He it was who took our Mr.Coleman to Wigan in England and explained the process of washing and coking the dross from coal mines.
Mr.Coleman had constantly been telling us how grand it would be to utilize what was then being thrown away at our mines, and was indeed an expense to dispose of.

Our Cousin "Dod" was a mechanical engineer, educated under Lord Kelvin at Glasgow University, and as he corroborated all that Mr.Coleman stated, in December, 1871, I undertook to advance the capital to build works along the line of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

Contracts for ten years were made with the leading coal companies for their dross and with the railway companies for transportation, and Mr.Lauder, who came to Pittsburgh and superintended the whole operation for years, began the construction of the first coal-washing machinery in America.

He made a success of it--he never failed to do that in any mining or mechanical operation he undertook--and he soon cleared the cost of the works.

No wonder that at a later date my partners desired to embrace the coke works in our general firm and thus capture not only these, but Lauder also.
"Dod" had won his spurs.
[Illustration: GEORGE LAUDER] The ovens were extended from time to time until we had five hundred of them, washing nearly fifteen hundred tons of coal daily.