Ohio History Journal

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AN ECONOMIC HISTORY OF THE JACKSON

AN ECONOMIC HISTORY OF THE JACKSON

COUNTY IRON INDUSTRY

 

 

 

A THESIS PRESENTED FOR THE

DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS

 

BY VERNON DAVID KEELER, A.B., LL.B.

 

INTRODUCTION

"The Cyclops here their heavy hammers deal;

Loud strokes, and hissings of tormented steel

Are heard around; the boiling waters roar;

And smoky flames through fuming tunnels soar."

--Vergil.

In early Biblical times, according to the fourth chap-

ter of Genesis, "Tubal Cain," born in the seventh gen-

eration of Adam, was an "Instructor of every artificer

in brass and iron." The slow development of iron mak-

ing among the early Greeks, Hebrews, and other early

peoples is well known to the economic historian. There

is much evidence to prove that the Assyrians, Chaldeans

and Babylonians were acquainted with its manufacture.

Prof. J. Russell Smith, in The Story of Iron and

Steel, states:

The primitive methods of the ancient world finally focused

themselves so far as the Mediterranean basin and European

countries are concerned, upon the so-called Catalan forge, first

devised and used in Cataline, Spain. This differs but little from

the ordinary blacksmith's forge, which has the air blast furnished

by a bellows, or if possible by a waterfall, through the device

known as the "Trompe." This consists in letting the water fall

(133)