DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

FRANKLIN K. LANE, Secretary 

UNITED STA~ES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, Director 

Professional Paper 10~-A 

THE COAL FIELDS OF THE· UNITED STATES 

GENERAL INTRODUCTION 

BY 

MARIUS R. CAMPBELL 

Professional Paper 100, pages 1-33 

Published February 24, 1917 

W ASf.IINGTON 

GOVEHNMENT PRINT~NG OFFICE 

1917 

CONTENTS. 

i~~s:t:o:ls.c~:.e. ~~ ~~:~~~ ~ ·. ·. · ... · .·: : ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ : ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ·~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ : ~ Methods of classification ............................................................................. . 

Anthracite ........................... ~ ............................................ : ................. . 

Semia.nthraci te ..................................................................................... . 

Semi bituminous ..................................................................... · ................ . 

13ituminous ........................................................................................ . 

Sub bituminous ......................................................................... · .............. . 

Lignite ..................... .' ..... -........ ----.---------·.·.···--···································· 

Comparison of the different ranks .................................................................... . 

Classification of the con.l areas of the United States ........................................................ . 

Coal district ........................................................................................ . 

Coal field ........................................................................................... . 

Coal region ......................................................................................... . 

The~~:~ ~;~::~~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ :::: :: : : : : : : ~ ~ : : ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~: ~ ~ : : :·: :: : ~ : ~ :: ~: : ~ : ~ : : : : :: : : : : : ~ ~ ~ : : : : : ~ ~ ]~astern province .......................................... ~ ........................................ . 

Interior province .................................................................................. . 

Gulf province ...................................................................................... . 

Northern Great Plains province ....................................................................... . 

Rocky Mountain province ............................................................................ . 

Pacific coast province ............................................................................... . 

Production and original tonnage of coal in the United States .............................................. . 

Analyses of representative coals .......................................................................... . 

ILLUSTRATIONS. 

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Page. 

PJ,A'I'E I. Coal fields of the United States ............................................................ In pocket. 

Fmun.B l. Diagrams showing the chemical composition and heat efficiency of the several ranks of coal........ 8 

2. Production of coal in the United States by decades from 1834 to 1914............................. 25 

3. Estimated production of coal in the United States to the year 2055............................... 26 

III 

1.,HE COAL ·FIELDS OF THE UNirfED STATES. 

GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 

By MAJUUS H. CAMPBELL. 

PURPOSE AND §~OPE OF REPORT. 

'.!:''' The growing demailif. for fuel and the pro bability that sooner or·~-~ater the United States 

will be called upon to1 furnish supplies to less 

favored countries has made it desirable for the 

Geological Survey to take stock of the country's fuel and to determine the qua~tity, 

quality, and geographic distribution of the 

coal still in the ground and available for future 

use. '!'his report is intended to supply such 

information regarding the coal fields in the 

United States, arranged according to the States 

within which they lie. . 

The first effort to give to the public a comprehensive description of the great coal-be~ing 

areas of the country was .made by the Geological Survey in 1902, by the publication, in 

the Twenty-second Annual Report of the 

Director, of 12 papers dealing with the coalbearing areas of the United States, including 

Alaska. Unfortunately, this series of papers, 

although exceedingly interesting and valuabie 

as presenting a .summary of the then existing 

lmowledge of some of the coal fields~ was 

lamentably incomplete, for it contained no 

description of the rich fields of Maryland, West 

Virginia, eastern Kentucky, and Virginia; and 

the treatment of many of the western fields 

was unsatisfactory, for the reason that they 

had not been examined in detail, and consequent~y their boundaries and th~ir contents 

could be described in only a vague and indefinite manner. 

Up to the year 1905 the United States Geological Survey had·' made no effort to examine 

and map systematically the· coal fields of the 

country, especially of the West; but a number 

of fields had been specially examined or had 

been n1apped as a part of the general plan of 

. . . r; 1., 

making a geologic atlas of the United States. 

This lack of activity in the examination of t~e 

coal resources was due largely ·to, the lack of 

interest in such work shown by qoal operators,. 

owners, and consumers, 'as it was then gen~rr 

ally r(;}garded as unnecessary in the develop~ 

ment of a coal-bearing tract to have any geologic information regarding the lay .of the beds 

and the quality or quantity of the. coal, and 

the consumer purchased his coal with but little 

thought as to whether or not he ~as· getting 

.the best available. fuel for the particular -use 

to which he expected to devote it. 

About that time, however, the public began 

to awaken to the realization of the need of 

utilizing better the fuel supply and to the further realization that great cfrauds had been 

perpetrated in the Western States in procuring 

valuable coal lands under the h'omestead act 

and laws other than the coal-land law, which 

required . the payment to· the Government of 

not less than $10 or $20 an acre and restricted 

to 160 aGres the area that it was possible for 

one person to acquire. In response to the 

public demand for the stopping of such fra:uds 

and for the better conservation of the fuel 

reserves of the country, President Roosevelt 

in 19.06 withdrew from entry 66,000,000 acres 

of supposed coal land, and the United States 

Geological Survey was requested to classify 

these lands and appraise their value, so that · 

they might be sold at prices that ,accorded 

with the quantity and quality of coal available 

in them. This was made possible by a new 

interpretation of the phraseology of the coalland law of 1873, which· specified that· co~tl 

lands should be sold at not less than $10 an 

acre if more than 15 miles from any completed 

railroad and not less than $20 an acre if within 

15 miles of a railroad. 

1 
2 THE COAL FIELDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

I 

In anticipation of this action the Geological 

Survey had begun in 1905 the systematic examination of coal., fields in the public-land 

States and by 1908 had made sufficient progress in that work. to issue the first" reasonably 

accurate map of the coal fields of the country, 

on a scale of about 120 miles to the inch. In 

addition to outlining the coal fields, this map 

differentiates the areas of known coal from 

the areas that might possibly contain valuable 

coal and shows also those area,s In which the 

coal-bearing rocks are under deep cover. On 

this map the coal fields are classified according 

to the rank of the coals they contain, or at 

.least three great groups are recognized, namely, 

{1) anthracite, semianthracite, semibitumin,ous, 

and bituminous coal; (2) subbituminous coal; 

and (3) lignite. In addition to delineating the 

coal fields, the map contains an estimate of the 

tonnage of coal still remaining in the ground 

and supposedly available for the future needs 

of the country. 

The making of this estimate, crude though 

it was, marked an important step in the investigation of the, Nation's resources, for it 

was the first attempt to make a quantitative 

estimate that would enable the public tQ calculate the length of time the fuel supply might 

be available. The writer in making this estimate was painfully aware of its inaccuracie~ 

and of the fact that even in such old coal-mining 

States ·as West Virginia the data were in such 

:Shape that an accurate estimate was impossible. 

Curiously enough, the data available at that 

time were much more co~plete for the Western 

States than for the Eastern States, and the 

estimates for some of those States were therefore much more accurate. The figures were 

put forth at that time with ·two objects in 

view-first, to give the public the benefit of 

"the best estimat~ that the Geological Survey 

was able to make, and, .second, to stimulate 

the activity of others who were working on the 

same problems. The publication served both 

its purposes, for the figures were widely used 

in the conservation discussions that wer~ then 

being carried on; and a number of State geolo~ 

gists of the older .States began to make estimates of their coal resources, with the result 

that a much greater volume of information 

became available and n1uch better estimates 

could be made. Naturally, the estimates made 

by the writer on entirely insufficient data were 

modified considerably when additional information was obtained; but for a number of 

years the result stood nearly as it was originally made. 

The next attempt to improve upon the old 

maps of the coal· fields and the estimates of 

the reserves they contained was made by the 

writer oii invitation of the executive committee of the International .Geological Congress for its twelfth session, at Ottawa, Canada, 

in 1913. The International Geological C~n-' 

gress had several years before decided to consider at each session some subject of worldwide interest, particularly some mineral resource in which all countries would be interested. Thus iron ore was considered at the 

eleventh session, which was held at Stockholm, 

Sweden, in 1910, and a monograph summarizing 

the knowledge then existing on this subject 

was published. The executive committee decided to take up the subject of coal for consideration at the twelfth meeting, at Ottawa, 

and the results are incorporated in three large 

volumes of descriptive text and an atlas showing the coal fields of the world. These volumes are a storehouse of information, but 

their small edition and great cost make their 

general distribution impossible. N atur~;tlly, in 

a report covering a subject as important as 

coal and dealing with the fields of the entire 

world, .each country must be treated so briefly 

that the description. may be considered only a 

short summary . 

. The report on the coal fields of the United 

States, exclusive of Alaska, appears by comparison with some others contained in these 

volumes to be exceedingly brief-too short, in 

fact, to afford the ordinary reader the information he desires. The essential features of 

this report are (1) the map,. which was brought 

up to date for this particular purpose, but 

which is on a scale too small to be of much 

practical value; and (2) an estimate of the 

reserves of the different ranks of coal in the 

several :fields, regions, and provinces. This 

estimate is the most recent one that has been 

prepared, and it will be accepted with oome 

modifications for the present report. 

Although the volumes published by the 

Twelfth Internati9nal Congress are monumental and constitute a remarkable achieve-
GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 3. 

ment, it was at once rt?alized that they are 

very inadequate for practical use and that 

they should be supplemented by more detailed 

reports on all the countries as soon as possible. 

Since the publication of the descriptions of the 

coal fields of the· United States in the Geological Survey's Twenty-second Annual Report, in 

1902, a large amount of geologic work has 

been done in the coal fields of this country. 

The Survey has each year mapped, either in a 

reconnaissance way or in detail, many thousands of square miles. of coal territory in the. 

public-lnnd States of the West, and in addition has been carrying on detailed work in 

many of the eastern fields. Owing to administrative demands, the work in the West was at 

first lnrgely of a reconnaissance character, but 

as ti1ne passed it wns found necessary to refine 

methods and to do more careful work, so that 

in the end sufficient data would be available 

for n fairly nccurate valuation of the land 

according to the quantity of available conl it 

contained, a valuation which should be of use 

to anyone interested in the development of the 

fields, either as owner, operator, or investor. 

In the East the Geological Survey has been 

or is cooperating with State organizations in 

the careful survey of parts of the eastern fields. 

Such work has been carried on in Pennsylvania, 

Tennessee, and Alabama and is now in progress in Virginia, Illinois, and Kentuck'y. 

The State geological surveys of 1\iaryland, 

West Virginia, Ohio, Tennessee, Iowa, Missouri, and Washington have been active, and 

goQd reports have been published relating to 

the coal in those States. 

In view of the great amount of work that 

has been done since the previous summary was 

n1ade, it seems opportune to sum up again the 

existing knowledge regarding the extent and 

quolity of the coals in the vario~s fields. In 

order to give this report the greatest·value and 

standing, it is proposed, so far as practicable, 

to have the description of each natural area 

prepared by the geologist who is ·most familiar 

with the field and best acquainted with the 

local conditions. Not only will this plan be 

followed within the United States Geological 

Survey, but State geologists have been invited 

to prepare the accounts of the coals in their 

respective States, so that the report may be 

thoroughly authentic. The State geologists 

of Mnryland, West Virginia, Ohio, ·Tennessee, 

Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, and Washington have agreed to contribute to this plan, 

and this cooperation insures excellent results. 

As the reports are to be prepared by many 

authors, it is impossible to assemble all the 

material at one time, so the State reports. will 

appear as separates as soon as they are ready 

and will then be included in the final volume 

or volumes. Where the coal-bearing areas of 

a State are made up of a number of isolated 

fields or regions each isolated area will be 

treated separately in a signed report, and the 

State separate will be made up of papers dealing with the fields comprised within the State. 

RANKS OF COAL. 

METHODS OF CLASSIFICATION. 

In this report the word "rank" will be used 

to designate those diff~rences in coal that are 

due to the progressive change from lignite to 

anthracite, a change marked by the loss of 

moisture, of oxygen, and of volatile matter. 

This change is generally accompanied by an 

increase of fixed carbon, of sulphur, and 

probably of ash. When, however, one coal is, 

distinguished from another by the amount of 

ash or sulphur it contains, this difference is 

said to be one of grade. ' Thus ''a high-grade 

coal" means merely on~ that is relatively pure, 

whereas "a high-rank coal" means one that is 

high in the scale of coals, or, in other words, 

one that has suffered devolatilization and that . 

now contains a smaller percentage of volatile 

matter, oxygen, and .ID:Oisture than it contained before the change occurred. · 

Within the boundaries of the United States 

there are all ranks of coal, from the coarse, 

woody lignite of North Dakota and eastern 

Montana to the highest rank of anthracite in 

the fields of eastern Pennsylvania. From the 

earliest days of coal mining in this country it 

has been .recognized that coals differ greatly, 

not only in the percentage of ash which they 

contain, but also in their inherent composition. Although the latter distinction was recognized, little or no attempt was made to 

determine the reason for the difference ·or 

the criteria for fixing the limits of different 

groups of coals. The first serious attempt in 

this country to devise a scientific basis for 

the classification of coal was made by Persifor 

Frazer, jr., of the Second Geological Survey of 
4 THE COAL FIELDS OF THE UNITE.D STATES. 

P13nnsylvania, under the direction of J. P. 

Lesley. Frazer 1 listed most of the commercial 

coals of the State and then compared the trade 

distinctions with the "fuel ratio" (the quotient 

of the fixed carbon divided by t.lie volatile 

matter of the proximate analysis). He found 

that there were in use at that time the rank 

names of anthi-acite, semianthracite, semibituminous, and bituminous .. He found that in 

practice the fu~l ratios of the coals ·of the different groups overlapped, but he concluded that 

these ranks might be established with the 

following limit~: 

Fuel ratio. · 

Anthracite ........................ 100 to 12 

Semianthracite................... ·12 to 8 

, Semi bituminous...... . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 to 5 

Bituminous. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 to 0 

These ranks, with the boundaries fixed provisionally by Frazer, serve very well for Pennsylvania and for the coals of the great Appalachian trough, extending from northern Pennsylvania to central Alabama, but they do not 

apply to the great mass of western coals, 

which at that time were of little or no import·ance. Most of those persons who were instrumental in developing the coal fields of the west 

originally carrie fr<;>m the East, and they carried with them ideas of coal obtained in the 

eastern fields, which contained high-rank fuel. 

. Not only that, but most of the coals in the Appa.:. 

lachian region and those in the upper Mississippi 

Valley are of Carboniferous age and hence are 

very old; but the coals of the West are Cretaceous and even Tertiary in age and hence, when 

compared with. Appalachian coals, are ve:y 

young indeed. A difference in character was 

recognized, and as the western coals are generally inferior they were lumped together ·and 

called merely "lignite." The term "lignite" 

is undoubtedly appropriate for many of the lo\vrank coals of the West, but it is certainly not 

appropriate for black, shiny coals that show 

little trace of woody texture and are capable 

of producing a coke of fairly good quality .. 

Nevertheless such coals were called lignite and 

relegated to the lowest rank among coals. 

·Several persons have attempted to devise 

schemes of classification based upon chemical 

composition by which a certain coal could be 

referred· to its proper place merely by means 

of its chemical analysis, but so far no scheme 

1 Pennsylvania Second Geol. Survey Rept. MM, p. 143, 1879. 

of this kind has been devised that is applicable 

to all ranks of coal. Some ·scheme like 

Frazer's suits admirably one part of ·the column 

but can not be maqe to fit the other part. 

Schemes of this kind are so unsatisfactory that 

the United States Geological Survey has finally 

decided that it is practically impossible to 

classify· all ranks of coal according to their 

chemical composition, and that it is necessary 

to supplement chemical by other criteria. 

Accordingly, Frazer's scheme, with some necessary modification to make it agree more closely 

with modern trade practices, has been adopted 

for the higher ranks of coals, and physical characteristics have been used for the lower ranks. 

Thus, in the West no one questions that there 

is coal of the rank of lignite, but it is difficult, 

if not impossible, to specify what a lignite is in 

terms of its chemical constituents. Similarly, 

in the Rocky Mountain region, where the lowrank coals are abundant, there is no question 

that there is a difference between brown, 

woody, or amorphous lignite and shiny, black 

subbituminous coal, but this difference is one 

that is not clearly defined by available chemical criteria. There is, however, a marked 

physical difference, although there is no sharp 

line of demarcation between them. Thus 

sub bituminous coal is black and shiny, whereas 

lignite is dull and generally woody in texture; 

subbituminous coal has a greater heating 

value and carries less moisture than lignite. 

Altogether the difference between the two is 

so marked that they are known by different 

names in the trade, and for that reason, if.for 

no other, they should be classed differently. 

In a like manner the distinction between 

subbituminous and bituminous is not sharp and 

does not show iJl a chemical analysis. Subbituminous coal generally carries more moisture 

than bituminous, but there are so many exceptions to this rule that it has very little value as 

a means of distinction. There is, however, 

one marked difference by ·which they can 

~lways be separated, and that· is the difference 

in their behavior under weathering, and as this 

difference has a marked effect upon their commercial value and use it seems to be a legitimate 

criterion for separating them into the two 

ranks, subbituminous and bituminous. The 

difference in the effect of weathering is due 

primarily to a difference in the percentage of 

moisture in the coal, but, as stated above, the 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 5 

percentage of 1noisture is variable. Subbituminous coals, however, in general contain more 

moisture than bituminous coal, and on weathering lose their moisture readily. This loss of 

1noisture results in shrinkage and the formation 

of incipient cracks, which do not conform to the 

few joint :facqs but tend to run irregularly. On 

the other hand, the bituminous coals generally 

contain a s1naller percentage of moisture, so 

thn.t they shrink very little when they are 

suddenly dried. They may be very highly 

jointed and 1nay fall to pieces readily ~hen 

mined and handled, but their breakage is due 

to the inherent weakness of the coal, and the 

crn.cks almost invariably correspond with the 

joint faces. 

By using these criteria (part chemical and 

part physical) it is possible to classify coals and 

not only to define the general characters of the 

different groups but to delimit them with considerable accuracy. The United State~ Geological Survey recognizes the ranks indicated 

below. 

ANTHRACITE. 

Anthracite is generally well known and may 

be defined as a hard coal having a fuel ratio 

(fixed carbon divided by. the volatile matter) 

of not more than 50 or 60 and not less than 10. 

Most of it is mined in eastern Pennsylvania, 

where its peculiar quality is due to regional 

metn,morphism-that is, to the crushing stresses 

that affected the crust of the earth when the 

rocks were thrown into the great folds that 

characterize this region. Small areas of anthracite occur in theW est, but generally these coals 

have been converted to anthracite by the heat 

of some mass of igneous rock th~t was thrust 

into the other rocks while it was in a molten 

condition. Many such' masses take the form 

of thin sheets, which were forced in between 

the beds of the other rocks, and consequently 

for some distance they may lie parallel with the 

coal beds. If a coal bed is cut by the igneous 

rock, it may be burned to ashes, made into 

coke, _or converted to anthracite. The product 

will depend on the presence of air, the intensity 

of the heat, and the length of time the coal was 

subjected to the influence of ,the heated mass. 

