COAL - Clpdigital.org

TIDEWATER COAL SHIPMENTS.
The tidewater shipments of coal in 1904 were as
follows, the figures representing short tons:
Anthracite. Bituminous.
New York 12,841,063 S,455,337
Philadelphia 1,911,322 3,630,942
Baltimore 238,738 2,064,060
Newport News 2,655,697
Norfolk, Va 2,119,513
Total 14,991,123 18,925,549
The lake shipments and exports of anthracite
coal last year were as follows:
Total.
Lake shipments 3,463,102
Exported to Canada 2,193,746
Exported to other countries. . . 34,646 2,228,392
The distribution of anthracite coal in 1904 was
as follows, in tons:
Tidewater shipments 14,991,113
Lake shipments 3,463,102
Exports 2,228,392
Consumed in New York, Philadelphia
and contiguous markets 36,809,915
Total 57,492,522
TO BE A RECORD YEAR.
In the opinion of many of the leaders of the
Pennsylvania soft coal industry this will be a
record year for production. John H. Jones,
president of the Pittsburgh-Buffalo Co., has ventured
the assertion that the bituminous output of
the state for 1905 will be from 10 to 20 per cent.
greater than ever before. President Francis L.
Robbins, of the Pittsburgh Coal Co., in a recent
interview made the following statement:
"With the very encouraging crop outlook and the
revival in trade and industry, more coal will likely
go up to the great lakes this year from Pittsburgh
than during any time in the history of the trade.
The effect of the crops on the coal markets is not
generally understood, but it is a fact that in times
of good crops the consumption of coal increases
enormously and accordingly decreases in years
when the yield of the great farms of the West
is smaller. This comes about through the fact
that the people buy more liberally of fuel, and the
railroads use much greater quantities in conducting
their business in view of the greater tonnage
hauled."
The Federal Clay Products Co., a subsidiary company
of the Pittsburgh Coal Co., has been formed
to utilize the clay, much of which is high-grade
fire clay, taken from the company's mines in the
Pittsburgh district.
THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN. .",7
THE WELSH COAL SUPPLY.
The British Royal Coal Commissioners, ap­
pointed last year, gave very encouraging figures
to the effect that the supply would meet the de­
mand at the present rate of output for nearly 400
years. Since the commission's report was made
public Sir W. T. Lewis, a geologist, mineralogist
and one of the most experienced engineers in
Great Britain, has published a report on the coal
resources of several districts in England and
Wales. In this report he states that the supply
of the South Wales district would endure at the
rate of the output of 1903 (42.153.2S7 tonsl 63S
years. Mr. Lewis' survey is considered as most
thorough and his figures as authentic. Up to the
present the North Wales coal districts have not
been worked on a very large scale, and the estimated
net available number of tons remaining
unworked are: Flintshire, 771,368,012 tons; Denbighshire,
905,699,877 tons.
Telephones in Mines.
Probably the first move made in this or any
other country to compel the use of the telephone
by law was embodied in a proposition lately suggested
to the Illinois legislature. It was proposed
that a statute be enacted requiring the coal
operators of Illinois to equip all their mines with
telephone systems, with separate wires extending
from each station in the mines to all openings, and
with enough stations to give the miners who may
be imprisoned on account of an explosion or fire
a fair opportunity to get into communication
with those on the surface, even if the passageways
are blocked and they cannot make their own way
to safety.
Two Practical Papers On Mining.
Two papers of more than usual interest were
read before the North of England Institute of
mining and mechanical engineers. One of these
papers was by J. T. Beard and was devoted to the
influence of the roof in long-wall working. Mr.
Beard emphasized the point that control of the
roof pressure is the all-important feature of longwall
and that while the movement of the overburden
cannot be successfully opposed, it can be
controlled by diverting its action in a direction
where it will assist the general work of mining.
The prevention of gob-fires was treated by George
Farmer. Mr. Farmer, who practically exhausted
the list of means for combating this evil, regards
the exclusion of oxygen by practical means which
he described, as the best means of attaining the
desired end.