The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-09-20
Hearing Before Interstate
Commerce Commission Is
Begun in Omaha.
INDEPENDENT COMPANY
DENIED TRANSPORTATION
General Manager of Union Pa
cific Coal Company EX-
plains the Reason.

OMAHA, Sept. ia hearing was
begun in the Federal courtroom hero to-
day before C. A Prouty, member of the
Interstate Commerce commission.
Commissioner Prouty explained that
the hearing, which is under the Till
man Gillespie Senate resolution, was to
ascertain whether or not the Union Pa
cifc Railroad company is responsible
for the existence Of coal monopoly In
the Northwestern States.
j. T. Marchand appears as the at
torney for the commission. while John
n. Baldwin represents the railroad
company and F.. e. Thomas of Omaha
acts for the Sioux City & Rock Springs
Coal company.
Warwick Saunders of Davenport, Ia,
president of the Sioux City and Rock
Springs company, told of the efforts OF
his company TO secure transportation
facilities from their mines, which are
near the line of the Union Pacific road,
about twenty miles from Rock Springs,
Wyo. He said the officials of the rail-
road professed TO be friendly, but that
a spur track from his mines would have
to cross land owned by the Union Pa
cific Coal company and General Man
agcr Clark Of that company refused to
grant permission.
Randall Brown, owner OF the coal
lands half a mile west cf Hanna, Wyo.,
where the Union Pacific Coal company
operates three mines, told Of a similar
situation regarding the matter of a
spur track to his land. He said the
Central Coal company OF Kansas City
and the Union Pacific Coal company of
Cheyenne practically controlled the
coal supply of the West and Northwest,
and that there is shortage Of supply
every year,
Owned by Union Pacific.
D. o. Clark, vice-president and gen
eral manager of the Union Pacific Coal
company and superintendent Of coal
service of the Union Pacific Railroad
company, was the next witness He
said the capital stock Of the company is
S5,0o0,000 and the company is bonded
for like amount, stock and bonds all
being owned by the Union Pacific Rail
road company. Mr., Clark declared that
his reason for refusing permission to
the Sioux City and Rock Springs com
pany to cross his company's land with
a spur track was that it's coal is OF an
inferior quality and he did not wish to
have it put on the market as Rock
Springs coal, which has a very high
reputation. He admitted that his com,
pany had bought two sections of land
adjoining the Sioux City's land to pre-
vent it's obtaining an outlet.
1t WAS developed that Mr.. Clark is
also vice-president of the Superior Coal
company, of which John w. Lacy of
Cheyenne, counsel for the Union Pacific
Railroad company, is president, and
Frank Manley of Rock Springs, for
merly chief engineer of the Union Pa
cifc Coal company, is general manager.
He said the Superior company has
secured about six sections of land, prin-
cipally in Sweet Water county, Wyo.
through the purchase of the individual
filings on Government land. A list Of
sixteen of these entries was submitted,
each of which was made by an en-
ployee Of either the Union Pacific Coal
company or the Union Pacific Railroad
company He said the Union Pacific
Coal company advanced the money
necessary in most of these enterprises
He said he held all but three shares of
the stock of the Superior Coal company
in trust for W. E. Cornish of New York,
vice president of the Union Pacific Rail
road company.
An effort was made by Attorneys
Marchand and Thomas to show that
title had been secured to these lands
by fraud, and objection was made by
Attorney Baldwin. Commissioner
Prouty adjourned the hearing until to-
morrow.