Anthracite is an almost ideal domestic fuel, but 

it is not well adapted to steam raising unless an 

absolutely smokeless coal i~ needed. Many 

people believe that anthracite has greater heat470230-17-2 

ing value than any of the other ranks, but this 

is not true, as can be seen by a comparison of 

analyses given on page 31, and by reference to 

figure 1 (p. 8). Largely on account of its low 

heating power antP,racite is not an economical 

fuel for steam raising or for use in general 

manuiacturing. 

SEMIANTHRACITE. 

Semianthracite is also a hard coal, ~ut it is 

not so hard as true anthracite. lt is high in 

fLxed carbon, qut not so high as anthracite. It 

may be defined as a hard coal having a fuel 

ratio ranging from 6 to 10. The lower limit is 

uncertain, as it is difficult to say where the line 

should be drawn to separate "hard" from "soft" 

coal and at the same tin1e to divide the two 

ran~s according to their fuel ratio. Some hard 

coals of the anthracite type have a fuel ratio 

as low as 6.5 or 7, whereas some of the soft coals 

have a fuelratio as high as 7· or perhaps more. 

For this reason it is probable that fuel ratio 

alone can not be depended. upon to separate 

these two ranks, but that physical properties 

also may have to be taken into consideration. 

The change of ordinary soft coal to semianthracite is due to the same causes that produc.ed 

anthracite, except that the pro.cess has not been 

carried so far in semianthracite, ·possibly because the action has not been so intense. 

There is very little semianthracite in this 

country, so it is only a small factor in the coal 

trade. Such semianthracite as is mined reaches 

the consumer generally under the narrie 

'' a;nthracite" and is masquerading under false 

colors. 

SEMmiTUMINOUS. 

The name "semi bituminous" is exceedingly 

unfortlinate, as literally it implies that this 

coal is hn.lf the rank of bituminous, whereas it 

is applied to a kind of coal that is of higher 

rank than bituminous-really superbituminous. 

Semibituminous coal may be defined as coal 

having a fuel ratio ranging from 3 to 7. Its 

relatively high percentage of .fixed carbon 

makes it nearly smokeless when it is burned 

properly, and consequently most of these coals 

go into the market as "smokeless coals." 

The best coal of this type has a heating value 

greater than that· of any of the other ranks and 

is consequently best. adapted to rais~g steam 

and to general manufacturing that requires a 

high degree of heat. It is regarded as the best 
6 THE COAL FIELDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

coal for steamship and especially for naval 

use, as it is nearly smokeless and requires less 

bunker space per unit of heat than other coals. 

The coal is generally min11:tely jointed and is 

therefore tender and friable. In fact, it is so 

friable that in mining a large percentage of fine 

coal is produced, and in transportation many 

of the lumps are broken to pieces, so that by 

the time it reaches the consumer, especially 

if it pa$ been transshipped, it is generally in 

small pieces. This fineness is by many regarded as detrimental, because the public is 

accustomed to lump coal which will stand 

transportation without -crushing, but when 

this ·coal is used with mechanical stokers and 

with a grate adapted to its use the fineness of 

the coal is not disadvantageous. The great 

bulk of this kind of coal is in the eastern fields, 

but some is found in the West, where it has 

been subjected to a slight amount of regional 

metamorphism or has been heated by some 

igneous mass. 

BITUMINOUS. 

The term. "bituminous," as generally understood, is applied to a group of coals having a 

maximum fuel ratio of about 3, and hence it is 

a kind of coal 'in which the volatile matter 

and the fixed carbon are. nearly equal; but 

this criterion can not be used without qualification, for the same statement might be made 

of subbituminous coal and lignite. As noted 

before, the distinguishing feature which serves 

to separateobituminous coal from coals of lower 

rank is the manner in which it is affected by 

weathering. Bitun1inous coal is only slightly 

affected chen1ically by weathering unless it is 

exposed for many years, and then, although it 

consists ·of small particles, each particle is a 

prismatic fragmen~, whereas coals of, lower 

rank break into thin plates parallel with the 

bedding. 

The definition given above might not indicate 

that the bituminous rank is a large one, but 

. when it is examined critically it is found to contain a great variety of coals-coals having 

really little in common with one another. Many 

attempts have been made to subdivide this 

great group, but so far no scheme proposed has 

met with general approval. Many of the better 

coals of this group will coke or are being coked, 

but coking coals~ .. are not ·limited to the bituminqus rank, for some of the best coke made in the 

United States is produced from semibituminous coal. Not. only is the upper limit of the 

coking group uncertain, but the lower limit is 

equally difficult to determine. If the coking 

property had some definite relation to· the 

chemical composition of the coal as it is at present determined there might be some hope of 

establishing a class of coking coals by chemical 

analysis, but no one can say just why a coal will 

coke, so an actual test in an oven is requi~ed 

to determine whether or not a coal will coke. 

Gas coals have been in great demand and 

such coals must be high in volatile matter, so 

as to make on distillation a large volume of gas; 

and as this gas must be relatively free from sulphur the coal from which it is made must contain a very small percentage of that eiement. 

In recent years the making of gas for illuminating and heating has undergone a great change, 

water gas largely taking the place of the gas 

distilled from coal; and as this gas requires no 

particular quality of coal, the demand for" gas 

coals" has been greatly reduced and probably 

in the near future will disappear. 

Cannel coal is very rich in volatile n1atter, is 

generally high in hydrogen, and therefore burns 

with ,a great heat and a long flame. It is essentially a gas-making coal and in the early days 

was used extensively for this purpose, as well 

as for the distillation of oil. As a source of oil 

it could not compete with petroleum derived 

from wells, and soon after oil was discovered in 

the earth in 1859 the .business of distilling oil 

from coal in this country was discontinued. 

Cannel coal owes its richness to the fact that it 

is composed almost entirely of the spores, · 

spore cases, seed coats, and resinous or waxy 

products of such plants as lived at the tin1e of 

the existence of the coal swamp. In such 

swamps, as in thoseofto-day,therewasdoubtless 

in places open water, into which the spores and 

seed cases floated and, becoming water-logged, 

sank to the bottom and in time produced cannel 

coal. The absence of woody material in such 

coal gives it a regular texture and grain that 

are not found in any other coals. As a result, 

it breaks like glass, with a conchoidal or shelllike fracture, and owing to its richness in inflammable material the best of it will ignite 

readily when a lighted match is held in contact 

with a small splinter of it. As the nature of 

cannel coal is due to the kind of material of 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 7 

which it is composed, it follows that there may 

be oll kinds of cannels, corresponding in a 

genern1 way with the various ranks of coals. 

Ashley 1 has recently proposed the following 

classification of cannel coal: 

1. Su bcnnnel coal: 

(a) Brown subcannel, of brown coni or lignite rnnk. 

(b) Black subcannel, of subbituminous rank. 

2. Cannel coal, of bituminous rank: · 

(a) Bogheacl cannel (fuel ratio less than 0.5). 

(b) 'l'yp.ical cannel (fuel ratio between 0.5 ancll). 

(c) Lean cannel or semicannel (fuel ratio more 

than 1). 

3. C'anneloid, semibituminous. coal, semianthr~cite, or 

anthracite. 1 

Cannels which are of the rank above bituminous hav-e lost their originn,l richness and 

therefore do not deserv-e to be called cannels. 

Other kinds of coal, such as "hlock" and 

"splint," are recognized in the trade, but the 

characteristics of these coals are physical and 

are found in only a small group of coals. Some. 

of the "block" and "splint" coals are very. 

hard, almost as hard as anthracite, but they are· 

generally woody in textme and contain much· 

mineral charcoal. They are valuable coals in 

the 1narket, but usually their development is 

so local that they are not of n1uch importance 

in a general classification of coal. 

As the great group of bituminous coal includes all grades from the poorest western 

bituminous coal to the highest-rank coal in 

the Appalachian region, exclusive of the semibituminous coal, the writer has,, for convenience, divided the group and represented it 

on the general 1nap of the coal fields of the . 

United States in two colors-one indicating all 

coals having, in the air-dried sample, a calorific 

value (in Br.itish thermal units) of n1ore than 

12,500, and the other indicating all bituminous 

coals having, in the air-dried sample, a calorific 

value of less than 12,500. This is a practical 

separation according to heating value, which, 

nfter all, is the principal criterion for determining the relative values of coals. 

SUBBITUMINOUS. 

The term "subbituminous" is adopted by 

the Geological Survey for what has generally 

been called ''black lignite," a tenn that is ob1 Ashley, G. H., Cannel coals in the United States: U.S. Geol. Survey 

Bull.- (in preparation). 

jectionable because the coal is not lignitic in 

the sense of being distinctly woody, and because the use of tl1e tenn seems to imply that 

this coal is little better than the brown, woody 

lignite of North Dakota, wl;10reas many coals of 

this rank approach in excellence the lowest 

grade of bituminous coal. Sub bituminous coal 

is generally distinguishable from lignite by its 

black color and its apparent freedom from distinctly woody t·exture and structure, and frmn 

bituminous coal by its loss of moisture and the 

consequent breaking down or "slacking" that 

it undergoes when subjected to alternate wetting and drying. As the percentage of moisture is an· important matter in buying and shipping coal, and as the slacking on exposure to the 

weather makes it necessary to ship in box cars 

and to guard carefully against sponta:q.eous 

ignition, there is a great commercial difference 

iii these two kinds of coal which th~ Geological 

f?urvey has recognized by putting them iri different ranks. Despite the many drawbacks in 

the shipment and use of subbituminous coal it 

has found a ready market in much of the western country, because it is a very clean domestic 

fuel and ignites with little difficulty. 

Subbituminous coals differ considerably in 

chemical composition ~nd in physical appearance. Some are banded like much of the bituminous coal, and some are essentially cannel in 

physical and chen1ical make-up. In general, 

the Cretaceous and younger coals of the West 

contain a smallerpercentage of sulphur than the 

older. coals of the East, and as some of them are 

high in volatile matter they would doubtless be 

excellent coals for making gas, either illuminating gas or producer gas for generating power. 

LIGNITE. 

The term "lignite," as used by the Geological 

Survey, is restricted to those coals which are 

distinctly brown and either markedly woody or 

claylike in their appearance. They are intermediate in quality and in development between peat and subbituminous coal. As the 

moisture of lignite as it comes from the mine 

generally ranges from 30 to 40 per cc,3nt, its 

heating value is low; and the consumer can not 

afford to pay freight for any great distance on 

so 1nuch water. Also it parts with much of 

this moisture very r~adily when exposed to the 

weather and so falls to pieces or slacks much 

I 
8 THE COAL FIELDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

more readily and completely than subbitumi-

. nous coal. On this account it is more likely to 

ignite spontaneously and must be h'andled even 

more carefully than subbituminous coal and 

stored in a place where it will not be exposed 

to alternate wetting and drying. Lignite is 

mainly marketed near the 1nine, as ·a domestic 

fuel, but at a few places in North Dakota and 

Texas it is shipped to near-by towns and used 

for general manufacturing purposes. 

At the Government testing plant at the St. 

Loui$ Exposition North Dakota lignite was 

found to be an excellent fuel for making producer gas, and probably in the future it will be 

16,000 

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FIGURE I.-Diagrams showing the chemical composition and heat efficiency of the several ranks of coal. Upper diagram: Comparative heat 

value of the samples of coal represented in the lower diagram,. computed on the a:;h-free basis. Lower diagram: Variation ii1 tl~e fixed 

carbon, volatile matter, and moisture ,of coals of diiTerent ranks, from lignite to anthracite, computed on samples as received, on tho ash·· 

free basis. 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 9 

much 1nore largely used for producing power 

than it has been in the past. Just how this 

will be accomplished is difficult to determine, 

but it is possible that large producer plants may 

be erected at the mines and the lignite converted in to electric energy and delivered by 

long-distance transmission lines to towns within 

a radius of 200 miles or to the railroad's in this 

region or in contiguous territory. Lignite has 

recently been used in powdered form, and it 

may possibly be better utilized in this way. As 

some of the Texas and Arkansas lignites are 

ir1 effect.- undeveloped cannel coals, it seems 

possible that when the supply of petroleum is 

n1uch less than the demand, the lignite may 

be used for the distillation fro1n it of qil and the 

various .by-products that are now obtained in 

Scotln.nd frmn oil shale. Lignite can also be 

tnanufactured into hard briquets, which 1nake 

an excellent. fuel, but so far the cost of manufacture has been prohibitive. 

COMPARISON OF THE DIFFERENT RANXS .. 

Figure 1 is a graphic representation of the 

proximate chemical composition of the various 

ranks of coal and of their heat-producing values. 

The lower diagram shows the fairly regular increase in fixed carbon from lignite to anthracite, though it must not be supposed that the 

lines for all coals are as simple as those shown 

in the diagram. The analyses upon which the 

·diagram is based are, however, actual analyses 

selected. fron1 those given in the table at the 

end. of this introduction. No. 1 represents the 

analysis of a typical North Dakota lignite 

which as' it comes out of the mino has a moisture content of about 40 per cent. ·It also contains about 5.5 per cent of ash, but as ash 

varies irregularly without regard to the rank of 

the coal the analysis has been recalculated to 

the ·ash-free basis, thus eliminating ash from 

consideration. All the other analyses have 

been similarly recalculated. No. 2 represents 

a sub bituminous coal from Wyoming, having a 

Inoisture content of 23.4 per cent; Nos. 3, 4, 

and 5 represent various ranks of bituminous 

coal, ~he lowest one being from Indiana, the 

second .frmn Ohio, and the third, or highest, 

from the Pittsburgh district of Pennsylvania; 

Nos. 6 and 7 represent semibituminous coal 

from the Windber district of Pennsylvania; No. 

8 represents smnianthracite; and No. 9 represents some of the best anthracite of the Pennsylvania region. The diagram shows clearly 

that the fixed carbon increases very markedly 

from lignite to anthracite; that the moisture 

of the higher-rank coals is small and about the 

same quantity in each, but increases rapidly 

from medium-rank bituminous coal to lignite; 

and that the greatest development of ·volatile 

matter is not at either end of the series but 

in the lower ranks of bituminous coal. 

The upper diagran1 represents the heat value 

·of the same coals on a similar ash-free basis. 

There is a very general misconception regarding the heat value of anthracite as compared 

with that of lower-rank coals. Many persons 

think that because· anthracite commands a 

higher price it must necessarily be a better 

heating coal than the soft varieties, but this 

diagram shows conclusively· that it is not and 

that the best coal for heat production is No. 6, 

or low-rank semibituminous coal. Anthracite 

commands a higher price than soft coal because 

of its suitability for ~omestic use and because 

of its freedom from smoke, soot, and waste. 

From the diagram it 'might be inferred that 

the heat value of a coal depends directly upon 

the amount of fixed carbon that it contains, 

but this can not be true, for the heat value of 

pure carbon is only. 14,580 British thermal 

units/ whereas coal No. 6 has a heat value of 

15,480 Brit.ish thermal units. Coal derives Its 

heat value mainly from two elements, carbon 

and hydrogen, the carbon having a heat value 

of 14,580 British thermal units and the hydrogen a heat value of 62,000 British thermal 

units.1 The greater h·eating power of the lowrank coals as c~mpared with anthracite is due 

to the fact that these coals contain a considr.rable quantity of available hydrogen,2 which 

when burned produces a much greater heat 

than the same weight of carbon. 

. Either diagram well illustrates the slight 

value of lignite as compared with the higherrank ·coals and makes it possible to understand that rennsylvania and West Virginia 

coal can be l~auled by rail to Lake Erie, 

1 Richards, J. W., Metallurgical calculations, p. 16, 1906 .. 

2 ·w. S. Parr (The composition and character of Illinois coals: Illinois 

Geol. Survey Bull. 3, p. 37, 1906) defines available hydrogen as follows: 

"By available hydrogen is meant that part of the hydrogen content 

which is free to enter into combination with oxygen for the production 

of heat, as distinct from that hydrogen present which already has 

* * * the necessary equivalent oxygen for the formation of water, 

and consequently [is] noncombustible." 
10 THE COAL FIELDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

shipped by vessel to Duluth or Superior, hauled 

400 or 500 miles inl.and, and then sold in direct 

competition with·.lignite mined in the vicinity. 

.. 

CLASSIFICATION OF THE COAL AREAS OF THE 

UNIT~D STATES. 

For convenience in describing the areas underlain by coal-bearing rocks, some scheme of 

names and classification of areas is essential. 

The plan adopted is shown· in Plate I, the large 

map in the pocket of this report. Although 

coal areas might be subdivided or combined 

indefinitely, the Geological Survey recognizes 

four classes, which, beginning with the smallest, 

are called district, field, region, and province. 

COAL DISTRICT. 

"Coal district" is a term applied only to developed coal areas. It is already in common use in 

the trade for an area in which n1ining has been 

developed around a fairly definite center, but it' 

also has been loosely used as synonymous with 

"coal field." A district is generally small, and 

the term is restricted to areas in which mines 

are developed continuously on a given bed or 

beds, and the coal is generally known in the 

trade by some distinguishing feature, such as a 

trade name, or by some physical characteristic 

upon which it is advertised and sold. Districts 

are generally named from the leading town in 

them, or from the town at which mining first 

started or which first achieved distinction in 

producing this particular kind of coal. From 

the very nature of the case districts are small, 

but it is not possible to set definite limits to the 

area that should be classed as a district. 

COAL FIELD. 

A coal field is an area of coal-bearing territory next larger than the district. Its recognition is based less upon trade practices and uses 

than that of a coal district, and therefore it has 

more of the natural features to characterize it. 

The term" field" is at present used very loosely, 

and in many ways it is not advisable to attempt 

its close restriction. As used by the Geological 

Survey, it is applied to an area generally larger 

than a district, but still to a well-defined compact area. In this respect it differs from "region," the term for the next higher division. 

