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The National Geographic Magazine 



statistics collected by Dr David T. Day, 

 of the United States Geological Survey, 

 exceeded $1,000,000,000 in 1901. This 

 includes $350,000,000 for coal, $242,- 

 000,000 for pig iron, $87,000,000 for 

 copper, $78,000,000 for gold, $66,000,- 

 000 for petroleum, $55,000,000 for 

 stone, $33,000,000, commercial value, 

 for silver, $27,000,000 for natural gas, 

 and $23,000,000 for lead. 



We stand first as producers of coal, 

 our output in 1901 having been 263,- 

 000,000 long tons, Great Britain follow- 

 ing with 220,000,000 tons, and Germany 

 with 153,000,000 tons, our percentage 

 of the world's total being about 31 per 

 cent. In petroleum we have been racing 

 with Russia, occasionally first and some- 

 times second. In 1901 we furnished a 

 little over 69,000,000 barrels to the 

 world's total of 165,000,000 barrels, our 

 percentage being 41.9 per cent as com- 

 pared with Russia's 41.5 per cent. 



In the manufacture of pig iron we 

 have now reached the point that our 

 production is greater than that of our 

 largest rivals, Great Britain and Ger- 

 many, put together, with Belgium 

 thrown in. We manufactured in 1902 

 fully 40 per cent of the world's total. 



The gold production of the world was 

 about $265,000,000 in 1901, to which we 

 contributed $80,000,000 and Australasia 

 $77,000,000. Of course, when the Rand 

 resumes its full production and again 

 starts on its natural increase, we shall 

 probably have to yield first place to it. 



The world's production of silver has 

 a commercial value of about $103,- 

 000,000. Here again we occupy the 

 first rank, with Mexico as a close sec- 

 ond. 



The supremacy in the copper mining 

 industry is undoubtedly ours for many 

 years to come. In 1901 we produced 

 over 52 per cent of the total of the 

 world's yield of 512,000 tons. In that 

 year, with a product of 269,000 tons, 

 we came close to the entire world's out- 

 put in 1890, when it was 273,000 tons. 



We stand second in zinc, following 

 Germany. Our output of that metal in 

 1901 was 125,000 tons out of a total of 

 the world of 501,000 tons, or over 25 

 per cent. 



These figures, enormous as they are, 

 do not really reflect adequately the great 

 importance of our mining, since it lies 

 at the foundation of the manufacturing 

 industries of this country and is the 

 basis of its industrial greatness, backed 

 as it is with an equally lavish supply of 

 raw materials from the forest and the 

 farm. Mining and rail transportation 

 have reciprocally aided one another, 

 and in turn have contributed powerfully 

 to the wellbeing of the farmer and the 

 lumberman. 



As in other realms of material prog- 

 ress, the United States has outstripped 

 all other civilized countries in the de- 

 velopment of its mining and metallur- 

 gical industries. 



Brief though the period be during 

 which we have been actively mining, 

 we have witnessed the exhaustion of 

 famous great deposits and the decline 

 of entire camps and districts. This is 

 apt to occur most rapidly in the case of 

 placers, conspicuous among which are 

 the auriferous sands and gravels in 

 which the precious metal has been con- 

 centrated by the washing action of 

 streams. California's enormous gold 

 production of the early days fell off 

 rapidly after the first decade of work- 

 ing. The exhaustion of the silver-gold 

 bonanzas of the Comstock lode, the 

 rapid collapse of the mining of silver- 

 lead ores of the Eureka district in 

 Nevada, the practical cessation of work- ■ 

 ing of once exceedingly productive 

 quicksilver mines of California, are a 

 few instances which could be multiplied. 

 Yet thus far we have again and again 

 witnessed the rapid rush into promi- 

 nence of new districts. Thus Cripple 

 Creek in Colorado recorded its first 

 shipment of gold in 1891, the amount 

 being estimated at $2,000. Two years 



