88 
MINING GEOLOGY 
1796) he had the Indian grant confirmed by Carondelet, Governor 
of Louisiana, under the title of the “Mines of Spain.” Soon, also, 
on the east side of the river, the entire lead-bearing districts of 
what are now Wisconsin and Illinois, were in the hands of Du¬ 
buque’s men. He built and operated the furnaces. He conduct¬ 
ed extensive prospecting parties. He controlled the boats which 
carried the product down the river to market. In gaining abso¬ 
lute supremacy over the lead industry he displayed remarkable 
talent. For whatever lead-ores he purchased he established the 
rate. In market he fixed the price of the refined product. He 
tickled the fancy and touched the pride of the governmental pow¬ 
ers by calling his properties the “Mines of Spain.” By a hundred 
and twenty-five years he was in advance of some of our own cap¬ 
tains of industry, and he likewise anticipated the policies of the 
most modern industrial enterprises. Keyes. 
Coal Fields of Kentucky. As a coal producer ^ Kentucky rose 
gradually from a position of comparative obscurity until 1898 
when she ranked tenth among the states of the Union and con¬ 
tributed 1.8 per cent of the total coal production of the country. 
In 1905 Kentucky rose to eighth place among coal-producing 
states, which positions she held through 1907, when she led Colo¬ 
rado, which had until then preceded her, and ranked seventh. By 
1912 the rapid development of the Eastern Field began to be felt 
and this state assumed fifth place. In 1914, with only Penn¬ 
sylvania, West Virginia and Illinois ahead, Kentucky reached 
the state of fourth importance on a coal-producing basis. Then 
Ohio bid strongly for the great northwest markets and her own 
and slipped back into her former fourth place in 1915, relegating 
Kentucky to an easy fifth place. 
Previous to the year 1893 virtually all mining of coal in the 
state was done with pick and shovel. In that year mining with 
machinery was introduced. This movement grew rapidly. In 
1893, twenty per cent of Kentucky coal was mined by machinery; 
a decade later forty-nine per cent was so mined. At the present 
time not less than ninety per cent of the coal of the state is ma¬ 
chine-mined. 
1 Summary of a paper read before the Filson Club of Louisville, and published in 
book form as under the title of “The Coal Industry in Kentucky,” by W. L- Jillson, 
Louisville, 1922. 
