El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-05-06

our coal lands about four times as large
as page of this newspaper, and spread
it out on his desk. As we looked at il
he said:
THAT great patch at the east is the
Appalachian coal field, and those spots
to the right of ii. at its northern end
are the anthracite beds of eastern
Pennsylvania. It is from there that
comes the chief anthracite of the Soun-
try. These beds originally contained
over 19 billion tons of anthracite and
at the close of the year 1909 there
were estimated to be over. Is billion
tons still in the ground. The Appa-
lachian field contains much high grade
bituminous coal good for cokings and
1t is by far the most important coal
field of the union at the present time.
A little further over is the eastern or
Illinois coal bed. It covers an area
as large as the state of Ohio. and on
the other side of the Mississippi is
another vast region undertake with
coal. while at the south are the coal
fields of Texas. Our surveyors have
recently investigated the coal fields OF
the northwest and the Rocky mountain
plateau, and especially that upon the
public lands, the title to which is still
in the government"
What Uncle Sam Owns.
e'Can you give me some idea of the
coal lands which still belong to the
government? What is their extent2''
.sThey cover an area of more than
20 or 80 million acres. and they con-
tain an enormous amount Some Of
the beds are 20, 80, 40 and even as
high as 80 feet in thickness, and in
with clay or rock between them In
the Navajo reservation of Arizona we
have the Black Mesa coal field, which
is estimated to contain more than
$500, 000, 900 tons, or more than all the
coal that Pennsylvania has produced or
wasted up to date. Altogether it is
estimated that there are almost 1000
billion tons Of coal of one kind or an
other in the public land states 1t must
be remembered that great deal OF
this is Ignite of such a low grade
that it viii be many. years before it is
mined"
What is the character of the west
ern coal?''
1T is of, all grades. Some. of it is
anthracite and some Of it is high grade
bituminous coal. We have considerable
anthracite in Alaska, and also great
quantities OF bituminous coal which
willS make excellent coke and which.
eventually. will be used largely in the
Industrial development of the Pacific
coast states.
How Uncle Sam Has Sayed Millions.
81 understand that you geologists
are resurveying and revaluing the coal
upon our public lands? Can you tell
me how this is done?'
THE old way of selling the coal
lands" replied the director, was at so
much per acre, regardless of the quail
ity or amount Of coal it contained. The
price was fixed at $40 if the land lay
within Is miles of a railroad. or at SO
per acre If it were outside that limit
the coal in each acre. and sell the land
on a coal tonnage basis. Instead of
getting $40 or SEQ per acre we are now
getting from $50 to $500 per acre. and
some of the coal land will be worth
more. Within the past two years the
survey has classified more than $780,
000g acres of coal in that way, and has
placed a value upon them of $780,
O00.0
This added to what we have CLASH
fed before gives us over $4,000, 600
acres already classified, the valuation
Of which in round numbers is $685.
100000. At the old rates those lands
would have sold for at least s40e. 000,-
300 less. and the new valuations mean
4 gain to the government of about that
amount But this. you must remem-
Der, is the saving on only $4,000. GOO
fcres, and we have go or 20 million
lcres which are yet to be priced
Coal at One-HaIf Cent a Ton.
But how can you fix the value of |
he coal?'' /
We do that on royalty basis In |
he first place, we figure out how much |
'oal each acre contains. A bed of coal |
me foot thick has about 1900 tons 70 |
he acre, and if it is 40 feet thick it |
would contain 40 times that, or $4,000 |
ons to the acre. We value it as low
is half cent a ton, and from that up
o or 3 cents ton, according to the +
Iuality of the coal, whether it is a |
ow grade bitnminous or a high grade
nthracite or coking bituminous
We test the actual heating value
nd base our estimate on that. Hay-
ng estimated the value we put the /
rice on each acre, and we have now
maps showing the values of coal lands
n millions of acres The maps are
n townships divided up into 40 acre
raets, the value of each Of which has |
cen carefully calculated. An acre of
cal 20 feet thick would contain SO. 600 !
ons, and this at one-half cent ton
you'd be valued at $3.50, supposing we
onsfdered the full amount of coal IT
We estimate, however at !
coo tons instead of 1900 tons to the
ere foot, and the price of the 20 foot
ed would be on the basis of only
1000 tons, making it cost 500 per