Columbiana County, Ohio - Chapter 11: Iron and the Metal Trades, 1905

Chapter 11: Iron and the Metal Trades

Gideon Hughes' Blast Furnace the first in Ohio - Curious Processes of the Pioneer Manufacturers - Struggling Foundries of Eighty years Ago - .Y<"ir Lisbon an Iron Center in the Party Pays - "Shipping Iron to Pittsburg" - Gloomy Years of Failure at Leetonia - Foundries at IFcllsvillc - Early Engine-Builders at Salem and U'cllsvillc - Varied Finished Product Industries at Salem - First Fin Plate Ventures Prove Failures - Era of "Trust" Domination - Columbiana County a Battle Ground in the Great Labor Struggle of 1901 - Statistics on Production.

To build his log cabin without a nail, a spike, a hinge - that was the problem that confronted the early settler. The weight of manufactured iron products rendered their transportation over the early roads across the mountains and into the wilderness next to impossible; and this necessity for home-made iron was what urged Gideon Hughes to build the first blast furnace in Ohio.

Iron was to be found, cropping out on the' surface, in the formations about New Lislion. The ore was fairly grubbed out of the soil. Klackband and kidney ores, of fairly good quality, were found distributed at random amongst the loose drift of sand, gravel and rock, near the surface - fragments of old veins of ages before. Gideon Hughes was a Quaker. He built his furnace alnnit one mile northwest of New Lisbon, on Beaver Creek, in 1H07. turning out iron in the lieginning of iSoX. This is claimed to have been the first furnace west of the Alleghany .Mountains. Some pig-iron was made, but the ultimate production of the furnace consisted chiefly of plow-shares, dogiron-, flat-irons, pots, kettles, Dutch-ovens and

The machinery was propelled by water power from the creek, and the ore, obtained from the immediate vicinity, was smelted by the use of charcoal, manufactured in sufficient quantity from the wood of the nearby forests. Heavy drafts were made on the surrounding timber and thousands of cords of wood were consumed to get fuel for the furnace. The charcoal was produced in pits of earth. 40 cords of wood being used to each pit.

Stoves for burning wood were a specialty of Hughes' furnace from the !>eginning. L'pon the sides of these stoves were the words, "Rebecca of New Lisbon" - the name Keliecca having been given the furnace by Hughes in honor of his wife. These old stoves were to he found occasionally in the farmhouses of the "kick townships'" for many years after the stack had gone out of commission. Within 10 years Hughes had in operation at his furnace a tilt-hammer and forge, where he made wrought iron. The bellows of Imth the forge and furnace were propelled by water pnvcr. by means of an overshot wheel said to have lieen _»5 feet in diameter.

In 1822 Joshua Malm pursuaded Hughes to build a rolling-mill about three miles abne the furnace, on the middle fork of the Little Beaver. Here he also erected forges ami a new kind of nail machine that had just been introduced into this country. The venture seemed to be prospering, and die product was in great demand throughout this section. To convey iron from the furnace some two miles up the creek to the rolling-mill, it was decided to build a rude railroad along the hill on the west side of the creek, and this was undertaken a year or two before 1830. Hughes had not the money to finance the enterprise on so large a scale, however, and, after being of inestimable service ti> the early inhabitants in giving them cheap iron products at a time when the slow and laborious transportation from the East made their cost absolutely prohibitive, Giedon Hughes tailed about 1830, and left the county, joining the Shakers' society some time later, at Lebanon, Ohio. After Hughes' failure, the furnace was run a number of years by Benjamin Wilson, Perry Doyle and others, but was soon abandoned, hi lyoo the remains of the stack could still be seen on the hank of the creek - as could also the hillocks in the neighboring hillsides where the surface earth had been worked over in a primitive wax- in obtaining the iron ore.

Foundries Of Eighty Years Aco

Other nail-mills and foundries followed Hughes' enterprise and New Lisbtn gaxe promise of being an active manufacturing town. Stores were opened up in the vicinity of the furnace, and preparations were made to lay out one section of land nearby in lots. About 1816 Joseph Carroll and John He-- in had made nails in Xcw Lisbon by a crude process. The nails were made entirely by hand, each nail being cut off by a sort of treadle shears, then picket! up by hand, placed in a vise, and headed by striking several blows with a heavy hammer. Henry Trunick, who had learned his trade in the nail business at ripetown, near Pittsburg, came to New Li slum in 1822, and with a man named Morse estabj lished an iron foundry on Beaver street. Morse 1 died a tew years later, and Trunick moved to j Market street, where he carried on Ins business for many years. Several squares east of Trunick "s residence, Root Brothers conducted a foundry for several years, but it was destroyed by tire about 1843. About the same time Joseph YVasson also ran a small foundry, and as late as 1849-51 Tinker Brothers conducted a sort of general iron works in what they called the "Long Row," at the north end of Jefferson street. They worked in cast and wrought iron, using steam as a propelling l>o\vcr.

