Birmingham state herald., 1896-03-01
BIRMINGHAM ENTERPRISE Short Reviews of Her Leading
 Citizens. BUSINESS IMPROVEMENTS Special Information Prepared Exclusively for This Industrial Edition-Authentic
 and Reliable.

IL IS d piCdSuit tO iCNiCW hhS 'iiS'SAS enterprises and individuals that are pub lie spirited and progressive, alert for greater general prosperity and develop ment.
 Birmingham has it's quota of these live enterprises, every one represented In the following review being eminently worthy of commendation. The real history of Birmingham is herein embodied, true to reality, and it merits careful reading:
 Corona Coal and Coke Company.
 At Corona, Walker county, Ala, is To- cated the extensive mines of the above company. It is in the very heart Of the great Warrior coal field sixty miles west of Birmingham, and on the western d.V.s- ion of the Southern railroad. The prep erty owned by the company consists or
 n8,600 acres of the best coal lands or Walker county, all h52v-ly timbered, be- ing the first choice of the first investors entering the coal fields of Alabama. That no mistake was made has been amply demonstrated by subsequent events SeY- eral coal seams now underlie this proper ty. The one that is being worked at the present time is 4 feet in thickness and lies in the mountain just above water level. At distance of 100 feet below the surface is osplend!d vein, and every 60 feet below this is found a workable vein until the distance of 900 feet have been
  been investigated by the diamond drll. The coal mined by this company has be- come the best known in the south, having no superior for steam and domestic pur- poses. It is free burning and yields but small percentage of ash. The present de- velopment consists of five drifts and one slope, all ventilated by furnaces, being the results of ten years work. The ca pacity of the mines is now 1000 tons per day, but developments are now in prog h Ia aQ n increase the output to 1900 tons per day before the close of the current year. Thirty coke ovens are in operation by the company in utilizing the slack pro- duced in making domestic coal, all being washed before cokeing There are 250 houses at the mines, owned by the compa- ny and utilized by the miners. The mar ket for the output is found in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Tennessee and the Carolnas, and cutting into the territory previously supplied from the Pittsburg mines. The com pany has it's headquarters at Birming-- ham and has branches at Atlanta and New Orleans. The general offices are To- lcated in suite 40 and All Chalifoux build dng. The mines were first owned by par ties in Columbus Miss, who incorporated under the present name, and who were succeeded by the present management July Il, 1890 The president is MT. John Greenough of New York city; -vice-presi- dent, MT. l.. B. Musgrove of Jasper Ala; secretary, MT. s. M. Butler of New York city; treasurer, MT. N. M. Davidson of Jasper, Ala; general manager, MT. C. F. Perrin of Birmingham, and general sales agent, MT. J. R. Ryan of Birmingham MT Perrin is a native of New York and graduate of Harvard in 1883. He has had an extensive experience as mining oper- ator and expert, having been superln- tendent of the Stockbridge Iron company, manager of the Betty furnace in West Virginia and manager of the Norton fur mace of the Norton Iron works, the pion- eers in the use of electricity for drilling and hauling purposes. He was also su- perintendent for the Londonderry Iron company at Acadia mines, in Nova Sco- tia, and general manager Of Sequachee Valley Coal company previous to assum- ing his present position in February, 1895. MT. J. R. Ryan began his experi- ence in the business in 1860 as bookkeeper for the Greenup Coal company of Ken lucky, remaining with that company as bookkeeper and general manager until 1S66 when he became the secretary of the National Coal and Iron company, also as general superintendent. He remained with the company until 1870, when he be- came the general manager fer the Fulton Coal company till 1875 He was in the employ of the Swift company from 1873 to 1876, then with the Henrico and Rich mond coal companies, in which w. H. Barnum, C.. N. Jordan and James G. Blaine were interested In 1884 he came to Birmingham and was vice-president of the Virginia and Alabama Coal com pany until 1893, when he became the president of the American Coal company. In 1894 he accepted his present position with the Corona company and mas been pushing the sales ever since. President Greenough is a member of the firm Of Poor & Greenough, bankers and dealers in high-elass securities, in New York city. He is vice-president of the Monon route and the Wheeling and Lake Erie, director of the Knoxville and Ohio and a<director and financial agent of the Missouri, Kan sas and Texas railroad. He is one of tho most trusted men in the United States for foreign investors in American securi- ties J. P Morgan alone excepted. The Corona Coal and Coke company has the largest acreage of coal lands in the state outside of the Tennessee company. II employs $50 msn and pays out in wages $160 000 per year. It has no bonded in debtedness, a rarity among the corpora tions of Alabama and great industrial corporations everywhere. The manage ment is as able, if not the ablest, In the country MT. Perrin was commissioner of the Walker County Coal association and did more than any other individual to promote harmony between the coal oper- ators of the district and the entire south and to establish confidence in the agree ments of the association.
 W. M. Cosbs,
 at 2113 and 2115 Morris avenue. conducts a merchandise brokerage business second to none in the south. Ten years ago he started in business on First avenue and has been in his present location six years. He has the distinction of being probably the largest flour merchant in the state. He has the agency for Alabama for the Valley City Milling company, manufac- turers of the celebrated Roller Cham pianv flour; also represents in the Bir- n1ingham district the Model Mill com paoy of Nashville, Tenn; the Memphis Milling company of Memphis and the Mammoth Spring Roller Mills of Nam moth Springs, Ark.
 Mir. Cosby has represented the large packing establishment of Cudahy Bros. company for a number of years, and does an extensive business all over the state In packing house products. One of the most successful fes lures of his bus mess is the grain and hay deparinept which he handles very largely in car lots He Is devoted to Birmingham and is in- teres In anything that win in any way