THE ANTHRACITE COAL-FIELDS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
have now the most interesting portions of our work before us, and to ourselves and our country the most important. Perhaps of all mineral deposits the most valuable in this of in any other country is that which we propose to describe in the following pages.
The area and dimensions of the coal-basins composing these anthracite fields of Pennsylvania are comparatively small, when compared with some of the prominent coal-fields of Europe which we have just passed over, and insignificant when compared with our own great bituminous deposits west of the Alleghanies. But when we consider the immense and popu lous area depending on those fields for its supply, and their central loca tion, we are led to reflect that present availability is of far more value than prospective developments, and particularly when those future resources are only susceptible of development through present means.
At this period of our country's history or existence, its anthracite coal fields are invaluable ; and were we forced to decide at the present moment on the relative value of the bituminous and anthracite coals within our territory, it would undoubtedly be in favor of the 470 square miles of the one, against the 200,000 square miles of the other ; not that we would undervalue our bituminous coals, the immense and incalculable value of which is more a matter for the future than the present: yet it may not be a long period before the Western deposits will equal the production of the Eastern basins.
More depends on the localities of coal-basins than on their extent. The anthracite beds are in the midst of a populous region, in the vicinity of many great and wealthy cities, and are surrounded by manufacturing establishments, which are rapidly growing and prospering on the wealth which is developed around them.
Twelve millions of inhabitants derive their chief supply of coal from these fields, and will continue to do so until they are to a great extent exhausted. But before that time arrives, those 12,000,000 of inhabitants will have increased to over 30,000,000, and the present production of coal will increase perhaps in a double proportion. The area which the coals of Pennsylvania will naturally supply is over 300,000 square miles, or more than double the area of Great Britain, which now contains about 30,000,000 inhabitants and produces nearly 100,000,000 tons of coal.
The area which must be supplied with anthracite coal is susceptible of sustaining a population as dense as that of Great Britain, and their manufacturing and commercial pursuits will demand an equal amount of coal per head. That this demand must be chiefly supplied from the anthra cite regions is evident from the fact of proximity and the availability and cheapness of the fuel produced. That much of the semi-bituminous and bituminous coals will be used there can be no doubt ; but since the anthra cite has proved a superior fuel for most purposes, and as it can be mined with equal facility or expense, it is not probable that the distant bitumi nous will be used while the present anthracite lasts.
At present, we do not value our anthracite lands at a fraction of their real worth; but the time will come when they will be held as a monopoly, and their fortunate owners will derive revenues from rents that might now be considered visionary even to name. Coal lands sell now in the anthra cite regions from $150 to $1000 per acre. The same lands will not be bought, twenty years hence, for five hundred per cent, addition. The coal lands of England, in the older or more developed regions, command from $5000 to $7000 per acre, but they seldom change hands. Yet the rents paid by the miners or operators there, when they lease from the pro prietors, do not exceed 12 or 15 cents per ton. There, 35 feet of coal is all that is credited as workable or available for present use ; here, 60 feet of coal is the average, and from 25 to 50 cents per ton is demanded. There, 750 square miles of area produce 21,000,000 tons of coal per annum, with but little prospect of a much greater increase; here, 470 square miles of area produce 10,000,000 tons annually, with a positive certainty of a rapid and vast increase. It therefore takes but little calcu lation to estimate the relative value of coal lands in the anthracite regions of Pennsylvania, or the bituminous districts of the Great Northern coal fields of England,—particularly when this is a monopoly beyond com petition from other fields ; while that is in active competition with numerous surrounding coal-fields, where coal equally good and equally cheap is produced in abundance.