The second blast furnace in the county was located on a site chosen on account of the route of that ill-starred enterprise, the Sandy and Beaver Canal, on the argument that it would be a good point from which to ship iron to Pittsburg as well as to points xvest. And the furnace erected in 1840, in St. Clair township, on the route of the new canal, did actually sell much of its product in Pittsburg during the few years of its operation. It was built by Arnold Downey, a Pennsylvania!!, on section 15, St. Clair township, in the valley of Hazel Creek, a tributary of the Little Beaver, about three-quarters of a mile from the village of Calcutta. It was in operation about 18 months, using the kidney and black ores obtained in the neighborhood. Charcoal and bituminous coal xvere used for fuel. \Y. S. Potts says in a contribution to the "History of the Upfier Ohio Valley" that the furnace made from 12 to 15 tons of pig-iron every 24 hours, and that "the iron xvas sold in Pittsburg, where it had a good reputation for foundry purposes." The failure of the canal scheme was the cause of the abandonment of the project. By a curious coincidence, Andrew Carnegie, later to become the steel king of America, lived with his parents in East Liverpool, a few miles from the scene of this early venture, only a few years later. The Carnegie familv spent the greater part of the years 1852 and 1853 in East Liverpool. It is doubtful, however,

Ferdinand Keffer built a foundry in East Liverpool in 1838 and unrated it for a number of years, but it was in the center and north, rather than in- the south of the county, that the making of iron, and the allied, rinishedproduct industries developed in the early years.

Birth Of The Le Eton I A Furnaces

There were foundries, some of them on a pretentious scale, in the northern <part of the county back in the '30's, Salem men having made a name for their town during the early days for finished iron products of the forge and the foundry, but no attempt to enter the furnace and rolling-mill field was made until 1865. when the extensive furnaces at Leetonia were first projected.

The towns of Salem and Columbiana at that time had thriving foundries. East of Salem, in Salem township, were large dqiosits of iron ore and a quality of coal, containing 95 per cent, of carljon. especially adapted to the manufacture of pig-iron. Smelting furnaces had been proposed there for years, and the completion of the Ohio & Pennsylvania Railroad through the territory in 1851 (the road which afterward t>ecame the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago), with the commencement, in 1856, of the Niles & New Lisbon Railroad - whic'i was six years in building - encouraged the boomers to seek capital that would engage in smelting in the vicinity of what was later to become the site of the village of Leetonia. In 1865 the Leetonia Iron & Coal Company was organized by J. G. Chamberlain, of New Hampshire; William Matthews, of New Lisbon: William Lee, of Randolph. New York: Judge Sutliff, of Warren. Pennsylvania, and Lemuel Wick, of Cleveland - the coni|>anv being named "Leetonia"' in honor of Lee. the New York promoter. Wick was president and Chamberlain, general manager. The new com- [Kiny purchased 200 acres of land on section 12, Salem township, from John Yoder and Jacob Anglemycr, with the right to the minerals on the Frederick, Roller, Leyinan ami Kirsch farms. Subsequent purchases were made, until the company owned 600 acres in fee simple, and the right to the minerals underlying several, hundred more.

The company at once laid out a town, and named it Leetonia. In the winter of 186O-07 the blast furnace was built, ami it was put in operation in the spring of the latter year. In the same year a second coni|>any was organized to build a furnace on the outskirts of the new town, and mainly through the efforts of William King, of Leetonia, a furnace, known as the Grafton Iron Works, was built iti 1867.

In 1869 the Leetonia Coal & Iron Company erected another furnace, and built a rollingmill, employing a large number of men. The growth of the new community during these years had been rapid. Tenement homes had been built, a company store opened and a bank chartered. So fast had been the increase in population that in May, i860, it was incor- |K>rated as the village of Leetonia. From a farmhouse in 1865, the settlement had become by 1870 a village of 1.800 souls, and gave promise, the residents believed, of being one of the leading iron centers in the State.

The company was during this period opening up large veins of coal. But the hard times of the early '70's struck the Leetonia Coal & Iron Company, and in 1872 it was compelled to make an assignment. The town was prostrated; there was distress in many homes in the months following. In November. 1873, however, the Cherry Valley Iron & Coal Company was organized to rejuvenate the enterprise. It purchased all the property and coal and ore rights of the deceased Leetonia Company, and assumed its indebtedness of $850.- 000. Four hundred men were put to work at the two furnaces, the rolling-mill and the mines, and the |>ay-roIl amounted within a few years to $25,000 monthly. But in 1879, the iron business again languished and the works were again closed down. Later on. however, the company resumed and during the decade up to 1900 the works were run the greater portion of the time.

-of the enterprise. Under the name of the Cherry Valley Iron Comjxany, the company was reorganized, on May ist of that year, the president and chief stockholder being Joshua \V. Rhodes, son of Joshua Rhodes, of Pittsburg, the organizer of the National Tube Company : E. N. Ohl. of Pittsburg, was made vice-president; R. W. Fleniken, also of Pittsburg, secretary and treasurer, ami K. M. Peters, of Uniontown, Pennsylvania, superintendent. The new company more than doubled the capacity of the old works during the first few years of its regime, increasing the production of pig-iron to 70.000 tons annually. The coal mines of the company were operated to an extent of 300 tons per day, the entire output being consumed at the company's coke ovens at Leetonia. The furnaces had l>een rebuilt in 1904, and the company was in 1005 by far the most important manufacturer of iron, from the ores, that had ever oi>erated in the county. Lake Su|xrrior ore was being used.

