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TOLEDO, OHIO, ONE OF THE LARGEST COAL
SHIPPING CENTERS ON THE GREAT
LAKES—SHIPS OVER 4,000,000 TONS ON
THE LAKES ANNUALLY.
Special Correspondence.
Toledo is one of the leading coal ports on the
great lakes and in this respect is ahead of many
ocean ports. This city's location with reference
to the Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia
mines has made it one of the most important coal
shipping points in the middle west and the headquarters
of several prominent jobbers, a number
of whom are mentioned in this article. The marine
and railway records make Toledo's position
as a coal port very clearly known. President J.
M. Ferris of the Ohio Central lines says that his
company hauled to Toledo and shipped north by
lake 1,057,000 tons of coal last season. Mr. Ferris
estimates that the Hocking Valley hauled 1,500,000
tons, and other railway officials estimate the C,
H. & D. and the Wheeling shipments to be 500,000
tons, making a grand total of 3,057,000 tons.
The custom house coal records are incomplete
and not worth consideration. Half a thousand
vessels leave port in a season with coal cargoes,
of which the local office has no record. The reason
for this is that vessels clear from Buffalo.
Erie and other eastern ports through to the
northern port of destination, uuluth or some
other town, and stop off here en route for cargo.
in these cases a report to the custom house is not
necessary. Last season 2,286 vessels left Toledo
harbor carrying among other things 3,057,000 tons
of coal. The records of the coal carrying railways
produce the tonnage shown by the foregoing
figures, but the conservative opinion of local coal
and ore dock officials is that the grand total of
outgoing lake coal is 4.000.000 tons. The railway
presidents who haul the freight to the local
docks give these figures and they are in a position
to know.
There is also a large quantity of coal shipped
from Toledo by rail—that is, it is transferred
here from coal carrying roads to northern rail
lines. To illustrate: Frankfort. Mich., shipped
across Lake Michigan last year 188,731 tons of
coal. All of this freight was turned over to the
Ann Arbor railway at Toledo. Toledo ships 6,-
700,000 tons of coal in a year, and is ahead of
Boston, New Orleans and other ocean ports.
Toledo is claimed to lead all Lake Erie ports in
coal shipments, the record for 1904 being: Ashtabula,
1,912,650 tons; Cleveland, 2,459,505; Buffalo,
3,501,916; Lorain, 983,384; Detroit. 63.420; Toledo,
4,000,000. i
The coal carrying roads of Toledo are the Ohio
Central, Hocking Valley. Pennsylvania. Wheeling
& Lake Erie, C, H. & D. and the Detroit, Toledo
& Ironton. These six lines tap the rich coal
THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN. 33
fields, both bituminous and anthracite of Ohio,
Pennsylvania and West Virginia. A new field
promised is that of Michigan, which is reached
by the Pere Marquette, and the Clover Leaf is
developing the Indiana and Illinois mines. Most
of the developed dock front of Toledo harbor is
occupied by the coal and ore docks of the railways
aforementioned. These lines haul the coal
to Toledo from the mines and have a return haul
of iron ore. The docks are equipped with the
most modern loading and unloading machinery
and the largest lake ships are handled here with
promptness.
A notable feature of Toledo's position as a coal
shipping port is the advantages accruing therefrom
to manufacturers. The plentiful supply of
coal offers a cheap fuel to the large industrial
enterprises. The coal shipped here is of the very
highest grade and the Toledo dealers are among
the most prominent firms in the business in this
country. The Solon Coal Company is an incorporated
company growing out of the business
started by John T. Solon in August, 1904. Mr.
Solon, after leaving school, started in to learn the
railroad business, but after holding down all the
desks in the local office left railroading and took
up the coal business with the Columbus & Hocking
Coal & Iron Co., then the largest bituminous coal
producing company in the middle west. After
nine years as salesman for this interest and
others, he went into business for himself. In
1900, still maintaining his business here, he went
to West Virginia and built a large coal plant at
Shinston, on the Monongah division of the Baltimore
& Ohio railroad, right in the heart of the
Fairmont district. About the time it was completed
and running, the Fairmont Coal Co. bought
it. The next year Mr. Solon opened one of the
largest mines in West Virginia at Wolf Summit,
also in the Fairmont field. This one was sold
last year to Chicago parties. He is now interested
in two West Virginia mining companies, and
one Ohio plant. The Toledo Coal & Clay Co. are
miners and shippers of Birds Run Coshocton coal.
Their mines are equipped with the latest improved
electric machinery and have a capacity of 1,000
tons per day. Located on the C. & M. division of
the Pennsylvania railroad gives them prompt delivery
to Toledo, as well as to western and northern
points. This company has operated these
mines for the past two years, during which time
it has established an elegant reputation on their
coal, which has given unusual satisfaction as a
steam coal, being free from slate, does not clinker
and makes a small amount of ash. They also
ship a large amount of this coal for domestic use.
W. P. Hubbs, one of the leading and successful
wholesale coal dealers of Toledo, with offices in
the Spitzer building, has been for many years in