The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-01-16

30. 1896. amounted to s7.672.7ls. against
| S.73O,l59 a. the end Of the preceding
| fiscal year. The total tonnage for the
year Is placed at 1889 1S7. an increase
over the preceding year of 2,237. .63S tons
divided AZ follows: Anthracite coal.
| l2,045,36S. increase 9l5,21l; bituminOus
coal and coke. 456194, increase 12S.6S7:
miscellaneous freight, 5,857 .625, increase
1,l6S.74O tons. There has also been an
increase in the tonnage carried one mile
| of 455,016. 1876. the total having been q
| 60S, IA, $40. There has, however, been a
decrease I'm the average freight rate. as
compared with 1894. of .08 Of cent. or
more than enough to have produced
per cent. upOn the entire capital Of the
company. With an increase of 1.o70,-
sos tons In anthracite and bituminous
| coal tonnage. there was an increase In
transportation earnings of only $79311.
while an increase In miscellaneous
freights of 1,lS6.740 tons shows in
creased earnings of ss6620<. The latter
tonnage. which was about % per cent.
greater than in that of 1894, would have
been still larger, the report says, but
| for .he lack Of cars and motive power
During the year the number of passen-
gers carried was 4,74S,037, a decrease OF
| 64,615, but the number of passengers
carried one mile increased II, 5,702, ,S56 to
a total of 11S,2S2.636. The passenger
averages are interesting, as follows:
Average mileage per passenger, 24.9l
miles. increase 3.59 miles, average re-
ceipts per passenger, 1919 cents. in
crease 5.O6 cents; average rate per mile
1858 cents. decrease 1894 of a cent. The
report of the Lehigh Valley Coal COM
pany accompanies that of the railroad
company. The tonnage shipped from
Its own collieres and those owned by Ii
but operated by tenants, 5,4S4,0 ,05O tons,
an increase Of 600, 800 tons. The aver
age breaker time of all the collieries
operated by the company was a little
over 159 days. an increase of about IS
days, as compared with 1894. The av-
erage rate received for transportation
Of coal was 5.6b cents per ton less than
In the previous year, and the company
realized q loss upOn the coal mined by
1t and that purchased from individual
operators of 13.4S cents per ton. The
cost Of production was somewhat less
than in 1894. The report concludes with
brief review Of the efforts made to Inn
prove the condition of the anthracite
business last year.
--:N:-
Thomas A. Edison has Just brought
to a practical conclusion his great ore
separating process ut the mine at Edi-
son, near Ogden. N. ", on which he has
been at work for many years. and the
great plant Is In running order. The
scheme Ia an interesting one. In that
there is no human intervention during
the entire process from start to finish.
When the cars of ore and rock are
dumped in large masses into the mas
sive crushers that form the first step
In the process the rest of the process Is
entirely automatic, the crushed rock
nd rn taA n Nh los
from one set Of crushers to another by
means of endless belts and bucket ele-
vators, till the material Is reduced to
the requisite fineness, and then another
series OF belts and elevators carry it to
the separat ting house. where the mate
rial falls In fine stream across a field
Of large electro magnets, which divert
the iron from the direct line Of fall and
drop 1t into one receptacle. while the
refuse and rock fall into another. Au-
tomato carriers take the iron ore
thence to the bricking plant where by
ingenious mechanism, over which the
great inventor has spent thousands of
dollars in experimentation, the ore IL
mixed with binding material and
pressed into small brick for convenience
In handling. These are then baked and
are ready for market
-:ll:-
IlttbtOI SJitupSOH N WdthlIS
have changed their plans Of sinking the
main shaft at the Mt. Lookout colliery
while new breaker Is being erected.
The sinking of the other shaft will be
the only work carried on in the mean
time. Work has already been given to
men living in the company houses and
large wagons have been secured to
transport the men to the Forty Fort and
Duryea, where they are employed. The
work Of rebuilding will occupy at least
five months. The best time ever made
5 Plymouth. Which was Completed in in
100 days. In this case 1t Is said that
timber was already framed to be used
In another breaker.
-:lI:-
Pittston Gazette: Until within
week the Sibley Coal company has been
shipping the coal from it's colliery at
Sibley over the Delaware. Lackawanna
and Western road. 1t being delivered to
the latter by the Lehigh Valley road at
Lackawanna and Bloomsbury junction.
A change has been made, however. and
now the coal Is transported by the Le-
high Valley road over the mountain
cutoff at Jenkins junction. whence it
Is carried over the Wilkes Barre and
Eastern and the New York Susquehan-
ma and Western. The two Jermyn col
lieries on the Sibley branch OF the Lee
high Valley road also ship coal by this
route.
tilt
Coal shipments for the month of De-
cember were by the Erie railway, 1O2, ,154
tons For the season, via canal, 502, ,2S9
tons; Erie railway. 1,14S.561 tons. To-
tai for season. 1,550,S50 TONS. Coal on
hand at HOnesdale 134,3l7 tons. Coal
mined and shipped by the Delaware and
Hudson Canal company for month, 341,-
S61 tons; for season, 4,299,77S tons.
ill
The Reading coal shipments for the
week ended Jan. II aggregated 2Ss,S45
tons. an increase over the same period
last year of 27,776 tons. For the fiscal
year to date the shipments were 1921
7S4 tons, an increase over the corre-
spending period last year of 260, ,00S tons.
.f tRAVI ROAn NNTEC