CHAPTER VIII MINOR CENTERS OF POPULATION NEW BOSTON-THE PEEBLES PAVING BRICK PLANT-THE BREECE BENDING WORKS-SCIOTOVILLE-ORIGINAL PLAT AND ADDITIONS-FIRST RESIDENCES AND BUSINESS HOUSES-THE CLAY INDUSTRIES-THE SCIOTO FIRE BRICK COMPANY- THE STAR YARD-CARLYLE PAVING BRICK COMPANY- LUCASVILLE- VALLEY TOWNSHIP HIGH SCHOOL-SOUTH WEBSTER- WHEELERSBURG-RARDEN-MOUNT JOY AND THE COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY-BUENA VISTA AND FRIENDSHIP. Within the limits of Scioto County are several growing villages, most of which have been incorporated. The largest of these is New Boston, virtually Portsmouth's eastern suburb, which assumed a separate village form of government in 1905. It is solely an industrial center. Other incorporated villages are South Webster, Bloom Township, and Rarden, in the township by that name. But Sciotoville in Porter Township and Lucasville, Valley Township, although not incorporated as villages, represent larger centers of 'population than those named as corporations. Buena Vista and Friendship, in the southwestern part of Nile Township, and Wheelersburg, in Porter Township, are also the centers of progressive and substantial rural communities. NEW BOSTON New Boston was platted in February, 1891, by James Skelton, A. T. Holcomb and M. Stanton, and its site originally covered thirty-seven acres of the John Rhodes farm. In the fall of 1898 the Yorktown addition was platted by Levi D. York, president of the Burgess Steel and Iron Works, which soon after were erected thereon. Under the successive corporations, the Portsmouth Steel Company and the Whittaker-Glessner Company, the plant has expanded into a very important industry and for years has constituted the mainstay of New Boston's stability. In October, 1900, M. T. Stewart platted another addition of seven acres under the name of Stewartville. THE PEEBLES PAVING BRICK PLANT The next important event in connection with the growth of New Boston was the establishment of the Peebles Paving Brick plant on its Vol. I-15 - 225 - 226 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION outskirts. The company which has developed a leading industry of Southern Ohio was incorporated in February, 1902, with a capital of $50,000. Operations were commenced in June, 1902, by John Peebles, president and treasurer, on the old Peebles farm, upon which had been uncovered an immense bed of fire clay. The location was about three-quarters of a mile west of New Boston, as it then' existed, and the clay deposits were placed in railroad connection with both the Norfolk and Western and the Baltimore and Ohio Southwestern lines. In 1905 New Boston was incorporated as a village and in the following year the Peebles property was platted as an addition to it. In August, 1902, the Peebles Paving Brick Company turned out its first product. Its plant now furnishes employment to 130 men, is valued at $100,000, and turns out 80,000 brick daily, or an annual output amounting to, over $138,000. The company also owns and operates a INDUSTRIAL VILLAGE OF NEW BOSTON plant on the Kentucky side of the river five miles southwest of Portsmouth, and for 1914 the output of the two establishments amounted to 15,691,000 brick, of which the New Boston plant manufactured 13,578,500. Besides, Mr. Peebles, president and treasurer, Adam Buch is vice president and Samuel Reed, secretary. THE BREECE BENDING WORKS Another large industry whose plant is within the corporate limits of New Boston is the Breece Bending Works. J. S. Davis, William Kent, M. T. Stewart and Joseph Morgan have been mayors of New Boston, Mr. Davis being both its first and last • incumbent. Its other officials are : Thomas D. Oneal, clerk ; Joseph L. Allen, treasurer; and Williajn I. Davis, marshal. The village has a number of good general stores, a drug store ; a well HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 227 conducted school, of which C. F. Reed is principal ; three religious societies—Methodist, Christian and Baptist. New Boston has a population of 1,800, which is scattered over a large area and therefore does not "show up." SCIOTOVILLE Sciotoville is one of the old and flourishing villages without a corporate existence ; in fact, for varied industries, extensive general business, a high grade of general intelligence and actual population, it is usually accorded a position next to Portsmouth itself. It claims a population of 2,000, but as it has no definite limits such an estimate would naturally vary. It is a neat and prosperous looking place, and it is hard to realize that it is not a village ; but incorporation is undoubtedly near, as at the last test only twelve voted against the assumption of village dignities. The first attempt at village incorporation was made as early as 1877. Its principal street is paved for about a mile, the expense for the improvement (by taxation) being apportioned as follows : State, 50 per cent ; county, 25 per cent ; township, 15 per cent ; abutting property owners, 10 per cent. That incident