The most important coal field of Russia is the Donetz basin, between the Don and the Dnieper rivers. It covers a large area and is being developed steadily. Spain has several coal fields, one of some importance in the Asturias, and two others but little developed. Lack of railroads has prevented their exploi tation.
North America, as noted before, surpasses all the continents in the extent and variety of its fuel supplies. The United States leads the world in coal production, and there is little prospect of any country surpassing it before that far distant day when the great coal fields of China are well opened. Canada has coal fields of importance near Pictou and on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, known as the Acadian coal field; also a vast and but partly developed field of lignite and true coal in Al berta and eastern British Columbia, and another field on Vancouver Island. Alaika has work able beds of lignite on the coast and in the Yukon Valley at Rampart and Circle City.
The Mexican coal fields are of much local importance, but are not likely to produce any coal for export. The principal field is in the state of Coahuila, extending from Eagle Pass to Sabinas. Coal scams have been worked in Sonora, Hidalgo and Michoacan. During the past five years the output of coal in Mexico has greatly decreased on account of the unsettled political conditions.
The following table showing the produc tion of coal and lignite of the chief coal-pro ducing countries of the world is compiled from the United States Geological Survey figures : In 1913 the world's production of coal had reached the enormous total of nearly 1,500,000,000 tons. On account of the un settled conditions brought about by the war, there was a decrease in 1914, but the output for 1915 exceeded that of 1913. According to sta tistics compiled by the Coal Trade Journal, the output in the United States during 1915 amounted to 525,124,700 tons.
During the past 15 years the production of coal in the United States has exactly doubled; that of Great Britain has increased one-fifth while Germany's production has increased 80 per cent during the same period. Our annual tonnage now almost equals the combined pro duction of Great Britain and Germany.
The coal fields of the United States, not including Alaska, are of various ages from the Carboniferous to the Eocene, the two great horizons being the Pennsylvanian of the Carboniferous, and the Laramie of the Cretaceous. The total area covered by possi bly productive seams of lignite, bituminous coal and anthracite is over 450,000 square miles.
Of these vast reserves about 60 per cent is soft coal, including sub-bituminous and lignite, the rest being hard coal, or anthracite, semi anthracite and bituminous.
According to recent classification made by the United States Geological Survey, the coal fields of the United States are divided into six ((provinces,* on a geographical basis, as follows: (1) Eastern province, including the bituminous area of the Appalachian region; the Atlantic Coast regions, comprising the Triassic fields near Richmond and the Deep and Dan Rivers' fields of North Carolina and the anthracite regions of Pennsylvania, in all 70,000 square miles. (2) Gulf province, including the lignite fields of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas, comprising 2,100 square miles in which there have been actual development with areas believed to contain workable lignites embracing 78,000 square miles. (3) Interior province, including all the bituminous regions of the Mississippi Valley and the coal fields of Michigan, covering a total area of 132,900 square miles. (4) Northern and Great Plains provinces, including the lignite areas of North and South Dakota, and the bituminous and sub-bituminous areas of northeastern Wyoming and northern and eastern Montana, covering 88,590 square miles. (5) Rocky Moun tain province, including the mountain regions of Montana and Wyoming and the coal fields of Utah, Colorado and New Mexico, an area of 37,000 square miles. (6) Pacific Coast province, including the coal fields in California, Oregon and Washington, an area of 1,900 square miles.
Owing to die competition of lower-priced bituminous coal in the form of coke, the use of anthracite for smelting iron has declined Freatly of late years, and its consumption for industrial purposes is not increasing. For steam-production only the small sizes, pea, wheat, buckwheat and rice, are much used, and these chiefly on railroads running through the fields or in cities having strict smoke ordinances. Anthracite, being clean, smokeless, having great heating power, and burning slowly, is chiefly used for household purposes and is sent to market broken into lumps of several sizes, known as broken or grate, egg, stove and chestnut, these being called prepared sizes, in distinction from the smalr or steam sizes before mentioned. The market supplied by the Pennsylvania mines is along the Atlantic seaboard from Nova Scotia to Georgia, also a narrow strip of country extending from Montreal westward through southern Ontario and the States of the Union bordering on the Great Lakes. The three States of Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey consume over two-thirds of the anthracite and about half of the rest goes to New England; thus almost 80 per cent is con sumed in the East.