HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY

CHAPTER II.

COAL, IRON ORE, SALT AND OTHER MINERALS 

     Many of the early settlers of Reading, Clayton, Pike, and Harrison 
townships, who came from coal counties in Pennsylvania, knew the 
article when they saw it, and it was not long before their eyes detected 
the outcrops in the hill-sides, or the uncovered seams in the beds of 
small streams, where the action of the water had washed away the covering 
of earth. Yet such discoveries were of no present significance 
or value. There was no demand for coal; no grates or stoves, even, in 
which to use it for home consumption. Besides, the settler's cabin consisted, 
in most cases, of but one room, and good wood of all kinds was 
plentiful everywhere. 
     The first demand was for blacksmith coal, and for many years it was 
thought a good article for this purpose could be obtained in only a few 
favored places. Coal for this purpose, was at first stripped where the 
covering of earth over it was not very deep, or taken from the beds of 
streams where the surface had been entirely washed away. About 1816, 
or soon thereafter, the blacksmiths began to use coal at Somerset, 
Rehoboth, New Lexington, and a few other places. Also, about this 
time grates and coal were introduced into Somerset, and a little later, 
as the villages grew, into Rehoboth and New Lexington. Coal first 
found its way into taverns, public offices, stores and shops, and gradually 
into the sitting rooms of well-to-do persons in town and country, 
in the coal region and near its neighborhood. It is impossible to tell 
at this time, who mined the first coal, in this or that neighborhood, or 
in the county at large. Tradition tells that a colored man named 
Shedron, was the pioneer miner in the St. Joseph region. It is said 
that he carried the coal from the bottom of his shaft or pit, up a ladder 
on his back, where he dumped it in reach of his customers. Of course 
the enterprising colored man did not then know of any place where the 
coal could be drifted from the hillside, or he would have dispensed with 
his sack and ladder. What is now known as the Isaac Denny bank, 
one mile north of New Lexington, was opened on the undermining 
plan, about 1830, and operated somewhat extensively, by Dr. Poujade, 
a Frenchman. He imported a Frenchman from somewhere, the old 
country, probably, and he was the first professional miner that the old 
citizens remember to have seen in the neighborhood of Rehoboth or 
New Lexington. 
     He was a polite, polished fellow, and it was rarely that the American 
girls got a glimpse of him until he had seen his bath tub and made 
his toilet. Poujade sold coal to the people of New Lexington, and 
Rehoboth, and to the farmers for miles around. Soon after 1830, the 
great vein was discovered and opened at different places on Sunday 
and Monday Creeks. In some instances the coal-house was the coal

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bank, situated only a rod or two from the cabin door. New mines 
gradually began to be opened all over the coal region, and many landowners 
commenced mining coal for their own use, and perhaps, to 
accommodate a few neighbors; and so, in general terms, coal came 
into common use in Perry county. 
     Coal was not much used for cooking purposes, prior to 1860; and 
nine-tenths of the good house-wives of Perry vowed, honestly enough, 
no doubt, that they would never, never, have a coal cooking stove. 
But, for all that, now, in most parts of the county, a load of wood is a 
curiosity, and the race of women who always intended to have a wood 
cook stove is well nigh extinct. 
     The coal question did not become much of a factor in public affairs, 
until the first railroad---the Cincinnati Wilmington and Zanesville--- 
came to be located. As stated elsewhere, there were three rival routes, 
claiming the location of the road. These were commonly known as the 
Somerset, the St. Joseph, and the New Lexington or Rush Creek Valley 
route. The valley of Rush Creek formed a natural route, a goodly 
portion of the way through the county, and this had its influence in 
determining the course of the road, though it brought it miles away 
from a direct line. The New Lexington route tapped a coal section, 
and ran twelve or fifteen miles through it, and this fact was pleaded 
early and late, in season and out of season, and the most possible 
made of the situation. It is highly probable, if not an undisputed fact, 
that the advantages offered by the proximity of coal along the New 
Lexington line, determined the result and secured the location of the road. 
     Soon after the completion of the Cincinnati Wilmington and Zanesville 
Railroad, some eight or ten mines were opened along the line, 
between New Lexington and Roseville, the most westerly mine being 
situated only one mile east of the former place. The demand for coal 
was good from the start, but cars were not in sufficient supply, and the 
business, for a time, was very much hindered on that account. A few 
years later, all the principal mines consolidated, under the name of the 
Perry County Coal Company, employed an agent to travel and look 
after the selling of coal, and had regular officers and managers, for the 
management and government of the mines. This company prospered, 
for a number of years, and built up a good trade for their coal at 
Circleville, Washington, C. H., Wilmington, Dayton, Xenia, Troy, 
Springfield, Urbana, Piqua, Hamilton and other towns in Ohio and 
Indiana, and occasionally, during a low stage of water, had a good 
demand, at high prices, from the city of Cincinnati. 
     Soon after the close of the Civil War, however, about 1865-6 the 
Coal Company became so embarrassed by the rates and rules of 
transportation, adopted by the railroad management, that their trade was 
hindered, crippled, and eventually destroyed. The Perry County Coal 
Company disbanded, the miners were discharged, and all the coal 
works along the line, for the time being, went to ruin. But, after a few 
years, when the railroad came under the management of the Panhandle 
system, and several of the coal mines had passed into new hands, the 
works were repaired, new mines opened, new houses built, miners 
again set to work, the coal trade along the line revived, and the business 
has been in successful operation down to the present time.

