COAL 855 



Total produce of Pennsylvania in 1864 : 



Toms 



Anthracite districts 9,876,174 



Broad top and semi-anthracite . . . 422,992 

 Bituminous districts 2,399,246 



Total .... 12,698,412 



Coal product of the Loyal United States, year ending Juno 1864, from the returns 

 made to the Internal Eeview Department : 



Tons 



Ehode Island . . . 3,656 



Pennsylvania . . . 12,698,412 



Maryland .... 787,269 



District Columbia . . 742 



Western Virginia . . 398,815 



Kentucky .... 91,036 



Missouri . . . . 66,187 



Ohio 1,324,685 



Indiana 



Illinois 



Michigan 



Minnesota 



Kansas 



California 



Tons 

 146,787 

 925.293 



16,296 



50,204 

 236 



44,938 



Washington Territory . 7,754 



16,472,410 



The following summary of the condition of the American coal trade in 1871 is of 

 interest: 



' The quantity of anthracite coal sent to market during the year 1871 is returned 

 officially at 14,965,501 tons, and the quantity consumed in the coal regions is esti- 

 mated at 2,720,000 tons. The quantity of bituminous coal sent towards the sea- 

 board, including 443,955 tons imported, is returned officially at 4,894,914 tons, and 

 the quantity of bituminous mined and consumed in tho United States, but not at 

 present returned in the official tables, is estimated unofficially at 11,500,000 tons. 

 The aggregate production of the year thus comes out at 34,081,415 tons, of which all 

 but 269,751 tons exported, was retained as the supply of the Eepublic for the year. 

 At this rate tho average coal production of each American amounted last year to about 

 17 cwts. per head, while in 1869 the average coal production of each inhabitant of tho 

 United Kingdom was as nearly as possible 3^ tons per head. It is clear from this 

 comparison, that, great as the coal wealth of the United States is supposed to be, 

 American coal-mining is still in its infancy ; while the corresponding branch of industry 

 has been carried on in Great Britain to an extraordinary development. Tho openings 

 for human effort are so numerous in the United States, that no very largo amount of 

 the population can be induced to apply themselves to mining industry at any rate at 

 present ; and hence the average coal extraction of the United States per head of the 

 population is only about one-fourth of the corresponding extraction in Great Britain. 

 Far-seeing and thoughtful minds may come to the conclusion that, after all, there is no 

 very great ground for national complacency, at the results brought out by the com- 

 parison, since it may be argued that we are rapidly working up our coal supplies, while 

 the Americans are husbanding theirs. It should, perhaps, be remarked that we have 

 accepted the American statistics as to the American coal trade as they have come upon 

 our hands. At the same time it cannot be denied that they are characterised by great 

 vagueness, one-third of the whole total of 34,081,415 tons being derived from 

 unofficial estimates.' 



Although the returns are fairly open to the imputation of vagueness, and uncertainty 

 as a whole, they are tolerably conclusive and satisfactory, however, as respects the 

 anthracite coal production of the United States. The total of 14,965,501 tons 

 already given as representing this production in 1871, compares with 15,274,029 tons, 

 the production of 1870; so that the extraction fell off in 1871 to the extent of 

 308,528 tons a result attributable, we presume, to the prolonged and troublesome 

 strikes which prevailed last year in the Pennsylvania coal regions. The two totals 

 of 14,965,501 tons and 15,274,029 tons include the semi-anthracite production of the 

 Lykens Valley in each year, and they were made up as follow : 



1870 1871 



tons tons 



Schuylkill, Columbia, &c. . . 3,720,403 5,124,780 



Northumberland . . . . 486,174 628,866 



Wyoming 7,554,909 6,481,171 



Lehigh 2,990,878 2,249,356 



Lykens Valley (semi-anthracite) . 521,665 481,328 



Total . . . 15,274,029 14,965,501 