Around the Grafton furnace, which had been built in the latter part of 1867 west of the town, a settlement grew up in a few years that was known as "Grafton." The furnace had been named after John Graff, of Pittsburg, one of the principal promoters of the enterprise, and it was first put in blast Octolnrr 9. 1867. Nearly 150 acres of land were purchased, lying on lx>th sides of the Pennsylvania Railroad, containing valuable coal and ore deposits. In a few years the company built a second stack, and increased its production to 2,400 tons of metal per month. For more than 15 years the management continued unchanged. Graff l>eing president of the company and Henry King, secretary and treasurer. From 1885 to 1888 the works were run under the proprietorship of Graff. Bennett & Company, of Pittsburg; from 1888 to 1800, McKeefrey & Ilolius, and from July 1. 1800. to August 1. 189J, McKeefrey & Company were the proprietors. At the latter date the Salem Iron Company was organized and took over the property, when the concern entered u[x>n another season of almost unexampled prosperity. The furnace was rebuilt in 1804. Only pigiron was made, from Lake Superior ore. and in 1905 250 tons daily was the output. The officers of the company in 1005 were: John McKeefrey, president; W. I). McKeefrey, vice-president and general manager; N. J. Mc- Keefrey, secretary and treasurer; and S. R. Fellows, superintendent.

Misfortune seemed to pursue the metal ! trades ventures about Leetonia and Columbiana villages during the early days. Sheets & Holmes were pioneers in the stove-making business at Columbiana, operating a small shop there for several years after 1835. But the business was not a success, and the shop was finally occupied by a smithy. Stricklcr Brothers, however, began an enterprise in 1858 that promised a substantial industry for Columiana village, in the manufacture of agricultural implements. In the early '60's grain drills and hay-rakes were made specialties by the company, and in 1H65 the business passed into the hands of W. \V. Wallace, of Pittsburg, who named the factory the "Enterprise Agricultural Works." E. S. Hollow-ay was sui>eriiitendent of the works in 1808^ and by 1870 they had increased to four times their original size. In 1873 Alexander Wallace introduced the manufacture of stoves and ranges, but a few years afterward, on August 2, 1877, the entire factory was destroyed by fire and was : never rebuilt. A new foundry was built a year or two after to replace the burned works, but it was never put in operation.

In Leetonia. also, a number of the early metal trades ventures failed to achieve prosperity. The Leetonia Iron & Coal Company built a nail-mill in 1871, but discontinued operations the year following. Davis Brothers established a foundry for making stoves and light castings in 1871, and the business later passed into the hands of a company, of which Perry P.yard was president. The works burned in 1876. and were not rebuilt. J. D Chamberlain headed the Leetonia Automatic Fire Alarm Company, which built in 1809, but it discontinued operations five years later, being lumght out by the Telegraph Supply Company, of Cleveland.

Company was organized, for tlie manufacture of mining and railroad tools. The original capital was $io.ixx>. and Zachariah Tetlow was president of tlie concern, which prospered from the start. In the fall of 1002 the concern removed to Salem and continued the business with increased capacity. In 1905 tlie officers were: II. S. Wilson, president: Frank Trotter, secretary and treasurer; C. M. Day, vice-president ; and Henry T. Collins, manager. Their output in 19x14 was alknit $.'5,000.

The Leetonia Boiler Company was organized in 1X71 by Garver & Reeves. In the fall of the same year this firm sold to J. C. Thullcn. Some years after, Thullen sold to Woodward Brothers, who in January, 1901, organized the l^eetonia Boiler CoinjKmy. In 1905 tlie company was doing a good business in the manufacture t)f boilers and tanks. The officers were: E. M. Peters, president; S. M. Garlach. secretary; and John Woodward, treasurer.

In 1836, Philip F. Geisse, a practical machinist and foundryman who had come to Wellsville from Philadelphia about a year earlier, formed a partnership with Lev i Bot tenberg, and built a small plant, which later develo|>ed into the extensive Fulton Foundry & Machine Works, and was for upwards of 70 years one of the chief industries of the town. Mr. Geisse a few years later purchased the Bottenberg interest and for more than 30 years was the sole proprietor. However, in 1840 he opened a general store and warehouse to |je conducted in connection with his growing business and transferred an interest in the new branch of business to Wallace Fogo. who while in his employ had lost an eye at the blacksmith forge. The store and warehouse was operated as a side issue under the name of Geisse & Fogo. But up until 1871 the foundry and machine works - an industry which continued from year to year to grow in the now thriving community - were operated by Mr. Geisse. Starting with the manufacture of stoves, plows, plowshares and some other specialties of the founders craft, the business

' grew until it embraced the manufacture of steam engines, car axles, car wheels, etc.. and along in the '50's and early 'Go's boat-building was added. When the railroad which afterward became the Tuscarawas branch of the Cleveland & Pittsburg, was built. Mr. Geisse took a heavy contract to furnish the rolling stock equipment of the line - an enterprise in which he lost heavily, through the failure of the original company which built the branch road. For many years prior to the establishment of the Cleveland & Pittsburg shops at Wellsville, the (ieisse foundry gave employment to more men than all the other Wellsville manufacturing concerns combined.

In 1871 Mr. Geisse sold the foundry and machine works to Samuel and T. B. Stevenson (brothers), who had learned the trade with him - the senior brother having l>een superintendent for some years. In 1876. Thomas B. Stevenson having withdrawn from the firm. Alexander Denham, a retired dry goods merchant, secured an interest, forming the partnership known as Stevenson & Denham. This firm continued until 1898, when the firm of Stevenson Company was incorporated, with Samuel Stevenson, Charles and William Stevenson (sons), Mrs. Susie Sweitzer (a daughter), and F. M. Hawlcy as stockholders. In 190$ the plant had been practically rebuilt and considerably enlarged, two traveling cranes

In the 50's Joseph Ady started a small machine shop near the old Wellsville Cemetery, and just north of Cleveland & Pittsburg Railroad shops and yards. Ady went out of the business in 1864. In that year the Mcnough Brothers - William J. and George W. M enough - started a foundry on the Ady site. In 1868 the partnership was dissolved, George W. continuing the business alone until 1901,

1 when the M enough Foundry Company was organized, George W. Menough and his sons lieing the stockholders. The foundry had a capacity of five tons a day of general castings, and in 1905 there were 23 men on the pay-roll.