Small areas or basins that are separated from 

·one another or from the main coal area are 

called fields, especially if their coal is of fairly I , 

uniform- composition and value. · "Ficld" if:! 

also applied to a certain area which has become 

prominent· because of the· kind of .coal it produces, but which is not neces~arily limited to 

certain centers ~f production. Some of the 

best-known fields of this class are the Pocahontas-field of Virginia and West Virginia, the 

New River field of West Virginia, the Georges 

Creek field of Maryland and West Virginia, 

and the Windber field of Pennsylvania. These 

fields have definite outlines, corresponding with 

the extent of the bed or beds of coal upon which 

the field w~s established or with the limits ()f 

coal of a certain quality that influences its sale 

and use. In large areas of coal-bearing rocks, 

like that of Illinois, there are many districts or 

centers of production, but it is also necessary 

to recognize the larger divisions corresponding 

with those just mentioned. In Illinois, however, there are no well-defined limits depending 

on quality of coal or upon natural features, for 

the region is fairly well and uniformly developed and the quality of the co~l does not vary 

markedly throughout the State. Under such 

conditions it would be of little value to mark 

off definite fields, and· they would not be used 

by many; therefore it has been decided that in 

such areas fields may be recognized as a matter 

of convenience and hence may vary in different 

reports, for a division that would be convenient 

to one person would not necessarily suit the 

needs of a.nother. ·It is therefore proposed to 

consider such a State as Illinois as 1nade up of 

an indefinite number of coal fields, the li1nits of 

which should be defined by the pernon n1aking 

the subdivision, and the limits 1nade by one 

person. should not necessarily agree with or 

control those made by another. 

COAL REG~ON. 

As a matter of convenience, coal fields 1nay 

be grouped into larger divisions called '' regions." Such grouping is generally designed 

to bring together coal fields that have smne 

feature or features in common, thus enabling 

them to be considered as a whole or separately 

as the problem may demand. The most strik_: 

ing subdivision of a region is in Colorado and 

New Mexico, where the· great area of coking 

coal in the eastern parts of these States extends across the line from o-ne State into the 

other. The Colorado portion is well known 

as the Trinidad field and the New :Mexico por-
GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 11 

tion is equally well known as. the Raton coal 

field. Both names are appr9priate· and needed, 

but in many discussions it is necessary to cousider thmn together as a unit, for they are as 

nearly a unit as it is possible for two coal 

fields to be. For this reason they are here 

considered together as the Raton Mesa coal 

region. Likewise, many other areas are essentially a combiriation of fields and therefore 

should properly be classed as regions. Good 

exmnples are the anthracite region of Pennsylvania; the western coal region in Iowa, 

Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas; 

and the numerous deep basins of the Rocky 

Mountain 'States. 

COAL PROVINCE. 

As fields are grouped into regions, so regions 

are grouped into much larger <;livisions, called 

"pro,7 inces." These, as shown on the accompanying ·map, are the Eastern province, Interior province, Gulf province; Northern Great 

Plains province, Rocky Mountain province, 

and Pacific Coast province. The grouping into 

provinces is made largely for convenience in 

considering broad questions of geologic age, 

geologic structure, quality of coal, and transportation. In a province, as in a smaller division, there is a certain amount of unity in the 

physical features of the coal fields of the province or in the quality of the coal. Some prov-. 

inces contain all ranks of coal, and the fields 

are grouped together because of their geographic 

positions, their structu~·al features, or the age 

of the coal beds. 

THE COAL AREAS. 

EASTERN PROVINCE. 

The Eastern cqal province contains probably nine-tenths of the high-rank coal of the 

country. It is considered as made up of the 

anthracite regions of Pennsylvania and Rhode 

Island, the Atlantic coast region of Virginia. 

and North Carolina, and the great Appalachian 

region, which embraces all the bituminous and 

smnibituminous coal of what is generally 

known as the Appalachian trough. 

The Rhode Island anthracite region, although 

known since 1760, is of little economic importance, for the coal has never been mined for a 

long period on a commercial scale, and judging 

fr01n its composition and the metamorphism of 

thesurroundingrocks, it seems doubtful whether 

it will ever have more than a local value, if it is 

worked at all. . The coal is more highly metamorphosed than that of Pennsylvania;, so· that 

some of it is mined and sold as g~aphite. It 

also carries a large percentage of ash, which 

makes it'an expensive fuel to mine and to use. 

The Pennsylvania anthracite coal region is so 

well known that it needs little mention here. 

It is described in detail in the chapter on the 

coal fields of Pennsylvania. In the trade generally the anthracite region is considered as 

made up of four fields known as the Northern, 

Eastern Middle, Western Middle, and Southern. 

In 1914 these fields together produced 90,821,-

507 short tons, or 99.9. per cent of the anthracite mined in the United States. 

The Atlantic coast region is of very little 

practical importance at the present time, for it.s 

coal beds are worked either not at all or on a 

scale so small as to be negligible. The Richmond field or_ basin, however, has the distinction of being- the scene of the first development 

of bituminous coal in this country, mining having been begun there in 1787. T.he coal is generally of high rank, some being semianthracite; 

but the conditions of mining are not good, and 

the coal can not at present compete with the 

better coals of the Appalachian region. 

The Appalachian r~gion is the greatest storehouse of high-rank coal in the United States, 

if not in the world. This near-by almost inexhaustible supply of high-grade fuel has been 

the foundation of the development of the blast 

furnaces, the great iron and steel mills, and the 

countless manufacturing enterprises of the 

Eastern States. The Appalachian region is a 

compact area of coal-bearing rocl~s, which in 

general lie in a deep trough. The trough shape 

is well marked in its northern part, and the 

middle line Ol' axis runs nearly through Pittsburgh and thence southwestward to the vicinity of Huntington,. W. Va., on Ohio River. 

The lowest coal bed, if present in the deepest 

part of the trough, would be about 2,000 feet 

below th~ surface. The rocks in this great 

trough are thrown into a large number of 

minor wrinkles or· anticlines (upfolds), especially on its southeastern side. These small 

folds generally bring to the surface the harder 

rocks. just beneath the coal-bearing beds, and 

consequently they form ridges or mountains, 

as they are called in Pennsylvania and West 
12 THE COAL FIELDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Virginia. These die out toward the southwes~, but they exert a marked effect upon the 

coal beds exposed at the surface as far south 

as Kanawha River. In southern Virginia and 

Kentucky the trough flattens very decidedly, 

and as a consequence the coal beds are not so 

deep, but their outc;rops cover a wider•territory. 

In Tennessee the trough character is scarcely 

apparent and the coal-bearing rocks appear to 

be· nearly horizontal but are broken up by 

several small folds similar to those noted in the 

northern part of the region. The effect, however, is very different, for owing to the flatness 

of the rocks the streams have cut away the upbending folds, leaving great longituclinal val-· 

leys instead of anticlinal ridges, and narrow, 

flat, intervening troughs of coal-bearing rocks. 

The same kind of structure, except that the 

troughs are more pronounced, is seen in the 

coal fields of Alabama, but toward the southwest the rocks . gradually descend, and near 

Birmingham they begin to pass beneath the 

later rocks (Cretaceous) that were deposited 

on the Gulf Coastal Plain. This cover becomes 

deeper and deeper toward the southwest, until, 

in the vicinity. of ·Tuscaloosa, the coal-bearing 

rocks disappear and nothing is in sight but the 

soft sand and clay of the younger formations. 

Along the western margin of the Appalachian region the coal beds dip very slightly 

toward the east and there are no outliers of 

any consequence, but on the eastern margin 

the rocks are much more severely folded and 

there are many synclines (downfolds); which, 

by the cutting back of the river valleys, have 

been separated from the main area and now 

form isolated natural fields. Among the most 

prominent of such outli;ers on the east side are 

the Broad Top field, in central-southern Pennsylvania; the Georges Creek and Upper Potomac basins, in Maryland and West Virginia; 

the Lookout Mountain field, in Georgia and 

Alabama; and the Coosa and Cahaba fields, in 

Alabama. There are also a number .of long, 

narrow outliers in southern Virginia, which 

properly. do nQt belong with the Appalachian 

region but which for convenience will be so 

classed. These fields contain thin and irregular coal beds of Mississippian (''Lower Carboniferous") age. They are the only coals _of this 

ftge and are the oldest coal beds of commercial 

importance in the country. Many of them are 

of high rank, ~ut on account of their irregularity and impurity they have not been exten~ 

sively developed. 

The coal of the Appalachian region is generally of high rank but shows considerable variation, mainly in an east-west direction. In 

the reports of the Second Geological Survey of 

Pennsylvania it was clearly pointed out that 

the percentage of fixed carbon in the coals of 

that State increases from west to east, and also · 

tP,at the volatile matter decreases in the same 

direction. The result of this progressive change 

is that the coals on the eastern margin of the 

region are of much higher rank than are those 

on the western margin. White 1 has recently 

shown that the same progressive change is 

characteristic of the entire region, and he has 

drawn contours of equal percentages of fixed · 

carbon showing the change. The well-known 

fact that the fields of semibituminous coal are 

limited to the eastern margin of the region 

accords with this progressive devolatilization 

of the coals toward the east. Even along this 

margin they are irregularly disposed, arid White 

has shown that this irregularity is due to variation in the pressure exerted ·on the coal-bearing 

rocks at the time of the great movement which 

folded the rocks of the Appalachian region. 

As this thrust was transmitted through broken 

and folded rocks it acted irregularly; in places 

the movement was taken up by the folding and 

faulting of the rocks, and in other places the 

·thrust was transmitted direct to the' coalbearing rocks, and materially' affected the 

quality of the coal. As the coals are the softest 

rocks involved in the thrust, they were transformed according to the intensity of the pres-. 

sure, the transformation· being greatest along 

the east side of the region, where the thrust 

was most severe, and least along the west side, 

where the thrust was least. Two other elements that materially affect the quality of the 

coal of a field or region are t~e sulphur and the 

ash. The variations in the quantity of these 

substances are due to original differences in 

the conditions under which the coal was laid 

down and to conditions that permitted mineralbearing waters to circulate through the coal 

bed since it was formed. These yonditions can 

not be determined, so the variations in composition due to these factors can not be foretold 

to any great extent. 

. · 1 'Vhite, David, Some relations in origin between coal and petroleum: 

Washington Acad. Sci. Jour., vol. 5, pp. 189-212, 1915. 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 13. 

During the deposition of the coal beds the co~ls of the region farther north. The coals of 

Appalaehian region was doubtless a . great the. northern part of th~s province 1?-ave a large 

~wmnpy country near sea level, but even then 1 n1o1sture content, whiCh of course produces 

1t appears to haYe been in the forn1 of a basin, ·low heating yalue and a generally poor coal. 

whose deepest part was in western West Vir- The northern and eastern regions are in the 

ginia. On account of this depression there was forn1 of wide, generally shallow basins in the 

probably open water here, at least during part coal-bearing rocks, the deepest parts of which 

of the time when the coal beds were being de- lie near their centers, toward which the beds 

posited, for the coals are generally absent from dip lightly from the n1argins. The coal-bearthis part of the region, as is shown by the map ing rocks in the western and southweste~n re-

(Pl. I, in pocket). These beds, if present, gions do not lie in basins, or rather they conwould be deeply buried, but their absence has stitute the ea$tern n1argin or tin1 of the O'reatest 

been reyealed b~ .~leep c~rilli.J?~ done to find oil bas~n on the continent-the basin of th~ Great 

"'*and gas. Plams. Throughout Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, 

.. ~. INTERIOR PRO~CE. ~kla~orna, and Texas the coal-bearing rocks 

,.., . The Interior province inch~_des all the bitu- clip hghtly westward and pass beneath the 

minous coal fields and regions near the Great later rocks of the Great Plains. They ernerO'e 

Lakes, in the· Mississippi Valley, and in Texas. in the Rocky Mountains, on the west side of the 

It is made up of four distinct regions-the 9reat Basin, but -here the rocks of this age are 

northern region (Michigan); the eastern re- ~ot coal bearing, and no one knows where the 

gion (Illinois, Indiana, and western Kentucky); ch:~ge occurs from one to the other. The 

the western region C(owa, Missouri, Kansas, passing of the coal-bearing rocks under the 

Oklahoma, and Arkansas); and the south- cover of the later rocks of the Great Plains is 

western region (Texas). shown on the map by the dotted p~ttern in the 

·As these regions, with one exception, are not lig~t t~t. . That part of the western region 

near mountainous uplifts, the coals are of low whiCh lies In Arkansa~ is merely an eastern 

rank, for little pressure has been exerted upon outlier in which. the rocks are greatly folded 

them, and their change or devolatilization has and. in which the coals are therefore much de~ been only such as resulted from the long-con- vol~tilized and improYed in rank; but this area 

tinned pressure of the o.verlying rocks. This is still connected with the main region to the 

statement is eminently true of the northern west. 

and eastern regions, the Iowa and Missouri · Although the coal of the Interior province 

portions of the western region, and the south- as a whole is not .equal in quality to that of· 

western region; but as the southern part of the t~e Easte~n province, it. is very extensively 

western region is near or a p~rt of the moun- mmed and Is used for 4eatmg and for generating 

tainous ·area of uplifted rocks in Arkansas, the power in the many cities and towns of the 

coal beds haYe been materially affected. They Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes. In 

have been devolatilized to about the same ex- fact, the presence of these extensiYe co~l fields 

tent that the Appalachian coals have been de- in near proximity to the rich agricultural lands 

volatilized by the great pressutes that folded of this country and to the avenues of transporthe rocks of the Appalachian Valley. The tation-railroads, lakes, and rivers-has been 

Ouachita disturbance changed the coal of Ar- largely instrumental in developing. the great 

kansas to sen1ibituminous coal, or even to smni- nlanufacturing centfjrs of Chicago, St. Louis, 

anthracite, and the pressure has been effective and Kansas City and has been an inlport~nt· 

as far west as a point about 50 miles within factor in the cl.evelopment of the railroad sysOklahoma. Beyond this point the coal has not terns that gridiron this fertile country in all 

been converted into semibituminous coal but directions. 

has been considerably altered, so that to-clay it 

GULF PROVINCE. 

is regarded as .superior to the coals of adjacent The Gulf province is at present of' slight 

fields. The pressure also has deYolatilized the commercial importance.·· The coal is mostly 

coals farther north, in ICansas, changing thmn lignite, and it has been mined at only a few 

to coals of considerably higher ra:p.k than the , localities in the State· of Texas. The same 

' 47023°-17-3 
14 THE COAL FIELDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

kind of lignite occurs in Arkansas, Mississippi, is very rich in bituminous matter; it is suband Alabama; b:ut, owing to the presence of cannel coal or cannel coal in the process of forhigh-~ank .coal near by in the fields of Arkansas, mation. The rocks containing the lignite dip 

western Kentucky, and Alabama, it has not gentJy toward the Gulf and pass under younger 

been prospected except in a few areas. The· rocks. These effectually conceal the Eocene 

lignite is contained in rocks of Eocene (early rocks and the beds of lignite, but it does not 

Tertiary) .age, generally sandstone and clay, seem probable that the lignite extends very 

that are so soft as to 'make mining difficult and far in this direction, f~r when the lignite was 

expensive.· formed this area was a low coastal plain, which 

The old idea that lignite is of recent forma- sloped gently to salt water, and as the swamps 

tion and is of low rank because of that fact is were limited to· the land are~ theywer~ probably 

generally true, but there are many exceptions. not very wide. . 

Some of the most valuable coal beds in the · · NORTHERN. GREAT PLAINS PROVINCE: 

Western States are of the same age as the ....... 

Texas lignite, yet they are of high rank. A The Northern Great Plains province includes 

study of the coal fields of the United States all the_ cqa) fields in t4e G~e-~t Pl~ins e~~-t ,otthe 

shows clearly that, although age is a factor in FronJ; Range of the Roc~y M,ountains._, )n. ~his 

the. alteration of coal, it is generally not the pr~viJ}~e the r9cks ge~erally lie ;flat o~~a:re but 

principal one.' The controlling fact?~ -is the 1\t~le .. disturbed,_ an~)~ cop.seque~~eJ~~ ~~Ht)~ 

presence or absence of disturbances- in the a_re of low ran~, being either lignite or subbiturocky crust of the earth, either-in the coal field · minous, except in· a few of the basi~s -~e~i:: th~ 

or.dose to it. Thus in the.lignite.fields'of Ala~ mountains, where the force~- that caus~·d· the 

bama, Mississippi, 1\.rkansas, a:rid the northern jJ_pheaval have loc'aliy dianged the coal to 

part of Texas there have been no mountain- higher rank. This progressive increa~e in.rank 

mfiking ·disturbances since .the· lignite Was toward the· regiOJ?-S. of mountain making is. ap~ 

formed-. : It ·may be. said that the region 'is in parent in this province, as ~ay be __ seen not only 

its riati've:. condition; but near the Mexican :by colllpa_ring the coals of th~. different fields or 

border, in- the vicinity· of .. Laredo and Eagle . bas~ns, but by comparing .~any of the coals 

Pass, the· .co.al -has been changed to a higher within a basin, region, or field. · 

rank by the uplift of the Sierra Madre Oriental, · The large~t coal region 1n. this province is the 

of Mexico, which lies only a short distance· to Fort U:q_ion region, lying )n North .Dakota, 

the southwest.·. Similarly, in· Washmgton and South Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming. The 

in other States of the West.·the disturbances .northeastern part of this region consists o£ a 

which have produced the mountains have so very broad, flat basin, in which the dips on the 

changed the coal th~t, instead of being lignite, margin are so slight as_ to be perceptible only by 

it is· now bituminous coal or even anthracite. the aid of a-leveL· The southwestern extremity 

The lignite of northern Texas and southern is more sharply folded, consisting of a· rather 

Arkansas is of better quality than that of .. the broad, flat trough lying b_etween the great up-

. central part of Texas, the difference being due fold of the Bighorn Mountains on the west and 

probably to the different conditions under the lower dome of the Black Hills on the east. 

which it was deposited. The· lignite in the Although the Fort Union region incloses the 

southern part of Texas seems to ha've been Black Hills in a great semicircle the coals there 

formed largely of trees and stems, which are show little or no effect of that uplift, but they 

Clearly visible in the lignite to-day; but in the do show a decided change toward the Bighor~ ' 

northern part of the State there appears to have Mountains. Thus throughout North' and. South 

been open water in which the accumulation of. Dakota· and northeastern Montana the coaJ is, a 

org'anic matter cons~sted mostly of spores, seeds, brown woody lignite with a moisture content, as 

and spore cases that grew on the plants in the it comes out of the ground, of 40 to 45 .per ceii't, 

surrounding areas. Such wood as fell or but iri the vicinity ·of· Miles City, Mont.,· the 

drifted. into the water decayed, for the most brown lignite begins. to lose Its apparentJy 

part, so that hs resin contents fell 'to the bot- woody structure and to take on the black' co.lor 

toin, there to mingle with the spores and other and the general appearance of a subhituminous 

resistant detritus~ The result is that this lignite. coal. The change is, howev.~r, very gradual, 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 15 

and throughout a zone 15 or 20 miles in width manufacturing explairis in' part the hick of 

can be seen the mingling of the two types; mining, but the greatest drawback to the asprobably no two geologists would agree on the tablishment of mines ·is the poor quality of the 

position of the line marking the place where one 'lignite, which precludes its use as·· a fuel' in 

