The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1877-03-01
RANDOM THOUGHTS.
BY THE EDITOR.


by 81 o'clock in the morning, he would
60 with me-
On Tuesday morning was at the en-
gine house at Ct o'clock, and found about
dozen of the hands there, around a
stove. The morning was clear, frosty
and still. and the ground frozen.
A little after the hour set. half past
six, about 35 men got upon two platform
cars, ready to be taken to the end of the
road. These men had shovels, crow-bars,
hammers with long handles, dinner
buckets, etc. We were soon moving
down the road. Mr. Davis, the engineer
who operates the locomotive, is very gen
tlemanly in his manners, and gave Mr..
Chapman and me places near the fire.
| told him to place me where i would be
out OF his way, as in my business, hated
above all things, to have persons stand
in my way He said he was ACCUSTOMED
to having persons on the engine, on new
roads like this. He gave me good seat,
where l would not be in his way, and
where | would be comfortable and could
see the track long way ahead.
We passed Globe Furnace, which was
burned year or two ago. There is big
pile of ore there, and this furnace will
no doubt be put in blast when the road
shall have been completed The Globe
Company, who own this furnace and
/ Fulton, now haul coal from Globe, near
ly a mile, through Jackson, to operate
| Fulton.
| A little lower down, and a couple OF
hundred yards up to the left, or south of
the road, is Kyle's slope, where the best
quality Of shaft coal is being taken out.
A short switch will be made to this mine,
as the ground is nearly level.
Next we passed. Diamond town. Here
Levi DUNCAN resides. and there are a
number Of other houses occupied. Here,
some twenty five years ago. the Salt Lick
furnace was built, by Grafton, Hoffman
a. Co. IL was afterwards changed to the
name of Diamond Furnace. In 1852
Diamond Furnace Co. failed Somr six
or seven years afterwards Gov. Tod and
his sons, and some other parties, bought !
it and operated it for time, and lost |
large sum of money. The enterprise was
then abandoned, and all the machinery |
was taken away, and even the stones of
which the furnace stack was built were |
taken away and applied to other purpo- /
ses, and now not one stone is left upon /
another to tell where old Salt Lick, or
Diamond, once stood. On the rocks are |
painted in large, gingerbread letters,
Wizard Oil, and buy your Drugs
from Carpenter q Waterman" But Car
penter * Waterman have long since lit |
out from Jackson, and this painting upon
the rocks reminded me of Ingersolrs
story about 'cash paid for wheat" on the
old mill which had been abandoned for
thirty years
A short distance below the Diamond 1
is the fine farm Of John L. Long On
the left, up on the hill, is the fine brick
residence, which was built by Alexander
Grafton. There are two rows of Norway
spruce from the residence down TO the
road. 1t was evidently intended by Mr.
Grafton to have a beautiful walk from
the residence to the road, between these
rows of evergreens; but the walk has not
been made, and it looks like an old
Abandoned field
Our train ran down until it struck
Buckeye Creek, and then up that stream
to the end of the track, five miles from
Jackson. The track will soon be done
as far as opposite Whaley's School House.
When the train stopped the men were
suffering with the cold, and they went to
work with good will, to warm them
selves. Some, whose hands were very
cold, struck their hands around their
sides, to warm them. 1 have often done
this, when chopping wood. 1t increases
the circulation in the hands and fingers
Some of the men would lay the ties
across the grade Others would lay the
iron on the ties, while still others would
spike the iron down. One man would put
the end of a crowbar under the end of
the tie and put block under the bar for
a fulcrum, and raise the tie and hold il
firmly up to the under side Of the iron.
Then the two men would place the
spikes, one on each side of the iron, and
drive them down at the same time. Then
a man would put plates on each side Of
the iron at the joints, put bolts through
the plates and the iron, and with a large
wrench tighten the taps on the bolts, un-
til it made a solid joint. Some of the
men were bringing ties, and some were
bringing iron, on small cars, to the end
Of the track The men all worked with
a hearty good will They get one dollar
per day.
Mr.. Davis, the engineer, informed us
that the road is going to be good one.
He says that when it shall have been
Dallasted up, it will be very smooth and
'olid. A long stretch of it now finished, ;
IS straight, and runs through a fine re-
gion of country.
learned that very nearly all the work
10 Waverly is done, including bridges
and culverts, ready for the ties and iron
These are ready, and there are plenty Of
men to do the work. All thatis needed
IS money to pay the men. The most of
the stockholders are doing the best they Il
ire able to do. Some are paying in
money, some in iron, and others are Civ
ing their notes, which can be negotiated :
md used to further the work.
We had pleasant ride back to town,
where we arrived at o'clock The new
locomotive is a nice little thing. 1t had
over one hundred pounds Of steam to the
inch, during our trip. 1t consumes about
25 bushels Of coal per day. 5