PART I-GENERAL SURVEY OF THE BITUMINOUS COAL MINING INDUSTRY. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. Expansion in bituminous coal-mining operations since 1860-Increase in number of employees-Geographical divisions studied-Households studied-Members of households for whom detailed information was secured-Employees for whom information was secured Comparative scope of the investigation-Method of presenting data collected-[Text Tables 1 to 15 and General Tables 1 to 3]. EXPANSION IN BITUMINOUS COAL-MINING OPERATIONS SINCE 1860. During the past fifty years there has been a remarkable development of bituminous coal mining in the United States. The total production of bituminous mines in 1908 in round numbers was 332,000,000 short tons, as compared with 6,400,000 tons in the year 1860. The annual output has advanced by leaps and bounds, the increase for each decade between 1860 and 1900 being approximately 100 per cent. The rapid increase by decades, 1860 to 1900, and by years, 1900 to 1908, is made apparent by the following table: TABLE 1.—Bituminous coal production in the United States, 1860 to 1908. [From Production of Coal in 1908, Edward W. Parker. U. S. Geological Survey, Mineral Resources of the United States.]. If the five principal coal-producing States in the territory east of the Rocky Mountains be selected and the annual production of each be considered during the past fifty years, the districts in which the expansion of the industry has taken place at once become evident. The tables on the page following exhibit the output in short tons of the States mentioned above during the period 1860 to 1908 and the per cent of the total production of the United States furnished by each designated State during the same period. 3 TABLE 2.-Bituminous coal production in States specified. From Production of Coal in 1908, Edward W. Parker. U. S. Geological Survey, Mineral Resources of the United States.] TABLE 3.-Per cent distribution of bituminous coal production in States specified. Per cent of total output of United States from 728, 400 2,624, 163 6, 115, 377 15, 292, 420 25, 767,981 27, 331, 552 32, 939, 373 36,957, 104 41, 480, 104 342,874,867 394, 759, 112 47, 659, 690 26, 270, 639 It will be noted that during 1908 Pennsylvania produced 35.2 per cent of the total; West Virginia, which in 1870 produced 3.5 per cent, had increased in relative importance to a position of 12.6 per cent of the total production in 1908; Illinois's percentage was 11.2 in 1860 and 14.3 in 1908; Alabama in 1860 produced only 0.2 per cent, and since 1890 has produced from 3.5 to 4.1 per cent. The total production of Ohio has increased, but her relative production has decreased from 19.5 per cent in 1860 to 7.9 per cent in 1908. In addition to the five States given, others in the same territory experienced a similar development. The table on the page following shows the increase in production of a number of such States. |