The Big Stone post. (Big Stone Gap, Va.) 1890-1892, 1891-08-07
DAT Of coke ST CenneilEviIie December, 1860
Furnace coke, s315 per ton. Foundry coke, So 8

Total shipments from Cobneissville for weekondn
November - 1885, s,sIs cars distributed as ioiIew
To Pittsbargh 1850 cars; to the West, cars
the East, = ,il7 cars.
Bessemer ore is costing at Pittsburg 81.
per ton, and non-Ressemer ore costs at Pitts
burg from $4.00 to $500 per ton.
Non-Bessemer ore will cost at Big Stone Gal
from 81. 25 to $50 per ton, and the Bessenel
ore from So 90 to $3.50 per ton.
| Limestone will cost at least twice as much
at Pittsburg as at Big Stone Gap.
| It is said that 200 tons Of Pocahontas coke
! passes west through Bristol daily for furnaces
| in the Alabama and Chattanooga districts
This coke will cost from s3.75 to $3.50 per ton
at those furnaces.
These facts show tile smaller cost Of coke
and iron ore at Big Stone Gap and require no
comment. Coke can be delivered at the ovens
here much cheaper than these figures indicate,
and still afford large profit to the maker.
OPINION OF TWO ENGLISH EXPERTS.
| Mr.. John W. Darby, of Wexham, Eng, and
Mr.. +. Monks, of Warrington, Eng, members
] of the British Iron & Steel Institute, recently
| visited Big Stone Gap. Mr.. Darby is young
| man, but has already reached a prominent po-
| sition among the iron and steel producers OF
| England He inherits his aptness for these In
| dustries from ancestors who have been prom
| incnt in them for century. His grandfather
10Y
and his own plant, located near Chester, was
| the first to use successfully the basic process
| for making steel. Mr. Monks is one OF the
oldest and best known Of the practical iron and
coke men of England.
"The very things wanted to see are here.
did not care to see the manufactures in oper-
at0n for we have those at home as numerous
and as nearly perfect as one could wish 10 see,
| although must say that have been greatly
4 4 4 Il Il.,< nrr1sy
saw in the North. Their equipments are not
ours in England, but they arc rapidly ap-
preaching it. What those Of us who mean
business wished to see in America is just what
I have seen to-day at Big Stone Gap; as fine
coke as have ever seen in England, with IRON
! ores only two miles away, and limestone be-
tween, together with water power and railroads.
This is a combination that is bound to make
you great here. 1have nccerScen 1t e1nuted
| elsewhere. Your coke is the best have seen
| in America. The brown ores We inspected to-
day are admirably adapted to the basic process.
OF course, your proximity to the magnetic ores
| at Cranberry is great card in your favor, but
YOU will not need that to make the possibilities
| of this point simply incalcuablc. We have
been over a large portion of the Southern min
| era belt. and | regard this as the best point
we have seen for the manufacturing OF basic
steel, owing to the quality and quantity of
| your brown ores and their proximity to this
coke. have enjoyed my day here greatly
| and hope can return soon.
Mr.. Monks spoke in the same strain, saying
| he had been a practical producer of coke and
iron for forty years, and that he had never seen
better coke; and the iron ore, both brown and and
red were fine. He thought the best card Tor
| the future of Big Stone Gap in the iron indus
try was the advantage it had over any other
place he had seen for the production of steeiby
the basic process.
TIMBER.
Prof Proctor in his report says of the tim,
Der: "About 80 per cent of the area lnciuoed
| in tbe Annalachian coal field in Southwest Vir-
gnia, West Virginia, and Southeast Kentucky,
| IS covered with forest of valuable hardwoodsI
oak, yellow poplar, hickory, etc. The Black
Mountains, Immediately north of Big Stone
Gap, are heavily timbcred from base to sum
NIT with as magnificent forests as | have ever
| seen.