New-York tribune., 1867-09-21
PRICE FOUR CENTS.
PEAT FUEL.
PROGRESS OF THE PAST YEAR IN THE MANI.
l. lvII-DE ANI N.

tcnllOn OF renewing the suDJcct whenever the
warranted or the public seemed to demand. That
time has arrived. There continual inquiries:
What are the results of the last years operaionsi
Is the Peat business likely to prove success7 For
what purposes is this fuel best adapted And what
machinery for its preparation has proved the most
successful!
FEAT IN THE DISMAL SWAMP.
The Dismal Swamp is probably the largest availa-
bic peat deposit i'll America, if not in the world;
and its availability arises in great measure from the
fact that canal large enough for small steamboats,
tIaverses its center Its extent first discovered
March, 1928 by the surveyors Of the Virginia and
North Carolina State Line. 1t required eight days
diligent labor to make the passage where that line
crosses the swamp. Although its surface is SO
covered with roots that person can travel over it,
yet pole can anywhere be thrust down from 10 TO
Az feet through the soft peaty substance below This
swamp is everywhere covered with n dense crowth
of timber smaller plants which have been growing
and decaying from time mmemOral. All this has
furnished the substance of which peat is formed, TO
such an extent that the supply is ineaculabe. This
is contrary to the received scientific opinion that
peat is formed only i'll cold climates The evidence
to the contrary is here patent, Two companies at
least have been organized, and have several of
Leavitts Peat Machines at work upon the banks Of
the Dismal Swamp Canal, and they find ready mar
ket for their condensed peat. The, steamboats,
pass up the Great Dismal Swamp Canal, within so
rods of their works. The engineers of these boats
SO much pleased with this fuel that they have
IIacIeu 10 TAKE all tnc companies make with tnelr
present facilities, at 81 per tun. Other applicants
for the fuel are already numerous. and cOa-deaer
from Richmond has made written application TO
them to secure control of the entire product of their
works for that market. The cost of labor there is
much less than at the North as they employ freed
men, mostly at a dollar day. We have seen sam
pies of this fuel which cannot be eXceed ia quality
in any any northern region.
In digging it is found that the roots of reeds and
bushes all upon the surface not over foot
below then the is perfectly plastic yet firm
that it can be cut into cakes of any size that can be
handled.
Much Of the Dismal Swamp lands are not covered
with timber but contain buried forest some of the
logs of which are as sound as they were ages ago.
well in other peat swaInps generally healthy.
this swamp were always Inhabited by negroes who
built their cabins elevated upon stills above the
water. AS the whole ground becomes navigable
fast cleared of peat it can be excavated by steam
dredges, carried in boats 10 the cOndensng machines,
and from them shipped on board of vessels nayi-
eating the canal The water of Lake Drummond is
remarkably clear although of reddish color. Upon
a part of the area bottom has yet been found,
but the peat from the lowest depth isequal IN quality
to that nearest the surface. The peat appears to
hayS the. the a9tsepc an qualities that Of the
Swamp water is that it never spoils at sea-
PEAT IN CANADA.
We will now transfer the reader from the extreme
Southern limit OF the peat deposit TO one far North
that is, the peat-feds of Canada MrJames Hodges of
Montreal has done than anyother man to develop
the wealth of that dominion lying buried and useless
peat mandatory which would be very suitable for
operations in the Dismal Swamp that is, boat to
float about iii the bog carrying steam machinery, ex-
cavatng, puping, condensing, and partially drying
the blocks of peat until they could be handled and
carried to a storehouse where the g19g. dyhe
canal excayating it went and spreading the
until it was sufficiently cured in the sun. In this
case the pulp would be spread in thick mass over
when dried until the surface begins to crack, a
marker would be drawn it, cutting il into suita
bly-sized blocks which, in due time would be dry
enough TO hake. In about fortnight of good
weather these blocks would shrink and crack en-
tirely apart. giving the appearance of vast floor
covered with black bricks Is inches long and inches
wide The haking process consists III setting mp hye
bricks on end with across the top to hold them
together until they dry enough to store, else
by leaning half a dozen together like sheayes OF
Where the peat is so homogeneous, and water SO
deep as it is in the Dismal swamp nothing would DC
easier than working a peat-bed upon Mr. Hodges's
plan. Some persons have supposed 1t world be
necessary to dig out roots of trees by hand That is
not so. We have seen the steam eXcayator at work
in the mari beds of New-Jersey upon exactly the
same principle as it would work upon a peat-bed
where the everything ground was covered with
were pulled up and thrown aside with apparently AZ
much ease as boy would pick up and throw stone
at bird. When the stumps, roots dirt, and stone
were all cleared away, then the machine lifted and
emptied tun of mari into a railroad car and re-
peated the operation every minute until IL was fu
By this you will that the more water there Is IN
peat bog the easier ii is to eXcavate and carry the
substance TO dry land. Almost the entire work
can be done by steam power and from numerous ac-
tual experiments made within the past year III
various parts of the country from Virginia TO Nova
Scotia it has been fully proved that no better fuel
than condensed peat was ever used III the furnace OF
steam-boer.
OF further operations in Canada, we find COM
pany has commenced on very large bog near tho
Weiland Canal said to contain 5000 acres, with peat
VARYING from four to fourteen feet. 1t is believed
this bog will yield 100000 tuns OF peat fuel which
must be very valuable in country where there IS
No coal and where the immense primitive forests
are rapidly disappearing The conyenences Ior
transportation are great, the bog Is only three
ouarters of mile from the canal lt ls SAID this
neat contains much rosin, which makes it valuable
for gas manufacturers t rs also valuape I9I snelt-
ing iron and copper ores. There Is no DOUBT OF an
unlimited demand for such fuel IN that section we
have been informed by Mr.. Leavitt that applications
for his machines numerous from Canada, particn-
larly by those who wish to operate them OH private
account. -
Peat-fue has been used to limited extent on many
of our railroads and with universally gfatfyngr re-
uts. =, -,
The fact that in no one place has there yet been
manufactured quantity Of the fuel sufhclen TO IN
sure steady and unlimited supply appears 10 De me
only reason why il is not the standard fuel OF
several prominent roads whose experience has been
such that they would gladly use i in preference to
wood or coal if the supply was forthcoming .
It's cost and value being established it now awaits
only the necessary enterprise TO enter upon the man.
ufacture of it, and produce the quantity required The
market is ready for it, and only waits the supply.
The same remarks apply with equal force TO its use
in manufactures and the arts and Tor domestic pur
poses Its value is demonstrated beyond question:
IL is wanted and all that is required is Tor producers
TO supply the demand.
Results of numerous trials have been reported TO
u.s. but the experiments made by MIR. Hodges ON the
Grand Trunk Railroad are gwen so Dluch more
clearly and in detail, than most that we nave Deen
able to obtain, that we quote them here, with tne
statement that they quite similar III character to
The trips run upon the Grand Trunk Railroad
were upward of 600 miles In extent we haso