Mining For Valley Coal

[AllanY2525]

Governor Tod had coal mines underneath what is now Briar Hill subdivision,with some
shafts dug underneath parts of what is now Belmont Avenue (was originally named
"Liberty Road")

If you're driving up Belmont from Saint Elizabeth's and headed for Liberty Township,
Belmont makes a slight left bend where the Post Office is.  The mines were somewhere
in close proximity to the bend in the road, from what I remember seeing somewhere on
the 'Net.

Makes perfect sense - just like TownTalk said... all of the raw materials necessary
for making steel were already here under our feet - it's what made the startup of
the steel industry possible for the Mahoning valley. 

One of the contributing factors to the demise of the big steel companies in
Youngstown was the fact that we are so far from a major waterway.   Once
our ancestors had used up pretty much all of the coal and iron ore in the area,
the mills had to start bringing ore and coal in box cars.

Other steel plants that were on/near the Great Lakes (Cleveland, etc) had a
distinct advantage at that point, with regard to transportation expenses for
purchased raw materials coming into the mills  - and finished steel products
being shipped out to the purchasers.
in and finished steel products going out.

The railroads, canal, etc. came a little later, of course...

[Why?Town]

I guess my "funny" was open to interpretation.

The bad repressed memory was the green party governor not the mining of coal.

I'll try to edit for clarity.

[Towntalk]

Here's the link Rick.

http://www.ysu.edu/mines/mines_by_county.php?state=Ohio&link=Mahoning

http://www.ysu.edu/mines/township_results.php?state=Ohio&link=Mahoning&township=Youngstown&sort=name

[Rick Rowlands]

I'm looking for maps showing the locations of Youngstown coal mines.  I wonder if there were any under our museum property on Hubbard Road.

[Towntalk]

Books which tell about valley coal mining:

20th Century History of  Youngstown and Mahoning County, Ohio – Sanderson

History of the Western Reserve – Upton

History of Trumbull and Mahoning Counties – Williams

A Twentieth Century History of Trumbull County – Upton

History of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley – Butler

Youngstown Past and Present – Published by Wiggins and McKillop

The Coal Mine Workers – Warne

[Towntalk]

Rick is right, that was the last statistical year before the article was published.

As to Why?Town's comment, there are many historical records of coal mining in the valley. No account of Youngstown's history tries to hide it, or play it down. Coal and iron ore mined here in the valley is what set us on the path to being the steel powerhouse we became.

Coal mining here also led to rail roads being built by local people like Chauncy Andrews and David Tod.

Jay, weren't most of those in the south side area? Probably in the Fosterville area.

[jay]

Are there any parts of the city that were not mined?  I remember a rash of mine shafts reopening a few decades ago.

[Why?Town]

It (the reason the stats end in 1883) is a bad memory that's been repressed to the point of being removed from newpaper archives and never being printed in a single history book.

Ohio voted in a green party governor in 1884.

[Rick Rowlands]

That was probably the date of the book that Towntalk got the statistics from.

[Youngstownshrimp]

We ran out of coal and discovered how to use oil and gasoline with the internal combustion engine?

[jay]

Why did the coal production statistics abruptly end after 1883?

[Towntalk]

Ohlton Coal Co., Youngstown, black-band iron ore, with coal.
Foster Coal Co., Youngstown, coal.
Kyle Coal Co., Youngstown, coal.
Church Hill Coal Co., Youngtown, Brier Hill coal.
Andrews & Hitchcock, Young»town, Brier Hill coal.
Andrews, Hitchcock & Co., Cleveland, Lake Superior iron ores, merchant, bar, and sheet iron, limestone, Brier Hill coal.
L. B. Ward, Niles, iron Mineral Ridge coal, and black-band iron ore.
Harris, Maurer & Co., Mineral Ridge, calcined black-band iron ore.
Halliday Coal Co., Youngstown, Brier Hill coal.
Vienna Coal Co., Youngstown, Brier Hill coal.
Mahoning Coal Co., Youngstown, Brier Hill coal.
Burnett Coal Co., Youngstown, Brier Hill coal.
COAL MINING IN THE MAHONING VALLEY, OHIO.
Year. Tons.         Year. Tons.
1863 337,000     1874 1,000,000
1864 420,000     1875 1,000,000
1865 550,000     1876 1,200,000
1866 620,000     1877 1,200,000
1867 680,000     1878 1,250,000
1868 750,000     1879 1,250,000
1869 800,000     1880 1,250,000
1870 850,000     1881 1,300,000
1871 900,000     1882 1,000,000
1872 950,000     1883 1,200,000
1873 1,000,000