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Monongahela River Consolidated Coal and Coke Company

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Monongahela River Consolidated Coal and Coke Company
IndustryRailroad and coal transportation company
PredecessorFormed by the merger of more than 80 independent coal mines and river transportation businesses in Kentucky and Pennsylvania
Founded1899 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
SuccessorMerged with the Pittsburgh Coal Company on December 24, 1915

The Monongahela River Consolidated Coal and Coke Company was a railroad and coal transportation company, founded in 1899 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[1][2] It was formed by merging more than 80 independent coal mines and river transportation businesses, both in Pennsylvania and Kentucky.[3] Initially, it had an agreement with the Pittsburgh Coal Company to ship its coal only by water, and not to compete with it by using rail transport, but the agreement was ended in 1902.[4] It merged with the Pittsburgh Coal Company on 24 December 1915.[5]

Mine, Railroad, and Incline

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The company had a 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge railroad and mine along Becks Run. The railroad was originally opened in 1878 (the same year that the mine opened) as a narrow gauge line by the H.B. Hays and Brothers Coal Railroad.[6]

Sprague

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One important part of the business was the riverboat Sprague, nicknamed Big Mama,[7] a steam powered sternwheeler towboat capable of pushing 56 coal barges at once. A model of the Sprague is in the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium in Dubuque, Iowa.

References

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  1. ^ "Death of Pioneer Coal Man Sunday". Daily Republican, Monongahela, Pennsylvania. 18 March 1912. Retrieved January 24, 2010.
  2. ^ "Coal Combine Effected" (PDF). New York Times. 1 October 1899.
  3. ^ Parker, Arthur (1999). The Monongahela : river of dreams, river of sweat. University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press. pp. 85–87. ISBN 978-0-271-01875-1. OCLC 246187224.
  4. ^ "Trade Agreement Abrogated" (PDF). New York Times. 29 July 1902. Retrieved 24 January 2010.
  5. ^ Goodsell, Charles M. Henry E. Wallace; Wallace, Henry E., eds. (1920). The manual of statistics; stock exchange hand-book . Vol. 42. New York. p. 383. OCLC 39940423.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  6. ^ Virtual Museum of Coal Mining in Western Pennsylvania
  7. ^ "Pennsylvania Jack (Big Mama)". Retrieved 24 January 2010.
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