i STEAM COAL - Clpdigital.org

tohm.
GOAL TRADE BULLETIN^
Vol. XII. PITTSBURGH, PA., DECEMBER 15, 1904. No. 2.
THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN;
PUBLISHED TWICE A MONTH.
Copyrighted by THE COAL TRADE COMPANY, 1904
A. R. HAMILTON, Proprietor and Publisher,
H. J. STRAUB, Managing Editor.
SUBSCRIPTION, - - - - $2 00 A YEAR.
Correspondence and communications upon all matters
relating to coal or coal production are invited.
All communications and remittances to
THK COAL TRADK COMPANY.
926-930 PARK BUILDING, PITTSBURGH, PA.
Long Distance Telephone 250 Grant.
[Entered at the Post Office at Pittsburgh, Pa., as
Second Class Mail Matter.]
PROBABILITY OF A REDUCTION IN THE
COAL PRODUCTION THIS YEAR LENDS
INTEREST TO THE REPORT OF CHIEF
RODERICK, OF THE PENNSYLVANIA DE­
PARTMENT OF MINES, FOR 1903.
In view of the probability that a reduction in
the production of coal in the Middle West over
last year's figures, will be shown when the totals
are made up at the end of the current year, the
report for 1903 of James E. Roderick, chief of
the department of mines of Pennsylvania, which
has just been issued, is of particular interest.
As Mr. Roderick says, 1903 was the banner
year in the coal annals of Pennsylvania, both for
employer and employe. The output reached the
point at which it amounted to about one-third of
the entire production of the United States and
about one-sixth of the entire production of the
world. At the time the report was made up
operations were active in the 25 Western counties
of the state and the outlook was for a still greater
increase in production. The industrial depression
of the past summer, however, probably will
offset the gains made earlier in the year.
In the anthracite field, the output during 1903
was 75,232,585 tons, as against 36.911,554 tons in
1902, a gain of 38,321,031 tons. During the same
period 103,713,982 tons of bituminous coal were
mined, as against 98.970.430 tons the previous
year, a gain of nearly five million tons. The production
of coke did not materially differ in the
two years, being 14,941.091 tons in 1902 and 14,-
286,995 tons in 1903. a decrease of 654,096 tons.
It is not to be forgotten that the anthracite output
in 1902 was abnormally low, on account of
the great strike of the miners in that year. To
the same cause was due, in some degree, the large
output of 1903, as ine mines were rushed for
some time after the end of the strike, in order to
make up deficient fuel supplies.
The disposition of the bituminous coal mined
in 1903 was as follows:
Tons.
Coal shipped by rail or otherwise 81,127,701
Coal sold directly to local trade or employes
807,223
Coal used in making coke 19,427.436
Coal used in operating collieries 2,351,622
Total coal mined 103,713,982
The percentage used in operating collieries is
very much less than in the anthracite mines.
The total number of employes reported was
151,745; and the average period of work 216 days.
This gives an average of 683 tons mined per employe:
or 3.16 tons per day worked.
The coal actually used in making coke was 21,-
213,358 tons, including 1,785,922 tons of stored coal
carried over from 1902, besides that mined in
1903. The coke statistics were as follows:
Tons of coal used in making coke 21,213,358
Tons of coke made 14,286,995
Number of coke ovens in use 37,705
Average coke made per oven 379
The average yield of coke was 67.35 per cent.;
in other words, 1.485 tons of coal were required
to make a ton of coke. The apparent low average
of coke per oven indicates that a considerable proportion
must have been idle.
Mining machines, which find no place in the
anthracite collieries, are extensively used in the
bituminous district. Last year there were 390
mines in which machines were used; and the
number of coal cutters, of various types, at work
was 3,384. Of these, 1,045 were operated by elec-