Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-02-07

full agents will be served to the customer wherever
he may desire For this purpose impure Goals that
have value may be utilized. and probably
IN the future nothing will be regarded as worthless
that is composed of fairly large percentage of car
bon and hydrogen. or their various compounds.
In estimating the tonnage OF coal IN the little
known fields of the West. it must be borne in mind
that there are many unknown factors that will be
revealed only when mining is undertaken drilling
is done. The present estimate is based largely upon
personal familiarity with the coal fields OF the
various States, and while it is put forward merely
estimate, it is believed that for most OF the
region it is fairly accurate.
The greatest uncertainty is in the estimates for
Washington and Montana. and it is possible that
these are too small. The coal fields of Washington
probably of great extent but they covered
by glacial drift that they are known only here and
there where they have been exposed by the cutting
of the streams where mines have been opened
Montana contains many coal heldS some OF which
are we'll known: but there are large areas underlan
by coal bearing rocks in which workable beds may
exist but SO far they have not been discovered.
The great coal States of the Union, as far as ton
mage is concerned. West Virginia Illinois. Colo
RADIO Wyoming. and North Dakota. each of which
is supposed to contain more than two hundred
thousand million tons of coal.
Thicker Beds in the West
IN general the coal beds of the West thicker
than those of the East This is probably due to
the fact that most of the western Goals are Ignite
and have not lost so much of their volatile matter
as the eastern Goals. The largest known bed of coal
occurs kemmerer in Southwestern Wyoming.
which has thickness of eighty-four feet where it
has been pierced by tunnel at the Adav1lle mine.
Beds forty feet in thickness are known in Colorado
Wyoming. North Dakota. and Pennsylvania while
beds of fifteen and twenty feet common in n-ary
all the Western States
The total original amount of coal in the United
States is estimated to have been twenty-five hundred
thousand million tons, or four hundred and twenty
two cubic miles of coal. If spread evenly over the
entire coal fields of the country it would make
bed six and one-half feet thick. and if piled in a
single cubical block it would be and one-haf
miles long seven and one-haf miles wide, and seven
and one-half miles high.
As previously stated. the total quantity of coal
already mined is fifty-fve hundred and seventy
seven million TONS and in mining this at least
one-third more has been rendered useless there
fore we have already exhausted seventy -four hun
fifth cubic miles of our original supply. This is
enough to make cubica block one and one-tenth
miles in height Since our original supply was four
hundred and twenty-five cubic miles, and we have
already used and wasted and two-tifths cubic
miles, we have exhausted northumberland
been accomplished in about seventy years At the
present rate of consumption of three hundred and
ffty-two million tons year, our coal would last
about five thousand years. The consumption how
traordinary rate The ratios of increase 49, as
FL ~. a. and ~. From this it will be seen that
it simple SERIES but the increase is at con-
stantly diminishing rate 1t is obvious that If this
rate of production continues, it will cut down the
estimate of time materially.
Demands of the Future
TT may be questioned whether this rate will hold IN
the future. In fact it is difficult to conceive how
this can be so: but when consider that the
of the other industrial lines, it is equally difficult to
understand how it remain constant. thus