alone shows how complicated is the development of what is known as Sciotoville. Its streets and buildings are lighted through the good offices of the township trustees, while under its present form of government it is cut off, virtually, from a modern system of water supply, albeit the place is very fortunate in the purity of the water furnished by private wells. ORIGINAL PLAT AND ADDITIONS The first house built on the present site of Sciotoville was by William Brown in 1835, and in 1841 the original plat of 71/2 acres was laid out by Joseph Riggs for Madison Price, James Taylor and Charles Moore. The same year Mr. Price added eight acres, and since then the following increases have been made : By John Shoemaker, in 1851; Wilcox and Corwine additions, 1868 ; Samuel McConnell and H. A. Towne, 1870 ; William Corwine, 1871; C. W. Turner, John S. Mann and others, 1889; F. M. Stewart, Tonawanda Addition, 1910 ; Longmeadow Addition, by Longmeadow Realty Company of Portsmouth, 1911; C. W. G. Hannah, 1912 ; Ira C. Farney, 1913. Sciotoville is growing quite rapidly toward the east and its outlook is promising. FIRST RESIDENCES AND BUSINESS HOUSES The first residences put up after the platting of the village were by Madison Price, Uriah Bonser and Jacob Bonser. William Brown's residence and store, which were already there, were built in 1835. Elias and Luther Marshall, as Marshall Brothers, opened the first store, a grocery, after the town was platted. Then came Bonser and Correll, with their 228 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION wagon shop ; William Courtney, the village blacksmith, and David F. Upp, the pioneer shoemaker. Dr. White appeared as the first resident physician in 1846. Madison Price erected the first hotel in 1843, and three years later Doctor White came as the first resident physician. In the early part of 1847 Taylor, Decker and Company erected and placed in operation the first iron foundry of Sciotoville, on the present site of the Sciotoville Fire Brick Works. Its destruction by fire in the following year was supposed to be the act of an incendiary. In 1851 Elias Marshall, the postmaster, erected a flour mill and edge-tool manufactory, since which numerous industries have risen, fallen and endured. THE CLAY INDUSTRIES Sciotoville has always been a busy town, several of its mills having been destroyed by fire, but the clay industries have proven the most lasting and upon them the locality has chiefly depended for its prosperity during the past fifty years. In 1861 Reece Thorns took two barrels of clay from Powers Hill and burned it in an old building which had been used as a sawmill. His experiment, which proved a success, induced some Ashland (Kentucky) manufacturers, named Taylor Brothers, to open the clay beds at Sciotoville, and in the spring of 1865 Thorns and Taylor moved their plant from the Kentucky to the Ohio side, and soon after the }lame of the firm was changed to Taylor, Connell and Company. Their Sciotoville plant stood on the site of the Blast Furnace Fire Brick Yard. In 1864-65 McConnell, Porter and Company established a brick plant, and in 1868 Farney, Murray and Company opened the third yard at Sciotoville, the last named being conducted as the Salamander. THE SCIOTO FIRE BRICK COMPANY In 1871 the three establishments were incorporated as the Scioto Fire Brick Company. Its first officers were : Samuel McConnell, president and treasurer ; H. A. Towne, secretary ; D. F. Connell, vice president, and R. A. Mitchell, superintendent. In 1873 W. Q. Adams succeeded Mr. Connell and served' until 1876, when C. P. Lloyd became president and superintendent. He remained at the head of the business until his death in 1893 ; then Thomas Doty served for a short time, and in 1894 was succeeded by John Peebles, who remained until 1901, when he withdrew to organize his own company at New Boston. Mr. Peebles was succeeded by C. W. Turner, who had been identified with the industry since 1875, had been superintendent from 1888 to 1894, and treasurer since the latter year. After the disastrous fire of July, 1913, which destroyed the main plant of the Scioto Fire Brick Company, R. A. Mitchell was elected president, Frank E. Hayward vice president and C. M. Turner, secretary and treasurer. Until 1894 the company manufactured fire brick exclusively, when HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 229 paving brick was added to the output. Ground fire clay is another of its products. Although the ravages of the 1913 fire are being repaired, the industry has not reached its former prosperity. THE STAR YARD What is known as the old Star Yard was established by the Scioto Fire Brick Company one mile west of town. Its first president and treasurer was Samuel McConnell and its first superintendent R. A. Mitchell. About 1902 the business was incorporated, with Simon Labold, president and treasurer, and Addison Taylor, secretary. Within recent years the Star plant has come into possession of Harbison-Walker Company. CARLYLE PAVING