There are many other mines - the “Grove," the " Brookfield,” the "Mountain," the “Stoffer,” the
“McCue," etc.—of which there is no detailed report at hand. The analysis of this coal is as
follows:
The specimens are from the following mines: 1. Lawrence Coal Company, lower bench. 2. The
same, upper bench. 3. Blue Chippewa. 4. Burton’s Mining Company. 5. Burton's coal, lower
bench. 6. Same, upper bench (thin and slaty).
Some doubt has been expressed among the residents of Massillon whether the coal that crops out
at Bridgeport is identical with that worked elsewhere in is vicinity. It is thinner, and lies
somewhat higher than that in most of the neighboring mines. Still, its physical character and
composition, as well as its relation to the associated rocks, seem to prove that it is really Coal
No. 1. A similar phase of the Massillon coal is seen in seen in the mine of the German Coal
Company, just north of
* State Report, 1878.
the stone quarry of Warthorst & Co., at Massillon. Here, also, the coal is thin, very much
laminated, and even somewhat slaty. This peculiarity of structure may be attributed to the fact
that the coal seam in these two mines is overlain by a great mass of sandstone, which, when all
the materials were in a soft and plastic condition, must have pressed down upon threduce itsuch a
way as to reduce.-its thickness and give it its laminated structure. Borings made in the vicinity of
Bridgeport and Massillon have failed to find any lower seam, and it is scarcely possible that there
should be another below that mined. The section at Bridgeport is precisely what it should be if
the Bridgeport coal were Coal No. 1.
The diminished thickness of the coal in the Bridgeport and German Companies' mines may be
due to another cause, i. e., as well in the bottom of the marsh, where the coal accumulated as
peat, and on which, being relatively high, the peat was thin. It is well known that the " swamps,"
or lowest portions of the coal mines, have the thickest coal in them, and this is simply because
the peat was deepest there. On the ridges or swells of the bottom, the coal is thin and high,
because the top only of the peat-bed reached over them. The barren ridges which so often
separate the coal " swamps were islands in, or the shores of the coal marshes. These rose above
the water level, and on their slopes the peat diminished in thickness upward till it came to an
edge. When covered with clay and sand, and compressed to solid coal, that was thickest where
the peat was thickest in the bottoms of the basins, and thinned out to nothing on the slopes which
bounded these basins.
The Massillon coal is usually overlain by a few feet of shale, and above this is found a massive
sandstone, which is known as the Massillon sandstone. The stone of this stratum varies
Considerably in texture in different localities and different layers, but much, of it affords very
excellent building material, as well as good grindstone. In these, a large and active industry has
been created about Massillon, Warthorst & Co., giving employment to 100, and shipping 300 and
400. car-loads of block-stones, and 1,500 to 2,000
170 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY.
tons of grindstones per annum. The product of this quarry is mainly sold in Pittsburgh,
Philadelphia and Baltimore. The stones for dry grinding—plows and springs, etc.- —are
especially esteemed. In Paul's quarries, near Fulton, a light variety of this stone is ground up, and
the sand shipped to Pittsburgh for the manufacture of glass.
In many parts of Stark County, borings have indicated the existence of a thin seam of coal above
the massive Massillon sandstone, and it is sometimes referred to by drillers as the " Fifteen-inch
Seam," but it is oftener from six to twelve inches. Though persistent over a large area, it has
rarely any economic value, and deserves notice simply as a tolerably constant feature in the
section, and one that is liable to be mistaken for the lower coal. The distance which separates it
from the Massillon seam is quite inconstant, and varies from sixty to one hundred feet. In another
county, this seam becomes of workable thickness, and it has therefore been named in the reports
as Coal No. 2. Another thin coal-seam is also sometimes found immediately beneath the
Massillon sandstone, but this is frequently cut away by the forces which deposited this rock. It
may be seen, however, at several of the quarries in the vicinity of Massillon.