·leaves off and the other begins. The subbitu- many manufacturing processes. Although win-:.. 

minous coal in southern :Montana is of very poor ter in this region is very severe and fuel is in 

quality, but farther southwest, in Wyoming, it great demand, those who have attempted to 

imp1~ov~s until it reaches its best development mine the .lignite have found difficulty in marin·the vicinity of Sheridan, Wyo.; where it has keting it in competition with high-rank Pennbeen mined extensively for a number of years.· sylvania and West Virginia coal shipped over 

. At this place the moisture content of the coal as' the Great Lakes and thence by rail to the lig;_ 

it comes from the mine is only about 25 per cent,· nite region. In the southwest end of the reand for this reason alone its heating value is 30 · gion, where the coal is of the subbitufi\inous 

per cent higher than that of the lignite of. North rank, the operators have been more successf~l 

Dakota. in opening mines anq in building up. a large 

Many of the coal beds in the Fort Uniop. trade. The two centers of production are 

region are thick, those that are worked n1easur- Sheridan and Glenrock, n·ear Douglas;. Wyo., 

ing frmn 3 to 40. feet. In almost every section and the 'coal mined around these centers finds 

of land that has been carefully exalnined there a ready market, especially in' the north, where 

have been found a number of thick beds, so better coal is difficult to obtain. 

that the quantity of unmined coal or lignite in Although the coal .in that part of the Fort. 

this region is very great. Union region ;which surroun.ds the Black Hills 

· \he. lignite and subbitun1inous coal of thi~ shows little effect of the upheaval that formed 

.regio!l, as well as that of n1ost of the other the hills, the coal found immediately o'n the 

·fields and regions of this province and of the flanks of the uplift shows a decided in1prove~ 

Rocky Mountain province, ignite· easily, and ment· in quality as a result of th~ formation of 

many o:f the1n have been burned along the out- .the Black Hills~ The region containing this 

crop. Some of the beds are Iiow on,fire and' high-rank coal is rather small and lies entirely 

are objects of curiosity to those who are not on the west side of the uplift. The coal is confainilJ.ar with the country.· The heat gener- tained in rocks of ·Lower Cretaceous age and 

ated by the burningluts· be~n in n1any places corresponds· with the: coal mined ·at Sand Couso intense as to partly fuse the overlying shale lee, south of Great Falls·, Mont.· The· principal 

or sandstone, producing a peculiar, ·slaglike center of development is·at Cambria, north of 

material of a d~ep-red co~or.· In <;>ther· places Newcastle, Wyo. The'. coal is of bituminous 

the heat has not been sufficient to n1elt the rank and has been used largely in the manu~ 

adjacent rock but· has changed its color to ~ facture ·of coke. The coal bed, however, ha~ 

dull red, rese1nbling· that of brick. · Red hills n1any 'partings of shale, and both the cod and 

ftnd ridges, whose color is clue to the· hurning coke therefore contain so high a percentage; of 

of the coal, are eon1n1on in the western fields ash that they can :r;wt easily compete with tlie 

and are considered indications of the former lower-rank coals of adj{te(mt regions. 

presence of coal beds. The depth to which Coal like that of the Sheridan district, though 

burning extends depends on the depth of perhaps of somewhat better quality, is rather 

·cover, for the coal can burn only to depths to extensively mined in the Bull Mountain field; 

.which air is· accessible; consequently burning on Musselshell River. This field is c<;>mpara.:. 

is generally limited to a few hundred feet; tively new, its development dating from the 

This low-rank coal also ignites easily in mining, building of the Pacific coast extension of thf? 

and many mines have had to be permanently Chicago,Milwaukee & St. Paul Ra:llway, in'1908 .. 

abandoned because of fires. The field is.small, having an area of about 1,000 

· There is very little n1ining in the Fort Union square miles, but it mcludes a number of beds; 

region, because the inhabitants are engaged son1e of which attain considerable thic~ess. 

chiefly in raising stock and farming, and there The ·coal is of. the same geologic age as the 

li1~ no large towns or cities in which ~much lignite in the eastern part of Wyoming and ~ 

manufacturing is carried on. The absence of North Dakota, but here it has been changed to 
16 THE COAL FIELDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

a high-rari.k subbituminous coal, about equal 

to the best subbituminous coal of the Northern 

Great Plains and Rocky Mountain provinces. 

In the Milk River valley and along Missouri 

River south of the Bearpaw Mountains there is 

considerable coal, but the beds are generally 

thin or are only locally expa.nded into beds 

thick enough to be of present commercial value. 

Another obstacle to the development of these 

fields is the deep cover of glacial drift, which, 

north of Missouri River, makes the tracing of 

coal beds and their exploitation very uncertain. The coal is generally subbituminous, 

but in places it is of the bituminous rank. 

The highest-rank coal in this part of the 

province is that in the Great Falls and Lewistown fields, of Cascade· and Fergus counties, 

Mont. This coal is bituminous and for a 

number of years was mined and coked at Belt 

to supply the copper smelters at Anaconda.~ 

The coking coal is limited, however, to thia 

locality, and the manufacture of coke from it 

was discontinued several years ago. The coal 

contains a htrge percentage of impurities and 

has therefore not met with as ready a sale 

as was expected when the mines were first 

opened. The coal is mined somewhat extensively for steaming and domestic use in the 

region round about the mines. 

Farther south, in Colorado, the next field of 

consequence is generally known as the Denver 

region. This region extends from the Wyoming line southward as far as Colorado Springs. 

The coal is exten.sively mined northwest of 

Denver and to some extent at Colorado Spririgs. 

It is subbituminous and finds a ready market 

in and about Dml.ver and Colorado Springs as 

a domestic fuel. The coal northwest of Denver is mined along the upturned edge of the 

coal-bearing rocks at the foot of the mountain~, and here it is a fairly good coal of its 

class; but that at the southern end of the 

region appears not to have been so greatly 

affected by the uplift of the mountains and is 

consequently of much lower rank. 

The Canon City field is a small basin of coalbearing rocks in .... the great reentrant of the 

mountain frm1t at Canon· City. Owing to its 

proximity to the mountain uplift the coal has 

been changed to the bituminous rank, but it 

carries so. high a percentage of ash that its sale 

in competition with cleaner coals is .difficult, 

especially for domestic use. In the early days 

of railroad building in Colorado (about 1878) 

there was keen rivalry between the Denver & 

Rio Grande and Santa Fe railroads for the 

possession of this field as a source of locomotive fuel, but although both roads gained 

access to it the coal has been son1ewhat disappointing, as its heavy ash content makes it 

an undesirable fuel for this purpose. Many 

mines have been opened, and the coal reaches 

a large market along the mountain front. 

The Raton Mesa region, in the southern par_t .. 

of Colorado and the northern part of N e'Y; . 

Mexico, contains the most valuable and highes~::. . . \ .. 

rank coal in this province. The Colorado PO.J::: 

tion is generally known as the Trinidad field 

and the New M~~ico portion as the Raton fielg_. 

The rocks lie in· a basin-shaped structure, but 

the edge next to the mountain is sharply upturned and. broken through by the old volcanic 

stock and dikes of the Spanish Peaks. As this 

basin is filled with younger rocks to a depth of 

at least 7,000 feet the coal-bearing rocks ·are 

deeply covered, and mining has been limited 

largely to the eastern margin of the region. By 

the great stresses produced in the folding of 

the rocks, and possibly by the heat evolved 

from the stocks and dikes of igneous rocks, the 

coal has been so much altered as to become of 

higher rank than any other coal found in this 

province, except possibly that of the Black 

Hills. The coal in the southern part of the 

region makes excellent coke, and the product 

of the ovens supplies most of the smelters in 

the Rocky Mountain province. 

ROCKY MOUNTAIN PROVINCE. 

Until within a few years the coal resources 

of the Rocky Mountain coal province were 

largely unknown except a few areas of high-rank 

coal in CQlorado and neighboring States, which 

were exploited by some of the large steel companies or railroad corporations. Since 1905 

the United States Geological Survey has examined most of these fields, either in reconnaissance or in detail, and now the fields of this 

province are almost as well known as those of 

the Eastern or Interior provinces. 

The coal-bearing formations of the Rocky 

Mountain proviilCe are of Cretaceous and Tertiary (Eocene) age, and doubtless originally 

extended in almost unbroken sheets throughout 

the pro,cince. . Since the deposition of the earliest of these beds the province has been greatly 
.. 'GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 17 

clistui·be"d b'y movements. in the crust of the 

en;rth, which resulted in the formation of great 

n1ountain ranges. The areas between the ranges 

wci·o either depressed or remained stationary 

\yhilo the n1ovement was in progress, so that 

great intermontane basins or depressions lie 

in tho 1notmtainous region. Most of these basins are floored with coal-bearing rocks of either 

Cretaceous or Tertiary age or are underlain by 

such rocks at a greater or less depth. In many 

basins the coal is not so deep but that it may 

in the future be reached by deep shafts; but in 

a few it lies so deep that it probably can never 

be 1nined. 

rrhe Rocky Mountain province contains a 

greater variety of coal than any other province 

in tho United States. The coal ranges from 

lignite to an tluacito and includes all the ranks 

described in this paper, though the prevailing 

ranks al'e subbitun1inous and low-grade bitunlinous. Tho coal is mined rather extensively, 

tho greatest centers of development being Red 

Lodge, Mont.; Rock Springs and Kemmerer, 

Wyo.; Crested Butte and Durango, Colo.; Castlegato and Sunnyside, Utah; and Gallup, 

N.Mex. 

In Montana the coal fields of tho Rocky 

Mountain province are· neithei·large in area nor 

of great con1n1ercial importance. Persistent 

efforts have been 1nade to develop the fLOlds 

that contain the best coal, especially in the' vicinity of Livingston, at rrrail Creek, Chestnut, 

·and Electric; but for various reasons mining 

has not been successful, and the only n1ine now 

in operation is a sn1all one in the Trail Creek 

field. Tho coal in these fields is bituminous 

and has been coked near Livingston and Electric, but the beds are thin and greatly disturbed, 

and tho coal is too dirty to con1pete with other 

coals in the 1narket. 

Many of tho areas shown on the map (Pl. I) 

are small basins in lake beds j.n the n1ountain 

valleys, which contain in places thin beds of 

lignite. These are probably of :Miocene (later 

Tertiary) age. 

Tho most important area in this part of 

tho State is the Red Lodge field, which, so far 

as Montana is concerned, might be considered 

in tho Northern Great Plains province, becttuse it lies east of the Front Range of the 

Itocky Mountains, hut it is also the northern 

continuation of the Bighorn Basin region· of 

'-IV yoming, which lies west of the Bighorn 

Mountains, a range that is genera1ly . considered the ~asternmost range of the Rockies, 

and for that re.ason the Red Lodge field is 

.here treated as a part of the Rocky Mountain 

coul province. The coal of the Bighorn 

Basin :is mostly subbitunlinous, but that in the 

lower coal-bearing fonnat:ion, at · the north 

end of the basin, in the vicinity of Bridger, 

Mont., is bituminous. The subbituminous 

coal, however, is of excellent quality, especially 

that mined at Red Lodge and Bear Creek, at 

the north end of the basin, and at Gebo, near 

the south end, and compares favorably with 

the best subbituminous coal of the Rocky 

Mountain province. 

The coal-bearing rocks outcrop in a narrow 

belt about the great basin and near the foothills of the surrounding nlountains. They dip 

toward the center of the basin, where, as is 

indicated on the map, they are deeply covered 

with other rocks that were deposited later. 

It is estimated that the coal. beds near the 

center of the basin may lie as much as 10,000 

feet below the surface. The irregularity in 

the thickness of the coal beds and the fact 

that few railroads have been built within the 

basin have led to the development of only two 

mining centers, one at Red Lodg~, Mont., in 

the north end of the basin, and the other at 

Gebo, Wyo., in the south end of the basin. 

The Wind River Basin is of much the same 

character as the Bighorn Basin, except that 

the late Tertiary formations 'more nearly conceal the coal-bearing rocks. For this reason 

less is known regarding the coal beds, which 

have been mined .in only a small way. The 

coal is subbituminous and compares favorably 

with the coal of the same rank in adjacent 

fields. A little coal has been mined in the 

vicinity of liudson. The coal in the middle 

of the basin lies under t~1ick cover and is probably too deep to be pl'ofitably mined. 

The Green River region is a great irregular 

basin in southwestern Wyoming, in which the 

Rock Springs dmne rises like an island in the 

sea. This region contains, ·besides the Green 

River Basin proper, a basin lying between Rock 

Springs and Rawlins, which extends southward 

and terminates ii1 a point near Steamboat 

Springs, Colo. The rocks of this ·basin include 

four coal-bearing formations, which are generally well exposed in the upturned ri1n and 

1n the Rock Springs dome, near the center 

of the basin. Several kinds of coal occur in 
18 THE COAL FIELDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the basin, ranging in rank from s1;1bbituminous coal is high-rank .bituminous and subbitumito anthracite. The· Tertiary rocks contain sub- nous. · The coal beds vary considerably in 

bitumino_u~ coal; the Cretaceous rocks subbitu-:- thickness, the largest one of subb,it.uminous 

minous and bituminous coals, and where these rank measuring at one. place 84 feet of clear 

have come in contact with igneous sills, as 'they coal. This is the thickest coal bed that has 

have northwest of Steamboat Springs, Colo., been mined or prospected at the surface in th.e 

,anthracite has peen form~d. The coal at United States. Somewhat ·thicker beds have 

Rock Springs; Wyd., may be reg-arded as the been reported in drill logs "in· other regions, 

best_ type. of bi~uminous coal· in this region, ·but the uncertainty of determining the thick-

. an~_- coal of about the same qua]ity· occurs' ·ness ·and character of beds penetrated· by a 

along Little Snake River, in Wyorriing, arid ·churn· drill· renders ·such· a report of doubtful 

also in the valley of Yampa River,· between value.· The greatest center of· mining is· at 

Hayden and Steamboat ~prings, Colo. In the. Kemmerer, Wyo.;· arid this. coal is regarded' as 

Green River Basin the coal beds are so deeply the best that i"s produced in the State. · ~ 

buried by later formations that it is doubtful East of the Green River Basin is the Hanna 

whether they can ever be mined. The princi- field or basin. This basin lies just · back of 

pal mines are in· and about Rock Springs, Laramie Mountain, or the FroJ;lt Range, and is 

Wyo., and in the valley of Yampa River named for Hanna, Wyo., the prin9ipaJ town 

below Steamboat Springs, Colo. and the center of the mining industry. T4e 

This enormous basin, which extends from coals are of low rank, bein'g generally sub.:. 

Rawlins on the east to and beyond Grainger bituminous but possibly including some bitu:.. 

on the west, and from t~e Wind River Moun- :minous coal that is not yet develope~. ·The 

taiJ1-S on the north to yampa River on the charac~er of the coal probably 'explains the 

south, is one of the largest and most important meagerness of the mining operations in this 

coal regions in the Rocky Mountain province. field, as the·coal can not.hold its own, except 

It embraces an area of about ·17,000 square for local uses, in competition with the better 

miles and contains four coal-bearing forma- ·fuel of Rock Springs, on the west, or some of 

tions, each of which carries from four to twenty the Colorado coals, on the south. 

coal beds, ranging in thickness from 2 feet to South of the Uinta Mountains lies a great, 

20 or 25 feet. It is true that the coal in many i!regular basin-shaped coal region, which is 

areas of this region lies so deep that 'it may called the Uinta region. It extends eastward 

never be worked, but after excluding all _such and southward from the Wasatch Plateau 

areas it is estimate'd that at least 6,000 square and terminates in a spoon-shaped point near 

miles is 'underlain by coal beds that can be Crested Butte, Colo. The coal-J:>earing rocks 

mined when the demand for fuel is sufficient form the rim of this great troughlike depresto warrant the expenditure necessary for sion. From the rim they dip toward the midsinking deep shafts. The _quantity of coal in die and are there deeply buried by laterformathe ground in this region is enormous, probably tions. The coal varies considerably in quality, 

exceeding that in any other region of similar b,eing best at the two extremities of the region. 

area in. this country. There are only two cen- The coals in the vicinity of Crested Butte 

ters of mining in the Green River region. The have been greatly altered, partly by the mounmost important is Rock Springs, Wyo., on the tain-building forces and partly by the volcanic 

Union Pacific Railroad, where mining has _been material that has been poured out 'in this 

carried on since that road was completed in area, and as a consequence some of the coal is 

1869. The othe~ m~ning center has recently high-grade anthracite· and some belongs to 

developed in the vic~~ity of Steamboat Springs, lower ranks. On the rim, especially to the 

Colo., on· the Denver & Salt Lake R~ilroad north, the coal changes within a short distance. 

·("Moffat road''). - · - to subbituminous, and this rank character.:. 