BRICK COMPANY The Carlyle Paving Brick Company was organized in February, 1905, with G. E. Carlyle as president and general manager ; Simon Labold, vice president, and J. W. Bannon, secretary. The plant, which employs about one hundred men and has an annual output of some one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, was built immediately after the company was organized. There has been no change in the management. Besides the clay industries, Sciotoville has a flouring mill, owned and operated by C. L. Marting ; a planing and sawmill, with H. D. Bahner, as proprietor.; a large lumber-yard, six general stores, a drug store, and other minor industries and business houses. The Union Township school, C. W. Hill, principal, is located at Sciotoville, and a fine building is in course of erection. A number of churches minister to the religious needs of the community, among which the Christian Church, organized in 1867, is quite active. The Methodists were the first to organize, their first class being formed about the time the town was platted. Madison Price donated the lot on which the first church building was erected ; the same structure afterward known as Marshall's Hall. Sciotoville is not a strong lodge town, although there are organizations of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias and Woodmen of America ; the Masons attend the Wheelersburg lodge. LUCASVILLE Lucasville, the original plat of which was recorded August 7, 1819, is one of the oldest villages in the county. Col. John Lucas, its founder, lived in the town until his death July 31, 1825 ; it is said that his inordinate passion for green corn is accountable for his decease, then and there. He was a hotel keeper. Before Lucasville was platted Charles F. Mastin kept a store there, Peter Logan had a blacksmith shop and Dennis Hill, a tannery. Afterward, in the early '20s, Abraham and John Miller operated a large distillery near Lucasville. For several years it seemed as if the town might 230 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION become a large place, but its spirit was dampened and seriously depressed when the route of the Ohio Canal was fixed along the western banks of the Scioto River, instead of the eastern. When the Norfolk and Western Railroad touched Lucasville, there came another revival, but the large Ohio River cities a few miles to the south and the prosperous municipalities in the Scioto Valley, in the immediate northern district, have a tendency to circumscribe its sustaining territory. Notwithstanding, Lucasville, which has a population of about six hundred people, has become a leading shipping point for lumber and railroad ties. There are several large yards used for the storage of these materials awaiting shipment. A grain elevator, a flouring mill, four general stores, and other business houses make a creditable showing, and indicate that the place has a substantial support from a rich farming country. Lucasville has a Methodist Church, which was organized in 1849 and a Masonic lodge (No. 465) which is over forty years old. It also has an Improved Order of Red Men's lodge. VALLEY TOWNSHIP HIGH SCHOOL But in the line of influences for intellectual and moral good, the Union High School for Valley Township is especially worthy of extended notice. Under the superintendency of Frank S. Alley, an educator of previous broad experience, who has held his position since 1909, that institution has become a model township high school and an illustration of what should and can be done to give the rural youth the intellectual and practical training which shall best fit them to elevate, inspire and develop any community in which their lives shall be cast as men and women. About three hundred pupils are in attendance. The building, which has but recently been completed, is convenient and sanitary in every way. It has manual training and domestic science rooms, laboratories, handsome class rooms and offices ; and the most noteworthy feature about the interior furnishings is that they are nearly all the handiwork of the pupils who attend the school. Cabinets, massive tables, experimental models, laboratory apparatus and other nicely finished appliances are the creations of patient and earnest youth, who thus feel that they have built themselves into the school system which has given them so much for which to be thankful. No benefits are so lasting as those derived from the output of mutual exertions ; it is this principle which Professor Alley is so finely demonstrating in his work and through his unique high school at Lucasville. SOUTH WEBSTER South Webster is a village of about five hundred people on the Baltimore and Ohio Southwestern, and was one of the first places settled in Bloom Township. It was platted by John Bennett and surveyed in 1853 by George S. Walton and William Tyrrell. It has a fire brick company, HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 231 a flour mill, three general stores and is the center of a thrifty country. The