Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-04-01

burg wharves, forms the harbor at
Plttsburg up to lock No. /, which is
one and one-tenth miles above the
mouth Of and on the Monongahela
river
The pools on the Monongahela river
nave the following lengths: Pool No.
1 IS ~ 40 miles long; pool No. is
Is Ito miles long; pool No. 8 is 1914
mlies long; pool No. 4 is 1874 miles
long.
The height of the coal is as follows:
Pool No. 1, the coal is four feet high !;
pool No. 2 the coal is feet inches
high; pool No. 3 the coal is 4 feet Az
inches high; pool No. the coali 6
feet to inches high
One bushel of Pittsburg coal weighs
Ib pounds, and in one ton of 1900
pounds there are 1851 bushels.
Overlapping this coal throughout the
basin there is a stratum of clay which
averages ten inches in thickness. This
clay has in all cases to be taken down
by the miner In the lower pools it
comes down easily, while in the upper
pools it is often necessary to shoot it
down.
Ehbout zen " Twelve lUtHtS from UU6
bottom coal there are two small states,
each about one-half inch thick, seper-
ated by three or four inches of coal.
This is called the bearing in coal, and
the miner puts his undercut at that
point. The breast coal is then shot
down and loaded, then the lower ply,
or brick coal, is taken up and loaded
The top coal is then taken down and
gobbed.
The percentage of merchantable sizes
of coal which the miners in the differ
net pools make are herewith tabulated
according to the report of the Penn
sylvania State Geological survey
Size of screens, ~ and IA inches
Pool No. l, so per cent lump, IS per
cent nut; % per cent slack.
Pool No. gives 10 per cent lump,
II per cent nut 10 per cent slack.
Pool No. gives 66 per cent lump, II
per cent nut, II per cent slack.
Pool No. 4 gives Sc per cent lump, "a
per cent nut and slack.
The following table shows the num-
Der CT bushels of coal which passed
through the locks Of the Monon gahela
river in the year 1891: Pool No L, H.
677,913; pool No. 2, 25,066 coo; pool No
3, 20,735, 500; pool No. 4, IS, 457, coo.
These figures show that the fourth
pool shipped a greater quantity than
the combined shipments from the first,
second and third pools.
The rates for the Pittsburg mining
scale are claimed TO be uniformly Go
and 50 cents per ton for E)al over IL
inch screen for the thin and thick vein
miners, respectfully.
The rates which were found to be in
force at some Of the representative
mines on the 18th of March, 1898, were
first pool, s247 per 100 bushels, or Go
cents per ton of 1000 pounds; second
pool, s247 per 100 bushels or 65 cents
per ton: third pool, S2.15 per 100 bush
els or 561a and IS 2-5 cents per ton Of
1900 pounds; fourth pool, $1.97 per 100
bushels or 50 cents per ton.
In the fourth pool, one all-rail ship
ping mine was paying 80 6-1o cents
per ton for run of mine coal. There
is practically no difference in the
prices paid at river and all-rail ship
ping mines.
In the third and fourth pools, the
miners are not allowed any recompense
lCG uItNluS OuSAo Al loOAA&o'
laying the track in rooms. taking up
the top clay timbering the roof and
pushing empty cars into the rooms.
The yardage paid for entry driving
is rs cents and 81. The freight rates
from the Pittsburg district, covering a
radius of forty miles, with Pittsburg
as the entry, to the lake points is the
same over all railroad lines. This rate
is at present reported TO be 80 cents
per ton.
The towage on loaded coal barges
is So for each pool through which it
is tCwed, and the rate from Plttsburg
to Cincinnati is reported to be 80 to
60 cents for each 100 bushels. Lake
coal is quoted, delivered on barge in
the fourth pool, at 1912 per 100 bush
els. nut and slack at three-fourth
cents per bushel.
The foregoing ate the conditions
which existed on the 18th of March,
1898
What will the Pittsburg operators do
on the first OF April? SIEVE. al opera
tors claimed they would advance the
price CT mining one cent per ton
above the present price paid and
change OF screens to IL inches. 1t
could not be ascertained if the river
operators would introduce the IA inch
screen.
In conversation with one mine sup
ply agent, he claimed to have orders
from thirty-one all-rail operators for
the new ~ Inch screens, but had not
one order from the river shippers.
Tho annual fsOp cIln,pt ion Of GOAL il,
the Pittsburg district is variously esti-
mated at from two and a half to four
million bushels.