The evening Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1861-1871, 1867-11-27
COAL BUsINTss OF ROCK ISLAND.

y :
Throughout the northwest, Rock Island
has gained an enviable reputation as man
ufacturing point, on account of the vast and
inexhaustible fields of the best quality of
coal, which surround it in every direction,
and which bid fair to eventually aggfega'e
an amount of wealth which will ode uay DE
told in fabulous sums. This reputation has
been Gained nv no effo,s g4or the purpose of
attracting immigrssion. no report, general
or succ;net. r-s ever been sent forth to her
AID tho s,od fortune of this favored locality.
III. cool routine of business has been slowly
developing resources which have astonished
those who have been led by circumstances
to examine them. A few years have seen a
trihing and insignificant trade expand into
great and increasing business. The sue
cess of few has led to examinations that
will result in signal and stupendous opera
tons in the future. What has been done,
though recognized merely as so many sue
cessfnl experiments, will constitute a grand
opening for more extensive operations
Figures are stolid but, many times, eloquent.
The common faculty of observation has given
our city notoriety abroad, through the me-
dunn ofthe travelling public, and the con-
sequence is that embryo factories are spring
lug up throughout its limits, which will final
ly be developed into large establishments,
and become centres of employment and
wealth. Believing that glance at the coal
business of our city and immediate vicinity,
might prove of interest to our readers, and
also serve to illustrate the advantages We
have touched upon, we have been at some
pains to collect reliable data bearing upon
the matter. The discovery of coal in this
county, dates nearly from its first settlement
For sometime, as may be inferred, a search
ty of capital restricted any extensive opera
tons in this line, and the coal trade, which
is now of comparative magnitude, was COM
prised in the hauling to market of a few
wagon loads day. A bout fifteen years ago,
probably not more than one tenth of the fuel
consumed in this city, consisted of coal. At
about that time, several enterprises were
under way Messrs. Samuel Bowles and
VIM. Porter met this demand from Coal
town, transporting with wagons, and con.
tinued, increasing the supply with the de-
uland, until the completion of the Chicago
& Rock Island road, when the amount of
coal consumed in the city was fifty per cent
of all the fuel used. On the completion o
| this road, a company was organized unde
the style of Lowrey, Thomas d Co, which
iIieufsiseIy opened a mime
and commenced shipping coal to this mar
ket at the rate of from fifteen to twenty
thousand tons per annum. Not long there
after the Henry County Coal Company wa!
| also organized, consisting of VIM. II. Whit
man, of this city, and Hiram Price ant
Robert Lowery, of Davenport, which opened
mines on Rock River, at the mouth of Greer
River, in Henry County, turning out as mucl
| coal as the first named company, and find
ing a market mainly at Davenport, ant
points west OF that city. By adding tn
amounts together, we have from thirty Il
| forty thousand tons per annum, as the guam
| tity of coal transported TO this point an,
Davenport by rail- The quantity brough
| here, by wagons, from the various opening
in the townships of Moline, Hampton, Goa
Valley and Black Hawk, was perhaps equa
| if not greater.
In 1886, the Coal Valley Mining Compan,
was organized, which consisted of Messrs
Holmes Hakes, Charles Buford, Ben. Har
per, S. S. Guyer, and n. B. Buford, all c
this city. This company purchased an ez
| tensive tract of land in Coal Valley towr
| ship, and lying Rock River Unde
| its auspices, charter was also procured fo
| constructing a railroad from this city f
Peoria, to pass through its lands, and by it
mines. Our city subscribed the sum O
! $4,000 in stock in the company, while som
| twenty thousand dollars additional was sub
scribed by our citizens, and public spirite
persons residing in the vicinity of our city
| The amount of stock thus subscribed, an
the mortgages given on the road, not prov
| ing sufficient to complete it to Coal Valley
| the members of the company advanced pr
vate funds to an amount much larger tina
all the stock subscribed by the city, and til
individuals mentioned, and thus consumma
ed the primary portion of the enterprise
On the road reaching Coal Valley, the or
SIS OF 1857 occurred, putting a stop to th
project. The company, however, commen
ed active operations at it's mines but faile
to achieve financial success. Several cause
tended to this end. The crisis had give
business a general prOstration; miner
striker were of constant occurrence, int
rupting the coal supply; the demand ft
coal was comparatively small; stron
competition prevailed, growing out of Ii
operations of the Carbon Cliff and Hem
county mines, on account of which co;
was sold without a profit, and for four {
II FIVE years, the Coal Valley Company foun
n ,ttselt unable to produce more coal than tt
IF oaer two companies combined. It's totl
t. ame,nt mined did not over-run forty thou
\ and to's per anfum.
a IN ioss ?. /. Cable, the present propr
10 etor, parc,ased the road and mines. 4
W about that the, the Carbon Cliff and Hen,
J. county companies curtaied their operation
h. and the new Proprietor found himself en-,
:. bled to increase HI sales to iftv tbonsa,