The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-12
ALABAMA COAL ID
 BE USED IN SHIPS Business of COyle & Co. Bought by Maryland Co. IS NEW ORLEANS FIRM Means More Coal Will Be Sent There for Export Purposes--Deal In-
 wolves Several Hundred
 Thousand Dollars
By CLYDE ". ENNIS


 The Maryland Coal and Coke company, of Which Henry T. DeBardeleben is pres ident and Eugene Fies secretary. and which is one of Birmingham's newest in- dustrial concerns. has purchased the bus mess of w. G. Coyle & Co.,, Inc. coal dealers of New Orleans. La. The deal involves several hundred thousand dol lars and the negotiations have been pend- ing several weeks, being finally closed last Saturday This means that more Alabama coal will be used from New Orleans for export business
 The purchase includes three pieces of real estate in New Orleans used as retail coal yards, mules. wagons, carts neces- sary for the handling of a large volume of coal for household use. and in the steamship division of the business a fleet of steel barges of 1000 tons capacity, tug boat for shifting barges and ships from berth to berth along the water front, a collier of modern type for handling the coal from barges into the ships bunkers. pump boats, lighters and similar equip ment necessary for the expeditions hand ling of a large tonnage of coal on the water.
 w. G. Coyle & Co.,, Inc. is probably the oldest and one of the largest coal com panies in New Orleans. In addition to furnish steam coal to many of the inn portant steamship lines plying vessels in and out of the port of New Orleans. The steamship part of their business alone aggregates many hundred tons daily. Throughout the 50 years that Coyle & Co. have been in business in New Orleans they have handled Pittsburg coal almost exclusively buying from mines in this district only in cases of emergency, when they weer not able to get their full re- quirements from the Pennsylvania coal fields. It is the purpose of the Maryland Coal and Coke company to supply their Sipsey coal altogether to the New Orleans trade from this time on. The remarkably low percentage of ash and correspond
 ngly high heating efficiency in Sipsey coal makes 1t especially suitable for steamship purposes. account of coal storage space aboard ship being limited and account of the trouble and expense attached to hoisting ashes from the boiler rooms, which are located in the very bot tom of the ships holds
 "A recent analysis said MT. DeBarde- eben, "on a fair samp.e of Pittsburg coal showed: Moisture. 137; volatile matter, 3l "A; fixed carbon. 57 AS, ash, 9.91; sulphur, 2 09: B. T. T. per pound of dry coal. 1s5S0. while fair analysis on Sipsey washed steam coal is Moisture. 1.62; volatile matter, 34.12; fixed carbon. 61.75 ash, 2.51; sulphur, 80; B. T. U. per pound Of dry coal. 14,96O, from which it will be seen that Sipsey is quite the superior. This superiority as shown by chemical | a pa1VSiS has bear in nraot ;oo1 tests, made on a number of ships, to such an extent that it seems quite prob- able that the demand for this very high grade coal will soon nAcessitate the open ing of more mines at Sipsey. Up to this time Alabama coals generally have not enjoyed good reputation among steam ship interests, but two or three of the leading coal producing companies in the Birmingham district have for sometime past been making an intelligent effort to show the shipping interests that Alabama, like every other coal producing section, produces coal of various grades and that here is to be found as good coal as is mined in any other part of the country and all that is necessary is for the buy CTS to discriminate when placing their orders.'
 MT. DeBardeleben and his associates, it is believed have taken long step forward in this direction, the result being that an entirely new avenue of trade has been opened to the high-grade coals mined in this district, for this one con- nection will mean the shipment from this district of many hundred tons of coal daily which has heretofore come down the Mississippi river from Pennsylvania. This not only means an increase in the mining pay roll of tho Birmingham dis trict but means considerable increase in the railroad revenues. and the indirect result account of this proof to the ship ping world that Alabama does produce a steamship coal seconu in efficiency to none in this country cannot be accurately estimated.
 While Henry T. DeBardeleben will be president of the New Orleans company, he will direct it's affairs from his Bir- mingham office. making occasional trips to New Orleans and will continue to make his home in Birmingham.