BITtMINOUS 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- 
x^er, 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, givea birth to the vast 
* Packer's Report to the Senate of Pennsylvania, March 4th, 
1834. 
