COAL 



UK; 



COAL 



Si;.u~. nut iiu-ludiiiK those of Al.i>ka. 

 u .a.out 333,000 .square miles. This is equal 

 ID tin- i-oml>meil areas of Texas and Oklahoma, 

 ,.r tli.- >tate of New York and five st.-i' 

 hiritr as Illinois, or eight times the area of 

 Ohta 



Tin- present annual output of the United 



is a little over a half billion short tons. 



I'll.- lending states in the order of production 



Alabama 



Indiana 



Colorado 



Virginia 



Iowa 



ivnnaylvanla 

 Want Virginia 

 Illinois 

 Ohio 

 Krnturky 



Canada. The coal fields of Canada occur in 

 New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and in Sas- 

 katc hewan. Alberta and British Columbia. The 

 Nova Scotia fields are of great value and have 

 been worked for many years. The fields in 

 Saskatchewan and Alberta are the largest in 

 MM and contain lignite and bituminous coal, 

 some of the latter being an excellent cooking 

 coal. The exact area of coal-producing lands 

 in the whole Dominion has not yet been deter- 

 mined. 



Othi r Countries. Great Britain, next to the 

 I'mtrd States, is the largest producer, followed 



by Germany. The table shows that most of 

 the leading countries of Europe produce some 

 coal. In Asia production is practically confined 

 to Japan, China and India; in Africa, to Cape 

 Colony, and in South America to Chile. Aus- 

 tralia and New Zealand produce as yet only 

 a little more than is needed for home consump- 

 tion. 



Quantity of Coal. Each field contain- a 

 number of veins of coal. In the older mines of 

 Pennsylvania and West Virginia a number of 

 these veins have been worked so long that 

 some^ shafts are 1,500 or more feet deep, and 

 below these veins there are probably others 

 that have not been discovered. It is there- 

 fore impossible to estimate accurately tin 

 amount of coal in reserve. The most authentic 

 estimate that has been made is that under the 

 direction of the International Geological Con- 

 gress of 1913, which gave for the world 7,397,553 

 million tons (7,397,553,000,000), of which 5,105,- 

 528 million tons (5,105,528,000,000) are in the 

 United States. While the mind utterly fails to 

 grasp the significance of these figures, it will 

 be clear that at the present rate of consump- 

 tion we need not worry about shortness of coal 

 for centuries to come, despite the continued 

 warning of pessimists. 



Coal Mining 



Coal occurs in -veins which lie in a horizontal 

 or an inclined position. Occasionally the veins 

 are near enough to the surface to be stripped 

 of the overlying rock and worked as open quar- 

 ries. In hilly or mountainous regions the coal 

 may be reached by a tunnel bored into the 

 side of the hill or mountain. Deep veins and 

 those found in level regions are reached by 

 sinking a shaft, and this method is the one 

 most frequently employed. 



The Shaft. In America shafts are usually 

 square or oblong. They vary in size and depth. 

 Where the veins are near the surface it is 

 more economical to sink small shafts at short 

 distances from each other than it is to haul 

 the coal from all parts of the mine through 

 tunnels to one shaft. But in deep mines it is 

 less expensive to use one shaft. Deep shafts 

 may be ten feet wide and thirty or more feet 

 long. They are usually divided into compart- 

 ments; two of these are used for the eleva- 

 tors, or cages, on which the coal is hoisted to 

 the surface and in which the miners are let 

 down and hauled up from the mine; one is for 

 pipes, ladders and pumping apparatus, and one 



for ventilation, or the same compartment may 

 be used for pipes, ladders and ventilation. 



The shaft is lined with timbers, and over the 

 mouth a strong frame, fifty or more feet high, 

 is constructed for holding a part of the hoist- 

 ing machinery. The cages are raised and low- 

 ered by a wire cable which passes over a large 

 wheel at the top of this frame, then around 

 a drum that is operated by a steam engine. 

 There is a cable for each cage and the arrange- 

 ment is such that as one cage is hoisted the 

 other is lowered. 



Mining the Coal . The miners work from the 

 foot of the shaft, following the vein in differ- 

 ent directions. First they excavate the coal so 

 as to form a large gallery or passage in one 

 direction. This must be broad enough and 

 high enough for cars to be hauled by mules 

 or by an electric or steam locomotive. As fast 

 as this passage is extended a track for the cars 

 is laid in it. The next step is to excavate other 

 passages at as near right angles to the first 

 as the position of the vein will permit. As the 

 mining proceeds tracks are laid in most of these 

 passageways, all leading to the track in the 