In 1850 the Wellsvillc Manufacturing Company was organized by Messrs. Finch and Harvey, f<>r (he manufacture of stove castings, etc., but the enterprise did not prove profitable, and was discontinued after an experience of al*>ut eight years.

Hugh Alexander, in 1865, started a small foundry in Wellsvillc, for the numufacure of iron amalgam (bronzed) bells; also plows, and wheels and axles for coal cars. Owing to strong competition and the panic times of the early '70's, his business bail proved less profitable than formerly, and by 1880 it had been abandoned altogether.

N. and 0. Cope opened a foundry and machine shop in Salineville in 1849, and continued it until 1869, when it came into the possession of \V. W. Orr. Mr. Orr in 1873 converted it into a planing-mill, which he operated until 1878, when the works were abandoned.

Four brothers, sons of Joel Sharp. Sr.. a Quaker who had come over from Pennsylvania with his parents and settled near Salem in 1808, established for Salem early in the century a reputation for the making of steam engines. All four brothers. Thomas. Simeon, Clayton and Joel, were natural mechanics, and first worked at carpentering. Thomas went to Cleveland during the '.^o's, became a machinist and about 1840 established a sawmill there, his brother Joel, the youngest of the family, following him there in 1841. and working in his mill for a time. In 1842 Thomas arranged to return to Salem, while the younger brother went into the plant of the Cuyahoga Furnace Company to learn his trade.

Thomas Sharp announced on his return to Salem that he would ojwn a shop for the building of steam engines. The same year, 1842, he turned out his fust steam engine. The castings used for it were brought to Salem in wagons from a Cleveland foundry, and were deposited in Sharps little shop - an abandoned foundrv - on what was then known as "Foundry Hill."

ui his new enterprise by two of his brothers, Simeon and Clayton, and in 1848 the fourth brother, Joel, returned from Cleveland and entered the firm. Between 1848 and 1850, the four brothers took from the Ohio & Pennsylvania Railroad projectors the contract for furnishing the ties and stringers for 1 1 miles of the railroad, then building lietween Alliance and Fittsburg. and to fulfill this contract the Sharps built a sawmill, still continuing the engine works, however.

In 1851 the brothers separated, and Thomas Sharp leaving the firm shortly afterward and established himself in a shop on W est Main street, which he continued for many years, the firm name undergoing many changes. From this shop went out during the next 25 years many men who afterward stood at the head of some of the largest manufacturing establishments in the country. The shop on West Main street burned in April, 1894, and Thomas Sharp died in 1896. aged 88 years.

On Thomas Sharp's withdrawal from the original partnership in 1 S5 1 . the brothers reorganized as Sharp, Davis Bonsall, the members of the firm being Simeon and Joel Sharp. Milton Davis and Joel S. Bonsall. and the concern becoming known as the Buckeye Engine Works. In that year the total working force was only u employees. The new firm quickly achieved fame, however, through the improvements introduced on the early steam engines. On April 27. 1865, the works burned to the ground, inflicting a loss on the owners of between $50,000 and $75,000, w ith no insurance. The plant in that day was probably the largest in any line of manufacturing in the county. It w as quickly rebuilt, and the business resumed within less than a year - notwithstanding the loss of immensely valuable patterns in the fire. In December. 1870. the concern incoqiorated as the Buckeye Engine Com|Kiny. with a capital of $250,000. the following being the officers: President. Joel Sharp; vice-president. Milton Davis: secretary and treasurer. T. C. Boone; superintendent. Joel S. Bonsall : assistant superintendent, Simeon Sharp. The establishment liecame in the succeeding 30 years the most widely known of all the metal trades concerns in the county, and in 1904 had an annual output exceeding $500,000, with over $500,000 invested. The plant was, in 1905, running at full capacity, "single turn." For a number of years |»rior to 1903 the plant had been operated "double turn," with a proportionate output.

Milton Davis and Simeon Sharp retired from active business in 1X9-'. and Davis' son, 1). M. Davis, became vice-president of the company. Later, on Col. T. C. Boone s death, bis j*>siiion as secretary and treasurer was taken by Stephen B. Richards. Joel Sharp died July _>N. 1898. and Joel S. Bonsall succeeded him in that year as president, Mr. Bonsall's son. C. S. Bonsall becoming superintendent. Joel S. Bonsall died June 2, 1902, and was succeeded as president by H. II. Sharp. In 1905 the officers of the Buckeye Engine Company were: H. H. Sharp, president; C. H. Weeks, vice-president; 1". A. Pope, secretary and treasurer: and C. S. Bonsall, superintendem. Commencing jn 1900 new buildings were erected and a series of improvements inaugurated which almost doubled the capacity of the entire plant. The Buckeye Engine Company was in 1905 employing, when running "double turn.'" in round numliers 400 men, or 300 on "single turn." A new style of gas engine was being built, which was introduced in 1905. The product of the Buckeye Engine Company has long had a national, and even international, reputation.

