Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-11-01
COAL MEMS INNINGS
Retail Prices May Go Up Little Dur
ing the Winter, but Not
Very Much.
TIE RIVER OPERATORS WANTS.
A Return to the Use of Coal Here Would
Take Away Some Lively
Competitors.
RAILROAD MINERS ARE VERY HOPEFUL.
RAILROAD MINERS ARE VERY HOPEFUL.
They Are Getting New Business and Inquiries for More
Coming In.

under the head of operators or retailers, are
taking a very hopeful view OF the situation,
as it is forced upon them by he present
shortage of gas and the increased price of
the same for fuel.
No material advances have been made in
the price of the old reliable article that
forms one OF the corner-stones of -it.-burg's
wealth as yet bus the tendency is upward,
and moderate increases in prices may be
looked for within the next few weeks.
A number OF coal men were seen by repre-
sentatives Of THE DISPATCH, yesterday,
and their opinions on the outlook of trade
solicited. Mr. I. n. Bunton, manager for
Joseph Walton & Co., said that if affairs
with the gas producers were as reported they
would be indirectly benefited. If there was
a genuine shortage in supply, or if the de-
mand was 50 great for domestic uses, they
would be the gamers. 1--WE DO not furnish
Z pound of coal for use in Pittsburg," be
added, but the mines that formerly sup
piled the local trade came into competition
with US with the discovery OF natural gas.
COAL FROM THE FOURTH POOL.
"This coal was nearly all mined in the
fourth pool and waS sent into the lower river
markets. As it could be mined considerably
cheaper than that in the second and third
pools the result was the competition kept
US down to Sc V fine margins. If we get rid
of this opposition OF course it will be 10 our
advantage. The shipment of coal in flats
to this market is on the increase, but Just
what it will amount to no one can tell at
present. We have made no advance in
prices vet and do not expect to at present"
Captain W. W. O'Neil, another heavy
river operator, said: 'For wear past the
shipment OF coal to this market in flats has
been on the increase. and the business is
growing daily. An increase in demand for
fuel will quite likely elevate prices little
md the down river shippers will be bene-
fitad."
F. NJ. jenkins s, Co. at present supply a
large quantity of the fat coal used in this
city. the most of it coming from the fourth
pool.
DOESN'T ANTICIPATE A BOOM.
MIR. jenkins said yesterday that while
people generally we're looking for boom
IN the business. he did not anticipate any
such result He said that the old iron
firms, such as Jones s. Laughlins, the
Carnegies, Painters, divers, Park Bros.
and the Republic Iron Works, that formerly
depended entirely on coal, now had natural
gas lines OF their own and they seemed to
be getting fair supply of fuel from them.
Their orders constituted large per cent of |
the fat coal shipments, and no material 1
increase in business had come from these |
E0nrcpS he
all very hopeful and were looking for a |
good winter of it. The coal sold TO retailers |
from fats was in excess of that sold
by dealers in the railroad mine supply.
Among the first named were Thomas
Hartley, Burke & Co., j. Q. Gilchrist. C.
g. jackson, George Clark, Lee & Hamil-
ton, Frank Clinton, R. c. Smith, j. NJ.
McIlwaIn and j Ohm Dipple. Inquiry among
these firms developed the fact that they had
plenty OF business, and were taking on new
customers, while many persons using natural |
gas were putting in stocks of coal for emer- |
Eencies. The price is 8 cents per busheI, |
about the same as last year, but an advance i
is locked for within the next month, though |
from present prospects it will not be very |
heavy.
TAXING ON NEW BUSINESS,
J. Morton Hall, Presiden. of the Pitts |
burg and Chicago Gas Coal Company, rail- |
road operators, said they are taking on some |
new business, and that many INQUIRIES bv |
mail and otherwise were coming in daily. |
Mr.. Hall, who has made a close study of |
the business here, said that natural gas had |
displaced 10000 carloads of coal day in
Pittsburg. He looks to see considerable of |
this business returned, particularly If the
natural gas companies knock out the 500 |
furnaces OF the city mills. The prices for |
IL g. -. I l
than last, owing In part to the extraordinary |
demands made for coal for lake shipment |
during the season. He added that the local |
retail dealers might be trife short of coal |
at present, but that as soon as navigation
closed, which would be in about two weeks
there would be plenty of cars.
Alexander Black, a railroad operator,
said: ''Oh, we have gotten past the point |
where the gas business worries us. We |
stopped worrying about three years ago,
and the local trade is now independent of
the gas supply. We were forced to seek
other markets, and found them. Ali this
talk about the scarcity OF gas does not ele-
vate our spirits and if the tide should turn
toward the other extreme, it would not de-
press us. The coal trade will not receive O
boom, and, so far as can see, prices will
not be affected.
Just at this time, when navigation will
soon close, there is slight furry, and the
1akemen are anxious to get all the coal they
can. man who is short will give more to
get II, but what he pays cannot be taken as
the market price, or as any indication of
what 1t will be. 1t is true that we could
get better prices now than what we are re.
celEing on our contracts, but we will not
desert those in their extremity who stood bv
US.
IF the gas should play out, the city would
be In bad way for few days. The docks
are very low, and the lake trade is drawing
heavily on the production. Most of the coal
is going In that direction. When naviga-
tion closes Tor the year, of course, there will
be better supply here. Since the dis
coVery o. gas new coal fields
have been discovered, and there is 10
scarcity Of the black dimonds. Even if the
mills 60 back to coal, the operators feel that
II won l oe much of a bonanza for them.
Prices will be cut and a number of new
operators Will be attracted into the busi-
ness, who will find out there is not mucb in
the coal trade after all don't believe tbe
gas is failing, and when it comes to the
pinch think good many men will nav
the advance rather than use coal. -
PRICES NO HIGHER THAN BEFORE.
At the Office of the National and Ost
Ridge Company retailers of railroad coal
the manager said: prices are the same
with us now that they were last wear.
cents per bushel. We have lots of busi-
ness, which is increasing, and we expect
that prices will advance a little, perbaps
half a cent per bushel during the eariy