The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-11-28
VOL. XIX, NO. 10.
Our Future Wealth.

That our country is eventually to
| take the lead of all the world in wealth,
must be plain to any one who fairly
estimates of her as yet undevelOped re-
sources.
Since steam has been applied to COM
merce and manufactures, the produc-
| tive coal fields of Great Britian have
| been her chief source of strength.
! These coal-felds have been worked for
great number of years, and many of
| them show symptoms of exhaustion.
| They are, moreover, insignificant in
extent, as compared with what this
country possesses. The aggregate area
! of the coal fields of Great Britain and
Ireland is, at most, but $4,000 square
| miles, while that of the United States
is at least 196, 900 square miles. The
coal area of Canada, mostly in Nova
. Scotia, is put down at IS square miles
If the quantity of coal in each given
acre be about the same, then Nova
Scotia is richer in coal than Great
Britain ever was, and the United States
is more than sixteen times as rich. In
fact, according to elaborate estimates
made by Prof. Rogers, the whole of
Europe contains but one-twelfth the
quantity of coal which exists in this
country. The present available quan-
tity in the British Islands is estimated
at 100, 600 millions of tons, while that of
France and Belgium is set down at 3d.
600 millions.
Coal and iron go together. One is,
as it were, a factor to the other without
iron, coal would lose large portion of
its value with mt coal iron ore would
L .-AII... TI,.....l,
unlike they are y nearly related in
their range of uses. The iron engine is
rendered serviceable through the power
which coal supplies, and the iron horse
and iron ship are propelled through the
force which it develops.
The rich distribution of iron ores in
close proximity to all our great coal
measures is a prophetic indication of
our future wealth. All history shows
that wealth and population gravitate
toward centres enriched by the valued
presence of coal and iron. No other
country is as well supplied as the United
States in these twin agencies of wealth,
power, and population, consequently no
other country will be as wealthy, as
populous, and as powerful.
Our largest coal field is that known
as the "Great Appalachian. Passing
through Western Virginia, Eastern Ken
lucky, and Eastern Tennessee, it ter
inmates in Alabama, where it makes its
nearest approach to gulf and ocean
waters. As yet this great field is COM
paratively untouched but it is now
attracting attention, and several blast
furnaces for the production of iron
have already been established, not only
on the line of the Chesapeake and Ohio
railroad, but in Alabama, toward the
fields most southern extremity.
When the south is supplied with
transportation facilities equal to those
now existing in Pennsylvania the coal
and iron trade of Alabama will be
power in this southern land, greatly
exceeding that which the coal and iron
Of the keystone state are to-day in the
land of Penn. The field is in every
respect an inviting one. With genial,
healthy climate, generous soil, and
unparalleled facilities for the produc-
tion of iron and other valuable minerals,
Alabama must soon command the atten-
ton she deserves. New Birminghams
and Sheffields will soon spring up with
in her borders, and new Manchesters,
also, for she has all the raw material at
which has built up England's
great textile city.