74 



The National Geographic Magazine 



against 13,789,242 long tons in 1900, 

 when the figures exceeded those of any 

 preceding year. The output of coal is 

 estimated at 267,850,000 long tons, 

 against 240,965,917 long tons in 1900, 

 the year of highest production hereto- 

 fore. Of petroleum, the production is 

 estimated at 2,772,000,000 gallons, 

 against 2,661,233,568 gallons in 1900, 

 the highest previous record. Of copper, 

 the only item in the entire list which 

 shows for 1 90 1 a smaller figure of pro- 

 duction than that of 1900, the produc- 

 tion is estimated at 265,625 long tons, 

 or about 5,000 tons below the figures of 

 1900. 



Those who wish to study this un- 

 equaled record in our mining and metal- 

 lurgical industries will find in the En- 

 gineering and Mining Journal for Jan- 

 uary 4, 1902, a comprehensive review of 

 the year's progress in each mineral 

 product. Th&Journal has recently been 

 greatfy enhanced in value and scope 

 through the able leadership of the new 

 editor-in-chief, Dr. David T. Day, Chief 

 of the Division of Mines and Mining 

 of the U. S. Geological Survey, and of 

 the new managing editor, Mr. Edward 

 W. Parker, also of the Geological 

 Survey. 



BOLIVIA 



SOME 3^ears ago the Bolivian Govern- 

 ment made an attempt to establish 

 a water route to the Atlantic by-sending 

 its commerce down the river Madeira, and 

 thence by the Amazon, more than one 

 thousand miles to the ocean. Though 

 they had ample funds to make the im- 

 provements in the water route that were 

 necessary for shipping, the enterprise 

 was finally abandoned. Recently an- 

 other attempt has been made to dis- 

 cover a water route eastward, but this 

 time by means of the Paraguay, which 

 would carry her commerce to Buenos 

 Aires, also a trip of 1,000 miles to the 

 sea. In the Geographical Journal for 



January, Col. George Earl Church de- 

 scribes the attempt made by Captain 

 Bolland on behalf of the Bolivian gov- 

 ernment to find an outlet eastward. 

 After prolonged search and exploration 

 along the Alto Paraguay, Captain Bol- 

 land reported that the only point where 

 a port could be established on this river 

 without great expense was at Lake 

 Gaiba. This point is about 1,000 miles 

 up the Paraguay from Buenos Aires, 

 and can be reached by river steamers 

 without further dredging of the river; 

 but as Lake Gaiba is nearly 400 miles 

 west of the present productive region 

 of Bolivia, her products would have 

 to be carted this distance to reach the 

 steamers. Long and tedious these river 

 routes would be ; but they would save 

 Bolivian merchants from the expense of 

 hauling their products up the eastern 

 side of the Andes, only to be carted 

 down the western slope to the Pacific. 

 On the Pacific coast they would also be 

 thousands of miles farther away from 

 their market. The Bolivian Govern- 

 ment hopes to be able to develop further 

 the Paraguay route. 



COAL AND IRON IN MEXICO 



THE enormous coal and mineral Re- 

 sources of Mexico are daily be- 

 coming more prominent, and are des- 

 tined to bring the country more wealth 

 than all her gold and silver mines. 

 A recent number of Engineering con- 

 tains a symposium of the diverse min- 

 eral resources of the Mexican Republic 

 and of what is being done to develop 

 them. In the state of Coahuila it is 

 estimated there is a carboniferous region 

 of nearly 5,000 square miles; in Sonora 

 of 7,000 square miles; in another state 

 a seam 6 feet thick was found at a 

 depth of only 17 feet and followed for 

 a distance of 10 miles, and elsewhere was 

 found a vein 23 feet thick of coal equal 

 to the best Lehigh Valley coal. Many 

 similar instances of the richness of the 



