Senator HOLLAND. How big a town is Pikeville? Mr. SCOTT. Pikeville has a population of around 8,500, and it is one of the largest counties in Kentucky. Senator WITHERS. It is the largest. Mr. Scorт. That is right. Senator WITHERS. What other towns are there up the Levisa and the Tug and Big Sandy besides Pikeville? Mr. SCOTT. Starting at Catlettsburg, the principal towns would be Louisa, Prestonburg, Allen, which is an awfully large business center and transports an awful lot of coal. I missed Paintsville in there. Senator WITHERS. What size place is Paintsville? Mr. SCOTT. Around 9,000 or 9,500. Senator WITHERS. Is there a good deal of timber in the mountains there? Mr. ScoTT. Yes; there is an awful lot of timber. Senator WITHERS. Do you have limestone rock up there? Mr. SCOTT. There is plenty and there are other minerals that I am not acquainted with to mention. I have heard them spoken of. Senator WITHERS. Do you know anything about the iron ore deposits? Mr. SCOTT. I have been told there are great amounts of iron ore deposits in our county and in the area around there. Senator WITHERS. I think that is all. Mr. SCOTT. I have statements here from other coal operators that I would like to file. Senator HOLLAND. By whom, please, sir? Just list them and we will admit them. Mr. SCOTT. By Virginia-Frances Elkhorn Coal Co., of Martin, Ky. Senator HOLLAND. It will be admitted. Senator WITHERS. That is one of your large coal companies? Mr. SCOTT. They are a large coal producer. This is from the Lawco Coal Co., of Ashland, Ky. Senator HOLLAND. All right; it is admitted. Mr. SCOTT. Acme Elkhorn Coal Co., of Martin, Ky. Senator HOLLAND. It is admitted. Mr. SCOTT. The Gilley Elkhorn Coal Co., of Martin, Ky. Senator HOLLAND. It is admitted. (The documents referred to above are as follows:) SENATE PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. MARTIN, KY. GENTLEMEN: I own and operate several coal mines in Floyd County, Ky. In the last 8 months my mines have been operating at less than 60 percent of capacity and it is my belief that if the Big Sandy River were canalized my mines would operate at full capacity. Because my mines are expensive to operate, and the fact that the mines on the Kanawha River are able to deliver their coals to my customers at about $1.50 per ton less than I can due to the saving in freight, it is my opinion that all the coal operators in the Big Sandy Valley are facing the same problem that I am. I urgently request that you give favorable consideration to the proposed canalization of the Big Sandy River. Yours very truly, GILLEY ELKHORN COAL CO., By CHARLES GILLEY, Manager. Mr. VIRGIL CHAPMAN, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. MARTIN, KY., July 8, 1949. DEAR SENATOR CHAPMAN: We are very much interested in the canalization of the Big Sandy River's tributaries-Levisa Fork and Tug River Fork. The canalization of the Levisa Fork would afford us with cheaper transportation for our coal and enable us to compete with other fields which now have water transportation. We have only one means of transportation and suffer a penaltyor, as the railroad calls it a differential-so severe we cannot compete in price. We trust that you will do everything in your power in our behalf as well as the people of the Big Sandy Valley. Thanking you, we are Very truly yours, Dr. W. O. THOMPSON, ACME ELKHORN COAL Co., By R. M. HALL, Partner. Chairman, Big Sandy Improvement Association, LAWCO COAL CO., Ashland, Ky., July 9, 1949. Pikeville, Ky. DEAR MR. THOMPSON: I have noted your good work in behalf of the proposed canalization of the Big Sandy and Tug River-and wish to bring up a point that I think has been more or less overlooked. This is the huge possible tonnage of strip coal that would, without doubt, come out of these valleys if river traffic were provided. The writer has been stripping in the Ashland, Ky., and Louisa, Ky., areas, and has shipped well over one-half million tons of coal from these areas in the past several years. Had the Louisa, Ky., area stripping project been favored with water traffic that operation would still be running. I have considered a number of other projects in the Big Sandy field, but lack of loading facilities and high freight rates have been the deciding negative influence in each proposal. I might emphasize here