a dinner given by the foremen to Mr. Wick, Mr. Baldwin and Mr. McDonald on the third anniversary of the starting of the plant, only one change had been made in the more than twenty foremen employed.

Trade was still dull, orders were scarce, and the management was obliged to find money not only to carry as a floating indebtedness the remaining $250,000 which had been spent on the plant, but also the cost of pig metal and of all operating expenses, together with a loss of $74,-coo due to the small output during the first six months. This was suc-

694 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY

cessfully done then and afterwards only by reason of the additional liability of the stockholders, and by the excellence of the sheet and tin al plate bars which supplied the demand from that rapidly growing industry. The results showed that Henry Wick's ambition to build the best steel plant yet constructed had been realized.

At the time it was started the plant of the Ohio Steel Company consisted of four cupolas, two 10-ton converters, four 4-hole soaking pit furnaces, one 34-inch blooming mill, and one 3-high 23-inch mill on which could be rolled four inch billets, small billets one and one-half inch and larger, and sheet and tin plate bars. The Ohio plant always had the preference for these bars, in which it developed a large trade. The steel was rolled into these products without reheating from ingots about the size of those in present practice, four such ingots being poured from the charge in each converter. Iron was obtained from other furnaces in the two valleys and reheated in cupolas, as the plant had no blast furnace at the beginning. Blast furnaces No. 1 and 2, begun by the company in 1898, based on an issue of $r,000,000 of bonds, made their first blasts on February 15 and June 7, 1900.

The following interesting extract from the- report of William II Baldwin, secretary, for the year ending June 30, 1898, indicates the progressiveness of this pioneer steel organization, as well as giving a hint as to some of the considerations which led to the sale of the property by the original owners a short time later :

"On May 19, 1898, the Company decided to issue bonds to the amount of $1,000,000 for the purpose of obtaining money for the erection of two blast furnaces. The construction of these furnaces was formally ordered by the board on May 24th, 1898. Some important contracts for the machinery have already been placed. The work is being pushed forward as rapidly as plans can be made, and it is hoped that the furnaces will be well along towards completion by the time of our next Annual Meeting.

"During the three years and five months since starting on February 4th, 1895, the mill has made 833,858 tons of steel. The increase in the business has been due to following up the advantages possessed by our mill over others, and by the development of the sheet and tin plate bar trade. We have done our utmost to make bars of the best possible quality; and the fact that the mill has been able to make large quantities of this quality has enabled us to render useless many bar mills on which consumers rolled their own bars from billets, three years ago, because no steel works was then thought able to make them of sufficiently accurate weight and perfect finish. The replacement of these bar, mills by other tin mills, and the fact that the bars could be purchased cheaper than they could be rolled, have increased consumption.

"The large trade we have had has also forced the reconstruction of several other steel plants on lines like our own. The competition of these plants has been felt to some extent, and promises to be greater still, so that we are not warranted in depending upon a continuation of the superiority we have enjoyed up to this time.

"Not only this, but these competitors have their own furnace plants,

YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 695

while we are depending, not upon the market price of the metal, but upon the price fixed by a combination of furnaces, which may perhaps be reasonable, or may be high enough to give them any profits there, may be in the business, and reduce ours to a minimum or wipe them out altogether. We have considerable business on our books, and shall maintain our position in the trade as well as we can. The construction of the furnaces will involve the expenditure of a large amount of money, but we trust that the advantages to be gained, and the disadvantages to be avoided, will prove the wisdom of the step which has been taken in this direction."

From this extract it will be seen that the builders of this pioneer plant had excellent reasons for accepting the offer made to them for its sale. The price paid was apparently large, but it was really extremely small, as the subsequent earnings of the plant under practically the same management proved. A part of the property included was a one-fourth interest in the Biwabik Ore mine on the Mesabi, and this is estimated to be still worth more than the price paid for the property, in spite of the fact that this mine has already produced more than 20,000,000 tons of ore.

