More Coal to California
Returning to our earlier conversation about coal in California, check out
the web site on the Balclutha. Built in 1887 in Wales, her
maiden trip was to California with a load of coal, returning with a load of
California wheat. wheat was the valuable cargo, and British ships were know to
have sailed to California with loads of cobble stones as ballast. So the
British coal likely was not all that expensive. (Note even today, if you can
get a back-haul from a trucker you can get a significantly cheaper rate. I've
also heard of fairly inexpensive shipping rates in containers from Hawaii to
the mainland, as most freight is going TO Hawaii.)
Kyle K. Wyatt
Curator of History & Technology
California State Railroad Museum
Note my work address has changed to: kwyatt@parks.ca.gov
My personal address remains: kylewyatt@aol.com