The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1870-06-02
correspondence of the olncin. chronicle.
NVIIV9IIOIINAOIAOV VI NIIU OIIIUIIIs OIIIVIIIVIOs
OAKLAND FARM, JACKSON Co., o.,


Correspondence of the Cincin, Chronicle.
OAKLAND FARM, JACKSON Co., o.,
May "a.
Yesterday morning in company with
Prof E. B. Andrews, of the State Geo
logical Corps, We started from COlum-
bus to sniff the country air and attempt
to see something of the manner in
which the geological survey of the
State is being conducted. The night
was spent at Hamden Station, hamlet
on the Marietta road which furnishes
little or nothing to write about except
that the piles of iron ore and limestone
furnished some fine specimens of shells
and other fossils.
A short ride on the toughest of freight
cars brings us to the town of Jackson.
The town looks like most country towns,
and would look dull but for the iron
and coal interests which centre here.
With these interests, in busy season,
the town looks lively enough.
The town was settled in 1894, and
for some time was a most Insignificant
hamlet. The place grew steadily, and
in 1850 it could boast of from three to
to four hundred inhabitants; in 1860
about eleven hundred, and now it is the
proud posseSsor of three thousand souls.
During the past year many fine resi-
dences have been completed, and the
town may be said to be prospecting.
The Jackson Standard, under the guild
ance of my good friend Mackley, is also
prospering, as it should with so good
and true man at its head. Located
upon the outskirts of the town are three
large iron furnaces, the Starr, Orange
and Fulton, the last named being the
only one now making iron.
n
The thing to be thought of in locat-
ing a furnace of course is an abundance
of coal, stone and iron-coal and iron
in particular. At the Fulton and other
furnaces in this county the coal is mined
within few yards of the stack, and it
is very easy matter to transfer it from
the mine to the furnace by proper appa-
ratus. The ore used here is a mixture
of the ores found in this vicinity and
that brought from Missouri and Lake
Superior, it being claimed that the iron
produced by mixture of these ores is
more desirable for general purposes than
any other in the world. At this furnace
it is claimed that a ton of iron can be
made for $25 90, and at the present SELL
ing rates, it is not very profitable
business.
The high wages demanded by the
men, and the little demand for iron, has
caused the other two furnaces in this
vicinity to suspend operations for the
time being. Of the thirteen furnaces
in this county, all but three of them use
charcoal. The three furnaces here
have fully demonstrated that the best
of iron can be made from stone coal, and
are doing it, and in good season will
certainly find it profitable. This very
partial and unsatisfactory description Of
a furnace, weak as it is, must suffice,
for want ola better one.
While here we procured some fine
specimens of fossil coal plants from the
piles of shale taken from the mines
The shale here is rich in specimens,
and will richly repay the curiosity hunt
er. They give us the impression ofthe
rarest MOSES, farine and shrubs long
ago extinct, and tell at a glance stories
of many years ago. These specimens
will be forwarded by Prof Andrews to
the State Cabinet at Columbus
The coal and iron deposits in this
county are of great value, the hills and
valleys for many miles being filed with
large deposits ofcoal and ore. In 1868,
this county mined 943, l20 bushels OF
coal, and produced 8,l0l tons of pig
iron; and ifno very bad luck comes and
the Free Traders do not make too great
asses of themselves, will do better year
after year, as her resources are develop
ed. The Geological Survey will do
much for this county in developing
what are as yet hidden and even
unknown treasures, and the people here,
of all conditions, fully understand this,
and do their utmost to facilitate the
good work being done by the Geologic.
al Corps in this vicinity,
Professor Andrews is an enthusiast
at this kind of work, and as the people
here are making his acquaintance, he
so manages matters as TO make them
individually interested in the survey,
aud, in fact, all amateur geologists,
The State did a wise thing for heI
whole people when it provided for this
survey, and itit is properly conducted to
the end will repay within short time
all that it will cost dozen times over
In fact, in referring to the able report
of Prof w. w. Mather, who made a
partial survey of the State in 1888, we
find that, in regard to the one item OF
manufacture of iron in this region, he
says; "Here We have all the facilities
necessary to success The fuel, fuxes
aud ore are abundant and contiguous
to each other, and can be obtained at
so little expense, that the manufacture
of iron, under judiciOus regulations,
cannot fail to be eminently successful
At a very low calculation of the amount
of good ore in this region which has
this year been explored, it is equal to a
solid, unbroken stratum sixty miles in
length, six miles in width, and three