be met with, being from the actual cost of carrying over nine millions of tons over ninety-three miles of road, during a period which takes in the extremes of high and low prices of labor and materials. Adopting Mr. Steele's results as the basis of our calculations, and estimating the interest on the capital employed at 8 per cent. per annum, (which is as low as railroad investments are usually obtained,) we find the cost of transporting coal, per ton, from Mt. Carbon, (or the junction of your Road with the Mine Hill Railroad) to New York, by the connection proposed by your Road, as follows: By Schuylkill Haven and Lehigh River R. R.-32 miles of 20 ft. grade, Charge for change of Motive Power, 16,00 10,00 59,28 By Lehigh Valley Railroad, 38 miles level, transporting 1,000,000 tons 28,50 Interest on capital, 3,000,000, @ 8 per cent. on 1,000,000 tons, an- 24,00 Charge for change of Motive Power, By New Jersey Central Railroad.-63 miles of 22 ft. grade, transporting 56,70 26,67 83,37 3,60 $2,08,75 Present charges by Schyl. Navigation and Delaware and Raritan canal 2,60 51,25 $2,75 Charges via your Road, &c. 2,08,75 Difference in favor of your Road, Difference in favor of your Road, &c., 66,25 Neither of the above avenues pays dividends which will admit of a reduction from present charges; whilst the difference above in favor of your Road and its connections, is based upon a dividend of eight per cent. per annum to the Stockholders of your Road, and to the Stockholders of the connecting roads. The only competitor which your Road can possibly have for the coal trade of the Schuylkill region, is the proposed Auburn and Allentown Railroad; and as the advocates of that line have initiated a comparison of the two lines, it cannot be considered out of place for us, to briefly continue the comparison.— By that road the distance appears to be about three miles less to Allentown (by using the Reading Railroad,) than by your Road. Its construction will cost double the amount of your Road, it will have an additional change of motive power, and the inconvenience of using ten miles of road whose interests are directly opposed to it. The present charge for transporting coal over these ten miles, as appears from the published rates, is one dollar and twenty cents per ton, or forty per cent. more than the entire charges by your Road to Allentown, which will yield your stockholders eight per cent. upon their investment. Is there any probability of the charge upon these ten miles of the Reading Roailroad being reduced, to divertits own tonnage to a rival road? Admitting that the charge upon the portion of the Reading Road used, will be only what the experience of the last five years has demonstrated to be the actual cost, and adding its proportion of interest,-the cost of transportation to Allentown will compare as follows: Cost of transporting coal per ton, from Mt. Carbon to Allentown, by Schuylkill Haven and By Schl. Haven & Lehigh River Railroad-32 miles of 20 feet grade- 16,00 Charge for change of motive power, 10,00 59,28 By Lehigh Valley Railroad-21 miles of level road-transporting 1,000,000 Interest on road and machinery, $3,000,000, @ 8 per cent. on 1,000,- 15,75 11,00 26,75 86,08 Coals and Collieries. Cost of transporting coal per ton from Mt. Carbon to Allentown, by Reading Railroad and By Reading Railroad-10 miles of level road, transporting 2,000,000 tons per annum, @ 6, 09 ct. Interest of $19,000,000 @ 8 per cent.-on 2,000,000 tons,-75-100 cts. 6,90 Charge for change motive power 8,44 10,00 25,34 By Auburn and Allentown Railroad,-40 miles of 12 ft. grade, transporting 500,000 tons per annum, @ 96-100 cents, 38,48 Interest on road and machinery, $2,000,000 @ 8 per cent. on 500,000 82,00 tons Charge for change of motive power 10,00 80,48 105,82 Difference in favor of Schuylkill Haven and Lehigh River Railroad 19-79 cts. per ton. This difference is sufficient to establish the superiority of your Road, and will place it beyond the reach of rivarly as an avenue for Schuylkill coal to the Eastern markets. How will your Road compare in cost of transporting coal with the new Cost of transporting coal per ton from Scranton to New York, Cost by Schuyl Haven and Lehigh River, Lehigh Valley and N. Jersey Cents. 188,15 64,00 26,67 $2,73 82 2,08 75 Difference in favor of your Road and its connections, of 65-07 cts. per tons. The above comparisons show that by the construction of the thirty-one miles of Railroad from the Schuylkill to the Lehigh, which your act of incorporation covers-Schuylkill coal can be placed in the New York market in twenty-four hours from the time it is taken from the mines,-at all seasons of the year, at a saving of from fifty to seventy cents per ton on the cost of transportation, and pay fair dividends to your stockholders, and to the stockholders of the connecting roads. They show that by the construction of your Railroad, Schuylkill coal can command the Eastern markets in competition with the coal from any other region, and leave handsome profits in the pockets of our coal operators. They also show the importance of the short and inexpensive link of railroad yet to be constructed to realize these advantages to the coal trade both at home and abroad. The foregoing remarks will suggest the following conclusions: That your Road