Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1888-02-04
w HOLE No. $50.

at Sohe point whence ne can easily
ship his coal. and then he hits the seam
to be worked at a depth according to
the place where his shaft is sunk.
Then he works out IN the seam, under
water. and has ''levelS" almost level.
at Lingan, near Sydney Bay, there
are nine distinct and well known seams.
Most of these at other places are found
under different names. The whole
surface extent of the coal district there
about is 200 square miles. The sub
marine fields alone, at a low estimate,
have been reckoned to contain nearly
1000. 900, 900 tons, and this includes
only the region that can be econom-
ically worked from the shore. Sonear-
ly lmpermeable are the strata that at
moderate depth the submarine work
lngs are perfectly dry. Nearly all the
seams lie at easy angles, and the roofs
OF the workings are so hard that work
Is unusually safe. Yet with 1000, ,OO0,-
600 tons, available, it is rare wear
that sees the Sydney district mines
bring much over SOC, 900 to the surface.
Next Ill the amount of coal available
comes Cumberland, which lies between
the BASIN of Utlnas and Northumber-
land Strait. The area of the field is
estimated at 300 square miles. 1t is
not so well situated for shipping the
coal as either the Sydney or the Pictou
district, but one port, Parrsborough,
Is only % miles from the chief mines,
the Sprlnglull, and offers the advant-
ages of having not more than six or
eight weeks interruption to shipping.
The Cumberland district is producing
not far from 375, 600 tons year, net a
tlthe of what it might produce
The smallest of Nova Scotia's three
useful coal districts is that of Pictou
county, on the northern shore of the
peninsula, midway the other two. 1t
is noted for the great size of its beds,
and for their excellent quality. In less
than 5000 feet of strata there are six
teen beds containing l4l feet of coal,
and varying in thickness from 3 to 81
feet. The thickness here more nearly
resembles that of European fields than
anywhere else in America. The out
put Will average about 400, 900 tons a
year.
All these districts produce bitumin-
Gus coal, and bituminous only. There
Is no galnSaying the fact that it is good
coal better coal than most of that
marketed from the PENNSYLVANIA
mines. Tests have repeatedly shown
this. Coal from the Block House mine,
in the Sydney district, has Welded at
New York and Boston gas works 10 ,3l6
cubic feet of l64-candle gas and |, ,460
pounds of coke a ton-a very salts
factory showing. When tried on
board her Majesty's ship. Gannet, it
was found to raise steam fifteen
mlnntes quicker than any other coal
that had been supplied to the ship,
aud the percentage OF ash and clinller
was very small. Analyses of other
coal from the same district have shown
more than so per cent. Of carbon.
making it equal to Welsh coal. The
Cape Breton coal once had big repu-
tatlon in the United States as gas
coal. the average yielding from 5000
TO 10000 feet a ton, but the tariff kill
ed the export, and the reputation is
probably forgotten. The Pictou coal
has been most used for steam
raising, and large quantities of it have
been burned on Atlantic steamers and
IN the locomotives of the Intercolonial
railway. The Cumberland coal has
been used for both steam and house
purposes. The reports of the users
show that both the Cumberland and
Plctou Goals make little ash, and, when
the right applian :es are used, compar-
atlvely little smoke.
The cost of coal mined and put on
the cars varies from GO cents to $I. % a
ton. Surface laborers get from S5
tn
$l.5O day. The wages of the coal
cutters vary from $l.2 to $l. 10 work.
ing day. The mines give employment
to about 1900 persons, and the under
ground workers do not average more
than 2lO working days year. Labor
Is plenty and supplies are cheap.
With all this excellent coal, with all
these favorable conditions for getting
it out, why is the Nova Scotia coal,
industry really so insignificant? One
word tells the story, and that is s"taritf."
For thirteen years from 1854 the
United States imposed no duty on coal.
In those years the exports from Nova
Scotia to the United States grew from
$4,000 tons TO 465, 900, the lightest
figure, in 1865, and in 1866, 404. 900.
Then came the duty of 81. % ton, and
exports dropped, till in 1871 they were
but 10000 tons. In 1872 the duty
was reduced to - cents ton, where
it has since remained, but the reduc-
ton only temporarily raised the eX-
port figure, it dropping again from
26o,OOO tons in 1873 to l3S, 900 in 1874,
and $4,000 In 1919. In the next ten
years there were curious fluctuations,