Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1889-05-22
RATES ON ORE.
THB PROMISED REDUCTION IN FRBIGHTS
WILL APPLY HBRB
As Vel As to Piisburg Furnacss-A Saving o.
Nearly $4,000 Will be Thereby Made
10 Our Furnaces.

Pittsburg manufacturers have beer
promised a reduction of 20 cents per ton IL
the freight on ore from the lakes.
This reduction will also be allowed t.
Wheeling furnaces. and will be quite al
item Of saving to the pig iron manufact
urers.
On Monday Presidents Oliver and New
ell Of the Pittsburg and Western ant
Pittsburg and Lake Erie Railways, ant
Vice President Mccullough, Of the Penn
sylvania Company, came together in Pitts
burg and decided to reduce the freight OF
ore from the lakes to Pittsburg from 81 =
per ton to 81 O5. Heretofore the rates OF
ore from the lakes to the furnaces IN thu
vicinity. including Steubenville, Martins
Ferry and Bellaire, have been the same as
the rates to PIttsburg. While the Penn
sylvania Company is the only one of the
three companies which reaches this section
it has virtually promised that uniformity
Of price shall be maintained,
and Wheeling will receive the
same benefits from the reduction that
Pittsburg gets The Pennsylvania Com
pany hauls its ore from the lakes by way
of the @. s. P. to Wellsville, and thence to
Pittsburg over the river division of the
same road. The distance to this city from
Wellsville is but very little greater than
10 Pittsburg, and on account of the grade is
a considerably easier haul. In considera-
ton Of these facts the rates have been held
equal. and will, so the cOmpany's repre-
sentatives say, be 60 maintained. There
are made by the five furnaces Immediately
in this vieinity-the Top mill, Belmont,
Riverside, Bellaire and BenwOOd-no less
than $50. 600 tons of iron each year, allow
ing for stOppages There is required to
make a ton Of iron little more than q
ton and a half of ore This makes the
consumption OF ore about 230, 600 tons per
annum, and a saving of 20 cents per ton
gives 10 the five furnaces net saving Of
SAG, 900 a year.
This saving is estimated upon the as
sumption that the rates maintained by the
Pennsylvania Company have been de-
manded of e furnacemen here. Whether
or not this rate has been paid is not
known. for nearly al the ore brought to
these furnaces for some time past has been
carried by the Cleveland, Lorsin and
wheeling from LOruin and Clevelacd, or
the b. & o. from Ssndusky. The c., L.
II W Company delivers the ore TO the
furnaces on this side by boat, which
method is made more convenient for all of
them than BY rail- Whether this is the
only it m taken into consideration by the
furnaces Is not known, but there is no
room for doubt that the O., L. 4 W. will
be able to meet any cut the Pittsburg
roads may make, their haulage being
shorter than that Of the Pennsylvania Com
psny.
Mr.. @. r. Hubbard, President of the
Wheeling Iron and Nail Company, stated
that Mr.. Mccullough, Of the Pennsylvania
Company, had offered him the S1.05 rate
several days ago on condition that his COM
Dany should do all their hauling Of ore, and
therefore the reduction was no surprise to
him. He also stated that the difference in
the cost of material would do the furnace
men no good, except to help them in COM
petition with other sections, and that the
difference would be given to the consumer.
Major Loring, Of the BenwOod Company,
aid be had heard Of the reduction and that
il would be given to the Wheeling furnaces
a well as Pittsburg.
Mr.. J.. d. Dubois, of the Belmont, ex-
pected a continuance OF uniform rate for
and Wheeling.
During talk with another furnsceman
Yesterday, it was learned that the greatest
difficulty the furnaces in this neigh
borhood experience ia the difference in the
rate on coke between Conuelsville and
this city, and between Connelsville and
Pittsburg. The furnaces here pay about
One-half more than the Pittsburg furnaces.
Coke is brought in here over the Pennsyl-
vania Company's roads and the B. & O.,
but the distance is about sixty miles
greater than to Pittsburg, which accounts
for the difference in the rate. The gentle
man. however, had hopes that the Wheel
Jog and Harrisburg Railway would soon
be able to cOntinueits linetO COnnelsville,
thus shortening the haul, and giving to
Wheeling possibly much better rate than
that enjoyed by Pittsburg. He thought
that with the completion of the Union
bridge and the arrival of the Wheeling and
Lake Erie railway that ore could
be had here at much lower rate. This
possibility is enhanced by the fact that the
W. IL L. E. will have its mines near this
city, and can use the cars for ore coming
this way and for coal going back. Another
relief from the excessive coke rates IS IN
sight. The great vein Of ccking coal which
has made Connellsville famous has been
tapped at FairmOnt, and the Montana Coke
and Coal Company are arranging to de-
liver coke in Wheeling at q much lower
rate than that paid now for Conceivable
coke. The difference in the freight rate on
Connellsville coke for Pittsburg and Wheel
ing amounts to from twenty to thirty
thousand dollars a year to each individual
furnace, according to its capacity.