MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



BY CHARLES KIRCHOFF. 



[Charles Kirchoff, editor The Iron Age; bom San Francisco, March 28, 1853; grad- 

 uate Royal School of Mines, Clausthal, Germany; chemist Delaware Lead Refinery, 

 Philadelphia, 1874-77; assistant editor Metallurgical Review, 1877-78; assistant editor 

 Iron Age, 1878-81 ; managing editor Engineering and Mining Journal, 1881-84; associ- 

 ate editor Iron Age, 1884-89 and editor in cliief since 1889; special agent of the Unit- 

 ed States Geological survey for lead, copper and zinc since 1883. President .\mer- 

 ican Institute of Mining Engineers, 1898-99.] 



When I was a boy I was taught that in this great country, 

 as in fact in any land, an assured future lay with him who 

 identified himself as closely as possible with the development 

 of its natural resources; that the producer of the primary 

 articles of necessity, the tiller of the soil and the miner, must 

 under all circumstances find an outlet for their energies and a 

 reward for their special skill and knowledge. To one born in 

 the sight of the Golden Gate soon after the discoveries in 

 California, the future held out vast possibilities to every 

 searcher for treasure; yet the wildest dreams of the gold seek- 

 ers of that day have been outdone by the subsequent discov- 

 eries of our mineral wealth, although now the yellow metal oc- 

 cupies a minor place when compared with the useful minerals. 



It may be stated as a general proposition that to a civil- 

 ized community the possession of mineral wealth is important 

 almost in the inverse order of the unit value of the mdividual 

 mineral. Cheapest and yet most important of all is coal and 

 fuel, next iron, the baser metals, the precious metals, and 

 finally the precious stones. Without the first named no great 

 industrial expansion is possible, while the last named, however 

 welcome, do not through their absence hamper growth. 



It is not possible to speak with precision as to the extent 

 of the mineral resources of any country, because new dis- 

 coveri(;s are made from time to time even in Europe, where 

 exploration has extended over many centuries. It is certainly 

 not possible in our own land, where much territory is still 

 covered with dense forests and swamps and whole mountain 



Vol. 9-1 , 