Early Foundries In Salem

Before Thomas Sharp built his historic engine, Salem had boasted a struggling foundry, established some time prior to 1834. by one Nicholas Johnson. In 1S34 or 1835 Xadok Street liought the place, which was located 011 Dry street, ami gave to that locality the name "Foundry Hill." which it Itore for many years afterward. Street conducted the business in a small way for a numlier of yearV. ami in 1847 the foundry was purchased by Snyder & Woodruff, who commenced casting stoves. Isaac Snyder was a designer and pattern-maker, and his skill and taste helped to make the wares popular. The establishment was burned in the fall of 1856, but the tirm liought a site on lower De|KU street and continued the business. The new buildings were substantial brick structures, and in 1871 extensive additions were built. In 1868 Messrs. Snyder and W(x>druff each took a son into the firm, and the business continued under the name of Snyder, Woodruff & Company. The rirm became widely known, and its annual sales aggregated at this time 5,000 stoves. Fourteen varieties of cooking and 20 kinds of parlor and dining room stoves were turned out. and nearly 1,000 tons of iron were consumed yearly in the manufacture. In May, 1871, the Snyders retired from the |«rtnership, and the firm l>ecame J. Woodruff & Sons, with a capital of $52,500. In 1905 the works had been increased one-third in capacity, employing 55 to 60 men. James Woodruff, the head of the company, had died in 1903. at the age of 86. J. S. Woodruff became president and J. M. Woodruff, secretary and treasurer.

In 1854 Levi A. Dole invented a hubboxing machine. A. R. Silver, who was then foreman of the Woodruff carriage shop. Liecame interested in the invention, and the two men in the fall of the same year rented a jwrt of a little shop on High street, in which a lathe and Lilacksmith forge were placed - and thus was born what later became the Silver & Denting Manufacturing Company, of Salem. Dole perfected other patents, and the business grew.

Tiik Sii.Vkrs And The Dem1Ngs

In 1856 the firm moved into one wing of the Buckeye simp. Two years later they were again compelled to seek more room, and In night a warehouse where W. J. Clark & Cnm- ' pany were afterwards located. In 1865 John Denting bought a third interest, and Dole died in i8fV». In that year the firm liecatne Silver & Denting. In 1S74 the company Ixmght the buildings former! v owned and occupied bv the I'.tna Manufacturing Company, the same year being incorporated as the Silver &- I)emiii2, Manufacturing Company, with an authorized capital of $150,000. Early in 1890 Albert R. Silver and his sons retired (to organize a newenterprise), and die Demings in the summer of that year reorganized as the Denting Company. The first officers of the reorganized company were: John Denting, president; A. H. Harris, vice-president; \V. L. Denting, secretary ; W. I'". Denting, treasurer ; and Andrew Potter, superintendent. In 1905 the officers were: \V. F. Denting, president; W. L. Denting, secretary; K. J. Kmcny, chief engineer.

In 1880 tlte concern commenced the manufacture of hand and power pumps. They enlarged their line of goods after 1890, makmg a much larger and hetvier line of pumps. In 19x15 the company was manufacturing the following articles: Pumps and hydraulic machinery, well and pump fixtures, including cistern, well and wind-mill pumps; iron and brass cylinders, well supplies, hydraulic rams, spray pumps and nozzles, triplex power pumps, artesian-well pumping engines, etc. The company's plant is located on Depot street, Broadway ami Etna street. They employ about 250 men, and their goods are sold in all parts of this as well as in many foreign countries. During 1904-05 the capacity of tlte plant was almost doubled by the erection of new buildings and the installment of new machinery.

Just prior to the withdrawal of the Silvers from the Silver & Denting Manufacturing Company, the officers of the latter company were: A. R. Silver, president; John Denting, vice-president: Walter I*'. Denting, secretary; William Silver, treasurer: and E. \V. Silve-. superintendent.

In 1890 the Silver Manufacturing Company was organized, locating northeast of the Denting Company's plant, where large buildings were erected During the next 15 years the company entered on a large scale upon the manufacture of the following articles: Carriage-maker and blacksmith tools, band saws, butchers' tools, 'Ohio" hand and power feed cutters. "Ohio" self feed ensilage cutters ami blowers, metal bucket chain elevators, feed mills, steam cookers and root cutters.

The original officers of the company were : A. R. Silver, president; II. M. Silver, vicepresident; A. O. Silver, secretary; William Silver, treasurer; E. W. Silver, superintendent, lit 1905 E. W. Silver was president; H. M. Silver, vice-president ; A. O. Silver, secretary, and William Silver, treasurer. That year the capital stock was increased from $150,000 to $160,000. One hundred and twenty-five mett were employed. A new machine shop was built in 1905. This comparatively new manufacturing concern in Salem was acquiring an

1 1864 it passed into the hands of R. H. Garrigues, who converted it into a machine shop, and for some years manufactured horse [towers and threshing machines. His son, Norman B. Garrigues, continued the business for some time after the death of the father, and the shop finally passed into the hands of the Shcehan Man-

! ufacturing Company, whose chief product was riveting machines, but some other novelties were made. In 1904 the works had closed down, a itortion of the machinery having lieen

In 1868 a second stove foundry was established, adjoining the Woodruff stove works on Depot street, by Henry King, Funnan Gee aitd Henry Schoffer, tinder the firm name of King, Gee & Company. In May. |8(>9, the company incorporated as the Victor Stove Company, w ith nine memliers. The smaller interests were ahsortied by Daniel Roll and Furman Gee, who continued the business until 1879, when it passed into the hands of Daniel Koll and son. A third company built the Perry stove works in 1867. under the firm name of Baxter. Boyle &- Company. The concern incorporated in 1870 as the Perry Stove Company, with $60,000 capital, but on August 12, 1872, the plant was visited by a disastrous fire. The works were rebuilt in the same year, and the plant added to greatly during the next few years. Altout 1881. however, the Perry Stove Company received a sufficiently liberal offer from Mansfield. Ohio, to cause the removal of the works to that city. The Victor stove works of Daniel Koll and son, subsequent to 1879, incorporated as the Victor Stove Company, l.i 1905 I. (i. Tolerton was president; YY. II. Kofi, secretary and treasurer and superintendent : and Charles Sweney. assistant superintendent. Their output was alxmt io.ooo annually of ranges, heating stoves. cook and gas stoves, and they employed 70 men.

