Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1893-06-29
WEST v1Ee1N1A COKE IN CHICAGO.

WEST VIRGINIA COKE IN CHICAGO.
The Mcdowell Recorder of last week
contains the information that the Hill
nois Steel Co., the second largest con-
Germ in the United States, and the larg-
gest In its particular line of manufac-
ture, has contracted with four coke
producers in the Flat Top region for it's
coke supply for the second half OF the
present year. The lucky concerns are
the Norfolk Coal and Coke Co., the
Shsmokin Coal and Coke Co., the Lick
Branch Coal and Coke Co., and the
Powhattan Coal and Coke Co. The
Illinois Steel Co. will place 700 cars at
the disposal OF the Norfolk and Western
Railroad for use in carrying this coke,
and the amount to be used while tha
Steel Company'S plant is in operation is
forty car loads day, seven days a
week.
This is one Of the largest coke con-
tracts which has been made this sea-
son and is especially worthy of note on
account Of the fact that the II. C. Frick
Coke Co., Of Connellsvitle, was COM
petitor for the contract The Illinois
Steel Co. has used Connellsville coke ex-
clusively till now, aud that it should
change TO the use of West Virginia coke
is proof positive that they are at least
equals. 1t is reported that both the
coke-makers and the Norfolk 81 West
ern railroad made concessions TO get the
contract, but that does not alter the
case in the least, for II it was an inferi-
or article which was offered, the buyer
could not afford to take it at any price.
West Virginia coke has had a hard
fight for position. Wheeling and Pitts
burg furnacemen have all along con-
tended that it was not fit for making
Bessemer pig iron, and wherever it has
shown its head, the wealthy and influ-
entail Connellsville manufacturers have
been ever ready to make concessions
and cut it out Of all opportunity for a
fair trial. Various pretexts have been
used against it and, till now, they seem
to have availed.
1t will not be long till other people
nearer home will ses that II West Vir-
ginia coke will make iron for the Hi
noIs Steel Company, 1T will surely do the
same for them. 1t can be put down in
Chicago, Pittsburg, Wheeling, Cincin-
natl, st. Louis or Cleveland for less
money than the Connellsvile product,
and with It's quality assured and proven,
it will not be long in finding general
market.
Tests of cokes made in other parts Of
West Virginia have shown that their
chemical composition is as good or
better than Connellsville coke, but like
all new things, it has been hard to in
troduce them. Fairmont is making as
good coke as any in the world, and it is
selling well exceptin Wheeling and Pitts
burg. New River coke has made splen-
did iron for those who have tried it.
The Davis Coal and Coke Co., of the
West Virginia Central region, is ship
ping coke to Mexico and South America
in competition not only with Connells-
willie coke, but with the English product
as well. The Chesapeake and Ohio
railroad is making preparations for de-
veloping the tracts of thousands of
acres OF coking coal they bought last
fall In the New River region.
All these things surely point to West
Virginia as the coming coke region,
and are cause for great satisfaction
among all who feel an interest In the
development of our State and its re-
sources.
In the last five years West vi rginia's
coke industry, in the appreciation of
land and ia the plants built, has added
SEQ, 600, 900 to values in the State.