The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1871-04-04
The Coal and Iron Deposits Of Great
britain and West Virginia.


and those Of Great Britain:
The coal area naturally depending
upon the New River and Kanawha val
leys Of West Virginia for its outlet Gin
fact by its contour inaccessible by other
passable outlets) embraces a territory
Of over six thousand square miles, the
extent of which is more readily com
pretended when the fact is stated lhat
it is quite equal in superficial extent 70
the whole productive coal area o,
Great Britain, from which is now mined
over one hundred million tuns per an
num- -.
The great variety and fine quality OF
the coal of the middle section OF this
field are we'll known and frequently at
tested. :.
The fine fatty bituminous, the splint
and the camel are the principal varle-
ties The work Goal, Iron and Oil, by
Daddow & Bannan, edition Of 1866,
page $40. speaking OF this location and
its coal, says : Goal river, Elk river
and Gauley diverge from the Great ka-
nawha, and spread their branches over
one OF the richest and most magnificent
coal regions in the world, and bring
down their wealth to one common center
on the Great Kanawha. The Goals OF
this region generally are better purer
and more available tor all the require
ments of trade and manufacture than
the coal from any other portion OF the
Allegheny coal field. The seams OF
coal are more numerous. and their thick
ness greater than any other portion OF
this coal field it can be mined cheaper
and with more economy generally, under
the same rates of labor, than in any
other region in this country, without ex-
ception.
The peculiar Splint coal OF this sec
ton is superior fuel in its raw state tor
the manufacture OF pig iron.
Statistics OF analysis made show the
Kanawha coal to be among the purest
found in the world.
The number Of workable beds is vari-
ously stated at seven to fourteen.
There are five items that affect the
value of a coal field:
First-Quality Of the coal.
Second-Quantity.
Misunderstanding Of the coal
itself.
Fourth-Market.
The last, one OF the most essential,
viii be given this region 10y the Chesa-
peake d Ohio railroad.
In the third item, the most essential
to cheap and profitable working, this
region stands unrivaled. 1t has been
stated before that the chasm of the
river renders its most peculiar service
in relation to the coal. Cutting all the
coal strata for nearly its whole length
entirely through, and getting down
among the shales under the coal, this
river has caused the numerous streams
which pierce this whole coal region to
cut down through most Of the coal-bear-
ING strata on their courses, leaving the
coal entirely above water level, accessl-
BILE at hundreds of points by simply
scraping off the surface soil; so that, 10"
far as the mere getting of the cbDSr
concerned, $1,000 will open mine ready
TO ship 1000 tuns per week. There is
no region in the world where less phys
ical labor will prepare a mine TOR de-
livery Of coal at the drifts mouth.
This will be made clearer by COM
psrison of position Of coal here in and
Great Britain in this respect. u
In Great Britain, and IN fact in almost
all OF the European coal fields, the coal
is deep below the water level. To reach
the seams requires the expenditure OF
wears of labor, and vast sums Of money
in sinking shafts or pits, and in erecting
pumping and hosting machinery, to be
maintained aud renewed at heavy an
nual expense. 1t is authoritatvely
stated that the cost of sinking shafts IN
the Newcastle region of England to the
depth of one thousand feet, has been,
in many instances $1,000 per yard. In
the great Northern coal field of Great
Britain, producing twenty million tuns
per annum, there are two hundred pits,
or shafts, costing in first outlay for
sinking and machinery $50,OO0,OOo, to
which must be added the necessary en-
penses of constructing and maintaining
proper air courses and their accessories
requisite to the safety Of the employees.
T. There is now invested simply in pits
and machinery for pumping and hoist
ing the lO0,000,000 tuns produced in
Great Britain $200,O00,000, and this
vast sum is destined to utter destruction
in serving the purpose for which 1t Is
used.
These pits and machinery being con-
structed, they involved certain amount
of labor for every tun Of coal got, in adj
di,ion to their cost and renewal.
Now in this great coal field crossed
by the Chesapeake Il Ohio railroad,
nature has already sunk all the neces-
sary pits and shafts, which need neither
repair, renewal or labor to work them.
The laws of gravity have provided the
most perfect, permanent and costless
pumping machinery and the most
perfect ventilation of the mines and
safety of the employees, instead of re-
curing scientific knowledge and anxious
thought, is simply matter Of the most
ordinary care, the almost perfect free
dom from noxious gases being the nat
ural result of the position OF the coal
srata.-Amaicon Railroad Journal.
r.'
An TucOnstitutiOnal and Dangerous
Measure.
From the New York sun, tRad.J