Vol. XIV, No. 9 WASHINGTON September, 1903 



o 



THE 



ATSONM, 



©(SIMM!© 



MBAM] 







THE UNITED STATES-HER MINERAL 



RESOURCES* 



By C. Kirchhoff, Editor The Iron Age 



WHEN I was a boy I was taught 

 that in this great country, as 

 in fact in any land, an assured 

 future lay with him who identified him- 

 self as closely as possible with the de- 

 velopment of its natural resources ; that 

 the producer of the primary articles of 

 necessity, the tiller of the soil, and the 

 miner must under all circumstances find 

 an outlet for their energies and a re- 

 ward for their special skill and knowl- 

 edge. To one born in the sight of the 

 Golden Gate, soon after the wonder- 

 ful gold discoveries in California, the 

 future held out vast possibilities to every 

 searcher for treasure ; yet the wildest 

 dreams of the gold-seekers of that day 

 have been outdone by the subsequent 

 discoveries of our mineral wealth, al- 

 though now the yellow metal is occupy- 

 ing a minor place when compared with 

 the useful minerals. 



It may be stated as a general propo- 

 sition that to a civilized community the 

 possession of mineral wealth is impor- 

 tant almost in the inverse order of the 

 unit value of the individual mineral. 

 Cheapest and yet most important of all 



is coal and fuel, next iron, the baser 

 metals, the precious metals, and finally 

 the precious stones. Without the first 

 named no great industrial expansion is 

 possible, while the last named, however 

 welcome, do not through their absence 

 hamper growth. 



It is not possible to speak with pre- 

 cision as to the extent of the mineral 

 resources of any country, because new 

 discoveries are made from time to time 

 even in Europe, where exploration has 

 extended over many centuries. It is cer- 

 tainly not possible in our own land , where 

 much territory is still covered with dense 

 forests and swamps and whole mountain 

 ranges have been untrod. Under the 

 circumstances, comparisons are unsafe, 

 but with such qualifications it is stating 

 a fact that the United States has been 

 blessed with almost unrivaled resources. 



The geographical distribution of our 

 mineral resources could be fairly well 

 shown in maps and charts, so far as 

 exploration and development have re- 

 vealed them. We might in that way 

 show our assets, territorially distrib- 

 uted, but we would create a very erro- 



*An address before the National Geographic Society, March 4, 1903. 



