The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-12-16
At The Beginning.

 and years to look to the causes of the big coal fields being where they are, In tho limits of Alabama 1t is only ne- cessary for the present to have the geologists explain that the break In which the coal comes to the surface of Alabama soil Is the termination to- wards the South of the great Appa- lachian coal fields. The geologists say further that the area is in three dis tinct fields separated from each other by narrow anticlinal valleys, in which the iron ores, limestone formation oi much older date make the surface. On account of the streams which drain these valleys, the Warrior, the Cahaba and the Coosa, the different fields are so named.
 stin following the talk of the geol- ogists it may be said that In all three fields the strata have a general pitch, or dip towards the southwest and each Is a trough with its axis near the southeastern border, thus the greatest thickness of the measure will be in each field, near the eastern border and at or towards the southwestern end.
 It is interesting to note that al- though coal has been mined in con siderable quantities in Alabama since 1874, nevertheless some coal was being dug from the Alabama hills as re- mote as the "forties." In thes far away years Alabamians were digging coal near Trout Creek and Broken Arr row which are of the Coosa field and at Montevallo which is of the Cahaba feld. It will be noted that although enough coal had been found to start investigations off in an earnest chase of the Warrior field had been left un- discovered.
 Now Alabama, with her output of coal at approximately twelve million tons, ranks as the fifth coal producing State of the Union. Every patriotic AIabamian will be interested In the information that the coal crop of Ala bana Is worth upwards of fifteen pnii lion dollars--a fact which indicates just how valuable Is that item of her great riches.
 outlinging fin few words the great wealth of her coal deposits and the high importance which they have att tained commercially and industrially, Dr Eugene A. Smith, the State Geolo- gist, says in a recent report:
 Between 250 and 800 mines have furnished Alabamas crop of nearly 12,000, 900 tons of coal and the mines are on about twenty-five different seams. These mines vary in annual production from 1000 to 41s,000 tons; more than half of them are drifts with natural drainage. about one-third are slopes and only seven are shafts, the deepest of which is 230 feet. The lar- ger mines are equipped with the most modern equipment for mining and rais- ing coal The pillar and stall sys- tenn is the system most in use. but the long wall system has been used in some cases.
 arn the year 1908 coal mining gave employment to 12.S76 miners, and B. as0 day men, using about 100 mining l t~s AN4rfAAT YrIfnaa Tha mines are conparativeiy free from fire damp which has been detected In about one-fourth of them.
 ssThe Alabama coals are all bitumi- nous coals and of quality as shown by the chemical analyses and the practice al tests of use. to compare favorably with the coal of other States. By the use of improved shaking screens. the coal as mined. Is seperated into lump, nut and slack. The two first go to market for generel steam and do- mestic purposes, while the slack, af- ter washing, is mostly used for making coke for the iron furnaces, though some of 1t is used for blacksmithing. Within the last few years a good deal of run of mines has been shipped to Demopolis and there used in the rotary kilnslkilns of the Portland cement plant. for which purpose 1t has been found to be well adapted.
 Markets For Alabama Coal.
 'sThe principal markets for the coals are within the State, but much of it goes to South Carolina, Georgia, Louis- lana, Mississippi, and Texas; and to the steamships at Mobile, Pensacola, New Orleans, Savannah, and to the ex- port trade chiefly to Mexico.
 '"The home supply is used mainly for the manufacture of coke for the iron furnaces, while the commercial ship ments are mostly of stesm coal, which is supplied to almost every railroad in the South"
 Most Alabamians are unfamiliar with the riches and resources of their State. and not so many of them know that Alabama is the second coke producing State in the Union. She Is excelled only by Pennsylvania. Nor is 1t gem orally known that tue annual coke crop of the State amounts to about six million dollars in money. This an- nual crop amounts to two and 6 ralf million tons each year. In the mak- ing of coke, the method most used is that which demands the beehive oven, although there are about 250 Semet- Solway ovens at Ensley. In the year of 1908, in which the fullest figures on Alabama mining and minerals were collected, there were S,639 ovens of tba beehive pattern in Alabama, in ad- dition to the 24o semet-solway ovens at Ensley.
 The present product of coke in the Alabama mineral district does not be- gin 10 supply the demand More and more coke is used each year, and the marked difference between the supply and the demand grows stronger.
 The importance of the coks indus try-a corolla of the coal industry ike the latter, has grown steadily and continuously for a quarter of cent ury. Not until 1876 was it known that the Alabama coal would produce coke suitable for the Iron ore furnace. Since that day the coke industry has grown steadily to its present proportions
 After all that has been said and writ tan on the greatness of the mineral resources of Alabama, the great fact stands clear of all it's surroundings, the richest and greatest gift of Providence "a Alabama has been It's ineXhaust- ible coal fields and will so continue throughout the years. It's coal Is the Keystone of the industrial arch of the State. It has made possible, not only the direct benefits that have come from its own development and exploitation. but 1t has made possible as well the deveiopment of that other great induS- try, the making of pig iron. This may be the greatest beneht thct It haS brought to the State, but 1t Is by no means the sole one, for equally as de- pendent upon 1t as iron. are the twin industries of steel so promising for the future and the little thought of coke industry which has moved forward az a great sister industry. through the benihcence and help of coal.
 Nor should we, in considering tEe blessings conferred upon Alabama by reason of her great nataral gift or