Maumee express. [volume] (Maumee City, Ohio) 1837-1838, 1837-12-23

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tern verge, for many miles. on the
Muskingum river, and its branches, sew
eral coal mines shave been opened. and
large quantities Of coal freighted on the
canal southwestward, to the interior of
the state, and northward to Cleveland,
from whence it is shipped to Bufalo,and
other ports on Lake Erie. aioals
This branch of commerce is new and
rapidly increasing. The following state
ment derived from Mr.. Beardsly, col
lector at Cleveland will show. He says
that there were received at that place
in 1885, 50.473 bushels of coal; in 1886,
S4,S34 bushels; in 1887, TO November
22d, l79,S64 bushels OF the quantity
received this year, there was shipped 10
American ports 25,964 bushels, and 10
Canadian ports 81 $50 bushels. He fur
lher says, " You will perceive, by this
statement. that the quantity is on the in.
crease. Indeed, can scarcely fix a IL
nit to the quantity that must eventually
find its way to this market" o IS
The Hooking Valley canal now in
progress Of construction, passes through
coal district which is not surpassed
by any yet explored in the western
country. The coal banks are general
ly from six to seven feet in thickness, and
are protected above by a solid sand.
stone more than fifty feet thick; they
extend about seven miles along the
Hooking River, and in many places
approach within few rods of the canal,
lying from ten TO fifty feet above its
surface. 1t is difficult TO conceive of
district which affords greater facilities
for mining and the transportation of
coal, than will this when that important
branch of the Ohio Canal shall have been
completed. Portions of that district,
which contain coal in such abundance,
also contain salt springs of an excellent
quality. Many salt wells on the Musk
ingum river, below GAINESVILLE, have
been worked with success for years
past, and furnish an annual product of
about 100000 bushels of salt: and near
the lower line of the coal district on the
Hockhocking river salt well now in
use furnishes brine equal in quantity and
strength to the best salt wells on the
Kenhaway river. Should this salt de-
post prove extensive as from appear
ances it is believed to be, as they are
favored wilhsrich coal mines in the i'm
mediate vicinity, the valleys of the
Muskingum and Hockhocking may in a
a few years supply the interior of Ohio
with salt, and compete with Onondaga
for the market on the southern shore of
Lake Erie.
In that extensive and fertile portion
ofour state which lies west of the Scioto
river, neither coal or salt have been dis
covered; and from the absence of 9th.
er minerals which are generally associa-
ted with them, it is believed they do not
exist. The Erie and the Ohio Canal
skirts the regions of our mineral depos-
its; the canals along the Muskingum
and Hockhocking valleys, cut that re-
gion trans versely while the Miami Ca
nal and the Wabash and Erie Canal,
which intersects it, passes through an
extensive and fertile country where they
are wholly wanting. Salt and coal must
therefore be transported from a dis
tance to supply the country tributary
to, and bordering on, the canals last ma.
med.
1t becomes therefore matter of high
public interest, that our two great ca
nails should be united, if racticable, by
a connecting canal, to ntersect them at
the points where they most nearly ap-
proach each other. From what has
been already said, it is obvious that such
awork would be attended with great and
important advantages. 1t would open
a direct and easy avenue for the inter-
change of commodities between these
great sections Of our state, which are
so rich and vet so various in their pro-
ductions. ta8as..t 4.. f,.t
At all times the prudent legislator
will see that his constituents are not tax
ed for objects olinternal Improvement,
without certainty that in the equiva-
lent extended to them by giving facili.
ties in the disposal fproducts of their la.
Dor, and in receiving their articles of
consumption, they will receive an ade-
|quate remuneration,
To this rule there are some excep-
lions, one ofwhich is, that when state
by joint effort has effected great work
or works, that in the nature of things
cannot dispense equal benefits through
all its parts, justice may demand that
something should be done to aid and as
sist those whose localities have not per.