San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-10-23
TO KEEP Us WARM.
THROUGH THE ICY SPELL OF
THE COMING WINTER.
Wood and Coal Supply, Quality and
Prices, Superiority of One
Over Other.

cold spells, known in the heavenly cll-
mate of the grand southwest as north
ers'. The year is well on to its close and
a frequent repetition of these cold spells
i~nterspersed by days and often by weeks
of glorious spring weather, which consti-
tuteS a real southwest Texas winter, is
to be looked for at any time. Although
| our winters are of short duration and
with very few exceptions, extremely
mild. the matter of laying in store of fuel
| is perhaps of as much concern TO the
warm southwestern as though there were
a uniform GOODNESS through the winter
months of forty or fifty degrees.
The last winter was ~undoubted-
ly a very mild one, but the
| anxious coal and wood men are pre-
| dieting a severe one this year. They say
| that we need a bracing winter, business
i'm general needs it and health needs it and
their hoping for it has convinced them
that it's coming.
The supply of coal for any kind of a
| winter to be expected in this region is en-
tirely sufficient and no famine in that
material is expected. With wood 1t
| stands the same, provided that the win
| ter will not be one of continual rain. In
| such a case the wagons can not reach the
railroad points from the forests, and we
| would, in consequence of a long met win
| ter, experience a famine in that kind of
fuel.
Nearly all of the wood consumed in
this city comes from points along the
| Southern Pacific and 5. A. 2. lines in
| heavy carload lots. This wood, cut out
| of healthy post oak forests, Is the good
| old reliable post oak material. There is
| also quite a lot of this fuel coming from
this and adjoining counties that gives a
| great heat, the mesquite: The thin little
sticks brought in by the Mexican wood
| choppers, on their carts, drawn by measly
| donkeys, is not what is referred TO-, but
| the good heavy trunks from which
| our blocks, for the street paving are man
ufactured. This material stands in rela-
| ton to the other kinds of wood as coke or
anthricite stands TO the bituminous kinds
of coal-a great heater but ready de-
stroyer Of light iron stones. 1t is for its
heating qualities that the bakers use 1T
| almost exclusively. As to the kinds OF
| coal used here, the Indian Territory, or as
it is also called McAllister coal, has been
most extensively used in the past. A new
coal which had been heretofore used In
but limited quantities on account OF the
| greater freight charges, is the Colorado
| coal, which local coal dealers consider
| superior to the McAllister coal.
The ranging price of coal is $3.50 per
| ton of good Indian Territory coal. The
| dealers in fuel. in order to force the Colo-
RADIO coal upon this comparatively new
| price as the Indian Territory material:
| These are the two Goals in most general
use. Then come the anthricite which
has scarcely any sale here, the coke,
which is used in limited quantities, and
| the Lytle coal, a very soft material. The
antricite coal sells at Sl4 per ton, ana the
| Lytle at about s. per ton. The Colorado
or the McAlliSter Goa with a small nix
ture of anthricite is the best heating
material that can be used.
OF course there is q slight difference
in the opinion of the men who handle
coal or wood exclusively who are of the
opinion while talking business, that their
| kind of fuel is the best. The exclusive
wood man will graphically picture to the
uncertain customer how horribly smutty
and dirty the coal is. How unhealthy
the obnoxious smoke and how much
| cleaner, easily handled and cheaper the
wood, which you can buy cut nice and
short, is to the dirty coal. On the other
hand the coal man will point out the
bulkineSS of wood, its comparatively poor
/ heating qualities and wind up with a
| demonstration of his broad assertion that
$3.50 worth of coal will reach again as far
as $40 worth of wood. The man who
handles both kinds OF fuel, puts in a good
word for each kind, reserves his valuable
| opinion until he sees which way the cat
! will lump, when he aids her In her leap
| by launching his mighty opinion.
There are seven regular wood yards in
| this city, situated at the various depots.
The yards are well equipped with saw
| tables, splitting machines and elevators,
| employing when the wood bust
ness is on the rush between if
| teen and thirty men each. The
| mesquite block factory sells consider
| able mesquite offal and q number OF Mex
| lean wood choppers still come into our
town with their little loads of wood which
| they dispose Of at from -four to five dollars
per cord
Said a coal dealer! ''Tbe poor people
| used wood more generally than coal be-
| cause they could obtain that material in
fifty and seventy-tive cent lots, but we
have made a new departure in the matter
and we are prepared to deliver to any
home in the city plenty OF coal in one
| dollar lots, putting this material in the
homes Of those who formerly could not
| afford to purchase it by the ton"
Another dealer of wood and coal said in
reference to gasoline as a fuel and lts
| competition with other fuel. The con-
| sumption of gasoline is on the increase.
The use of such stoves and consumption
of the material In the past summer was
immense, but as the population OF this
county has greatly increased so has the
consumption of wood, and the case was
such that instead of decreasing the con-
sumption of wood, the use of wood last
summer was greater than during the pre-
vious winter.
You see the increase in population has
been such that the great increase of the
use of gasoline has not erected the con-
sumption Of any other kind Of fuel"
"What, in your opinion, are the chances
for the increase of the consumption of
cOal?"
''Well, there are several points in favor