will admit of as favorable grades, and have a less distance of road to construct, than any other outlet for Schuylkill coal to the Eastern markets. That it will connect directly with the coal-carrying roads of the coal region, and will be entirely clear of any opposing interests. That it can be constructed for less than one half the cost of any other road having similar connections. That it is the most favorable connecting line for the Lehigh Valley Railroad to secure the Schuylkill coal trade, and will be one of its most important tributaries. That it has an abundance of business both at present and for the future, to warrant its construction and ensure its stockholders ample dividends. That the distance by your Road from the coal mines of Schuylkill county to Eastern markets is much less than by any existing line. That it can transport coal at much less than present rates on existing lines, and pay dividends. That it can transport coal at less rates than any other proposed Railroad for connecting the Schuylkill aud Lehigh, and pay dividends. That it can place Schuylkill coal in the Eastern markets on more favorable terms than Lackawanna coal can be placed there by the new avenues for that coal, and pay dividends. That it will be a vast benefit to the Coal Trade of Schuylkill county,-and All of which is respectfully submitted for your consideration. Schuy'l Haven, Nov. 15, '56. NEW CREEK COAL COMPANY. The Philadelphia Journal, in announcing the suspension of coal operations by the New Creek Coal Company says: We are informed that the New Creek estate will probably find its reanimation in the iron manufacture. Never was a locality more favorable. Besides the juxtaposition of ores, fuel and fluxes, so highly valued by iron men, the position is midway between the Atlantic and the Ohio, right in the line of connection with the leading railways of the State, which would seem to secure enough demand, at prices which tariffs would little affect for a large production. It is expected that the company will put up one experimental furnace soon, and be guided by the results. This will be a safe and economical mode of proceeding, and will be more creditable to the company than a masterly inactivity, which will be a consuming moth upon its effects. The market value of this stock is $1 for $10 par. Its indebtedness is chiefly in six per cent. bonds, of which less than $100,000 have been issued. For there is no market whatever, because they are not known, and they are mostly held quietly by its friends and shareholders. Their coal property is held in trust for its redemption by wealthy and reliable citizens here, who are known to our community. The value of the stock depends entirely on the management. If the iron business be not undertaken, or if, being tried, it shall fail of success, we must look beyond into the regions of new discovery for means to give it value. BRECKENRIDGE COAL COMPANY'S WORKS. Extensive fire-proof works have been erected at an expenditure of $60,000, capable of containing thirty retorts, with the necessary tanks, stills, &c., for refining the crude oil. Of these, twelve retorts have been in operation for some months, and the remaining eighteen are ready. The operations of the Company have been very much embarrassed by the unusually low stage of water in the Ohio River, which, by entirely suspending navigation, has detained the additional stills of the Company at Louisville, and prevented the shipments of oil. The Company have now on hand 45,000 gallons crude oil and 5,000 gallons of refined, and are manufacturing at the rate of 6,000 gallons per week. The accumulation of crude oil is occasioned by the want of the stills detained at Louisville by low water. When these stills arrive, and the remaining eighteen retorts are brought into use, the product of the Company will be 15,000 gallons crude or 13,000 gallons refined oil per week. This would give 780,000 gallons, or 19,500 bbls. per annum. The substances obained by the distillation of each ton of this coal are, burning and lubricating oils, benzole, naphtha, parafine and residuum of asphaltum. The coke left after the operation is used for fuel under the retorts and stills, and is ample for that purpose. Every ton of coal produces 70 gallons of crude, 70 gallons of refined oil.-N. Y. Tribune. IRON AND ZINC. STATEMENT, Exhibiting the quantity and value of all importations of Iron and Steel, and Manufactures of Iron, and of Iron and Steel, into the United States during the six months ending December 81, 1855. This peculiar change in wrought iron, is a subject well worthy the most careful examination, at this time when wrought iron is every day becoming more and more used. That certain causes produce a change in the iron by which its strength is greatly diminished, and its fibrous quality destroyed, without any perceptible external change, the observations both in England and France leave us no room to doubt; and it is of the last importance, that these causes should be well defined, and if possible, the time during which wrought iron can be subjected to them without incurring risk of fracture, determined by observation and experiment. The fracture of axles of locomotives and cars is not uncommon, and many lives have been destroyed by this accident, which has frequently