202 MINERAL PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES 



since 1889. The most remarkable increase, however, is that of 

 aluminum, the production of which has increased from 18,000 

 pounds, worth $59,000, in 1887, to 1,300,000 pounds, valued at 

 $520,000, in 1896, the value per pound having fallen, as will be 

 perceived, from $3.28 to 40 cents within the period named. 



To return to a comparison of the statistics of 1896 and 1895, 

 an increase in the production of bituminous coal from 135,- 

 118,193 to 137,640,276 short tons has been accompanied by a 

 sufficient decline in prices to reduce the total value of the output 

 from $115,749,771 to $114,891,515. On the other hand, a con- 

 siderably smaller production of Pennsylvania anthracite has 

 represented almost as great a value in the market as the output 

 of the previous year. The production of building stone has been 

 the smallest in point of value (quantities not being reported) 

 since 1888, but the estimated production of brick clay is still 

 represented b}'' the same round figures, $9,000,000, that have 

 done duty for the last half-dozen years. 



There appears to have been a considerable increase (nearly 

 4,000,000 gallons, or over 18 per cent) in the sale of mineral waters. 

 It would be interesting to know how far this remarkable increase 

 is due to the use of non-medicinal mineral waters for table pur- 

 poses, and how far it is to be attributed to the apparently largely 

 increased use of lithia Avater as a remedy for certain bodily ail- 

 ments that seem to be peculiarly characteristic of our time. Of 

 the remaining principal products reported upon, petroleum 

 reaches, in 60,960,361 barrels, the highest figures its production 

 has ever attained; salt shows a slight increase in production, 

 with a considerable decrease in value, and the production of 

 borax — no less than 13,508,000 pounds — is the largest on record, 

 with the single exception of that of 1894. J. H. 



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