Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-08-07
PREPARING TO GROW.
Local Capitalists Discussing the Ad-
visibility Of Building
BOATS TO TAKE COAL MANY MILES
Whalebaeks That Have Carried Great Ton
mage With Little Fuel
MEN OF MEANS GETTING INTERESTED

sing about, who, perfumed by the spicy
breezes that elbow soft Ger Ceylon's isle,"
still in intellectual blindness "bow down to
wood and stone"
They seem to prefer the Pittsburg of the
day when the United States was forced to
come to her for her wares, forgetting that
there are people in other cities less favored,
naturally, who are ambitious to take
our prosperity from us, and who re-
inforce their lack of natural advantages by
energy in the pursuit of markets and study
in perfection of detail, and who have
already diverted millions of yearly earn
ings that might have been kept here by
tithe of the same effort that supplanted us.
THE IMMENSE TONNAGE OF PITTsBURG.
1t is unnecessary to specify what might
have been done to those who have seen our
nail trade, and considerable portion of our
glass business go to sections less favored
naturally. Speaking of what the census of
1890 would show, q wide-awake business
man some time ago said it would show that
"Pittsburg controls more tonnage than any
other city in the world, and more than the
entire Atlantic seaboard and Gulf Of Mexico
combined, from Nova Scotia to Mexico;"
that it sis the center of iron, steel and glass
Industries, coal and gas and oil production,
and the manufacturing center of this great
continent" And this notwithstanding that
much has been lost by many of its people
standing open -mouthed waiting for the
plum to fall therein, instead of clawing with
both hands to catch it.
The percentage of illiteracy hereabouts is
small. Most people can and do read, and
yet how many people know that every five
burg and Lake Erie Railway carry to the
lake over G, 900 tons of coal-an entire acre?
How many know, when they are told that
coal be Loaded Into f vessels at
ton of coal at Mobile means the run of the
mine, lump, nut and slack, and that a ton OF
Pittsburg coal means what passes over an
115-inch screen, and that the reSidunm itself
constitutes a fine profit?
Even some of the men who make the most
money by the extension and development of
the city and its manuiactur1ng interests ex-
hibit an indifference to any movement out
side of the daily routine of their immediate
occupations that could scarce be duplicated
even in Mexico.
TO BUILD wHALEBACKs IN PITTsBURG.
There is talk of establishing a plant in
this city for the building OF the new but
already celebrated craft, the 'whaleback"
an account of the success of which was given
in THE DISPATCH on Wednesday, and capi-
talists who take lively interest in the city's
welfare have suggested to reporter that it
would be interesting, if nothing more, to
know whether there was a possibility of
nickel steel playing an important
part in t6ers1naa the making Of osis steel boats,
giving additional toughness and standing
greater strain in storms. He added that a
certain local manufacturing company
"ought to be able to tell something, and you
might do well to call on them" A visit was
made accordingly to the company's office.
After visiting several apartments the caller
was ushered into the presence of respon-
sible officer. The subject was introduced
with the remark that it was important in
view of the fact that If such barges were
constructed here competition would be dis.
tanced, ETC., etc. The manufacturer seemed
to think the matter of nickel steel one of
small consequence and not worth talking
about. He finally intimated that so far nickel
but all in all he did not speak as, though it
was worth while having any opinion on the
subject at issue, notwithstanding that many
men OF means who have the power of making
a movement effective, are deeply alive to its {.
importance. Modesty may have been the
controlling factor, but it looked more like
difference of some manufacturers to
abundant prosperity. If, as stated in a
foreign journal, such craft can be built for
half the cost of vessels of similar capacity
built In England, the imagination is stag
gered in attempting to contemplate what
may be accomplished right in this city.
SOME RESULTS OF EXPERIENCE.
In order that some idea may be gotten,
the following memorandum made by
Captain McDougal and copied by the writer
from the original is to the purpose:
ave got II cents Superior to Liverpool.
We lightened nearly the whole cargo from
Kingston to Montreal at ~ cents: We run
forward, 66 aft. The boat was 265 feet long
and had 12foot wheel. The vessel that run
the rapids can carry $500. The limit of
length, 265 feet, going through Welland
Canal, but would prefer same vessel was 800
feet long, all other Dimensions the same"
The writer's style is ierky, like the waves
of the lakes on which he has sailed SO many
The Charles W. wetmore, the whaleback
mentioned above, that carried $1,000
bushels of ,Ssn wheat from Duluth lp to
per cent Of what she can carry on the
lakes, was 1o1a days running from Sydney,
Cape Breton, to Liverpool, and her coal con-
of the weight Of the cargo. A 4,006-ton YES
sci of the same shape can be run on less fuel
comparatively.
ness that wheat can be carried from Duluth
to Buffalo in McDougal at 40 cents a ton.
One of the craft could be loaded here at a
tipple and sent to New Orleans on a coal
boat rise for about the same money, the diff
ference in distance being compensated by
the greater safety of the river and the fact
that the current assists. 1t is said that the
short, rocking waves on the lakes are a
harder strain on the vessel than is the long
swell OF the ocean. The present cost of
carrying coal by steamer and barge to New
Orleans is about 81 ton.
THE COST OF CARRYING COAL.
Though during a year past there has
scarce been a month when such vessels as
the whaleback might not have been laden
and sent out from this city, yet the pro-
moters do not count on coming higher up, as
a rule, than to some point below the falls at
Louisville as from thence to the gulf navi- |
cation is practically uninterrupted, and
as there would be no lighterage
such as the master of the Wetmore was COM |
PEELED to pay on the st. Lawrence, it is safe |
to venture the estimate of 81 90 per ton for |
carrying coal from Pittsburg to Rio Janeiro, |
and if absolutely necessary in order to dis |
lodge the British from their footing it could |
be delivered at small profit at just half |
what John Bnll has been getting from the |
coal and slack which can be disposed of at
home OF shipped as circumstances may die
tate.
A McDougal of full size would take away
three acres of coal at trip, and few of
them would soon make an extensive inroad |
on the As, 900 acres of coal yet left in the Con-
nellsville seam. But the 1000, 600, 600 bushels
of coal still left in this seam, added to the
coal and slack will suffice to furnish energy
for some time to come, and when our sue
cessors find it necessary to look for the
lower measures they will probably find
them as easily worked with the aid of con-
slant accretions of science as we now find
the outcroping seams. As that lying under
patented by experienced operators, they |
doubtless thought it worth securing to their
posterity, ana when we come back centuries
hence to indulge in retrospect we may have
more than Rip-Van-Winkle obstacles to |
overcome in taking our hearings.