village school is under the principalship of E. W. Edwards. WHEELERSBURG Wheelersburg is the oldest village in Porter Township, antedating Sciotoville by nearly twenty years. It was settled as Concord in 1820 and platted by Rev. Daniel Young and John Young in 1824. The plat, which was surveyed by Samuel Cole, comprised fourteen acres. After two years the name of the town was changed to Wheelersburg in honor of Maj. Porter Wheeler, an early settler, a noted Indian fighter and a soldier of the War of 1812. The Youngs, who were the founders of the place, built the first schoolhouse in 1822, of which John Young was teacher, and in the same year erected a cotton factory, the machinery for which they had purchased from David Gharky, of Portsmouth. The cotton mill was sold to Edward Cranston, in 1835, who changed it into a woolen mill. That was the oldest woolen mill in Southeastern Ohio. The descendants of Edward Cranston operated the woolen mill until 1897, when the plant was again transformed into a flouring mill—the Peerless. A drain tile factory was in operation at Wheelersburg from 1871 to 1902. When the township system of schools was inaugurated in Scioto County, Wheelersburg was sub-district No. 6 of Porter Township. In 1845 Jesse Y. Whitcomb was elected teacher. He is described as "a New Englander, who had advanced ideas regarding education and the management of schools." He thoroughly reorganized the Wheelersburg district and so stimulated the people that in 1847 they built the present brick building. Wheelersburg has been a special district for some years, and the superintendent of its school is now E. 0. McCowen. Wheelersburg was almost midway between Franklin Furnace on the south and Scioto Furnace to the north. Many German Catholics were employed as iron workers, and not a few had their homes at and near the old town. There was quite a settlement of them along Lick Run, and in 1850 St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church was formed in that locality. A Methodist Church was organized as early as 1822. The place has been the headquarters of several lodges. The Western Sun Lodge No. 91, F. and A. M., is the oldest organization of that order in the county. It has a substantial hall, erected in 1901, and is still flourishing, drawing considerable of its membership from Sciotoville. RARDEN Rarden, in the extreme northwestern township of the county about a mile and a half from the Adams County line, is an incorporated village of about four hundred people and the center of a large stone industry. The largest of the active quarries are those controlled by the Rarden Stone Company, or the Taylor Stone Company, their location being about a mile west of the village on the Norfolk and Western Railway. Their 232 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION product, and that of all the best-paying quarries in the county, is the light colored sandstone, or freestone, used for building, paving and bridges. It is free from iron or alkali and does not disintegrate from exposure. The Taylor Stone Company commenced business in 1895, V. E. Taylor and Lafayette Taylor having been its mainstays for many years. The latter is especially prominent in the good roads movement in Scioto County. Rarden's first store was opened by Asa L. Williams in 1846, and before 1850 a tanyard had been opened by Orville Grant, brother of the great general, Ulysses S. It. was Grant who named the place Galena, when the town was first platted in 1850, but at its incorporation in 1886 it assumed its present name in. honor of Thomas Rarden, one of its most prominent early settlers. When the township was organized in 1891 it also adopted that name. MOUNT JOY AND THE COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY At the head of Bear Creek, near the eastern limits of Rarden Township, is a small settlement known as Mount Joy. It received its name from Thomas Mount Joy, an early land speculator who located about two thousand acres in that locality ; the whole region was therefore known as Mount Joy ; its landlord came yearly to collect his rents, but lived near Maysville, Kentucky. The neighborhood is well adapted to agriculture and the Mount Joy Farmers' Institute was formed in 1895, holding its first fair in August of that year. In the following year the name was changed to the Tri-County Fair Association, and in 1899, with the dissolution of the old Scioto County Agricultural Society, was recognized as the county society by the State Agricultural Board. BUENA VISTA AND FRIENDSHIP Buena Vista was quite a thriving place, many years ago, when its stone business was at its best. It lies in a bend of the Ohio River in the southwest corner of the county, Nile Township. The first store in the place was opened by G. S. McCormick in 1848 and the village was platted by John McCall in September, 1850. During the prosperous days of the village several churches were organized—the German Presbyterian in 1856, the Methodist Episcopal in 1857 and the Roman Catholic in 