No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 469 



There is a strong probability of a resumptioD of nickel and cobalt 

 mining in Lancaster county, where good copper ore has also been 

 found. 



Natural gas has been struck m greater volume than heretofore' 

 Two wells— one near Kane — have thrown out, it is roughly estimated, 

 as high as 200,000,000 cubic feet of gas in 24 hours and the roar 

 of one of the wells could be heard eight miles away. This has given 

 a remarkable impetus to the nati^ral gas output of our State. I hope 

 the present Legislature will make an appropriation whereby there 

 can be obtained the amount of iiatural gas and petroleum we are 

 producing annually; also that there can be published a revised col- 

 ored geological map of the Commonwealth giving the gas and pe- 

 troleum territory', and, if possil^le, the location of every well, its 

 depth and output to a specified time. This would be a great aid to 

 intending investors in the Staff and would also afford a basis for 

 taxation of products which now escape all Commonwealth assess- 

 ment, where other states derive a good revenue. The fact is that we 

 are being depleted of this wealth, without return, save in the in- 

 crease of local prosperity, and a population which will go elsewhere 

 as soon as these treasures are gone. 



From day to day there is mor*.; foreign inquiry for peat and peat 

 deposits, but thus far the most practical work has been done in Co- 

 lumbia county, where a company is digging it out as a constituent 

 for some article manufactured there. Peat has now been found in a 

 number of counties, from Pike on the east to Erie and Lawrence 

 counties on the west. 



Phosphorus ores are mined in considerable quantities within 30 

 miles of Harrisburg, and one of the minerals, wavelite, traced along 

 the South Mountains to the western bank of the Susquehanna river. 



Radium bearing minerals have thus far been found in Adams, 

 Schuylkill and York counties, but nothing has been done in a practi- 

 cal commercial way. 



Some inquiry has been made relative to the revival of salt manu- 

 facturing in Pennsylvania, but little has been done in the matter, 

 though the brines from the deep wdls of Fayette, Indiana and West- 

 moreland counties, can be made to yield the best table salt in the 

 land. 



The quarrying of slate in great quantities is still carried on in 

 Lehigh and York counties, with a strong probability of the field ex- 

 tending to Berks, Lebanon, Dauphin, Cumberland and Franklin coun- 

 ties. 



Ores containing tantalum and litanium are being sought for in 

 Pennsylvania for use in Europe, the most urgent demand coming 

 from Germany. Titanium crystals, as ma^ie in the electrical fur- 

 nace, are harder than diamonds, ard when used in circular saws will 

 cut stone or metals as easily as a common circular saw cuts wood. 



Tungsten ores are also wanted. Tungsten greatly improves steel 

 products. 



There has been a marked revival in zinc ore mining and several 

 mines in eastern counties, abandoned a few years ago, are again in 

 operation. 



Zirconium has been found in some of the iron ores of central Penn- 

 sylvania, but thus far in too small percentages for special ertrao- 

 tion. 



One rery oommendable feature in connection with our new State 



