Bisbee daily review., 1906-12-21
FAM l NE Al PHOENIX
 THREATENING
No Encouragement Is Held Out by the Heads of the Power and City Plants, for Relief from Threatened Famine,
Especial to Reyiew.l

Especial to Reyiew.) ! PHOENIX, Dec. 2O.-Neither NJ. O.
 BickneI of the Southern Pacific nol l W Goldsworthy of the Santa Fe coult hold opt any encouragement in the ] in Phoenix. which threatens to cause shutdown of power and lighting i plants.
 ! Though wires have been kept hoi neither has been able to bring aboGl ! the movement Of coal and oil cars 1 and it may be several days before Phoenix has it's supply of fuel re { plenished
 1 By securing several tons of coa; from the Lount Ice company today i General Manager E.nst sn has been i abe to keep his electro power plant going for possibly two more days
 Ensign is having coal hauled in wagiEs from the factory to the electric plant Scarcity of fuel began to cause alarm yesterday among the heaviest users, and an investigation last nigEt showed that Phoenix has supply oi coal and oil for but a few days, and if no more arrives, the end of this week will find the city in a serious condition
 Several mills have shut down and others are cutting their fuel con sumption down to the lowest possible limit, hoping by economy to Keep run, ming until the situation is relieved by the arrival of coal and oii with which to make power
 General Manager Ensign, In orde. to insure light and power for abso- lnte needs. has requested several whc can do SC to stop using power until fuel arrives and his power plant l. again running to its capacity.
 'The situation is serious" said En sign this afternoon, but we are hop ing that before it becomes necessary for us to close down our plant, fuel will have reached the city. From what I can learn, there is plenty on the road"
 Ensign further stated that inc dir.. hess of electric lights during tne pasi few nights has been due to the short age of fuel. The greater part of yes terday evening the electric iights wre shut off entirely.
 At the Maricopa & Phoenix offices Superintendent Bicknell stated that the only notice he mas received of ar- irving fuel is one car of vii for the Tonto Basin reservoir, which viii each Mesa and be transfer fed to wagons there.
 T am unable to explain the cause of this shotage," remarked Bickneil. The oii and coal companies state that it is because of a shortage oi cars, and the railroad companies state that it is due to a shortage of fIe,. Today l can hold out no promise of relief"
 In the opinion of several. the fuel shortage is due to a plot on tne part of the big coal and oil companies to force up prices by purposely holding back shipments at a time of the year when fuel is in greatest demand be cause of the cold weather
 As the matter stands today, Phoe- nix is threatened with shutdown or all power and lighting plants, nEicn would affect almost every business house and industry in the city.
 Both the Southern Pacific ard Santa Fe on it's branch lines runEing into Phoenix are short of coal and Oil. Unless relief comes quickly they may have to decrease the number Of trains. All parts of the territory are said to share in the fuel famine
 At 3 o'clock this afternoon Manager Ensign of the Pacific Gas & Elcct-ic company stated that he will have a car of oil at o'clock in the morning. and has been wired that four more cars have baen slioped out of Los Angeles.
 T cannot promise that we will not shut down." said Ensign. but l hope that fuel will arrive in time. We are doing everything that We can to keep running. Late this afternoon things look more favorable"