Daily new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1897-1906, 1900-02-26


cite County Coal Fieids-Demand for
Coke is Enormous Burning Coke In
the Open air as Charcoal used to be
Made-0ther Notes.
Extensive development of the
coal lands in the great new Fayette
coke field near Masontown will be
made as soon as the Baltimore and
Ohio and Pennsylvania lines can
get their tracks laid to the scene of
operations The Bessemer Coke
Company, owned by Pitts burg cap
italists, has already planned to
erect 200 new beehive ovens this
summer, at a cost of $500, 600, and
more ovens will be erected later on.
The Bessemer Company will be the
only concern in the new field that is
not controlled either by the Federal
steel Company or the American
Steel and Wire Company. The
company is also erecting 125 new
ovens at other points in the region,
at an additional cost of 100000
The Bessemer Coke Company was
one of the first to buy coal lands in
the new field developed by the Fed
eral Steel Company and the wire
combine lasc fall. 1t secured con
siderable acreage Of choice coal in
the very heart of the field, and will
begin the erection of ovens as soon
as the new railroad lines are built.
These tracks will probably be com
pleted by May |, and the company
then intends to start a large force of
oven builders IN order to rush the
new plant to completion. 1t is hop
ed that the first coke will be made
by July l. No contracts have yet
been made for the construction of
the plant, and the company will
probably do most of the work it
self
The company now has about $50
ovens and expects to increase its
plant to over 700 by the summer.
The capacity will also be increas
ed by 700 tons OF coke day. The
Bessemer managers have also plan
II lieu III u ScHCIdi way eiiC luouiC ga
! tension of their coking interests,
and it is probable that other new
additions will be made before the
present year ends.
The demand for coke is now enor-
nous, and every plant that can be
operated in the Connellsyille region
is turning out coke daily to it's
N greatest capacity. The supply is
entirely inadequate to the demand
of the different furnaces, and new
ovens are being built in many parts
of the region. In the new Fayette
county field the operations are al
most revolutionary in their charac
n ter, and the section reminds one of
the Oil country in its palmiest days
the exception being that the cause
LOT the excitement is coal and coke
y instead of oil.
\ The possibility of the H. c. Prick
Coke Company being reserved for
1.-THE exclusive use of the Carnegie
Steel Company, Limited, as has al
ready been intimated from reliable
sources, has caused many plans Tor
independent expansion in the coke
region. 1t is believed that any such
action will cause wonderful develop
mert of the new coking coal fields
and the erection of enormous plants.
1t is said that the demand for
coke in the Connellsville region has
been so strong OF late that oven own
ers have been induced by the high
prices to burn coke in the open air
in the same way that charcoal is
burned IN the Allegheny Mountains.
It is said that considerable quaint
ties Of coke are being produced in
Phis primitive way. 1t was with this
method in use that the pioneer coke
makers of the last century made
kheir coke.
IN