The age-herald., 1901-07-28
'om the New Orleans Picayune.

From the New Orleans Picayune.
 We have had a proposition made to- day for the purchase of 30OOOO tons of coal, to be delivered during the year be- ginning Nov. 1, next, and we have accept ed the bid of s2 per ton. and will put up the necessary guarantee and make ar engagements for delivering the coal by the barge line that Is to be built to oper- ate through the lake Borgue canal and the Warrior river, between the mines of the Warrior Coal Company and this city,
 The foregoing statement was made by W. J. Kelly, president of the Warrior Coal Company, at the Grunewald last evening He has been in the city for some days, as has already been stated, making arrangement sfo rthe completion of the barge line in question, and states that the line Is now assured. Barges will be built at once, and will be in op- eratipn before the 1st of November next.
 ''1 cannot say how many barges will be put on the run at first said Presl- dent Kelly, but 1t will require at least fifteen to fill the order taken today, and many more to do the business that we have in sight This Is no new thing, but has been in contemplation for some time. and arrangements have been made for the commencement of business as soon as the waterway Is completed. The canal is practically open now. but there are several locks yet to be completed on the Warrior river be fore the improvements of that stream are complte, yet the traf- flo will certainly be open by that channel bv the date named, and we will have the first line of barges ready to take the business.
 Matthew and Robert warriner, who are the largest stockholders In the Lake Borgne canal, are also interested In the barre line with us, and B. D. Wood, the local coal dealer.
 .It Ia not true that Pennsylvania peo- ple are in control of the Alabama fields. and that they will protect the Pennsyl vania. coal by keeping up the prices of the Alabama product The fact is that they have nothing to do with the Warrior River Coal Company, and that company has made such reductions in the prices that they have been practically forced to abandon the steam coal business in this hort They have tried to hold 1t, and are still making desperate enorts, put they are out of It. ana cheap COAL ior Lhts port fe now an assured fact. We have some of the leading shipping people witt us in the deal. and they will give us theii undivided support, and low prices will dc the rest.
 "It has been apparent to me for some time that the time has passed for high, priced coal in New Orleans. Increased consumption has had much to do witf this, and the low priced fuel lately dis' covered in Texas has somewhat hastened the matter, still 1t was apparent that Il would some anyhow, and the government works on the Warrior River were com menced and prosecuted at an expense of millions of dollars, because the govern mext could see that the welfare of this section was dependent upon cheaper fuel, and the opening of that waterway was necessary for that end.
 'sBy November 1 we will have feet of water al 1.-the way to the coal mines, and will have 1t at all seasons of the year. SC that there is no longer any question as to the transportation of coal. Heretofore we have had to compete with all river transportation, while we had to ship by rail, but now we have route only Hts tie over 5OQ miles all water, and the Pennsylvania coal has to be lowed four times that distance. The price of min ing and marketing our product compares