Coal Age Magazine - For nearly 100 years, Coal Age has been the magazine that readers can trust for guidance and insight on this important industry.
Issue link: https://coal.epubxp.com/i/82345
1930-1939 industry as a whole. But the government was also, through the creation of the largely coal burning Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), beginning to become an even larger cus- tomer of the coal industry as well. Nearly all sides were grateful for the economic stability the New Deal was successful in fostering. World War II officially began in Europe in September 1939 with Germany's invasion of Poland and France, and England's subse- quent declaration of war against the Nazis. Though the U.S. would remain officially neutral until December 7, 1941, in the November issue Coal Age's editors shrewdly published a piece on export potentials and the possibility of a major export boom to come. Though the U.S. tops all other nations in coal reserves, it was not an exporter. Exports to Europe rose to an all-time high in 1920 and 1926 of roughly 13.1 million and 14.1 million tons, by 1939, the U.S. only exported a woeful 10,000 tons excluding Canada. And in 1934 not a single cargo was cleared for European ports. Surface Mining in the Late 1930s— Bigger, More Efficient As the overall economy stabilized, produc- ers were once again able to enjoy the economies of scale realized through surface mining. Both anthracite and bituminous produc- ers marked up additional gains in 1935 "by the installation of either larg- er excavating units or dippers and the exten- sion of trailer haulage and in anthracite by a still greater reliance on this form of mining for the recovery of either virgin or partly mined coal near the surface. An increase in the size of equipment used characterized progress in the anthracite region also," reported the editors in the February 1936 issue. In the bitumi- nous fields, there were Getting a load of about 75 tons of coal in the Tiger pit. This butane-electric trac- tor and semi-trailer, rated at 80 tons, has just turned in the space in front of the loading shovel. *Coal Age, August 1939 installations of 20 and 32-cu yd dippers at new operations in Indiana and Illinois. New advances in semi-trailer haulage allowed mines to dispense with the higher costs of temporary rail tracks and loading. With oil prices low, haul trucks were becoming inte- gral components in surface mining. 15- to 25-ton bottom dump trailer units powered by new Mack trucks were put in service throughout mines in the Midwest that year. At some operations, like the Enos Coal Mining Co. in southwestern Indiana, eight trailer units displaced six steam locomo- tives. "Transportation, however, takes place in two-stages, the trailers hauling to a dump- ing station at the mouth of the pit, where the coal is discharged into standard-gage rail- road cars for movement to the preparation August 2012 100th Anniversary Special Issue www.coalage.com 75