i STEAM COAL - Clpdigital.org

42 THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN.
per cent, over the wages fixed by the strike commission,
in accordance with the sliding scale agreement.
• • *
The Mount Carmel colliery, owned by the Lehigh
Valley Coal Co. and employing 600 men and boys,
has suspended operations indefinitely because of a
body of water in the mine being in danger of
flooding the gangways.
* * *
The Mifflin Coal Co., of Duquesne, has booked
from the Carnegie Coal Co. an order for its entire
output the coming year. This will assure 300
men steady work.
* * «
The anthracite miners are already planning to
demand an eight hour day at nine hour pay when
the present agreement with their employers expires.
* * *
The trouble in the Massillon district has been
settled, the miners receiving advances of two to
five cents per ton for drilling.
* * *
The strikers at Price, Utah, are beginning to
leave the district, many going to Lafayette, Colo.
Prussia Buying Coal Mines.
The Prussian Diet devoted two days to an animated
discussion on the bill appropriating $17,-
500,000 to take over the shares of the Hibernian
Coal Co. which the Dresden Bank bought on behalf
of the Prussian government. The bill passed its
first reading and was referred to a committee.
Herr Moeller, minister of commerce and industry,
was subjected to a sharp attack by Von Eynern,
one of the national liberal leaders, who is a mem­
ber of the Hibernian Coal Co.'s directorate, for the
secretive way in which the purchase of the stock
was conducted.
Threat To Extend Morris Run'Strike.
A so-called ultimatum of the United Mine Work­
ers of America that in the event of the New York
Central operators refusing to settle the strike
at Morris Run all the men employed in the various
operations controlled by the New York Central
in the district will be called out, has been indirectly
presented to the operators and its reception
will determine the future course of the Mine Workers'
organization. The miners assert that the
trouble at Morris Run is a direct attempt to crush
their organization in the Tioga county field. If
the general strike is declared, it will involve about
4,000 miners employed in Tioga, Clearfield, Cam­
bria and Jefferson counties, as well as hundreds
of railroad employes.
';'-'" COAL TRADE CASUALTIES.
An explosion of gas on December 9 wrecked the
shaft and demolished the upper works of the
Eldorado (111. I Coal & Coke Co.'s mine and hopelessly
entombed four miners. Four others were
rescued at the imminent peril of his life by Mine
Boss Patrick Reed.
oooo
After having been imprisoned for several hours
in a burning shaft of the Woodside Coal Co., near
Springfield, 111., 14 men were rescued. The mine's
top works were totally destroyed, the flames
spreading to the workings below.
oooo
The Sholl coal mine, near Peoria, 111., took flre
last week and the indications are that it will be
destroyed or badly damaged. The 100 men at
work in the mine when the flre was discovered
barely escaped with their lives.
oooo
As the result of an explosion of fire damp in a
coal mine at Burnett, Wash., on December 7. eleven
miners were killed and four fatally hurt.
oooo
The double-decked landing boat of the People's
Coal Co. at Pittsburgh was burned on December 4.
Mine Fire Burned For Twenty-three Years.
The No. 9 colliery of the Lehigh Coal & Navi­
gation Co., which was flooded in 1881 in order to
quench a fire which raged in one lift below the
water level and which has been idle ever since,
will shortly resume. A hole has been drilled into
the slump below the old slope and water reached.
A powerful set of engines have been installed to
take care of the water which will be tapped, and
it is expected that the company will in a short
time ship the thousands of tons of loose coal stored
there, giving employment to a small army of additional
hands.
The Maryland Coal Co. has declared a regular
semi-annual dividend of 2% per cent, and an extra
dividend of 2%. per cent, on preferred stock, pay­
able December 31. The dividends just declared
make 8 1 - per cent, for the year 1904. In 1903, Sy2
per cent, was paid; in 1902, 7; in 1901, 5y2; in
1900, and 1899, 5; in 1898, 4%.; and in 1897, 4 per
cent.
A 12-foot vein of coal was struck at a depth of
210 feet while drilling for oil near Glenwood, W.
Va.