Los Angeles herald., 1907-01-07
HURRY-UP ORDERS
BRING COAL CARS
FUEL FAMINE BROKEN BY THE
SANTA FE
Black Diamonds Given Right Of Way
Over Every Class Of Freight
and Nearly 500 Tons
Arrive

rhe coal famine is over, for time at
least. The Los Angeles skies. for
weeks blue with CALCULATIONS Of angry
men whose homes were without fuel
will show their azure once more
through clearer atmosphere.
Early Sunday morning shipments OF
coal on which very urgent rush orders
had been placed began TO arrive in the
Angel city till there is enough coal ~
Los Angeles to give every family IN
the city all the coal 1t requires Tor a
time.
Everyone is happy. The common
people" who have been forced TO mover
over the feeble blaze Of sickly OIL
lamp for warmth and cook their meals
by its meager heat; the business man
who has been compelled to freeze at
his labors while the gas heater did It's
very best-whch was very poor; the
poor, hard worked harder "cussed
coal and wood man who has Deen
roundly blessed in as many dialects and
tongues as there are in Los Angeles,
the cjty of the gift Of tongues; and,
finally, from the railroad freight yards
comes a happy, triumphant shout OF
vindication and relief that at last these
innocent recipients Of all the wrath the
pcpulace showered upon the coal man,
who in turn passed II on with compound
interest to the freight yard officials, are
relieved
Famine Widespread
The present famine is widespread,
extending all over the country. Be
fore the Angel City began to fear for
it's fuel supply word came from the
northwest of the intense suffering in
that section. The balmy climate of
Southern California prevented an earli-
er realization Of what the rest of the
I,,A NTH la
first cold snap this city was brought TO
a fasty realization of its poor fuel sup
ply.
There was, however, golden hope held
out to keep the irate citizen quiet.
Coal was coming from Gallup. Coal
was coming from over the ocean via
San Pedro or San Diego. Coal was
coming-all in the sweet by and by.
Meanwhile the supply on hand shrunk
like piece of ice in the summer time,
and prices ascended like hot-air bal
loon.
Saturday it seemed as II all the coal
in the city had been exhausted. The
small dealers had long ago been driver
out of the game. To the anxious que
ries of their customers they could only
reply I'VE simply can't get it. and don't
know when we shall be able"
Such replies were to be had on every
side The dealers had stopped taking
any more orders because they had no
idea when they would be able to fill
them; and when the customers uttered
strange oaths against them, they in
turn visited like invective against the
freight men who weren't moving the
cars fast enough"
Gives Rush Orders
Friday afternoon General Manager
Wells got busy. "Give coal cars the
right of way over everything, and rush
them into Los Angeles" Such was the
fiat that went forth from the office Of
the chief: and the coal in Los Angeles
today is direct result of that order.
Last night Santa Fe freight officials
stated that there were nineteen car
loads of the precious black Jumps
standing in their yards, waiting for the
hordes of coal men who will swoop
down upon them early this morning.
Nineteen cars containing, from twenty
three to twenty-five tons of coal each.
Enough fuel there is in this alone to
drive the cold specter from the door of
every Los Angeles home today.
"It's fine Christmas gift" declared
one of the officials last night; and
truly in the light of what the people
have endured the last week, they will
be ready to ] echo his statement.
Southern Pacific yardmen said last
night that no coal had been received at
came in. They were unable TO state
when any coal would arrive.
The Santa Fc road expects to keep
bringing in coal right along now till
fear Of a coal famine is permanently
removed. Between this city and Wins
low, Arizona, there are eighty-nine car
loads of coal billed for Los Angeles. In
pursuance with the order of Manager
Wells, this will be given the right of
way, and in a few days a steady stream
of fuel will be poured into the city.
Steamer to Bring Relief
The steamer British Columbia is also
bringing relief in large Quantities. This
good ship has cargo Of 5000 tons
which will arrive at San Diego shortly
Had all the coal that was originally
booked for this city arrived, conditions
would not have been so bad; but sew
eral ship loads which had been started
for Los Angeles were diverted TO San
Francisco to relieve the fuel situation
there, leaving Los Angeles "in tn,
lurch."
The gas officials viii breathe a deep
sigh of relief at the abundance Of coal
now in the city, for the past few DAYS
have not been happy ones for the Of
ficials of the Los Angeles Gas and Elec-
trio company They are willing to ad-
init that the gas served for several days
past was not sent out in sufficient
quantity-to say nothing Of quality-to
keep the people quiet but they felt that
1T was a trife too much to lay on their
shoulders the entire odium and to hold
them responsible for the lack of coal
and wood.
Apropos of the use Of wood as fuel,
the city was in as dire straits on this
score as for coal or gas. Had the gas
supply been plentiful, or had sufficient
wood been procurable, the coal famine
would not have created such wide
spread inconvenience as il did, but very
early in the game, in fact as soon as the
people began to depend on the wood
presto, the wood was gone. Half sea-
soned eucalyptus in small quantities
was still on the market Saturday, but
anyone who has tried 10 make a fire
out of the green gum wood silently
passed by the piles and preferred to