194 FREDERICK EDWARD SAWARD 



the springs of the Alleghenics, which is of the greatest im- 

 portance in coke making, as it requires large volumes of pure 

 water to produce a first class article of coke. 



Within the outlines of this coking coal field there are three 

 important towns, or rather, young cities, viz.: Uniontown, 

 the county seat of Fayette county, Connellsville, and Scott- 

 dale. There are also a score or so of smaller places, all of 

 which are to a great extent the result of the development of 

 the coking industry. 



The Connellsville coking field proper is of limited area 

 and extends from a point near Latrobe, on the Pennsylvania 

 railroad, in a southwesterly direction through Westmoreland 

 and Fayette covmties, a distance of 42 miles, almost to the 

 Virginia line, with an average width of 3J miles, covering 

 an area of 147 square miles. 



There are in operation in this region 89 plants, embracing 

 20,263 coke ovens, all of which are of the bee hive type, ex- 

 cepting 50 Semet-Solvay ovens, which are being operated 

 by the Dunbar Furnace company, of Dunbar, Pa., for the 

 production of coke and the recovery of the by-products. 

 The ovens in blast produce coke at the rate of 225,000 tons 

 of coke per week, or al)Out 13,000,000 tons per annum. 



In the Connellsville coke region proper there are quite 

 a number of new plants under construction. In addition to 

 this, there are a number of plants in what is known as the 

 Klondike region, which is just outside the limits of the Con- 

 nellsville field proper to the southwest. 



The growth of the Connellsville coking industry has been 

 phenomenal. Mr. M. M. Cochran, president of the Washing- 

 ton Coal and Coke company, of Fayette county. Pa., whose 

 extensive operations are located upon a tract of land formerly 

 owned by George Washington, from which fact they take their 

 firm title, and whose father, Mr. Mordecai Cochran, was the 

 real father of the Connellsville coke industry, has given me 

 the following concise statement of its inception: 



''Mordecai Cochran, in the year 1843, built two boats on 

 the banks of the Youghiogheny river near Dawson, Fayette 

 county. Pa. During the course of their erection, he made 

 an arrangement with Sample Cochran and James Cochran 



