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EXHAUSTION OF COAL IN ENGLAND. 



like the late venrable Richard Reynolds, travelling to see the last ex- 

 piring English furnace, before he emigrated to distant regions.* 



Fortunately, however, we have in South Wales, adjoining the Bris- 

 tol Channel, an almost exhaustless supply of coal and ironstone, which 

 are yet nearly unwrought. It has been stated in the present chapter, 

 that this coal-field extends over about twelve hundred square miles, 

 and that there are twenty three beds of workable coal, the total aver- 

 age thickness of which is 95 feet, and the quantity contained in each 

 acre is 100,000 tons, or 65,000,000 tons per square mile. If from 

 this we deduct one half for waste, and for the minor extent of the 

 upper beds, we shall have a clear supply of coal, equal to 32,000,000 

 tons per square mile. Now, if we admit that the five millions of tons 

 of coal from the Northumberland and Durham mines is equal to nearly 

 one third of the total consumption of coal in England, each square 

 mile of the Welsh coal-field would yield coal for two years' consump- 

 tion ; and as there are from one thousand to twelve hundred square 

 miles in this coal-field, it would supply England with fuel for two 

 thousand years, after all our English coal mines are worked out. 



It is true, that a considerable part of the coal in South Wales is of 

 an inferior quality, and is not at present burned for domestic use ; but 

 in proportion as coal becomes scarce, improved methods of burning 

 it will assuredly be discovered, to prevent any sulphurous fumes from 

 entering apartments, and also to economize the consumption of fuel 

 in all our manufacturing processes. 



N. B. These observations are taken from one of the author's geo- 

 logical lectures, which he has occasionally delivered in some of the 

 principal mining districts in England : considering the great national 

 importance of our coal mines, he trusts he shall be excused for insert- 

 ing them in the present volume. 



* The late Richard Reynolds, Esq. of Bristol, so distinguished for his unbound- 

 ed benevolence, was the original proprietor of the great iron-works in Colebrook 

 Dale, Shropshire. Owing, I believe, partly to the exhaustion of the best worka- 

 ble beds of coal and ironstone, and partly to the superior advantages possessed by 

 the iron-founders in South Wales, the works at Colebrook Dale were finally re- 

 linquished, a short time before the death of Mr. Reynolds. With a natural at- 

 tachment to the scenes where he had passed his early years, and to the pursuits by 

 which he had honorably acquired his great wealth, he travelled from Bristol into 

 Shropshire, to be present when the last of his furnaces was extinguished, in a val- 

 ley where they had been continually burning, for more than half a century. 



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