SHIPMENTS FROM BREAKERS, WASHERIES, AND DREDGES, 1800-1983 The shortage of anthracite and of bituminous coal created by the strike of 1922 led to favorable prices for the steam sizes of anthracite and caused an increase in the quantity of washery coal in 1923. As shown in Figure 54 and Table 125 the shipments from washeries 80 Great strike FIGURE 54.-Anthracite shipped from breakers, washeries, and dredges, 1890-1923. (Includes Sullivan County.) have been exceeded but three times in recent years-namely, in 1917, 1918, and 1920. Attention has already been called to the facts that the figures of "washery product" are somewhat less than the quantity of coal recovered from culm banks and that some culmbank coal is prepared in the breakers and here appears in the breaker shipments. Fresh mined TABLE 125.-Anthracite shipped from breakers, washeries, and dredges, 1890–1993, in gross tons a • Includes shipments from Sullivan County, except for 1891 to 1896, for which data are not available. In recent years, at least, a considerable tonnage of culm-bank coal has been handled in the breakers, so that the figures of shipments from washeries are less than the sales of culm-bank coal. TREND OF SHIPMENTS BY SIZES The relative proportions of the domestic and steam sizes shipped from one year to the next (fig. 55) depend largely on the state of the steam-coal market. The high tide of the shipments of the steam sizes came in 1918, when 31.5 per cent of the total dispatched from the anthracite region consisted of sizes smaller than pea. In 1921, on the contrary, depression in the steam-coal market caused the proportion to drop to 25.1 per cent, the lowest in many years. 1922 and 1923 the proportion of the steam sizes was again above the average-29.0 and 28.2 per cent respectively-a condition that reflects the active demand in the winter of 1922-23. For FIGURE 55.-Sizes of anthracite shipped from mines and washeries, 1890-1923. (Shipments from Sullivan County and dredges not included) TABLE 125.-Anthracite shipped from breakers and washeries, by sizes, 1890–1923 SHIPMENTS BY SIZES CLASSIFIED BY REGION AND BY METHOD OF PREPARATION In Tables 127 and 128 are summarized the reports of operators as to quantity of each size shipped, classified by region and by method of preparation. The Geological Survey has collected no statistics of the sizes produced and used for colliery fuel or sold to local trade, and hence the figures may not be taken to represent accurately the proportion of the several sizes in the current production. They do, however, show the relative quantity of each size placed upon the market. The great difference in the percentage of the prized domestic sizes in the breaker shipments as distinct from the washery shipments is brought out in Figure 56. Shipments of stove size constituted 19.6 per cent of the breaker shipments and only 2.9 per cent of the washery shipments in 1923, and the breaker percentage would doubtless be slightly higher if the culm-bank coal prepared in breakers and included in the breaker shipments could be eliminated. The value of the shipments by sizes and the average value of each size per ton are given in Table 127. FIGURE 56.-Percentage of each size in shipments of anthracite from breakers, washeries, and dredges, 1923. The large percentage of “other” shown by the dredges includes a big tonnage reported as "river coal." TABLE 127.-Anthracite shipped, 1913–1923, by sizes • Includes shipments of dredge coal. Formerly reported under the caption "Freshly mined coal." Includes a considerable tonnage of culm-bank coal handled in the breakers. 9786° 26 46 |