At a distance of from 150 to 200 feet above Coal No. 1, occurs the lowest of the two limestone
seams which traverse this as they do many other, of our coal-bearing .counties. In Stark County,
Coal No. 3 is sometimes absent, sometimes has a thickness of a few inches, and rarely becomes
of any economic importance. From twenty-five to fifty feet above it occurs the second limestone
coal (Coal No. 4). This is well developed in Stark County, and in some cases has considerable
value. In the subterranean, rocky ridge, which lies between the valley of the Tuscarawas and the
old channel west of Canton, both the limestone's referred to, and sometimes both limestone coals,
may be seen, the upper one only being of workable thickness. Coal No. 5 lies usually about fifty
feet above the gray limestone over Coal No. 4. As a general rule, in Stark County it is two and a
half to three feet in thickness, and has much less value than in Tuscarawas County, where it is
sometimes four feet thick and of superior quality. West of Navarre, Coal. No. 5 has been opened
in several places, and is about three feet thick—a soft coking coal, of fair quality. In Pike
Township, this coal is found on both sides of the Nimishillen, somewhat back from the stream,
here, as at Mineral Point, holding its normal position about midway between Coals No. 4 and 6.
It is in this region, known as the " Thirty-inch Seam," and the coal it furnishes is generally good.
Toward the south, this seam attains its best development at Mineral Point, in the adjacent county.
Typical exposures of Coal No. 5 may be seen at the mine of David Miller, in Section 12, Canton
Township, three miles east of the city of Canton, and in several other openings made in this seam
south of this point. The coal in Miller's mine is twenty-eight to thirty inches thick, overlain by
gray shale, with its characteristic deposit of nodular iron ore. The coal is bright and good, more
free from sulphur than that of the seam below, more open-burning than the next higher seam (No.
6), which is so extensively mined in Osnaburg Township. In that part of the county lying south
and east of Canton Township, the higher hills reach up to the Bowen Coal Measures, and the
black-band ore, which lies over Coal No. 7, occurs in some of the hilltops of Osnaburg and Paris.
Coal No. 6 is here the principal seam worked. This generally lies conveniently above drainage in
the valleys of Osnaburg and Paris, while in the lower part. of these valleys, which are traversed
by streams draining into the Sandy, goal No. 5 is exposed in numerous localities as far up the
Sandy as Minerva, and it is opened on many farms for local uses. In the very bottoms of these
valleys, in a few places, Coal No. 4, with its overlying Putnam Hill limestone, is reached, but it is
scarcely worked, except along the Sandy. In Nimishillen and Washington Townships, as the land
is high, Coal No. 5 is generally buried beneath the surface. In Lexington Township, however, on
the north side of the divide, the tributaries of the Mahoning have opened the lower coals freely,
and, at Alliance, Coal No. 5 lies ten feet below the station (500 feet above Lake
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 171
Erie), and is worked in a shaft thirty-one feet deep, in the western part of the village. The coal is
here three and a half to four feet in thickness, of fairly good quality, but, from the want of cover,
rather soft, and contains considerable sulphur.
Coal No. 6 lies some fifty feet above Coal No. 5, or from eighty to one hundred feet above the
upper of the two lower limestones, and is one of the most important and widespread coal seams
in the State. It is the " Big Vein" of Columbiana County, the shaft coal at Steubenville, the most
important seam of Holmes, Tuscarawas and Coshocton Counties, and is also the " Great Vein" of
the Hocking Valley district. In Stark County, it runs through all the hills east and south of
Canton. It is the coal mined at several of the mines in Osnaburg; and is thence transported for
blacksmiths' use to all parts of the county. In this region, it varies from four to six feet in
thickness, and crops out and is worked in numerous localities in Osnaburg and Mapleton. Passing
thence southward, it loses in thickness and importance, until, in the edge of Tuscarawas County,
it becomes less valuable than the next lower seam. At Waynesburg it appears well, and then
reaches around through the high lands of Paris and Washington into Columbiana County,
retaining its volume and value all the way to the state line. At New Franklin, in Paris, it shows a
seam five feet ten inches thick, with the usual slate parting eighteen inches above the bottom. It
extends from this point northward, through Washington, as fax as Alliance, but becomes thinner
in this direction. In all parts of Stark County, Coal No. 6 is a coking coal, generally of good
thickness, and capable of affording an excellent fuel for blacksmiths' use or the generation of
steam. When coked, it may be used for iron-smelting. It sometimes contains considerable
sulphur, but this may, however, be eliminated by washing. In the southern tier of townships—
Sugar Creek, Bethlehem, Pike and Sandy—Coal No. 6 is found in most of the higher hills. It is,
however, in this region, thinner and less pure than in the southeastern portion of the county. Its
best development seems to be in Osnaburg and Paris. It here lies for the most part, conveniently
above drainage, is from four to six feet in thickness, with a slate parting from twelve to twenty
inches above the bottom. The coal of the lower bench is much purer than that of the upper, and is
the portion so much esteemed for blacksmiths' use. From the large area it occupies, its thickness
and its adaptation to manufacturing purposes, this coal holds a prominent place in the mineral
resources of the county, and forms a capital which will doubtless be largely drawn upon in the
development of various industries.
