s - Clpdigital.org

May, 1905
COAL AND TIMBER
13
Congressman John Dalzell is an enthusiastic
supporter of the great project of Ohio
river improvement. He has not only given
the matter his unqualified approval but he
is doing hard and intelligent work to further
advance it among the members of congress.
He said: " Congress has committed
itself to the movement for a nine-foot waterway
by its passage of the last river and
harbor bill. The visit of the rivers and harbors
committee this month, and the trip
down the river, will be an educational one
and cannot fail to result in immense benefit
to the undertaking. Its members cannot
help but appreciate the advantage of the
plan."
Secretary James W. Wardrup, of the
Pittsburg Merchants' and Manufacturers'
Association, advocated the project of a
great ship canal between Pittsburg and
Erie at the fourth annual banquet of the
chamber of commerce of Erie, on Apnl
26. Five hundred representative men of
this city heard him speak of the greatness
of that city, and he urged them to join his
association in pushing the project. Congressman
Arthur L. Bates said he believed
the project would be of the greatest importance.
Theodore Burton, of Ohio, chairman of
the Rivers and Harbors committee of the
House of Representatives of the national
congress, and the other members of this
important committee will meet in Pittsburg
on the 8th inst. and conduct a tour of inspection
of the Ohio river. The trip will
be made under the auspices of the Ohio
Valley Improvement Society. Col. John L.
Vance, president of the society, is making
every preparation for the reception and entainment
of the distinguished guests,
It is said that all of the members are looking
forward with the keenest interest to
the trip, for the energy of the society has
been such that their attention has been rivited
on the great waterway whether they
wished it to be or not.
It is expected that the entire body of
guests from out of town who will accompany
the committee will number SO. They
will arrive in Pitsburg at a late hour on
May 8, and the next day will be taken in a
special chartered steamer up the Monongahela
river and shown the great tonnageproducing
factors in the district. On the
morning of the next day the big trip down
the Ohio will be started. The Queen City
of the Pitsburg & Cincinnati packet line
will be entirely renovated and placed in the
best of condition for the trip.
It is expected that this tour of the great
inland waterway will result in its recognition
on the part of the committee in a
way that has never been done before. The
members of the commite are all statesmen
of experience and all that is necessary is
to let them see for themselves the enormous
amount of commerce carried by the
stream and what it could do were it given
a permanent nine-foot channel. The Ohio
Valley Improvement Society will spare
no means or efforts to make the trip one of
pleasure as well as of profit to the congressmen.
Most of the committee will be accompanied
by their wives.
The annual rush of coal to the northwest
and iron ore from that district began last
month with the re-opening of lake navigation.
At once the pulse of business
quickened and coal mines are being operated
now to their capacity. The railroads
have had some trouble in furnishing sufficient
cars to accommodate the shippers, but
this has to a great extent been overcome,
and the long trains of cars which are daily
sent lakeward from the Pennsylvania and
West Virginia bituminous coal fields show
that the unprecedented demand in the
northwest for fuel will be met. The outlook
for a marvelous amount of coal and
ore trade with tlie northwest is as reassuring
as it could well be. A demand for
fuel and iron and steel, the like of which
this country has never known, exists, and
operators and railroad officials are straining
every nerve to supply it. Railroads have
increased their equipment to an extent undreamed
of a few short years ago and the
amount of business wdiich is readily supplied
them is justifying them in their energy
and foresight.
THIS LOOKS GOOD TO US!
Latrobe, Pa., April 6, 1905.
Coal & Timber Publishing Co.,
Pittsburg, Pa.
Gentlemen: I have just received
April number of "Coal and Timber."
Enclosed please find $1.00 in payment
of one year's subscription. I have
received every issue since your first
number and am very well pleased
with it. In fact, I consider it worth
$25.00 per year to me as I get more
real information from it than all the
balance of the coal papers put together.
Very truly yours,
JOHN A. HARTMAN,
President Hartman Coal Co.,0.
—Mr. Charles A. Jones, special agent
United States Geological Survey in the Division
of Mining and Mineral Resources,
called at the offke of Coal and Timber late
last month. Mr. Jones is collecting delinquent
statistics for the Survey's report of
Pennsylvania mineral production for 1904,
which is about ready to issue.
Prominent Figures in the Coal and Timber
World.
No. 1.*
Francis Le Baron Robbins.
Francis Le Baron Robbins, president of
the Pittsburg Coal Co., one of the most
prominent figures in the bituminous coal
industry in the world, has come to his
present high position through his own efforts
and merits. He knows the coal industry
like a book, or, better than a book,
for when a boy of fifteen years he became
employed on the tipple of the
Walnut Hill mine at Midway, Washington
county, Pa. He worked through every department
of practical mining and coal mine
operations. His rare business instincts
caused his rapid promotion until at last
he has come to the zenith of the industry—
the head of the greatest coal corporation
in this or any other country in the world.
Mr. Robbins received the best training for
his responsible field in life. He was instructed
by his father, T. Burr Robbins, one
of the pioneer coal producers. Mr. Robbins
has always worked for the good of the miner
and has been rarely successful in achieving
a better understanding between miner and
operator.
*Coal and Timber will print each month the portrait
and brief biography of men whose personality and lifework
are of interest to the public they serve.
LARGE LUMBER DEAL.
H. E. and J. O. Clark, of Glen Campoe'.l,
Pa., timber and lumber dealers, have interested
several other capitalists in a great
deal wdiereby they secured the lands and
buildings of the Tennessee Lumber Co. It
is said that the transfer price was close to
$500,000. The company owns lands on
which 15,000.000 feet of white pine and oak
can be cut. A mill equipped throughout
with the most perfect modern machinery,
one of the largest ever built for the purpose
and a railroad 25 miles in length are
included in the property wdiich was purchased.
The transfer took place the fust
of the present month.