The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-04-20

VIII SbCdQtiN increase edCl year. coal
was first used in this country in 1916,
and in the next ten wears 80. 0O0 900 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 rail-
roads at the present day are the largest
consumers of coal of any industry. Last
years 106.0 600 tons We're used in run
ming locomotives. 1t is a known fact
that the railroads will become more ex-
teusive, necessarily putting more loco
motives in operation, and this cOnsump-
ton is bound to increase. Factories and
manufacturing industries are the second
largest consumers of coal. Necessity
viii cause them to increase and use
more coal. The next largest consump-
ton is for domestic use as fuel. An
increase in this form will depend Ipon
the population. and it is unnecessary 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 ana an
approximate estimate of the yearly cor
sumption and the rate it has increased
since 1916. | will not give coal more
than 200 years to exist. 1t is possible
that it 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.
There is an almost shameful if not
criminal waste in coal" MI Campbell
went on to say. TIE chief waste is the
burning of coal 10 make coke. As neal
as / can calculate, more than 800. 600, 600
tons of coal have been wasted in this
manner. The burning up of this coal
for coke is caused by the great corpora -
tiOns, particularly tho United States
Steel corporation. They want good coke
for smelling purposes, and as they own
the majority Of the coal mines in the
east no one can stoD them from this
absolute waste. IN Pennsylvania alone.
which is the greatest coal center of
the United States. more than &c, 600 coke
ovens are in operation. The govern
ment should have power. I think. to in
terfere and regulate. if not prohibit.
such waste
Most Important Mineral.
Mr.. Campbell began his lecture by de
firing coal as the most extensively pro-
duced and most important mineral
produce of this country. BY means o.
carefully prepared tables he illustrated
its relative Importance with the otne.
minerals, particularly gold and silver
He then proceeded to describe the anal
ysis of the mineral. defining it as q
vegetable substance covered with earth
II materials. He then defined the va
rious kinds o. coal and recited what
the gOOd and bad Goals are made up Of.
He then compared the coal production
OF this country with foreign nations
showing that our output is 20 per cent
more than Great Britain and 60 per
cent more than Germany. the next Iarg-
est coal-prOdUcing countries He next
showed the comparative productions III
states. naming Pennsylvania as first
by a large majority. Illinois second and
West Virginia third. The largest coal
area, he said, is in Moltdnd there &C.
ing 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
I'm the west. he stated that region is not
a large cOal-prOducing region. He cx-
planned the situation by saying that
/ considerable of the region has not been
worked and some of the veins have not
! been discovered. According to Mr.
! Campbell, the beds in the west are
much thicker than in the east In the
| latter region a bed thicker than ten OF
/ 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 i'm Mon
! tana. North Dakota and Colorado. To
develop in richness. Although there is
! evidence of considerable coal in Alaska
what products he has examined wer,
of a poor grade, and he does not expect
much from the region in the future as
/ a coal producer.