New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1860-04-17
VIII tf,e Coal Fields Hold Ont

When we look at the enormous amount Of co.
now a1pualiy consumed, especially when we Oh
! serve the ratio in which that CONSUMPTION has n
creased within the last third of century and Ne
meet on the certainty that, at every stadium 3
hnman progress in population, arts, and genera
cature, mat increase must go on ut an aecelerat
ng ratio, that question inevitably presents ifsef
| viii the coal fields hold out2
The produce of the American fields during the
yssr lsog has been computed at 1000 600 Of funs
Inc produce Of Crest Britain during the same wear
was 90 900 ,000 The entire prodrice al tfe cnaj
heIds Of the world Ii estimated at the came t1e II
loo 800 co., These figures are starting euoueh.
t ~. Enen W. recollect the rapidity with which
! more 10. .
The British coal trade has heretofore doubled
is slow rate Of advance compared win that
which has been made In our own trade We take
the produce Of the anthracite mines OF Pennsyfva-
mia, as It ID exhibited IN the tables OF Professor
rom 1920 to 1858, it advanced dit tie rate III
lS4 0O0 tuns per annum, and from 1899 to 1919 the
produce doubled itself IN each i've years, while il
has again doubled itseK In eight years.
We have seen that the Americsn coaltrade
1852, 1000 900! T7
Ana then With the increase " wsalth III H.
consequent increase Of wants. with the Constantly
mIlupiylng applications and uses of coal In the
~, VIII the opening cf new mines 81 the va
aous lmetalss all 81 which must De worked by the
exhaustion Of what remain ~ ~ w sorssss
villa the progressive exploration ana cfyiffzation
Jsond ~ pIoaaeing countrisss md the growing
intercourse between remote nations Ii 4 dim
cult to predict conceive the extent which in.
Use o. mineral fuel may reach In the next twenty
Gradually but rapidly coal has for the last reus-
ration been establishing itself as the universal motor
OF the social mechanism. It warns and lights our
houses, cooks our food, spins weayes dves ana
washes our clothes, Eliminates our streets baara
our letters and ourselves swiftly over land and
sea, makes our paper, prints our books and jour
nais-in word, what does it not do for n? What
movement, in the vast and complicated machinery
Of modern society is not dependent ON coaH Should
this motive force be now or at any future time
MasnaraWn what would be the effect on the worids
instantly return to the rate OF fifty years ago. Our
ocean and river steamers speedily Be rottiQ at ou
wharyes, and our rail cars would stand mofionless
and useless on their tracks, for all the accessible
forests would speedily disappear under the i'm
mense demand. New Orleans would again be a
fortnight from New York, England month rom
america, and California be almost lost sight Of
Here and there the dim Light Of an Oiled Iamp
would twinkle through the streets as Of old instead
OF the brilliant and abundant light afforded by gas.
Soaks ana newspapers would forthwith rise to
Even that primary element of home comfort,
and in fact of all cultivated and pleasurabIe exist
enee-warmth-wou be wholly unattainable by
the great mass of mankind, and before long be-
yond the reach of all. As for that extensive sys-
tenn of enlightened and benevolent effort by which
the Scriptures and all the blessings of Christian
clvllzauon are IN the process of rapid diffusion
among distant and barbarous nations what would
become of that if the facilities of communication
and Of the rapid and cheap multiplication of books
were withdrawn Every interest Of society ana
81 humanity would undergo disastrous revolu-
ton. The lack Of coal would operate like para
1ysis on all human energy.
That one hundred millions of tuns have been
taken annually out of the mines, with the GER
talnty, judging from the past, that the amount
will be doubled and trebled, and still 80 on to in
ling fact to contemplate. VIII the mines stand the
immense drain? viii the coal fields hold out
Science started this inquiry about the beginning
alarming answer to it. Eminent geologista, how
ever, gave some comfort to mankind BY gradually
postponng the period Of exhaustion Nj. Bailey
predsictsd che supply Of The Durham and Northnra
years. DR.. McNab named three hundred and
seVenty.tiye years. Or. auckland conceded four
hundred years Professor Thompson extended the
period to one thousand years. MR. Hugh TAYLOR.
(more liberal than previous calcuators) granted
seventeen hundred md twenty-seven years.
There are men now living in Philadelphia who
announcement that the workmen had reached the
bottom Of the Mauch Chunk coal mine The stock
OF the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company fell
the general mind. These apprehensions were
caused by ignorance Of the nature of the coal for
nations, which, unlike other mines occur in strata
Or seams, and the hope Of abundant supply lies in
the extent rather than the thickness of these seams
In the great Northern or Newcastle field In Eng
land there are about ifty-seven different seams Of
coal. These vary in thickness from one inch to
SIX feet and they form an aggregate Of about
seventy-sx feet of coal. The average thickness of
the great coal fields of the world varies from ten
to sixty feet That q coal bed should be worked
through in no long time was of course to be ex-
pected, and was no just ground of alarm.
These scientific predictions and nnruar faara