The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 23, 1898, Page 36

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, S AY, JANTUARY 23, 1898. a (. In a quiet nook in the Alameda|give them absolute control of the coal County hills, where the Black range |fields. Without attracting any great frowns darkly on the rolling hills that |amount of attention they bought up a tract of country six and a half miles| long by one and a half miles wide and began developing the deposits that they had found existed beyond the peradven- ture of & doubt. | The greatness that the proposition has assumed may be understood from the fact that nearly two millions of dol- stretch away toward the San Joaquin Valley, a new town has been born to California—one that is destined, and in fact is now, the greatest and most per- fect mining camp on the Pacific Coast. Te: for such is the name of the town, not strictly a camp, but as perfect a little town as it is possible to imagine, and its rise to the dignity of | lars have been spent in de\'eh)pmeut‘ being entitled to a place on the map is | and equipment work alone. By tunnel | almost as wonderful as the story of | ing and sinking shafts the most re- | that ce. The difference is Aladdin’s p: markable coal fields of the Pacific Coast it was conjured up by the use of | have been mapped out and competent | wealth and fertile brains, and not by | engineers have estimated that there | rubbing of a lamp. Heat and light are | are from eighteen to twenty million | the moving factors in the life of Tesla, | tons of coal already in sight. The de- however, for it is the home of the army | posits are as remarkable for their r~-g4; of men whe operate the immense coal | ylarity as for the extent of the deposits. | mine that gives the place its name. The main tunnel of the mine taps seven Up to a f short weeks ago Corral | coal measures that are known to. be | Hollow was the commonplace COgNo-|five and a half miles in length and | men of the hill-girt town, and itS|from one and a half feet to eleven feet | claim to being } as the habita- | i width. i the mining farm build- tion of men con: of s Their depth cannot be estimated, but plant, a few antiquated it is known to be great, for the shafts, ings, a scattering of tents on the hill- | 517694y down over five hundred feet, gides end beside the little stream that | gt gollow. clean coal and there o] meanders down the nSENOWIIRE- | Coer - sediin Ao ibotiore that B o ens of meat little cottages have been | pror¥ PERECE B0 B dred feet far. | built on streets laid o on the north ther. Old coal miners say that it is the most extraordinary deposit known on this Coast from the absolute unifor- mity in the distance between the meas- ures. Tunnels run into the hills show that the veins are at an exact distanc apart throughout the fleld and of uni form width and quality. R When the amount, extent and qual ity of the coal had been fully deter | mined, and the future of the property | assured, it was decided to form two in- | corporations, thé San Francisco and | San Joaquin Coal Company and the Ala meda and San Joaquin Railroad Com- pany—the first to further develop and equip the mines and the second to se- cure the transportation of its products to a market. Both were formed with a bank of the arroyo, a substantial hotel rears itself on the south bank, stores, a saloon, a hospital, lodging houses, shops and many other neat structures are rising like magic, apa Tesla pre- gents a far more animated appearance than hundreds of tow of ten times its ze. Nor are the building all or the| greatest of improvements. No finer or more complete electric lighting system was ever inaugurated, and eystem second to nome is racing with the buildings t pletion. Corral Hollow is a famous place in Caiifornia history as the headquarters of that notorious bandit, Joaquin Mu- rietts, who terrorized the San Joaquin a sewerage at present ard tom- ifiimi&’sN ewesk | coal @ & = FMining Town. spent in developing and equipping the i tages, ;all neat and comfortable. and | mine. Supplied with §0-ton locomotives of the most modernpattern anda fullcom- plement of up-to-date coal cars, the raflroad is capable of handling every ton of coal that the mine may produce in years to come. The company ac- quired heavy tracts of land at the junction of Mormon| and Stockton sloughs and erected substantial bunk- ers, capable of containing 1500 tons of coal. Thus equipped and in & posi- tion to handle any output of the mine, the owners went on developing the mine to a still greater extent before in- vading the coal market, where compe- tition is keen and competitors powerful. A few months ago it was decided to begin realizing on the vast resources of the mine and the system of mining at first in use and