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46 THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN.
IMPORTANT SALE OF PACKARD
COAL IN WEST VIRGINIA.
Mark Packard of Buffalo has sold for $500,000,
2,249 acres of coal property in the Pocahontas field
of West Virginia. Payment of the full amount of
the purchase money was made, the purchasing
syndicate securing immediate title to the property.
Among those interested and who were
present when negoiiatioiis were closed in Buffalo
were H. M. Jewett, president of Jewett, Bigelow
& Brooks, coal miners and shippers, of Detroit,
Mich., and other ciues; Li. H. Jewett and Jay W.
Bigelow, directors of tlie same company, and Mr.
Cady, of Detroit; Mr. chapman of Syracuse, Mr.
Angel of Detroit, representing one of the large
financial institutions of that city, and James A.
Henchey. manager of tne lug River Coal Land Co.
of Welch, W. Va., and director of tne Cumberland
Plateau Corporation. T'he purchasers had just
returned from au inspection of tlie Pocahontas
field, in which they have long had the desire to
invest. All have had a large experience in coat
mining operations.
The purchase disposes of about one-fifth of the
coal land owned b.v Mr. Packard in West Virginia.
It is unofficially said that this is only the
beginning of a combination that may eventually
require all of the land owned by Mr. Packard in
the Pocahontas held, and that Ihe combination
will represent a capital ot $1,500,000 or $2,000,000.
The demands for supply on Jewett, Bigelow and
Brooks are increasing rapidly and it seems to
be only a question of time when they will find
it necessary to extend their operations. The
plans of the purchasers comprehend immediate
activity on an extensive scale.
HAZEL KIRK MINE DISASTER KILLS
SUPT. JOHN HORNICKEL.
Five men were killed and another was frightfully
injured in an explosion at shaft No. 2 of the
riazel Kirk mines, six miles from Monongahela,
Pa., Octobe 29. Following a call
for volunteers after the explosion, four men out
of nearly 100, fully cognizant of the peril which
faced them, entered the blazing pit and began
the work of recovering the dead bodies. Those
killed were John HornicKel, 37 years old, married,
general superintendent of Hazel Kirk mines Nos.
1 and 2; Joseph Hunter. 35 years old, married, of
Monongahela City, fire boss of mine No. 2; Daniel
Griffiths, 42 years old, married, mine foreman of
Hazel Kirk mine No. 2; John Lavery, 58 years old,
of Monongahela City, fire boss at Hazel Kirk mine
No. 1, leaves 11 children; Henry Claybourne,
negro, 38 years old. married, of Monongahela City,
fire boss Hazel Kirk mine No. 2. Andrew Roeder,
machine foreman, was so seriously burned that
he can hardly recover. Mr. Hornickel was one
of the most experienced and successful of operating
officials in the Pittsburgh field. Those who
faced death to recover the bodies are: Henry
Louttitt, Monongahela, mine inspector of the First
bituminous district; John McVicker, Monongahela,
superintendent of the Black Diamond mine; Patrick
Neaken, boss driver at Hazel Kirk shaft No.
2, and Arthur Wright. Monongahela.
Surveys have been completed, according to reports
published by the Denver newspapers, for
an electric power line from the coal fields near
Gallup to Clifton, Ariz., a distance of almost 200
miles. The plan is to erect power houses at several
coal mines in the Gallup district to transform
the coal into electric power. The coal can
be mined at a minimum cost of $1.10 a ton, while
al Clifton it commands from $5 to $8 a ton. It
will be cheaper to turn the coal into power at the
mines and conduct the power to Clifton, a smelting
and mining center.
Nearly 30,000 mine workers from the Lackawanna
and Wyoming valleys paraded in Scranton,
October 28, in honor of Mitchell day. President
Mitchell of the United Mine Workers rode in a
carriage with Mayor Connell. Thousands of persons
witnessed the parade. M. H. Healy, a district
board member, was marshal and the parade
marched in seven divisions.
Suits were filed at Charleston, W. Va., October
29, against the Stevens Quarrier, Cherokee Holly,
Cardiff Carbon, Perdew & Holly, the Republic Coal
Co. and the W r est Virginia Colliery Co. for damages
aggregating $125,000. The suits were entered
for ejections during the strike of last winter
in the Kanawdia field.
The American Federation of Labor annual convention
opens in Old City Hall, Pittsburgh, November
13. Between 250 and 300 delegates will
attend the convention. There is no known opposition
to the re-election of Samuel Gompers as
president, and he will, in all probability, be accorded
a unanimous vote of retention in the office.
The State Railroad Commission of Indiana has
granted to the Southern Railroad Co. permission
to make a lower rate on coal into Evansville and
New Albany from the mines along that road than
it makes to other points on the line between the
mines and the two terminal cities.