Lime-Kilns.
The lime-kilns of Perry County were also factors in the industrial progress of the county's early his- tory. Before the mines had begun to pour out their black streams of wealth, before the iron ores were being utilized, the lime deposits were drawn upon and changed into "coin of the realm" for their owners. With the exception of the salt, the limestone was the first mineral of the county to be used. Maxville was the center of this industry. Here in the early thirties the sub-carboniferous strata was quarried and burned. Logan, New Lexington, Lancaster and all intermedi- ate points, went to Maxville to get lime to plaster their houses. The kilns were built of stone, placed against a bank. The lime was poured through an aperture in the top, and after sufficient burning it was raked through an opening in the bottom. Once, many of these kilns were in operation at Maxville, but they have all disappeared, and their site is now known only by the presence of piles of burnt lime, around a depres- sion in the earth. The picture here shown is such a117
representation. There were also a few kilns west of Carthon where the sub-carboniferous crops out near the tops of the hills. The last kiln ceased to operate in the county about 1885. The large quarries in the northern part of the state where the lime was more accessible, produced it more cheaply, although not better in quality.118