New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1909-02-07

fu agents will be served to the customer wherever
he may desire For this purpose impure Goals that
now have no value may be utilized, and probably
in the future nothing viii be regarded as worthless
that 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 1t must be borne IN mind
that there are many unknown factors that VIII be
revealed only when mining IS undertaken or drlihng
IS done The present estimate is based largely upon
personal familiarity with the coal heldS OF the
various States and while 1t IS put forward mercy
as an estimate it IS believed that tor most OF the
region it is fairly accurate.
The greatest uncertainty is in the estimates for
Washington and Montana, and 1t IS possible mat
these are too small, The coal heldS OF Washington
are rrobablv of great extent, but they so covered
by glacial drift that they are known oll1 Iele t d
there where they have been exposed oy the cutting
of the streams. or where mines have been opened
Montana contains many coal heIdS' some OF "ileL1
are well known but there are large areas
h, coal bearing rocks IN which workable beds may
exist but so Jar they have not been discovered
The great coal States OF the Union as IaI aS tT
mage IS concerned are West Virginia, Illinois Colo
ado Wyoming and North Dakota, each OF Wtlcl
Is supposed to contain more than TWO hIHu'ed
thousand million tons OF coal
Thicker Beds in the West
IN General the coal beds of the West are thicker
l +b91 those of the East. This IS probably due 10
tho fsr+ that most of the western Goals ignite
and have not lost 50 much OF their volatile matter
as the eastern Goals. The largest known bed OF coal
C.-CtIT
which has A thickness of eighty feet Whtre II
has been pierced by a tunnel at the AdaVllt illlie
Reds forty feet IN thickness are known III Oolofddo
Wyoming North Dakota, and Pennsylvania Whlle
beds of fifteen and twenty feet are common III many
all the Western States -, ,-..-,
The total original amount OF coal IN the United
States IS estimated to have been twenty-five hundItu
thousand million tons, four hundred ana twenty
two cubic miles of coal Ii spread evenly over the
er+ir. coal fields of the country 1t would make a
bed SIX and one-half feet thick, and II piled IN
s;1oe cubicaI block it would be and one-halt
miles long seven and One-hai miles VIDE. ana seven
and one half miles high.
As previously stated, the total quantity OF coal
already mined is hfty-hye hundred ana seventy
seven million tons and mining this at least
enc third more has been rendered useless there
fore we have already exhausted SeVenty-foui nun
dred and thlrty-six million tons, or one ana two
fifth cubic miles OF our original supply. inns Is
enoi1gh to make cubCal block one ana -tenth
trIeS IN height Since our original supply was four
hundred and twenty-five cubic miles, ara we nave
already used and wasted and tWO-htthS CUBIC
miles we have exhausted one One-hundre1-and-
tiftieth of the original amount OF coal ms mas
been accomplished IN about seventy years II tIl5
present rate of consumption OF three hundred ana
hft,--tv,o million tons a year. ccal would last
,bGrt FIVE thousand years. The consumption now
ever each year is not fixed but increases at an eX
trsorlInarV rate The ratios OF increase are 3, 5
. % , l. and II From this 1t Will be seen that
= - moi . simple series but the increase Is a. a con
,tnty diminishing rate II Is obvious that II tins
rate of production continues. II VIII cut down the
estimate OF time materially.
Demands of the Future
II may be questioned whether this rate viii hold III
L the future In fact II difficult To conceive how
rhI, can bc so. but when consider that the
demand for coal is controlled b. the increase most
IF the other industrial lines II IS equally difficult 10
understand how it can remain constant mus