Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-12-16
UP TO THE STANDARD.
The Production of River Coal This
Year Bigger Than Expected,
PROVIDING WORK FOR THOUSANDS.
Finkerton Detectives in Pittsburg to
Watch the Printers.
INDUSTRIAL FEATURES OF INTEREST

The immediate outlook for the Pittsburg
river coal trade is better than it has been
for wears Since the settlement of the
miners strike last March, which resulted
in the greatest victory for the miners that
thev ever won, and after they had lost over
S1,00O0 900, too, in wages, the relations
between the miners and operators have
been Singularly harmonious and satisfactory
where they were expected to be bitter and
antagonistic. The cause of this state of
affairs, strange as it may seem, can be at
tributed chiefly TO the weather. Supply
and demand regulate prices, and the
weather has regulated the supply of coal in
the Southern markets during the last ten
months, allowing only moderate quantity
at any time, and prices, in consequence, have
been fair, and the operators have been
enabled to keep their mines here running
almost all the time, with the result as
stated above.
Had there been a continuous boating
stage of water in the Ohio river last spring
and summer, as there frequently is, there is
no doubt that the miners of the Monon-
gahela valley would have been asked long
ere this to dig coal for less money than they
are now getting. 1t seems, however, that
there was just enough water in the rivers to
let down Just enough coal to comfortably
supply the current demand, and with the
exception of Cincinnati, where the stock of
coal on hand became very much reduced and
the price advanced in consequence few
weeks ago. prices have been universally fair
to the operators
Employment Furnished for Thousands.
L. ;,-a1,- bao,
shipment of coal South has been made, and
large numbers of empty barges have been
returned, to be filled Immediately with
Monongahela river coal, furnishing employ
ment for the thousands of miners and other
workmen, and continuing the present pros
perity of the valley. Estimates have al
ready been made by persons to whom the
facts and figures relating tc the production
are inaccessible, purporting to show thai
the present years output of coal will fall
greatly below that of last year.
Up TO last Saturday night S0,602, 100
bushels of coal have been brought into the
Pittsburg barbor since the end of the strike
last March. There are probably 5000, 900
bushels of coal loaded in the pools of the
Monongahela river now, and the production
of the mines for the remaining two weeks
of the calendar year will probably be up to
the full capacity; so that when the year
WHICH III IIllS case Will nave Dee0 only q |
little over nine months-ends, the output |
will show nearly as great production as
last year, the greatest ever made. If the |
u months from March 10, 1891, to March 10, |
1892, be taken as the present year, the coal |
production will undoubtedly show a much |
greater increase than it has ever done.
For the Extreme Southern Trade.
As proof of this the fact can be cited |
that nearly 1850 heavy coalboats (the |
largest sized river crafts) have been loaded |
for the extreme Southern trade in the last |
nine months, when 200 is usually con- |
sidered a large number for a whole wear. |
Yet with the increased number loaded and |
marketed, there are much lighter stocks of |
coal on hands now at New Orleans and |
other Southern points than there were at |
this time last year
The partial failure of natural gas has |
greatly increased the consumption of coal |
in Pittsburg, and hereafter the local trade |
will form considerable percentage of the |
entire river production, and would be |
greater if the river mines were not obliged |
to pay half cent bushel more for mining |
coal than the railroad mines paw. AS i'm |
piled throughout this article, therefore, the |
Pittsburg river coal business is in most |
healthy condition, and its prospects are |
brighter than thew have been for wears