The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-01-24
COAL SUPPLY FOR THE WEST.

Were it not for the 100000 tons of Illinois and
Iowa coal which were mined during the past season, of
which Minnesota railroads and fuel companies are bring
ingsto-the. Twin Cities from $50 to 200 cars daily, Min
nesota. would be visited by a fuel famine, the severity
of which is unknown in the coal states east of US; where
as, because of this Western coal supply, the Twin Cities
this winter are getting their coal at. lower prices than
the cities of New York, Boston, Baltimore, Washington,
Cleveland, or even Philadelphia, within a few hundred
miles of the greatest coal mines in the world.
Vice President and General Manager Day, of the Min
neapolis g. St. Louis and also of the Iowa Central, states
that the two roads with which he is connected have not
used a ton of Eastern coal for three years. Over two
years before the recent coal strike, the Minneapolis & St.
Louis company made a careful test of the Eastern and
Western Goals, and found that the Illinois and Iowa coal,
which cost them ST to 81 less per ton, was worth for
steaning purposes within 40 to so cents per ton of popular
Eastern steam Goals, and that for this reason for three
years past this company could not afford to use Eastern
coal for its Locomotives. The experience of the Mime
apoliS & St. Louis and Iowa Central roads is doubtless
that of the Rock Island, the Burlington, the Illinois Cen
trail, and other Northwestern railroads; because they are
not only carriers, but large users of Illinois and Iowa
coal.
Oral testimony is not required to prove the fuel
value of Illinois coal. The proof of the fuel is in the
burning, and the fact that Illinois has stood as the sec
ond coalproducing state i'll the Union since 1880, and
that something like 25,ooo,oOo tons Of Illinois coal per
annum have found ready commercial demand and con-
sumption, is sufficient proof Of the fuel value of Illinois
coal.
Twelve per cent Of all the bituminous coal con-
sumed in the United States is from Illinois mines. From
about 100000 tons in 1880, giving employment to 2o,-
900, the Illinois mines in 1902 produced over 100000
tons, giving employment to $4,000 hands. The Illinois
product exceeds that of either West Virginia or Ohio by
a considerable margin, and is folr times that of Nova
Scotia.
Other Western states that are coming to the relief of
the fuel situation in the West are Iowa with a product of
6,ooo,ooo tons, Colorado with 100000 more, Kansas
with 100000, Missouri and Indian Territory with
100000 each, Wyoming with 100000, Montana, Utah,
Arkansas and Texas with about 100000 each, and
Washington with 100000.
It would naturally be supposed that the Eastern coal
combine and its agents throughout the country are not
going to create competition for themselves by encourag-
ing the consumption of Western coal and speaking well
OF its quality. Until the past year, We have been care
fully educated at the offices where Eastern coal is sold,
that there is no good coal outside of the realm of the
Eastern combine. But Western railroad men and manu-
facturers by actual use have demonstrated the reverse,
and the public has got so far along in the educative curric-
ulum of actual consumption, that today only 50 per
cent of the country's coal consumption is Of the Penn
sylvania product, as compared with 65 per cent i'll 1850.
During the present fuel crisis Western agents of even
Eastern coal are testifying to the value of Western coal
in saving the Northwest from suffering.