Add to ORKGFor more than fifty years in Europe, coals have been subjected to washing to improve their quality. Between 1870 and 1880, coal-washing plants began to be erected in America, and today coal-washing plants are being operated in many of the coal-producing states of the United States. In Iowa there is but one plant, and this has been completed within the past three years, actual washing having been begun in July, 1912. This plant is located at Lakonta, about twelve miles west of Oskaloosa, in Mahaska County, which is one of the leading coal-producing counties of the state. The plant is owned by the Iowa Coal Washing Company, which has a capitalization of $40,000. The president of the company is F. C. Lofland, Oskaloosa, and the secretary, J. M...