Coal-trade.—The production and sale of C., like every other important branch of industry, was long fettered with legislative regulations. At a very early period, the corporation of the city of London undertook the duty of either weighing or measuring the C. brought into the port, and by a series of statutes, commencing with 7 Ed. VI. c. 7, the mayor and aldermen of London. and the justices of the counties, were empowered to fix the price of C. to be sold by retail; and in case of refusal by the parties to sell at the prices fixed, to enter their wharves, or other places of deposit, and to cause it to be sold at the prices which they had set. In addition to the general supervision which they thus possessed, and the sums which they were empowered to 'exact for their trouble, the corporations of London and other towns have exacted. and still continue to exact, dues on 0. for local purposes. These were first imposed in London, in 1667, after the great fire, in order to enable the corporation to. repair the ravages which it had com mitted; and they have been since continued us a fund for civic improvements, though, as Mr. 31'Culloch has remarked, no improvement could be equal to a reduction in the price of coal. In the reign of William III., a general tax, payable to govern inept, was laid on all sea-borne a-a tax which was in the highest degree unjust to places which were dependent for their supply on the coasting-trade, and oppressive to the whole country, inasmuch as it amounted to more than 50 per cent on the price paid to the owner at the pit's mouth. The tax varied in amount, not only at different periods, reaching its high est point of 9s. 4d. per chaldron during the great war, but also in different parts of the country, being higher in London and the s. of England, and lower in Ireland and Wales, whilst Scotland for a considerable period was altogether exempt. The tax itself, with all its inequalities, was abolished iu 1830, and there is now no tax on C. except that col lected for local purposes in London, and a few other towns. The repeal, in 1845, of the duty on C. exported to foreign countries, was a measure of much more doubtful policy. The average annual quantity of C. exported from Great Britain doling the three years 'ending 1877, was about 14,000,000 tons.—For the provisions of the recent statutes for the regulation and inspection of mines (23 and 24 Vict. c. 151, and 35 and 36 Vict. c. .76), see MixEs. The circumstances in which coal-mines are regarded as a pertinent of land, and those in which they form a separate estate, are stated under MINES.
Goal-note, a particular description of promissory-note, used in the coal-trade in the 'port of London (3 Geo. II. c. 26, ss. 7, 8). See Co...Lt.-Sum...v.
COAL (ante). In North America the carboniferous strata are divided by geolo gists into two principal groups: the lower or sub-carboniferous, which corresponds to •the carboniferous limestone of Europe; and the carboniferous, which includes the mill stone grit and the coal-measures. The first of these is about 5,000 ft. thick in Pennsyl vania, consisting mainly of shales and sandstones; but in the Mississippi valley, in Illi nois, Iowa, and Missouri, a considerable thickness of limestone is developed in this part of the series. In the former region some thin coal-seams are found, the relation between the two areas being in this respect similar to that of the carboniferous limestone in Eng land to the coal-bearing formations of similar age in Scotland. The millstone grit forms a mass of sandstone and conglomerates froth 1200 to 1400 ft. thick in c. Pennsylvania, but thine rapidly to the w., being only from 100 to 250 ft. thick in Ohio and Tennessee. In Arkansas the compact silicious rock known ,as noveculite, or Arkansas hone-stone, occurs in this member of the carboniferous series. The coal-measures proper occur in
a very large part of the United States and Canada. First in importance is the Appa lachian coalfield, covering about 60,000 sq.m. extending through parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, ,Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama. The maximum thickness of strata is from 2,500 to 3,00Q ft.; 120 ft. near Pottsville, 62 ft. at Wilkesbarre, and 25 ft. at Pittsburg, showing a gradual diminution in a westward direction. The most persistent coatideposit is the Pittsburg seam,. which is known over an area measuring 225 by 100 tn., but with a thickness varying from 2 to 14 feet. The anthracite district of Penn sylvania occupies an area of about 650 sq.m. on the left bank of the Susquehanna. The strata between and Wyoming, which belong to the lowest portion of the coal-measures, arc probably about 3,000 ft. thick, hut it is difficult to come at an estimate owing to the numerous folds and contortions. There arc from 10 to 12 scams above 3 ft. HI thickness; the principal one, known as the Mammoth or Balti more vein, is 29 ft. thick at Wilkesbarre, and in some places exceeds even 60 feet. The Illinois and Missouri basin covers a considerable part of these states, as well as of Indiana, Kentucky, Iowa, Kansas, and Arkansas. Its area is estimated at 60,000 sq.m., the thickness varying from 600 ft. in Missouri to 3,000 ft, in w. Kentucky. The aggregate thickness of C. is about 70 feet. A good furnace C. is found in Indiana, the so-called block C. near Indianapolis, which, like the splint C. of Scotland and of Staffordshire, can be used in blast furnaces without coking. In Michigan a nearly cir cular area of coal-measures of about 5,000 sq.m. occurs in the lower peninsula between lakes Erie and Huron. The thickness is only 120 ft., and the C. is unimportant. There .are also coal-bearing areas of less value in Texas and Rhode Island.
The carboniferous strata are largely developed in the e. provinces of the dominion of -Canada, notably in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The lower carboniferous group here consists of about 6,000 ft. of red sandstones and green marls with thick beds of fos siliferons limestone, accompanied by gypsum. The overlying coal-measures, including the millstone grit, occupy an area estimated at 18,000 sq.miles. The whole thickness of this group in one place is about 14,750 ft., with 76 included coal-seams, together 45 ft. in thickness, which are contained in the middle division of the series. At Pictou there are six seams, together measuring 80 ft. in thickness. The coal-measures in this area approach nearer to the great coal-fields of Europe in thickness than those of the other American carboniferous districts. Rocks of the carboniferous age occur in various places on both flanks of the Rocky mountains, and in the Arctic archipelago, but they have not been explored. Lignite-bearing strata of cretaceous and tertiary age occupy a considerable area In the central and western portions of North America, especially in the upper Missouri and Saskatchewan valleys, in Utah, Texas, California, Oregon, and Vancouver island. In the last locality for several years past, C. has been extensively mined near Nanaimo, on the e. coast, in strata of the cretaceous age. Tertiary lignites are worked in Belliughant bay, at Coosa bay in Oregon, and at monte Diablo near San Francisco. The lignite formations of the e. flank of the Rocky mountains, which are considered by Hayden to occupy a position between the cretaceous and the eocene ter tiary strata, cover an area estimated at about 50,000 sq.m. within the United States, and extend n. into Canada and s. into Mexico.