55 Lb.= 1 bushel of coal. The oldtime retail yards in
the big cities sold coal by the bushel. They weighed
it and converted the weight into bushels. It was just
like they do at grain elevators. The coal was not sold
in baskets, like apples. Yes, coal was sold on a brand
name basis, and it certainly was not all the
same,(read more about this in BB#35). The only bagged
coal was eastern coal of a very high quality. It was
known in the trade as "smithing coal", because it was
once used in blacksmith forges.
John D. Mitchell, Jr.
--- Myron & Lois Dudenbostel <myroloi@e...>
wrote:
> Jon:
> I am from southern Illinois and worked in and
> around the coal mines since
> I was 19. In 1955 I would been about 8 years old.
> We burned coal, if you
> went to the mine to get it you would back a truck
> under a shut or a conveyor
> to get loaded. At Sparta, IL there was a coal yard
> and depending on the
> size of coal it was either loaded with tractor with
> a bucket on it, or if
> was in a hopper car they had a conveyor built under
> the tracks to unload the
> car which had to be moved whenever part of the car
> was empty.
> This brings back many memories and now that I
> think about it I believe
> this is where the my grand mother must have gotten
> the green coal. This
> coal yard operator would buy the coal where he could
> get it the cheapest and
> I know he did by Old Ben coal from time to time.
> I have never seen coal in a bag. It was always sold
> by the ton when you
> went to the mine or coal yard to get it. Now my
> grand mother always said she
> bought so many bushels, I have no idea how much a
> bushel of coal is. This
> was from a coal peddler he may have had a bushel
> basket. I was very young
> then.
> The company that I worked for sold their coal
> under Burning Star Coal
> name. Not all coal is the same except that it is
> black and dirty. The
> quality very from mine to mine.
> Myron Dudenbostel
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jon Bratt" <jkbratt@w...>
> To: <BRHSlist@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Friday, February 28, 2003 11:18 PM
> Subject: Re: [BRHSlist] Green Marked Coal
>
>
> > Was this "Green marked coal" sold as home heating
> fuel and in what region
> of the country? Would there be competing coal brands
> in the same area as
> gasoline is today? Or was it more like LP fuel is
> today where the product
> and brand are the same? Is this a type of coal which
> would be delivered in
> bags in boxcars or in bulk in hoppers? Thanks for
> the interesting info on
> this subject, it will make the delivery of coal on
> my 1955 era layout more
> accurate.
> > Jon Bratt
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: John D. Mitchell, Jr.
> > To: list BRHS
> > Sent: Friday, February 28, 2003 9:42 PM
> > Subject: [BRHSlist] Green Marked Coal
> >
> >
> > I have a couple of comments about Green marked
> Coal.
> > The roots of the color, that Old Ben used, is
> the fact
> > that the Buchanan family, which had the
> controlling
> > interest in the company, was Irish. In the East,
> the
> > Berwind-White Coal Co. used white paint to mark
> their
> > coal and the Blue Diamond Coal Co. used blue
> paint.
> > The "Green Marked Coal" marketing campaign was a
> > company legend, at Old Ben.
> > John D. Mitchell, Jr.
> >
> >
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