Lyes.] COAL FIELDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 267 
DEVELOPMENT, PRODUCTION, AND MARKETS. 
The first development of the several coal fields of the United States 
las been in response to the fuel demands of adjoining regions, while 
m abundant fuel supply has determined the location of many indus- 
trial establishments, which have in turn greatly increased the demand. 
The tonnage of coal produced in the various coal fields, as shown in 
the table on p. 257, is not proportional to their area, but depends on 
other conditions, such as transportation facilities, extent of markets, 
and character of the fuel. The largest output in proportion to area 
|is in the Pennsylvania anthracite field, where 118,528 tons were pro- 
duced in 1800 for each square mile of productive area. This large 
output is due to the superiority of anthracite as a domestic and loco- 
motive fuel and the density of the population in regions adjacent to 
this field. The distribution of the anthracite product to the various 
States and the extent to which it competes with the product of other 
fields are shown in Mr. Stoek's paper. a 
Owing to its location and the excellent character of its coal, the 
Northern Appalachian field controls the market for bituminous coal 
in the Eastern States, coming in competition in the northeastern por- 
tion of this territory only with the Nova Scotian field. It is the near- 
est of the large bituminous fields to the seaboard, and will therefore 
supply a large proportion of the coal which must be mined to meet 
the growing demands of the export trade. Its coal reaches the sea- 
ports between New York and Norfolk by a number of direct railroad 
lines, the most important of which are the Pennsylvania, Baltimore 
and Ohio, Chesapeake and Ohio, and Norfolk and Western. 
The Southern Appalachian field supplies the South Atlantic and 
Gulf States as far west as the Mississippi. Its southern portion is 
almost as near the seaboard as the Northern Appalachian field, and it 
will in time support a large export trade, particularly to Central and 
South American ports, and on the completion of an isthmian canal to 
Pacific coast ports also. 
Appalachian coal has an outlet to the West by way of the Great 
Lakes, the Ohio River, and numerous trunk-line railroads. Lake 
transportation is interrupted in winter, but during the summer season 
the Northern Appalachian field supplies most of the markets on the 
Great Lakes, competing with the nearer Northern and Eastern Interior 
fields. By means of the Ohio River the Northern Appalachian field 
supplies adjacent portions of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana, as well 
as markets along the Lower Mississippi, where it competes with the 
Southern Appalachian field. 
The markets for the coal of the Northern Interior field are chiefly 
within the field itself and in the immediately adjoining region. A 
"Twenty-second Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, Pt. Ill, p. L03. 
