Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1888-12-15
LOCAL HAPPENINGS


- f""''"'''"9 t0"i 'r"Pcrty' The
JOURNAL noted Il call last week by j.
w. Ayeritt. editor of the Cumberland
T;,,,y An ;,.oro.t;r,, ort;.Io !, , loto
;..1;,... .l,
ac'cI ol MS ooSerNa'loiiS while III lhlS
nelghborhood under the above cap
ton. as follOwS
President Samuel j. Edwards, of the board
of county commissioners. Yesterday drove
Mes~rS. r. NJ. Wolfe and Thomas Cline, of
Frederick. to Fro~tburg and on to the vau-
able coal propcr.cs around the "Old Fur
mace" three miles southwest of the Frosty
city. Mc,srs. w. r. Percy and Owen Hitch
ins ACCOMPANIED the party. AT the old Mid
lothian dump, near which resides Mr.. Dun
can Sinclair suprrintcndent of the New Cen
tral, preparations are being made by superin-
tcndcnt Little, Of the Big Vein company, to
open up.the 100 acres of coal bought from
the Borden and Consolidation companies.
This conuanv has been operating at Win
don. ON the West Nirgiuia Central. Joshua
TayIor Of Baltimore, is its president
cd their new dump house at this point and
will i'm the spring begin operations upon the
300 acres of coal recently acquired by them
to fine south and west the old furnace. EX-
tru,i,e sidings and all convenicnces are being
placed in order quite a little town must
spriu,r up arn,Iud the "Old Furnace" and the
little valley will resume some of its one time
From here the party drove over to the
south side ofthc old furnace ridge and found a
wonderfully prosperous little village of some
dozen houses. Where a little over year ago
was seen nothing but trees and rocks, there
is now one ofthc best appointed coal mines
in this region. 1t is operated by the Barton
and GEORGES Creek Valley coal company, of
which II. Crawford Black is president, and
Owen Hitchins the general manager. This
gentleman is Justly proud of the work done
bv his company in this mine. Though less
tlau q wear old its OUTPUT is 45O tons per
dav of as fine coal as comes from this region.
On January ), 1888, the first ton was shipped
on December I, the 60, 795th ton was reported
to the coal journals. Over 100 men are en-
ploycd in this mine under the immediate
supcrintendcncy of mine boss, Archy Stew
art, OF Blrn Avon fame.
There was not Il dscontented man to be
found in the mines and Times reporter talk
ed to many of them. For the past week boss
Stewart has been at work night and day
blasting out the rock floor of the main head
ing Just at daylight. For Il distance of $50
feet the rock has been removed to an average
depth of feet, reducing the traction of the
four-ton mine cars at this point about one
third This very important improvement
will increase the output to 600 tons a day if
required. The dump house, and automatic
draw-pin tipple, is model Of convenience.
Two thousand five hundred tons day could
be loaded from it with ease.
The plan of the automatic draw-pin was ta-
ken from Mr.. Sinclair, of the New Central,
but has been much improved upon by Mr.
Hitchius. The miners are building COM
Portable houses for themselves upon leased
ground, and everything about the premises
has an air Of prosperity and thrift. The coal
in which the workings are now located is