COAL - Clpdigital.org

IS THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN.
j« CONSTRUCTION and DEVELOPMENT. «
A notable deal in eastern Kentucky and south­
western Virginia coal fields has just been closed
by northern and eastern capitalists headed by J.
Pierpont Morgan, and comprises 30,000 acres of
coal lands. The price paid was a little upward
of $400,000. The firm making the purchase is the
Great North American Coal Co. with headquarters
at New York City, of which Morgan is the head.
The bulk of the property purchased lies along
the Chesapeake & Ohio extension up the Big Sandy
river valley which is now being completed into
the heart of the Elkhorn coal fields in Letcher
county. The deal is reported to mean expenditures
of dollars in the seven figures.
Chartered under the laws of Maine the Weaver
Coal & Coke Co., with a capital of $1,000,000 paid
in, intends to start the largest coal and coke industry
in Tennessee near Crossville. Henry E.
Weaver of Chicago is president of the conipany.
J. C. Van Blarcom of St. Louis, vice-president.
and William Ramsey, Chicago, general manager.
Within two miles of Crossville the company will
erect a coke plant at a cost of $100,000. A line
of railroad seven miles long will be built from the
mines to Crossville. on the Tennessee Central railroad.
Senator Stephen B. Elkins of West Virginia
plans to erect 50 additional coke ovens at his
mine at Richard, W. Va. This increase, with an
additional 100 ovens at the Decker's Creek Coal
& Coke Co. plant near Dellslow. will make his
Morgantown & Kingwood railroad an important
coke line. The road will be extended at once
to Rowlesburg for connection with the Baltimore
& Ohio main line.
The Jed Coal & Coke Co.. with leases one and a
half miles above Welch, W. Va., on Tug river, is
soon to commence operation on a large scale.
This company was recently capitalized at $300,0on
W. A. Lathrop. former general superintendent of
the Lehigh Valley Coal Co., was the first
superintendent of what is now known as the Pocahontas
Collieries Co., at Pocahontas.
The Bessemer Coke Co. of Pittsburgh has purchased
the Mack coal lands, 100 acres near Masontown,
Pa., for $120,000, or $1,200 an acre, and
plans have been completed for the erection of a
coke plant at that place. Officials of the company
state that extensive improvements will also be
made at the works in the Connellsville region this
fall.
The United States Oil & Gas Co.. owning coal
mires in Logan county. W. Va., has closed a deal
for a valuable tract of land on the river front at
Huntington, W. Va., and will at once begin the
erection of gigantic coal tipples. A line of coal
boats will lie put in and $500,000 expended in the
work.
A contract for the construction of a coal dock
at Norway. Mich., of sufficient capacity to store
more than a year's supply of fuel at its mines, has
been awarded by the Antoine Ore Co., subsidiary
to the Republic Iron & Steel Co. The structure
will be 300 feet long and 20 feet high.
The Mack coal lands, 100 acres near Masontown,
Pa., have been sold to the Bessemer Coke Co., for
$120,000. Improvements are being made at the
company's Griffin works, adjoining this property.
The company is developing a 1,200-acre tract in
West Virginia.
The Baltimore & Ohio railroad will mai-ce im­
provements at the foot of Jackson street, Baltimore,
which will cost $350,000. Seven engine
shops are to be erected, and one immense coal
tipple. The coal tipple will be 25 feet wide and
537 feet long.
Improvements costing $50,000 are to be made
at Memphis by the West Kentucky Coal Co. Coal
sheds will be erected, and present elevator capacity
increased.
The High House Coal & Coke Co., Uniontown.
Pa., has voted to increase its capital from $30,000
to $75,000. and will build additional ovens.
Senator S. B. Elkins of West Virginia, has contracted
for 150 coke ovens at Richards and 100 at
Bretz. W. Va.
ANTHRACITE CERTIFICATE LAW HEAPING.
At the recent final hearing in New York before
Commissioner C. Wendt inquiring into the constitutionality
of the anthracite certificate law,
several witnesses were examined. Some Missouri
and Illinois miners testified that working condi­
tions were so similar in the soft and hard coal
fields that the law may not be necessary. The
commissioner will have his report ready for the
Pennsylvania court in November.
George L. Hibbs and Jasper Augustine, of Uniontown,
Pa., have sold 450 acres of coal land in
Greene county to a syndicate of Waynesburg, Pa.,
for $28,000.