OUR WANING COAL SUPPLY 



543 



basin, it would be easier to see how the 

 coal measures are divided vertically as 

 well as longitudinally. In such an ex- 

 posure it would be seen that only the 

 lower beds, or those contained in the 

 Allegheny and Pottsville divisions, ex- 

 tend into Tennessee and Alabama ; it 

 would also show that but few coal beds 

 extend evenly over wide areas, an ex- 

 ception being the great Pittsburg seam. 

 It would also show that good seams of 

 coal are seldom found side bv side, or 

 layer upon layer in the same section. 

 But let us come to the main problem. 

 How long will it take to exhaust the 

 several parts of these fields? Beginning 

 with Alabama : At the rapid rate at 

 which the coal in this valuable field is 

 being mined, there cannot be much left 

 in forty years, and yet a senseless clam- 

 or is made to have certain rivers im- 

 proved so that this coal can be shipped 

 out of the country ! Considering the 

 relation of this coal to iron ore that will 

 last probably 150 to 200 years, and per- 

 haps longer (as one is known to extend 

 all through the Clinton formation) the 

 shipment of any of the coal out of this 

 field ought to be prohibited by law. 

 Tennessee has less coal in quantity ; but 

 being for the most part of good quality, 

 it is being rapidly mined by the Ten- 

 nessee Coal and Iron Company for its 

 own use, and by numerous other com- 

 panies for the general market, and 

 twenty-five to thirty-five years will see 

 but little left, and long before that time 

 the price will have advanced to the 

 monopolistic limit. 



It is then, to the coals found in the 

 upper series in Kentucky, West Vir- 

 ginia, eastern Ohio, and Pennsylvania 

 that we must look for our supply in the 

 later years of the century. But when 

 we see how rapidly certain of these 

 coals — the Pittsburg, the upper Free- 

 port, equivalent to the Cambridge of 

 Ohio,' and what is left in veins in the 

 Pottsville series in Ohio and Pennsyl- 

 vania-^— are going now by lake and rail 

 to supply the demand in the North and 

 Northwest, it really becomes an alarm- 

 ing problem to determine what even the 

 next generation will do for fuel. 



The coals of Indiana and Illinois are 

 all needed in the Middle West, and will 

 be mined out to supply these markets 

 before the century is half out. 



But let us turn again for a moment to 

 the 600 to 700 square miles of the Poca- 

 hontas and New River beds and see 

 what is going on in this, the most val- 

 uable part of the Appalachian field, and. 

 all told, perhaps more valuable than any 

 other, even than the anthracite field. Al- 

 ready this coal is being shipped as fast 

 as trains can carry it to different parts 

 of the country, and to the Atlantic 

 coast, to supply, not only our own navy, 

 but the navies of other countries, and 

 to supply the markets of the world. 

 And now new railroads are being hur- 

 ried into the field to compete for this 

 traffic. How long will the field last 

 under these conditions? One item will 

 shed light on this question. The large 

 steamships that now ply the ocean use 

 approximately 100 tons of coal an 

 hour, or over 2,000 tons a day. 

 or 10,000 tons in crossing the ocean. 

 An acre of coal will afford on an aver- 

 age 1,000 tons for every foot in thick- 

 ness, or 4,000 tons for a vein four feet 

 thick, which is rather over than under 

 the average thickness in the New River 

 field. The rest is a matter of compu- 

 tation. Why, then, should there be 

 such a rush to get this most valuable 

 coal out of the United States ? 



Turning to the anthracite field, it is 

 well known that at the present rate ot 

 exhaustion, there will be little of this 

 field left in fifty years, and long before 

 that time the price will almost certainly 

 be whatever the owners of the field agree 

 on. What will Philadelphia New York, 

 all New England, all the eastern part 

 of the country, then, do for fuel ? They 

 cannot hope for relief from the Appa- 

 lachian field, for there will be little left 

 to draw on from there. And yet to so 

 momentous a question, 999 persons out 

 of a thousand will answer : "That is as 

 long as I shall live." In the language 

 of Puck, "What fools these mortals 

 be." 



