Sunbury American and Shamokin journal. [volume] (Sunbury, Northumberland Co., Pa.) 1840-1848, 1841-08-28
From The Pennsylvania hteMgencer.
Resources and Credit of PennsyI-
ya1lt1.

resources and Credit OF Pennsyl-
Vanta.
The attacks that have been made lately on the
floor of Congress- by the representatives of poverty
strken States. and in the public press of the At.
iantc cities, in the interest of foreign and domes-
tic brokers, upon the honor and credit of Pcnnsyl.
vania, have induced us to submit the following
state of facts, the basis Of the integrity of the
Commonwealth, and of our ability not only to dis.
charge her trlng debt of ,hiriy-five millions of
dollars, but to finish her splendid system of internal
improvements, and take her rank where nature has
designed bcr, the first State in the Union.
The State of Pennsylvania is inhabited by l :.
72i,033 free people, industrious and enterprsing.
In 1890, the number was only 43i 1873.
We have more than 90 900 600 acres of land, and
under hct,cr cultivation than any in the Union, and
const n,ly improving. 1t is worth at least S752,-
coo 900, aud barns, workshops, stores, furnaces,
factories and mills, worth S24s, 100000 more
Nor has our public debt been contracted for moth.
ing. Our rail roads and canals extend not only
10 our coal and iron mines, but are designed to
connect the waters of the great Lakes and the great
Ohio aud Mississippi vses, with the waters OF the
Delaware and the Chesapeake. They intersect
the State in every direction from West to T. st and
from North to South. Including State and Com
pany works we have more than thousand
miles of canals and seven hundred miles of rail
bridges, public buildings, gas and water works,
more than SlOO,OO0,OO0. Some portion of these
works are not yet profitable, in consequence OF the
unfinished links, and yet the toll will this year, on
the State works of about 700 miles exceed million
of dollars.
The value of The anthracite coal mines upon the
Schny y!kl, the Lehigh, the Swatara, the Wlsco-
nisco, the Shamokin, Susquehanna and tho Lack.
awarna, which but Just beginning to pour down
their mineral wealth to the markets upon the ocean,
is incalculahIe. In 1920 the trade commenced,
and 800 tons we've sent TO market, from the Le-
high. In 1925 the trade commenced upon the
Schuylkiil. The Schuylkill canal was then fin
ished. There are now abou, So miles of rail roads,
branching from the nal TO the several mines, and
4 5 miles Of rail roads under ground. About eish-
teen hundred cas- are employed in conveying the
coal from the mines to the canal, and between eight
and nine hundred boats used in conveying the
coal to Philadelphia. The arrivals Of vessels annu-
ally in the Schuy kill for the conveyance of Schuyl-
kill coal to other States, will number about 100.
One hund ed and seventy sloops, schooners and
hargcs, ar ived in two days last week. The Sahuyl
nh.
600 tons, and the other anthracite mining districts
about the same quantity, making 100000 tons,
of which about 100000 will be exported TO other
States.
The coal trade is but yet in its infancy and in
crca,ing rapidly. The OF anthracite coal in
steamboats, is taking the place of wood in Eastern
waters, and will be used in the slames of the O.
ceau, the safest and cheapest fuel 1t is alsc
coming into use in driving machinery and making
iron. The mines upon the Swa'ara capable o.
producing as much as the Schuylkill, and so ar.
those of the l.ehigh, the Wisconisco, the Shamukir
and the Sus9uehanna; and the Schuyki Is caps.
ble Of producing four times the amount thai is nov
mined. Improvements will soon be completed tc
all lntse inning ulslllcls. w Nat tnen VIII pe th'
annual wort h of the anthracite coal of Pennsyva
MA that will be carried upon her public works
But we have not only anthracite, but according
To our State geologst, bituminous coal than al
! Eur, pc. Our State canals intersect this bitumin
Gus coal field in all directions. All Europe con
! t,ins about 1000 square miles OF bItuminous Goa
land. Pennsylvania has ten thousand square miles
or 400, 900 acres. 1t is estimated by our Sat
geol gis,, that the great Western bituminous Goa
| field of Pennsylvania contains THREE HUN
DRED THOUSAND MILLIONS OF TONS
Ten thousand times more than England, Scotland
Wales aud Iceland.
This vast mineral wealth, without the pubc i'm
provemenls would have been dead capital forever
According to the returns OF the County CommIs
Sioners to the Secretary of the Commonwealth
there was mined in 1897, III Pennsy lvania, Yves
OF tho Allegheny mountains, more than ,00O,0 ,00
tons, OF biluminous coal Not one ton Of thi
reached the Atlantic market, About nine>tenth
OF It was consumed in domestic purposes a, HON,
IN furnaces and rolling mills, and in driving ma
chinery. onc-tenth, OF 100000 tons, were shiI
ped down the Ohio and Mississippi. What th
hale viii TIC when the srca, valley is filled vii