1859. Friendship is a small settlement on Turkey Creek, a quarter of a mile above the exit of the stream from the hills. For a number of years there was a cooper shop in the place and a few stores, but it has never developed out of the class of a rural settlement. PART III LAWRENCE COUNTY CHAPTER I NATURAL AND IMPROVED RICHES NEGLECT NEAR-BY RICHES-BACK TO THE SOIL-GEOLOGY OF THE COUNTY -THE COAL VEINS-COKING COALS-GRADES OF IRON ORES-CLAIMS FOR NATIVE ORES-THE DIFFERENT CLAYS-THE MAXVILLE LIMESTONE -GREAT CEMENT DEPOSITS-MINERAL STRATA OF THE COUNTY-NATURAL GAS-AS AN APPLE COUNTRY-HORTICULTURAL HISTORY-RISE OF THE ROME BEAUTY- SET-BACK OF 1885-90-NELSON COX-GOSPEL OF SPRAYING INTRODUCED- MARKETS NO LONGER GLUTTED. The Hanging Rock Iron Region may be generally described as a strip of country between the Scioto and Hocking valleys, and geologically extending across the bed of the Ohio River into Kentucky, about seventy miles in length and twenty-five in width ; it lies in a northeasterly and southwesterly direction, two-thirds within the State of Ohio. That district is in the western rim of the great Allegheny coal basis, and Lawrence County is near the middle of the edge. The result is that its deposits both of coal and iron were richer and more valuable for industrial purposes than those developed elsewhere in the region, and the condition of the furnaces in the Hanging Rock and Ironton neighborhoods was an index of the status of the entire region. NEGLECT NEAR-BY RICHES It has been with Lawrence County as with numerous other sections of the United States; in mining and developing such standard treasures as iron and coal, which lay deep in the earth, its early residents overlooked its wealth in fireclays, sandstone, limestone and cement, which were nearer the surface, easier to be obtained and, therefore, neglected. BACK TO THE SOIL A still later awakening was over the discovery that horticulture, especially apple culture, had eyerything in its favor in Lawrence County. The orchards enjoyed_ a period of prosperity in the '70s and '80s; then came a season of insect-attacks and fungous diseases, and several years of discouragement among those whose trees had been ravaged, as well as of . scientific investigation and the determination of preventives on the - 235 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 237 part of those who were hopeful. Within more recent years, therefore, horticulture has again found its way to the front as a promising and a profitable industry. In another important way Lawrence County is going back to the soil, and taking the riches which are nearest at hand. Several of the old furnace companies, which have retained large tracts of land, originally covered with primeval growths of hardwood and which were denuded in the manufacture of charcoal, have replanted with the original varieties of trees and are now reaping the rewards of second and even third growths ; railroads, wagon makers, cabinet makers and a dozen other classes of manufacturers are calling for these hardwoods, which were never more in demand. The foregoing may give a clear general idea of how the material progress of Lawrence County has been based on its natural products. GEOLOGY OF THE COUNTY The bulk of existing information regarding the geological formation below the surface soil of the county is still gathered from the State Survey of 1837-38, prosecuted under Prof. W. W. Mather, state geologist, and his six assistants; among the latter was Dr. Caleb Briggs, to whom as we have already noted, the people of Lawrence County and of the Ohio Hanging Rock Iron Region are mainly indebted for what they know of the geology of those sections of the state. The county lies in what are known as the Lower Coal Measures, of which Sciotoville is the western limit, and, besides shale and sandstone, that geological series contains beds of limstone, iron ore, bituminous coal, cement and fire and potters' clay. THE COAL VEINS There are seven distinct veins of coal in Lawrence County, but what are known as Nos. 1, 2 and 3 are not utilized, and No. 4 only to a small extent, mainly as a source of supply for old Olive Furnace, in the southern rim of 'Washington Township just above Decatur. Lower Kittanning, or No. 5, has been extensively mined at New Castle, in the northeastern corner of Hamilton Township, on the property of the Hanging Rock Iron Company. For fifty years" this seam was the main reliance for the furnaces at Hanging Rock, the steamboats coaling there, the Iron Railroad and the manufactories of Ironton. Pittsburgh has also produced excellent coke from No. 5. No. 6, or the Sheridan vein, is about sixty feet above No. 5, and has been mined to a considerable extent at and near Sheridan, in the southern part of Perry Township on the Ohio River. No. 7, the Waterloo seam, is principally located about eight miles north of Ironton in the valley of Symmes creek and in the townships of Aid, Lawrence, Decatur and Symmes. The vein averages about five feet in thickness and, on the whole, is considered the most valuable deposit in the county. 