New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-10-05
CUAI..

GOAL.
Being anxious to obtain accurate informl.
tion 10 regard 10 the important question OF
the supply OF fuel, We have made very minute in
quines Of various persons engaged 10 the trade, and
the result has been t. bring TO light macy things
com ecred with its history that can scarcely. as
we think fail TO be interesting to our readers.
OF the letter. we have received one has already
been LAID before the public in iull-~hile she
fact, communicated by tue Others are condensed
in the fsllO~IDg exposition.
Thirty Years siuce coal was scarcely at all con-
surned among Us for any purpose whatsoever.
Our people were almost wholly dependent upon
supplies of wood tina. varied greatly from season
to season, aud the price of which aactuited a.
different periods of the year from five {" ten dol
lars. sud 10 winters OF long duration was some.
times even ~ nigh as fifteen or more dollars =
cord. At that time both the L-higb and Schuyl-
hill Canals had been completed. but the coal
with which they Rad TO supply the market
Was too good to come rapidly into Use.
IL Vas thought almost impossible that
il could be made to burn at all, and
soue very curious stories are told IN relation 10 tae
early Efforts to bnug II into use The first person
wno brought t. load to II to Pniia1elphla hswsed
il for day. bout the streets. 6ndlDg oob0ly will
ing 10 Try the experiment of burning bis " black
.'srones; " aud he finally, as No have heard. shot
dOS the contents Of bis wagon on vactus lot,
spd made bi. escape from the city Eserboly
that desired to burn coal preferred tlat of which
l.. asi. A. AZ Tna IN IN m .tf
ana Which gave much flame, although bus little
heat TIE market, 80 far as it existed, was sup
pied with English COAL the prlce of which vas,
We are tod, rarely as low as Zen dollars and often
much beher-and Was probably dearer at ten
collars than anthracite would be at fifteen.
The whole quantity OF domestic coal sent to
market in le24-wten the Lehigh Canal had
been five years in operation, and the Sshaylsill
Canal tLree--was only II 900 tun- AMI the total
consumption If all kinds throughout the Atlanti;
States was less than 81, 900 tuus.
By lc3O the dom. sic trade had grown to ia,
u U tups, and as the difficulty of burning snthra-
cite was gradually beng removed while its supe-
riorify war becoming more fully demonstrated,
there seemed at length, after ten years OF trial
ana Of loss TO all concerned, some prospect OF
their beng remuDerated for their large expendi-
lures. By 1888 it had risen to half million,
aid it continued to rise uLtb, in 1881, it had
reacLed Ell ,t4.U tuns. FROM rnat time forward
however, it iet the effect of the compromise
tariff that had been dictated BY SOuSh Carons
to the Uiion. That measure, as our rea iers viii
recOlltct, cane very gradually into Oprr-
alton. AT fIst It's reductions were small aud
were III elt, but win each successive year they
iucr.a,ed. and It became more aud more obvious
that the DAY Tor the Iuiu OF domestic mauuf.c-
lures pas last approaching, aud taat those con-
cerDed 10 them would proht more by contracting
thar by extending their operations. As neces-
sary consequence Of this, furnaces aud mtls
ceastd to b. built AMI the dsmand for c"al ceased
to increase. In eight years froG tue passage Of
the tar,n OF les il had grown from one ouadred
10 Deari, nine hundred Thousand tuus nut la Il IS
it tel oil to 100, Uvu aud the average quantity sent
10 market III the four yeics following 1851 was
LEES ID an II had been 10 1851 itself The effect of
this wac Iuinous 10 ali engaged 10 the trade, aud
that IL must have been 20 viii be obvious To thoss
Of cur r,aders ShO recollec. toe state nrnt We
recently made OF the tue required to prepare for
all increase III the supply. For eight years IL
had been required to prepare each year for
large Increase III the following one, out soon there
came not only NO increase, but al absolute de-
crease ot den md, though all toe preparation hsd
been made tor hn opposite state OF thugs
Tue quantity cent to maTketin 1911 Vas 10000
n, foil ,si. al.
ward the close OF the year, somewhat stimulated
by the openiOg OF the Reading Railroad and 1t
reached ], UO, 60 tuns. giving an average tor tne
twoyesrs OF about a mlllion-Or little more than
il lad been ave years before. Small as Was this
quantity, 1t war stll 20 far in advance Of
the demand that the setug price OF Scnuylkill
Coal III Philadelphia, delivered On shipbosrd,
bad gradually declined To 50 81, and consider
able quantities were, as one of our correspond
ents Informs us, sold as low us 80 per tun Of
24o pounds.
The amount Of capital that had at this time
betDiuv-sted in the VARIOUS I'M provemenrs TO- and
lesdre TO the coal region, tearing altogether out
u r,tr ans ralEe IN the coal tGnd useLt, was ess
u sted d. We learn from Que Of our iniormsnIs
ut siIty millions of dollsr.-s large sum- 6er
talply tut Yet, as it would seem not ia excess Of
the truth. In proof that it was not. We have
been furnished With stat. m~nt OF the facts upon
Which the estimate was based aud it presents 90
striking view Of tie energy that has been ex-
hih,ted 10 reference to tnIs important branch of
trace tia, We give in full persuaded that II eau
Dot BE- Otherwise than acceptable to our read
err. The sd- and canals {, aud IN the coal re-
eion then in operation were as follows:
L,hish C.ns ard railroad from Msuet Chunk coal