Vinton County History-Ohio Iron Furnaces, Moonville Tunnel and Ohio History

Photo courtesy Emmett A. Conway, The Olde Forester

During the civil war, Confederate General John Morgan and his troops spent two days in Vinton County during his infamous raid through Ohio. It is said he stayed longer in Vinton County than any of the other counties he visited in Ohio.



	Vinton County was one of the southeastern Ohio counties included in the Hanging Rock Iron Region. These counties produced much of the iron used by Union troops during the Civil War.

Iron Production in Vinton County.

Vinton County is rich in history and lore. As you look past the highways and byways of the county to the thick forests and rolling farmland, it is hard to believe that much of Vinton County was once made up of many small but budding communities prospering from the lavish supply of materials found in the region to manufacture iron.

Iron Furnaces were built to extract iron from the iron ores native to the region. Ore was extracted from the local sandstone, processed at the furnaces and the bars of iron transferred to a foundry for remanufacture.

Stands of wood found throughout the region were burned nearly 24 hours a day to form charcoal. So much wood was used to make charcoal, much of the area around the iron furnace region was bare of trees.

Photo courtesy Emmett A. Conway, The Olde Forester

Communities like Hope, Zaleski and Richland were centered around the iron producing industry and the processing of the iron ore extracted from the region's sandstone bedrock.


	Iron from the local furnaces was used to produce farm machinery, railroads and even cannons during the civil war.

In 1849 the Scioto and Hocking Valley Railroad linked Vinton County to the outside world. It created the ability to expand the industry from mostly farming to larger markets including iron manufacturing.

During the mid-1800's, iron furnaces began to spring up around the Vinton County area, employing about a 100 employees each. In 1854 the Richland Iron Furnace was built. Not long after, furnaces were erected in Hamden, Zaleski, Vinton and Hope. With the building of railroad stations came newer roads and with the newer roads, came a wealth of small towns.

Towns like Wilkesville, Dundas and Zaleski prospered during the iron era and still remain today. Others like Hope and Ingham Station are now nothing more than a few moss-covered foundation stones and scattered old cellar holes.

It would be the discovery of high-grade ore in the Lake Superior Region which would bring the iron furnaces in this region to a standstill in the late 19th century.

Think you don't get paid enough? Iron furnace workers made little more than 65 cents for a twelve hour day!

To make matters worse, workers were paid in company script instead of cash so they could only use the money to purchase things in the company store. The store elevated prices to extraordinary amounts so workers were constantly in debt to them.

How was iron made in Vinton County? Charcoal, the fuel used to smelt the iron, was combined with iron ore and limestone into the top of the furnace. As the charcoal ignited, the ore and limestone melted together, worked its way to the bottom of the furnace and then was poured into troughs.

When the ore was removed from the furnace, there was a glassy waste product called slag which can still be found around the old furnaces in the form of black, glass-like chunks.

During the 19th century, Vinton County had several of these charcoal iron furnaces which were part of the Hanging Rock Iron Region running from Logan, Ohio to Mt. Savage, Kentucky. There are still remnants of three of these iron furnaces in Vinton County today:

Richland Iron Furnace:

Start of Operation: 1854.

Hope Iron Furnace

Start of Operation: 1854

Vinton Iron Furnace:

Start of Operation: 1854

Photo courtesy Emmett A. Conway, The Olde Forester

Vinton County was named for Samuel Finley Vinton, a Congressman from Gallia County who worked as an attorney in the surrounding counties, arguing cases before circuit judges in the county seat.

Pottery Production in Vinton County

Iron may have run six feet deep in hilltop beds in Vinton County, but the clay found in the ground has also played a huge part in the building of the region.

In the mid-1800's, Vinton County had a great reputation for its hand-turned pottery mostly in the form of crock pots and jars. More than dozen pottery shops were located in and near both Potters Ridge and Pumpkin Ridge. In fact, the potters were in high enough demand for buyers to travel from many parts of southern Ohio to purchase their wares.


	When firing in the homemade kilns, the pot jars were set on top of each other and separated with chunks of hand-formed clay like the clay lump to the right in the picture below. These pieces of yesterday along with broken shards of pottery can still be found near the old pottery shops and along the nearby creeks with the actual fingerprints of the maker still visible in the chunks of clay!


	Vinton County opened Puritan Brick Plant in 1909 and it was said to be the largest in Southeastern Ohio.

Other tidbits of information about Vinton County's past. . .


	Winston Churchill’s great uncle, Branch Churchill, was buried in the New Plymouth Cemetery in 1853. His stone is engraved with the following: “Blessed are they who die in the Lord.”

Ten percent of Vinton County’s population of 12,000 in 1861 enlisted for service in the Civil War. That is 1200 soldiers!

McArthur had a great checker player – Mr. Charles Clark, who was the champion not only of an open checker game in Ohio but he was also the champion blind-folded player of the U.S.

Other not-so-known but interesting facts about Vinton County's past include. . .

Don't be scared,

but. . . it is said that there's a train tunnel in Vinton County that's haunted.

Legend states that a ghostly lantern can be seen hovering through the dark depths of the abandoned Moonville railway tunnel on stormy nights. Long ago, Moonville was a small mining and railway town that cropped up during the 1800's iron boom and eventually disappeared just a little over 150 years later. The story goes that around 1859, a brakeman for the railway fell asleep and some time during the night, he was awakened by the sound of his train leaving the depot. He arose, stumbling on to the train track and falling beneath the wheels of the train. The brakeman never recovered from his injuries and the ghost of the man is said to be seen stumbling down the tracks within the tunnel with lantern in hand, still trying to catch the train before it leaves Moonville Station.

Moonville Tunnel

Maude Collins-First Female Sheriff in the State of Ohio

Maude Collins, a Vinton County resident, became the first female sheriff in the State of Ohio in 1926.

The wife of Vinton County Sheriff Fletcher Collins and mother of five children, was left widowed in 1925 when her husband was killed arresting a man for speeding. She didn't take her position lightly. Sheriff Maude even gained fame for her skills in a detective magazine.

Photo courtesy the Vinton County Historical Society

Vinton County. We're just off the beaten path from wherever you're coming from or from wherever you're going. For every taste, we have an adventure waiting for you-lodging, dining, shopping and the great outdoors of Vinton County.

Unique lodging, covered bridges and miles of parks and forests make Vinton County an extra special place to visit. Once a huge part of the iron producing industry, the only remaining reflections of this past are a handful of iron furnace remnants, an allegedly haunted train tunnel and a few ghost towns nearly hidden beneath the tall grass. Instead of urban sprawl of the mid-1800's, the region has transformed itself over the last 150 years into a wonderland of outdoor recreation. There are over 70 miles of public trails for hiking, horseback riding and backpacking. There are beaches, gift shops, small towns and covered bridges. It's a place just off the beaten path of both time and highway. It's Vinton County, Ohio.