The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1873-12-25

PENNSYLVANIA when the oil excitement
broke out Companies have been organ
lied, furnaces built; and hundreds of new
houses completed during the past season,
in the town itself, and within a circuit
of a few miles many villages are
springing into existence Energy and
thrift have taken the place of idleness
and apathy, and the glare of the humer-
Gus furnaces give increasing evidence of
the rapid changes that are taking place.
One day was spent by the party in exam
lining the various localities between
jackson c. II. and Hamden Junction;
visiting coal mines, deposits of limestone
and ore. And still the wonder grew
why this section had not been developed
before. Those who made the visit from
motives of curiosity, with but remote
ideas of investing were thoroughly 1m-.
pressed with the vast capabilities of the
region, and it was finally the unanimous
conclusion of the entire party that money
invested in land and developing its min
eral resources could not help but return
heavy dividends A Aportion of the party
have decided to form a company with
capitaI of some three hundred thousand
dollars, buy a tract of one thousand acres
of land, open coal mines. build two fur
naces, store, lay out town, and erect
two or three hundred dwelling houses,
at once And they must make money.
The State Geologist says of the jackson
county coal: rIt is remarkable coal in
several respects. First-There are less
ashes than in any coal yet analyzed.
Second-The quantity of fixed carbon
(the pure eombustible base of cnarcoal)
| is larger than in any coal yet analyzed.
This coal, as whole is finer than almost
any other, and is very superior for iron
making; on account of its dry burning
quality, the large amount of fixed carbon,
its remarkably light ash, and its freedom
| from sulphur This remarkable quality
fits it for making, with suitable ores, the
very purest and best iron.
Limestone. producing or yielding iron
is found In all the hills, and the coal is
found on almost every farm at depth OF
| from thirty to sixty feet, in veins aver
aging four feet in thickness, through
out jackson county. Besides the lime
stone ore, there are kidney and block
ores found in abundance. Three-fourths
of the iron now produced is good car
wheel iron, and the remainder foundry
iron. Three tons of raw ore, or two tons
of burnt, produce one ton of iron.
There are five furnaces in blast at the
county seat, night and day, twelve
months in the year. Three more are
| iOOutIdOGSd anu SON0fdl are uOW
constructed within few miles of town.
In fact, the furnaces in jackson and ad-
joining counties, that have been in oper
alton, smelling ore with charcoal, for
twenty or thirty years, is astonishing.
But the discovery Of the bituminous coal,
equal to that of charcoal has changed
everything. 1t is the difference between
railroads and the old-fashioned mode of
locomotion. the telegraph the sewing
machine, the reaper and mower, and all
| other labor saving appliances 1t is
making the wilderness to blossom like
the rose; and capital and enterprise are
legitimately attracted to this section.
Parties of capitalists from New York
arrive in jackson almost weekly; and it
will not be many months before this re-
gion will become as famous as the oil re-
gions in Pennsylvania Many of the old
oil spectators are already there We
made the acquaintance of one who has
already made an immense fortune in
leasing lands and boring for coal. But
cases like this are exceptional. This
superior coal is now known to underlie a
great portion of jackson county, and all
that is at present required is capital to
erect furnaces and smelt the rich ores OF
this and adjacent counties. Rolling mills
will naturally follow; and there is no
doubt but in few years this county, with
an area of 400 square miles, will be dense
ly populated as any city in the country.