Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-08-19
That Enabled a Number of Men to.
Prepare for a Possible Failure
in the Natural Gas Supply
MANY ACRES OF RICH COAL LAND
GObbled Up and Held for an Emergency
That Some Wise Men We're Sure
Would Show UpJ
FIGURES INDICATING A GREAT DEAL
Httsburg the Envy of the Business World Because
Of her Possibilities.

absorbing all the coal they could reach
both here and in Central Pennsylvania seen
70 have builded more wisely than even they
knew, unless they got scientific points t.
guide them at the time. 1t is indeed quite
probable they did, as Engineer J. H. Nc,
Roberts, who made study of the natural
gas problem, and whose predictions regard
ing the profitable duration of its supply
have proven astonishingly exact, had faith in
his own philosophy sufficient to cause him
to invest in coal, and he certainly does not
regre. it. Some time ago the purchase OF
coal lands by numa"r of people, among
them General Hastings, was the subject of
an article in this paper Hastings, who was
comparatively poor man few years ago,
Is now rated as a several millionaire
through his operations The H. C. Frick
combination in the Cornellsville field, is an
enormous one and its holdings cover enough
territory to make several te-Bismarck-
German principalities.
A MAMMOTH ENTERPRISE
The Hostetter Coke Company, with which
Whitney X Stephenson are connected, is
also a mammoth enterprise, and develop
ment is going on at a rate that is bewil-
deIing and calculations made five years ago
regarding consumption and probable duta-
tjon of supply are OF little consequence to-
day The gobbles spoken of were made at
cheap rate.
But while there is vast mass of special
learning on the subject, it is bewildering
in its 1mmensity and complexity and diff
cult to systematic, owing to the difference
of opinion among operators as to the amount
of worked-out territory in the Pittsburg
district. This, in a general way, includes
all that lies within the territory of which
HitJburg is the commercial and distributive
center. Regarding the portion of the Con-
nellSv1lle cOklng seam already mined esti-
mates differ, some saying that 80 per cent
mas been taken out while there are Others
who say that about four-sevenths of it re-
main, and others think there is still more in
tact.
From Nh. John McFadyer mach interest
ing information was gotten, especially re-
Earjlng the ConnellsYille trough which has
the Chestnut Ridge anticlinal FOR an eastern
boundary and for its western the Indiana
axis as far as Sewicklev creek. and the Fav-
cite axis from there TO the West Virginia
line This trough, extending from Ioungs-
town, Nestmoreland county, in this State,
to Fairchance West Virginia, is the finest
body of coking coal known in the world,
and were the price for its product equal to
remaining output would alone make the
state rich. COnnellsville coke has sold as
low as 90 cents ton, while Durham coke
sells ut IS, and never below s. 80, per ton.
AN INTERESTING "REMINISCENCES.
James Marshall, Jr., reminiscenced so far
as to be able to state that Colonel Sid Morgan
and his brother James were the first to
venture a shipment of coke from the Con-
nellsville region. Previous to their time
that coal was advertised as the best black
smith coal in existence. In lSG0 there were
not over leo colling ovens in the region. In
lS7s, there were 5000 and now there are 1880.
This coke once sold in salt Lake City at $50.
:; ton. they could get nothing but Cotton
wood there TO make coke of il hadn't suffi-
cient firmness to sustain weight in "A furnace,
COnncllSville coke seems to possess every
requisite for use While it will sustain great
weight and is the cleanest fuel known, it is
also porous, and like charcoal fuses evenly
owing to Its cellular structure.
As though Nature intended to show a mon
ument of her ability as 4 designer. she has
placed different varieties of coal in the diff
Ierent troughs heTeabouts. West of Char
tiers Creek there Is good fuel, steam and gas
coal, but il il not overly good for coking
The Monongahela is uneXcelled as a gas
coal and OF course a good heating and steam
coal. Having provided the different kinds
Of carboniferous vegetation and the labora-
tory necessary to make coal, Nature made
distribution Of paleoZoic plants which man
to day nnds very convenient for his pur
poses.
But the men who take the deepest interest
in Pittsburg coal are not: as a rule, ptvlo-
pal5eOntOlogists nor especially interested in
foSSil-bOtany, but tney do want to know how
much coal they have and how it can be
made to make their fortunes, and the public
il interested, as the operators must allow q
slice to their fellows a thoy go along, or the
prOnt viii not mate r1aliZe, and while some
Ike Mr.. Abraham Garrison, think we have
been dissipating our leverage long enough
there are Others who think that Mr.. Garri-
- 4
ScO0 or 1900 years from now, and are willing
TO leave prosperity grapple with the
problem he propounds.
NOW A MERE BAGATELLE.
Engineer J. II. McRoberts, who is recog-
niZed as an authority, states that the coal
now Immediately available to Pittsburg-
that is. that which can be gotten without
long haulage or much vexatious lockage-is
a mere bagatelle, though expressed in
bushels, lump, nut and slack, it looks like
considerable fuel, being To- 900 acres or 1885,
GOOOO0 bushels. As nut and slack will here
after play an important part III the indus
tries hereabouts they should be included.
Thls Is outside the Connellsville basin. Mr.
McROberts SAYS this near nearby deposit is
within radius of Is miles, 10 miles south of
Pittsburgh. The course OF the Monongahela
river between Pittsburg and Monongahela
City is semi-circle. The river operators
have been working around the periphery
They 1Gttered themselves that there was
juicy melon in the center that they
alone would have the power to cut but the
baltimore and Ohio Railway Company con-
cluded 10 come through, and the conse-
QuenCe was the sale ana diversion of some
1900 acres. The coal in the First and Sec
"nd pools is practically exhausted, only be-
tween 5000 and 1000 acres left, little
more than a years consumption at present.
This is what makes the coal Immediately
south Of the city so valuable, there being
neither long haul or lockage to add to its
cost.
Mr.. McRoberts says he knows, but is not
able 20 prove that the Pennsylvania Rail
way hauls more coal in year than is
shipped by river, and if You stop and con-
slider that every i've coal trains that go out
ON the Pittsburg and Lake Erie Railway
carry away an acre, the assertion is not
hard to believe, for those trains follow each
other at short intervals and cause n deal of
profanity on the part of people who live on
the line between here and Beaver. Had the
PittsDurg and Lake Eric two tracks its car
aging capacity would be bewildering. The
river trade attracts the most attention on
account OF the vast amount that goes out at
one shipment, but coal trains, each carrying
two barge loads, 200 TONS 81 200 bushels
glide along every half hour, and scarce at
tract attention.
NO LONGER a SERIOUS MATTER
But owing TO improved facilities for min
ing coal the shipment thereof Il few miles
further is not 50 serious a matter as it was
some years ago. Though the trade is grow
ing 50 rapidly that one years statistics may
give very inadequate idea or the move
ment three years later, yet figures in this
are interesting. The production
OF this district in lSSS was, in TONS as fol-
lows:
county. ,222 a45
Fayette county ty......-.....-.......... g. 2+6 6S3
Allegheny county. nty...................4,5S 4, ,5S5 053
Armstrong county ty...................-.. 224 7Sl
Butler county .........-..-.............. l9l 1876
Indiana county ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 159 2l3
Lawrence county ty....................... 106 92l