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The next road which the coal region of Perry influenced in locating, 
was the Old Scioto and Hocking Valley, with terminal points at 
Newark and Portsmouth. It was at first confidently expected that this 
road would be located by the way of Lancaster, and down the valley 
to Logan; but, in the meanwhile, certain of the public spirited citizens 
of Somerset, who had failed to secure the Cincinnati Wilmington and 
Zanesville road, concluded to make an effort to have the Scioto and 
Hocking Valley located by Somerset instead of Lancaster. Years 
before this, the great vein had been opened near Straitsville, (Old) and 
instead of a thickness of twelve or thirteen feet, which the seam 
actually has, by some sort of slide, or covering of slate, the coal 
seemed to show a frontage of, and thickness of over one hundred feet. 
The men who were engineering the Somerset interest made the most 
of this wonderful phenomenon, and had it thoroughly written up, and 
advertised it both in this country and Europe. It is sufficient that the 
great Straitsville coal bank turned the scale in favor of the Somerset 
and Perry county route. The main line was to go only within four 
miles of Straitsville, and the great coal vein was to be reached by a 
four mile switch from Maxville. 
     Though the old Scioto and Hocking Valley road failed in the panic 
of 1854, and the road-bed, and all the franchises passed by judicial 
sale into other hands in 1864; still it had its influences, remote and 
direct, in developing the Perry county coal fields. The old road bed 
was used by the Newark, Somerset and Straitsville Railroad, to the 
neighborhood of Junction City; and north of Logan the old road-bed 
of the Scioto and Hocking Valley, was used a goodly portion of the 
way to Straitsville, (New) by the Hocking Valley branch. There was 
this important change: The N. S. and S., was diverted far enough 
from the old line to reach the great vein directly at Shawnee; 
and the Hocking Valley branch diverted far enough from the old line 
to reach the great vein at New Straitsville. Thus the great coal 
seam originally deflected the location of the old Scioto and Hocking 
Valley, from Fairfield eastward into Perry; and again, when 
the N. S. and S., and the Hocking Valley roads were constructed 
upon the ruins of the former road, they were both deflected so as 
to reach the “great vein” direct, instead of by a four mile switch, as 
the old Scioto and Hocking Valley proposed. 
     In 1871-2, Shawnee and New Straitsville, both being laid out and 
reached by rail, coal mines began to be opened, and suitable coal 
works erected. New Straitsville had a little the start, but in all material 
aspects the growth of the coal trade in one town, has been that of the 
other, with the exception that New Straitsville shipped its coal by way 
of the Hocking Valley, and Shawnee by way of the Baltimore and 
Ohio Railroad. The trade has grown until some eight or ten companies 
in each town, with large capital and vast resources, are pushing 
the work with great energy and success, with a large number of skillful 
and experienced miners employed, and paying out, in the aggregate, sums 
of money that seem almost fabulous. Strikes and other drawbacks have 
occasionally occurred, but as a general thing, the business has steadily 
progressed, satisfactorily and profitably to all parties concerned. Coal 
is also extensively mined at Bristol, Dicksonton, and other places north

