1907 - Rogers Coal Line Offered for Sale

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New York Times - March 2, 1907

ROGERS COAL LINE OFFERED FOR SALE

To the Norfolk & Western Road Before the Recent Note Issue

BUT THE ROAD WOULDN'T BUY IT

It Thinks Now It Has Saddled the Standard Oil Man With a Fine Money 
Eater - Recent Note Issue Was a Surprise to Wall Street.

   Control of the Tidewater railway, which is being built by H. H. 
Rogers from the West Virginia coal fields to the seaboard at Norfolk, 
was offered to the Norfolk and Western railway and refused by the 
management of that road. From what was learned of the offer yesterday 
it was made shortly before the recent sale of $10,000,000 of notes by 
the Tidewater Construction Company, which is to finance the 
completion of the road. It is understood, in fact, that the refusal 
of the Norfolk and Western to consider the purchase was the direct 
cause of this note issue, the announcement of which aroused so much 
surprise in Wall Street because of the high interest rate paid on the notes.
   While Chairman Fink, of the Norfolk and Western refused yesterday 
to discuss the offer of sale by the Tidewater railway, it was 
admitted in authoritative quarters that such an offer had been 
refused by the Norfolk and Western. The offer was refused not only as 
a matter of policy adopted by the road itself, soon after Mr. Rogers 
made known that he would parallel the Norfolk and Western from the 
West Virginia coal fields to the seaboard, but also on account of the 
provisions of the newly adopted Constitution of West Virginia, 
supplementing the Federal statutes prohibiting the acquisition of a 
parallel or competing line.
   With the news of the offer by Mr, Rogers to sell to the Norfolk 
and Western the line which he has been building ostensibly to compete 
with that line and the Chesapeake and Ohio in the transportation of 
coal from West Virginia to the Atlantic, some interesting facts 
regarding the early stages of this enterprise were obtained yesterday.
   Mr. Rogers, it is said, having acquired the large area of coal 
land which he now controls in the Kanawha and New River coal fields, 
opened negotiations with the Norfolk and Western for the 
transportation of this coal to tidewater. Those familiar with the 
negotiations said that Mr. Rogers wanted the coal carried at a rate 
of 3 mills per ton mile, or about half a mill per ton mile less than 
the Norfolk and Western's present rate.
   Mr. Rogers, so it is said, was informed that his coal would be 
carried at the usual rate, but for no less. His rejoinder was "I 
shall build a road of my own to carry the coal to Tidewater."
   The Norfolk and Western was...

[illegible]

...could afford to haul his coal more cheaply than would ever be 
possible on the Norfolk and Western. The Norfolk and Western, however 
preferred to see the new line built than to carry coal at a loss, and 
Mr. Rogers went ahead with the construction of his road.
   It is the present understanding that after four years, during at 
least two of which work on the new line had been done on a large 
scale, Mr. Rogers tired of his undertaking sufficiently to offer to 
sell the line. Upon what terms Mr. Rogers was willing to sell could 
not be learned yesterday. It is known, however, that representatives 
of the Norfolk and Western were much surprised at the news that Mr. 
Rogers had borrowed $10,000,000 to continue the construction of the 
line. The inference had been drawn in Norfolk and Western circles 
that Mr. Rogers would prefer to rid himself of the undertaking upon 
anything like reasonable terms.
   Having refused Mr. Rogers original proposition regarding the 
transportation of coal, the Norfolk and Western has consistently 
pursued the policy of leaving him to his own devices in the matter of 
this new coal line, believing that the Norfolk and Western had in the 
long run relatively little to fear as a result of his plan to have 
his coal carried to the seaboard for less than the Norfolk and 
Western was willing to take it for. In this attitude the Norfolk and 
Western was backed up by the Pennsylvania railroad, whose late 
president, A. J. Cassett, is said to have taken the position that it 
would be better for the Norfolk and Western in competition with the 
Tidewater railway to carry coal even at 2 mills per ton mile than to 
yield to Mr. Rogers proposal.
   It is said that Mr. Rogers, who according to some of those who 
have followed the history of the Tidewater railway, undertook the 
enterprise out of pique, is now discovering that in an effort to get 
back at the Norfolk and Western he is forced, against his will, to 
spend more money than he had expected. The road is now not more than half built.