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the Chesapeake & Ohio railroads, held in Colum
bus, O., steps toward an organization were taken.
A temporary organization, with R. C. Roach, oi'
the Kanawha Fuel Co., of Cincinnati, as chairman
was formed and the association will lie perfected
at another meeting.
Options on about 12,000 acres of coal in Ohio
county. West Virginia, held for some months by
H. B. Rearsall of Pittsburgh and his associates,
are announced to have been closed. The properties
include the Elmgrove Coal Co. and the Morehead
Coal Co. Their cost is about $1,000,000.
Some new developments of the properties will be
undertaken soon.
The case of the Dorris heirs versus the Morrisdale
Coal Co.. was decided by a jury at Clearfield.
Pa., recently, an award of $24,000 being given the
Dorris heirs. The trial was the longest in the
history of the county, consuming 12 entire days
and several night sessions. The suit was to recover
damages for alleged breaches of contract.
Most of the accidents to men, when they are
being lowered into mines, in the coal fields of the
middle west, are due to the engineer bumping the
cage too hard on the bottom and not to "overwinding"
when hoisting men to the surface. In
each case, the machinery should lie controlled by
an automatic cut-off on the engine.
In the orphans court at Greensburg, Pa., the
William Thaw estate recently presented a petition
asking leave to exchange 225 acres of coal
land in Mt. Pleasant township, to the H. C. Frick
Coke Co. for an equal acreage. The purpose of
the exchange is to facilitate mining operations.
The packers in Kansas City, Kan., do not show
eagerness to substitute natural gas at ten cents
for 1,000 cubic feet for coal at present prices. The
packers are using 40,000 tons of slack or steam
coal each month, and it is now delivered to them
at $1.10 to $1.25 a ton.
The success of gathering locomotives in the D.
L. & W. mines will doubtless lead to their adoption
at other collieries. Their operation, however.
will be limited to workings having comparatively
little pitch, and also where large quantities of
gas are not found.
The coal mines along the line of the Wheeling
& Lake Erie road have been doing well for the
past few weeks. The outlook for tne immediate
future is for steady work for the men. A good
deal of coal is now being shipped for the northwest
in box cars.
THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN. 47
J. S. Wylie, president of the Marquette Third
Vein Coal Co., of Davenport. Ia., has gone into
bankruptcy, on account of signing accommodation
pa pei- for his old partner, C. J. Devlin. He schedules
his assets at $100,000 and his liabilities Ht
$331,000.
The executive committee of the Iowa Coal
Operators Association have called a meeting at
the Savory Hotel, Des Moines, la., October 10 to
consider the advisability of sending delegates to
the meeting of operatois in Chicago, November 22.
The St. Louis & San Francisco railroad will
hereafter furnish coal to the Southern Pacific instead
of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas. This coal
will come from the Indian Territory and will be
delivered at both Denison and Sherman, Tex.
The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad has
asked the railroad commission of Kansas to reduce
the freight rates on coal to various parts af
the state. Other roads will undoubtedly meet
the cut of the Santa Fe.
James E. Roderick, chief of the bureau of mines
of Pennsylvania, is again calling attention to the
safety appliances on the carriages in slopes and
shafts and insisting upon a daily inspection of all
ropes in the collieries.
The expected increase in the price of coal at
the mine was not made at the recent meetings of
Indiana operators, who hesitated about increasing
the price for the second time within a month.
The Missouri Pacific railroad has followed the
lead of the Santa Fe, and reduced coal rates to
Kansas points, from the various mining districts
of the state.
MINES IN AND OUT OF RECENT
INDIANA CONSOLIDATIONS.
Commissioner P. H. Penna of the Indiana Bituminous
Coal Operators' Association has compiled
a list showing that 37 independent coal companies
which are members of the association yet remain
in the Indiana field, although the greater part of
these companies are small ones. When the combine
movement started there were 96 companies
represented in the coal operators' association, and
over half of these have now been merged into the
various big companies. There are some companies
operating in the bituminous field that are
not members of the operators' association.