The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1896-04-24
Cambria Coal Fields


Mine Inspector Evans contributes tn
Cambria county's coal production to tn
Johnstown Tribune.
SIR: Being interested in the indus trie
OF Cambria county, and especially thos
that pertain to mining, have watched
and noted with pleasure the extension o
railroad lines and all forms of progress.
and development. Having some LITTLE
! knowledge of the advantages made along
the lines of the coal industries. / thought
| it might be of interest to your readers to
| jot down for their considers alton a few
! facts that | have gathered in this connec-
| tion. 1t has been well claimed in this age
| of steam that the wealth of a civilization
| is largely the extent of the development of
its coal fields. This being true of cnun-
tries. is also true of states and counties.
am pleased to report that our noun
famous little Cambria is raising her head
high in the matter of coal production.
might state here, too, that, in the opinion
of all the coal which we are sending into
the mai kets of the world is second TO none
in quality for steam purposes; and what
is now mined in Cambria county. is not
taken from a single seam, or bed, but is
mined at several points. from four differ
ent seams. This fact is stated to show
that we have at least that many workable
seams of excellent quality in our coalbe
ing strata.
In the year 1856 the coal production of
Cambria county was 1.1S9, 16l tons; the
average number of days worked in the
year was 252; number of persons employed
1,lS3. The production for 1895 was about
100000 tons, with an average of only 1898
days worked, which shows that if the
same average of days had been worked in
1898 as in 1885, the production would be
over 100000 tons. 1t shows that the
capacity of the mines, if working full, is
over T,OOO,OOO tons year. We use the
figures indicating millions, little thinking
what vast amounts they represent. TAX
ing the actual production of our county
for ls9i-4,6O9,OO0 tons-it represents ls4 600
railroad cars of - tons capacity each or
1860 trains of - cars each, which would
be about 24 trails of coal for each of the
3l2 working days in the year. 1t also
means by the advance taking place on the
first of Dril, of five cents Il ton, the sum
of $40 900 for the 900 employees working
IN and about the mines of our county.
1t may also be of interest to state that
safety of our mines stands very high
even among the best and safest mines in
the world that we have any record of.
There was about $4,000 tons of coal mined
for each fatal accident during 1895 and
and nearly one thousand men employed,
also. per each fatal accident. This is an
unusual high percentage of safety for our
mines, the credit of which / attribute to
the special care an1 precaution that was
practiced by the miners and the mine fore
men of this district during the past year,
as Il great number of the accidents gener-
ally occurring in the mines are from care
leSsness and lack of proper precaution
being taken.
The biIuminouS Coal Association recent
ly formed by the operators of the six diff
ferent coal fields of the state which ship to
the sea board, | expect will be a special
advantage TO our county. as almost the
entire product of our mines is shipped to
tidewater. This association will be able
to control the selling price of coal in the
markets and thereby get a fair price for
their product. thus enabling the operators
to pay better wages To the miners for their
work.