The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1895-07-26
"A GOING OUT.
Coal Again the Fuel IN the I.arOa.
Pittsburgh Foundries.
The supply Of Gas Has Also Failed -
Other S~tates-since 1888 the De-
mand for Coal Has Been
Increasing.

V00 VIC 1LU8 lTOn
work. in Allegheny county, a few
miles above Pittsburgh. and this es.
Enlistment has been one of the last to
abandon this fuel in the Pittsburgh dis
trict. After twenty years of dependence
upon natural gas, says the Philadel.
phia Record, the proprietors of this
plant have removed the pipes and are
now returning to the use Of coal. LONG
after most of the other mills had sur
rendered to the cheap bituminous fuel
which had always been the cheap foun-
dation of Pittsburgh's great Industrial
prosperity. The diminishing supply
and the consequent increase in cost
have necessitated the abandonment Of
natural gas by most of the large manu-
featuring establishments in the Pitts.
burgh district, and it's use is being
more and more restricted to domestic
purposes. Pittsburgh has again be-
come the smoky city of fifteen years
ago, alleviated in some measure by the
use OF fuel Oil and manufactured gas.
which have assumed Importance with
the decline OF natural gas in the last
four or five years. Natural gas was
not a factor of very great Importance
in the Pittsburgh district until early in
the SOS and the point of greatest con
sumption was reached in 1888, after
which the decline began. 1t has never
been feasible to ascertain with accu-
racy the quantity of natural gas con
sumed each year, but Joseph D. Weeks,
OF Pittsburgh, has prepared for the
United States geological survey an es-
innate of the value of the coal dis
displaced by natural gas, which has
been accepted as the most practical
measure of the consumption of gas. In
the period of it's largest use the natural
gas consumed in Pennsylvania, meas
ured on this basis, was valued as fol-
lows: 1885, $500, 900; 1886, 49, 900, 900;
1887, S14,749, 500; 1888, $19,2S2, 375; 1889,
81, 1893 $3.50; 1890, &c. 51, OPS; 1891, ST.
S34,o16; 1892, 81, 81 1921; 1898, Sc, 4s6, 900.
In Ohio the supply Of natural gas has
failed even more rapidly than in Penn
sylvania. The largest consumption in
Ohio was in 1889, when it amounted in
value to S5,215, 900, but in 1898 it had
fallen to $3.50, 900. The suddenness of
the failure Of the supply has caused
much inconvenience and loss to manu-
featuring establishments, which in
many instances were deprived of fuel
almost without warning. While the
supply Of natural gas in Pennsylvania
and Ohio has been diminishing a new
productive region has come into promi-
hence in Indiana, and interest in nat
ural gas is now conferred in that state.
In 1886 the value of the gas consumed
in Indiana was estimated at only $780,
600; in 1888 it was figured at 81, 1920, 600,
and in 1895 the value was placed at S.
71s,0OO. The opening OF this new field
has stimulated the development of iron
and steel and glass enterprises in In
diana in a marked degree. Notwith-
standing the abundance of the present
supply in Indiana there is no assurance
of it's continuance for a longer period
than in other states, and a return to
fuels more stable, if less convenient, is
merely a question of time. In fact, it
is claimed by biologists and gas experts
that the point of greatest supply has
been reached. While it lasts there is
no fuel that possesses SO many advan-
tages as natural gas. The uncertainty
of it's duration is it's Onlv disadvantage.