Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-09-09
Such a Pretty Kettle of Fish There
Would be Should Natural Gas
Suddenly Give Out, and a
RETURN TO COAL WERE NECESSARY
Fourteen Miles of Cars in Addition 10
the Present Would Block the
Way Every Day to
THE DESPAIR OF RAILROAD MANAGERS,
But Several Thousand Men WOuld Find Profitable
Employment.

There are some people in this city who be-
lieve that natural gas is about at the e1pir-
ing point; and there are some, too, who
would like to see it give up the ghost. But
has it ever occurred to the opponents of thi S
fuel what would be the condition of Allie
gheny county if the supply should fail, and
a return to coal, or coal made fuel, were
rendered compulsory? Chaos!
A recapitulation of the estimated amount
of coal which the large works in the county
would require in the event Of a return to
coal will prove interesting. The National
Tube Works would take 25, 900 bushels
daily; American works, 10000; Oliver S
works, 10000; Painters mills, 5000; Re-
public. 10000; Pittsburg Forge, 1000; Vul-
can Forge, 1000; Charters mill, 1000; Star,
5000; La Belle, 2,O0O Eagle mill, 1000;
Singer, Nimick, 5000; Clinton mill. 4,500;
Sligo, 5000; Glendale Spike, 5000; Byers'
mill, 4, 500; Anchor mill, $500; Elba works,
1000; Soho mill, $500; keystone mill, 1000;
Pennsylvania Tube Works. $500; Pennsyl-
vania Forge, 1000; Kensington, $500;
Wayne $500; Sable mill, 5000; Shoen-
berger, 5000; Howe, Brown, 5000; Car
negie, Union, 1000; Black Diamond,
S,OOO Carbon, 1000; Solar, $500; w. d.
Wood, $500; Millvale works, 5000; Etna,
$500; Vesuvius, $500; Spang works, 2 600;
Linden, 1000; Crescent, 1000.
MORE OF THE SAME KIND.
At the Edgar Thomson, Duquesne and
Bessemer works at Homestead, about 80, 900
bushels daily would be required for fuel
gas. Twenty-nine window glass houses. at
an average of 400 bushels, and 40 flint
houses, atan average of 200 bushels, would
consume daily 19,6OO bushels, and another
10000 would be used by such works as the
Star Friedrich Works, keystone Bridge
Works, Braddock and Oliver wire works,
the railroad shops. etc.
This would mean total daily consump-
tion, exclusive of domestic use, of over 296, 900
bashels. AT 300 bushels to a car, 9S7 cars
would be required to haul this amount and
taking car as covering 80 feet OF track,
these cars would extend through distance
of %. 61O feet, or over five miles In length.
The question obviously presents itself:
How would this increased volume OF traffic
be handled? Every shipper of coal is Ia
miliar with the difficulty at present expert
enced in getting his shipments forward, and
if that condition exists now, how much more
in evidence will it be when another five
miles of cars-to say nothing of the tonnage
for domestic use-has to be provided for
each day. Even in the palmiest day
of natural gas, when every one
had more than enough, and coal
was a product unthought Of, the rail
roads had as much traffic to provide for as
= L IL. 4l. A.
of the business in iron and steel has fully
doubled itself. At no time prior to 1885 did
the amount of finished iron and steel exceed
$500 tons, and pig iron was under 9, 900 tons
per day.
MORE CALLS FOR CARS.
Now the volume of finished material is
upward of 1000 tons daily, and the output
OF pig iron, as stated In a former issue of
THE DISPATCH, will reach 1000 tons by
the end of the year. The raw ma
terial required for this amount of pig
iron will amount to over 16, 600 tons, which
will require 500 cars, at 20 tons to a car To
assemble the raw material and transport the
finished product of the 1000 tons will re-
ouire $50 cars more, or ], $50 cars altogether
This would mean a line of cars nearly nine
miles in length, and, together with the coal
haulaCe, total of IA miles of cars devoted to
the business of the iron and steel trade
alone. Between Il and Is trains of iron ore
are shipped to this point every dav, and about
100 cars day are needed for minor indus
tries, making another mile of cars in addi-
tion to the foregoing. How railroad mana
gers could solve the problem OF the rapid
handling of such an addition to their bust
ness is matter which would give them
some t.ouble, and they-except from bust
ness point OF view-may not desire to see
raj gas shut down.
1rsuing this subject farther, it will be
ID that employment to some thousands of
{ additional would result. Taking 100
hels OF coal as the days work for miner,
re would be 9, $50 men required to work
e increased amount of coal In addition,
abroad men and others would also have oc-
cupation, bringing up the total to somewhere
near G, 600 men who would be brought into
requisition. These figures, however, would
hardly mean an increase of population, as
about that number find employment in Law
ing pipe lines, working in pipe mills ETC.,
who would thus be transferred from one kind
of work to another.
NO PLACE FOR ASHES.
Perhaps one point. of much importance,
should be mentioned. That is with regard
to what would become of the ashes from all
this coal. the banks OF the Allegheny and
Monongahela no longer present their natural
features at points adjacent to the mills
They have been used as dumping ground
for the refuse from the furnaces, and many
acres of land have been reclaimed and
turned to advantage in this way, while the
natural channel of the streams was
gradually encroached upon. At the Lucy
furnace, somewhere about % acres of land
have been filled in to low-water mark and
utilized for side-tracking facilities. Shoen-
berger's mill is built upon ground made in
this wav.
Should any return to coal be made the
banks of the rivers would be resorted to as
dumping grounds easiest of access. The re-
suit would be in an addition to the extent of
the city's area, while curtailing the chan
nels of the streams.
These are some of the things that would
occur should King Coal again do business
at the old stand and the Iron City once
more deserve its appellation of the Smoky
City.