The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-05-17
iTOBU|[DCOAL PIERS
At W|LMFNGT0N,,N.C
Contract Let at Price Of Nearly
Million and a Half Dollars.


ESPECIAL Dispatch to The Times.
BALTIMORE, Md, May 15.-The
movement of Southern coal to the sea-
board with the increasing demand for i.
in commerce, direct and indirect, which
has become Of such importance to Balti-
more. Newport News, Norfolk Pensacola.
Mobile and New Orleans. will be ac-
CELEBRATED by the completion Of a couple
Of projects reported in this weeks is-
sue of the Manufacturers Record For
quite a while The water facilities at
Southport, N. c., have been considered
In connection with plans for handling
foreign bound Southern products. es-
pecia:ly coal. The contract has now been
awarded by the Cape Fear Terminal
Railroad Company to the Southport Con
struction Company. Of Warrington Del,
for the construction of a railroad thirty
miles long between Wilmington and
Southport, with large coal and freight
piers at the latter place, the contract
price being S1,450, 600. The awarding OF
this contract and at the same time OF
contract for the construction of forty
miles Of the projected Rutherfordton,
Hickory Nut Gap and Asheville Railroad
running west from Rutherfordton. N u.
toward the Tennessee line. indicate the
tendency to open the mineral regions OF
the Southern Appalachians by additional
railroads and to- increase the facilities
IL
come out OF the mountainous secnon
OUTLET FOR JELLICO FIELD.
Another contract bearing upon this
movement is that secured by the Gala
han Construction Company. of Knoxville,
for the building OF about thirty-stx
miles of the Knoxville LaFellette and
Jellico Railroad, which will connect the
Louisville and Nashville with the At
lanta, Knoxville and Northern. giving
through line from Cincinnati and Louis
vile to Atlanta and opening another out
let for the Jellico and adjacent coal
fields
Activity continues IN the increase of
the textile equipment OF the south. mark
ed by engagements and additions for es-
tablished mills. The Kincaid Manufao-
turing Company, of Griffin. Ga. will
build a forty-five-foot addition to pro-
vide for 3, 500 spindleS and 100 ooms. The
High shoals N. c., Company will erect
a four-stor building. Is by $50 feet, and
will install 5000 spindles and $50 looms.
The same number of splndles are TO be
edded to the Franklin mills. Of Greer
.Depot. S. c., and the Tucapau. S. T.,
Mills will increase their spindles from
80. COO to 10000 and will place 2,ooo looms
in new weave shed.
In connection, with the subject of South
ern industrial power an article In the
Manufacturers Record from Mr.. c. f.
q. Caracristf. the oil expert. bearing upon
sensational reports from the Beaumont
oil fields. is of interest Mr.. Caracristi
writes:
.One of the simplest laws of physics is
that hydrostic pressure must decrease
unless there is a. constant supply to re-
place the exhaust. The same laws apply
to the expansive force of compressed
gases, when the generation of gases is
not equal to the escape AS neither the
@b1e ocS &c ar eT wi
it are in an actual state of formation
in volumes equal to the productiveness
Of any field, there must perforca be a
decrease of pressure equal to the actual
drainage of the stratum being leached
This condition is perfectly in accord with
elementary principles. The geEsers that
have been brought in on Spindle Top I'M
questionably will do much to- decrease the
oil pressure. but that the field has all at
inca jumped from a gusher proposition
to a purnper seems incredible. and as l
have not been informed of such a condi-
ton by any one actually operating in the
field I shall be slow to- believe the report
'If the oil is found in domes. as shown
in my report IN the Manufacturers Rec
ora. the lowering of the fluid level would
naturally be followed by the manifesto
tion of large quantities of gas in the
more shallow wells. succeeded by the
disappea rance of the Gusher phenomena.
But this would in no way destroy the
yalue Of the field. In fact, such an
eventuality. which is by no means proved,
would do more to assist Texas in estab-
fishing its value as an oil field than the
continuance of enormous flows from gush-
ers, which are SO little understood The
Texas-Louisiana field-Beaumont or no
Beaumont-has come to remain fac
to1 of superlative power and l. ortance
in the worlds established and future Pc
t.t leum industry. My examination of
/! his field has convinced me that the out
put CT petroleum will be equal TO nearly
the total annual production of the rest
Of the United States for a long time to
come