The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1872-01-04
THE COAL SUPPLY.
We Must Look to the KanawAa Valley.

TO The Editor Of the C0mms!c'A'
I have jus. returned from . trip 70 The
Yves. Vireiuis coal fields, and over the
liue Of sbe Chesapeake and Ohio Rail-
road.
l have compared this section Of country
with Others ss supply point for coal. -
As Pi.tsburg is aud has been our purchss-
iug market, at that point We begin.
Fifteen years ago, coal sold in Pitts
burg .. Eve cents per tushel delivered. =
This year tue same coal commands ten
cents. Il Is obvious that this advance Of
Eve cents must either DO absorbed 10 ex.
psusss Of mining, 10 tho appreciated value
Of uumiued coal, or Il must make the
fortunes Of the proprietor Of the mines
|. does not 60 into the profits Of mining.
or the land yet known 70 contain coal
would DO broken up BY speculators :
That mines are 50 deliberately opened, 10
evidence that prices obtained ore only q
fair return for capital invented 10 work.
Ing them. I will no. deny that mining 10
not more profitable than 1t the Eve cent
period; but the mining account has not all
the profit. /,
The cost Of mining has not advanced
sufficiently 10 take up the Eve cents sd.
vance iu price Of coal The great advance
has been 10 tho value Of the coal in the
land, and prices to-day arc based, not on
the cost Of mining. but 90 tho present and
prospective value Of coal as an investment.
Miners do not produce; they are simply
ware.h ousemen and sell from their stock
on hand; that stock 10 limited and can not
DO replaced; Is stock is reduced, an i'd.
vaueed valuation is placed on stock on
hand. Under this law prices have doub.
led within fifteen years. The supply has
not been 10 excess Of the demand, Or that
advance could not have been obtained
The prices have not been attractive to
coal land owners, or the supply would
have worked up closer to the demand
The demand has doubled prices. and yet
supply has not responded sufficiently to
check the rising rate; and We may ask,
when the demand doubles. will prices
sgaiu be multiplied? Can We expect the
next ten years will show different results
from the last.
Dsmaud (consumpsion) is population
Population doubles BY natural laws; will
doubtless double again ina given time,
and continue to double by operation Of the
same law. To keep pace, then, With the
demand, we must double the supply and
continue the multiplication. Can our
present supply fields (Pittsburg) meet tho
''quiok. increasing" demand, without ad'
vaDciug prices? They Gao not. They
could Be- stimulated BY higher prices ~
produce largely; but Il asked to double
within ten years, would certainly double
prices. and would fail to meet The demand
10 the following ten years at any price
They have not the stock on hand; all tho
section bearing 6rst.class coal, known as
"Youghiogheuy and No. ! Pittsburgh"
has been worked over, or is now worked;
large iurosls have been made on oil coal
convenient to the river; prices have sd.
vsnced within thirty years from fifty to
one thousand dollars per acre; the fixed
stock already enters largely into all the
calculations Of all manufacturing opera.
tons, aud the word UNLIMITED" no longer
applies to this coal supply.
Pittsburg, then, having . light home
demand for ten cent coal, With high and
advancing prices on coal lands, cannot be
relied upon for future supplies Of cheap
coal for export. aud the people Of the Ohio
and Mississippi Valley must look TO other
GOLFERS for our fuel. As the high prices
10 Pi.sburg result from high valuation 90
uumiued coal, stimulated BY 80 exhaustive
home demand. and . known quantity 90
hand, We must draw our supplies from fields
where coal Is acre property is not indueu-
ced BY the same circumstances
The question Of future supplies begins
to attract,hs attention. The prices cur.
rent in this city averaging twenty-five
cents for past four months, and now TWEEN.
ty cents per bushel, in the face Of extraor.
binary large receipts, makes this question
inmediAe. And 10 tho Kanawha Valley
We end the answer. There we God the
best coal 10 the world for all purposes, and
We may Say 10 unlimited quantities, coal
for gas, steam, domestic use, mauufactur.
iug, iron (vitbout cokiug), splint coal and
camel, aud ofthe latter, Professor Charles
N. Cresson, Of Philadelphia, writes: 1t
is the best I have ever examined, except.
iug oply the Boghead." The aggregate
thickness Of the seams above river level is
forty feet Emigration had passed over
this country; speculation had not found it..
The Chesapeake l. Ohio Railroad has
been pushing its way quietly but surely
under and over these mountains. and yes
terdsy the last rail was placed on the branch
that connects this coal basin with the out.
side world. The road is completed from
the Ohio river to the coal fields, and the