ABSTRACT
In order to use the coal that could not be sold profitably in the markets, the Company turned its attention to the production of iron in 1846. The rate war between the Midland and the Great Northern was merely a manifestation of the economic trends which were affecting the coal industry during the 'sixties and the seventies'. Later, when the coal panic had reached its height, merchants were frantically stocking all types of coal in an attempt to forestall the rapidly increasing prices. Conditions in 1872 gave rise to the sort of comments which have been a familiar feature of the inflationary years since 1945: We have food at famine prices, coal and iron doubled in value in six months, and an incurment of inflated trade. The recession in the iron trade had disastrous effects upon the Derbyshire coal industry. The problem was aggravated by the growing potential production of the coal industry.
