Coal Reserves of the United States 



137 



SI6lol825 331. 356s 



I82BT0IS35 4-. 168, 149 \ 



l836Tol84Si 23.177, 637sn 



lB46-rolS55 83 417.825 ST. 



56toI86!> 173,795,014 s,t. 



1866 TO 1875 419.425,104! 



1676 TO 1885 847,760,3 13 i.T. 



18aSTol895 1,586,098,641; 



elusive of Alaska, is 2,200,000,000,000 

 short tons of coal. These figures convey 

 a totally inadequate idea of the true 

 amount. If, however, it were molded 

 into a block, it would form a cube yyz 

 miles high, 714 miles long, and yyi miles 

 broad ; expressed in another way, it 

 would form a layer of coal 6j4 feet thick 

 over the entire area of the coal fields of 

 the United States, 400,000 square miles 

 in extent. 



Surely such an amount of coal is in- 

 exhaustible. A block 734 miles high 



2,632,599,452 ! 



Diagram Showing the Increasing Rate of Consumption of Coal in the United 



States 



area of only about 33,000 square miles 

 of fairl}' good coal, the title to which is 

 still vested in the United States. 



Have we an inexhaustible supply of 

 coal, as many would have us believe, Or 

 should we begin to husband our re- 

 sources? Is the government justified in 

 withdrawing all coal from sale, as pro- 

 posed in the recent message of the Pres- 

 ident to Congress ? The answer to these 

 questions depends largely upon the broad 

 problem of what is the extent of our coal 

 supply, how rapidly are we using it, and 

 is there a possibility that our stock of 

 fuel will be exhausted in the near future ? 



In order to answer these questions, the 

 writer has attempted to estimate the 

 amount of coal yet remaining in the coal 

 fields of the country. Such an estimate 

 must necessarily be vague and unsatis- 

 factory for the reason that our knowl- 

 edge of the coal fields is limited, but re- 

 cent reconnaissance surveys have been 

 made over the most important coal fields 

 of the west, and now it is possible to 

 make an estimate of their approximate 

 contents. 



THB ESTIMATED AMOUNT OF COAL IN THE 

 UNITED STATES FIELDS 



According to this estimate, the total 

 tonnage of coal in the United States, ex- 



would tower above the highest mountains 

 on the earth. Is it possible that the peo- 

 ple of this country can use such a mass 

 of coal ? Before the question is answered 

 we must determine the rate of coal con- 

 sumption and study the factors of which 

 it is composed to see if they are liable to 

 fluctuate greatly in the near future. The 

 following diagram, prepared from statis- 

 tics of coal production collected by Mr 

 E. W. Parker, of the United States Geo- 

 logical Survey, shows graphically the 

 amount of coal produced in each decade 

 since 18 16. 



WILL OUR COAL LAST lOO YEARS? 



The actual consumption of coal in the 

 United States during this period has been 

 somewhat greater than that shown by the 

 diagram, for some coal has been im- 

 ported, but the diagram shows the rate 

 at which we have been using our own 

 coal. The rate of increase is enormous ; 

 it is simply appalling. As shown by the 

 diagram, the amount produced in any 

 one decade is equal to the entire previous 

 production. The curve indicating the in- 

 crease seems to be going off into the 

 future in a straight line, and this means 

 an increased production that no supply, 

 however great, can withstand for many 