known as the “long wall” system was in several workings changed to the more modern ‘“breast and pillar” system. These two systems of mining coal— entirely different—are amply illustrated in the Tesla. In the “long wall” system the workings follow along the vein, the coal being entirely worked out after the vein is tapped. In the “breast and pillar” system, when the workings reach the vein, the is attacked immediately. Thirty feet of coal are dug out and then a pil- lar 20 feet along the vein is allowed to stand. Then another 30 feet of coal is taken out and another pillar left. When he end of the measure is reached, or or any reason work in that direction stopped, the pillars are removed, be- ginning from the end opposite the tun- nel. Thus everything that is taken out after the vein is tapped is a market- able commodity and no labor is wasted. From an output of fifty tons a day the product was gradually increased to seventy tons, then to one hundred tons, and so on until the present out- put has reached 250 tons a day. All of this comes out of the Eureka vein— | with modern appliances, were con- structed ‘and let to men of families at nominal rental. The miners being cared for, the next consideration wss for the strangers that might knock at the gates of Tesla, and a commodious two-story hotel was constructed. several rooms being set aside for the accommodation of the of- ficers of the company and their friends. Contracts have been let for a hospi- tal, in which Dr. Jump’s patients may be treated, for barber, tailoring and shoe shop, for a library, in which the men will be furnished with reading matter free of charge, and for a school house in which the twenty-five chil- dren of the camp may be educated. The county has agreed to furnish a schoolteacher to take charge of the | children. | Tesla’s latest acquisition is a post- office, which the Government (has signified that the name Tesla is satis- factory. The comfort of the miners and their bodily health receives the utmost con- sideration at the hands of the indomit- able Treadwells. On being hoisted out of the shaft all are at liberty to go to the washhouse, where hot and cold overhead pipes and soap Is found in abundance. is it from flredamp that the miners never think of using covered lights, but g0 about their work with open lamps. Their complaint is often that there is so much draft through the workings that their lights are blown out. In order to avoid the chance of sick- ness in the camp a perfect sanitary sewerage system has been laid out, of the creek with the main drain that carries the sewage to a point far below the town. agreed to place there, having already | 1 The greatest care has been taken in | constantly on the lookout the ventilation of the mine, and so free | connecting the buildings on both sides | Bunkers of the Tesla Mine Where the Coal Is Graded and the Refuse Removed by Japanese Pickers. The Three Big Stacks of the Power House Show to the Right Behind the Trest'e on Which the Cars Run From the Shaft to the Bunkers. water in liberal quantities flow from | their model, little town. Miners with families are at a pre- | fuse of the plant goes astray. mium in Tesla, and the company is for good, ty more are needed at once, and if found to be of the right stripe will be put to work at once. Superintendent Horswill has been connected with coal mining on the Pa- cific Coast as manager or owner for the past thirty years. His knowledge of the details of the business, as well as his judgment, are of a high order, and few who do not contribute to the of the mine remain long in steady men. Drunkenness in the camp is practi- cally unknown, the man having charge Valiey for many years when Stockton | was in its infancy and many other | towns that are now flourishing com- munities had not yet attained the dig- nities of name Amomg the canyons of the Black | range he made his hiding places and the cattle men who rounded up their herds in Corral Hollow during brand- ing time were constantly on the look- out for Murietta and his band of cut- | throats, who thought nothing of killing | three or four men for the mere lust of blood. Down the little valley that leads out of the hollow toward Stock- | ton, visitors are shown Castle Rock, where Murietta’s Jlookouts were sta- tioned to warn their leader when bands of grim, determined men rode up | the glen with rifles at “ready,” praying for a chance to get in the bullet that would rid California of the dreaded des- perado. | Corral Hollow was so named because | of Ceal. PRESENT END OF TUNNEL Main Tunnel of the Tesla Coal Mine, Showing How It Taps the Seven Veins That Already Show 20,000,000 Tons | The Remarkable Regularity of the Measures Is Also Shown. its precipitous sides made it a natural enclosure from which even the