New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-03-25
SPOT LIKE A BLACK EYE
IS COAL 700 FEET DOWN
Port Jervis Folk After Failure in Search for Radun
Again All Ilet Up-Shawangunk Mountain
Treasure Found by Same Explorers.

Port Jervis, n. Y, March 24.-This
city is excited again. In July Of last
year it became hysterical over the near
discovery Of radium in its midst. and
almost searched itself blind in the hunt
for anything that looked like yellow
sealing wax. No radium, however, has
been found. But the throbs and the
thrills have returned.
This time it is coal. New York has
complained about the price of coal as
an item in the high cost of living. But
/ Gotham need worry no longer about
the winter fuel. Within ninety miles
of New York coal can be found.
! The North American Exploration
/ Company, Of Passaic, y. j., made the
announcement of the discovery to-day
Kurt Wagemann, manager of the com
pany, said that stratum of coal had
been found in the Shawangunk Noun
| tains of Orange County, overlooking
the city. A mere seven hundred feet
below the surface lie the veins which
will put Port Jervis on the map with q
big, black, coaly splotch.
Many Options Taken.
The Erie Railroad will use the old
Delaware & Hudson canal towpath
abandoned in 1898, TO build narrow
gauge railroad It's cars will haul the
coal to its main line in this city. OPP
tions totalling 500 900 have been OBJ
tanned on lands extending from this
city for twenty miles.
April 5 shall 60 down into Port Jer'
vis's history with July 4 and April II
/ On that day the company will begin
/ the construction of drift 70 ascertain
! Just where il will be most feasible &c
sink shaft.
! There is not the slightest doubt about
| the discovery. The company has made
extended and thorough researches ii
| the mountains. And didn't a German
| chemist make a report disclosing the
| fact that coal is 10 be found in the
neighboring cliffs? And haven, drill
ers been al work for six months at a
cost of almost $4,000 to locate the
vein?
But most curious Of condolences
the North American Exploration Com
pany is the very corporation which got
| Port Jervis hectic about radium last
year. The hunt for the sl87,000a-
gram metal began in Passaic, but il
was taken up with redoubled energy IN
] Port JEWS. mere WASH COdUCt OF
/ finding radium in the red sandstone
about Passaic in a million years, anC
none was found.
Oace Delved for Radium.
II all started when the exploration
company delyed into the Passaic depths
with two big steam drills. The scene
of the operations was a two-acre plo
surrounded by a high wooden fence
and patrolled by armed guards. Anc
/ to add to the mystery none of the Off
/ cials of the company would admit thai
| they were after radium.
Passaic and Nutley, however, knew
/ they were, and the scraping and the
/ scrambling began. Then the company
started mining operations in Port Jer'
Wis. and this city caught the fever
Folks came up from New York with
spades and pans and tested the land
scape. Somehow il blew over, and Port
Jervis waited for the next chance tc
stage the millennium.
Take it from Port Jervis, that next
chance has come. with the self-samt
Exploration Company leading the pro
ccSsion. Coal! Coal. CoGl,,, But
there are some. who don't own land IN
Port Jervis. who are bit skeptical
The Shawangunk Mountains. they say
are composed of a red conglomerate for
one thousand feet down from then