The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1894-10-23
FOOD FOR
REFLECTION
What Enterprise Could do For
Shenandoah and Vicinity.
SCRANTON SHOWS THE WAY
An Active Board of Trade the Secret OF
SucceSS-Culm Banks and Elec-
tric Power Stations.

Hardly a day passes that one or more of
our townsmen return from a trip to
Scranton and detail to their friends the
wonderful progress which that city is
making, 1t is certainly great city and
is destined to become still greater 1t has
within its limits a progressive people who
speak and act through a model Board of
Trade which exhausts every avenue
through which any possible benefit to the
city can be derived. Shenandoah had
Board of Trade once, but the timber in it
didn't appear to be the kind of which the
did not succeed.
One of the things which Scranton
counts upon as a great mainstay for the
future is in the culm banks, and as Shen-
andoah has an almost innumerable mum.
ber Of these banks within its borders it
may be of interest to dwell briefly upon
the use to which these banks could be put
and show how this section of the region
could be brought closer to the Scranton
standard with proper Judgment, energy
and enterprise. For the data upon which
this article is based we are in some meas.
ure indebted to the courtesy of Mr.. Rufus
j. Foster one of the editors of the Col
liery Engineer, and member of the
Scranton Board of Trade.
The Scranton organization has in con-
temptation step towards making itself
an electrical supply station for New York,
Brooklyn, Jersey City and other cities
and to carry out its project intends to fall
back upon the numerous culm banks in
the vicinity of the city. Great attention
has been given to the problem with the
result that it has been found Scranton
can compete with and excel the great
scheme to utilize the power of the
Niagara Falls.
The statistics show the cost of anthra
cite fuel per horse power per year for steam
purposes in Scranton as taken from the
books of several manufacturing concerns
in that city. For six months concerns
with improved plants, employing S, s,7GO
horsepower, need 1914 tons of fuel per day
of "a hours during the same time CON
Germs with unimproved plants, employing
1869 horse power, need $50 tons of fuel per
day of "a hours. We therefore find that
sI4 tons of fuel produced IS, 100 horse
power each day. This fuel costs 25 cents
per ton delivered at boilers, or total of
S211 per day for the l6, l23 horsepower or
1.3l cents per horsepower per day, and for
300 working days the total cost of fuel per
horsepower per year to those concerns
was 1898.
In circular entitled "Buffalo and
Niagara Power it is stated that Niagara
will furnish power for day of "a hours
for an average of Sl5 a year per horse
power"
This is no doubt cheap as compared
with the present cost to concerns in
Buffalo who use anthracite or bituminous
coal for fuel, but compare it with the cost
of anthracite culm. To develop 16, 122
horse power at s15 per year, as quoted by
the Niagara company, would be S241, $50.
In Scranton it actually cost s63, ,359 46.
Add to this the cost of firing, interest on
plant, repairs, ETC., which in round mum.
bers is s. per horse power per year, and
we have an actual cost of S95 609 46, or a
net saving over Niagara of SAG, 22654.
What great possibilities have been
brought within reach of Scranton and
every other town of the anthracite re-
gion. just here comes in tine consideration
of electric railways. Everybody should
encourage them. The power houses will
become the home consumers of the culm
banks. The more power houses the more
home consumption, and in time the supply
of culm will be so large that there will be
none to spare to the manufacturers at dis
tant points, and the market for the regular
sizes of anthracite coal will be revived.
The coal which the miners will send out
of the shafts and slopes will always be
in demand. Ofcourse, some will question
whether the owners of the banks will sell
the oulm. To this it can be said that if a
demand can be created at home and the
owners can command prices which will
pay them better than to go over the culm
and assOrt the various smaller sizes of
coal for distant markets there will be
little difficulty in getting the owners to
part with the article. AS to prices, the
home consumers could soon meet the
owners. The culm would be taken from
the banks and burned in the CRATES
Of the power houses, making a
saving of hauling from the banks
to the washeries, the operation of these
plants and the toll on the product to the
distant markets. In addition to these the
owners would receive so much ton for
the waste which even the washeries throw
out. Electric power plants can be made
the life of this region, and every project
towards establishing an electric railway,
wherever it may be in the region, should
be encouraged. The more railways, the
greater number of power houses and the
greater the consumption Of culm. Let