s - Clpdigital.org

February, 1905 COAL AND TIMBER
coniplished by first placing the article in
a metal or wooden box whose joints have
been leaded; second, by the use of a quantity
of calcium chloride. By this 1 do not
mean chloride of lime, ordinary bleaching
powder, but a chemical which is obtained
by the action of muriatic acid on slaked
lime; this dry calcium chloride should be
spread upon a saucer and placed in the
box containing the instrument to be protected.
It has the power of absorbing
moisture from the air; when it becomes
too wet, it can be regenerated by heating
in an iron vessel, driving off the water.
This chemical can be purchased from any
first class supply house, or can be cheaply
made by dissolving slaked lime calcium
oxide, in muriatic acid and evaporating
to dryness.
Explosives can be kept dry by a similar
method. It should be placed in a box containing
a quantity of dry calcium chloride
and left there until ready to be used.
I am very sorry that I will be unable
to be present at this meeting. I have
some good friends among you already
and I hope to make some .more, so I will
have to call upon my good friend, Mr.
Simpson, to inflict you with this in my
stead.
IMPORTANT
TRANSACTION.
towards relieving any apprehension that
12,000 Acres W. Va. Coal Land, Two Rail­maroads and An Ohio River Bridge have since stated that they can see no par­
have existed. Prominent coal men
Involved.
ticular cause for alarm in the governor's
recommendations. He seems to favor the
Definite information from Cincinnati
establishment of a commission, which shall
appoint an inspector, whose duty will consist
in determining what mines are liable
straightens out the many rumors and conjectures
which have been circulated the
to an annual tax, ranging from $100 on
past few months in regard to large trans­
small mines, to say $200 on larger ones. If
this plan is approved it will mean the payment
of a lump sum annually and will not
put the producers to the trouble, expense
and annoyance of making tonnage returns
actions in coal lands in Wise and Dickinson
Counties, W. Va. It is learned that H. B.
Hollins & Co., of New York, and Eugene
Zimmerman, of Cincinnati, have purchased
1,200 acres of coal lands in Wise and Dickinson
Counties from the Clinchfield corporation.
This purchase is also thought to
be the explanation of the recently announced
determination of the Cincinnati, Hamilton
& Dayton railroad to erect a bridge
across the Ohio at Huntington or Ironton,
and 50 miles of track to connect that road
with the coal fields of West Virginia which
will thereby be connected directly with the
Great Lakes and Chicago.
The purchase of these coal lands includes
also the purchase of two railroads, the
Virginia & Southeastern and the Virginia
& Southwestern. The total price
is §3,300,000. Hollins and Zimmerman assume
the bonded indebtedness, amounting
to $600,000 and a general indebtedness of
$1„100,000, or a total of $1,700,000 and also
pay $1,600,000 in cash.
— The Cambria Steel Company is erecting
100 additional coke ovens at its Franklin
plant, where eleven new open hearth furnaces
are soon to be put in operation.
WHEELING LETTER
By W. H. Woodruff.
WHEELING, W. VA.—The status of
legislation at Charleston, now that a fair
idea may be had of the tax reform bills to
be introduced, is such as gives the coal and
timber producing districts of the state less
concern than formerly, and barring any untoward
developments in other particulars
the year 1905 should be a fairly successful
one throughout West Virginia. It cannot
be denied just now, however, that natural
conditions are a trifle unpropitious, but
experienced coal operators believe that
later, when the weather becomes more open,
the situation will improve very perceptibly.
Immediately after the legislature convened
and the more vigorous adherents of
tax-reform had announced their program,
the coal producers were somewhat
alarmed, for it was hinted that besides the
special legislation of last August other
measures would be adopted all with the
view of increasing the state revenue from
coal mines. Fortunately, the recommendations
of Governor A. B. White in his message
to the lawmakers, adopted a different
plan from that originally proposed, a
special tax at so much per ton upon coal
at the mines, and this will go a long way
to the state at set periods. Governor White
is known to be largely interested in coal
himself, and it is conceded that he has
taken a liberal view of the conditions confronting
the trade. By way of remark, it
is interesting to note that the governor is
heartily in favor of some measure that will
afford the producers, irrespective of their
fianancial or commercial status or connections,
a more equitable proportion of cars.
The car shortage has been the bugaboo of
the trade in this state for several years.
The cold weather is stimulating demand
at the mines, but at the same time, unfortunately,
is productive of conditions that
tend to retard the movement of coal. Prices
are veiy low, as the following schedule in
force in the Fairmont district will demonstrate:
Run-of-mine, 85 cents; three-quarter,
95 cents; lump, $1.05 or $1.10, all f. o. b.
mines. A slight stiffening of rates has been
experienced the past week, and with continued
cold may grow measurably better.
The Beech Bottom Coal Co., a comparatively
new concern in business, near Wellsburg,
is doing well, and increasing output
gradually. Seventy-five men are employed
and 10 cars a day is the average.
Hon John M. Birch, former secretary of
the Wheeling Board of Trade has oold his
interest in a large tract of Washington
County coai, not far from Waynesburg,
for something like $30,000.
That West Virginia capitalists realize that
dullness is merely a temporary condition is
evidenced by the renewal of speculative activity,
the formation of new concerns and
the gradual completion of plans for future
development. Since the first of the year a
score of concerns have been chartered by
the secretary of state. Among the latter
ones is the Lens Creek Coal & Improvement
Co., of Charleston, with a capital of
$10,000, to work mines on Lens Creek in
that section of the state.
The Langhorn Construction Co. has
been formed at Huntington, with a capital
of $500,000 to construct railroads and do a
general railroad equipment business.
The Provident Coal Co., which operates
mines near St. Clairsville, Ohio, although
out of the state, yet in the Wheeling
district, has just bought 400 acres of coal
at $70 an acre from John Wilkins, W. J.
Thompson and A. L. Bumgardner, of St.
Clairsville. The Company has completed
a f",e new steel tipple.
The payroll Saturday, January 21, in
the Fairmont district was the largest for
many months.
The Koontz mines in North Benwood
have resumed operation after being idle
the past month or two.
The miners of the Fifth Ohio subdistrict
will hold their annual convention,
at Bellaire, February 23. The district has
12,000 diggers, scattered throughout Belmont
County, Ohio, and the West Virginia
Pan Handle.
Postmaster, James K. Hall, of Wheeling,
who is interested in a large acreage
of land in the Parkersburg district says
1905 will be a banner year for speculation
in West Virginia coal. Prices are stiffening
even for laud far removed from railroads.
Gen. Morris Horkheimer, of Wheeling,
who is associated with Governor A. B.
White and others in the Briar Hill Coal
Co., a new corporation which purposes
operating on the Farkersburg branch of
the B. & O., is in Europe, and will spend
several months on the continent.
—Edward B. Whitney of New York, in
a paper upon "Governmental Interference
with Industrial Combinations" read before
the American Political Science and Economic
Associations at Chicago declared that
Congress has the direct power to put an
end to the United States Steel Corporation,
the anthracite "coal pool" and similar corporations.
He asserted that a law forbidding
a company engaged in interstate commerce
to engage in productive industry
would prohibit such "agglomeration." He
urged the need of such action on the part
of Congress.