Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-13
THE COAL PROBLEMS
That Are Troubling the Operators in
the Pittsburg District.
TERRITORY IMPROPERLY WORKED.
Other Sections That Cannot Well Be Mined
With Profit.
THE ARGUMENT WITH THE OIL MEN

Though the coal underlying some farms
near this city was sold for as much as $500
an acre before the War of the Rebellion, it
has only been few years since the bulk of
people began to realize that the fast vanish
ing product was one worth saving or work
ing SO as to get as much as possible of the de-
posit. It is not question as to how much
coal underlies the Pittsburg district, but
how much is commercially available.
The river operators generally seemed to
think that the outcroping vein was mex
haustible and the consequence is that the
river front has been 'ground-hogged" for
some miles back and many thousand of tons
remain in the worked out mines that cannot
be made available as the cost of getting it
out would outrun the profit Most of this
territory has been mined in a manner appar-
emily as unscientifc as possible and the
paralizing discovery made that the
II companies owning the front between
Streets run, opposite Glenwood, and the
left but 1895 acres unbroken. and some day
that estimate will be decreased somewhat.
Territory That Is Worked Out.
Of these II companies 6 are dead, that is
their territory is worked out. Of what is
left Lysle & Sons have the greatest hold
ing, 2O7 acres, and the Alequippa Company
has 200 acres. There is coal back of these
properties, but it is not in the hands of the
river operators nor those of the surface
owners, and it is held by people who know
its value to cent.
1t is estimated that the tipples and other
works necessary to mine the coal owned by
these II companies represent an outlay of
50, 600, 900, and the works must soon be dis
posed of for whatever the owners of the coal
back Of them may see fit to give There
have been vast fortunes made in the mining
of this coal, but fortunes have also been
wasted under mining methods that will not
likely hereafter be practiced in this Sec
tion.
In the rear of the territory owned by the
river operators is q seam some five miles
wide running along the anti-clinal, from Saw
mill Run to Shaner, of the best gas coal in
the world. 1t breaks at either end of the
line becoming coking coal at or about West
Newton. The owners are fully apprised of
its value, as it is favorably situated for
shipment and the drainage is perfect, very
important matter. Still further back is
trough in which there is good coal. It runs
thro>- III Baldwin and Snowden townships.
1t is not likely to be worked, however. un-
til coal is worth more than at yresent on
account OF the difficulty attending drainage.
One vexatious Problem.
In this connection there is question that
agitates coal operators and oil operators
more and more as times goes on. It is how
petroleum development is to go on smoothly
where it is necessary to bore
through coal strata. Though the local
court has decided against the
coal men, the petroleum operators are
troubled as the Supreme Court, though
the divided, has ruled that the owner OF
coal owns fee simple in the space, and re-
fused to allow one company to go through
that owned by another. Then, too, if a
bond to secure the coal operator is given,
how is the measure of damages to be fixed?
Should gas in great volume find its way into
the mines in some parts of this county and
an explosion ensue, damage cannot be es-
timated in advance.
For instance, should such an explosion
occur anywhere a mile south of this city it
would have tendency to lift the cap of the
hill between Sawmill Run and Beck's Run
and large portion of the county is honey
combed in the same way, as is this section.
1t would be an extensive piece of grading,
but it might temporarily dam the Monon-
gahela river 1t has been suggested to the
petroleum or orator that where well is to
go through unmined strata, that it would
be cheaper to buy quarter or half an acre
of coal around each well than to run the
risk of expensive lawsuits. Either inter-
est is too valuable to be given up, if way
can be devised to surmount the difficulty.