The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1877-11-30

Vhousauus vi years. ne COdl Will lall one
of these days, that is certain. A forced
lest will then be imposed on the engines of
the world, if fsome new combustible does not
replace coal. At period more or less dis
tant there will be no more carboniferous de-
posits, unless those covered by an eternal
bed of snow, in Greenland and on the Dor
ders of Bafins' Bay, the working of which
is next to an impossibility. 1t is inevitable
fate, The coal business of America, still
prodgiously rich, those of Salt Lake, Ore
gon, and of California, will one day yield
an insufficient amount. 1t will be the same
with the mines of Cape Breton and the
St.Lawrerce the deposits of the Alleghanies,
Pennsylvania, Virginia, Illinois, Indiana
and Missouri Even if the carbonferous
seams of North America were ten times
greater than all the deposits of the whole
world, one hundred centuries will not have
passed before the million -mouhed monster
of industry will have devoured the last NOR
sci of the worlds coal The scarcity, we
know, will first be felt in the Old World.
There exist many beds of combustible ma.
terial at Natal, Zambeyi, Mozambique, and
Madagascar, but their regular working pre-
sents the greatest difficulties. Those of Bur-
nah China, Cochin China, Japan and Cen
trail Asia will soon be exhausted. The Eng
lish will have certainly emptied Australia of
her coal products, rather freely buried in its
| soil, before the day when coal will fail in
the United Kingdom. When that period
| arrives, already the carboniferous seams of
| Europe, worked to their extreme limits, will
| have been abandoned.
We may judge from the following figures
of the quantities of coal which have been
consumed since the discovery of the first de-
posits The coal basins of Russia, Saxony
and Bavaria comprise six hundred thousand
hectares Ia hectare is two acres, one rood
and thirty five perches J those of Spain, ,one
hundred and fifty thousand ; those of Boz
hemia and Austria, one hundred and ifty
thousand the basins of Belgium, forty
leagues long by three wide, also count one
hundred and fifty thousand hectares, which
extend under the territories of Liege, Namur
Mems, and Charleroi. In France, the basin
situated between the Loire and the Rhone,
Rue-de-Gier, Sainte Etienne, Gwars, Epinac,
Blanzy, Creuzot-the works of Gard, Alos,
Grand Combe those of Aveyron at Aubin
the deposits of Carmaux, of Barsac. and
Graissenac-in the north, Auzin, Valen.
ciepnes, Lens, Bethune, will cover about
three hundred and fifty thousand hec-
tares.
The richest coal country is, undeniably
the United Kingdom. This, excepting Ire
land, in which there is hardly any combus
tible material possesses enormous carbon
ferrous riches but, like all riches, they may
ne exhausted. The most important of thes,
different basins, that of Newcastle. which
occupies the sub-soil of Northumberland
County, produces, per year, as much a
thirty millions of tons ; that is, nearly one
third of the amount consumed in EnglanC
aud more than double that produced il
France. The basin of Wales, which ha
gathered quite population of miners a
Cardiff, at Swansea, at Newport, produce
annually ten million tons of the fine Goa
known by that name. In the center arr
worked the basins of the Counties of York
Lancaster, Derby, and Stafford, less pro
ductive, but yet giving considerable sup
ply. Finally, in this part of Scotland, stu
ated been Edinburgh and Glasgow, between
these two arms Of the sea which indent i
for such distance, is spread one of tn,
greatest coal deposits of the United King
dom. Altogether, these various basins com
prise no less than one million six hundred
thousand hectares, and produce annually
nearly one hundred millions of tons OF coal
But why discuss it? The consumption viii
become such, owing to the demands of in
dustry and commerce, that these riches vii
he exhausted. The third thousand of tn,
Christian era will not be finished before tn,
miners hand will have emptied in Europ,
these storehouses, in which, to use a true
illustration, is concentrated the solar heat o
the first period.
This table will show, by the increase il
the consumption of coal the periods assigned
by the last calculations to the exhaustion o
combustible minerals in Europe: