446 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



the possibility of preparing a marketable 

 salt whiting, and it is a significant fact 

 that in a few years the sales of this fish 

 in New England have increased from 

 about 100,000 pounds to 5,000,000 

 pounds. 



LOSS O? life; I^ROM storms DIMINISH:eD 

 BY A NEW TYPE OF FISHING VESSEL 



Owing to the appalling mortality among 

 the crews of the New England fishing 

 vessels, caused in large part by the found- 

 ering of vessels at sea, the bureau many 

 years ago undertook the introduction 

 into the offshore fisheries of a type of 

 craft which would combine large carry- 

 ing capacity and great speed with en- 

 hanced safety. By correspondence, dis- 

 cussion in the daily press, personal inter- 

 views, exhibition of models, and finally 

 by the actual construction of a full-sized 

 schooner (the Grampus) with the requi- 

 site qualities, the bureau was enabled to 

 inaugurate a momentous change in the 

 architecture of fishing vessels ; so that for 

 a long time the New England schooners 



have been constructed on the new lines, 

 with a consequent minimizing of disas- 

 ters and a decided increase in efficiency. 



For other fisheries and regions the bu- 

 reau has likewise advocated improved 

 types of vessels and boats especially 

 adapted to local conditions, and has pub- 

 lished plans and specifications embodying 

 the results of studies of the fishing flotilla 

 of the world. 



The results of the bureau's efforts 

 in this line, in saving life and property, 

 in increasing the usefulness of the ves- 

 sels, and in improving the quality of the 

 catch as landed, cannot be estimated, but 

 the beneficial efifects may be partly appre- 

 ciated when it is stated that during the 

 ten years ending in 1883, when the old 

 types of vessels were- in use, there 

 were lost by foundering from the port of 

 Gloucester alone 82 vessels, valued at 

 more than $400,000, with their crews of 

 895 men, while during the ten years end- 

 ing in 1907 the losses from this cause ag- 

 gregated only a fourth as many vessels 

 and men. 



k 



OUR COAL LANDS 



By Guy Elliott Mitchell 



WHAT can the study of fossil 

 shell-fish and ferns have to do 

 with the price of coal? The 

 connection is a closer one than may be 

 supposed, and its explanation shows the 

 intensely practical work of the govern- 

 ment geologists in the application of ab- 

 struse science to every-day economy. 



Paleontology is that branch of geolog}^ 

 which deals with fossils as they are 

 found in the different rock strata. Their 

 presence easily determines the age of 

 many rock formations which might not 

 otherwise be recognized. 



For instance, a certain species of conch 

 may be known to have flourished during 

 the Cretaceous period — too long ago to 

 be estimated in years. During this period 

 vast coal-beds were formed in the west- 

 ern and northwestern part of the United 



States as a result of the growth of a 

 luxuriant and almost tropical vegetation. 



Now here is a most valuable key for 

 the coal geologist. In whatever strata of 

 rocks he finds this fossil conch-shell and 

 its associates he may look for coal of 

 Cretaceous age. 



It is due to the previous study of the 

 broad stratigraphic and paleontological 

 problems of the West that Uncle Sam's 

 economic geologists have been able to 

 classify between 35,000,000 and 40,000,- 

 000 acres of western coal lands within 

 the short period of 4 years since Presi- 

 dent Roosevelt withdrew from entry all 

 the government coal lands pending such 

 classification and adequate valuation. 



The particular kind of shell shovv^n in 

 the illustration has been of enormous 

 importance in this classification work. 