West of t;lu:~ Green River Ba~in is the Hams izes the coal along the north rim. The coal 

_Fork coal region, which consists of a number on the south rim is generally bituminous, 

of folds of coal-bearing rocks. These extend and west of Green River it- improves rapi(Uy 

11;early northward from the southwest corner of in quality and increases in quantity to CastleWyoming for a distance of 200 miles. The gate, Utah, where there are· many beds of 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 19 

high-grade bittnninous coal, as shown on the· lower coal-bearing formation becom~s more and 

map (Pl. I). more important, and in the next fields to the 

The coal beds of the Uinta Basin are not so south it is the principal source of supply. 

numerous nor so extensive as those of the The Colob and Kaiparowits plateau fields 

Green. Uiver Basin, to .the north, . but even lie at the south end of the Wasatch Plateau, 

this basin contains an enormous quantity near the south line of Utah. The coals of the 

of coal. The area of the basin is about 16,500 Colob Plateau have been examined in considersquare miles, a little less than the area of the a~le' detail, but those of the Kaiparowits 

Green Uiver Basin, and the part in which the Plateau are known only from casual inspection 

coals are accessible for 1nining is about 5,750 . and from reports of persons who have traveled 

square miles. ·The coal beds are most numer- through that remote regi<;>n. ·The coal of the 

ous at the two extremities of the region, and Colob Plateau occurs near the base of the 

naturally those parts con.tain the greatest Mancos shale and is of bituminous ranK:. ··It 

quantity of coal. At Newcastle, on Grand lies high on the plateau and is therefore 

River, 109 feet of coal in workable beds has accessible with considerable difficulty. Its· 

been measured, and the beds at the western disadvantageous position has not, however, 

extremity are probably just as thick. The prevented its development, but it has been 

thickest bed reported is 40 feet, but beds that . mined only to supply loc-al needs. A small 

measure frol.ll, 6 to 15 feet.are fa~rly common. outlier of the field in Iron County; w'est of Cedar 

11.1e center of mining in. the western part of the City, contains anthracite, but the ·coal is dirty 

basin is Castlegate, Utah,. where the coal is of and probably can not compete with the lowerexcellent quality, and some of it is being coked rank but cleaner coals of the Colob.Plateau. 

for use in smelters. The centers of mining in The coal in the- lower part of the :Mancos· 

the eastern part of the basin are Crested Butte, shale is reported to occur in fairly thick . 

where both bituminous coal ~nd anthracite are beds ii1 the vicinity of. Paria, but no exainina~ · 

mined extensively, and Newcastle, on Grand tion has been made to determine their quality·: 

River, a few n1iles below ·Glenwood Sp:t;ings. or extent. . In the Kaiparowits Plateau, north-·· 

The coal .at Newcastle is generally subbitu- east of Paria, beds· of coal 12 or 15 feet thick 

minous, but a short distance to the-south ·it have been· opened in· the· face of the cliff and 

changes to bituminous and some of it is coked. coal has been mined for local use. This coal 

The coal-bearing rocks· at the west end of ,is in the Mesav_erde formation, which probably . 

the Uinta Basin turn to the. south in the extends unbroken from· the Wasatch Plateau· 

·Wasatch Plateau, and for convenience of on the north, but in ,the intervening area it is· 

discussion· this area is treated as a separate so covered with lava that the actual connection · 

field. The same coal beds that occur in has never been traced. The quality of this 

the vicinity of Castlegate, in the Book -Cliffs, coal has not been determined, but' it is probably 

are found in the cliffs that form the eastern bituminous and of about the same. rank as· that 

front of the· Wasatch Plateau, and the coal in the plateau farther north. 

is of about the same rank and thickness. The The San Juan River region lies south of the 

coal beds in the high .cliffs that form the east San Juan Mountains, partly in Colorado and· 

front of the Wasatch Plateau are nearly partly in New Mexico. It is a· gre'at basin-· 

horizontal and are well exposed in every shaped depression with a prolong.ation .running 

canyon that cuts this rim. The plateau has a southward through_ the town of Gallup, on the. 

width of about. 25 miles, but the coal beds are Santa Fe Railway. Two coal-bearing forma-· 

not exposed along its western margin, because tions are in_volved· in the folding that pro-· 

the rocks on that side dip to the west and pass duce~ t~e hasin__:_the Mesaverde formation at 

below later formations. the ~ase and a part of the so-called" Laramie"' 

Most of the coal of this ·field occurs in the which: has recently been named· the Fruitland 

Mesaverde formation but so~e· is. found near formation 1 at. the top. Both formations are 

the base of the Manc~s shale. Coal_ isnot gen- of Upper Cretaceous age; the lower· one undereralJy found in this shale in the J}~c.ky Moun- 1 Bauer, (). :M., Contributions to the geology and paleontology of San· 

tain province, but toward th_ e. S_ outhwest this Juan County, N. M:ox.-1, Stratigraphy of a part of the Chaco River valley: U. S.- Gool. Survey Prof. Paper ~8, p. 274, 1916. 
20 THE COAL FIELDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

lies the entire basin, but the upper is restricted - The Black Mesa field of Arizona is. entirely· 

to the part of the basin that lies north and undeveloped and is therefore largely unknown, 

east of Chaco River. The depth· of the coal-· except locally. It lies in the I-Iopi and Navajo 

bearing rocks in the center of the basin ha's not Indian reservations and is about 75 111iles disbeen determined but is probably several taut from the nearest railroad point. The 

thousand feet. The rocks on the rim of the coal beds are in the Mancos shale and the 

basin dip toward the center; in the northern Mesaverde forn1ation, both of Upper Cretaceous 

part the dip is rather steep, but in the southern . age. The rocks lie in the shape of a broad, flat 

part it is so gentle that it can scarcely be basin, forming a plateau upon which son1e of 

detected by the unaided eye. . ; the . Hopi · Indi_an villages are built. The 

The coal in the lower formation is gen- coal· is sub bituminous but of excellent quality 

erally of better quality than that in the upper and is us~d locally for the Indian schools. 

formation, but each has felt the effects of the Besides the main fields and regions noted 

movements that resulted in the upheaval of · above, there are a number· of isolated outliers 

the San Juan Mountains. The coal .is nor- . of coal-bearing rocks, mainly in New :Mexico 

mally subbituminous, but around the north , and Arizona, that are too small and unimrim the lower coal has been changed by the portant to be considered here individually. 

pressure into bituminous coal that in places is . Some of them, like Los Cerrillos, Carthage,. 

good enough to coke. The upper coal is less and Capitan, in New Mexico, have been 

altered, but toward the east it also is changed developed to some extent,. because they conto bituminous coal. South of San Juan River tain coal of a better· quality than could be 

all the coal in both formations is sub bituminous found in many of .the larger regiqns. Thus 

except possibly some on the east rim, which has ·Los Cerrillos has for many years produced a fine 

been affected by the uplift of the Nacimiento grade of anthracite from a coal bed that has 

Mountains.' The coal beds of the Mesaverde been locally changed by the heat of a sill of· 

formation range from 3 to 6 feet or more in igneous rock, and the Carthage field has 

thickness wherever they have been mined or yielded coking coal. Most of these small 

prospected, and they are exposed at the sur- fields are comparatively insignificant and will 

face throughout a wide expanse of ·country, not be described further. · 

extending from the rim of the basin north 

of the Santa Fe Railway on the south to 

Chaco River on the north and across the entire 

width of the basin in the other direction. 

The coal beds of the Fruitland formation, 

although they contain coal of lower rank, are 

thicker, especially in the northern part of the 

basin, where they have a known maximum 

thickness of 40 feet. Such a bed is exposed 1 in the banks of Animas River below Durango, 

Colo., but t)le bed is badly broken by partings 

which wolJld make mining expensive and detract greatly from the value of the coal. 

The north and south sides of the basin have 

railroad connection, and in these parts the coal 

is mined, but the mines on the north side 

are handicapped by having to ship their coal 

over two mountain ranges and those on the 

south side have to handle a low-rank fuel, 

which can not ea$ily compete with coa~ of a 

higher rank in nea!-by fields. Despite these 

drawbacks and the keen competition of fuel 

oil, the mines have managed to keep in operation, and the ooal. meets 'with a ready though 

local sale. 

PACIFIC COAST PROVINCE. 

The coal in the Pacific Coast province is 

limited largely to the State of Washington. 

Both California and Oregon have small fields 

within their borders, but the coal is generally 

, of low rank or poor quality, and but little 

mining has been attempted. Washington, 

on the other hand, is fairly well supplied.with 

coal in the western part, where it is most needed 

for the various industries that have been developed about Puget Sound. The coal-bearing 

rocks of Washington have been so greatly 

folded and contorted and then so deeply 

covered with glacial drift that it is possible to 

separate only a few of them into well-marked 

fields, and according to the local practice they 

are therefore generally subdivided arbitrarily 

according to the county in which they occur. 

The local practice will be.followed here. 

The coal fields of ·King County lie on the 

west side of the Cascade Mountains, extending 

, from tidewater in the vicinity of Renton, 12 

miles southeast of Seattle, to the foot of the 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 21 

.mountains on the east. The thick cover of 

glacial drift and the almost impenetrable 

forest make coal prospecting laborious and 

difficult except near the principal streams, 

where these obstructions have oeen to some 

extent removed. The coal-bearing rocks are of 

Eocene (Tertiary) age and correspond in time 

of deposition with the lignite of the Dakotas, 

Montana, and Texas. In Washington, however, 1nountain-building forces have been so 

acthre in late Tertinry time that many of the 

coals have been changed from lignite to subbituminous, bitun1inous, and even to anthra- · 

cite. In general, the coals nearest the Cascade 

Mountains are the most alt~red. The mountain-building forces not only changed the 

character of the coal but also folded and broke 

the rocks in a n1ost intricate manner, so that 

in places n1ining is diffwult and expensive. 

The coal hods generally dip at considerable 

angles and are locally broken and displaced, 

so that it is difficult to follow a coal bed in 

mining. The old swan1ps ii1 which the coal 

was deposited were apparently subject to 

many floods, which washed mud and sand 

in fro1n the surrounding higher lands. These 

materials settled to the bottom of the swamp, 

forn1ing a shale or sandstone layer or parting 

in the coal bed, which to-day detracts greatly 

fr01n its value, for the shale or sandstone must 

be removed before the coal can be marketed, 

and its· removal is generally difficult and expensive. If the coal is put on the market after 

it is si1nply screened, it will contain a large per-. 

centage of ·ash, which makes it difficult to 

sell. The lump coal is generally so treated 

and reaches the market in fairly good condition, hut in many places the fine coal is too 

dirty for n1arketing and must be washed before 

it can find. purchasers. All coals contain 

more or less foreign n1aterial, in the form of 

partings or binde,rs, but. the coal of Washington includes more of such partings than the 

coal of n1any other parts of the United States. 

The ,coals of King County are of subbituminous and bituminous rank in about equal proportions. The best coal. in the county, to 

judge fron1 the he~ting value of the pure coal, 

occurs along the mountain front from Snoqualmie on the north to Cumberland, a little south 

of Palmer Junction, on the south, en1bracing 

a belt of country not n1ore than 3 or 4 miles ~n 

wid.th. West of this. belt lies a similar belt. of 

good coal, which, however, has a lower heating value than that of the belt just mentioned; 

and then west of all is a belt of indefinite width 

in which the coal is subbituminous. 

Many large mines are developed in this county, 

especially in the higher-rank coals near the 

mountain front, but some of the sub bituminous 

coals, owing largely to their position on or near 

tidewater, are extensively mined, the coal 

finding a ready market as a domestic fuel. 

The coals of Pierce County are the best in 

the State, but the known productive territory 

is very much smaller than that in King County. 

All the coals of this county so far n1ined or prospected are of bituminous or higher rank. 

The coal districts may roughly be divided 

into two groups-(1) the Wilkeson-Carbon 

Hill and adjacent districts, containing n1ainly 

high-grade bituminous coal but also som1

e semibituminous coal, much of which will coke; 

and (2) the Melmont, Fairfax, and Montezun1a 

districts, containing coal having a fuel ratio 

ranging from 2! to n1ore than 6. Thus most 

of these coals con1e within the rank of highclass bituminous and semibituminous coal. 

'The coal at ·wilkeson is, the only coal in the 

State that has been extensively coked. All 

these coals bear an excellent reputation in the 

market. 

The coal-beaTing rocks in the fields of Pierce 

County are even more strongly folded and 

faulted than those of Kip.g County, on the 

north. Many of the coal beds are cut by dikes 

that ray out from the great volcanic center of 

·Mount Rainier. The coal beds are exposed 

mainly in the deep canyons cut by Carbon 

River and. its tributaries and consequently 

have been .mined mainly along that stream. 

The mines are only a short distance fron1 tidewater at Tacoma, with which they are connected by a branch line of the Northern Pacific 

Railway that was long ago built into this field 

for the purpose of obtaining fuel for use in 

locon1o tives. 

All the developed coal of Kittitas County is 

in the Roslyn field, which is a regular, shallow 

basin in the vicinity of Cle Elum, in the valley 

of Yakin1a River, on the east side of the Cascade Mountains. The basin is not complicated by n1inor folds and faults, as are those 

on the west side of the mountains, and hence 

mining conditions are almost ideal. The coal 

is a hard, blocky coal of fairly uniform quality, 
22 THE COAL FIELDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

well adapted to shipping and handling. It 

has been extensively used by the Northern 

Pacific Railway for locomotive fuel. It is 

mined by slopes and ·drifts on the outcrop and 

by shafts in the middle of the basin. 

The coal fields of Thurston and Lewis 

counties are neither so ·well known nor so well 

developed as those of the counties just mentioned, largely because the coal of better 

rank near the mountains is in many . places 

deeply covered with lava flows, glacial drift, 

and almost impenetrable forests. The coal in 

this region near the mountains is of high rank, 

in n1any places anthracite, but the complicated 

folds into which the strata have been bent and 

the abundance of partings· in the coal beds 

make it impossible to mine the coal at a 

profit. The developed fields in these counties 

lie farther from the mountains, along the railroad lines leading from Tacoma, Wash., to Portland, Oreg. The coal beds in this part of the 

region are comparatively undisturbed and lie 

in an almost. horizontal position. The coal, 

not having been subjected to the pressures 

that were exerted farther east when the mountains were uplifted, is of low rank. Those who 

have examined it most carefully are undecided 

whether to class it as lignite or subbituminous 

· coal. It lies close to the dividing line between 

those two ranks and has gene1:ally been 

classed as subbituminous. It contains a large 

percentage of moisture, slacks badly whm1 

exposed to the atn1osphere, and is little if any 

better as a fuel than Texas lignite. The extent 

of this lo'\v-rank coal has not been accurately 

determined, but it probably extends southward 

to Columbia River. 

The coal fields of Whatcom and Skagit 

counties are perhaps less extensive ~han those 

of the counties so far considered. The coals 

in these counties range in rank from subbituminous emil at Bellingham to anthracite at 

Glacier. The anthracite lies in the valley of 

Glacier Creek northwest of Mount Baker 

and compares favorably in quality with some 

of the anthracite of the East. It has not yet 

been produced on a commercial scale, but 

mines are being opened, and it may soon be 

put on the market. High-rank coal has been 

mined and coked at Blue Canyon, in Whatcom 

County, and· at Cokedale, in Skagit County, 

but these plants are now abandoned. The 

oldest mining operation in this region was at 

Bellingham, where a bed of subbituminous 

coal14 feet·thick was mined extensively about 

30 yea.rs ago. On account of the low rank of· 

the coal, the mine was soon abandoned, and 

now very little coal is mi~ed in either Whatcom 

County or Skagit County. The rank of the 

coal, like that 'of all other coals in this country, 

decreases away from the mountains. 

There are a number of small fields or isolated 

occurrences of coal in other counties, but they 

are of little importance and will not be described here. 

Only a little coal occurs in Oregon, and that 

is of. poor quality. Mining has been done in 

a commercial way only in the Coos Bay field, 

on the coast, in the southern part of the 

State. The coal in this field is subbituminous 

and has done little more than to supply the 

small local demand. Although there is considerable coal in this field, it is difficult to mine, 

and much of it lies below the waters of the 

bay. The field is not promising and probably 

never will be a large producer. 

The best coal so far discovered in Oregon is 

in the· Eden Ridge field, in the southern part 

of Coos County. The rocks are somewhat more 

disturbed here than in the vicinity of Coos 

Bay and the coal is of higher rank. It is 

bituminous, and some of it will coke, but the 

beds are full of shale partings, which make the 

coal very dirty. The field has no railroad 

connection at ·the present time, imcP consequently no mining has been· undertaken. 

Coal has been noted near :Medford, in Jackson County; in the Nehalem Valley, in Columbia County, and in other parts of the 

State, but at none of these places is it of sufficient thickness or purity to be of value. 

California, although rich in many other 

mineral resources, is singularly deficient in 

coal. At present the lack of coal is not felt, 

for the State has abundant supplies of fuel oil, 

but these supplies will.sooner or later be consumed, anc! when the oil is exhausted the 

problem of obtaining coal will become vital. 

The only coal field of any prospective importance is that which lies in the Coast Ranges, 

in San Benito and Monterey counties, and 

which is known from the places at which the· 

coal has been prospected. The most ambitious 

attempt to develop this field was made at 

Stone Canyon, Monterey County, where a bed 

of coal ranging from 10 to 14 feet in thickness 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 23 

was opened. The attempt was not successful, however, and the mine was abandoned. 

This coal is of the bituminous rank, and. is 

the only coal of this rank in the· State.. It is 

very rich in bituminous matter and is in 

composition a cannel coal, though it· has none 

of the physicn1 properties of such a coal. 

PRODUCTION AND ORIGINAL TONNAGE OF 

COAL IN THE UNITED STATES. 

Although the general description of a coal 

field is very important to one considering the 

clevelopn1ent of 1nines, or to one conten1plating 

u.n investment in n1ines or in mineral lands, 

there is another phase of the subject that is of 

equal if not greater i1nportance to the political 

econ01nist, and that is the quantity of coal 

still rernn.ining in the' ground, to which future 

generntions may look for their supply of power 

and heat. As stnted in· the first part of this 

introduction, the United States Geological Survey hns endeavored to detern1ine this quantity 

by making estin1ates of the original tonnage of 

the various fields, deducting the coal already 

mined nnd wasted in 1nining, and calling the 

remnincler the present and future supply. 

Stich estimates, when first made, were very 

unsatisfactory, for the data available, even in 

s01ne of the coal-mining States of the East, 

were fn.r fr01n adequate for n qun.ntitative statement of this kind, and sOine of the western cqal 

fields were so little known that only a guess 

could be 1nade as to their nrea or tonnage. 

Nevertheless an esti1nate was 1nade and published in 1908, in order to n1eet so1ne of the 

dmnands of the time in the discuss.ion of. the 

availnble resources of theN ation. 

The constantly increasing knowledge of the 

coal fields of the West acquired by the Geological Survey in the course of its regular work of 

classifying the withdrawn lands and the interest and activity of several State geologists 

showed clearly that the first esti1nate of the 

United States Geological Survey was inadequate and should be revised at an early elate. 

This revision was undertaken in 1912, and the 

results of the new esti1nate were published 

in 1913 as a part of the report on the coal 

fields of the world n1acle by the Twelfth International Geological Congress. Though this 

estimate was founded on n1uch more reliable 

infonnation, and though this information was 

much 1nore widely applicable to the coal fields 

of the country, the writer is still conscious 

of the weak places that of necessity must exist 

in such an esti1nate, and he will relish the 

opportunity to revise the figures at some future 

time when new information is available, such 

as will give the estimate an accuracy that it 

has not heretofore been possible to attain. 

In undertaking to make an estimate of the 

original tonnage of .coal in 'the ground, certain 

assumptions must be made as a foundation, and 

the results attained will depend largely upon 

these assumptions. The three principal assurilptions are (1) minimum thickness of bed 

of the different ranks and grades of coal that 

can be mined, (2) maxinuun depth to which 

mining may be carried in the different ranks of 

coal, and (3) maximum percentage of ·ash that 

n1ay be permitted in the various ranks of 

coal. As probably no two persons who have 

attempted to n1ake estimates have made the 

san1e basic assumptions, so no two estimates 

agree as to the tonnage involved. ·This point 

is very in1portant and is one that is usually 

lost sight of by the casual reader, who doubtless 

wonders why it is that experts disagree so 

widely in their estimates; whereas if he had 

analyzed the results a little more closely he 

'might have found that the results were practically in accord. 

