The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1875-07-16
Investments i'm Coal Lands.
From the Engineering and Mining Journal

/ From the Engineering and Mining Journal
The ef1ec- of our financial storm OF
/ 1873 was, and Is, 10 make capital un
/ willing to invest in any enterprise not
/ offering the utmost security, and a.
mining investments have the reputation
of being speculative" in high degree,
| thev have received but little attention
during the past year; yet, little rehec-
! tion will satisfy anyone that our mining
securities have suffered less by the panic
than anv other class of investments We
/ have.
| We are far from desiring recurrence
OF the reign of the petroleum fever, or OF
| the wild investments in coal mines which
/ took place about the close of the war. at
which time fabulous profits were made
on coal, and anything bearing the name
of a coal mine could be floated in this city
or IN Boston with a capital that had no
necessary relation TO the value of the
property. Many of these mines, though
intrinsically valuable, were yet ruinouS
| investments either because they were
purchased at prices far above their
| value, or because they were mismanaged
/ to an extent that would ruin any ente. :
/ prise; in not few cases these causes
/ were combined, and the us'Ial result was
/ a total loss of the investment. The fact,
1 however, remains, that there is no invest
ment in this country to-day that offers
such an absolute certainty OF large profits
with a security unequalled in any other
class of enterprise, as we have in our
mineral lands in various parts of the
country. Notwithstanding the depress-
ion in rade, last year, which cnrtailed
the production of anthracite coal about
one million tons, and of bituminous coal
in few States, the great increase in
other States was more than compensated
by these reductions; and, as we stated in
the Journal last week, onr total pro-
duction amounted to 5o,747, ,175 net tons.
which was, probably, a considerable in
crease over the production of any previ
ous year. With returning prosperity
our coal trade will progress rapidly and
continuously, and the value ofcoal land
will appreciate in value to a degree that
is certainly but little understood or an
ticipated by the majority of our capital
lists to-day. Even during the past year,
we'll selected coal lands, so far from hav-
ing fallen in valne, have improved. and
prices have been paid within few
months for anthracite lands in the W.
oming Valley, that they would never be
fore have brought. True, these are very
valuable lands, worth to-day from $500
to 81 loo an acre, and the interest on
such a price would soon make the invest
ments onerous, except where they were
yielding revenue from mines; but there
are lands of almost equal prospective
and intrinsic value in many other parts
of the country, that can be purchased
for from ten t. three hundred dollars an
acre. In Alabama excellent coal prop
erty, containing, say, thirty feet of good
coal in veins from two to ten feet in
va a
coal that has no superior in this country
for coking purposes, and others an ex-
cellent steam and house coal-within q
few miles of the most magnificent depos.
its of hematite ore and rail transporta
ton; the land heavily timbered with
oak, yellow pine, etc, can be purchased a
from $3 to So per acre. Yet, from it,
natural advantages, this portion of the
country cannot fail to become, at no very
distant day, great mining and iror
making center, when lands will be worth
many times their present value.
In Tennessee, Kentucky, and Yves
: Virginia, We have property that can b.
purchased at from 81 to S1o an acre
that possesses not only an inexhaustibl,
: treasure in it's coal and iron ore beds
but which for its timber, and, in som
cases, for agricultural purposes-consid
; ering it's nearness to market, the richnes
f of its soil and its fine healthy climate
is superior to much of the Western Rail
= road and Government land that sells a
: even higher prices than this, and ye
/ possesses none of its rich minerals. /
e West Virginia, on the Kanawha and o
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, land
f Immediately available for mining pul
poses can be obtained at from $50 to S1o
? an acre, and on the Youghiogheny, i
= the very center of the famous gas Goa
! and coke district, lands can be bough
though they contain but one availabl
s bed of coal, cannot but be worth, in
e few years, many times what is now aske
e for them.
With the exercise of care in the selet
ton of coal and iron ore lands in thes
= and many other districts, the capitals
cannot fail to obtain enormous return
Z on his investment, while no real estai
y in this city can give him more perfec
security. 1t is true, the value of Ian
: in Alabama has not generally increase
much, if any, in late years, but neithe
- has it deprecated. while in the KaI
awha, the Piedmont, and Youghioghs
u ny Districts-in word, wherever minin
operations may be commenced now, c
in the near future-the value of Coz
{ lands is rapidly rising and must cor
II tinue to increase. They offer to the caI
italist perfect security and a certaint
! ofproft that will be measured, not
five or six per cent, but by twenty, thirt
y or forty per cent, year on his inves
ment.
e Alta a New Material for Making Pa
per.
Much attention is given to the valu