38 Reviews — Macfarlane's Coal Regions of N. America. 



Great as is the area of the Coal-formation in the United States, yet 

 thirteen out of the thirty-seven States composing the Union con- 

 tain no coal whatever of any kind. 



*' There are, therefore, very extensive districts in the United States 

 destitute of Coal, and many of them the most thickly populated and 

 the largest consumers of fuel, 



" Of the various Coal-fields, four deserve special notice. The first 

 of these is the Appalachian, or, more properly, the Alleghany, and is 

 of continental dimensions, being 875 miles in length, and extending 

 through important parts of seven States in a N.E. and S.W. direction, 

 from 30 to 180 miles wide, and producing a great variety of the l)est 

 qualities of coal. 



" The second Coal-field occupies the central part of the State of 

 Michigan ; but, although of large area, the seam is thin and of poor 

 quality. 



" The third great Coal-field is of enormous dimensions, covering 

 two-thirds of the large State of Illinois, the western part of Indiana, 

 and the western part of Kentucky. Though inferior in quality to 

 the best coal of Pennsylvania, it is abundant and cheap. 



" The same remark applies to the fourth Coal-field, which covers 

 the south-western part of Iowa, the best portions being along the 

 Des Moines Eiver. It also extends southwards, over a large area, in 

 northern Missouri, and into the eastern part of Kansas, the seams 

 being generally thin in all these States. 



Maryland sends annually 2,000,000 tons of coal out of its bound- 

 aries, Virginia 250,000, Ohio ships 500,000, Pennsylvania mined in 

 1871 about 24,000,000 tons, of which 15,000,000 tons were anthra- 

 cite and 9,000,000 tons of various qualities of bituminous coals. 



Having regard to the enormous area of the Coal-fields of the 

 United States, containing in all 192,000 square miles, besides the 

 .lignites of the Far West, the vast quantity, great variety, accessi- 

 bility, and wide distribution of their stores of coal, which, up to the 

 present time, have hardly been developed to any really great extent, 

 it is, as the author justly observes, the manifest destiny of America 

 soon to become the greatest coal-producing country in the world. 



The following table shows the relation between area and produc- 

 tion of the various Coal-producing countries of the world (given on 

 p. 674 of Mr. Macfarlane's admirable work). 



Coal-producing Countries. 



raSiS: ==»"■ ' To... 



Per cent. 

 Production. 



The United States 



192,000 



18,000 



11,900 



1,800 



900 



1,800 



1,800 



3,000 



28,800 



1872 

 1871 

 1871 

 1867 

 1871 

 1869 

 1862 

 1869 

 1872 



41,000,000 



673,242 



117,352,028 



12,148,223 



13,671,470 



26,774,368 



4,525,783 



593,033 



3,000,000 



18-66 



Nova Scotia 



0-31 



Great Britain 



53-41 



France „ 



Belgium 



5-54 

 6-23 



Prussia 



12-19 



Austria 



2-02 



Spain 



■27 



Chili, Australia, India, China, etc.,,. 



1-37 



Totals 



260,000 





219,738,147 



100- 