Most engineers employed by private corporations base their estimates on the present 

practice of 1nining and preparing coal for the 

market, for the mining company 1nust adopt 

this practice, and n1anifestly the company will 

not consider coal minable if it lies at a depth 

of 4,000 feet while plenty of coal of' the same 

kind is available at a depth not exceeding 

1,000 feet. Sin1ilarly, -it will not consider 

n1inable a coal bed 20 inches thick while other 

beds of coal of the san1e kind of much greater 

thickness are still · available. Also, to the 

operator of the present time, 15 per cent 

of ash in a coal may prevent its .sale, and 

therefore its 1nining n1ay be in1practicable; 

·whereas, if a washery were instnlled and plenty 

of water were available, 15 per cent of ash 

n1ight be no bar to the mining and marketing 

'of the· coal. Most of the estimates so far 

nlade have been based on present nlining conditions and practices, and hence they do not 

necessarily represent the tonnage that may be 

regarded as available . 10 or even 5 years 

hence. 
' 'I 

24 THE COAL FIELDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

In attempting. to make estimates of the 

original coal content of the fields of the United 

States, the Geological Survey decided that it 

would be a waste of time and money to attempt 

to make estimates based on present mining 

practice,. for such estimates would be misleading in th'at they would not repr~sent the total 

quantity of coal that undoubtedly would he 

made available in the future. With this point 

in mind, it was decided to atteinpt to estimate the total quantity of coal that ever would 

be mined in the United· States, looking ahead 

40, 50, or perhaps even 100 years. Of course, 

it is not contended that anyone living to-day 

can say positively what will be done 100 years 

hence, but an attempt was made to prepare 

such a forecast. In doing so the present 

mining practice throughout the world was 

considered, and the assumptions regarding 

maximum depth, minimum thickness, and 

maximum impurity were based upon present 

practice, but generally the limits now observed 

were exceeded because it is almost certain that 

the future will go far beyond the present 

operations, for in some places to-day the 

methods are far better thall' ·those that generally prevailed 20 or even 10 years ago. 

As the deepest coal mines in the . world (in· 

Belgium) reach a depth of about 4,000 feet, 

and as shafts for copper · and other metals 

have been sunk to depths below 5,000 feet, 

it was thought that future coal mining might 

be carried to a depth of 6,000 feet; but in order 

to meet various requirements two litnits were 

set, one at a depth of 3,000 feet, for easily 

minable coal, and the other . at a depth of 

6,000 feet, a depth that represents what is 

now considered the ultimate limit of coal 

m1n1ng. Si:rp_ilarly the minin1um thickness of 

coal bed mined in the United States is about 

15 inches; therefore 14 inches was taken as the 

minimum of high-rank coals for esti1nating the 

original tonnage in the several fields. The 

1ninimum thickness varies -according to the. 

rank of the coal, being approximately 2 feet 

in subbitmninous coal and 3 feet in lignite. 

The maximu1n percentage of ash permissible 

in a coal is more difficult to determine, on' 

account of the variability of the factors involved 

in the operation of cleaning such coal for 

the market. Thirty per cent has been regarded 

as the limit, but it is questionable whether it 

would not better be placed at 25 per cent. 

With the basic factors of the process determined, the actual application of the principle 

of estimation is an engineering· problem, which 

depends upon the data collected by the 

geologist and his mapping of the coal fields. 

For many of the fields these data are fairly 

sufficient and reasonably accurate estimates 

have been made, but for other fields· the data are 

.confessedly inad~quate and the· estimates are 

correspondingly unsatisfactory. The detailed 

estimates for the fields and States will be 

given in the chapters devoted to the States,· 

but the accompanying general table shows the 

estimates by regions and provinces, as such 

treat1nent involves in many of the regions parts 

of several States and hence can be presented 

only in this introductory staten1ent. 

The table shows clearly certain features 

that are of the greatest interest regarding the 

distribution and amount of coal in the· fields of 

the United States. It shows first that the great 

bulk of the coal in this country is low-rank 

bituminous, lignite, and subbituminous, named 

in the order of their abundance, and that the 

high-rank coals are relatively scarce. This is 

an important. point in conservation, as it 

means that our best coal will be the first to be 

exhausted and that such exhaustion may 

occur in the not very distant future. It is 

also noticeable that the best steaming coal, the 

semibituminous, is limited practically to the 

two eastern provinces, and that the exhaustion 

of this coal will be a greater calamity to the 

country than the loss of all the anthracite, for 

coal of this kind has a greater effici~ncy and is 

adapted t9 more diverse uses than anthracite. 

Most people' think of the eastern part of the 

United States as. the greatest repository of coal 

in the country, and therefore they may be 

surprised to find that there are two areas in the 

West that contain a greater quantity. The 

greatest quantity of coal originally contained 

in any single area of continuous coal-bearing 

rocks is 1,202,032,000,000 tons, in the Fort 

Union region of Montana, Wyoming, and the 

Dakotas; the second is 665,660,600,000 tons, in 

the Green River region of Wyoming; and the 

third is 550,898,800,000 tons, in the Appalachian 

region of the East. 

When the output of the mines is con1pared 

with the original quantity available it is seen 

that the great bulk of ·our coal is not necessarily coming from the areas that contain the 
Original arul present quantity of coal in the United States, production of the mines in 191.'3 arul1914, and total productwnfrom the beginning of coal mining to the present time, in short tons 

Estimate of the original tonnage. 

Province, region, or field. 

I 

' Production 

I Anthracite and Semib~tuminous I Bitu . 1 Sub bituminous Total coal of Coal below surface in 1913. 

semianthracite. . coal. '! mmous coa . coal. Lignit-e. all ranks. from 3,000 to 

6,000 feet. 

Production 

in 1914. 

E .. temproW>ce:. · . j : I ; . ! i 

Anthracrt.e region (Pennsylvarua) ..................................... , 21, 000, 000, 000 · · -· -----· · · -· · · .

1

. ------------.. · -- · -. -. -. ---... -. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21, 000, 000, 000 ~ ............... ; .. j 91, 524, 922 ! 90, 821, 507 

Atlantic coastregion ................................................. ~ 150,000,000 · 150,000,000 600,000,000 ,.................. .................. 900,000,000 1 •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ; •••••••••••••• 

Appalachian region _______ ._. ____ ... _ ... __ .. _ .. ___ .................... ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48, 487, 200, 000 502, 411, 600, 000 .................................... · 550, 898, 800. 000 ~ .................. r 330, 737, 079 i 284, 813, 462 

i 

IE . Total production shm.ated supply within 3,000 to end of 1914. feet of surface. 

2, 537, 517, 517 j 

477, 125 ~ 

5,238, 735,592 i 

1, 776, 73o, 234 1 

17,194,000,000 

799,000,000 

543,039,000,000 

121,15o,ooo,ooo; 48,637,2oo,ooo 1 503,o11,6oo,ooo ~----············-'··················I 572,798,8oo.ooo , .................. 561,032,000,000 1 422,262,0011 375,634,9691 

Inte~~J::~~d Eastern regions .. _ ....................................... ---- ..... -.. -. -1· .. ---.--.. -.... 321,990,800,000 ................................... -1 321,990.800,000 I· ................ -I 1, 439,863.711 319,830,000,000 

Western and Southwestern regions.................................... 400,000,000 1, 226,300,000 206, 282,200,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207, 908, 500,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575, 038; 328 : 208,044,000,000 

~~oo~oool ~~~w~ooo: ~~~~oo~oooj .................. -.. -.-.. -.-.. -.-.. -.-.. -.-.. -.~~-5-2-~-8-~-.-3oo~,oo~o+l_-_-__ -_-__ -_-__ -_-__ -:-.. -.~-l~~~~--~~~~-~~-~-o-w-.-oo-2-,0-3_9_1_~5-2-~-8-M-,-oo-o-,o~oo 

Gulf province ____ ........................................................ -....... -...... ! ....... -- -. -......... -........ -... -I· . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23, 090, 000, 000 23, 090, 000, 000 I· . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10, 509, 960 I 23, 074, 000, 000 

:X orthern Gr~at Pla~ns I!rovinc_e: . . · 1 I 1' . i 1======= Fort Uruon reg10n, mcludmg Black Hllls region ........................ 1

.- ..•••..•.•.•••... -............ 133,000,000 237,475,000,000 9f'A, 424,000,000 1, 202,032,000,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30,211,784 1., 201,997,000,000 

Small fields in 1\fontana. __ . _ .......................................... , ................ 1 ............... -~ 2, 000, 000, 000 7, 073, 400, 000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9, 073, 400, 000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24, 907, 259 9, 036, 000, 000 

Denver region and Canon City field .................................. -

1

- ••••••••••••••• 

1

..............•. 1, 028,000, 000 40,000,000,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41,028, 000, 000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48, 427, 362 40, 955, 000, 000 

Raton Mesa region ..... __ ............................................................ 1

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 42, 392, 000, 000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42, 392, 000, 000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133, 390, 905 42, 192, 000, 000 

................ ! ................ j 45, 553, 000, 000 284, 548, 400, 000 I 964, 4 24, 000, 000 1, 294, 525, 400, 000 I· ................ ·J 236, 937, 310 1, 29+, 1.80, 000, 000 

RockSyml\a{lolufinetladisnl_pnr!>fVlo·nntcaen:a ll ...... -.............. -.................. -..... -~.- ............ -...... -.-- ....... -I 47, 200,000 3, 496, 000, 000 ! ........ -. . . . . . . . . 3, 543, 200, 000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5, 441, 863 3, 535, 000, 000 

Bighorn Basin and Wind River Ba.<Jin regions, including Red Lodge field.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 608, 800, 000 4, 706, 700, 000 ! . . . . . • • • . • . • . . . . . • 5, 315, 500, 000 12, 010, 000, 000 15, 633, 450 5, 291, 000, 000 

Green River and Hams Fork regions and Hanna field................... 22, 600,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174, 138,000,000 491,500,000,000 !. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665, 660, 600,000 396, 720,000,000 101, 339,390 665,478,000, 000 

Uinta region and Wasatch Plateau .................................... 1 480, 400, 000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162, 768, 000, 000 5, 000, 000, 000 I.................. 168, 248, 400, 000 243, 540, 000, 000 57, 317, 183 167, 682, 000, 000 

North and South parks: .............................................. -:- .. -- .... -· ... ·· -... -.--- .. ---.. 20,000,000 2, 850,000,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 870,000,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 782, 666 2, 870, 000, 000 

Southwestern Utah reg10n .......................................... -.;.- .... -... --- .... --.- ... ---.-.-- 4, 000, 000, 000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 000, 000, 000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 000 2, 000 4, 000, 000, 000 

~~: Yu !~ ~!~inur~~~~;- ·_·_· _· _· .· ~ ~ ~::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :::::::::::::::: . -. ii," 453: ooo," 000. 184, ~~~: 888: 8gg :::::::::::::::::: 196, ~~~: g88: ~gg ... i4; 33o: ooo: 000. 1, ~g~; ~~~ 8~:: ~:~ 1~: g~~: :ii 196, ~~i: 888: ggg S'mall fields in New Mexico and Arizona................................................................ 1, 005,000,000 20,891,000,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21,896,000,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117,976 137,361 4, 148,414 21,890,000,000 

Idaho and Nevada fields .............................................. 1 ••• - • - •••• - - •••• 1 • , •••••••• - - • - -- 600, 000, 000 100, 000, 000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700, 000, 000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700, 000, 000 

I 503,000,000 I·............... 354,640,000,000 713, 282, 700,000 I· ................ -11,068,425, 700,000 666,600,000,000 12,736,878 ll,816,078 204,697,756 1,067,609,000,000 

PaciWa~hl~~fo~1cid~~ __ .... _ . _ ........................ __ ....... _. _ ...... :~ ............... 1 ................ I 11, 412, ooo, ooo 52, 442, 9oo, ooo 

1

1 ................. -I 6;, 854, goo, ooo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67, 524, 26o 63, 753, ooo, ooo 

Oregon and California fields ........................................................ -.. ; .. -........ -.. -. 27,000, 000 1, 016,000,000 .................. 1 1, 043, 000, 000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a 47, 404, 845 1, 032, 000,000 

------------J----------~-J-----------~---------------·-------------1--------------I-----------~---------:--------------:-----------~ 

3,877,891 

a 85,691 

3,064,820 

a 65,532 

i···············-:·-·············· 11,439,000,000 53,458,900,000 !··················! 64,897,900,000 .................. 3,963,582 3,130,3521 114,929,1051 64,785,000,000 

j 22; 053, ooo, ooo 149, 863, 500~ ooo 1, 442,916,600, ooo 987, 514, ooo, ooo 11. 051, 290, ooo, ooo 13· 553, 637, 100, ooo 666, 600, ooo. ooo 569, 960, 219 513, 525,477 1 b 10, 357, 706, 40413· 538, 554, ooo, ooo 

a Includes production of Nevada and Idaho. b A total production of 10,357,706,404 tons is assumed to mean an exhaustion of about 50 per cent more, or 15,083,1.00,000 tons. 

47023°-17. (To fnee page 24.) 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 25 

greatest quantity, but from the areas that contain the best coal. This discrepancy becomes 

more startling when the production of the 

individual States is cmupared with their original coal resources. 

Although the relative size of the contents of the coal fields' may be a matter of 

so1ne surprise, the really staggering fact presented in the table is the immense, really 

incon~eivable total quantity of the coal. . If 

a11 the unn1ined coal within 3,000 feet of 

the sm·face, or 3,538,554,000,000 short tons, 

of the nature of a guess. Figure 2 represents 

graphically the coal production in the United 

States by decades since 1834, and the increasing length of black shows conclusively that our 

coal production, or consumption, as it may 

well be called, is growing with great rapidity. 

li1 attempting, therefore, to calculate how 

long the available coal will last it is manifestly 

incorrect to base the calculation on the present 

rate of p1~oduction or consumption, or on the rate 

for the last decade, as the rate will continue to 

increase for a long t'im.e. Jf we assume that 

5,000,000,000 

4,000,000,000 

3,000,000,000 

2,000,000,000 

1,000,000,000 

10 

0 

'1:. 

.., " 0) ~ ! q ~- c; ., 

"' 0 

iO 10 

0\ 0) ~ 

;t '<t o\ ..; 

1834 1844 1854 1884 1894 1904 1914 

FIGURE 2.-Productlon of coal in the United States by decades from 1834 to 1914. 

could be placed in one great cubical pile as the rate of consmnption will remain the same 

solid as it now lies in the ground the pile would as it was in 1913, then, after .allowance has 

be 18 1niles long, 18 miles wide, and 18 nliles been made for unpreventable waste in mining 

high. Similarly, if all the coal that has been and marketing, there will be enough coal to 

n1~ned in the United States, plus abo~t 50 per last 4,000 years; but of course such an esti~ 

cent for waste, a total of 15,083,100,000 short mate is absurd, for the rate of 1913 will probtons, were pilecl in the· same way, the pile would ably not be held in any single future· year. 

be 1,540 feet long, 1,540feetwide, and 1,540 feet If the curve shown in figure 2 should be prohigh; or, in other words, only about 0,.4 per longed at its rapidly increasing rate, and if 

emit of the original ·amount has been ·mined or this acceleration should be continued until the 

wasted in nlining. coal is completely exhausted, the supply 

There has been considerable speculation would probably not last 100 years. The true 

regarding the length of time the coal supplies life of om· coal fields probably lies between 

would last, but here again there are so many these two extre1nes; and the probability is that 

unknown factors that ~ny estimate partakes 1 it will be nearer 100 than 4,000 years. 
26 THE COAL FIELDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

In 1908 Parker 1 . attempted to extend the ending with 1914, which is 4,387,097, 796 tons. 

curve of production to what he conceived Thus it seems that his estimated maximum 

might be the possible ma~mum that would production is toq small or that the maximum 

ever be reached in this country. His curve, will be reached before the year 2055. The 

with slight modification to fit recently acquired estimate is probably too small and the maxi- · 

data, is shown in figure 3. The' past and the mum production will therefore probably be 

estimated future production were grouped by greater than _23,000,000,000 tons in a decade. 

decades, beginning with 1835 and extending to Although by every reasonable estimate the 

the year 2055, when, according to his calcu- ultimate exhaustion of the coal reserves of the 

lations, the maximum production of 23;000- United States appears to be. an event so far 

000,000 short tons would be reached. As the in the future that it need concern this gonerquantity of coal mined in the decade ending ation but slightly, the fact must be remembered 

with 1914 was 4,779,820,431 short tons, the that the bulk of the coal being mined to-day 

maximum, according to Parker's figures, would is the best in the country and that before long, 

.... ---(---..,..----r---1----r---T---

20,000,000,000 ,.(........ : : i i .... .... I ! , 

........... ( ,; 

,"'f 

,. 

15,000,000,000 -~"' 

,./ 

i : /! ! I ! ! ! / / / 

/ 

/1 , / 

/ 

.1 0, 000,000,000 / 

/ ; i i I I I I /I ! T -. I I I I ! 

, I I I I / 

, I I I I I 

/1 I I I I I I I I I ! "' I J I I I 

5,000,000,000 ,// .I j i I ! I ~ : 

§~ ; I ! I ! 

J I I I 

I I I I I I I I tnl tnl I I tnl I tnl tnl I tnl ::::1 tnl 

~~ ~~ tnl ll>l tnl tn tn ~. ;3;1 tt>l 101 Oil ol ol <-<I ml ~I tn tn :g 

~· ~I ~I 0\1 01 ~I ~I 0 

""" 10 

~~ -I -~ -~ -~ N! Nl Nl N ~ CX> ~ I I . I I I ! . I 

FIGURE a.-Estimated production of coal in the United States to the year 2055. (After E. W. Parker.) 

be roughly five times the present production.· 

, After the maximum had been reached the 

production, owing to increased cost of mine 

haulage, of hoisting from deeper shafts, and of 

working thinner beP.s, would gradu~lly decrease, but· the decrease would probably be 

mu.oh less rapid than the increase up to the 

maximum. According to the present estimates there is enough coal in the ground to 

permit production at this assumed maximum 

rate for more than 10 decades or 100 years, 

The figures showing the production since 

1908 prove that Parker's curve is too flat, for 

his estimate of the production in the decade 

ending in 1915 ( 4,528,000,000 tons 2

) is nearly 

equaled by the production of the nine years 

1 Parker, E. W., Past and future coal production in the United States: 

M:ines and Minerals, 1908, pp. 462-465. 

2 Tho production for the decade ending in 1915 was 4;918,717,283 tons. 

perhaps within 50 years, much of the high-rank 

coal will be exhausted. 

