1898 - Coalmininghistorypa.org

No. 11. BUREAU OF MINES. xxviithe Connellsville coke region. So important was tlie industry thatthe operators were not compelled to locate their plants to suit therailroads, but the railroads, eager to get the heavy tonnage, wentto the coke plants. Owing, therefore, to the immense output ofIhe H. C. Frick Coke Company, the railroads vied with each otherin running lines to the various plants, and thus this company obtainedthe best shipping facilities in the Connellsville region. Nearlyevery plant has connections with two or more railroad systems.Superioradvantages for transportation are afforded by three of thegreatest trunk lines in the United States, viz., the Pennsylvania,Baltimore and Ohio and the Vanderbilt systems. These lines havebeen instrumental in making the Connellsville region one of thebusiest spots on the face of the country. They have also made Alleghenycounty the iron centre of the world. The productive wealthof the Connellsville region has given to the iron and steel manufacturingenterprises in and about IMttsburgh the great advantageof having a superior fuel at their very doors. It was largely throughthe efforts of the H. C. Frick Coke Company that Allegheny countyis foremost in Pennsylvania, and in the United States in the productionof iron and steel. Through the superior furnace and foundryfuel produced by the great Connellsville concern, manufacturers inAllegheny county are making the best iron and steel produced in theworld, and they are able to compete in quality and price with themanufacturers of the globe.Much has been done by this company to open new markets forConnellsville coke. It has been instrumental to a large extent inthe development of the varied uses found for this fuel, and the firmhas given as many persons employment at profitable wages as anyfivm doing business in America.^ot only are remunerative wages paid, but every precaution istaken at the plants for the safety and health of employes. The minesui the region owned by the company are models of neatness, and areworked under the personal direction of corps of mining engineerswho project the work of the mines with a view to economy and safetyof operation and in strict accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth.The .larger mines are equipped with electric lights, theKiables in which the mules are kept underground are guarded fromthe dangers of fire and flood, and ventilation and drainage are maintainedat a standard far beyond that which is demanded by the mininglaws. Such a policy has been found to be profitable, and is an importantadjunct to the economical handling of coal. The output of someof the larger j)lants of the firm is so great as to astonish ])ersonswho consider a coal mine a dull underground passageway where mendig and drudge.