The Big Sandy news. [volume] (Louisa, Ky.) 1885-1929, 1911-11-17
OUR COAL Fields.
Manufacturers Record Has
More to Say
On This Subject Of Greatest Interest
to the People Of This
Section.

A recent number OF the Nanuiac-
turers Record contained the fol
lowing interesting paper on the
coal fields of this region and the
railroads, present and prospective,
leading to them.
Among the big industrial develop
ments now going forward in the
country there is no single one,per-
haps, of greater general importance
! than the en-million-dollar enter
prise OF the Consolidation Coal Co.
in Pike, Floyd, Knott and Letcher
counties, Kentucky And this not
only because OF the gigantic proper
tions of the enterprise itself, but
as well because of the tremendous
influence it is likely to exert oy-
er other developments. The Con
solidation Company, as repeatedly
stated in the Manufacturers Rec
ord, has acquired in the four coun-
ties named 100000 acres of coal
land, lying in solid block and run
ming from near the Big Sandy line
of the Chesapeake and Ohio at
Shelby some 80 or 35 miles in a
southerly direction to point not
far from the waters of the Ken
lucky River, where the new town
of jenkins is being built.
This is said by experts to be
one of the finest bodies of coal
land to be found anywhere in the
country. The coal, which lies in
seams of from five to seven feet
in thickness generally. increasing to
nine feet in places, is peculiarly
adapted to the making of coke, both
on account of the high quality of
the coke itself and the richness of
the by-products. The coke has been
found by actual test to be of high
er quality for ironmaking than the
| famous cokes of the Connellsville
field, because of being even lower
in sulphur. 1t is claimed for 1t
that this freedom from sulphur gives
1t value of from 40 to so cents
more per ton than Connellsville
coke, because of the saving in cost
of materials used TO compensate the
sulphur when they are used. The
coal is also declared to be of
greater value when coked in by
product ovens. because of the larg-
er quantity OF gas and other by
products secured in the manufac-
ture of coke.
These things, as stated above,
have been demonstrated by actual
test, to which is added this fur
ther assurance: When the Consol-
dation Coal Co. passed by so many
other coal fields, thrown at its
head, so to speak, by owners anx-
ious to sell. and drove down its
stakes and began to spend its
money on this tract, it was because
of some. superiority for the men in
control of the practical end OF
that great corporation are peers Of
the best in the business, no matter
where else they may be found. The
Watsons have been raised in the
coal business--in all parts of the
the business, from tho mine to the
consumer-and their unsurpassed
success in its production and dis
posal proves their right to prim-
acy. They know hte coal business
from the ground up" as it We're
so that when it is announced that
the coal in this new field OF their
endeavor possesses the virtues
claimed for it people are inclined
to believe the assertion without wait
ing for further demonstration.
The Consolidation company is
therefore. at work on the first stag
es OF development of this great
body Of coal. Hundreds Of men are
at work building railroad from
the mouth of Shelby, where the
Chesapeake & Ohio runs, TO Jen'
kins to which poi mt the Louisville
& Nashville is hurrying up its line
from Jackson, hundred miles a
\ way in Breathitt county. The 80
miles being built by the Consolida
ton will run through its land the
long way. and Will be turned ovel
to the Baltimore & Ohio for oRfj
ton The Baltimore and Ohio, \
be sure, has no line extending. ~