Monongahela River Consolidated Coal and Coke Company

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| name = Monongahela River Consolidated Coal and Coke Company

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| industry = Railroad and coal transportation company

| predecessor = Formed by the merger of more than 80 independent coal mines and river transportation businesses in Kentucky and Pennsylvania

| founded = 1899 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

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| successor = Merged with the Pittsburgh Coal Company on December 24, 1915

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The Monongahela River Consolidated Coal and Coke Company was a railroad and coal transportation company, founded in 1899 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.{{Cite news|title= Death of Pioneer Coal Man Sunday |newspaper= Daily Republican, Monongahela, Pennsylvania

|date= 18 March 1912 |url= https://www.angelfire.com/oz/madd/a/obitjonesjames.html|access-date= January 24, 2010}}

{{Cite news|title= Coal Combine Effected |newspaper= New York Times|date= 1 October 1899 |url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1899/10/01/100453572.pdf }} It was formed by merging more than 80 independent coal mines and river transportation businesses, both in Pennsylvania and Kentucky.{{Cite book|last1= Parker |first1= Arthur |title= The Monongahela : river of dreams, river of sweat

|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=v2jLB6xyqb8C&q=%22Monongahela+River+Consolidated+Coal+and+Coke%22&pg=PA85 |year= 1999 |publisher= Pennsylvania State University Press|location= University Park, Pennsylvania |isbn= 978-0-271-01875-1 |oclc= 246187224 |pages= 85–87 }} 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.{{Cite news|title= Trade Agreement Abrogated |newspaper= New York Times|date= 29 July 1902|url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1902/07/29/101960968.pdf|access-date= 24 January 2010 }}

It merged with the Pittsburgh Coal Company on 24 December 1915.{{Cite book|editor1-first= Charles M. Henry E. Wallace|editor1-last=Goodsell |editor1-link= Charles M. Goodsell |editor2-first= Henry E. |editor2-last= Wallace |editor2-link=Henry E. Wallace |title=The manual of statistics; stock exchange hand-book ..

|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=InopAAAAYAAJ&q=MRCC%26C&pg=PA383 |volume= 42 |year= 1920|location= New York |oclc= 39940423 |page= 383 }}

Mine, Railroad, and Incline

The company had a {{RailGauge|4ft8.5in|allk=on}} 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.[https://archive.today/20140314052307/http://patheoldminer.rootsweb.ancestry.com/allbecksrun.html Virtual Museum of Coal Mining in Western Pennsylvania]

Sprague

One important part of the business was the riverboat Sprague, nicknamed Big Mama,{{Cite web|url=http://www.pajack.com/stories/pitts/bigmama.html |title= Pennsylvania Jack (Big Mama)|access-date=24 January 2010}}

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