After being successfully operated for four years, in spite of almost insurmountable difficulties, arising principally from the hard times prevailing, the company passed into the hands of the National Steel Company, which acquired all of its capital stock in February, 1899. In the light of subsequent experience the consideration of $275 per share, which to, all but a few of the stockholders then seemed large, appears inadequate. Mr. McDonald more than anyone else at that time regretted the change because of the clear vision he had of the excellence of the plant and of its possible development ; but none of the stock had at that time sold for more than $130 per share, its ownership by concerns whose interests were to a considerable extent opposed to those of the company interfered with the loyalty which- a different ownership might have commanded, the path during the four years of operation had been difficult and perplexing, the danger of competition with the large interests forming seemed great, the very large profits which appeared in 1899 had been up to that time unknown, and it is not surprising that because of their war-weariness the stockholders willingly accepted what then seemed to be a good round price for their stock. In fact, when the price was about to be determined, one of the largest stockholders urged those who were conducting the negotiation not to let it fail if they could secure as much as $140 per share.

While it has since seemed unfortunate for Youngstown that this fine plant, which in more than one year since has shown a profit equal to its original cost, should not have remained in the hands of and been developed by Youngstown stockholders, it should not be forgotten that the men thus released were enabled with their capital to build up other Youngstown concerns and thus to aid largely in making the city what it is today.

696 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY

THE NATIONAL STEEL COMPANY

The companies which were taken over by the National Steel Company, either by the purchase of the capital stock or of the plants themselves, were the Ohio Steel Company, the Shenango Valley Steel Company of Newcastle, Pennsylvania, the Buhl Steel Company of Sharon, Pennsylvania, the Aetna-Standard Iron and Steel Company of Bridgeport, Ohio, with steel works at Mingo, Ohio, the Bellaire Steel Company of Bellaire, Ohio, and the King, Gilbert and Warner Company of Columbus, Ohio. The Union Iron and Steel Company plants at Youngstown (2), Girard, Warren, and Pomeroy, Ohio, were purchased by the National Steele Company at its formation in February, 1899, for $1,500, 000, leaving the owners the quick assets amounting to $550,000 more, about one-third more than par for the stock, but these plants were almost immediately turned over by the National Steel Company to the American Steel Hoop Company, which was formed about that time. The Thomas furnace at Niles, Ohio, was purchased by the National Steel Company immediately after its formation for $225,000, and it later purchased also the Ohio furnace at Zanesville, Ohio.

The National Steel Company operated the Ohio steel plant for more than two years, adding a third blast furnace which was started March 29, 1901, and the machinery for making rails, which rolled its first steel rail on May 14, 1900.

The United States Steel Corporation, which was formed on April 1, 1901, took over, among others, the National Steel Company, and the American Steel Hoop Company. The National Steel Company continued to operate the Ohio works, but on July 3, 1901, its officers resigned and were replaced by the corresponding officers of the Carnegie Steel Company, which practically put the operation of the works into the hands of that company. This arrangement continued until in March, 1903, the National Steel Company and the American Steel Hoop Company were merged with the Carnegie Company under the name of the Carnegie Steel Company of New Jersey, by which the operation of the Youngstown plants have since been carried on.

CHAPTER XXXIII

RECENT INDUSTRIAL GROWTH

CONDITIONS AND INCIDENTS CONNECTED WITH THE TREMENDOUS DEVELOPMENT OF THE IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRIES IN THE MAHONING VALLEY DURING THE LAST TWENTY YEARS-BRIEF SKETCHES OF THE MORE IMPORTANT ESTABLISHMENTS OF TODAY.

The close of the last century was a momentous period for the iron and steel industries of the Mahoning Valley. The combination and consolidation ot many of the principal plants with others had already created a peculiar situation—one involving possibilities which few men were willing to forecast. Iron had already passed from its commanding position and steel was the leading product. Long years of experience and large amounts of capital invested in iron-making had been scrapped to a large extent. The day of the individual enterprise which had done so much for this locality seemed to have passed. Investors feared the commanding influence of large combinations of capital, and, while there was an abundance of money and no lack of enterprise on the part of

local capitalists, it required supreme courage to engage in that industry

on the scale which had become essential to success.

