The Dickinson press., 1903-10-24
DOING At LEnlGH
Great Increase in Output of
Coal.

Soal mining Is now one OF the leading
industries of North Dakota, and for per.
mancnt and up.to-date equipment and
practical working the Lehigh mine, four
miles east Of Dickinson, operated by the
Consolidated Coal Co., takes the lead.
The company is operating with IS men
at present. but expectsto have 100 by the
teml'cr MAS $500 and for October it will
hc iully $1,000. The output 10 nearly
900 M daily and this amount will soon
bc increased to 500 tons, all of which
shows that there is something doing
every day at Lehigh.
Sixteen years ago H. F. Beckett and
Dave Foote opened the Lehigh mine,
and they thought that they were doing
we'll to mine 80 tons a day. P. F. Stults
was chief cook. and for three OF four
months there was much talk about what
was being done at Lehigh.
The Lehigh mine passed through sew
eral hands in early days and no one
seemed to realize that the property was
especially valuable until four or five years
ago when !. F. Brodie interested Col. A.
P. Peake, and jointly they acquired title
to the original Lehigh mine property and
also bought equally as good coal bearing
lands adjoining, to the amount Of 1920
acres. The coal vein in this land aver
ages 10 feet thick and is perfectly dry
and clean and when burned leaves a pure
Last Year the company mined $4,000
tons OF coal and it is expected that this
means that three acres will be mined and
coal enough to last for the
nevt c0o vearR II 10
that the output will be increased with
| each successive year, but even then the
| company has enough to last for many
years, for the figures, as mining proper
ties are %reckoned, credits them with
nearly 100000 Ton OF coal.
This season Il 66-horse power McEuen
engine and an 8o-kilawat Milwaukee
Electric Co. dynamo were installed.
Power is transmitted into the mine for
operating two cutting machines. These
cutters are capable of making a horizon
tai incision of seven feet into the bottom
of the coal vein in three minutes. Eight
of these cuts are usually made in a room
and then three charges of powder are
shot off, and the coal is ready for the
miners car.
The company has 20 atom mine cars
manufactured in the anthracite districts
of Pennsylvania which are being used on
a 44-inch track, laid with 2s-pound rails.
The mine now contains $4,000 feet of
track. Scales, working automatically,
have been placed at the entrance,
which register for the company the
weight and check on each car of coal as
it comes out for the dump. With the
present equipment n man is able to
bring 100 cars daily from the mine.
Crews within the mine load the cars and
t,ke them to the main track. The com
pany is us,;ng. in switches and Fl ng u
t II dump which will enable them to
lnh; Tire N. p. cars at a time. The
railway comp ny is putting in a new sid
& for this p .rpose.
In years 10 come the coal will natur-
ally have to DC l:auled a greater distance
than at present but as the NINE has a
sr"tic of less than one per cent j; will be
very easy to collect the cars at some cen
trial point and haul them out in train.
loads of forty or fifty cars.
The Consolidated Coal Co. furni.h
electric lights for their mine as we'll as
power and also for ,Eeir various build
ings at Lehigh. The day may come, and
perhaps not so far distant, when the com
pany will SUPPLY a day current in Dick
iuson for power purposes.
The lowest day wages paid by the
Consolidated Coal Co. is $3.50. The rate
Tor mining is $50 per ton and many OF
the old miners make from 81 to 5 pei
!",. ,."al sells this year f. b.. at LIE
high at $3.50 rer ton Tor single Car orders
and SI.2, per ton for Orders Of two OF
more rar:. The company is consider
ably b. hind with orders at the present
time but hopes to be able to catch uI
with their business in a few weeks
About 80 per cent of the coal mined i.
river and some shipments are taken into
Minnesota. The Consolidated C"al Co
also owns a large mine at New Salem
where extensive operations are carried
ON The coal there is mined by hand and
the daily output is some over 100 tons.
At Lehigh the company has bat |
rooms, supplied with hot and cold water
and rooms in which the miners car
chang" their clothes. They also have Z
32-rom no; l. under the able manage
ment nf Mr.. and Mrs. F.. {. Barry, where
the mSn can get the best board and room
at S22 20 per month. The building i:
constructed of ston" from the company !:
fine quarry near by and the rooms re
all we'll furnished, warm and comto,t
able in every detail.
Col. A. P. Peake of Vall,y CITY is
president OF the Consolidated Goal Co
and has he headquarters at his cit,
where daily and monthly reports are Tor
warded. J. F. Brodie Of Dickinsan j:
general manager and drive to Lchiyt
every day except when he is looking
after the work at New Salem. E. 2
Stanley is head boukkeeper and resides
at Lehigh. He makes monthly visits t.
New Salem for the purpose of checking
over the accounts. !. M. Brady is super
intendent of the Lehigh works and Harry
Beidler is electrician and engineer. G
: L. Mcclure is head machine man in tn,
mine. He has been with the compan,
for a number of years. w. M. Sullivan
and Fred Mao each operate a cuttin,
iie machine.
Manager Brodie is the best poste.
man on Ignite coal in North Dakota to
day and his foresight and practica
knowledge of the business prompted hin
to make extensive investments at a time
when coal properties were much cheape
ID than at the present time. His compan,
has the best mining properties in tht
state and it is their intention to make
j.. Improvements from time to time in thei
equipment and thus keep abreast of tn
times.
n A few weeks ago an official photo
grapher for the St. Louis exposition was
at Lehigh and secured some very fin,
! flash light pictures of the interior of tn
=: mine which may be seen in the Nortl
m Dakota building at the 1904 worlds fair
40 CAVyT%C sry IN ~ 4 M