According to the latest estimates 3 the_ coal 

reserves of the world, by continents, are as 

follows: 

Short tons. 

Am~ricas. ___ --------·· ... 5, 627, 823, 500,000 

Asia._._ ................ 1, 410,487,600,000 

Europe .... _ ....... _...... ·864, 412, 600, 000 

Oceania .... _............ 187, 842,900, 000 

Africa ... ___ . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63, 755, 900, 000 

8,154,322,500,000 

Of the amount contained in th~ Americas, 

the United States claims 4,205,154,000;000 tons, 

or 51 per cent of the total coal of the world. 

Listed according to coal reserves, the principal 

a The coal resources of the world, an inquiry made upon the initiative 

of the executive committee of the Twelfth International Geological 

Congress, Canada, 1913, 1

M:orang & Co. (Ltd.), Toronto, Canada. . 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 27 

·coal-producing countries of the world stand 

as follows: 

United States, including Short tons. 

Alas!m.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 231, 352, 000, 000 

Canada ................. 1,360,535,000,000 

China ................... 1, 097,436,000,000 

Germany. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466, 665, 000, 000 

Great Britain and Ireland 208, 922, 000, 000 

Siberia................. 191,667,000,000 

Australia..... . . . . . . . . . . . 182, 510, 000, 000 

India.................... 87,083,000,000 

Hussia in Europe......... 66, 255, 000, 000 

Union of South Africa... 61, 949,000,000 

Austria. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59, 387,000, 000 

Colombia...... . . . . . . . . . . 29, 762, 000, 000 

Indo-China. . . . . . . . . . . . . 22, 048, 000, 000 

France.................. 19, 382, 000, 000 

Other countries.... . . . . . . ~9, 369, 500, 000 

8,154,322,500,000 

ANALYSES OF REPRESENTATIVE COALS. 

district or field or the composition of a certain 

rank of coal. 

Most of the analyses given in the table were 

n1ade by the -Bureau of Mines or the United 

States Geological Survey and so are strictly 

con1parable, but for a few coals, as indicated, 

such analyses are not available and the figures 

given are taken fron1 a State report. 

In order that the reader n1ay obtain an idea 

of the comparative value and rank of the coals 

of the United States, analyses of representative· 

smnples are tabulated on the following pages. 

The figures given are those obtained by the 

analysis of individual sa1nples of coal, but each 

The analysis given is that of the sample of 

coal as it was received at the laboratory. This 

sa1nple was sealed in an air-tight receptacle 

in1n1ediately after it was cut in th~ n1ine, and 

it reached the laboratory in the sa1ne condition 

as it was in when it was cut in the. mine. For this 

reason the analyses show a larger percentage 

of 1noisture than most analyses made for private persons, because the samples so analyzed 

have not been sealed and the coal has therefore 

lost some of the moisture it contained when ·it 

was in the mine. The Government analyses 

represent the coal as it leaves the mine and 

approximately as it reaches the consumer. If 

the coal is shipped in dry and hot weather son1e 

of its n1oisture may be evaporated; on the 

other hand, if rain falls on the coal in transit, its 

original moisture content may be appreciably 

·sample has been so selected that it represents increased. 

the average con1position of the coal of a certain The analyses are as follows: 

Analyses of representative coals of the United States. 

l Unless otherwise specified all analyses wore made by the United States Geological Survey or the Burean of Mines.] 

Volatile Fixed Location and rank of coal. Moi13ture. matter. carbon. Ash. Sulphur. 

ALABAMA. 

Lookout Mountain, semi bituminous .............. 3. 8 19.0 64.4 12. R 1. 5 

Blount County, bituminous ...................... 3. 4 27. 7 55. 9 13.0 1.2 

Birmingham dtstrict, bituminous, coking .......... 2. 4 25. 9 66. 8 4. 9 1.5 

Do ......................................... 2. 3 29._7 ( 58. 0 10.0 . 8 Birmin~~t~m <!ist~ict, ~itun~inous .................. 2. 6 31. 8 62. 9 2. 7 .8 

Carbon :.hll chstnct, bttummous .................. 4. 7 31. 8 53. 3 10. 2 1. 3 

Tuscaloosa district, bituminous .................... 1.6 25. 0 68. 5 4. 9 .5 

Cahaba field, bituminous ........... ' .............. 3. 1 35. 0 55. 8 6. 1 .4 

Do .......................................... 3. 2 31. 0 59. 6 6. 2 1. 2 

ARIZONA. 

Black Mesa field, subbituminous ................. 9. !) 32. 6 4.6. 9 10.6 1. 1 

AH.KANSA8. 

Russellville district, semianthracite ................ 2. 1 9. 8 78. 8 9. 3 1. 7 

Spadra district, semianthracite ................... 1. 7 10. 5 ·79. 5 8. 3 2. 5 

Coal Hill district, semi bituminous .... _ ............ 1. 4 14. 8 76. 9 6. 9 1.5 

Pn.ris district, semi bituminous ..................... 2. 8 14. 7 73. 4 9. 1 2. 8 

Jenny Lind district; semi bituminous ............. 1. 6 17. 4 73. l 7. 9 1. 4 

Huntington district, senribituminous ............. 3. 5 16. 7 72.0 7. 8 1. 3 

Camden district, li g nite .......................... 39. 4 26. 5 24. 4 9. 7 .5 

Heat 

value 

(British 

thermal 

units). 

12,980 

12, 740 

14,490 

13,490 

14,630 

12,600 

14,700 

13,560 

14,140 

10,800 

13,700 

13,870 

14, 330 

13, 770 

14,160 

14,020 

6 360 
28 THE COAL FIELDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Analyses of representative coals of the United States-Continued. 

I I Heat 

Volatile Fixed value 

Location and rank of coal. Moisture. reatter. carbon. Ash. Sulphur. (British 

thermal·. 

units). 

CALIFORNIA. 

Stone Canyon district, bituminous ........ : ........ 7. 0 46. 7 40. 1 6. 2 4. 2 12,450 

Mount Diablo district, sub bituminous ............ 15. 0 38. 4 34. 5 12. 1 5. 6 9,240 

Tesla district, sub bituminous ................ : ..... 18. 0 39. 2 26. 4 16.4 3. 1 8, 110 

COLORADO. 

Denver field, sub.pituminous ..................... 18. 8 30. 5 44. 5 6. 2 .3 9,650 

Do ......................................... 25.6. 28.0 41. 1 5. 3 .4 9,180 

Colorado Springs field, subbituminous ............. 26. 2 29. 7 37. 7 6. 4 .3 8,350 

Canon City field, bituminous ........... _ .......... 9. 1 ,35. 7 48. 0 7. 2 .9 11,700 

Trinidad field, bituminous, co l-ing._ ... ___ .. ·.· ... ' ... 2. 3 29. 8 58. 7 9. 2 .5 13, 780 

Trinidad field, bituminous, non coking ............ 7. 8 38. 5 44. 8 8. 9 .5 11,540 

North Park field, subbituminous ...... _ .. _ ... ____ . 29. 0 32. 5 42. 5 5.0 .6 9, 750 

Yampa field, anthracite .......... _ .. __ ...... _. __ . 7. 0 3. 4 75. 6 14.0 .6 11, 740 

Yampa field, bituminous ........... _._._._._ ... _._ 10. 4 37. 9 45. 5 6. 2 .4 11,470 

Newcastle field, bituminous ........ _. __ ._ .. _ ... ___ 7. 1 40.8 46. 9 5. 2 . 5 12,620 

Newcastle field, bituminous, coking .. _ ........ __ .. 2. 9 33. 3 56. 7 7. 1 .5 13, 720 

Coal Basin field, semi bituminous ........... , .... _ 2. 4 19. 4 70.8 7. 4 .5 14,380 

Crested Butte field, anthracite .............. _ .. ___ 3. 0 2. 9 86. 6 7. 5 .7 13,500 

Crested Butte field, bituminous ............. _ .. _. 5. 6 37. 6 47. 6 9. 2 .4 12,430 

Grand .T unction field, bituminous ........... _ .... _ 7:6 33. 6 52. 9 5. 9 .7 12,440 

Durango field, bituminous, coking ................ 2. 7 36. 1 54. Q 6. 7 .5 13,910 

GEORGIA. ' 

Manl'o district, semibituminous ................. _. _ 2. 9 17. 1 72. 2 7. 8 . 7 14,200 

.IDAHO. 

St. Anthony field, bituminous .................... 11.5 37. 2 47.0 4. 3 . 5 12,090 

Goose Creek field, lignite ....................... ___ · 34. 3 26.6 25. 7 13.4 2.5 8,610 

ILLINOIS. I 

La Salle County, bitmninous. ~ ................ ___ 13. 9 37. 3 38. 5 10. 3 3. 4 10,990 

Peoria County, bitumioous ...................... _ 15. 5 34. 7 39. 8 10.0 2. 9 10,740 

Fulton County, bitmninous .................. ·. _ .. _ 15. 7 31. 4 43. 1 9. 8 3.0 10,620 

McLean County, bituminous ................... _. 10. 2 35. 9 40.1 13. 8 2.8 11,150 

Logan County, bituminous .................. _. ___ 14. 8 32. 9 39. 7 12. 6 4. 0 ·10,410 

Sangamon County, bituminous ................... 14.3 37.2 40.3 8.2 4.4 11,010 

Macoupin County, bitmninous .................... ).3.3 37.1 40.7 8.9 4. 1 11, 160 

Montgomery County, bituminous .................. 12. 7 35.5 40.2 11.6 4.2 10, 670 

Madison and St. Clair counties, bituminous ....... 12.7 36.4 41.4 9.5 3.7 10,990 

Marion County, bituminous ............... ' ....... 10.3 37.4 39.8 12.5 3.7 11,080 

Franklin County, bituminous .................... 9.2 33.8 48.6 8.4 .9 11,930 

Williamson County, bituminous .................. 8.8 29.9 53.8 7.5 1.1 12, 220 

Saline County, bituminous ...................... 6.0 32.4 54.3 7.3 1.7 12, 790 

Gallatin County, bituminous ...................... 3.4 35.2 52.5 8.9 2.9 13, 190 

INDIANA. I 

Vermilion County, bitumino~s .................... J 10.5 39.5 ' 39.6 10.4 4.0 11,430 

Cla"li County, bituminous, block .............. __ .. 15.4 32.6 46.1 5.9 2.0 11, 680 

Sul ivan County, bituminous ......... ~ ........... 13.6 35.0 44.6 6.8 1.1 11, 550 

Kri.ox County, bituminous .... , .... " ............. 10.6 . 38.1 43.0 8.3 3. 7 11, 750 

Pike County, bituminous ......................... 11.3 38.3 43.5 6.9 3.1 11, 920 

Warrick County, bituminous .................... ·. 10.4 39.2 42.0 8.4 3.5 11,820 

Vandenburgh County, bituminous ................ 9.7 35.6 44.5 10.2 2.9 11,4~0 

IOWA. 

Boone County, bituminous a ...... : .............. 19.5 33.4 38.'3 8.8 5.4 10, 520 

Polk County, bituminous ......................... 14.4 37.8 36.8 11.0 5.9 10, 640 

Jasper County, bituminous a_ .................... 9.3 39.2 39.1 12.4 2.4 11, 210 

Marion County, bituminous ............ : .......... 15. 7 36.9 35.8 11.6 5.1 10, 290 

Mahaska Count y, bituminous a .•...•............. 14.6 36.3 40.5 8.6 2.9 11 000 

a Analyses made by the Iowa State Unh·ersity. 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 

Analyses of representative coals of the United States-Continued. 

Location and rank of coal. 

IOWA-Continued. 

Lucas County, bituminous ....................... Monroe County, bituminous ..................... Wapello County, bituminous ...................... 'l'aylor County, bittiminous a • ................... 

Appanoose County, bituminous .................. 

KANSAS. 

Leavenwo1th County, bituminous ................ Linn County, bituminous .......................... Crawford County, bituminous ..................... Cherokee Cqunty, bituminous ..................... 

EASTERN KENTUCKY. 

J 

J 

ohnson County, bituminous ..................... ·ohnson County, bituminous, canneL ............. Pike County, bituminous ......................... Letcher County, bituminous .................. : . . Peny County, bituminous ................. : ...... Laurel County, bituminous ....................... Hru·lan Countb, bituminous .......... : ........... Bell County, ituminous ......................... Knox County, bituminous ....................... 

WESTERN Kl~NTUCKY. 

Dayiess Counth1 bit';Iminous ...................... Ohw County, 1tunnnous" ....................... Muhlenberg County, bituminous .................. Hopkins County, bituminous ..................... Umon County, bituminous ...................... 

1\IARYLAND.b 

Georges Creek basin, semibituminous, high rank .. Georges Creek basin, semibituminous, medium 

rank .......................................... Georges Creek basin, semibituminous, low ran]\: .... Upper Potomac basin, semibituminous ... · ......... Upper Potomac basin, semibituminous ............ Castleman basin, semibituminous ................. Castleman basin, bituminous ..................... Upper Youghiogheny basin, bituminous ........... Lower Youglriogheny basin, bituminous; ......... 

MICHIGAN. 

Saginaw district, bituminous ...................... 

MISSOURI. 

Putnam County, bitui1rinous .. · ......... · .. · ........ HatTison County, bittiminous ...................... Adair County, bituminous ....................... Grundy County, bituminous ..................... M aeon County,· bituminous ........................ 

H 

B 

v 

Hanclolph County, bituminous ................... \.udrain County, bituminous ..................... Ha{a County, b1tunrinous ......................... La ayetto County, bituminous .................... · enry County, bitum.inot~s ........................ ates County, bituminous ........................ emon County, bituminous ....................... Barton County, bituminous ....................... 

Moisture. 

18. 7 

15.8 

11.3 

20.2 

17.1 

12.0 

11.1 

4.9 

5.1 

6.4 

2.2 

2.8 

2.5 

3.9 

4.5 

4.4 

2.8 

4.2 

11.8 

10.0 

8.8 

8.5 

3.9 

.G 

.6 

.7 

.9 

1.7 

2. 1 

.7 

1.2 

2,3 

11.9 

18.5 

15.3 

15.4 

11. 7 

13.8 

12. 1 

10, L! 

15.8 

12.3 

10. 6 

7.8 

6.5 

5.4 

.. 

Volatile Fixed 

matter. carbon. Ash. 

31.8 41.8 7.7 

36.9 37.9 9.4 

38.7 39.5 10.5 

30. 1 38.3 11.4 

35.4 40.4 7.1 

35.2 3!>.1 13.7 

28.8 47.5 12.6 

33.5 52.5 9.1 

32.6 53.4 8.9 

36.2 54.1 3.3 

50.6 36. 7 10.5 

36.2 56. 7 4.3 

36.5 57.0 4.0 

37.2 54.8 4.1 

39.9 50.8 4.8 

35.0 56.9 3.7 

37.8 56.3 3.1 

36.4 53.3 6.1 

36.8 42.0 9.4 

36.5 44.9 8.6 

36.2 46.4 8.6 

38.0 46.4 7.1 

37.1 49. 7 9.3 

I 

16.() 72.1 10 .. 7 

17.7 73.0 8. 7 

20.3 70.0 9.0 

18.1 71.9 9.1 

19.0 68. 1 11.2 

22.0 67. 1 8.8 

24.0 66.8 8.5 

23.0 63.9 11.9 

25.5 64.4 7.8 

31.5 49.8 6.8 

32. 6 39.0 9.9 

37. 1 40.8. 6.8 

34.8 38.8 11.0 

38.8 38.8 10. 7 

34. 7 41.8 9. 7 

36.3 42.9 8.7 

39.3 38.0 12.3 

32. 8 41.5 9.9 

34.4 42.0 11.3 

37.2 40.7 11.5 

35.5 44.0 12. 7 

32.6 50.8 10.1 

32. 1 53.6 8.9 

29 

Heat 

value 

Sulphur. (British 

thermal 

units). 

'· 

·2.4 10,510 

4. 7 12, 900 

4.7 11,350 

4.2 10, 120 

4.0 10,930 

4.4 10, 720 

2.4 11,220 

5.0 12, 940 

4.3 12, 930 

1.2 13,460 

1.0 13, 750 

1.4 14, 180 

. 6 14, 150 

.8 13, 730 

2.3 13,510 

.7 13, 920 

1.'0 14,240 

.8 . 13,410 

3.3 11, 150 

2.6 11,770 

3.6 11, 900 

3.5 12, 340 

3.5 12,830 

1.3 13,380 

1.4 14,010 

1.4 14,010 

1.7 14,010 

1.6 13,450 

2.3 13,870 

1.4 13,970 

2.1 13,260 

1.1 13, 780 

I 

1.2 11,780 

. 4.1 10,040 

3.0 10,100 

3.6 10,460 

5. 1 11,020 

3.3 10,960 

3.9 11,450 

4.9 11,350 

3.0 10,620 

4. 6 11,000 

3.6 11,250 

5. 2 11,740 

5.0 12,460 

3.6 12,990 

aAnnlysls mnde bv tho Iown.Stnte University. b Amllysos mnde b'y tho Maryland Geological Survey. Each analysis is the average of all analyses of a certain coal bed in that basin or field. 

• 
30 THE COAL FIELDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Analyses of representative coals of the United States-Continued. 

Location and rank of coal. 

MONTANA. 

Culbertson district, lignite ........................ Glendive district, lignite ......................... Miles City district, subbituminous (?) ............. Havre district, sub bituminous .................... Cutbank district, bituminous ..................... Lewistown district, bituminous .................. Sand Coulee district, bituminous .................. Roundup district, subbituminous ................. Bridger district, bituminous ...................... Bear Cree·k district, sub bituminous ............... Red· Lodge district, subbituminous ................ Trail Creek field, bituminous.: ................... Electric field, bituminous, coking ................ Missoula field, lignite ............................ 

NEVADA. 

Esmeralda County, bituminous ....••. · •••••.•....•. 

NEW MEXICO. 

Raton field, bituminous, coking .................. Los Cerrillos field, anthracite .................... Los Cerrillos field·, bituminous .................... Carthage field, bituminous, coking ................ White Oaks field, bituminous .................... Monero district, bituminous, coking ............... f Jallup district, sub bituminous ................... 

NORTH DAKOTA. 

Ward County, lignitea ........................... Mountrail County, lignitea ........... '. ............ Williams County, lignite ..................... , ... Northern McLean County, lignite a ............... 

Southern McLean County, lignite .................. Morton County, lignite ............................ Stark County, lignitea ........................ : . . Billings County, lignite a ........................ 

A dams County, li1~it~ .......... ~ ......... · · · · · · Bowman County, 1gmte ........................ 

OHIO. 

