The following is a general summary representing the principal facts of interest as compiled from the statistical blanks sent out by this department for the year 1900, requesting data on the coal, iron ore, fire clay and limestone industries of the state. Amount of powder consumed in the production of coal (kegs). Number of casualties...... Amount of coal mined to the life lost. There was a gain in the coal production for the year of 3,517,715 tons as compared with the preceding year. Of the 19,426,649 tons of coal mined for the year 1900, 9,457,777 tons of this amount was produced by the use of mining machinery, a gain of 2,716,717 tons, as shown from the amount produced in this manner for the year 1899. There was a gain in the number of miners employed amounting to 2,762. A gain in the number of day hands employed is also shown, the number reaching 912. Of the 1,972 mines in the state, 1,0 I were in operation during the year. Eighty-nine new mines were opened up, seventy-one ceased operation for the year, and seventy-four were' entirely abandoned. One thousand seven hundred and six inspections were made by the several different mine inspectors. One hundred and thirty-one sets of scales were tested as compared with 120 for the preceding year. The number and character of the permanent improvements for the year were as follows: Total, one hundred and seventy, distributed as follows: Twenty-four furnaces built, twenty-seven fans erected, sixtynine air shafts sunk, thirty-one second openings made; safety catches, one; stairways built, nine; speaking tubes, one; and ventilating baskets placed in air shafts, eight. The average time worked for the year was one hundred and seventythree and four-fifteenths days, a gain of twenty and fourteen-fifteenths, as compared with the year 1899. tons. The increase in the output of fire clay amounted to 299,391 tons. The returns received from the limestone industry show gains in the following classifications into which the industry is divided: Fluxing, building stone, piers and protection, ilagging and macadam. Losses occur in the following classifications: Lime, dimension, paving and curbing. There was a gain in the number of days worked as well as in the number employed in the industry. Owing to a change in the personnel of the Department there appears in this report the work as accomplished by ten district mine inspectors, three resigning during the fiscal year, having only served a portion of the year 1900. The inspectors appointed to fill the unexpired terms thus made vacant have submitted their reports for the length of time they were in charge of their districts up to the close of the year. The reports of the several district mine inspectors is followed by a detailed list, giving the name and postoffice address of firms operating coal, fire clay and iron ore mines, and limestone quarries. The mining laws are embodied in this report as a ready reference. for persons interested in the Mining Industry. The index follows last. PRODUCTION OF COAL FOR THE YEAR. The production of coal in Ohio for the year 1900, was so far in excess of that of any former year as to excite universal gratification among persons interested in the coal mining industry. The total tonnage for the year was 19,426,649 tons, which was a net gain of 3,517,715 tons over the production for 1899, which was the largest of any previous year. The whole year has been marked as one of unusual activity in the coal mining districts as well as in the other departments of work. The adjoining table classifies the production of the mines as lump, nut and pea and slack. For the year covered by this report the lump coal mined in the state amounted to 14,234,260 tons, which exceeded the amount produced in 1899 by 2,510,978 tons. The nut coal mined this same year was 2,218,001 tons, a gain of 324,174 tons over the year 1899, while in pea and slack there was a gain of 682,553 tons, making the production in 1900, 2,794,388 tons. In the year 1900 we find Athens county heading the list in the total production of 2,594,859 tons of coal, instead of Jackson county which for three years previous had been first in the amount of coal produced in the state, while Perry follows closely with a production of 2,517,258 tons. Although occupying third place in the amount of coal produced in the year 1900, Jackson county shows a gain of 139,564 tons over the year 1899. Hocking county comes fourth in the production of coal, while four other counties produced more than a million tons of coal, ranking as follows: Guernsey, Belmont, Tuscarawas and Stark. Jefferson county ranks ninth in the production of coal, the amount being over 900,000, and Coshocton ranks tenth. The ten counties mentioned supply 17,369,592 tons or 89 7-10 per cent of the whole product of coal for the state, a gain of 1 4-10 per cent over that of the year 1899. The Hocking Valley consisting of the counties of Athens, Hocking and Perry supplied to the trade 7,423,776 tons of coal in the year 1900, being an increase of 1,983,726 tons over the product of 1899. This production was 38 1-5 per cent of the total output of the state. In the year 1899 it was 34 2-10 per cent of the entire production, and in 1893, which was the largest of any previous year, it was 38 4-10 per cent. The second table following shows the coal production in 1900 as compared with that of 1899. Referring to the table it will be seen that gains occur in twenty-five of the thirty coal-producing counties, making a total gain of 3,644,668 tons, while five counties, namely, Columbiana, Lawrence, Portage, Carroll and Medina show losses, the total for these five counties being 126,953 tons, leaving a net gain of 3,517,715 tons. Three counties show gains of over 500,000 tons, Athens county |