BITUMINOUS COAL. 



311 



the Hudson. It is a curious fact, that near the north 

 ern termination of this coal-field in Potter county 

 (Penn.), the head-waters of the Alleghany, the Sus- 

 quehanna, and the Genessee rivers, flowing into the 

 Gulf of Mexico, the Chesapeake and the St. Law- 

 rence take their rise in an area or space of about 

 five miles. 



This coal-field, then, which is bounded on the 

 south by the Alleghany Mountains, extends into the 

 State of Virginia and westward, so that bituminous 

 coal abounds to a greater or less extent in all the 

 western counties of Pennsylvania, with the excep- 

 tion of Erie, in which it has not been discovered. 

 The counties of Bradford, Lycoming, Tioga, Potter, 

 M'Kean, Warren, Crawford, Bedford, Huntingdon, 

 and Centre, lie partly in and partly out of the coal- 

 field. The counties of Alleghany, Armstrong, Bea- 

 ver, Butler, Cambria, Clearfield, Fayette, Greene, 

 Indiana, Jefferson, Mercer, Somerset, Venango, 

 Washington, and Westmoreland, are wholly within 

 its range, and embrace together an area of 21,000 

 square miles, or 13,440,000 acres, while the anthra- 

 cite coal districts have been computed to contain 

 but 624,000 acres.* 



Bituminous coal has been used for fuel and man- 

 ufacturing purposes in the western part of Pennsyl- 

 vania since the first settlement of the country. It 

 is mined, to a greater or less extent, in all the coun- 

 ties above named, at the rate of one cent and two 

 cents per bushel, and is thus brought within the 

 means of all, and, literally, to every man's door, 

 Abounding throughout all this vast extent of terri- 

 tory, and fitted and used for almost any purpose 

 requiring heat, it is impossible to form anything 

 like a correct estimate of the quantity consumed 

 yearly and sent to market. Its great abundance 

 and cheapness have, indeed, given birth to the vast 



* Packer's Report to the Senate of Pennsylvania, March 4th, 

 1834. 



