IRON MANUFACTURE. 451 
As the record of the trials and triumphs of these pioneers in the 
iron industry of the State must be of interest, and as many of the old 
establishments are already or will soon be out of memory, the above 
list is inserted of all the furnaces erected in Ohio, so far as could be 
ascertained, which have been abandoned. ‘There is added also their 
date of erection, builders, and the date of their abandonment, wherever 
possible. Credit should be acknowledged for information concerning 
the Western Reserve to a paper by Col. Chas. Whittlesey, of Cleveland. 
After the establishment of iron smelting in Northern Ohio, the 
events of the greatest importance in stimulating the industry were the 
substitution of raw coal in the place of charcoal as the furnace fuel, and 
the importation and use of the Lake Superior iron ores. The rapidity 
with which the country was being settled, and cleared of its timber, 
very early began to embarrass the iron smelters for their supply of char- 
coal, but more especially the ores, which were never very abundant in 
this part of the State, became more and more difficult to obtain, and 
thus some were obliged to discontinue, and others, drawing their ores 
from a distance, maintained a precarious existence for some time longer. 
The introduction of the use of raw coal, however, opened up a new and 
almost inexhaustible supply of fuel, the limits of which, though con- 
stantly being increased, are even now not fully realized. The question 
of priority in the adoption of the use of raw coal in this furnace has 
been a subject of much discussion, the two places at issue being the 
Clay Furnace in the Shenango Valley, and the old Mahoning Furmace 
at Lowellville, Mahoning county. And presuming that some notice of — 
the first use of raw coal may be of interest, the following statement is 
given on the authority of Messrs. J. M. Edwards and David Himrod, 
late Manager of Himrod Furnace, at Youngstown, the accuracy of 
which is generally acknowledged. 
The Clay Furnace, which had been built by Messrs. B. B. Vincent 
and David Himrod at Clarksville, Mercer county, Pennsylvania, was 
put in blast during the summer of 1845, and was at first planned for 
using charcoal. There were difficulties in obtaining charcoal, and Mr. 
Himrod, seeing no prospects for a certain supply, determined upon 
trying coke made from the coal of the neighborhood, which is the 
Sharon coal of Western Pennsylvania, and the equivalent of the now 
renowned Brier Hill, or Coal No. 1 of Ohio. This coal, whose open- 
burning character is now well known, makes at best a very indifferent 