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of Shawnee, on the same railroad. The coal at Bristol is only a three 
foot seam, but it is in large demand for some purposes, and is said 
to be a superior engine coal. Mining began at Bristol before Shawnee 
was reached, and has never ceased. The Shawnee and New 
Straitsville coal is shipped to various points, mostly long distances, 
and the demand is all the while increasing. About the time it 
was sought to reach the great vein, at the neighborhood of 
Straitsville, (Old) an enterprise was set on foot at New Lexington, the 
design of which was to reach the same great seam in the Sunday 
Creek Valley. This movement eventuated in the organization of the 
old Atlantic and Lake Erie Railroad Company, with proposed terminal 
points at Toledo and Pomeroy. The mineral deposits of the Sunday 
Creek Valley, were the basis and impetus of this railroad movement, 
and all its successors. The Great Vein Mining Company; The Sunday 
Creek Valley Company; The Hurd Company; The Brier Ridge Company, 
and several other companies, corporate and private, were in connection 
with, or supplementary to this railroad movement. Work was 
commenced on the road in 1870, and it was completed from New Lexington 
to Moxahala in 1874. Soon after, there was some mining done 
at various points between New Lexington and Moxahala, but transportation 
was inadequate, the outlet unsatisfactory, and the mines were 
subsequently abandoned.
     It was not until the fall of 1879, and after the road, under new 
owners and new management, had been driven through the tunnel at 
Oakfield, and down into the valley of Sunday Creek, that the mining 
of coal was commenced in a large way. Soon after this date, however, 
various companies, and notably the Ohio Central Coal Company, 
sunk their shafts in the valley, and erected coal works preparatory to a 
large business. With the completion of the railroad to Columbus, and 
also to Toledo, and the accumulation of cars and other equipments pertaining 
to railroads, new mines were opened, the number of miners 
largely increased at Rendville and Coming, and the out-put proportionately 
augmented. In the latter part of 1880, and the early part of 
1881, a branch road was constructed from the main line below Coming, 
up the west branch of Sunday Creek, to Buckingham and Hemlock, 
where new mines have been opened, and nearly eight hundred skilled 
miners imported from Germany to work in them, and these new men 
are daily putting out coal in enormous quantities. It is estimated that 
from five to six hundred cars per day will soon be shipped from the 
Sunday Creek Valley, on the Ohio Central Railroad. There is a 
steady demand for the coal, and it is shipped to numerous points north 
and west. The great vein in the Sunday Creek Valley is reached by 
means of shafts, and lies from twenty-five to eighty feet beneath the 
surface. Coal was mined in the Sunday Creek Valley and hauled 
in wagons to various parts of Morgan county, a long time before there 
was any railroad in the valley; but this was taken from a seam higher 
in the hills than the great vein, and was reached by drifting.
     Bairds’ was the pioneer furnace in Perry County. Mr. Baird who 
had been connected with the Logan Furnace, which used a very considerable 
portion of ore from the neighborhood of Maxville, knew all 
about its qualities, and consequently, it was not an uncertain enterprise,

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when he concluded to establish a furnace in the hills, where the ore,
coal and limestone were all ready at hand. It has been stated on the
best of authority, that iron has been made at Bairds’ Furnace, cheaper
than anywhere else on the face of the globe.
     The Fannie, XX., and New York Furnace at Shawnee, the Bessie, 
at New Straitsville, and the Moxahala Furnace, followed the original 
one in quick succession. Also Winona and Gore Furnace. They
are situated a little over the line in Hocking county, but they draw a
large part of their ores and limestones from Perry county. The manufacture 
of iron in the county is believed to be yet in its infancy.
     The old Salt Works, at the present site of McCuneville, were erected 
about 1826, and for a few years, were run with success
and profit; but the decline in the price of salt, the erection of large
works in other parts of the country, combined with other causes, broke
up the proprietors, and the works were abandoned. All was razed or
burned, except the large stone chimney, which stood firm, tall and
erect, forty-five years, a faithful sentinel, ever on duty, pointing to the
dead past, silent and mute, and prophesying of the future. When the
N. S. and S. R. R. had been determined upon, John McCune, of
Newark, Licking county, who now owned the premises, decided to
erect new works, on the site of the old, which he proceeded to do, with
persistent energy and perseverance, spending more than forty thousand
dollars before he realized a dollar. He sunk the old well deeper,
bored new ones, and put up modern and expensive machinery, of all
kinds. Mr. McCune made salt for several years, apparently with profit.
The establishment was finally sold to the Consolidated Salt Company,
that owns nearly all the works in the country. This company run the
McCuneville works for a while, but finally stopped them, and they now 
remains as silent as when the old stone chimney stood a lone sentinel of
the narrow valley.
     However, it is within the range of probability, that the works will
again be put in operation, and that similar ones will be erected in other
parts of the county. There is little doubt that salt can be obtained in
many places, in profitable paying quantities, but borings have never
been made.
     The manufacture of Potter’s ware was, on a small scale, a very
early industry in Perry county. Ware has been made at Somerset,
Rehoboth, McLuney, New Lexington, Crooksville, Roseville, Saltillo,
and at a number of other places in the county. The manufacture of
Potters ware is now mostly confined to the eastern portion of the county,
where it has grown to be a large and profitable industry, so much so
that the ware has reached a high state of perfection, and large quantities
are exported to distant Western and Southern States. There are indications 
that the industry will, in the near future, be introduced into
parts of the south end of the county, where it has not hitherto obtained
a foothold. The clay is practicably inexhaustible, and only awaits the
enterprising, plastic hand of the potter, to shape it into vessels of use
and beauty.
     Limestone, abundant, in more than three fourths of the county,
has never been much used or developed. A considerable quantity was
used in the construction of the Zanesville and Maysville Turnpike, and

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the Maxville limestone is well known far and near, at which place a
superior article of lime has been manufactured, and in large quantities.
for a great number of years. It has also been much used in the furnaces 
of that neighborhood. Lime from the vicinity of Shawnee, New
Straitsville and Moxahala, has been used in furnaces, and is known
to be good. There are several limestone stratas in the county, and
there is no doubt that they are in the aggregate of immense value; but
their development and use have only begun. Building stone, of various
kinds and grades, including limestone, is so inexhaustible and widely
diffused, that no aggregate conception can be had of its extent or value,
until further developed, and brought into more extensive use, at home
and abroad. A commencement has scarcely been made.

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