40 WESTERN" SUPREMACY. 



freight cars of the usual capacity would be required to 

 transi^ort the silver. "i The total out-put of the precious 

 metals for 1889 was $97,-146,000 or nearly $23,000,000 more 

 than in 1880. 



But the precious metals constitute only a small part of 

 the mineral wealth of the West. It has upwards of 200,- 

 000 square miles of coal measure, thirty-eight times the 

 area of all the coal fields of G-reat Britain. Excepting 

 Minnesota, coal has been found in every state and terri- 

 tory west of the Mississippi. And not one is without 

 iron. California has superior ores. The iron of Oregon 

 is equal to the very best Swedish and Russian metal. 

 Wyoming has immense deposits. The supply of Utah is 

 enormous. It is found in some form in every county of 

 Missouri. Iron Mountain and Pilot Knob are estimated 

 to contain 500,000,000 tons of the finest ore. There are 

 great masses of iron in Texas, probably equal in quantity 

 and quality to any deposits in the world. Lead is found 

 in all the states and territories of the West, except Min- 

 nesota, Nebraska, and the Indian Territory. In many 

 of them the ores are rich and abundant. The lead-pro- 

 ducing area in Missouri is over 5,000 square miles. The 

 product of that state in 1877 was over 63,000,000 pounds. 

 Nebraska and Kansas alone are without copper. Rich 

 ores and native metal abound in what seem inexhausti- 

 ble quantities. The deposits of salt are without compu- 

 tation. Besides salt springs and lakes which yield great 

 quantities, there are beds of unknown depth covering 

 thousands of acres. Sulphur also is exceedingly abun- 

 dant. In Idaho there is a mountain which is eighty-five 

 per cent, pure sulphur. A deposit in Louisiana, equally 

 pure, is 112 feet thick. Nevada has borax enough to sup- 

 ply mankind. In Wyoming there are lakes in which 

 the deposits of sulphate of soda are from ten to fifteen 

 feet in thickness,, and almost chemically pure. Gypsum 

 abounds. Texas has the largest deposits known in the 

 world, — " enough to supply the universe for centuries." 



1 Tenth Census! 



