Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-05-08
A VAST BED OF COAL
1t is About Ninety Miles Long
and Twenty Wide.
LIES ON THE RIO GRANDE
About 5000 Tons a Day Being Taken
Out by Miners.
SCARCITY OF RAILWAY CARS
Mountain of Iron That Lay Neglected
for Centuries-Working It Has
Been Improbable.
SCARCITY OF RAILWAY CARS
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence of The Star and the Chicago
Record Herald.

the most valuable is a bed of coal that lies
on both sides of the Rio Grande near Eagle
Pass. 1t is about ninety miles long and
twenty miles wide and extends from Spot
ford Junction, Tex, to Sabinas. Mexico.
This is the only coal in the republic, so far
as is known. The miners are getting out
about 5000 tons a day, for that is all the
railway can handle. AS soon as enough roll
ing stock can be obtained, the output Will
be doubled. There is a mountain of solid
iron on the outskirts of this city valued at
$120000 100000, but nobody seems to want
It, and the owners couldn't sell 1t for half
that money. I think they would be willing
to mark down the mountain to 25 per cent
of their first price, but the coal is in greater
demand because it is more useful. Mexico
is short of fuel. The miners have burned
up all the forests within their reach, and
distances are so great that imported coal
IS too expensive to use for common pur-
poses. There must be more coal somewhere
in Mexico but the prospectors have looked
for it in vain thus far.
This coal on the Rio Grande was discov-
cred in 1884, and Mr.. c. P. Huntington, who
was then building the international railroad
TO connect Durango with the Southern Pa
ciiic system. bought what was known as the
La Solidad ranch, containing 26U,O00 acres
of land, which is nearly all underlaid by
veins of coal five feet thick. The land
still belongs to the railroad company which
was included in the merger of the national
lines and is now controlled by the govern
ment of Mexico.
Output of the Mines
The mining is run as a separate PROPOSE
ton under the name of the CoahuiIa Coal
Company, and is producing at the rate of
about $4,000 tons a year. There are 40
coke ovens in operation. producing about
10000 tons of coke annually. The COM
pany has two towns: one of them called
Hondo has population of about 5000 peo-
pie, with all the appurtenahces of first
class mining camp. An average of 1900
men are employed and the monthly pay roll
averages 100000 Mr.. Ben. w. Robin
son, formerly of Tennessee, is the man
ager.
The railway company also controls the
Fuente Coal Company near the city of
Portirio Diaz. where they have about
$1,000 acres OF coal land underlaid with
an excellent quality OF domestic coal. 1t
| employs about 500 men and is producing
about 100000 tons year. Mr.. Ben. w.
Robinson is also the manager of this prop
erty.
There are several other companies min
ing coal in the neighborhood. The Mexican
Coal and Coke Company, a New York cor
poration, under the management of Edwin
Ludlow has 10000 acres at Las Esperanza,
on the International railroad, not far from
| the border and is taking out about 100000
| tons year. 1t has pay roll of 5000
has organized a model town with prohibit
| ton laws, up-to-date tenements, club rooms,
| schools, public baths and laundres, and all
| that sort of thing.
| owned by a syndicate of native capitalists,
| has $4,000 acres sixty miles south of
| the Rio Grande on the International rail-
road, and Is handling an average Of
| 500 tons day. Mr.. Madero, the manager,
! claims that he could take out twice
much If the railway company would fur
| nish him cars.
Scarcity of Cars.
| This seems to be a common complaint.
| Everywhere I have been in this part OF
| the country the business men have told the
same story. More shelters would be built.
| more factories would be erected, more
| electric power plants would be provided
and more mines would be developed If they
| could only get fuel People tell me that
the coal companies pay no attention to or
| ders from ordinary people. They first sup
| ply their own locomotives; then the manu-
| featuring industries in which their stock
| holders are Interested. and. If anything is
! left, they deliver 1t to the public. But the
| managers of the mines make an entirely
| different statement. They admit that they
| cannot fill all the orders they receive and
| they throw the blame on the railway COM
| panies. The latter have ordered additional
rolling stock and hope to relieve the fuel
| famine soon.
| iHere Is another company, called the
| Agujta, owning about 10000 acres. OF
| which Mr. Joaquin de Casasus the Mexican
| ambassador to Washington Is one of the
| principal owners. Associated with him are
| Mr.. Limantour, the minister of finance and
| several other prominent men In the gov
| eminent and financial circles They have
fine town at Agujita, with hospitals
| schools club rooms, theaters public baths
| and other attractions for their men
The importance of these properties may
| pc appreciated when 1t Is known that this
Is the only coal south of Indian Territory.
| The Mountain of Iron.
You have doubtless heard of the Iron
mountain of Durango, a mammoth pile or
| ore 20 per cent pure 1900 feet long by
| LOO feet in width and GAO feet high. En-
| gineers estimate that it contains between
5oo0o0.oO0 and 600.oo0000 tons of ore above
the surface, and 1t is known that the de-
posit extends underground for radius or
| three or four miles In all directions Peo-
| pie who dig wells or sink shafts for any
| purpose in the vicinity of Durango strike II
| as they strike bedrock elsewhere. and
mere IS theory that seventy-five to one
| hundred feet below the surface of the earth
| Is solid stratum of iron covering an area
| as big as county.
This prodigious deposit is one OF the Won
ders or nature There is enough iron in
| sight to last the entire world for a century
| The calculations of mineralogists are
amusing: Think Of an iron mine with s12.-
I i
good ore, too. 1t makes excellent steel and
| foundry iron and contains only about three
| tenths of per cent of phosphorus The
| mineralogists class 1t as a hard. specular
hemitite, carrying between GO and 10 per
cent of metallic iron. suitable for all
processes of iron and steel making Hum
| boldt thought II was a monster meteor
| and declared that 1t was Identical with the
| aerolite which fell near Agran Hungary
| In 1851. but later mineralogists have de-
| clared II to be a dixie" emerging from the
| rocky plain between the mountains
In the vestibule OF the school of mines
| which occupies one of the handsomest
| buildings In the city OF Mexico, is q COL
lection Of meteorites which were found
| near the town of Jiminez In the state OF
Chihuahua. They are said to DO the largest
| In the world. and there IL no Iron nearer
| the spot where they fell than this wonder
full mountain at Durango. The distance Is
l about 800 miles.
Those meteors were doubtless dropped
| by some careless planet and by their rapid
passage through the air they created their
| own blast furnace and converted them
selves into steel; but. chemically they are
very different from the Durango mountain.
| Ignored for Centuries.
| Shortly after the conquest the Spaniards
at the City Of Mexico having heard from
| the Indians that there was mountain of