Coal No. 7 is the highest of the lower coal group, and no workable coal is found above it in this
section of the State. In the counties lying south and east of Stark, where the members of the upper
coal series are represented, Coal No. 7 is overlain by a mass, some 400 feet in thickness, of
shales and sandstones, the former frequently colored red, which contain little coal, and hence are
called the Barren Coal Measures. The highest hills in Stark County are composed of the lowest
portion of this series, generally a mass of gray shale, with more or less sandstone. The hilltops on
both sides of the valley of the Sandy have this character, and it is only here that Coal No. 7 is
found. In this region it is a thin seam, from one and a half to two and a half feet thick, and the
coal is of inferior quality, so that in Stark County it has no considerable value. It becomes,
however, of much greater consequence in the counties which lie further south.
The chief interest which attaches to Coal No. 7 in Stark County comes from the fact of its
association with the black-band ore which overlies it. This is a bituminous shale, highly
impregnated with iron. It often, though not constantly, forms the roof of Coal No. 7, and, where
present, attains a thickness of from three to eight feet. The black-band ore is generally, though
not always' overlain by a ferruginous limestone, in which the quantity of iron is sometimes
sufficient to render it a calcareous iron ore. From the fact that this is only found in the tops of the
hills, it is sometimes designated as the mountain ore; and the limestone, from its ferruginous
character, assumes, on weathering, a brownish color, and hence is often referred to as the " buff"
lime-
172 HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY.
stone, to distinguish it from the blue limestone below. These ore-beds are detached outlyers of a
great ferruginous sheet, which once covered much of Stark and Carroll, and all of Tuscarawas
County. Patches of this ore sheet, separated from their connections by the erosion of the valleys
of the Sandy, Connotton and Tuscarawas, occur in the isolated hills of Osnaburg and Paris, the
only portions of the county geologically high enough to include them. Such' being the geological
position of this important formation, it cannot be expected to be found in any other portion of the
county.
With such natural resources, it follows that the manufacturing interests should be rapidly
developed, and this result has followed building of the thriving manufacturing and mining
communities of Canton and Massillon. But Stark is no less favored in point of purely agricultural
resources. The varied productiveness of the soil with which it is provided, has made it one of the
chief wheat and fruit producing counties in the State, and enables its agriculture to divide the
domain with manufactures. The first settlers here found a country thickly covered with a heavy
growth of timber, and the land, shielded from the piercing rays of the sun by the dense forest
foliage, saturated with the moisture which the character of a large part of the country favored. To
erect here a home, and render the land subject to an annual tribute for the support of his family,
tasked the powers of the pioneers to their utmost. It was an even-handed struggle for subsistence,
and anything accomplished might safely be set down as an improvement. This was practically
true for the first twenty years in the history of a settlement. An average of five years was
consumed before the frontier farm could be relied upon to furnish support, and, in the meantime,
the fare furnished by the abundance of game and wild fruit was eked out with economical
purchases of corn and wheat from the older settlements. After erecting a cabin, with the aid of
hospitable neighbors, from five to ten acres were felled. This was then " chopped over," i. e., the
trees were cut into suitable lengths for rolling into piles for burning. After the universal bee for
rolling came the burning, which frequently engaged the services of the wife in attending the fire,
while the husband chopped by the light thus afforded, carrying on their labors often to the small
hours of the night. On a single farm, this much was frequently accomplished in three months, and
a small crop of corn harvested in the first year; but the average results were not so favorable. The
efforts of the settler were directed toward getting ready for the " bee" as early as possible, for
when the " rolling season" began, there was an uninterrupted demand upon the settler for from
six to eight weeks in the fields of his neighbors. Many were called upon when they could least
afford the time, but, from the necessities of the situation there was no refusal possible, and, large
as this demand appears, it will not be considered exorbitant when it is remembered that a "
neighborhood" covered an area of miles in extent. With such an abundance of timber and the
total lack of foreign demand, the prevailing tendency is to underrate the value of timber, and to
carry the work of clearing to the very verge of denuding the land of this important aid to
agriculture. This 'tendency seems to have been quite marked in Stark County. There was quite an
extent of plains in the county, known for some time as Canton Plains," running through the
townships of Jackson, Perry, Canton and Bethlehem. This plain country was avoided by the early
