The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1910-03-24
GAINESVILLE COAL GOOD.
Complete Analysis Shows ii to be
Equal to the Best Soft Goal
Mined in the United States.

Mined IN the United States.
Things are booming down at
GAINESVILLE and the work of sinking
the coal shaft is progressing rapidly,
the contractors being down 113 feet
with the shaft last Wednesday, and
the men working day and night. They
expect to have the coal on the mar
ket before next winter and Leon will
probably be burning GAINESVILLE coal
next winter. Through the courtesy
of the GAINESVILLE News we publish
the complete analysis of the coal:
Dear Editor
l apologize for, knowing so little on the
subject about which l am writing but for
f f1, 1h nd.o some OF your readers do not
July appreciate the great blessing given
mankind through the preservation of the
caIoohs OF past agrees I will undertake TO
Wtlts that what should be called the a.
Is. &. on coal
There is probably no activity of nature
with which man is better acquainted than
W.T. WITH hre OF which he has made use from
cooking his food, giving him light and in
more recent time for breaking down rock
i Hs MAJ making n. steam and for other purposes
ne mas observed that great number of
substances can be burned such as alcohol
asphalt, benzol, sugnr-cane, carbon, cellu-
,ase, charcoal coke, copper. gycerine, gra-
paarrafine,, peat, sllican, stearic acid sui.
phur, tallow and wood and many others
and he has made use Of them to produce
M neas ana n Light He has noticed that when
curt to start a fire and when there are
but few large sticks it burns but slowly !;
nut when the, wood is cut into kindling
and these are heaped together they burned
more rapidly. When the kindlings are cut
into shavings and these are piled together
they burn still more rapidly, and when the
n Duct Eryy
and this dust is suspended in the air and
set on fire it burns with an explosive rapid
lty. The same thing is found to be true
combustibles.
We find that there are IA different
enemteai elements in necessary for plant
above ground, viz carbon, hydrogen, oxy-
gen and nitrogen, and that the soil fur.
n mis- sii ten viz, phosphorus sulphur chlor
ine slican calcium; iron potassium, sod
IT mas been estimated by Leibig Ga Ger
man scientisp that the quantity of dry
organic matter which is produced by one
nectar OF farm land or meadow. or forest,
IN middle Europe is approximately the
same viz, . 80 tons per annum. The
output s,n.pl varies according to climatic condi-
tions and geographical location, being
larger in the Tropics and smaller in the
Aretfcs and ia the desert regions. Of these
organic substances which consist chiefly Of
sellulsse (CG II1o o5). 40 per cent is car.
bon so that theoretically the total annua.
csal production from vegetable materials
afhsunts to 10000 millions tons per an
rum, which Is not quite fifteen times the
quantity consumed in the worlds indus
tries in 1907.
., The s assimilation of vegetable matter or
the formation of hydrocarbons is accom-
panied by an absorption of carbon dioxide
COZ from the air, while oxygen OF is lib
Grated GRATED II all plants were to accumulate
their ssar energy in the fern Of coal our
coz contents since about 100 of the to.
ial amount is thus required; thus nature
has provided that only a fraction is ac-
tually reserved in the form of peat, lig-
mite, bituminous coal, anthracite coal, oil
and natural gas, for the benefit Of man
kind. The rest eminates through natural
deterioration in the form Of gas and re-
enters the cosmic cycle as carbon diexide.
In contrast to this continuous process of
slow combustion stands the exploiting Of
the worlds fuel materials for mans domes.
tie and public utilities and comforts The
Einetic energy of coal which the quiet evo-
inti o. %. OF centuries has gradually stored
crust is squandered lavishly day by day at
an Increasing rate of consumption, and
hardly per cent Of its total caloric value
thousand millions tons Of coal and more
which are thus used in the worlds indus.
trial pursuits PEI per annum returned to the
tents in the form Of exhaust products and
exercise an influence on the temperature
conditions of the earth far greater than
The same oxygen that was formed as a
by product of the assimilation of plants
millions OF years ago is now extracted
combustion of the carbonized prducts in
the boilers, furnaces and gas generators.
Its total quantity corresponds approximate
ly to the weight of fossil coal which is
accumulated in the sedimentary strata. At
nosphere nitrogen n the third element Of
Importance. owing to. its chemical inertia.
has very likely remained unchanged in the
cniIrsa of time
Let Us now examine the fuels found in
the stratited layers Of the earth's crust
and I have purposely furnished list Of
volatile matter and 100 per cent to zero
in hxed carbon: The reported GOALS from
cains pessr,p, nl mark with an x) %ssss
south Wales Anthracite. ...........
Penna. Anthracite .:.............. SIG
Penna. South End Anthracite. $3.50. 800
Rast Middle Pa. Anthracite. ......... 4.12
Crested Butte. Colo, Anthracite. -. 81
Lykens Valley Anthracite. IS
LEkens Valley Semi Anthracite. $50. 3.67
Bernice Anthracite PERSEVERANCE. .96
Maryland Semi Bitumlnous. ......... 2.3S
Maryland Big Vein. .............. 2.54
Ciearfeld County. Penna., Bituminous Al
Rhode Island Graphite ............ 2.41
ARKANSAS '......... .............. %
llnnolB 14.47
LIMOS ...... .................. .14.11
Iowa .....s.'......... ............l3 . 81
Wood 1air drieiI ...'...........e0o 90
wood lkiln driedy ................
Missouri Grand River .............. AS
Missouri Grand River .............. 3.15
kentucky Camel ..................
South Wales SRale ................
" v. Matter F. Carbon Ash sulphur
42s 1891 SIS 81