surgeons' reports OHIO ELEVENTH DISTRICT. 40^ 



llivev southwardly, and embraces the most southern point in the State. The district is almost en- 

 tirely included in the arc of the semicircle produced by the great bend in the river before men- 

 tioued, and has a river- boundary on the south of one hundred and sixty miles, while the diameter 

 of the semicircle within which the district is situated is less than one hundred miles. The district 

 embraces the great iron and coal belt as it passes through the State, and is especially known in 

 the State and elsewhere as the "mineral region of the State of Ohio." In Adams County, one of 

 the counties of the district, the first furnace in the West for the manufiuiture of pig-iron from the 

 ore was constructed. 



The people of the district are, to a very considerable extent, engaged in the iron trade and 

 mannfacture. At the present time, there are in operation within the district forty furnaces for the 

 niauufacture of pig-iron from the ore, which is found in abundance in the ditterent strata within its 

 boundary. These furnaces have till recently been supplied with fuel from the abundant forests 

 within the district. Of late, the fuel necessary to operate them has been procured from the bitu- 

 minous-coal banks, an abundance of which is found within the district sufficient for all purposes for 

 which it may be required for many generations. 



There are also at Ironton, the county seat of Lawrence County, and at Portsmouth, the couuty- 

 seat of Scioto County, several founderies for the production of castings of various -kinds from the 

 pig-iron produced at the furnaces above alluded to; and also several rolling-mills, where bar-iron, 

 nails, &c., are manufactured from the pig-iron spoken of. It is estimated that no less than sixty 

 thousand tons of pig-iron are produced annually within the district, and that no less than thirty 

 thousand of our population are connected in some manner with this great interest. 



The next great interest in point of importance in the district is the agricultural; for, while it 

 is true that the surface of our district is broken, and iu some parts almost mountainous, yet even 

 upon the sides and sumtnits of those hills are found farms of greater or less extent, while along the 

 valleys of the Ohio Iliver, and many of its tiibutaries within the district, are some of the finest 

 farms within the State, owned and cultivated by an educated and intelligent people. So interspersed 

 are the mineral and agricultural portions of the district as to furnish a home-market for almost the 

 entire products of the farmers, while, on the other hand, the furnaces and other manufacturing 

 establishments find an almost entire supply of food and forage within their respecHve neighbor- 

 hoods. Another item of historic, rather than present, interest is the fact that at and near Jackson, 

 the county-seat of Jackson Connty, the first salt manufactured in the Western States was produced; 

 and, although now abandoned, the character of the present population is not entirely freed from the 

 impression given to it during that period. The population connected with the furnaces and foun 

 deries above alluded to are a hardy, industrious, and necessarily frugal people, largely of Virginia 

 origin, until within a few years past, since which a foreign element has been introduced, modifying 

 to a very considerable extent the habits and customs of that class of the inhabitants. That portion 

 of our population of southern origin either kept aloof entirely or entered very reluctantly into the 

 military service upon the call of the President for troops to put down the now extinct rebellion, 

 while the foreign element, esj^ecially the Germans and Welsh, entered freelj' and voluntarily, and 

 aided materially to fill the quotas required from the district. It is with no little pride that I men- 

 tion in this connection the fact that on every call for troops our quota has been promptly filled, and 

 to a very large extent without draft. Even under the last call, or call of December, 1804, the quota 

 assigned to our district was almost entirely filled when the order was received to suspend recruiting, 

 while, in addition, very large numbers have enlisted from this and been credited to other States and 

 districts. Almost one entire regiment, the Second Virginia Cavalry, was made up from recruits from 

 this district, and very many have gone to other regiments and have been credited to other localities. 



I have alluded to this to show how fully the laboring jjopulation of the country appreciated the 

 nature of the contest in which we were engaged, and how essentially necessary it was to the peoi)le 

 of this, a border district, that at all hazard, and at any cost, the rebellion should be crushed, 

 and that speedily. 



In reference to the peculiar forms of disease to be found within our district, I have to say that 



there is no special peculiarity to merit notice. They are the diseases of this latitude everywhere to 



be found. Along the tributaiies of the Ohio Iliver are to be met the various forms of autumnal or 



miasmatic fevers, dysentery, and various other forms of bilious derangements, while our high lands 



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