The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-12-28
SOUTHERN PROGRESS
DEVELOPMENT OF FUEL RE-
 SOURCES AN EVIDENCE.
Go West Is No Longer the shibboleth and the Path of the Young . Man Now Lead
 Southward.

Baltimore, Dee. H.--(Special.)--O of the best evidences of the industrial progress of the South is the development of its fuel resources with coal in the lead. A review of Southern coal mining during the year by Mir. F. k. Saward' the coal authority, published in this weeks issue of the Manufacturers Record and touching the vital points of the industry during the past ten years may, therefore, be taken as a fair index of the South's material advance. Mir. Saward says:
 Probably no portion of thIs country has attracted such wide attention and investment of outside capital during the year now closing as has that section south of the Pennsylvania line and east of the Ohio and Rio Grande Rivers. The development there of mineral resources has been large, while the prospective Is beyond the bounds of any imagination and only one who has kept in touch with the trade conditions from year to year and month to month Is really able to form just estimate of what has been done during the past season actually, or in the way of preparation for the future. To go West was the shibboleth few years ago, but to go South means wealth to those willing to wage a fair fight.
 No State in the Union is more favored in the extent and diversity of its mineral deposits than West Virginia. Her coal embraces all grades of bituminous, steam, cooking and gas coals of the highest qualities. West Virginia contains more of the great Appalachian coal fields than any other State. The total area em- braces about l6.0Oo square miles-more than 80 per cent. of the total bituminous areas of Ohio and' Pennsylvania com bined, 60 per cent. more than Penn- sylvania alone and 2,00O square miles more than Kentucky and Tennessee com bined. The area underlaid by coal is about two-thirds of the total area of the State. The total product in 1900 was 22,- 647, POT short tons and no doubt this will be increased to 25,000,000 tons this year.
 After West Virginia, the greatest coal State of the South, is Alabama. The output for 1899 was but 100000 tons, in 1900 it had grown to S.4O0,OOO tons and the mine inspectors estimate for 1901 is 10,- 0OO, 900 net tons. The Alabama coal busi- ness is clearly di~Aded into three im- portant branches-the production of coal for coke making and industrial use at or near the point of production. the sup ply of locomotive fuel and the supply of coal for domestic purposes and steam users in communities near the mines.
 "The production in Tennessee has grown from 2,092.064 sbort tons in 1892 to 4200,000 tons in 1901. Much development
 
 the State and much new work is pro- jected for the coming year.
 Kentucky is the only State of the
 Union whose product is obtained from any two of the great fields. The eastern section of the State is crossed by the Appalachian system while the central, of Illinois field, has it's Southern extremi- ty in the coal producing counties of Western Kentucky The tonnage has 2 in, f0 E in 1901.
 Maryland is one of the most important of the Southern coal producing States and it has a record of sixty years to it's credit as a part of the fuel trade of our country, nearly 100000 tons having been mined since 1892, and the output having increased from 3,419962 short tons in 1892 to 50O0,O00 in 1901,
 Arkansas Is coming up as a coal pro-
 ducer For the year 1890 it, was credited with but 279,5S4 net tons and for 1900 it l has 1,447,945 tons to it's credit. One may | safely put this State down for 1,750,000 | tons for the year 1901, as the development l lately has been along the lines of inn
 provements around Fort Smith. There | is a great awakening in tbis respect. The principal districts of coal produc-
 tion in Virginia are Tazewell and Wise Counties. for Chesterfield County falls
 away behind in late years. In the State l the production has grown from 675, ,205
 short tons in 1892 to 2,5O0O00 tons in 1901. .' l Mir. Saward gives a glance at the pro-
 duction of North Carolina and Georgia,
 and to the gYowth of the coal output in | twelve counties of Texas and says: "The discovery of oil in this State may have some effect on the coal production
 and. therefore, it Is not likely to show
 any great increase for 1901 over and above | that of 1900; at the same time it Is well
 to know that the result of the use of oil | in California as fuel has not tended to | decrease the amount of coal used. Does
 not the one industry stimulate others? !? 1 In the end there will be so great an in-
 dustrial development in Texas that all | fuels may find use."
 | An interesting feature of Mir. Saward's s
 article is his reference to the growth of l coal mining as consequence of railroad l extension in West Virginia, Kentucky, 1 Tennessee and Arkansas, and of the com pletion of the Lake Borgne Canal and the | improvement of terminal facilities at
 Pensacola. Mobile, New Orleans. Savan-
 nah, from which coal from Georgia has
 been shipped for bunker purposes, at | Newport News and Norfolk.