happened in the ordinary working of the road, without any increase in the average load or speed, and without any previous sign of weakness. The experiments published show that when subjected to shocks and torsions wrought iron has a tendency to assume a crystalline state, and become brittle: this change may also be produced by magnetism and heat, and by the process of manufacture. Mr. Hood, at a meeting of the Institution of Civil Engineers in England, stated that a large anchor, which had been in store for more than a century at Woolwich Dock, and was supposed to be made of extremely good iron, had been recently tested as an experiment, and had broken instantly with a comparatively small strain. The fracture presented large crystals. In this case, Mr. Hood believed that this effect was produced by magnetic influences dependent on the length of time the iron had been in the same position. Mr. Low stated that at the gas works under his direction, wrought iron fire bars, though more expensive, were generally preferred. A pan of water was kept beneath them, the steam from which would speedily cause them to become magnetic. He had frequently seen these bars, when thrown down, break into three pieces, with a large crystalline fracture. The same change may be produced in any piece of wrought iron by heating and rapidly cooling it by dipping it in water for a few times. This change is also often produced in iron by hammering it when below a welding heat, and in forging intricate pieces of iron-work, the ends have frequently been jarred off while the other were being hammered. The larger the piece of iron is, the more difficult it is to keep it at an uniform heat, and the more likely this change is to take place; and we have lately learned from an English paper, that "Mr. Nasmyth's wrought iron gun has proved a complete failure; and this, not on account of the mechanical difficulties which had to be encountered-formidable as they were-but from an unexpected peculiarity in the material employed, when brought together in so large a mass as was necessary for Mr. Nasmyth's purpose. It seems that wrought iron, so tractable under all ordinary conditions of working, cannot be welded together in very large masses without undergoing a change in its molecular arrangement, exceedingly injurious to its tenacity. As we understand the explanation we have received on this point, an immense mass of iron, like that which Mr. Nasmyth has welded together, continues so long in an incandescent and soft state, that a process analogous to crystallization takes place within its substance, whereby the fibrous texture, from which it derives its tenacity is destroyed, and it becomes even less capable than cast iron of resisting the explosion of a heavy charge of gunpowder. We understand that, in addition to the unfavorable result obtained by Mr. Nasmyth at Patricroft, another experiment of a similar nature, made under the direction of government, has proved a complete failure from the peculiarity in the material to which we have alluded; and a large gun which had been completed was found utterly unfit for use. Indeed, we believe it burst into many pieces on the first trial. Mr. Nasmyth's experiment has consequently been abandoned." The explosion of the large wrought iron gun on board the United States ship Princeton, some years since, was doubtless owing to the same cause. Concussion alone, if long continued, will produce this change. A sinall bar of good tough iron was suspended and struck continually with small hand hammers, so as to keep up a constant vibration. The bar, after this experiment had been continued for some considerable time, became so exceedingly brittle, that it entirely fell to pieces, under the light blows of the hand hammers, presenting throughout its structure a highly crystalline appearance. The cold hammering of railway axles sometimes produces crystallization in the same manner as in the experiment just cited. In order to test this, Mr. Nasmyth subjected two pieces of cable bolt iron to one hundred and sixty blows between sways, and afterwards annealed one of the pieces for a few hours. The unannealed piece broke with five or six blows of the hammer, showing a crystalline fracture, while the annealed piece was bent double under a great number of blows, and exhibited a fine fibrous texture. The shocks which the axles of road vehicles experience in use sometimes occasion this change, though the process must be very slow, when compared with that of railway axles. The wheels of cars and locomotives being fixed to the axle, and the axle rotating is much more liable to this change from various causes. Where the wheel is of cast iron, the different vibrations of the two different materials seem to facilitate this change, and in this country, where cast-iron car wheels are to a great extent used, the fracture generally takes place close to the wheel. Owing to the rapid rotation of the axles they become highly magnetic, and there seems to be a close connection between magnetisin and crystallization. The presence of steam seems to have an influence in producing this change, owing perhaps to the development of electricity, and this may have a great effect upon the axles of locomotives. The severe winters of New England, as well from the action of frost on |