Origin Op The Ml'Llins Compan Y.

Decorative cornices, vases, husts ami met.-.] statuary were made as early as 1872 in Salem by Kittredge, Clark & Company, which firm laid the foundation for the immense business in later years of the \V. II. Mullins Company. In the spring of 1872 Kittredge. Clark & Company established a plant for the manufacture of galvanized iron cornices and ornamental architectural novelties on Depot street, in the (wildings occupied some years previous by the Salem Manufacturing Company. The designs were modeled first in clay, then cast in plaster and then made into iron shapes. The business prospered, and a few years later the company absorbed the National Ornament Company, of Toledo, moving the Toledo works to Salem. So prominent was the company in the trade at this time, that it received a large contract f<>r the decorative features of the buildings at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876. Mack's "History of Columbiana County" pul>- lished in 1879,' says of the company at that time:

"Much credit is due them for the introduction of pure architectural forms in this day of mongrel architectural follies. The company possesses a well-filled library, composed of native and foreign works on architecture, which furnishes the designers rare facilities in this department."

The Kittredge Cornice & Ornament Company succeeded the original firm, and, in Apr1 1. 1878, Thompson, Boyle & Company secured control of the plant. First as Thompson. Boyle & Company', then as Thomson & Bakcwell. the husiness was carried on until February. 1882.

At that time W. H. Mullins, of Salem, purchased Thompson's interest, and the firm name l»ccame Bakewell & Mullins. Mullins bought out his partner in February, 1890, and continued the business in his own name, enlarging the plant and entering extensively into the manufacture of statuary. January 15, 1905, the concern was incorporated as the W. H. Mullins Company, the officers l>eing: \V. II. Mullins, president; R. J. Thomson, vice-president; C. C. Gilwon, secretary; \V. P. Carpenter, treasurer; W. C. Hare, general superintendent; and ). H. Blackburn, purchasing agent. In 1905 the business had so increased as to give employment to 250 to 300 men. The company's line of manufactures were, principally, sheet metal architectural ornaments, statuary, fire-proof window frames and sash, skylights, store fronts, cornices, building trimmings in general, rowboats and launches - in the latter of which (viz., rowboats and launches) a very large trade had been secured.

One of the solid manufacturing concerns of Salem, doing a steadily increasing kisincss from its establishment in 1875 up to 1005, has Ijeen the Novelty Works of W. J. Clark & Company. At the first the manufacture of the "Novelty" oil-tank, shipping cans, measuring pumps, elevator buckets and patented novelties in sheet, wrought and cast metals, automatic fountains and metal spinning of all kinds was entered into. Trade in these articles extended to all [wrts of the United States. The company was incorporated in 1896, and beside the "Quick as Wink" hosc-couplcr, in the manufacture of which a very large business had l>een established, many other articles had l*cn added to their lines of manufacture. The company was employing from 35 to 40 men. The officers of the company were : W. C. Clark, president and treasurer; W. J. Clark, vice-president and manager; and I. A. Clark, secretary.

What were known as " The Industrial Works" were established in Salem in 1872 by Edwards & Morlan. In 1875 the sole proprietorship was vested in M. L. Edwards. Mr. Edwards was a practical machinist, having been for about 18 years, from 1854 to 1872, connected with the Silver & Deining concern, «luring eight years of which period he was its foreman. Among the products of the Kdward shop were meat choppers, lard and tallow presses, sausage stuffers, blacksmiths tools of various kinds, etc. Of many of the articles which he manufactures, he was the inventor. In 1905 Mr. F.d wards still continued the old business, making a number of specialties and doing a general jobbing and new line of workas a machinist.

Several early enterprises in the history of the town, which gave promise of great things in their day. were almost forgotten with the events of the last quarter of the old century. ; One of these was the Quaker Manufacturing Company, first established by Charles R. and J. Oscar Taber in 1854, for the manufacture : of stationary engines. The firm in 1856 became Taber, Pope & Street, and a large brick building was erected near the railroad, fronting on Depot street. Taber Brothers eventually tiecame sole proprietors, and on the death of Charles R. Tatar, in 1869. the Quaker Manufacturing Company was incorporated, with Leonard Schilling as president, the capita) stock being S8o,ooo. The company made a specialty (hiring the later years of its life of the manufacture t>f the "Quaker" mower and reaper, but it finally suspended business shortly after 1870.

Attempts to mine the coal and iron ore in the southern part of Perry township resulted in the organization of the Salem Coal & Ir,»i Company, on December 17. 18^19. the incorporators being Joel Sharp. Leonard Schilling, Amos Raik, James Woodruff and John Baker. Samuel Chessman was elected president of the new company: Leonard Schilling, secretary, and T. C. Boone, treasurer. The company was capitalized at $100,000 and attempts were made at mining coal and ore. but the lack of transportation facilities prevented the success <d the project.

