seen throughout the county, no capitalist with means and
energy had arrived to develop the natural resources of Meigs
county. From 1830 to 1840 marked the beginning of com-
mercial prosperity. Mr. V. B. Horton, with a wide personal
influence, brought capital to operate on the development of
the coal in the hills of Salisbury. He started the transporta-
tion of coal by means of a steamboat, the Condor, towing
immense fleets laden with coal down the Ohio river, and
farther down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico, from
whence ships conveyed it to Boston, and grates in Boston
parlors glowed with Pomeroy coal. This enterprise opened
up boat building-ship builders from Maine and Nova Scotia
came to work and direct the labor in the Horton boat yard.
It gave employment to river men to manage the tow-boat
Condor, and the barges. English and Welch men of ex-
perience and judgment took charge of the mines, and miners
from England, Wales and Germany went into the coal tunnels
of Meigs county and with pick and hand-car brought to light
the wealth of the hills. A rolling mill was set in operation,
a foundry, machine shop, and Haven & Stackpole erected a
three-story steam flouring mill. Pomeroy was laid out, lots
sold, the town incorporated, and elegant residences were
placed on the spurs of the hills at Naylor's run and Sugar run,
while under the cliffs the Brothers Howe, Dr. Estes and the
lawyer, U. G. Howe, Charles Pomeroy and Horace Horton
built no less fine homes. Mr. Samuel Grant's sawmill had
full orders, furnishing lumber as fast as possible. In this
decade of stirring material prosperity, the little postoffice
town of Graham's Station received an impetus. Mr. Lucius
Cross came from Marietta in 1822 to lands of his own, and
started a tannery, built flat boats to send hay to the South,
opened a store of general merchandise, erected a mill on
Bowman's run for making flour, and sawing lumber, giving
employment to hundreds of men in these different enterprises.
The name of Graham Station was changed to Racine. The