hardy | view of interesting local capital. While hill-bred cattle could scarcely escape | the coal company was constructing except toward the river. Its enduring | bunkers that would contain all the coal fame, however, rests on the immensity | that they might be called on to handle, of the coal deposits that have been dis- | the railroad company was constructing covered on its sides and on the fact that | a broad-gauge line to Stockton—thirty- the greatest electrician of the age had | six miles away—the best that has yet his name perpetuated by having the | peen built in California. place called after him | The stock of the coal company was | Eight years ago it came to the ears | divided into 50,000 shares at $100eachand of the Treadwell brothers, who located | the following officers were elected: and developed the great Treadwell| President, Henry Williams; vice- | mines in Alaska, that coal deposits ex- | president, John W. Coleman; direc- isted in Corral Hollow, which is about | tors—Henry Willlams, John W. Cole- twelve miles from Livermore. Be-|man, E. B. Pond, Jacob C. Johnson, lieving that such deposits would be of | James Treadwell, H. A. Williams and great value in such close proximity of | R. D. Fry. San Francisco, they began a quiet in- | The following officers were elected to | vestigation as to the extent and qual- | direct the affairs of the railroad com- ity of the coal. Becoming convinced |pany: President, R. D. Fry; vice-presi- that an inexhaustible supply of fuel ex- | dent, W. J. Bartnett; directors—R. D. isted In the Interior of the mountain | Fry, J. Dalzell Brown, B. M. Bradford they set about acquiring possession of |and W. J. Bartnett. the rights and properties that would | Up to this time over $800,000 had been 7. (L) S T O M M Portion of the A the largest of the seven—the product of the others not yet having been placed on the market. F. J. Horswill, perintendent, has assured the com- pany that the output can be increased | to 1000 tons a day within the near fy- ture and it has been decided to build a modern mining town to accommo- date the employes. Thus Tesla sprang into being, ‘the directors decreeing that such should be its name and also the name of the coal. The first consideration was ti~ care- ful housing of the men, and four large rooming houses were constructed. A fully equipped store, at which all goods used by miners can be purchased at the reigning prices of the region, was constructed; a saloon followed: a med- ical dispensary, with Dr. Jump, a com- petent physician, in charge, was built as an anpex to the store and then streets began to appear. Eighteen cot- recently made su-| Work never ceases at Tesla. During ‘;the hours of the night as well as while of the coal goes on, and while the coy- otes are howling across the hills and the good people of the nelghboring farms are fast asleep brawny arms are I\\'ié‘ldlnz pick and shovel and pouring | black diamonds into the cavernous | bunkers. Ten hours a day is the shift, | | { and the gang that quits work in the evening is immediately replaced by another containing an equal number of men, the twinkling lights of whose | 1amps go flitting up the hill when the warning®vhistle blows. Night and day are alike in the depths of the coal mine. Miners at Tesla are better paid than the average of their kind. Those who labor in the chutes and tunnels work by contract, 60 cents a ton being the | price paid them for their work. Many earn $100 a month or more, and a large majority seem happy and contented in T TEz— n l,q i i ? ity il L the sun {8 shining the ceaseless digging | . of the saloon being under strict in- structions to furnish no more liquor to A miner when once he begins to show signs of intoxication. So with quar- reling and fighting. Except during one hour on Saturday afternoon br. . .s and fisticuffs are frowned upon. During that hour the men are permitted to re- pair to a spot on the hills and there settle the differences that have led to their hard feeling. It is ecenerally, “Jack, you're the best man this day, but I'll see you again next week.” An excellent system that permits the men to get credit, previous to payday, has been inaugurated. When a man's | | | | | | Tesla. No product of the mine or re- Coal dust forms the fuel that generates power for the ponderous hoisting ma- chinery, cinders and waste rock fill in the inequalities of the ground or form walks on which the 1 iners may step dry shod, and nothing is allowed to go to waste. - The significance of the name of the new town lies in a matter t! has not been mentioned heretofore and one that rivals in importance the output of the mine itself. Estimates have al- ready been made for the erection of an | immense electrical plant that will gen- | erate from 25,000 to 30,000 