243 



be so transpoi-ted at a profit, but it is confidently assumed that coal con- 

 veited into coke, by which process its weight is reduced one-half with- 

 out diminution of bulk, can be transported at a great profit. The sub- 

 joined estimate is also based on the allowance of 300 working days for 

 teams, per year — five days for each team to make a trip to and from 

 Detroit, and 60 trips a year. It is also assumed th^ half a ton of coke 

 of a quality to be used for the various puiposes for which it is profitable 

 to substitute it, in the place of other fuel, is worth not less than^ twelve 

 and a half cents per bushel at Detroit, and as a general rule, one ton of 

 coal will produce 30 bushels of coke. 



In addition to what I have before said of the probable demand for 

 coke, I will here introduce a paragraph from one of the public papei-s, 

 of recent date. It is as follows : 



" We see il stated that witliin the last year 300,000 tons of coal were 

 transported from Philadelphia to Lake Erie, via Albany and Buffalo." 



This of coui-se must have been anthracite coal, sent up to supply the 

 demand for blast furnaces chiefly. This inference is palpable, because 

 the cost would not justify its use for any other than manufacturing* pur- 

 poses, and because no other coal comes from Philadelphia, and there is 

 an abimdant supply of bituminous coal on Lake Erie, at Erie and 

 Cleveland. It is conclusive of another fact, that such bitiuninous coal 

 •will not produce coke of a quality to be substituted in the place of an- 

 thi-acite coal. The bituminous coal of Michigan produces coke quite 

 equal in quality to the best coke used in blast funiaces and locomotives 

 in Eno-land. 



To exhibit the increasing importance and consumption of coke, I sub- 

 join extracts from a recent able work on the subject of a portion of the 

 Collieries of England, by Matthias Dunn, Government Mine Inspector, 

 for Durham, Northumberland, Cmnberland and Scotland : 



'' Of late years a new and important trade has been opened for the 

 small co^l, in the formation of coke, for the use of locomotive engines, 

 iron works, breweries, <fec., at home, as well as for general consumption 

 abroad. Indeed, so rapid and important has been the increase of this 

 trade that some collieries have erected an apparatus for ciiishing their 

 large coal into small, the further to effect the production of coke. Of 

 couree the erection of coking ovens in that case becomes contingent; 

 and these consist of a succession of domes of various forms, which are 



