SEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING 



17 



THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS 



Investigations of Mineral Resources and Industries of 

 the United States 



by f. w. wolf, director state geological survey 



The importance of the United States as a producer and re- 

 serve supply of mineral for the World is not commonly real- 

 ized. According to the latest available figures of the U. S. 

 Geological survey, the country ranks first for eight minerals, 

 and produces percentages of the world's output, (Figures 1 

 and 2) in each mineral, listed as follows: 



Petroleum 64 percent 



Smelted Copper 56 percent 



Phosphate and Gypsum 50 percent 



Iron 40 percent 



Coal 38 percent 



Lead < 33 percent 



Zinc 29 percent 



Tungsten 28 percent 



The history of mineral investigations and a review of their 

 character will, I hope, be interesting to those Academy mem- 



Figure 1. Production of Coal in Various Countries. 



