COAL MINING. 321 
duced an iron which was eagerly sought for, and since that time pig iron,of 
the Mahoning Valley has taken the front rank in market, being known 
and prized as ‘“‘ American Scotch.” 
The first iron manufactured from raw coal in the United States 
took place at the Clay Furnace, in the Shenango Valley, on the Penn- 
sylvania side of the State line, in the year 1845, and in the following 
year Messrs. Wilkinson, Wilkes & Co. built a furnace at Lowell, 
Mahoning county, Ohio, and used raw coal. Messrs. Wilkinson, Wilkes 
& Co. contended with the projectors of the Clay furnace for priority in 
the use of raw coal, but this honor undoubtedly belongs to the owners 
of the Clay furnace in Pennsylvania. 
The first furnace built in the Hanging Rock region was erected in 
Greenup county, Kentucky, in the year 1815, and was called the 
Argilite. This was followed by the construction of the Vesuvius, 
Hecla, Lawrence and Mt. Vernon furnaces, on the Ohio side of the 
river. These were all cold blast furnaces, and the cold air in several 
cases was blown through hollow gum logs. The products of the fur- 
naces were cast into salt kettles, coal stoves, and kitchen utensils. 
‘The forges were run by water power, and the iron was hammered, 
instead of being rolled into merchant bar. 
In the Hocking Valley region the iron industry dates from 1851, 
in which year Hocking furnace was built, which was followed by the 
Logan furnace in 1853, and by the Union furnace in 1855. These were 
all cold blast charcoal furnaces, and used the native block ores of the 
Hocking Valley. Mr. Samuel Baird built the first stone coal furnace 
in this valley in 1875, three miles north of the village of Gore, in 
Hocking county. 
The development of the coal mines of the Hocking Valley began 
with the construction of the Hocking branch of the Ohio Canal. The 
beds of coal of this region laid bare along the swift moving streams, by 
the action of water, were noted by the first white settlers who penetrated 
this region, and coal was mined for domestic uses, and for blacksmithing 
purposes from the time of settlement of the Hocking Valley. In 1831 
the salt business, which began to assume importance a few miles above 
the village of Athens, gave the coal trade some impetus. In 1832 that 
part of the Ohio Canal, known as the “Side Cut,” was completed to 
Nelsonville, and coal was shipped from the mines there to Columbus in 
21 G. 