238 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION COKING COALS Nos. 5 and 7 are judged to be the best coking coals, and manufacturers in the Hanging Rock Iron Region are taking advantage of that fact to some extent. Pittsburgh coal and coke are shipped past Ironton into the Mississippi Valley and thence to Mexico, there to compete with English coke ; that is, such shipments were frequently made before the European war. The nearest coking coal east of Ironton is one hundred and fifty miles distant. GRADES OF IRON ORES The iron ores now mined in Lawrence County are generally below the No. 7 coal. The lowest vein geologically is the Boggs ore. They are classified as block ores, which are exposed above drainage in the western and central parts of the county, at about sixty feet above the Boggs; limestone ores, which lie from seventy to one hundred feet above the block, and considered the best of all, and kidney ores, named from their shape, which are from thirty-five to ninety feet above ferriferous Hanging Rock, or gray limestone. Of the block ores, the Franklin, or upper, is the most persistent and valuable. The limestone ore was always the great reliance of the Hanging Rock Region. It crops out along a strip of territory five to ten miles wide running north and south through the center of Lawrence County. In this area were. virtually all the charcoal furnaces of the region, and most of the iron that was made for seventy years was produced from mere strippings of this ore vein. CLAIMS FOR NATIVE ORES The following claims have been made, through the Ironton Register, as to the superior qualities of the native iron ores of the region : The superiority of our ores consists in their neutral qualities. Thus, all pig metal is classed as either red-short, cold-short or neutral. Red-short iron is strong when cold, brittle when hot. A cold-short iron is stronger when hot, weak when cold. Red-shortness is a term used to describe an iron that cannot be worked by rolling or forging at, or above, a dull red heat without cracking or fracturing. If forged above such a heat it crumbles beneath the hammer. Among the elements which, in small quantities, produce red-shortness are sulphur, copper, antimony, silver, etc. Those that produce cold-shortness are phosphorus and silicon, etc. "Cold-short irons are the cheap irons. They are worthless for many purposes. They are mostly made in the South and are used for cheap castings and very common bar iron. The red-short irons are mostly from Lake Superior ores. They are strong but shrink in casting. A red-short iron will bend, but will not readily weld. A cold-short iron will weld, but will not bend cold. Neither class will make chain iron, in consequence. Now, the product from our native ores is a neutral pig iron. It will both HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 239 bend and weld,—does not shrink in casting and is very strong. You can make anything from it requiring first class quality of iron. The Hanging Rock native pig metal brings the highest prices in the market,—it is the best made in America., if not in the world. "West Virginia and Virginia ores, containing 45 to 55 per cent. metallic iron, delivered at Ironton at 6 cents per unit of iron, cheaper than to most northern furnaces. Lake ores, 52 to 68 per cent. metallic iron, cost delivered at Ironton 7 to 9 cents per unit of iron, as cheap as to other northern furnaces. There are times when the market demands the product of mixtures of our local ores with either the Virginia or Lake ores. We can thus produce a high or low priced iron, and of any quality, from the finest Bessemer to the poorest Forge iron, as may be most profitable to sell." THE DIFFERENT CLAYS The great possibilities for industrial expansion which lie in the rich clay deposits of Lawrence County are being realized more keenly year by year, and some progress has already been made in the manufacture of fire brick used in the construction of manufactories and pavements. The clays are classified both for scientific and industrial purposes. No. 1 is pure, perfectly refractory and makes a fine fire brick. It is found in the Zoar region of Ice Creek, in California Hollow and in the hills near Ironton, lies above the limestone ore and is from one to four feet thick. As a rule, these beds lie away from the line of either river or railroad travel, and hence have not been much developed. The No. 2 clay is more widely distributed and, although not as fine is No. 1, makes a good fire brick. In order to reach the iron ore most of the old furnaces excavated thousands of tons of this clay, which, in most localities, is piled around in great heaps and embankments near the works, most of which are abandoned. No. 3 is high in silica and, mixed with No. 2, makes fine paving brick. There are also large deposits of potter's clay in Lawrence County, well adapted to the manufacture of sewer pipe, terra cotta work, vases and chimney