that the tonnage of strip coal that would come out of the Big Sandy area alone would be immense if canalization were provided. I would estimate it from what I have seen, and what I have heard from others that have viewed the field, that this area would ship at least 7,000,000 tons a year. That figure might be multiplied as it is most conservative. Stripping is a fast coal-removal operation, and the majority of the coal removed in this area would be coal that would possibly never be mined. This is possible because the strip coal is taken out at a faster rate, and lower cost. Because of this it can be sent to distant power plants and huge users of other types, and sold on a B. t. u. basis. This, if transportation rates are not too high. The coal ordinarily comes from a top seam of not too good a grade. The grade of this coal, its height, lack of a good top, etc., often make the possibility of mining it a border-line or impossible project. It is my honest opinion that the strip coal alone that might be removed from the Big Sandy and Tug River areas, coal that might possibly never be removed by ordinary mining methods, could easily pay for the project over a conservative number of years. This for your general information. LAWCO COAL CO., By: CHAS. E. YATES. Hon. VIRGIL CHAPMAN, VIRGINIA-FRANCES ELKHORN COAL Co., United States Senate, Washington, D. C. The experience of this company in competing markets with coal from the West Virginia fields has been unfavorable. We cannot get our coal to the market without paying excessive freight rates and the West Virginia field enjoys water transportation as well as cheaper freight (rail) rates. We feel that if we were afforded water transportation we would be able to compete and give our employees more working time and thereby keeping them in this field instead of them migrating to West Virginia fields where steady working time in the mines is offered. The people of eastern Kentucky are entitled to relief as very little has heretofore been afforded by our Federal Government other than direct relief and we trust that we shall never have to see the day that direct relief will have to be given by the Government. We trust that you will do everything possible to get favorable consideration from the Public Works Committee and passage of the canalization project. Very truly yours, VIRGINIA-FRANCES ELKHORN COAL CO., By RAY R. ALIEN, Owner. Mr. SCOTT. Then my statement filed through the House committee. Senator HOLLAND. Has that been filed in the House committee? Mr. SCOTT. Yes, sir. Senator HOLLAND. We will accept that, but if the clerk finds it has been printed in the record before, it will be referred to in the record here but not reprinted. (The statement referred to above is printed on p. 92 of the House hearings.) Mr. SCOTT. I have some coal analyses to show what quality coal we do have up in the coal field I am speaking of. One is from Stephens Elkhorn Coal Co. and the other is from Caney Elkhorn Coal Co. of Prestonburg, Ky. Senator HOLLAND. Do these statements show what amounts of annual production there are by that particular company? Mr. SCOTT. No; this is only an analysis of the coal. It shows the grade of the coal at these particular mines, and the analysis breaks it down into moisture, ash, volatile, fixed carbon, B. t. u., and sulfur. Senator HOLLAND. They will be received. (The documents above referred to are as follows:) PRESTONSBURG COAL-TESTING LABORATORY OFFICE AND LABORATORY, PRESTONSBURG, KY. Phone 5001 Mayo Trail COAL ANALYSES Sulfur-B. t. u.-Fusion Size Content Test and Sampling Volatile Matter-Fixed Carbon Report of analyses Material: Coal. Chem. Lab. No. Container No. 1, sample No. 1. Sampled by: Yourselves. Date: September 30, 1948. Analysis requested by Mr. Stephens. Weight of sample: 25 pounds. Date received in laboratory: September 30, 1948. COMMERCIAL TESTING & ENGINEERING Co., Name: Caney Elkhorn Coal Co. Sample identification by yourselves. Kind of coal reported to us your letter January 15, 1948. Analysis report, laboratory No. C-92785-Proximate analysis Fusion temperature of ash: 2,220° F. (softening temperature). U. S. B. of M. and A. S. T. M. definition. Free swelling index: No. 5. COMMERCIAL TESTING & ENGINEERING Co., Senator HOLLAND. Have you filed in either record, over there or here, the amount