The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-11-17

Speech of Col. Wilson.


by Col. Duncan G. Wilson, of Beaufort,
S. c., at the meeting held in the interest
of the Black Diamond Railroad in this
city on the evening of the 4th inst:
M. President and Gentlemen OF this
Contention: We come to you from the
J salt waters of the South Atlantic and
from the islands Of the sea which border
our own State Of South Carolina. We
come from the Royal port, with it's deep
waters and capacious harbor, where the
navies of The world can rice at anchor.
We come to greet this Convention and to
wish you God speed in the great under
taking which is before ycu-the building
of the Black Diam Railroad from the
great coal fields 10 South to the South
Atlantic.
The coal industry in our Southern
country Isl but in IFS infancy, and it is the
power which has moved the world. What
would Great Britain and America have
been without their coal? 1t made the
mighty age Of steam possible and has
been the means of building up new en-
pires and spreading civilization as moth
ing else could do. There is no mineral
in the world which has been discovered
which has done SO much for man. Il
gives employment to an army Of miners,
and in every occupation where machin-
cry is used her many hundreds and
thousands are depending on its ample
supply. a Astrike or delay at the coal
mines occasions the greatest anxiety to
thousands of families throughout the
world in almost every branch Of indus
try.
tits not only on land that coal holds its
sway on civilization; it is, in this age. the
monarch of the ocean, and in every CLINE
and every sea the the entire commercial
and naval world is depending on this
wonderful mineral which is so common
and so valuable, the output of which is
increasing with such wonderful strides.
The coafarea Of the United States is es-
timated to be between TWO and three hun.
cred thousand squire miles, and all in the
world put together does not exceed four
hundred thousand square miles. So that
eur country contains more than one-half
of all the coal territory of the universe.
Great Britain claims to have Il, 900 square
railes within her borders, which shows
that this wonderful country Of ours pos
sessss twenty times more coal territory
than Great Britain.
! The coal fields in the eleven Southern
States comprise nearly one-half Of all this
immense area in this country, and these
great deposits have scarcely been touched
as yet. But the demand is steadily grow
ing, and the mining of coal and the man
ufacturing of iron is moving on ct more
rapid rate than is generally known.
In 1880 the eleven Southern States
mined six million, five hundred and
twenty-nine thousand, eight hundred
tons Of coal, or about II per cent. of the
bituminous product Of the country that
year. Sixteen years later, in 1896, the
same States produced five times as much,
or 80, ,l75, 600 tons, which was 25 per cent.
of all coal mined in the country that year.
England mined over two hundred mil
lion tons last year and supplies all the
countries of the world that require coal,
and it is the Supplying OF the coal mar
kets of the world that has given such an
impetus to her shipping and built up
such a merchant marine, which is super
ior to all other nations.
A part ofthis enormous business we of
the South wsntto secure, and to have our
own direct coal Railroad, passing through
the coal mines of Tennessee and Ken
tucky and other Southern States, and
bringing the coal direct to deep sea ter
minus on the South Atlantic, which Of
6ers every facility for rapid handling.
Our Southern coal mines are attracting
a great deal Of attention, as some of them
produce the best steaming coal in the
world, and every greyhound" on the
Atlantic sailing from New York is sup
Piled with Pocahontas coal from the
mines OF Virginia for thepurpose ofmak-
ing rapid passages, and many of these
large, fast steamships consume 500 tons
of coal in "a hours in crossing the Allan
tic. Pocahontas coal is sent to every Sec
tion of our country along the coast. Six
to eight thousand tons are shipped from
Lamberps Point, Norfolk, every "a hours,
and the fast lake boats take on board at
Detroit, Pocahontas coal from Virginia,
and in Kentucky English capital is de-
veloping Camel coal mine and supply
ing gas coal to the city of London. The
object of this Convention, the work we
are engaged in tonight, is to strive to
build this great Black Diamond Railroad
from the mines to the sea to enable us to
export this great product to other conn
tries that have not been blessed as we
have been; to supply South America, the
West Indies and other countries, and to
compete with England for share of this
valuable trade.
Virginia has her splendid coaling docks
at Norfolk and Newport News, with large
and ever increasing facilities. Pennsyl
vania has New York aud Philadelphia,
and the Lehigh Railroad has immense
coal docks at Perth Amboy, in NeT York
harbor.
Alabama is opening up Pensacola as a
port ofshipment for the growing output
of coal, and it was only last week that a
contract was entered into with Mexico