Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/154

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��HISTOKY OF OHIO.

��little difficulty of this kind, the faults being small and seldom found."

Now, taking into consideration these geological facts, let us look at the extent of the Ohio coal field. It occupies, wholly or in part, thirty-six counties, including, geographically, 14,000 square miles ; but leaving out fractious, and reducing the Ohio coal field within its narrowest limits, it is 1 0,000 square miles in extent, lies near the surface, and has on an average twenty feet thickness of work- able coal-beds. Let us compare this with the coal mines of Durham and Northumberland (England), the largest and best coal mines there. That coal district is estimated at 850 square miles, twelve feet thick, and is calculated to contain 9,000,000^- 000 tons of coal. The coal field of Ohio is twelve times larger and one-third thicker. Estimated by that standard, the coal field of Ohio contains 180,- 000,000,000 tons of coal. Marketed at only $2 per ton, this coal is worth $360,000,000,000, or, in other words, ten times as much as the whole valuation of the United States at the present time. But we need not undertake to estimate either its quantity or value. It is enough to say that it is a quantity which we can scarcely imagine, which is tenfold that of England, and which is enough to supply the entire continent for ages to come.

After coal, iron is beyond doubt the most val- uable mineral product of a State. As the mate- rial of manufacture, it is the most important. What are called the " precious metals " are not to be compared with it as an element of industry or profit. But since no manufactures can be success- fully carried on without fuel, coal becomes the first material element of the arts. Iron is unquestion- ably the next. Ohio has an iron district extending from the mouth of the Scioto River to some point north of the Mahoning River, in Trumbull County. The whole length is nearly two hundred miles, and the breadth twenty miles, making, as near as we can ascertain, 4,000 square miles. The iron in this dis- trict is of various qualities, and is manufactured largely into bars and castings. In this iron dis- trict are one hundred furnaces, forty-four rolling- mills, and fifteen rail-mills, being the largest num- ber of either in any State in the Union, except only Pennsylvania.

Although only the seventeenth State in its admis- sion, I find that, by the census statistics of 1870, it is the third State in the production of iron and iron manufactures. Already, and within the life of one man, this State begins to show what must in future time be the vast results of coal and iron,

��applied to the arts and manufactures. In the year 1874, there were 420,000 tons of pig iron produced in Ohio, which is larger than the prod- uct of any State, except Pennsylvania. The product and the manufacture of iron in Ohio have increased so rapidly, and the basis for increase is so great, that we may not doubt that Ohio will continue to be the greatest producer of iron and iron fabrics, except only Pennsylvania. At Cincinnati, the iron manufacture of the Ohio Valley is concentrating, and at Cleveland the ores of Lake Superior are being smelted.

After coal and iron, we may place salt among the necessaries of life. In connection with the coal region west of the Alleghanies, there lies in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio, a large sjiace of country underlaid by the salt rock, which already produces immense amounts of salt. Of this, Ohio has its fidl proportion. In a large section of the southeastern portion of the State, salt is produced without any known limitation. At Pomeroy and other points, the salt rock lies about one thousand feet below the surface, but salt water is brought easily to the surface by the steam engine. There, the salt rock, the coal seam, and the noble sandstone lie in successive strata, while the green corn and the yellow wheat bloom on the surface above. The State of Ohio produced, in 1874, 3,500,000 bushels of salt, being one-fifth of all produced in the United States. The salt section of Ohio is exceeded only by that of Syracuse, New York, and of Saginaw, Michigan. There is no definite limit to the underlying salt rock of Ohio, and, therefore, the production will be proportioned only to the extent of the demand.

Having now considered the resources and the products of the soil and the mines of Obio, we may properly ask how far the people have employed their resources in the increase of art and manu- facture. We have two modes of comparison, the rate of increase within the State, and the ratio they bear to other States. The aggregate value of the products of manufacture, exclusive of mining, in the last three censuses were: in 1850, $62,692,000; in 1860, $121,691,000; in 1870, $269,713,000.

The ratio of increase was over 100 per cent in each ten years, a rate far beyond that of the in- crease of population, and nuich beyond the ratio of increase in the whole country. In 1850, the man- ufactures of Ohio were one-sixteenth part of the aggregate in the country; in 1860, one-fifteenth

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