PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS IN NEW YORK 



491 



on the coal fields nearest to its limits. The coal field that it 

 found most accessible was beyond question the noblest body of 

 fuel known in the crust of the earth, viz, the anthracite field of 

 northeastern Pennsylvania. By the middle of the 20th century, 

 that is, in 50 years from now, i^ the present rate of consumption 

 and the present rate of increase of consumption are maintained, 

 this great treasure house of stored power will have been practi- 

 cally exhausted. Whenever this consummation is recognized as 

 imminent, a new appreciation of all the forms of stored power, 

 as winds, rivers, and soils, will be sure to be developed, and then 

 the knowledge that a tract of land contains within its boundaries 

 all ihe fuel and artificial light that its owners will require for 

 decades, generations or centuries, will certainly become a factor 

 in the value of such property. 