settlers, as it did not meet their judgment as to what a pioneer farm should be, and the earlier
settlements were made in the wood. The county but partially supplied with timber at first, the
rapid clearing of the remaining forest was soon sensibly felt. The discovery of coal, and its .use
as fuel as early as 1806, in great measure relieved the later demand on the timber. Ten years later,
coal began to be used as the principal article of fuel in the villages, and since then its use has
gradually extended, until but comparatively little wood is used. The building of railroads, and the
consequent accessibility to the pine forests, has relieved another strain upon the timber of the
county which began to be seriously felt. The revolution in the style of building has done much in
this direction, and but comparatively little of the native timber finds its way into the modern
HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY - 173
dwelling. There are, however, sufficient demands, for the various manufactures, mines and
railroads, to beget serious apprehension as to where the later supply is to be secured.
The prevailing system of agriculture in this county may properly be termed that of mixed
husbandry, with a special prominence given to the culture of wheat. Specialties otherwise find
little favor with the farmers. The practice is to cultivate the various kinds of grain and grasses,
and to raise, keep and fatten stock—the latter business, however, being a leading pursuit of not a
large proportion of the farmers. The early mode of cultivating the farming lands was not of the
highest type. Provided with productive soil, and his father having made a fair support in a certain
line of farming, the average farmer has not had the opportunity, or has not felt the need, of
studying the principles of such branches of learning as relate to agriculture, and has hesitated to
receive, or promptly rejected, the teachings of science. A few persons, however, were found at a
comparatively early day who brought to the business of farming that amount of patient
investigation which the greatest industry of this country demands, and farmers have become less
and less unwilling to learn from others. This has had its effect upon the husbandry of the county,
which has attained a commendable thoroughness, and is rapidly improving in every respect.
The soil is considerably diversified. About three-fourths of the county, including the eastern,
southern and western portions, may be. called clay and gravel soil; the northeastern portion, more
level, is furnished with a heavy subsoil of clay, while the valley of the Sandy has a soil of sandy
loam, which proves highly productive. The surface soil of the whole county is composed of
vegetable mold. On the rolling or hilly portions of the county, this soil is thin and light, owing,
doubtless, to the washing of rains. On the lower and more level portions, this surface soil is
found deeper, and, in valleys or bottom lands, it varies from a few inches to several feet in depth.
The depth of this soil, other things being equal, is a fair showing of the value of the land. Clay
underlies this surface soil throughout almost the entire county, and varies in thickness from a few
inches to two feet; is generally of a pale yellow color, and affords abundant material for
brick-making. It absorbs water slowly, and is too compact for the roots of tender plants to
penetrate to any great depth, and yet this dull clay is the basis of Stark County's agricultural
wealth. Resting upon a substratum of gravel, it holds no more water than is necessary for healthy
vegetation, and yet prevents the surface soil from sinking away into the gravel; holds manures
which are applied to the land, which, when plowed under with clay, forms the most productive
soil.
The subject of fertilizers has received considerable attention from the farmers, and plaster is
freely used upon corn and clover. Lime is not much used, save occasionally to old, worn-out
fields, which have run into sour grass, and is then applied only when slaked. There have,
however, been some experiments made of spreading it unslaked and plowing it under, with
satisfactory results. Phosphates have come into limited use of late years, but only as an
experiment, and the general voice is that it does not "pay." Nor. are any artificial means used to
increase the barn-yard supply, which is not unfrequently treated as a serious inconvenience rather
than a fortunate possession of the farmer. The constant cropping of a field for a considerable
number of years without renewing is not often met with in Stark County. Occasional fields on the
river bottoms are found which will bear such treatment and give good returns, but they are very
limited in number. Rotation of crops has been the rule with the average farmer for some years,
corn being the first crop planted on sod ground, followed by barley or oats, and then wheat; the
latter is sometimes sown directly after corn. In the ordinary rotation of crops, the manure is
generally applied to the wheat crop, as it is thought it is more effectively applied here, and leaves
a better soil for the grass which follows. Deep plowing, with the Michigan double plow, was
practiced to a considerable extent some twenty-five years ago, with variable results. It afterward
fell into disrepute on account of its heavy draft, or from the fact that the upper soil was buried so
deep that several seasons
174 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY.
