The Big Sandy news., 1914-05-29

ton. Eastern capital has done what
has been done; Kentucky capital has
as yet participated but little in this
development that in largest measure
was due to the Imagination, the fore
sight, the honest intent, the genius OF
mountain man-John Mayo. who
long years ago foresaw with the pres
cience OF a prophet the development
of his highlands, and worked for that
development with the constant and
never failing enthusiasm OF the prac-
tical man of affairs.
He lived to see a firm foundation
laid for the ultimate development his
genius foresaw, But 1t is only the
foundation that has been laid; the fu-
ture will see growth as wonderful in
comparison with the present as has
been the change wrought in the past
three years.
All of that territory this side of the
mountain which separates the termini
of the Lexington & Eastern and the
Baltimore & Ohio, by reason of nat
ural lines of trade is tributary to Lex
lington. There should be closer terms
between the people of the Blue Grass
and the people Of the mountains; such
terms will come with greater famil-
iarity between these sections. With
better train service, with greater IA
cilities to take care of the trade of the
mountains, there should come such
cordial relations between the noun
tains and the Blue Grass that Central
Kentucky will help furnish the capital
to develop the mountains, and in re-
turn the mountains will pour into the
Blue Grass an unceasing and con-
stantly increasing stream of wealth.
| ses
In an article published after a visit
to Jenkins and McRoberts last year,
we told Of the building of these towns,
and the development of the property
of the Consolidation Coal Company.
We should like now to tell something
of the development of the lands of the
Elk Horn Fuel Company, under lease
to the Elk Horn Mining Corporation,
/ and yet we feel unable so to do. II is
beyond our power of description to
picture what was a few years since,
what is now, and what will be within
the next few years.
| There is certainly no coal in Amer
lica, probably none in the world. equal
to the Elk Horn coal. The secretary
of one of the largest gas companies in
Europe after thorough trial OF the
Elk Horn coal wrote: Il am esnding
below figures indicating its qualities
for gas manufacture, and ] am inform
ed by our chief engineer that II is in
all respects highly excellent COAL
superior TO any that we have ever OBJ
Il s....
Last year after thorough test one OF
| the largest users of coking coal In
America gave an order for a million
tons of this new coal
The Elk Horn Fuel Company owns
265.535 acres and has under option
$4,000 acres additional. making a total
OF 315,535 acres. OF this principally
there is at present developed but a
fraction. The Elk Horn Mining Cor
poration has lease on twenty five
thousand acres owned by the Elk Horn
Fuel Company, twenty thousand acres
OF which are in Floyd and Knott coun-
ties on the waters of the North and
West Forks of Beaver Creek, and four
thousand five hundred acres in Letcher
county on the waters Of Boone Fork
Of the Kentucky River.
The development on Beaver Creek in
Floyd and Knott counties is larger
than the development in Leteher
county, and from II the Elk Horn
/ Company expects to ship twice as
much coal over the Chesapeake & Ohio
as 1t will ship from Letcher county
over the Lexington q Eastern and the
Louisville & Nashville. But as the
development in Letcher county Is
yithin easy access of Lexington it is OF
more immediate interest to Central
Kentucky.
The town of Fleming is the center
of the production OF the Elk Horn Min
ing Corporation in Letcher county.
There are located there some five hun
dred houses. all erected within the last
year. At Fleming are located two OF
the six mines which the Elk Horn
Company has opened In Letcher: two
others are located at Hemphill and
two at Hayman, all within few miles
of each other. From these mines, the
development OF which began less than
year ago. there are already being
shipped some hundreds OF tons day:
within a year the company will be
shipping thousands of tons day, II
being the expectation and intention of
the officers of the company to ship a
million of tons a year from the mines
in Letcher and some two millions Of
tons from the mines in Floyd and
Knott counties.
Some faint idea, but onlp a faint
idea, of what this development will
mean can be obtained by those who
now visit that region. From Fleming
on down to Jackson the Lexington &
Eastern is building spurs, extending
its tracks, and providing the facilities
to care for an annual output OF many
times the present output from the
mines now opened. 1t is a conserva-
tive estimate that within five years
years five millions of tons of coal will
be shipped from the mines this side of
the divide between the waters OF the
Kentucky and the Big Sandy, and ten
millions of tons year from the other
side of that divide.
Hazard, where there are now some
half dozen operations, which has in
creased in population many times In
the past few years; Whitesburg, where
there are other developments: creeks
on which today there are no develop
ments, and along which there are few
habitations, will within that five years