WAYNE COUNTY OHIO ************************************************************************** File Contributed for use in the Wayne County Biographies Project by Name: John and Cordelia Hall Email: johnh2all@earthlink.net Date: January 2003 *************************************************************************** "The History of Wayne County, Ohio" published in 1910 by B. E. Bowen & Co. COAL MINES OF THE COUNTY Perhaps no better description of the coal measure of Wayne county can here be furnished than that given by Hon. John P. Jeffries, who, in the Douglas history of the county, published in 1878, gave the facts as they then existed, and from which this chapter is largely made up. Before passing to the record made by Mr. Jeffries, a thorough geological student, it may be stated that the United States census reports for 1902 give the total number of tons of coal mined in Wayne county for that year to have been seventy-four thousand eight hundred and twenty-four. Its estimated mine value was fixed at one dollar and seventy-nine cents per ton, or a total of one hundred forty thousand one hundred and fifty-three dollars. At the present date Wayne is one of the twenty-mine coal producing counties in Ohio. Of the various mines being worked in 1878, Mr. Jeffries is the authority for these statements: The coal mines in Chippewa township number ten, including those known as the Jacob Wegandt mine, the Peter Frase mine, the Holm mines, the Boak mine, the California mine, the Franks mine, the Woods mine, the Simmons shaft, Muter's coal bank. The coal from the mines within this township is of an excellent quality, equal to the celebrated Mahoning coal. In Milton township the coal measure is confined to eight sections of the civil township in the northern part. Much coal has been mined here at different periods since the coal of the county was first discovered. In Green township the coal measure is limited to a small territory, though of recent years it has been a paying product. In Baughman township as early as 1877 there were mines doing a flourishing business, as follows: The Burton bank. Jacob E. Wenger's shaft,on section 28, where the coal is four and a half feet thick. It is reached at a dept of thirty-eight feet from the surface. Then there was the John Spindler mine, opened by him about 1850. Across the swamp, one-half mile northwest from Fairview, is the Todd coal mine, the Becker mines, the Neiswanger mine, the Carroll mine. It is believed that coal of fine grade exists under almost the entire surface of the land within Baughman township. East Union township is another good coal-bearing section of the county, covering as it does the entire underlaying territory, except possibly a few sections. At first the coal was not found in thickness sufficient to be profitable, but in later years lower veins have been discovered that measure in many places seven feet in thickness and not over seventy feet from the surface. Still later developments have disclosed a still greater wealth of coal in this township. In Paint township the mines in operation before the eighties were: The Charles Brown mine, one mile west of Mt. Eaton; the Hunsinger mine, three and one-half feet in thickness; George Mathoit's mine; Dr. Roth's coal bank; Peter Graber's mines; the Flory mines; the Mt. Eaton mines, located in the village. Later developments in this township proved that paying quantities of good coal were to be found at almost any portion of the territory, at a depth that would pay rich returns for mining and hoisting. In fact the coal here mined now is among the finest grades in Wayne county and has been a source of great revenue to the owners. The Sugarcreek township coal mines were first opened by drift on the west side of the hill on the farm of Mr. Gochenour, one mile to the west of Dalton, about 1830, but the mine having a defective roof, it was soon abandoned. Another mine was opened a mile west of Dalton on the Peter Buchanan farm; another on the Bashford land, where the vein was over three feet thick. On the David Rudy place still another paying mine property was located many years ago. The coal of this entire township is accompanied by a fine grad of the fire clay of great value commercially; also limestone and some iron ore and mineral paint, red and yellow ochre. In short the entire township is one vast coal and general mineral field. The coal mines of Saltcreek township have long since come to be well known and very productive and valuable to operate. The Finley mine in 1878, on the farm of Mrs. Delano Jeffries, on section 4, was being operated by Frank Becker. Under this coal strata was found a sand rock seven feet in thickness. The Daniel Ream farm, on the southwest quarter of section 4 has been fully described by Prof. M. C. Reed in his "Geological Survey of Ohio." The Stutz mine was opened on section 23, where a four-foot vein was disclosed and has long been worked. The Henning mine, on the Adam Henning place, is five feet in thickness. There is considerable iron ore in this section of the county. The coal mines of Franklin township in 1877 were those of William Harrison, a mile and a half southwest of Fredericksburg. The roof of this mine was yellow sand stone. The coal was reached at the depth of eighty feet. The James Finley mines, in this township, are located on section 22, about two and a half miles from Fredericksburg, and were operated in 1878 by Asaph Rumbaugh. The coal was struck at the depth of seventy-five feet from the surface. Another Franklin township mine was Charles Story's, which vein was three feet in thickness. Coal was also found at an early date on the Miller land in section 34, but it was too thin a vein to be profitably mined. On the Jacob and Israel Franks farm, in section 35, another mine was developed, in connection with a stratum of fire clay that was used for many years in the Wooster pottery works, and fire brick were also made of this clay which was thought superior to any in the county at that day. The coal measure in Clinton, Canaan and Wooster townships is somewhat limited, says Jeffries in his article written in 1878. The absence of paying quantities of coal at and near the city of Wooster is easily accounted for when one considers the formation of the sub-strata of the earth at this point. Since the writings on the coal measure of Wayne county in 1878, there have been many developments and great has been the tonnage of good bituminous coal from the scores of mines in the vicinity, but more especially in the townships named and carefully described by him, and also confirmed by the state geologists.