The F.tna Manufacturing Company was also organized alxuit 1804, J. T. Brooks lieing largely interested. The company carried on .1 large business in mowers and reapers for .-< numlier of years, the annual product at one

Col' N Tv

Columbiana County is unique in the fact that nearly all her great manufacturing interests, have, during the years marked by the organization of the great "combines.*' escaped "trust" domination. This is true especially of the iron, steel and allied metal trades. The long arm of the United States Steel Corporation and its subsidiary companies, w hich were organized during the seven years preceding 1905, enfolded only three of the iron and steel concerns in the county - the Salem Wire Nail Mill Company, organized in 1885; the Wellsville rolling-mill, first established in 1874. and the Beaver tin plate mills of Lisbon, built in 1894.

The Salem Wire Nail Mill Company was incorporated in August, 1885. w ith a capital of $300,000 ( which was afterward increased to $500,000). and the plant at Salem started operations 011 the last day of that year. The original company was headed by Joel Sharp, of Salem, who was the first president of the concern. The plant employed over 200 men from the start, and in 1889 the company alisorbcd a second plant of the same capacity at Findlay, Ohio. The Salem mill was one of the first concerns taken into the original wire combine, - The American Steel & Wire Company, on its formation in 1898: and. on the absorption of the "wire combine" by the United States Steel Corporation, in 1901. the Salem plant of course became a part of the larger concern. The "combine" continued to run the Salem plant, however, at the expense of properties in other cities which in some cases lay idle for years; and, as the Salem mill had never been organized by the iron workers, it was never affected by the lnlx>r troubles that in later years lieset various mills under the Steel Corp>ration. The cajmcity of the Salem plant in 1905 was given at from 550,000 to 600,000 kegs of nails a year, and it employed, when running full, aliout 300 men. That year a large new warehouse was built.

The Wells Vi Lle Rolling- Mill

The career of the old Wellsville rolling-mill fur the first two decades after it was founded was a checkered one, including a woeful array of business failures, a later period diiriner which its product made it famous among iron men the country over, and, still later, a leading part in the titanic struggle of 1901 between the then newly organized United States Steel Corporation and the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers. In the early days of the history of the mill it was looked 011 as a complete failure; after almost 30 years of spasmodic o|>cration. the steel "combine"' pronounced the plant one of its best paying properties.

Ju 1873. one William Morgan, at the head of a party of mechanics, coming from Pittsburg, but most of them having recently come over from Wales, proposed to the people of Wellsville to build a mill for the manufacture of tin plate, on condition that the town would render certain assistance. A committee of citizens took up the matter, and in a short time $10,000 in money and real estate was placed at the disposal of a co-operative association, which was styled the American Tin Plate Company. The men themselves had but little capital : but very soon they had buildings, and equipped with machinery and stock representing a value of about $75,000 they began the manufacture of tin plate - the first, it is claimed, ever made in this country. Chiefly through lack of working capital, however, the enterprise failed in a few months. The operatives, about 50 in number, with their familiesstrangers in a strange land - were in dire distress. But they were helped by the town people and country folk as well. The Welsh people are proverbial for their quaintly sweet singnig of songs: and for a time men and women would go from place to place, singing their beautiful Welsh songs in return for the provisions given them.

A company lxtcked by A. Marcband. of Alliance, attempted to make something out of tbe mill, but with 110 letter success than the original projectors. In 1877 the plant was sold by the sheriff to satisfy original claims, and was bought in for Black. Paker & C ompany, of Pittsburg ,but another failure followed in alxmt a year. Then, a year or so later, parties who still held claims against the old concern turned it over to W. I). Wood, of Pittsburg, and it was at once equipped with new machinery and put in condition to "make good."

The W. Dewees Wood Company had an extensive plant at that time at McKeesport, and the Wellsville plant was taken over to increase the company's capacity for the fine planished and Russian iron of which it was the sole producer in the I'nited States. The product of the Wellsville mill was therefore unique under the Wood management, and the product of much higher value than the sheet steel mills operated elsewhere in the country. Persifor V. Smith, of Pittsburg, was manager of the plant from the time of the Wood purchase. The Wood interests were among the last to be brought into the American Sheet Steel Company on its organization in 1898, and when the "combine" assumed control. P. F. Smith was made manager of all the Western plants of the sheet steel company, with headquarters at Pittsburg, D. S. Brookman becoming manager at Wellsville.

Mills At Ikon Dale And Llsuon

Wellsville' s early venture was no exception in the history <<t the attempts during the '7o's and the '80s to make tin plate in America. Many enterprises with the same end in view met disaster in different parts of the country during that period. It was not until the passage of the McKinlcy tariff by Congress in 1880. that the American mills succeeded in the effort to wrest the market from the Wcldi and English manufacturers. And. singularly enough, what is claimed to have been the first mill in America to make tin successfully under the McKinlcy tariff was started only a fewmiles from Wellsville. at Irondale. just over the Columbiana and Jefferson County line. A sheet steel mill had been built at Irondale n 1870. by Morgan & Hunter, of Alliance. The mill o|>erate<l only a few years, and then shut down. When the McKinley tariff made tin a protected industry, William Banfield, of Wellsville, headed a company which took over the old mill and converted it into a tin plate plant ; and here, in 189.0, was produced the first American tin that ever competed successfully with the Welsh product in the American market. The Irondale mill, and its tin, figured prominently in the tariff cam|wigns of the next lew succeeding years as an argument for protective tariff ; and the mill continued to operate, : with William Banfield as manager, until the organization of the American Tin Plate Company, in 1899, which absorlied the Irondale plant, and then in turn was itself absorbed in ; 1901 by the United States Steel Corporation.

