Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1886-07-30

also made coke, and that this business was
carried on by his successor, Stephen whey,
for n number of years. The History OF
Fayette County, also states that the Ale
gheny Furnace, Blair county, used coke in
1911. / have not been able to authenticate
either of these statements. 1t Is certain
that coke was made near Parker's Landing
as early as 1918, and on Redstone creek Tor
refining iron rs early as 1917.
Although coke was made in many parts
of the bituminOus coal regions OF Penn
sylyania. chiefly for experiments in the
blast furnace, it was not until the develop
ment of the Connellsville region that this
industry assumed any Importance. In
earlier manufactures of coax in this region
it was make in pits ION the ground" In
1S4l the first ovens were erected at Con-
nellsville. 1t was in this year (lS4l) that
two carpenters, Provance Mccormick and
James Campbell, overhearda an Fnglishman,
so the story runs, commenting on the rlch
deposits of coal at COnnellsyille and their
fitness for making coke, as well rs the
value of coke for foundry purposes, and
they determined to enter upon its manu-
~facture. Mr.. Mccormick who Is still
living, nearly so years old, gave me an ac-
count from memory of this enterprise,
which | quOte:-
DEVELOPING THE CONNELLsvILLE REGION
"James Campbell and myself heard, in
some way that l do not now recOllect, that
the manufacturing of coke might be made
a good business. Mr.. John Taylor, q stone
mason, who owned the farm on which the
Fayette Coke Works 10Y stand, and who
was mining coal in a small way, was spoken
to regarding our enterprise, and proposed
n nartnerShip-he to build the OXens and
make the coke, and Mr.. Campbell and my
self to build a boat and take the coke to
Cincinnati, where we heard there was a
good demand. This was in lS4l, Mr.. lay
lOr built two ovens. ! think they We're
about ten feet i'm diameter. My recollec-
ton is that the charge was eighty bushels.
They ovens were built in the same style rs
those now used, but had no iron ring ut
the top to prevent the brick from tallingm
when filling the oven with coal, nor had
we any iron frames at the mouth where the
coke was drawn. The top and mouth had
to be repaired when they fell in.
'In the spring Of ls42 enough coke had
been made to fill two boats ninety feet long
about 500 bushels cach-and we took
them to Cincinnati, down the GOughiO-
gheny, MonOngahela and Ohio, but when
we cot there we could not sell. Mr.. Camp
hell, who went with the boats, lay ut the
landing some two or three weeks, retailing
out one boatload and part of the other in
small lots ut about y cents q bushel.
Esr - E,t,,lrNTnNnn nj thnt
city, offered to take Il small patent flour
mill ut S125 in pay, which Mr.. campbell
did. He had it shipped here, tried it, but
it was no good, and we sold it to Il man i'll
the mountains for $50, and thus ended our
coke business
These gentlemen lost heavily in their
venture. Mr.. Greenwood sent part OF his
coke to Dayton, TO Judge Gebhart, who
wa formerly a resident of l0nnellSYllle,
and, rs Mr.. Mccormick states, wanted us
TO continue to make coke, and he would
| take two boat loads a year, delivered ut
Cincinnati, and pay the cash on delivery;
also. that he would insure us sale for all
the coke we could make and deliver ut
| : cents per bushel; but we had gone into
! other business and refused TO do anything
more with the coke"
EXTENDING THE TRADE.
This was the beginning of the coke bust
ness in the COnnellsyille region. For some
years but little coke was made, though n
few ovens were built, and that knowledge
acquired which was necessary for the COM
ing development of the trade. In 1S43 the
ovens built by Taylor were leased to three
gentlemen named Cochran, a name which
| from that time to the present has been con-
nectef with coke making in that region.
They made 3D. 900 bushels and tlOated it
down to Cincinnati, where it was sold to
Miles Greenwood, at Z cents n buShel. Be
tween this date and 1sj0 three or four
ovens were built by Stewart StriCkler, who
sold his product to the COchrans. In 1851
improved ovens WeFR built, and the trade
increased somewhat, but in 1855 II isstated
that there were but twenty-six coke ovens
above PittSburg. 1t was not until the Bal
timOre & Ohio road was completed to Pitts
burg, and COnnellsville coke had been
used successfully in the Clinton furnace Of
Graft. Bennett 4 Co. at Pittsburgh, that its
value Us furnace fuel waSthOrOughly dem
onstrated and the foundation laid for the
demand that has resulted in such 4 devel-
opment of coke manufacture in the Con-
nellsville region. This furnace was blown
in the fall of 1853 TO make pig from
coke. The coke was at first
made from Pittsburg coal near the
furnace on the south side of the Mononga-
hela river, nearly opposite the Point, at
| PittSburg. The furnace was run for about
three months, when, the coke made in this
way not proving satisfactory, it was blown
out, and arrangements made to SECURE q
supply from the COnnellsville region. The
furnace blew in again early in the spring
OF 1850, the coke used being from the Fay
cite Coke Works ON the Baltimore and
Ohio railroad, made at first on the ground
in pits. The result was so satisfactory
that thirty ovens were built in 1860 and ar
rangemepts were made TO secure a contin-
ued supply. When il is remembered that
thiSis only twenty years ago, the develop
ment of this industry is remarkable.
JOHN ID. WEEKS.