The Oskaloosa herald., 1903-01-01
Coal Production Of The
United States and the World
We Now Take First Place as a Mineral Fuel Producing
Nation, Having Passed Great Britain In 1899.

spectively. The next half-decennial
period witnessed a remarkable in
crease in the American production
and a corresponding relative decrease
in that of Great Britain, the proper
tion of these countries being SO, %
and II per cent, respectively This
increase was maintained during the
last decade of the past century, and
in 1896 the output Of Great Britain
and Ireland was only "a per cent,
that of the United States already so
per cent. and that of Germany 1872
per cent. of the coal production of
the world.
In 1899, for the first time, the coal
production of the United States ex-
| ceeded in quantity that Of Great Brit
ain. This superiority has been mann
tanned for two successive years.
During 1901 the United States pro-
duction was greater than the amount
of coal produced in Great Britain and
all her colonies. During this year
the shares of the leading co~al-produc-
ing countries were as follows: Unit
ed States, "a per cent; United King
dom, 2s per cent, and Germany, 1872
per cent. Nor is there any prospect
that the leading position of this
country may be lost in favor of an.
other country within any calculable
future time.
These statistics clearly show that
the United Kingdom is rapidly losing
its former prominence as a coal
producing power, and that while it's
production is increasing rapidly it's
absolute increase is less than that
of the United States, and it's relative
or proportional increase considerably
less than that of either the United
States or Germany. In 1868 the pro-
duction of these three countries, the
United Kingdom, the United States
and Germany, in the order named,
was lis, 500, 900, $1,000, 900 and &c.
100000 net tons; in 1897 their output
was 226,4o0,0O0 200, 5000 and 1872
100000 net tons, respectively; in 1901,
245, 300, 900, 293, 100000 and los, 100000
net tons. The absolute increase dur
ing the period ending with 1901 in
the British production was 1884, $780,
900, as compared with 1872, O00,0 900 for
Germany and 261, 100000 net tons for
the United States. The proportional
increase during these years was 1924
1 per cent. for the United Kingdom, as
compared with 364.6 per cent. for
Germany and $500 per cent. for the
United States.
The countries in the second order
of coal production are Austria-Hun-
gary, France and Belgium. These
countries produced, in 1901, 104,463,-
900 short tons of coal, or ~ per cent.
of the total. The combined output
of these countries is thus consider
] ably less than that of Germany, and
less than half of that of either the
United Kingdom or the United States.
The rest of the world furnishes
less than 6R per cent. of the worlds
production, or about one-ifteenth as
much as the six countries named.
The beginning of coal production in
the United States dates only to the
first quarter of this century, al
though the existence of coal was no
ticed by the early explorers at the
end of the seventeenth and the be-
ginning of the eighteenth century.
The Virginia deposits near Richmond,
first noticed in 1901, were the first
mines to be regularly worked in this
country. Mining was begun about the
year 1850, and the coal was sold at
Richmond in 1866 for I'D. (24 cents)
per bushel, and at Philadelphia in 1889
for Is. Cd. (37 cents) per bushel of 76
pounds. In 1922 the amount of coal
mined in this region was 1924 long
tons; in 1898, 142,5s7 long tons. About
the year 1920 the development of the
anthracite coal regions began. 0w-
ing to the fact that the companies
which first produced this coal were
also building the first canals and rail-
ways, the growth of the anthracite
coal trade proceeded more rapidly
than that of bituminous coal. Until
about 1870 the production of anthra-
cite was greater than that Of btu
minous coal. Thus for the year 1860
the output of bituminous coal Is esti-
mated by the United States geological
survey at 100000 hong tons, while
the combined production of the Penn