The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-08-23
GENERAL NEWS
OF INDUSTRIES

ient paper by Professor o. S. Carter, |
u the Boys high school, before the
franklin institute. in which. accord
ing to report printed in the Philadel-
phia Record. he presented some inter.
esting facts regarding the existence of
coal in Montgomery county. Mr..
Carter visited Arcola, where he found
the coal seam to be 26 inches thick at
its widest part, gradually thinning
down to an inch thick. The coal
proved pa hard. compact and lus-
trous raoite. which on analysis
gave the flowing results:
Water,... Observation-Disclosures. .95
Volatile an combustible NATTER. 6.S3
Fixed carbon. ........................ 90
ASH. ....,.............''.'' ''V
1OoO8
''There are other instances of the
occurrence of coal in Montgomery
county" said Professor Carter. I'm
the new red sandstone at Norristown,
On Elm street, near the Stony Creek
railroad, seam of coal an inch In
thickness was found. 1t only extended
for few feet, and was not very wide.
II was found about twelve feet below
the surface, while grading the street.
] also found the striated seam of
fotsil plant in the sandstone. This
coal was Of deep black color. pitchy
in appearance. very brittle, and broke
in a conchoidal fracture.
"At Gwynedd, MONTGOMERY county,
in the new red, Is found bed of car
bonaceous shale, colored black by
traces Of coaly matter which it con-
tains. Iu Lower Providence town
ship, MONTGOMERY county, about one
half mile west of the Trooper, was
found a seam Of coal three inches thick.
1t was used by the village blacksmith.
During the summer OF 1883 men work.
ing upon the new tunnel at Phenixyille
discovered Q two.inoh seam of coal in
the sandstone. 1t may be that q pa.
tient examination of these so-callsd
triassic states. which underlie the sand
stone in Montgomery county. will dis
close beds of workable coal in more
than one locality. No systematic search
has ever been made for coal. and very
few deep artesian borings have ever
been made in the new red In Mont
gomery county. In drilling the deep
artesian we'll at Lansdale bed
Of black carbonaceous states was
passed through, and under these
states were found bed of coal. DR.. A.
D. Markley, of Hatboro, informs me
that a thick bed Of coal was passed
through in drilling an artesian we'll at
North Wales; it was found at depth
Of 150 feet. These same triassic rocks
have yielded large quantities Of good
coal in Virginia and North Carolina.
In the earliest days OF coal mining,
more coal was taken from the red
sandstone rocks of the Richmond basin
than was mined in Pennsylvania. In
1882, about 4s. 900 tons were produced,
which was twelve times the amount
shipped by Pennsylvania, In 1888
about 142, 5S7 tons of triassic coal were
mined in Virginia, or about one-third
the amount OF anthracite produced in
Pennsylvania. Iu 1887 but ono mine
was worked. and it produced 10000
tons. During the year several new
companies were organized to mine
coal in this field"
A. w. Swami, o .No7sulting en-
gineer Of prominence, MY written a
letter to the journal o. Commerce in
which he says the railroads must very
soon begin to buy rails in large guam
titles. Eleven years is the life of a
steel rail, he says, and after that time
it must be removed. According to the
interstate. commerce commission re-
port. there are about 49, 900, 900 tons of
steel rails in use in the country, all of
which must be renewed every eleven
years. This means l, ,727,212 tons per
annum on an average. Mr.. Swsnitz
says chat rail renewals have contrib
uted largely to reduction Of expenses,
and that the time has come when con-
tracts for new rails must be made
They cannot be longer postponed with
safety. This ought to contribute
largely to the prosperity Of the local
rail mills, which are we'll equipped for
any business that may offer.
It will be remembered, says the In-
dianspolis Journal, that last year the
grand chief of the Order of Railway
Conductors ordered the members of thN
Order OF Railway Conductors on the
Lshigh Valley to strike. They went
out as result and lost 5000 each, for
they could have earned at least that
much money while they were doing
nothing but aympathizing with the Lee
high Valley strikers. After the strike
was declared off the sympathetic con-
ductors made request to the grand
lodge Of conductors for the money they
had lost BY obeying the order to quit
work, and as they were given the cold
shoulder the striking conductors made
up purse. employed prominent law
yers and brought suit against the grand
lodge. The case will come up in Q
court Of one Of the eastern states il
September. An eastern financial pa
per, in commenting on this nov
el legal proceeding, says that should
the suit be declared in favor of thu
complainants it is extremely probable
that grand lodges will not so quickly
order out subordinate lodges, unless
they have plenty Of money to compen.
safe those who lose wages by going out
This suit will test the liabilities o
trades unions to those who obey thei
orders. The oomplainants go on th,
theory that when a man, firm, o cor
poration, or (they say) an order engages
or employs men to do thing bene-
tieial to the engager or employer, liza
bility for compensation Of the engaged
or employed begins. They say thai
when they gave up their places the,
went to work for the benefit of tn,
Grand Lodge Of conductors.
MINOR INDUSTRIAL NOTES:
The Louisville, New Albany and Chi
cago Railroad company has increased it
force at the company's shops and is run
ming them ten hours day. -, -
Walter H. Webb, first vice president O
the New York Central, says that sine
Aug. there has been a marked improve
ment In the business of all the roads in tn
system.
Traffic managers Of the Iowa lines vii