Washington State journal and Adams County news. [volume] (Ritzville, Wash.) 1906-1907, 1906-10-24
fuel Famine Imminent.

With hardly ton of domestic coal
in the city markets and only enough
wood on the average in the hands of
the dealers to supply the needs for one
day, cold spell would inevitably cause
suffering. The coal hunkers are empty,
and the dealers are not able to provide
fuel for immediate delivery at any
price. In the face of these conditions
few of the dealers hold out any hope of
immediate relief, and some do not see
relief at all.
Most of the, fuel men had exhausted
their stock of coal two and three, weeks
ago, and but little has been received
since. The supply of wood, which was
short for the time of year, has since
been heavily drawn upon. suntil none of
the dealers have any on hand. A'great
many persons. have stored wood for,the
winter, and are for the time..ss ..ssbeing3 in
dependent of the dealers.
During the cool days last week hun
dreds of persons who had not taken
thought of providing winter fuel dur
ing the summer sent in orders to the
coal dealers for from one to five tons,
and these persons were almost terror
stricken to find that no coal was to be
had. Such coal as could be furnished
is being sold at about so cents ton
over the price of last spring, and the
local dealers say that this advance is
due to the increase in price at the
mines, all of which have advanced the
price per ton from so cents to 81. Soft
coal for domestic purposes when it can
be had, is selling for from 81 to $10.50,
depending upon the quality. Cord wood
four foot length, is bringing $3.50 to
$500.
Car shortage, the fuel dealers assert,
is the cause of the famine in coal, and
labor shortage is responsible for the
scarcity of wood and the advance in
price. Usually at this season of the
year the coal bunkers are filled to
their capacity, and the woodsheds are
piled full to the roof in preparation
for the winter demand. But. efforts on
the part of the dealers to put in an
advance supply last summer failed be-
cause cars We're not available. Some
of them declare that they have been
writing and wiring every day since
the middle of June, but that the mine
operators reply that the railroad com
panies will not furnish cars. Further
more such cars as are furnished are
confiscated by the railroad companies,
who appropriate the coal for their own
use after it has been loaded at the
mines and started on its way to the
dealer. Many dealers have waited pa
tiently for days for the arrival of a
shipment from the mines only to find
on investigation that cars loaded to
fill his order had been cOntiscated by
the railroad company. which gave as
an excuse that unless it had coal to
supply its engines cars could not be
hauled anywhere. All of the railroads
were so short of cars during the sum-
mer with current business that no
extras could be furnished to haul adj
vance stocks of winter coal.
That there will be a big advance in
the price of both coal and wood is pre-
dicted by the dealers. The mine opera
tors have already announced the in
tention of making an advance above
that of so cents on the ton that has
already gone into effect. Dealers say
they are unable to make contract for
wood at any price. Owners of timber
tracts say they will sell in an open
market, and the dealers must pay
whatever price prevails.