22 ALASKAN MINERAL RESOURCES IN 1905. 
Variation in amount of coal produced and used on the Pacific coast (short tons). 
Year 
1895. 
1896. 
1897. 
1898. 
1899. 
1900. 
1901. 
1902. 
1903. 
L904-. 
Total Pacific 
coast pro- 
duction, a 
2, 398, 595 
2,379,538 
2,646,693 
3,350,142 
3,596,577 
1,070,245 
4,211; 160 
I. 156,606 
1,316,290 
1,382,973 
Shipments of 
coal to the 
Pacific 
coast. & 
*10, 120 
458, 727 
421,638 
346,222 
299,947 
292,654 
306,746 
368,062 
156,742 
298,039 
Coal con- 
sumed on 
Pacific 
coast, a 
2, 908, 715 
2, 838, 267 
3,068,331 
3,696,364 
3,896,524 
4,362,899 
1,518,206 
1,524,668 
1,773,032 
1, 681, 012 
Coal con- 
sumed in 
California.*) 
1,653,520 
1,505,660 
1,601,540 
1,802,373 
1,740,027 
1,889,128 
1, 834, 785 
1,445,598 
1,215,554 
L, 051, 072 
Coal con- 
sumed on 
Pacific 
coast outsic 
California.*. 
1,255,18 
1, 332, 6C 
1,466,79 
1,893,99 
2,156,49 
2,473,77 
2,683,42 
3,079,071 
3,557,47) 
3, 629, 94( 
a Computed Erom items in this table. 
b The production of coal in 1904 (separate publication of Mineral Resources U. S.), Q. S. Geol. Survey 
1905, p. 102. 
During the ten years (1895 to 1904) covered by these tables there lias been an extraordi- 
nary increase in the output of California petroleum. The production in 1901 (29,049,434 
barrels) is 211 times the amount produced in L895 ( 1,208,482 barrels). As this was nearly 
all fuel oil, it might be expected that it would displace a large amount of coal and that we would 
find throughout the same period a corresponding decrease in coal mining and coal trade not 
only in Calfornia, but in the other regions which supply California with coal. The statistics, 
however, show that the production of coal in California increased from 1S95 to L990 and has 
fluctuated, but on the whole fallen ofT since thai time. The production in Oregon has shown 
an irregular, bul quite general, increase during this ten-year period. The Washington mines 
have increased t heir product to almost triple. Vancouver Island mines had the same output 
at the end of the period as at it< beginning, but showed a rise and subsequent fall during the 
interval. Shipments from Atlantic and oriental ports have decreased somewhat irregu- 
larly, but very decidedly, during these ten years. The amount of coal consumed in Cali- 
fornia has varied irregularly, but has on the whole shown a decided decrease. This, how- 
ever, applies to California alone. The amount of coal consumed on the Pacific coast as a 
whole (from California north) has increased from 2,908,715 tons in 1895 to 4,081,012 tons in 
1904. The increase on the Pacific coast outside of California is even more striking, the 
amount having risen from 1,255,195 tons in 1895 to 3,629,940 tons in 1901. 
The price of coal mined in California has increased during the period under discussion. 
Oregon and Washington coal has decreased in value. No figures are at hand regarding the 
prices of Vancouver Island or other imported coals. 
The general effect of the increase in petroleum has been to demoralize the San Francisco 
ceal market. The gradual increase in oil output from 1895 to 1900 was accompanied by a 
very prosperous condition of the coal trade, not only in California, but throughout the coun- 
try. After this the output of oil became so great as to preclude all possibility of competition 
by coal in the oil territory except for special uses to which oil can not be applied — that is, 
coal was forced to seek markets of its own, which include, in addition to the special one men- 
tioned above, those districts in which the relative freight charges on coal and oil make com- 
petition possible. In the former the price of coal rose and the demand increased. This 
result may be attributed to the very factor which in other respects demoralized coal trade. 
The increase in petroleum output, furnishing a cheap and abundant fuel, stimulated general 
industrial conditions, and thus increased the demand for coal in its special markets. 
The cutting down of shipments from the other Pacific coast fields to San Francisco has 
resulted in a reduction in prices, caused by the attempt to compete with the cheaper petro- 
leum and by the lively competition of the coal mines among themselves in attempting to 
develop and control new markets nearer home. They have been successful in their home 
