Albuquerque evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1911-1914, 1911-12-02
COAL LAND LEASES
ARE SHOWN BY
the CENSUS
Preliminary Report Of Bureau
Gives Acreage Owned and
Held Under Lease in Entire
Country.

Ouuutt Is
Washlnaion, u. C., Dec e.---A pre-,
ilmlnary statement Of the Statistics of
tenure OF coal lands by operators IN
the tinted States tot the year 1909
WINS issued today by Director Duranh
of the bureau OF the Census et the
Department of Commerce and Labor.
n ulves q summary at the acreage
owned and held under lcnae by nnlhra-
cite and bltnminons coal.mlnc orefat.
ors IN Inc United States. comparing
the atatlsslcn for the United States
aud the principal coalprodnclng states
for 1883 ami 1909 and giving the per-
censages OF Increase. The statement
WIS prepared by Special Agent John
~. A. Morrow under he direction OF !.
A. H0urwlch. expert special nsent ON
mining. Bureau OF the Census. The
figures are subject 10 snch revision
as may be necessary after further
eSa nihauon OF the original reports.
The summary shows total OF $780,
0sS acres controlled In 1908, NJ com
pared with l.7fi,i9l acres In 1853. an
Increase os s.lst.sgs aeros. OF 297 per
cent, The total for 1909 II made up
OF s7t.S5O acFes Of anthracite holdings
and 6.G3i.2lS aercs of blinminous, AZ
agalnst 2Ii.s5s acres Of anthracite
holdings and i.526.sas acres OF bitumi.
nous In iSs9
In regard 10 these Statistics, u
should be- noted TINT they cover the
holdings of none bur conl.mlne oper-
niofe. and for these operators incInde
no acreage hat that of mineral lands.
that IN. other acreage held by opel.
ators some OF which may or may not
contain coal. and the surveyed lands
OF nonoperat0rs are nE included IN
these figures. The total number Of
acres controlled ana the total anthrA'
cite holdings OF the United states
and OF Pennsylvania are exclusive OF
io,eTs acres ct anthracite coal land
sabiet By operators 20 each other and
reported twice.
Tho gain In anthracite holdings In
the United staleA In 1909 over 1850
whs G0,3f2 acres, or ~ per cent. while
the increase IN hitnmlnous coal fields
was s.ioi,sss acres, or asi per cent. In
| 1903.
Large Increase IN nisusninous Holdings
II N apparent from the iiHnrea given
that from 1859 10 1903 tho acreage Of
coal land held hy active operators In
creased nearly ionrfold. iiy far the
greater part Of this large Increase has
been In the bltuminous lafda. the pro.
portion OF these 10 tho anthracite be.
| Ing as 10 In 1889. whereas Ia 1909
III had risen 10 "a 10 I, This n hut
natural when Il Is considered that the
!anfhraoiie fields are strictly limited
/ In area and that they we're already IN
a condition of relatively hIgh devel.
iopment In 1889.
eat increase IN the acreage OF bitumi-
nous coal land held by operators oc.
cnrred IN Pennsylvania. where there
was an advance ff0iE go. $50 acres In
1858 20 i.G55,sig acres IN 1903. and In
Wess virginia with an increase from
iO1.S2i acres IN 1889 10 i.1s7.b27
acres In pos. The percentage Of To-.
crease was much larger Ia West Viz
ginIa than Il was IN pennsylvania. the
figures being e67 and 6iG. respectively.
Alabama shows an Increase OF $780,
2T7. or i7a per cent. In the number
Of acres Of bitumsnous coal land, tho
total number contro'led by operators
in 1889 being 212.7ss. as against eis,-
026 acres In 1909.
Illinois came next with 5As,7ii acres
in 1909. compared with 1910 IN
1883, n gain OF 36i .ssi or lSe per cent.
Ohio IN 1853 had but 1914, SsS acres
~ this class OF coal land, whereas
IN 1893 Il had fes.sis. gain OF $685..
bis acres. or 2Ss per cent.
Ia Indiana there we're 2i,60S acres
under control Of operators IN 1853.
while In 1899 the total number wan
fti. 212, AN actual advance u ZIG. fgi
acres or 40 per cent. which piaces
the state third IN order NO far as rela-
tive gains are concerned.
or the total acreage OF anthracite
coal lands under control OF operators
IN the United States. In 1903. all but
$50 acres were IN the state OF Penn
slyyania. IN 1909 Pennsylvania oper.
ntors reported 27f.0i0 acres OF an.
thsaclte coal lands, tnc increase over
inss being e".e1s heres. OF ~ per
cent.
Owned Coal Lard. Show Great In
creapf.
In the United States an whole, tho
number Of acres OF land owned by the
coal Operators Increased from I,2ix,-
1913 In 1889 20 f.sse.i10, or asa por
cent In 1908. while the nunlbcr OF
acres OF land held BY them under
lease Increased Ircm ies.ifs 10 2.lsl..
Sns.
u Is significant that lhe only IN.
crease In the acreage OF anthracite
lands has been made IN the division
0f lands owned by the operator, while
the number Of aerca OF laid developed
under lease has decreased. This n
explained by the fact that the larger
producers ut anthracite bought large
areas Of coal lands several year, ago
20 hold ~ resefce ualpnlles 6Ineo roy
atty must be paid continuously on
coal land held under lease, whether
coal u mlncd or not. the leased lands
are not conserved. but are mined out
steadily, This, IN part. nccounts for
the decrease In ths acreage OF anthrn-
cite lands held under lease. Rnd II ID
IN part accounted for BY some Occaa.
ionaI purchases OF itnaDa BY large on,
orators, thereby changing the form OF
tenure from held undef lease 10 own.
I'd property. The increase In the num-
her OF acres OF mineral land renofted