Stark County, bituminous b • •...•..••.••••..••• 

T uscarawas County, bituminous b • ••••••••••••••• 

J 

(; 

efferson County, bituminous ................... ,oshocton County, bituminous b . ..•.....•••••••• 

B 

G 

N 

p 

elmont County, bituminous .................... uernsey County, bituminous ................... oble County, bituminous ...................... erry County, bituminous b •••....•.... ~ ......• 

ashington County, bituminous b . ••••. _ ••••••••• 

ocking County, bituminous b • ••......•...•..•• 

w 

H 

M 

J 

L 

eigs County, bituminous b . •••.••••••••••••••••• 

ackson County, bituminous b .•.•.....•....••.•• 

awrence County, bituminous ................... 

OKLAHOMA. 

raig County, bituminous ...... -:· ................ ogers County, bituminous ...................... c 

R 

T 

0 

H 

I 

ulsa County, bituminous ...................... kmulfee County, bituminous ................... . askel County, semi bituminous .... , ........... .e Flore County, semibituminous ............... Latimer County, bituminous ..................... Pittshu'rg County, bituminous .................... Coal County, bituminous ........................ 

Moisture. 

40.8 

34.6 

29.2 

25.6 

6.6 

8.0 

6.0 

13.4 

9.8 

10. 7 

11. 7 

12.4 

4.0 

24.7 

2.1 

2. 1 

5. 7 

3.2 

3.0 

2.5 

3.0 

12. 7 

36.5 

37.8 

41.1 

40.0 

40.5 

; 38.5 

40.5 

37.0 

32.4 

41.4 

6.7 

4. 7 

4. 1 

4.5 

3.9 

6.0 

3.6 

6.7 

3.4 

7.5 

. 7. 2 

5.3 

7. 1 

4.1 

4.2 

6.3 

7.5 

2.7 

3. 1 

3.0 

3.6 

6.5 

Volatile Fixed 

matter. carbon. Ash. 

25.2 27.8 6.2 

35.3 22.9 7..2 

26.2 35.4 9.2 

27.9 39.2 7.3 

40.3 39.2 13.9 

26.6 56.1 9.3 

28.4 51.4 14.2 

32.4 47.6 6.6 

27.6 ~ 46.2 16.4 

34.1 46.1 9. 1 

36.1 40.2 12.0 

36.8 42.3 8.5 

22.5 59.3 14.2 

29.3 26.1 19.9 

33.7 33.7 30.5 

36.1 50.2 11.6 

2.2 86. 1 6.0 

41.4 44.4 11.0 

'38. 0 51.6 7.4 

37.9 44.9 14.7 

39.0 48.3 9. 7 

36.5 43.3 7.5 

28.4 28.7 '6.4 

30.1 24.3 7.8 

27.2 26.3 5.4 

29.7 27.1 3.2 

27.1 27.4 5.0 

27.6 26.6 7.3 

26.3 27.0 6.2 

26. 3 28. 7 8.0 

30.9 28. 1 8.6 

23.9 28.4 6.3 

36.2 48.9 8.2 

39.2 49.9 6. 2 

38.5 49. 7 7.7 

38.'7 50.8 6.0 

43. 1 43. 9 9. 1 

34.2 52.0 7.8 

41.5 44.4 10.5 

37. 1 49. 1 7. 1 

37.9 49.1 9.6 

34.0 52. 6 5. 9 

32. 8 50. 7 9.3 

41.0 45.3 8.4 

33. 7 50.3 8.9 

37.4 48.3 . 10.2 

38.2 47.8 9.8 

37. 7 47.8 8.2 

32.9 51.0 8.6 

21. 1 69.'9 6.3 

31. 7 58.9 6 .. 3 

36.0 55.9 5. 1 

33.4 58.0 5.0 

39.0 45. 2 9.3 

Sulphur. 

0.7 

-1. 1 

.8 

.6 

3. 1 

4.4 

2.4 

.4 

. 6 

1.5 

1.1 

. 6 

. 6 

. 9 

7.2 

.6 

.7 

1.6 

. 9 

. 8 

3.5 

. 7 

1.4 

.6 

.7 

. 3 

. 8 

1.3 

. 8 

1. 8 

1.5 

. 7 

2. 7 

3. 3 

3. 7 

3. 6 

4.4 

2.0 

4.9 

2.6 

5.0 

.8 

1.3 

3. 7 

1.3 

6. 1 

5. 2 

8. 2 

1. 5 

. 8 

.9 

1. 1 

.5 

3. 7 

a Analyses made by North Dakota Geological Survey. b Analyses made by the Ohio Geological Survey. 

Heat 

value 

(British 

thermal 

units). 

6,150 

7,090 

7,670 

8,290' 

10,930 

11,510 

11,150 

11,120 

10,240 

10,800 

9, 790 

10,950 

12,760 

6,730 

9,590 

12,970 

13,270 

12,450 

13,260 

12,260 

12,930 

11,230 

6,750 

6,230 

6,490 

6,610 

6,640 

6,700 

6,210 

6,590 

7,330 

6,240 

12,560 

12,770 

13,150 

12,910 

12,840 

12,720 

12,510 

12,390 

12,750 

12,510 

12,000 

12,210 

12,090 

12,920 

13,910 

12,690 

12,410 

14,100 

14,020 

13,710 

13,740 

11,840 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 

Analyses of representative coals of the United States-Continued. 

Volatile Fixed Location and rank _of coal. Moisture. matter. carbon. Ash. 

'OREGON. 

Coos Bay field, Rub~itu~nous .................. 18.0 31.8 39.7 10.5 

Eden R1dge field, lntummous ... ~ ............... 12.6 35.0 37.7 14. 7 

\ 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

Anthracite region, anthraGite .............. · ..... ~ 2.8 ]. 2 88. 2 7.8 

Do ..... · ............... ·.··················· 2.2 5. 7 86. 2 5.9 ~~tlli van County, s.e£!lian~hracite ................. 3.4 9. 3 75.6 11. 7 

l1oga County, sennb1tummous ... : .............. 2. 3 20.9 66.9 9.9 

Elk County, bituminous ......................... 2. 7 33. 7 54.9 8. 7 

Center County, semi bituminous ................. 2.9 19.9 69. 7 7.5 

Center County, bituminous ..................... 3. 5 23. 7 61. 6 11. 2 

Clearfield County, semibituminous .............. 3.3 19.9 69.0 7.8 

Clearfield County, bituminous .................. 2.8 24. 3 66.3 6.6 

Indiana County, bituminous .................... 1.0 26. 1 63.8 9.1 

Butler County, bituminous ...................... 4.6 33.0 54.4 8.0 

Cambria County, semibituminous, high rank ....... 3.3 12.5 77.9 6.3 

Cambria County, semi bituminous, low ra.uk ...... 2.0 21. 2 70.9 5.9 

Cambria County, bituminous .................... 3. 1 26.0 64.4 6.5 

Westmoreland County, bi~uminous, coking ........ 2. 7 30.4 57.8 9.1 

Allegheny County, b1t.ummous .................. 3.7 34.0 56.8 5.5 

Broadtop field, semibituminous ................. 2. 1 15.5 76.0 6.4 

Somerset County, semibituminous, high rank .... : 2.5 12. 5 78.8 6.2 

Somerset Cotinty, semibituminous, low rank ...... 2.6 21. 5 68.0 7.9 

};'u.yette County, bituminous, coking .............. 2.8 30.0 59.8 7.4 

Washington County, bituminous ................ 1.4 34.6 57.8 6.2 

RHODE ISLAND.-

Portsmouth district, anthracite .................. 13.2 2.6 65.3 18.9 

SOUTH DAKOTA. 

Harding County, lignite ........................... 41.5 24.0 24.'3 10.2 

TENNESSEE. 

Claiborne and Campbell counties, bituminous ..... 3.6 37.3 55.5 3.6 

Scott and 1;-entress counties, bituminous .......... 3.8 38.5 51.2 6.5 

Anderson County, bituminous ..................... 2. 2 37.2 54.5 6. 1 

Morgan C'ounty, bitt1;minous .................. ~- ... 2.0 37.5 52.6 7.9 

Roane and H.hea counties, bituminous, coking ..... 2.2 29.6 59.4 8.8 

Cumberland County, bituminous ................. 4.3 25. 7 62.5 7.5 

Overton County, bituminous ...................... 3.4 35.6 50.6 10.4 

White County, bituminous ....................... 3.0 39.7 46. 9 10.4 

Hamilton County, bituminous .................... 2.9 29.9 59. 2 8.0 

Bledsoe and Sequatchie counties, bituminous ..... 3.0 29.8 58.9 8.3 

Grundy County, bituminous ..................... 3. 6 29.8 57.9 8. 7 

Marion County, bituminous ................... · ... 3.4 28.2 60. 1 8.3 

TEXAS. 

Houston County, lignite ....... · .................. 33.5 39. 5 16.2 10.8 

Wood County, lignite ............................ 28.9 35.9 27.3 7.9 

Milam County, llgnite ............................ 36.0 27.9 28. 7 7.4 

UTAH. 

Summit County, sub bituminous ................... 14.2 36.0 44.8 5.0 

Ulntn, County, bituminous ........................ 8. 6 36. 1 47. 2 8. 1 

Grn.ud County, bituminous ........................ 7. 1 37.0 45.4 10.5 

Carbon County, bi.tuminous ...... · ................. 4.4 38. 2 50.5 6.9 

Emery County, bituminous ....................... 7.2 42. 2 44.8 5.8 

Iron and Kane counties, anthracite ................ 8.2 4.4 58.0 29.4 

Iron and Kane counties, semi bituminous .......... 9.5 13. 2 49. 2 28. 1 

Iron and Kane counties, bituminous .............. 10.4 36.3 43. 7 9.6 

Sulphur. 

2.2 

1.3 

. 9 

. 6 

. 8 

1.3 

2.9 

1.9 

2. 7 

2.0 

. 9 

2. 7 

1.3 

]. 0 

1.2 

1.4 

1.3 

1.4 

1. 1 

1.1 

1.7 

1. 2 

. 8 

. 3 

. 6 

1..1 

1.9 

1.6 

4.0 

.5 

. 6 

3.1 

4. 1 

1.2 

1.0 

1.4 

. 8 

. 6 

. 5 

.8 

1.4 

1.4 

. 7' 

. 8 

. 7 

2.3 

3. 61 5.8 

31 

Heat 

value 

(British 

thermal 

units). 

8,910 

10,350 

13,300 

13,830 

13, 120 

13,620 

13,470 

14,080 

13,060 

14,020 

14,130 

13,950 

13,200 

14,340 

14,510 

14, 160 

13,610 

13,870 

14,470 

14,380 

13,900 

13,990 

14,240 

9,310 

5,65 0 

13,980 

13,400 

13,96 

13,81 

13,62 

13,63 

'12,99 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

13.95 

13; 76 

13,56 

13,33 

13,43 

7,14 

8,00 

7,13 

10,63 

11,58 

11, 72 

12,76 

12,54 

8,91 

8,86 

10,87 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 
32 _. THE COAL FIELDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Analyses of representative coals of the United States-Continued. 

I I 

Heat 

I Volatile Fixed value . Location and rank of coal. Moisture. matter. carbon. Ash. Sulphur. (British 

thermal 

units) . . , 

VIRGINIA. 

Appalachian region: · · ' 

Tazewell County, semibituminous ............. 3. 8 15.5 77.8 2.9 0.6 14,860 Buchanan County, sem.ibituroinous ........... 2.4 19. 6 64. 6 13.4 .7 13, 160 

Buchanan County, bituminous ............... 3.5 31. 9 60. 9 3.7 1.5 14,390 

Dickinson Countl1 bit1:1mlnous ............... 3.0 32. 4. 58.4 6. 2 1.6 14,030 

R1:1ssell Countb'· · 1t~mmous .. ·.· .............. 2.8 34. 9 56. 5 5.8 . 6 14,150 

W1se Count.y, 1tummous, cokmg ........ ~ .... 2. 5 31. 7 60. 3 5.5 .5 14,250 

Lee County, bituminous ..................... 3.4 34.4 58. 8 3. 4 I . 6 14, 13. 

Montgomery County, semi bituminous ........ 1. 6 12. 3 68. 1 18.0 .5 12,340 

Richmond Basin, bituminous .................... 2.8 25. 7 62.5 9.0 1.4 13,490 

WASHINGTON. 

Whatcom County, anthracite ..................... 4.4 7.4 76.0 12. 2 1.0 12,590 

Kin'k County: 

cwcastle district, sub bituminous ............. 12. 1 36. 8 40. 7 10.4 .. 3 10,4i0 

Grand Ridge district, sub bituminous .......... 15. 9 36. 0 38.5 9.6 .5 9,970 

Snoqualmie district, bituminous .............. 6. 1 22. 7 58. 8 1::?.4 .9 10,710 

Renton district, subbituminous ............. ; 14.4 36. 1 42.0 7. 5 . 6 10,560 

Taylor district, bituminous .................... 5. 6 35.9 44. l 14.4 .9 1~,550 

Ravensdale district, bituminous .............• 7. 4" 37.4 43. 9 11. g .5 11,500 

Blac"K Diamond district, bituminous .......... 6. 8 40.0 47. 9 5. 3 1.4 12,33.0 Bayne district, bituminous ................... 4. 1 32. 8 52.8 10. 3 .5 12,780 

Pierce County: ' · Burnett district, bituminous ................. 3. 2 35.0 49. 3 12. 5 .4 . 12, 720 

Gale Creek district, bituminous .............. ~ 2.8 33. 8 53. 9 9.5 1. 0 13,450 

Wilkeson district, bituminous, coking ......... 2. 5 27. 7 61. 3 8. 5 .4 13,890 

' Wilkeson district, semibituminous ............ . 3. 6 19. 1 61. 3 16.0 .5 12,320 

Carbon Hill district, bitvminous .............. 3.4 32. 2 49. 5 14. 9 .5 12,250 

Fairfax district, bituminous .................. 3. 6 23. 6 59. 3 13.5 .'4 12,750 

Fairfax district, semibituminous .............. 4.0 18. 1 58.5 19.4 .5 11,820 

Fairfax district, semi anthracite .............. 9.2 9.4 63. 7 17. 7 .7 11,130 

Kittitas County: 

Beekman dlstrict, bituminous ................ 3.3 34. 1 50.5 12. 1 .4 12,9]0 

Roslvn district, bituminous .................. 4. 7 36.0 46.8 12. 5 .4 12,240 

Cle Elum district, bituminous ................. 5.0 36. 1 46.8 12. J. .4 11,900 

Thurston County: 

Centralia district, subbituminous ............ 21.0 33. 1 36. 7 9.2 .4 8,910 

WEST VIRGINIA. 

Wheeling district, bituminous .................... 4. l 36.6 53.3 6.0 2. 1 13,400 

Moundsville district, bituminous .................. 3.4 41. 6 48.0 7.0 3.3 -13,310 

Fairmont district, bituminous ................... 2.9 34.5 56. 9 5. 7 .7 14,040 

Clarksburg district, bituminous ................... 2.8 38. 5 53. 1 5. G 2."4 14, 1:10 

Upper Potomac basin, semi bituminous, high rank .. 1. l 17. 2 73. 8 7. 9 1.1 14,490 

Upper Potomac basin, semibituminous, low rank ... 1.2 20.4 70.8 7. G 1.0 1.4,520 

Preston County, bituminous ...................... 3.6 27.4 62. 8 6.2 .9 14,220 

Buckhannon district, bituminous ................ 2. 5 32. 5 56. 3 8. 7 1.7 13,590 

Sutton district, bituminous a . ................... 2.3 38. 3 52. 9 6.5 2.1 13,530 

Clay district, bituminous ......................... 2. 8 35.5 54. 7 7.0 .8 13,700 

Winfield district, bituminous .................... : 5.0 39. 6 48.3 7. 1 1.8 13,000 

New River field: 

New River district, semi bituminous, high rank. 4.0 14. 1 73. 7 8.2 0 8 13,850 

New River district, semi bituminous, low rank. 3. 5 22.2 71.. 9 2. 4 .7 14,690 

Beckley district, semibituminous, high rank .. 4. 7 13. 0 77.9 4.4 . 8 14,340 

Beckley district, semi bituminous, low rank ... 3.3 18.0 75.6 3. 1 .8 14,660 

Montgomery district, bituminous ................. 2.4 35.5 56. 7 5.4 1.0 14,160 

Coal burg district, bituminous ................... : . 3.4 35.2 53. 1 8.3 .7 13,300 

Logan district, bituminous ......... ~ .............. 3.3 33.3 58.4 5.0 .7 14,050 

Thacker district, bituminous, high rank ........... 3. 1 31. 4 59.9 5. 6 1.2 14,050 

Thacker district, bituminous, low rank ........... 4.5 38.8 50.9 5.8 2.0 13,370 

Iaeger district, semi bituminous ................... 2.0 19.9 70.4 7. 7 . 7 14,110 

Pocahontas field, semibituminous, low rank ....... 3.4 22.5 68.8 5.3 . 5 14,370 

Widemouth district, semibituminous, medium 

rank ...................................... 3. 1 18.2 74.8 3.9 . 7 14,690 

Welch district, semibituminous, high rank .... 2.8 12.5 80.4 4.3 . 7 14,660 I 

a Analysis by West Virginia Geological Survey. 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 33 

Analyses of representative coal of the United States-Continued. 

0 Heat 

Volatile Fixed value 

Location and rank of coal. Moisture. matter. carbon. Ash. Sulphur. (British 

thermal 

units). 

WYOMING. 

Sheridan district, sub bituminous ................. 22.6 32.5 40.4 4.5 0.3 9,220 

Bighorn ;Basin ~eldb ~ubb~tuminous~ .............. 16.5 32.9 45.8 4.8 .6 10,750 

Black Hllls. re~pon, 1t~mmc;ms, co~ng ........... 10.0 39.1 34.3 1G.6 4.9 10,250 

Glenrock district, subb1turrunous .................. 21. 9 34.0 37.4 G. 7 . 9 9,'070 

Hudson district, sub bituminous .....•..... : ....... 21. 1 31.4 41.7 5.8 . 5 9,460 

Hanna Basin field, sub bituminous ................ 11.5 42.6 39.3 6. 6 .4 10,890 

Rock Sprina~ fi~Id, b~tu~nous .................. 9.8 34.3 52.5 3.4 1.0 12,260 

Kemmerer 1stnct, b1turrunous .................. 5.7 37.7 51.3 5.3 1.4 12,580 

Kemmerer district, subbituminous ............... 20.6 36.3 40.5 2.6 .5 10,240 

Evanston district, sub bituminous ............ · ..... 14.4 36.8 41. 6 7.2 .2 10:440 

0