Lisbon first made tin in 1894. The town in 1893 offered a substantial bonus to the Beaver Tin Plate Company, an organization of practical tin men, and a 6-mill plant was built the following year on the banks of the Little Beaver. C. W. Bray, of Youngstown, was president of the company; I. M. Scott, of Bridgeport, secretary and treasurer, and George Evans, superintendent. The plant was successfully operated by the original company until the organization of the "tin plate combine." to which it was sold on December 19. 1898.

Steel Strike Of I9Oi

All three of these plants, the Wellsville, Irondale and Lisbon, played a prominent part in the hattle between the steel workers and the newly organized Steel Coqwration in 190L All were properties of the "combine" at that time - as was also the Salem nail-mill, but tht Salem plant had never Ijeen unionized, and ran steadily throughout the struggle.

The United States Steel Corporation had taken possession of the plants of its subsidiary companies early in 1901. The Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers, at its convention in Milwaukee that year, had virtually thrown down the gauntlet to the newly organized combine. The first gun of the strike was fired at the Wellsville mill. In June the management at Wellsville announce I the discharge of a number of its workmen, among them men who had been attempting to unionize the plant. The Wellsville mill was at that time l«ing run "open" - union and nonunion men l>eing allowed to work in the plant,, by agreement between the men's organization and the American Sheet Steel Company. The reinstatement ot the discharged men was demanded, and on the refusal of the Wellsville management. President T. J. Shaffer, of the men's organization, called a strike at all sheet steel mills under his jurisdiction. Within a week the strike had extended to every Steel Corporation plant controlled by the Amalgamated Association in the country. During July and August the fight centered at Lisbon and Wellsville, the "combine" attempting to operate both mills non-union. At Wellsville the attempt succeeded : at Lisbon it failed. Late in August the Irondale mill was also successfully reopened. The struggle was settled in Septeml>er, but the Wellsville mill remained nonunion, and the Steel Corporation never reopened the Lisbon and Irondale plants.

The mill at Lisbon lay idle until January 1. 1905, when it was purchased from the Steel Corporation by persons representing the National Brass & Copper Company, of Pittsburg, and refitted as a copper and brass mill. The Irondale plant was dismantled, and the machinery taken to Chester, West Virginia, opposite East Liverpool, where a plant had been built in 1897, by Pittsburg parties, for the manufacture of sheet steel, and had been sold to the American Sheet Steel Company 011 its organization, but had never l>een operated by the "combine." This mill was started in 1902, and ran steadily.

During the first years of the new century. Wellsville citizens made efforts to increase the iron interests of the city. After a fire which destroyed the works of the Carroll-Porter Boiler & Tank Company, on lower Penn avenue. Pittsburg, in 1901, the Wellsville Board of Trade offered the company a bonus of $10,000 in cash and $15,000 worth of land to locate its new works in Wellsville. The company built in Wellsville in 1903, opening on N'ovemlier 30th of that year. J. W. Porter was

Other extensive foundries, growing out of the potter)' and clay -working industries °f East Liverpool, grew up at that place during the latter half of the century, for the manufacture of clay-working and pottery machinery - of which more extended mention is made in the chapter on clay and pottery manufactures in this work.

Statistics On Production

Statistics on the production of iron and finished metal products in Ohio have generally been meager and unreliable, and in some years no tabulated report by counties has l«en presented by the Secretary of State. For instance, in his report for the year 1870-71. the Secretary of State says that Columbiana County is credited with the manufacture of 19,767 tons of pig-iron, but, having received no report on this industry from 19 counties of the State, he declines presenting any table of results. In 1873 the report shows 33,901 tons of pig-iron made at Leetonia, and none made at any other point ; 4,487 tons of bar, nail and rod iron were produced ; 1,000 tons of stoves ami hollow ware and 611 tons of all other castings; 165 steam engines and 129 boilers. In 1875 the county is credited with the following production of machinery: Sugar and grain mills, 60; portable sawmills, 23 ; reaping, mowing and threshing machines, 311 ; plows, 100; steam engines, 73; boilers, 67. The report for 1878 showed 38,400 tons of pig-iron produced; two lonely I tons of sheet iron and 185 tons of boiler iron; 1,200 tons of stoves and hollow ware and 400 tons of all other castings.

The report for 1880 showed 65,093 tons of pig-iron produced; 5,614 tons of bar, nail and rod iron; 900 tons of sheet iron; 1,760 tons of stoves and hollow ware ; 668 tons of all other castings; and tin. copper and sheet iron ware to the value of $4,600. It is remarkable that the report of the Secretary of State for 1903 does not give the statistics of iron and steel and their products.

The production of iron ore was never large in Columbiana County ; and, with the opening of the great fields of superior ores in the Lake regions, Ohio ceased to be an important State in iron ore production. In 1887 the production of iron ore reached its height in Ohio, the State reports showing 87.1/15 tons of black - !>and and 287.500 tons of hematite to have l»een produced in that year. From that time ii gradually declined, the State mining report for 1903 saying: 'The iron industry of the State has come to be of such limited output that it scarcely rewards any effort to collect statistics, only two counties reporting for the year 1903, Lawrence and Scioto. The total amount produced was 12.095 tuns- a Ka'» of 2-3'4 ton* over the year 1902. when four counties reported on the output of iron ore.