The future of the Mahoning Valley seemed at that time rather uncertain, for plants that had done heroic service under other conditions were being constantly dismantled. Control of the local industries had passed to a great extent into the hands of outsiders, whose intentions were not thoroughly understood and whose only motive was supposed to be the operation of these industries in the manner which would achieve the most efficient production.

Under these circumstances the new century was ushered in and it is not to be wondered at there were those who doubted the future of the Mahoning Valley. Nevertheless, events proved that the experience, energy and ability of the men who had built the great iron and steel plants of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley, with the fact that here had been gathered what was probably the most efficient body of iron workers in America, overbalanced the control of outside capital and led to the rapid expansion of local industries to a point undreamed of in previous times.

When the excitement attending the purchase at what then seemed fabulous prices of all the local plants that could be obtained by the various interests invading the Mahoning Valley with great plans and seemingly unlimited capital, was over, but three plants of any importance

- 697 -

698 - PLANTS

YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 699

remained in the hands of their original owners. These were the Brier Hill Iron & Coal Company, the Ohio Iron & Steel Company, and the Andrews & Hitchcock Iron Company, all furnace plants and operating a total of five blast furnaces. Since that time more than a dozen new companies have been organized for the manufacture of steel or steel products, some of them to be later absorbed by others, but all contributing their share to the importance of the local field and the prosperity of the Mahoning Valley. These will be described in the following pages, together with many other concerns now contributing to the industrial activity of this region.

Before beginning this brief description of individual concerns it is proper that a word be said concerning the marvelous development of American iron and steel industries in general, to which these enterprises have contributed in no small degree.

The stimulus of patriotism, together with an opportunity for unusual profits, arising from the World war of 1914-18 brought American production of steel to the highest point in its history. The total output of the furnaces and mills of, the United States during 1918 is estimated at 47,000,000 tons. Of this amount about one-sixth was produced in the Youngstown district, a fact which indicates the relative importance of the Mahoning Valley as an iron and steel center but does not convey to the reader any conception of the complexity of operations involved or the many problems connected with the conduct of these operations.

The ore from which Mahoning Valley steel is made is transported from the Lake Superior region, a distance of about t,000 miles, by rail and water. Manganese used in converting this ore into steel was, until quite recently, all imported from abroad. The fuel used in blast and heating furnaces is, in large part, manufactured at the various plants from coal mined in Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Limestone is the only commodity secured within a short distance. Assembling these materials in quantities of many millions of tons is in itself a task requiring immense capital and the highest form of organization. Yet when this has been done the making of steel has only fairly begun.

Approximately 15,000,000 tons of ore were smelted in the Youngstown district during 1918. This ore had to be handled six times before it reached the furnace tops. It had to be carefully selected and analyzed, then mixed in proper proportions to yield iron suitable for making into steel by the open-hearth and Bessemer processes. After being made into steel, the steel had to be subjected to many different operations, each of which call for the highest practical and technical skill, as well as equipment of great cost and almost unbelievable intricacy. Finally, a great variety and volume of finished products had to be marketed in all parts of the world in order to yield scores of millions of dollars necessary to recompense those whose labor and capital were devoted to the operation and maintenance of the mills.

It is not possible within the limits of these pages to adequately picture the complexity of this great industry, or to convey to a reader unfamiliar with its details a true conception of the magnitude of such an accomplishment ; but it may be suggested that, beyond the material value

	1892	1918
Number of blast furnaces Number of rolling mills and steel works Production of pig iron, gross tons	24 16 2,604,344	51 47 6,250,611
Production of steel ingots and castings, gross tons	1,599,699	7,326,196
Production of finished hot rolled products	- Net tons -
Wire rods Plates and sheets Merchant bars Skelp Other hot rolled products	77,316 86,223 423,229 13,583	225,306 1,133,712 791,691 701,376 913,913
Total, net tons	600,349	3,765,998
Plates Black sheets Black plate for tinning and tin mill specialties	100,110	248,451 431,419 453,842
Total, net tons		1,133,712
Production iron and steel pipe Production galvanized sheets Production tin and terne plate	39,513 38.7	532,835 128,028 494,411