In a book written by J. Harris Patton, M. D., and published by D.
Appleton & Co., entitled “The Natural Resources of the United States,”
we find so much information that commends itself to every citizen of
the country, that we have noted a few of the general facts, hoping
thereby to give some light on the great wealth of our country. From
this little book we learn first the general position and description
of the country, together with the mountain ranges, rivers, lakes,
valleys, etc.; then the amount of available coast line. This is, on
both oceans, nearly 18,000 miles, while the shore line of the lakes and
navigable rivers is 11,000 miles in length, making 29,000 miles in all.
The vast importance of this need only be suggested to bring up a host
of advantages that we derive from such means of traffic. In comparing
the coal fields of Europe with those of the United States it is found
that the latter country has twenty square miles of coal for one of
the former, with a surplus of territory in the Rocky Mountain region
amounting to 100,000 square miles. The ease with which the coal of the
United States is mined is of great importance in the industry of the
country. This facility of mining is due to the thickness of the veins
and the dip of the seams.
Anthracite coal is most abundant in Pennsylvania. There are over
four hundred and seventy square miles of this coal with an average
thickness of sixty feet. Anthracite is also found in Virginia, Rhode
Island, and New Mexico. Of bituminous coal there seems to be such a
general distribution that almost every part of the country is supplied
with fields of its own. The bituminous coal fields of the Allegheny
lie on the western slope of the mountains and extend through Western
Pennsylvania across the upper course of the Ohio river; and in like
manner southwest along the slope nearly to the Gulf.
In many of these localities the beds of iron ore and limestone are
all in the same mountain with the coal, and as they are all above the
water-level, the coal is dry and well adapted to blast furnace purposes.
Block and cannel coals are found in great quantities throughout Ohio
and Indiana. Block coal is also abundant in Iowa and Illinois.
Lignite is found in vast fields in the Rocky Mountain district. The
veins of this partly formed coal are often nearly thirty feet thick.
It is useful where great heat is not required. The extent of these
fields on the east of the Rockies, and between them and the Sierras, is
estimated to be fifty thousand square miles.
On the Pacific slope there are many localities where seams of coal are
now worked, some of which are over one hundred feet in thickness. These
fields extend far up into Alaska.
Iron-ore is found in inexhaustible quantities. The Creator seems
to have placed the most useful of minerals within the reach of all
mankind. New York State produces ore that yields iron of the best
quality. Rich ores are found in New Jersey, while Pennsylvania
surpasses all other states in her minerals. Ore is found in this state
in all conditions, and of almost every variety. The ore is often
associated with limestone and coal. Virginia has some valuable deposits
of iron that are practically free from sulphur and phosphorus. North
Carolina is rich in singular beds of ore which, when mined, looks like
black sand. This ore is the “black oxide.” Kentucky, Tennessee and
Alabama all have important beds of ore. In Missouri there are two large
mountains containing one-tenth of their weight in iron. Lake Superior
regions are so valuable that ore is mined in this country and shipped
to Pittsburgh to be smelted. Even the Rocky Mountains are well supplied
with iron-ore in many places.
Gold and silver. These constitute the precious metals of the United
States, and though the world could dispense with them, they are sought
after and prized by all classes. The opening up of the great West is
due to these metals. They are produced in limited quantities in the
Allegheny range, but the methods of working the ore in these mines are
not well enough adapted to make it paying property. The Rocky Mountains
and the Sierras contain ore bearing both gold and silver in large
quantities. The gold and silver fields of the United States occupy
nearly one hundred and fifty thousand square miles. Of the metals iron,
zinc, platinum, nickel, etc., we have limited quantities in the United
States.
Massachusetts has tin. Zinc is found in New Hampshire and New York,
while New Jersey is the only State that has this metal in paying
quantities. Nickel has been found in Connecticut and Maryland. Platinum
is found in Idaho.
Petroleum producing territory covers an area of two hundred thousand
square miles, and from this vast amount it would seem that the world
could be supplied from the United States alone for an indefinite number
of years.
Lead is found in abundance in some of the Eastern and many of the
Western States. At Galena, in Illinois, there is a lead deposit that
will supply this metal for centuries.
Vast fields of copper are found in the State of Michigan and Isle
Royale, yet it is quite abundant in many of the other States of the
Union.
Mercury is produced from cinnabar, an ore found in California, and is
useful in extracting gold and silver.
Graphite comes from New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, and
North Carolina. That of New York is especially fine, and fit for making
the best quality of pencils.
Slate, granite, sandstone and marble are found in such vast quantities
in the Northeastern States that the supply may be deemed inexhaustible.
The country contains immense beds of gypsum, clay, whetstone, slate for
pencils and glass-sand.
The salt industries of the Middle States are very great, the quantity
seems to be without limit, and the pumping of brine for a series of
years does not seem to weaken its strength.
Fertilizers in the shape of phosphates, limestone and marl abound
everywhere; while health-giving mineral springs are distributed
throughout the breadth of the land.
The resources of the United States are not confined to minerals, but
enormous wealth is in the natural fertility of the soil. Supplied with
copious rain fall over a vast territory, the soil yields throughout the
different latitudes such variety of products that nothing seems left
to be desired in this line. Even where the rain fall is very little
the land will give abundant return if the farmer will only irrigate
the soil. Grains, fruits, grasses, etc., are produced in wonderful
quantities.
Our forests are enormous in extent, though they have suffered from
wanton destruction, and with proper care, may be made to supply timber
for hundreds of years.
The review of the fishing industries by the author gives astonishing
figures to show us how much we are indebted to the lakes and seas for
our food.
Fur bearing animals are abundant, as also wild game of all kinds.
By carefully constructed, though liberal laws, the government has made
it possible to get homes in the great West, to obtain mining lands and
in all has done the best for the working man and citizen.
* * * * *
We are less annoyed when fools despise us, than when we are slightly
esteemed by men of understanding.—_Vauvenargues._