tops. THE MAXVILLE LIMESTONE In 1838 the results of the First Geological Survey of Ohio were published, and in that report Dr. Caleb Briggs describes an unnamed limestone found by him near the Village of Maxville, in the southern part of Perry County, and near Logan, Hocking County. That was the first geological notice of what, in the year 1870, was named Maxville limestone, and which has since been the local source of supply for the manufacture of cement. A description of that remarkable deposit, which is being so successfully worked southeast of Ironton, is thus given by Fred G. Leete, the 240 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION widely known surveyor, who knows every foot of surface ground in the county and most of the details of its composition below ground : "This limestone appears on the surface in spots or at intervals from Zanesville, southwesterly crossing the Ohio river near Wheelersburg to Carter Caves in Greenup county, Kentucky. "In the southern part, from Jackson county to the Ohio river, these outcrops or appearances of lime to the surface are rare-long distances apart and are disintegrated and thin, so much so that wherever found they were considered negligible and of no account. "These conditions provoked a great deal of discussion and differences of opinion among geologists, as to the true geological age and the manner of deposition of this lime—whether the thin beds of Maxville, as they observed them in the outcrops, were deposited before erosion took place and was so shared in it as now to be left in isolated patches, or were deposited at first in limited basins, have never been conclusively settled. " These differences of opinion as to whether the Maxville lime occupied a horizon—an epoch of time during which a deposit was made—in the Carboniferous system at the bottom of the Pennsylvanian, or top of the Mississippian Series continued from 1838 to 1884, when the evidences of fossils and remains of ancient life of the earth, imbedded in this limestone, forever settled the fact that the true position of the Maxville occurs at the top of the Mississippian Series and is underlain by the higher formations of the Waverly, and is overlaid by the lowest formation of the Pennsylvanian Series, a beautiful conglomerate, lying well beneath the Jackson and Wellston coals. GREAT CEMENT DEPOSITS "All evidence tends to show and proves that this limestone is a marine formation and that it is undoubtedly the same limestones as are exposed at Limeville, some sixteen miles below Ironton in Greenup county. At Carter Caves on Tiger creek in Carter county, Kentucky, it is what is known as the Chester lime of Illinois and at St. Louis, Missouri, and is also the well known Greenbrier in the state of Maryland. " Of late years, gas and oil wells drilled in this county in the vicinity of Ironton, have disclosed the fact that the Maxville limestone near the Ironton Portland Cement Company's plant exists at a depth of four hundred and thirty-five feet below the surface and that it is practically a single solid deposit of lime ninety-seven feet in thickness. In Kentucky about one and one-half miles southwest of this cement plant, the vein is apparently split, the upper vein being fifty, and the lower one sixty feet thick and are separated by some sixty feet of sand and white clays. I am inclined to think the lower vein is the true one, as it is only seventeen feet higher than the Ironton Portland Cement Company's vein. In a core hole one-half mile north of the Ironton Portland Cement Company's plant it is seventy feet in thickness and in the new gas well one mile east —now being drilled by the Hecla Company—the lime was found to be forty-five feet in thickness. Near Olive Furnace and at the Harper Shaft, HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 241 some eighteen miles north of Ironton, it is forty-two and forty-three feet thick, and the average thickness of this lime in some twenty holes drilled in Southern Ohio averaged more than forty feet. At Carter Caves,. Kentucky, it is probably ninety feet thick, showing what a massive limestone it is wherever it remains undisturbed, as it apparently has been at Ironton. "This limestone has been used in the past for a number of purposes, among which were road building—flux for smelting iron—was burned for lime in many places, and was also found to be an excellent fertilizer. This limestone has also been used for buildings. The Court House at Zanesville was constructed of this stone. When polished it resembles marble. " To produce cement the limestone used should not contain more than four and five-tenths per cent magnesium carbonate and the less the better. This greatly restricts the possible cement area of the state. Almost all of the limestones in the western half of the state are too high in magnesia. Orton and Peppel say 'Limestone or mixture of limestone and shale within the following limits of composition, will be found to be close to the composition desired in a Portland Cement mixture :