43 
sickles, and threshing with flails, will be looked upon like 
water-wheels and wind- mills as obsolete contrivances; and 
on farms, the introduction of the Wakefield Ploughing Com- 
pany’s steam ploughs and reaping and threshing machines, 
will be universal ; while in the pumping of sewage, and in a 
hundred other different ways, steam and coal must come into 
general use. Nothing hut a rise in price will ever check 
this demand for coal. 
But coal is also the great agent in giving value to mineral 
products. The extreme importance of coal in this” respect 
to this country is partly shown by the circumstance, that the 
value of the metals produced from the mines of the United 
Kingdom, in 1868, is estimated at £15,736,416 sterling. 
Iron ore was raised to the extent of 10,169,231 tons. From 
this ore was obtained 4,970,206 tons of pig iron. And for 
minerals not smelted, including salt and barytes, &c., a 
further value may be added of £2,003,819 of money. 
America has the largest coal field in the world, comprising 
an area of 310,500 square miles, whilst that of Great 
Britain is only 6,300 square miles ; so that the moment this 
country ceases to command more abundant and cheaper coal 
and iron than her neighbours, the United States and other 
countries must increase in power and wealth, and we must 
be passed in the race of competition. 
We ought, therefore, to be anxious to ascertain the extent 
of our mineral treasures, and to use our present means of 
potential energy and wealth to the best advantage. 
It is to the probable extent and value of the coal fields 
surrounding us, that I wish now to direct your attention. 
This large map will, I hope, give you some idea of the 
potential energy and wealth surrounding this town on the 
west. It illustrates a portion of the West Biding coal 
field — a fragment only of one continuous series of the Great 
Northern coal field, — Lancashire, Newcastle and Colebrook 
Dale. 
