ItON MANUFACTURE. 443 
improvement in the navigation of the Ohio River, and whatsoever that 
system may be, it must eventually be carried out, to the no small ad- 
vantage of the country bordering its passage. The railroads will be 
employed where cost can be sacrificed to the rapidity of transportation, 
but for the products of the soil, the mines and the iron works, the waters 
of the river are the true conveyor. And, the dense population which 
the valley of the Ohio is destined to sustain, will require the greatest 
obtainable facilities of the Ohio, as well as all the present and many 
more railroads. The chief importance of the river in its relation to 
the present iron industry of Ohio, is the means which it affords for the 
importation of the Missouri iron ores, the carriage of coal, etc., from 
one point to another, and the shipment of its crude and finished pro-_ 
ducts to the various markets from Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville, 
etc., to the waters of the Mississippi. Thus the various iron works at 
Ironton, Wheeling, Steubenville, etc., on the river banks, have a ready 
means of communication with the Missouri ores, the coals and markets 
which always give to places so situated on an extensive system of water 
intercourse many advantages above those located inland. Though as 
a carrier, the river is of course slow in comparison with the railroads, 
still this inequality is rendered less when the lower cost and the much 
larger bulks which may be moved at*once are considered. 
The railroad systems of Ohio are the connecting links of the great 
trunk lines between the country of the west and northwest, and the 
Atlantic sea-board, and in their numerous crossings and interlocking 
they cover the State like a net-work, and connect together the remotest 
corners. 
The Fuels. 
The magnificent forests which covered the country west of the 
Alleghenies, at the time of the early settlers, provided a cheap and 
abundant source of fuel for smelting purposes, when the needs of the in- 
habitants demanded it. However, the rapid growth of the population, 
the clearing of the forests for agricultural and building purposes, 
together with the demands of the iron smelter, soon compelled the 
iron-masters to look elsewhere than to charcoal for fuel, so that now 
coal has replaced the use of wood where iron is smelted throughout the 
State, excepting in the extreme southern part, and in a few localities in 
the northwest, where it is still conducted. Notwithstanding that the manu- 