were required to effect the proper mixture of the soils. Later, another system was adopted, with
satisfactory effects. Two plows were used, and the team divided between them. A shallow
soil-plow turned over the surface, which was followed by a long steel plow without a
turning-board. The latter simply raised and loosened the subsoil to a depth of twelve or fifteen
inches, and upon this the top soil was turned by a lighter implement. This proved a vast
improvement on the old plan, furnishing the requisite depth without burying the upper soil, and
loosening the subsoil, thus furnishing a natural escape for the excessive moisture which the
character of the hard-pan too often resists, allowing it to escape only by evaporation. The practice
of subsoiling is still kept up in the northeastern portion of the county, where the subsoil is a cold,
dark-colored clay, impervious to water. It was originally a beech forest, but, cleared and
cultivated, it has proven excellent pasturage, and, when deeply plowed, fine corn, oats, rye, flax
and vegetables, are easily produced. This manner of plowing is found necessary about every three
years.
Artificial drainage has not been extensively used. A large portion of the county is high, rolling
country, with a natural drainage, that has served the purpose of carrying off the surplus water. In
the northern part, there is quite a marsh, known as Cranberry Swamp, a portion of the waters of
which flows north to the lake, but the larger portion runs south to the Ohio River. Nearly all the
streams run southward, the Tuscarawas River, in the western part of the county, being the largest.
The Nimishillen Creek is the next largest stream, which, with its western and eastern branches,
drains the northern and northeastern portions of the county, and afford many fine mill-sites. The
Sandy is a fine stream in the eastern portion of the county. There has been but little underdraining
in this county, except to draw off the water of the ponds and swamps. This has been done to
some extent with tile, but generally by ditching and filling the ditch with bowlders, and then
covering up with rubbish and dirt. Tile-draining, as a general thing, is looked upon simply as a
means of carrying off the surface water, and but little account is made of it as a means of
improving the character of the soil.
The grass crop, while not demanding the same attention as other crops, is one that must always
prove important. No regular system has been adopted in regard to its cultivation, however, in
Stark County. A kind of spear-grass and white clover are indigenous to the soil, covering the
common and soon spreading over any cleared and uncultivated land, making a fair pasturage, but
proving too short for a good hay crop. Timothy grass, with clover, is mainly relied upon for the
supply of hay, meadows being turned over about once in five years. Meadows are pastured to
some extent in the fall, but are seldom " turned out " for this purpose, grass lands being seeded
for the especial purpose for which they are designed. Meadows are seldom underdrained, and
have generally received very little attention in the way of top-dressing, the manure being
generally applied to the wheat crop, which preceded the seeding down. Orchard and blue grass
have been introduced to a limited extent of late years, but they have not found favor among the
farmers. There is considerable hesitation manifested in experimenting with the bluegrass, as it is
claimed by many—among them some scientific agriculturists--that the June-grass, poa pratensis,
is the same thing, modified by difference of soil and climate. Clover is sown in large quantities
throughout the county. It is found most successful upon the uplands, but it does reasonably, with
plaster, on all grounds. This is generally mown the first and second years for hay, and the third
year, when full-grown, is plowed under for wheat or corn the _next spring. It is usually sown
with timothy for meadow, the latter being sown in the fall, and the clover with the growing wheat
in the spring. The yield, when mown, varies from one and a half to two and a half tons per acre.
This combination constitutes the chief part of the pasturage, and is in high favor with farmers.
While the survey of the agriculture of Stark County does not exhibit the cultivation of any
specialty, it will be observed that wheat-culture and sheep-raising have, from the first, occupied
the larger share of attention. But, while this is true, these objects have not ab-
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