The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1892-03-31

whose combined action has been unceasipe- =
ly increasing the necessity for this fuel.
These are (l) the increase in population, (2)
the decrease of the wood supply, and (3)
the decrease in freight rates. OF course,
these causes affect the trade in bituminous
coal as we'll, and the comparative cheap
ness of that coal causes its production to
grow more rapidly than the production of
snthracite; but the latter is so much the
better domestic fuel, and so much to be pre-
ferred for all uses where the smoke and dirt
that are caused by the burning OF bitumin-
Gus coal are Objectionable, that the growth
of the anthracite trade is likely to be seri-
| ously checked only when its increasing
cost makes it too much an article of luxury
to be generally used. The increase of cost
will come Q) from the greater amount OF
capital required to open mines as they pen.
citrate the earth more deeply, (2) from the
greater cost of keeping them open while
the coal is being mined, and (3) from the
greater amount of refuse to be hoisted and
the greater amount of water to be pumped
as the mining reaches greater depths.
1t lie estimated in the older part of the
anthracite region that it takes an expen-
diture of about two dollars to open a mine
| for every ton of annual production, so that,
to bring to the self-sustaining point a co...
liery capable of producing 100000 tons per
annum, an outlay of 100000 must be
made. This is moderate estimate, and
shows how greatly the element of the cost
of mining has increased of late years when
it is compared with the case OF eolliery
which was opened in the Shenandoah dis
trict of the Schuylkill region thirty years
ago, At this colliery the coal that was cut
and shipped iduring the opening Of the
mine paid for its production, so that the
development of the colliery cost nothing at
all. 1t is true that this occurred during
the war, when coal sold at excessively
high prices, and it must be admitted that
this instance is an exceptional one. AS the
workings became deeper, the mass of the
rock strata that must be supported after
the withdrawal of the coal becomes
greater, and, to keep open the permanent
passages in the mines, heavier and heavier
imber is required. And this timber,
which used to grow in the neighborhood OF
he mines and was hauled on wagons, now
must be brought an average distance Of one
hundred miles by rail, and this distance il
constantly increasing as the forests disap-
pear.
The deeper working tends to greater
breaking of the rock strata and the further
cracking of the ground above, so that it
becomes more and more difficult to keep
The surface water from going down into the
mines. These causes have already pro-
tuced most serious increase of expense, it
being now necessary at some collieries to
moist TO the surface and haul away to safe
distance from the pit mouth two tons OF
refuse and TO pump ten tons of water for
every ton of coal that is shipped to market.
cases thousand feet vertically, il will be
seen how great an expenditure of power il
required, and it will not seem surprising
that at such mines one ton of coal is burned
for every ten tons that are marketed.
The cost of coal must, therefore, incrC asG
steadily, though not for the present rapidly,
and its first effect will be in the gradual
substitution of coke in many manufacture
ing processes requiring cleaner fuel than
bituminous coal. Later it will lead TO the
utilization of such particles of anti racite
as are too small to burn without special ap.
pliances and that must be cemented to.
gether into pieces of more available size
but the ultimate effect must be to restrict
the use of anthracite TO domestic consump
tion within limited though large area
whose boundaries will be governed largely
by the rates of freight that may be charged
by the transportation companies For the
| last twenty years the demand for snthra-
cite has annually increased at the rate Of a
little over four per cent. per annum. II
now requires 4OOOOOO tons each year. but
what lie ratio Of growth in the future, what
the maximum production, and what the
duration of the supply will be are question
about which all estimates must be the
rudest approxim atoms, as the factors that