Omaha daily bee., 1907-02-26
THIS c0UNTRYS COAL LANDS
May BE Exhausted in Two Hundred
Years-Area in the
West.

NJ r. Campbell of the United States
geological survey, during an address be-
fore the National Geographic society at
Hubbard Memorial hall in Washington, d.
c., predicted that all the coal In the United
States will have been consumed and ex-
hausted in 900 years. II not sooner. He
said he did not care to 90 on record as an
alarmist, but inasmuch as he has made a
thorough and minute investigation and in
spection of the various coal lands through
out the country, and has carefully pre-
pared statistics, he is satisfied the ques-
ton is a serious one and worthy of i'm
perstive steps toward remedying the con-
ditions. He suggested congressional action,
with view of conserving coal mines on
public lands and preventing corporations
''cornering them"
Mr.. Campbell bases his prediction OF
coal shortage or famine as follows: There
are approximately 100000 square miles Of
actual coal in the entire United States At
the present time. This constitutes APP
proximateiy 200 200, OOO. 900 tons OF coal. TO
give some idea of the condensed size of
this amount of COAL IL it were all put to-
gether in one place it would make a cube
bound to increase. Factories and manufac-
turing industries are the second largest con-
sumers of coal. Necessity will cause them
seven and a half miles high and wide Last
year the consumption of coal in the United
to increase and use more coal. The next
States was 1,sOO,OOO,OOO tons, and despite
this yearly consumption, If it did not in
crease each year in the future, there would
be enough coal to last more than loo years.
Il have reason to believe" the lecturer
continued. that the consumption will
steadily increase each year. Coal was first
used in this country in 1916, and in the next
ten years 80, 100000 tons were consumed.
The next ten years those figures were more
than doubled, and every decade since they
have been doubled, until they have reached
the mammoth proportions stated. The
railroads at the present day are the
largest consumers of coal of any industry.
Last year 100000 tons were used in
running locomotives. II is a known fact
that the railroads will become more, ex-
tensive, necessarily putting more locomo-
tives in operation, and this consumption is
largest consumption is for domestic use
as fuel An increase in this form will de-
pend upon the population, and it is I'M
nessary to state that the population will
increase as the years go by. Therefore,
taking into consideration the amount Of
coal there is in the United States and an
approximate estimate OF the yearly con-
sumption and the rate IL has increased
since 1876 I will not give coal more than
200 years 10 exist. II is possible that II
will be exhausted in $50 years. At any
rate urgent steps should be taken to adopt
some plan by which the life of coal will
be prolonged.
The largest coal area, he said, is in Mon
tana, there being 1900 square miles of the
mineral in that state The next largest
area is in Texas, then Illinois, and then
North Dakota Despite the amount Of area
in the west, he stated that region is not
large coal producing region. He ex-
planned the situation by saying that con-
siderable Of the region has not been worked
and some of the veins have not been dis
covered.
According 10 Mr.. Campbell, the beds in
the west are much thicker than in the
east. In the latter region a bed thicker
than ten or thirteen feet is seldom found
but in the west some of the beds are as
thick as 100 feet. However he expects the
coal regions of the west. especially in Mon
tana, North Dakota and Colorado, to de-
velop in richness. Although there is evil
dence OF considerable coal in Alaska, what
products he has examined were of a poor
grade, and he does not expect much from
the region in the future as a coal producer
Washington Star.