COAL. 



BY EDWARD W. PARKER. 



[Edward W. Parker, statistician and geologist; born Port Deposit, Md., June 16, 1860; 

 is statistician of the United States geological survey and was a member of the 

 anthracite coal strike commission of 1902, being chosen as the leading American 

 authority on anthracite coal ; he has charge of the investigations into coal and coke 

 industries for the United States census bureau and of the annual reports on these 

 subjects for the United States geological surveys. He is author of many articles on 

 coal and coke for periodicals and encyclopaedias.] 



The twentieth century found the United States firmly 

 established as the principal coal producer of the world. In 

 1880 and 1890 the United States was second in coal producing 

 importance, with Great Britain first. In 1870 it was exceeded 

 in production by both Great Britain and Germany. 



During the calendar year 1902, there were 27 states 

 and 3 territories which contributed to the coal production 

 of the United States. Of this number there were 5 in each 

 of which the production amounted to less than 100,000 tons; 

 there were four others in which the production was less than 

 1,000,000 tons; 5 states produced more than 10,000,000 tons 

 each, and 1, Pennsylvania, produced more than 100,000,000 

 tons. 



According to the character of the output, the coal fields 

 of the United States conveniently fell under two great divi- 

 sions, the anthracite and the bituminous. The areas from 

 which the bulk of the anthracite is obtained are located in 

 the eastern part of Pennsylvania, and ordinarily when refer- 

 ence is made to the anthracite fields of the United States those 

 of eastern Pennsylvania are meant. There are, however, two 

 small areas in the Rocky mountain region where true anthracite 

 is produced in small quantities. One of these areas is in 

 Gunnison county, Colo., the other in Santa Fe county, N. 

 Mex. But, although the product of these two localities is true 

 anthracite, the quantity obtained is so small that it is cus- 

 tomary to include it with the bituminous production. 



The development of the coal resources of the United 



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