horsepower. Wires capable of transmitting this vast force to Oakland, Alameda and San Francisco will be strung and power furnished to all who may be willing to buy. Electrical power now costs the aver- age consumer $120 per horsepower per | annum, but the company expects to be able, considering the small cost of the refuse coal that will be used to drive the plant, to furnish power at a greatly reduced cost. The transmission plant, including the wiring to San Francisco, wiil cost about $600,000, and contracts are already in sight that will pay in- terest on this large investntent. Another big project is the building of a number of manufacturing plants to manufacture various articles, where fuel and power are the main items of expense, in a large level area of the valley below the town. These plants will be situated between two shafts of the mine, so that fuel can be cheaply handled from either direction. Now in course of manufacture in the | eening East is a large washing and s plant that will be put in operation within the next three months. Its prin- ciple lies in the difference between the specific gravity of coal and refuse and in mines where such plants have been placed in operation they have been found to enhance the value of the fuel to a very appreciable extent. The water cleans and brightens the coal and at the same time throws out all “bone” and other foreign matter, saving the fuel.,even down to the dust. Though Tesla coal has only recently been put out in sufficient quantities to time card shows that he has worked | make any kind of a showing, it has al- three days, he is allowed to have a book of coupons, which are accepted in payment for goods at any of the establishments in the town. The book is charged to him at the end of the month. ready taken a strong hold on the lo- calities where it has been marketed. Stockton, Sacramento, San Jose and other interior points consume all of the present output of the mine and little, if any, has been sent to San Francisco. Economy is ever the watchword at| The larger amount that will be mined & New Town of Tesla. In the Foreground Are a Few of the Cottages That Have Been Built for the Accommodation of Background Appear Rooming-Houses in Which the Single Men Lodge. The Hotel Appears in the o | in the next few months will be sent to this city. The company has adopted the method of handling the product of its mine from the moment it is dug out of the vein until it passes into the hands of the consumer. Z Ground has been leased and contracts for buildings let in some interior towns as well as in the bay cities, and bright and energetic coalmen placed in charge. The profit of the middlemen, a no small item when large quantities of coal are handled, fs thus saved to the company, enabling the corporation to sell its pro- duct at a price that will make it a strong competitor. | Tesla coal is a superior lignite, mak- | ing a hot fire and forming very littla cinder, ash or smoke. It has been re- ported upon by a number of engineers and chemists and in all ecases the tests have been favorable. It was used by engineers in the employ of the South- ern Pacific Company and satisfactory results obtained. ‘W. R. Eckert, a well known mechan- ical engineer of this city, made a test of the coal at the Union Iron Works recent and the result of his in ti- gations are summed up in the closing paragraph of his report, which is as foliows: “The coal is of uniform qual- ity, burns freely, with hardly .2pv" clinkers, and should give good results as a commercial coal.” The practical experience of the man- ufacturers of Stockton is a still better criterion of the value of Tesla coal. It is burnead in the electric light and pow- er works of Stockton, and in a large number of flour mills and manufactur- ing plants, Those who have used it sufficiently long to aseertain how the | best results may be obtained In its use order it by the car load and will take no other. As a house coal it has also proved a success, and is destined to prove an important factor in the coal trade of | the Pacific Coast. An erroneous idea exists in the minds of many coal consumers that Tesla | coal is identical with the product of the Mount Diablo mines. Superintend- ent Horswill, who was connected with the Mount Diablo mines for years, states that nothing could be further from the truth. He says that beyond both being lignites there is little or no resemblance between the two coals, Tesla being infinitely superior in every particular. | He estimates that the product of the | Tesla mine is millions of years older than the Mount Diablo coal, and was formed at a period the coal of which has never before come to light in Cali~ fornia. | | the Men of Family, While in the Right Background and the Company Store in the Left Foreground.