of coal produced by these various companies in these areas? Mr. SCOTT. No, sir; I have not. Senator HOLLAND. Is there any record that would be easily obtainable to add to this showing here? Mr. SCOTT. I do not believe I understood your question at first there. I do not have that available. Senator WITHERS. Can you get it? Mr. SCOTT. I can get it and mail it to you when I return home. Senator WITHERS. That is fine. Senator HOLLAND. I suggest, Senator, you get it through whoever can best produce it, covering the coal companies operating in this area, and let us have it for the area. Senator WITHERS. That will be the ones you have listed that are asking for the canalization. Mr. Scorт. All right. Senator WITHERS. Do you know who they are? Mr. SCOTT. Yes, I do. I would like to get a list of them. Senator WITHERS. Take a list of them. (The data referred to above are shown on p. 783.) Mr. Scort. I would like also to say that at first when I sat down, I stated I was a member of the Big Sandy Coal Association. I under stand that they have put in a resolution opposing the canalization up there. I am a member of it and a small coal producer, you might say, although we have an awful lot of money invested in our mines. We have mechanical mines and most of our others are mechanically operated but small tonnage; and in voting in the association the votes only count to the amount of tonnage that you produce. So the people I have put in here are for this canalization 100 percent, and I do think it is very vital to the coal industry and to the preserv ing of our natural resources. You take the men who are operating now. Most of them, I would say at least part of them, are operating with mechanical and cleaning equipment. Senator WITHERS. Do you know whether some of those mines are captive mines? Mr. SCOTT. Most of the larger ones are. I should explain. If we should have to stop our mining operation now, the rooms that we gather and load our coal in and tram it over the main, I would say not more than 5 percent of the coal has been gotten out of the hill, and if we should have to stop now, all of this coal would never be gotten because it would be too hazardous to go back there to the mines after a year or so and reopen them. You would have to close that and you could not get into those rooms or those entries on account of the dangerous condition, and you would lose millions of tons of coal that could be mined there if we had a chance to go ahead and have an equal chance on freight conditions and waterways, to mine and meet competition. There is now 47 cents freight differential which the coal buyers are throwing at us awfully hard. One talked to me sometime ago and said, "I can give you an order for coal if you will absorb the 47 cents freight differential." We did not talk with him and refused it, but the coal operators in the Big Sandy Valley and the Tug Valley not on the waterway, are having an awful time. We are really operating and breaking even. What will happen to the men and the operators I do not know unless something is done for the operators and business in general in the Big Sandy Valley. Senator HOLLAND. When you used the term "captive mines," you meant mines belonging to the steel companies and producing only for those companies? Mr. SCOTT. Yes; I would say those operators would have the biggest tonnage. you. Senator WITHERS. That is all, thank STATEMENT OF CHARLES GILLEY, PIKEVILLE, KY. Mr. GILLEY. I am Charles Gilley, of Pikeville, Ky. I operate a coal mine and also a small oil-refining plant. You are crowded for time, and I would like permission to file this report that I have. Senator WITHERS. What is the tonnage of your mine? Mr. GILLEY. My tonnage is about 300 tons that are shipped, about 7 not shipped. Senator WITHERS. You want to file your statement? Mr. GILLEY. Yes. Senator HOLLAND. It will be received. (The statement above referred to is as follows:) SENATE PUBLIC WORKS COmmittee, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. GENTLEMEN: The great coal industry is, at present, the major industry of the Big Sandy Valley. It employs 40,000 men in the valley and its pay roll totals $100,000,000. It produced 40,000,000 tons in 1948. Its interests are valleywide. Therefore, "Whatever affects the valley and its welfare, affects this great industry." |