26 ALASKAN MINERAL RESOURCES TN 1905. 
proper managemenl it could be reduced below the present selling price on Vancouvei 
rsland. 
Freight rules from Bering River and Matanuska mines to tide water ought not to b& 
excessive and rates from Alaska to Pugel Sound or San Francisco should be very low. 
The price of California crude petroleum at the wells ranged in L904 from 1 7* A cents to $2 
per barrel, depending both on local and temporary differences in supply and demand and 
on differences in quality. The average price was about 28 cents per barrel, as compared 
with 30 cents in L903. The cost per hand delivered at San Francisco was from $1.40 to 
$1.50 in L904. 
These prices in equivalents of Puget Sound coal are as follows: 
Petroleum al $0. i-] per barrel coal al S0.37J per ton. 
Petroleum al $0.28 pei barrel coal al SO. 84 per ton. 
Petroleum a1 $1. 10 per barrel coal at $4.20 per ton. 
Petroleum al $1.50 per barrel coal ;ii si.. mi per ton. 
These values should be aboul 25 to 33 per cent greater for the best Alaska coal. They 
show that it is impossible for any coal to compete with fuel oil in those districts where oil 
has the advantage of transportation rates. It is possible, however, that rates to San 
Francisco might he made such thai coal and oil can compete. There oughl to he lively 
competition north of San Francisco, if the cost of mining and shipping coal is reduced to a 
minimum. 
SUPPLY AVAILABLE. 
It is not likely thai enough of either petroleum or coal could he produced on the Pacific 
coast io supplant the other without soon proving inadequate to the demand, in which 
case i here would he aii advance iii price and consequent reopening of competition. 
The following conclusions" are of interesl on this point: 
,ii '■! ul consideration lias been given the quest ion as to the supply of crude petroleum i" the United 
States available for fuel purposes. This matter has been specially investigated by Prof. Arthur L. 
Williston, of the I 'rat i Institute, Brooklyn \. 'i .. who reports as follows: 
"The supply of nil which is available for fuel in the United Stales, therefore, is, first , the small perl 
centage I probably not over 2 or 3 per cent) of the total production of the Pennsylvania and Ohio oil - 
the residuum from the process of refining; second, crude oil from the Ohio and Indiana fields wherever 
the price of coal makes the burning of oil al 95 cents or ft] per barrel (plus freight ) profitable: third, 
-i tions of Hie California oil which are no1 besi suited for refining; fourth, practically the en lire 
output of the Texas held." 
The demands for the better grades of oil for refining purposes will probably keep pace with its pro- 
duction, consequently we can never expeel to see such grades of oil compete with coal to any largo, 
extent . 
• mi the oilier hand, the refining value of the Texas oil and much of the California oil is so low that 
its value will probably always he largely controlled by the demand for it for fuel purposes. It is incon- 
ceivable that a fuel which has so many distinct advantages, and which is not unlimited in its supply] 
should sell in all markets at a price which would make it cheaper to burn than coal. Any great demand 
for such a fuel would bring its price up a1 "me. 
On the other hand. SO long as there is an assured supply of Texas and California, find oil, the price, 
of such oil that has little intrinsic value for refining will probably remain low enough to enable it 
to compete successfully with coal in those regions where coal is scarce in quantity and poor in 
quality; and the area in which this condition exists is sufficiently wide to create a demand for the 
fuel oil that will soon equal the supply, unless further stores of oil are found as 1 he demand for if 
increases. 
The fact should he remembered that in every region there is with each succeeding year a pro- 
gressive proportionate increase in the percentage of the yield consumed for illuminating purposes 
The petroleum output of California in L904, which was more than one-fourth (25.33 
per cent I of the production of the United States and over 12 per cent of the entire pro! 
duction of the world, is the equivalent of only 1.7 or I.N times the coal burned on the 
Pacific coast of North America alone. It would appear from this that the supply of fuel 
petroleum must increase very much before it will he possible for petroleum to make much 
greater inroads into the coal market without ultimately causing a reactionary advance 
in prices. 
a pept. i . s. Naval " Liquid Fuel" Board, L904, p. 116 
