The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1898-09-22
THE STORY
OF OUR COAL
Valuable Statistics Given Out in the
Interesting Volume.
FORMATION OF COAL TOLD ABOUT
The Great Army of Men Employed Numbers
365, 900 Comparisons Made with Eng
lands Products--The United States
VIII Soon be on Top as a Coal
Producing Country.

A book has recently been issued under the
title, The story of American Coal which
gives some valuable information upon the
subject.
The question of possible diminishing
supply Of coal has not been mooted of late
but it was rife some years ago. From general
geological studies it may be asserted that for
many centuries yet to come there will be
coal in abundance To-day it is only ques-
ton of the cost of transportation, and it
would be singular if we did not in years yet |
to come very much diminish that particular |
expense.
Mr.. Nichols presents what are the accepted |
theories explanatory of the formation of
coal. Following NJ. L. Simonn, coal" he
writes, seems to be for the most part the re-
mains Of vegetable matter which became de.
composed and mineralized on the spot where
it grew and is now. There was tropical
climate and vegetation was developed with
great luxuriance and -profusiou, and so, stage
by stage, coal was built up. Other authori-
ties favor the estuary or drift theory. The
rivers swept away forests in a cat1clysmic
manner, or there was gradual undermining
of the banks. The great forests, trunk by
trunk, were carried along by the river, finally
deposited then covered over by new stream
of soil, and converted in the slow process Of
time into coal
! All theories agreed that the period of coal
formation was prior to the creation of man.
| As to the earliest mention of coal in the new
world, Father Hennepn noted traces of bi
luminous coal on the banks Of the Illioni,
river in 1879. In 1850 the btuminous mine.
on the James river, near Richmond, were
opened.
The volume under notice tells of the dis
Coveries of both soft and hard coal in the
various states To-day, twenty eight of the
states make regular returns of coal shipments
III their annual reports" Beginning with
the anthracite coal mined in Pennsylvania
the author says that in 1749 that strip Of ter
ritory which includes all the anthracite de-
posits was purchased by the proprietary
government for $500 or about 81, 500 of our
money, and the value of the coal it has pro-
duced is estimated to have been worth 81 900, =
100000 Great as is the output of anthracite
COAL that of soft coal is more than three times
as large, and the territory where it is found
is a hundred times more extended than thai
of the anthracite fields.
To produce this coal requires an army OF
men, and no less than 1856, 900 men are EN-
ployed, of which 1876, 900 are at work in the
anthracite regions of Pennsylvania and
the other 23O,OO scattered over the variou,
bituminous fields. 1t is creditable to US that
women are never employed as laborers in
: American mines. The author is by no mean.
satisfied with the remuneration received by
either the miner or the owner of the Goa
field. In 1894, he says, in England the aver
age price of coal at the pits mOuth-sOmt
lsS, ,0O0,0 600 gross tons-was 81 60 per ton. Fol
the same grade of coal in Pennsylvania a
the pits mouth it was "a cents. Then, too
the Pennsylvania miner worked only 49,
days in the year, his average being four ton!
per diem, worth to him 35 cents a ton. Mr.
l Nichols declares that at this price for Goa
the operators are losing money, the railroad
likewise, and the men are making littl
over half time in the lowest wages ever pait
them. The conclusion the author arrives a
is that, when our prices are compared wit
the English ones, Englishmen ARE realizin
a handsome profit, while we are simply Civ
ing our coal away"
MIR. Nichols, in his chapter devoted to tn
"sir and gases" in coal mines, and tn
: accidents from explosion, states, ''tha
statistics show that for every 100, 900 tons G
: coal mined in our country one poor mine
= is killed by accident"
In ten states of the Union the consumptio
v Of anthracite coal is greater than that
bituIniIous. In half of these the consuml
tiOn of both Goals is about equal, anthrac
N being slightly ahead In every other sta
the consumption of bituminou- coal is Fl
greater than that of anthracite. For ii
operation of our railways alone some &c, UcC
A. 900 tons of coal are wanted. An oces
W steamer will carry every trip $500 tons
IS coal in her bunkers.
y In his concluding chapter the auth
y presents the figures of coal production in a
:, parts of the world, including the period b
10 tween 1s45 and 1895. In 1s45 England
turnout Of coal was 81, 754 $50 tons. In 1si
it was 1s4, O44, $50 tons. In tho United States
1s45 it was 3763, ,013; in 1895, ,1s2, 852, ia ton
le The increase of coal mined in Germany
/ notable, the augmentation in five yea
o. being about pa, ,OOO, 600 tons. The last senten,
s. in this most interesting volume is as follows
x AT the head of all coal producing nations
Great Britain, with the United States mex
but with our present development continuir
for few years longer We must soon stand
n the head of all other countries as produc
he of coal and what it signifes-power."