The Underground

All above photos were taken by documentary photographer Lewis Hine between 1908 and 1913 in
Pennsylvania and West Virginia coal mines not far from here. Lewis photographed children working in
mines and factories to bring about social changes and laws prohibiting children working under certain ages
and not working dangerous jobs until the age of 18. Although our local mines here were not as big as those
in other areas children still were working here but on a lesser scale. Many kids died in mines all over the state of Ohio including documented cases in counties bordering us. Early mine inspectors could only enforce what few laws were on the books. As time progressed many more laws were enacted and safety came to the forefront.



If you take a good look around everything that your eye sees came from the Earth. Natural or man made everything that composes it came from within the Earth. Trees nourished by the soil and potteries made of brick. Our area has a rich history of potteries and brick making. Partly because of the earth that is found here is naturally rich with common and rare clay. Brick making had to be established first in order to build the kilns and buildings that housed the potteries. In the early days settlers made adobe bricks from the clay here to line their fireplaces and chimneys. They used molds and mixed the clay with grasses and straw to dry in the sun. It was soon discovered that certain clay dried harder and withstood heat from fire better than others. Early brick making was really trial and error until a right mix of clay was found to make a fire resistant brick. Regular surface clay was not that good but the clay found under a coal seam was generally valued as great for making fire bricks. To get to the fire clay you had to go deeper into the earth.

Coal and clay mining in our area was a staple here for well over one hundred years. Gone today are the remnants of this vast industry but they lie beneath us underground tucked away unseen and hidden. Some mines have completely disappeared from view while others are a shell of their former glory. Coal and clay has been mined in Ohio for the last two centuries. It is documented that coal had been mined in Jefferson county as early as 1803. Clay mining and brick making were already being done by settlers in our county as well. By the late 1820's commercial brick making was gaining a foothold. Columbiana county has a wide variety of mines stretching from Salinesville to Washingtonville. The three types of mining generally used to access coal and clay are Drift mining, Shaft mining, and Slope mining. Drift is basically digging into a side of a hillside to find the seam of coal or clay. Shaft mining is digging a shaft straight down and working a seam horizontally  away from the shaft. Slope mining is a gradual opening sloping down into the earth to a series of tunnels connected to each seam. Seams of coal or clay can be as narrow as 18 inches or as wide as 6 or 7 feet. These seams were accessed by men and children with picks and shovels. Many risk their lives and many never came out. As mines became bigger more modern methods were used. Modern by their standards not ours. Mules and small horses were used to haul the product out of the mine on wooden cars that rode on tracks in the main tunnels. The product still was brought out of the seams by people and shoveled into the cars on the main tunnel. Miners were hauled down shafts by rope or steel cable to the tunnels they were working in. Many children were employed either knowingly or as helpers to their respective parents in the mines. Young boys were often used as mule drivers in the mines to haul the cars full of clay and coal out. It was a win win for the companies who mined the clay and also utilized the coal to fire the clay. Underground stables were often used to hold the mules between work shifts. Some of the mules in the bigger mines never saw the light of day for years. There are some stories of mules being brought to the surface for a short time and putting up a terrible fight when led back into the mine. Most of these things probably never happened here but some bigger companies in the west worked their animals to death because they could replace them easily. Feeding them very little and working them round the clock.

 What surprised me was the amount of children that were employed in the mines and how many lost their lives. Kids were either mining with their fathers or working on their own to help out the family. A lot of the children held jobs such as "Trappers". These were door watchmen of sorts making sure doors were kept shut after the cars passed through. Other children were used to care for mules or couple cars together. Mine inspectors were prevalent as early as the mid 1870's and filed reports with the state every year. Mining companies were warned and or fined by not complying with the mining codes. Many dangers exist in mining in fact it is treacherous.   

One of the biggest dangers that exist in these mines is the fall of stone or coal from the ceilings. Without proper support of the overhead above you every ten feet or so you are at risk to be crushed alive from caving stone or slate. Taking time to put in wooden timbers also takes time away from digging coal or clay. Many workers in the early days simply did not take the time to properly support the ceiling above them. Mining laws slowly changed this as well as multiple deaths that occurred in these mines. Many foreigners came into the area to mine and simply did not understand the safety concerns that were important to stay alive or our language. As dangerous as it was to go into the mines it was very lucrative to endure the risk. In 1910 the average pay was around $2.40 a day for good miners. Of course certain jobs paid far less than that including the pay for children. Mining as much coal or clay as you could paid very well but taking time on shoring up a ceiling of stone or slate did not. 

Another danger was "Black Damp". It is a combination of carbon dioxide and nitrogen. Black damp is very prevalent in any mine especially in areas that have been worked and then abandoned. Many mines utilized the actual coal or clay as support for the ceilings. They left behind pillars sometimes seven feet thick spread out in the rooms for support of the earth above. Once areas were mined they were left behind. Coal inside a mine sucks up oxygen and gives up carbon dioxide in return. The coal pillars begin to flake off in sections and deteriorate. Much mine subsidence is due to this as well as flooding. Black damp can roll through mines and overcome miners instantly if the mine is not ventilated very well. Mine inspectors were very adamant about the ventilation of all mines requiring fans or vent shafts dug to keep mine gasses from overcoming workers. Methane was another danger. Most early miners used lanterns for lighting inside a mine. Even in later years they used open flames on their helmets. Open flames and methane don't mix well. Open flames and black powder used for blasting don't mix well either. Many accidents involved explosions from these two dangers and many people died as a result including local people in our area. "White Damp" is the by product of gasses given off of the carbide lamps used to see. If it is used in a poorly vented area it can build up very fast and kill you. Explosives were used to clear slate and rock to expose a seam of coal. In the early days there were no evacuations of areas that were being opened up. Crude wires or just plain dynamite were discharged with workers close by. Smoke and dusty debris filled the small chambers while the miners kept working. Conditions were generally cold, dark, wet, and dangerous.   

 Most mines around here employed 6 or seven people and a couple mules until after the the 1920's or so. Most mining slowed to a crawl until the late forties and fifties when bigger commercial mining took precedent. Some mines however prospered from the late 1870's all the way through the mid 1900's. We are going to take a remarkable look at some underground mines that have quite possibly been overlooked in our towns. It is astounding at what lies underneath us even though the cities have covered most of these places over. 

This is one of the entrances to the old Champion and Porter mines located in Wellsville on Rt 45. The Champion mine has been around in the mine reports earlier than 1915. It is noted in reports that H. H. Hine was the superintendent and Harold McKeenzie was a mine boss in 1915. The mine was naturally ventilated and employed 8 miners and 4 day hands. Clay was hauled out by mules. The mine operated on and off in the early teens. It is connected by the Pleasant Valley mine owned by Porter also. Pleasant valley closed in 1972 and Champion closed in 1962. Of course modern mining technics were used to expand both mines in their prime. It is probably the second largest mine around here.

The underground footprint and mine maps of the Champion and Porter mines.

Many clay mines were operating in Wellsville in the late 1800's and early 1900's. John Lythe had two mines near Silver Switch. One to the upper clay seam and a shaft mine to the lower clay seam. One death occurred in 1893 at this mine. Archibald Putnam was crushed by fall of sandstone. Other mines in this time frame included the Buckeye mine which employed 6 to 8 people and was connected to the Vulcan clay mine which employed 5 people. By 1915 these same mines were still producing and using mules as well as day hands for more production.

One of the most notable mines around here are those known as the Walker mines. Starting in the early 1850's N U Walker started manufacturing fire brick and in later years made terra cotta sewer pipe. The clay mines that fed these kilns were just above the plant between Wellsville and East Liverpool. Probably known as "caves" before the hillside was excavated most of these were the vent shafts for the mines. Most of the main entrances were below the road surface of the highway that runs through there now. Although there are some sealed entrances still visible.

Note the two entrances under the old road. These would be long gone by now. There are vent openings further on the hill though. This map also shows the buildings and beehive kilns that were used for making bricks.

This is the same map showing how far into the hillside these clay mines went. Keep in mind some of the chambers are deeper than the river bottom. Old mine reports listed in 1912 said that some chambers were flooded and closed for good.
A modern day look at the Walker mine on Rt 7. A close up reveals a mine entrance along the highway. The entrances have all been closed off by collapsing the loose shale and then covering them over with plywood and concrete. A vent tube can be seen on each of the openings. All entrances and vent shafts have been dynamited shut.

Below is an interesting look at what is now the modern day Wal Mart lot in Calcutta. At one time there was an underground coal mine that ran underneath the present day store. The actual mine entrances were located near the McGuffey and Dresden intersections. Known as the Cutta coal company. I have not found any mine reports on this mine. It operated near the turn of the 1900's. All that is left today is the new McGuffy drive and some coal seams in the hillside.

The East Liverpool Brick Company mined clay from a drift mine located on the old Hill road above what is now the Jennings Randolph bridge. Old records listed Harry Orwell as mine superintendent and employed 6 miners. According to the 1893 report the only infraction found was that the miners were using inferior lamp oil and were told to change it. The mine was abandoned in 1920 and was sealed.

Even though it has been abandoned doesn't necessarily mean it has been closed off. As you can see that one of these entrances has been barred off but is still accessible and is currently been entered into. The modern day trash including pop bottles and other garbage around the entrance was a dead giveaway. Notice how near the entrance the shale slabs have broke away from the ceiling and have fallen some weighing several hundred pounds. This however does not match up with the states gps read on one of the two entrances. This one seems several hundred yards away from the ones listed. Although this is listed as a drift mine it may be a slope mine instead. This mine used mule haulage also. Some of the original mine timbers can be found on the hillside.

Originally known as the Knowles Taylor and Anderson mine the mine reports from 1893 list Thomas Anderson as the mine superintendent. They employed 9 miners at this slope mine. Later the mine was bought by American Vitrified Products company and made sewer pipe. By 1915 they had mule haulage and several day hands. This mine was the only one in the reports listed as "Excellent condition". J. C. Young was the mine boss and M.J. Edwards was the superintendent. A modern day view of the footprint shows the now gone mine entrance near Ginas Drive Thru. 

Even though there were lots of commercial mines around us there were literally hundreds of private mines used by people to mine their own coal. A lot of these private mines are not listed by the state and are virtually unknown. A good example of this is a closed mine on Mckee street off of Dresden ave. No records exist of this mine and from the photos you can tell the entrance has had dirt and debris piled in front of it. Unfortunately I know this because I crawled into it as a kid. Not a very smart move on my part. Although I would never even fit into the entrance of this one today I can tell you as with most mines it opens up to very large areas and has a set of mine car tracks running into it. Mines are very dangerous places and should never be entered into at all. There are just too many things that can go wrong very quick. Stay out stay alive.

Here is an early picture of mine cars being delivered to an area train depot probably Lisbon or Negley. 

Mines clearly made a difference in the lives of the people that lived and worked here but we may never know however the dangers and sheer resolve it took to work the underground.


Resources: 

  Annual report of the chief inspector of mines for the years  1878 through 1915 for Ohio.


ODNR Ohio Mines
https://gis.ohiodnr.gov/website/dgs/mines/    


An interesting site to visit :

http://www.undergroundminers.com/index.html