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The National Geographic Magazine 



neous opinion of their real value. With 

 the most important minerals the eco- 

 nomic value of a deposit is dependent 

 upon many other considerations besides 

 those of mere size and extent. Con- 

 spicuous among these are accessibility 

 to markets, the means of transportation, 

 natural or artificial, the existence of a 

 supply of labor and the character of that 

 labor, climate, the character of the com- 

 munity, its laws, etc. These in their 

 shifting influence find expression in the 

 actual product, and that is a better meas- 

 ure of relative importance than mere 

 location and extent. 



The latter, designated on maps by 

 coloring, is a poor guide, since rela- 

 tively unimportant deposits ma}- cover a 

 very extended territory. Coal measures 

 may underlie man}' thousands of square 

 miles, yet the seams which they enclose 

 may not be numerous nor thick nor pos- 

 sess a coal of satisfactory quality. A 

 field small in area, at- some distant place, 

 may be the scene of enormous operations, 

 while the greater basin may hardly be 

 able to supply local requirements. The 

 anthracite coal regions, as to area, con- 

 stitute only an exceedingly small portion 

 of the known coal fields of the United 

 States, yet their importance overshadows 

 any other industrial district. 



Useful minerals are found in deposits 

 which may in general be classified, for 

 the purpose of estimating them as 

 assets, into two groups. First are those 

 which are beds constituting one of a 

 series of strata. They are usually per- 

 sistent and fairly regular over large 

 areas like the coal seams, and therefore 

 permit of some estimate of their con- 

 tents. Second are those whose origin 

 is due to local circumstances, and these 

 include the fissure veins. They are 

 usually irregular, and it is in most cases 

 entirely impossible to arrive at any con- 

 clusion of their extent and value with- 

 out most elaborate underground ex- 

 ploration or actual mining operations. 

 It is therefore quite impossible to sub- 



mit more than very vague data relative 

 to the magnitude of the mineral wealth 

 of any country. In a very rough way 

 we may do so, of course, so far as coal 

 is concerned. How rough that is will 

 be readily understood when the state- 

 ment is made that out of an estimated 

 coal area of about 4,650,000 square 

 miles in the world, China is credited 

 with 4,000,000 square miles. Our own 

 country is put down at about 280,000 

 square miles, and this compares with 

 11,900 square miles for Great Britain, 

 1,770 square miles for Germany, 2,086 

 square miles for France, and 5 10 square 

 miles for Belgium. Considering the 

 enormous tonnage which the European 

 countries named are furnishing . from 

 their relative restricted territory, our 

 possible reserves look huge. Of course 

 areas are not a true measure of value or 

 importance. Thus our Pennsylvania 

 anthracite fields embrace a territory of 

 only 468 square miles, and yet outdo in 

 value probably any coal area of like 

 extent anywhere in the world. 



We must therefore leave to the imagi- 

 nation the pleasure of dealing with 

 the magnitude of our mineral wealth. 

 All we do know is that it is very great, 

 not alone in its magnitude but also in 

 its variety. 



There is hardly a state or territory in 

 the Union which does not possess and is 

 not utilizing mineral property, particu- 

 larly when we include clays and stone 

 and mineral springs. Maine has her 

 granite and stone ; Vermont her mar- 

 bles, granite, and copper ; Connecticut 

 her iron ore ; Massachusetts her granite, 

 pyrites, and iron ore ; New York, salt, 

 stone, petroleum, natural gas, clays, 

 cement, gypsum, graphite, and iron ore ; 

 New Jersey, clays, marls, zinc, and iron 

 ore ; Pennsylvania, petroleum, coal, iron 

 ore, natural gas, cement, rock, and clays; 

 Maryland, iron ore ; Virginia, coal, iron 

 ore, zinc ore, pyrites, and copper ore ; 

 North Carolina, gold, stone, corundum, 

 mica, copper, and iron ; South Carolina 



