CHAPTER XIV.
On horseback to Petrosèny—A new town—Valuable coal-fields—Killing fish with dynamite and poison—Singular manner of repairing roads—Hungarian patriotism—Story of Hunyadi Janos—Intrusion of the Moslems into Europe.
The history of the town of Petrosèny is as short as that of some of the western cities of America. It began life in 1868, and is now the terminus of a branch railway.
Before the wicked days of dynamite, and as long ago as the year 1834, a fisherman was leisurely catching salmon-trout up the Sil; he had time to look about him, and he noticed that in many places the rocks had a black appearance. He broke off some pieces and carried them home, when he found that they burned like coal; in fact he had discovered a coal mine! Those were simple-minded days, for instead of running off with these valuable cinders under his arm, fixing on an influential chairman and a board of directors for his new company, this good man did nothing but talk occasionally of the black rock that he had seen when fishing. Many years elapsed before any advantage was taken of this valuable discovery. At length a more careful search was made, and it proved that coal existed there in abundance! In 1867 mining was commenced on a large scale by the Kronstäder Company. The next year a town was already growing up in the neighbourhood of the mines, and increased in a most surprising manner. In 1870 the railway was opened from Petrosèny to Piski, on the main line from Arad. The growth of the place, however, received a check in the financial crisis of 1873.
The town itself is in no way remarkable, being a mere collection of dwellings for the accommodation of the miners and the employés; but the scenery in the neighbourhood is simply magnificent. In approaching Petrosèny the railway rises one foot in forty, no inconsiderable gradient.
The coal-fields are partly in the hands of Government, and partly owned by the before-named Kronstäder Company. Between these separate interests there is not much accord. The Kronstäders say that Government has not behaved fairly or openly, but has secured to itself so many "claims" as to damage considerably the prospects of the private speculators.
While at Petrosèny, I heard great complaints against the Government for selling coal at such a low price that they must actually work at a loss. The Kronstäder Verein say they are prevented in this way from making their fair profits, as they are obliged to sell down to the others. It would appear to be a suicidal policy for the pockets of the tax-payers to be mulcted for the sake of securing a prospective monopoly and the ruin of a private enterprise. As it stands it is a pretty quarrel.
Writing in 1862, Professor Ansted says: "The coal of Hungary is of almost all geological ages, and though none is first-rate in point of quality, a large proportion is excellent fuel. The coals most valued at the present moment in Hungary are those of the Secondary and not of the Palæozoic period. But the great body of coal is very much newer; it is Tertiary, and till lately was regarded as of comparatively modern date. In the Ysil Valley there is a splendid deposit of true coal."[14] Since the time when the above was written the resources of the Ysil or Sil Valley—viz., Petrosèny—have been abundantly developed, as we see, and it has been pronounced to be "one of the finest coal mines in Europe." One of the seams of coal is ninety feet in thickness; but up to the present time it has been found impossible to make it into coke.