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ESTIMATES ON THE SUPPLY
OF UNMINED ANTHRACITE
AND ITS PROBABLE DURATION.
The supply of anthracite coal and the amount
of unmined coal in the possession of the different
anthracite companies has always been an open
question.
Twenty-five years ago P. W. Shaeffer, the well
known mining engineer, estimated the contents of
the Pennsylvania anthracite field, including waste,
at 26,360,576,000 tons, says the Wall Street Journal.
Mr. Shaeffer's figures are above others and
his estimates of the amount of coal available for
the market is also high, being no less than 8,-
288,850,667 tons, a difference of more than 16,000,-
000,000 tons as compared with the total amount of
coal in the ground. Joseph S. Harris in 1880 estimated
the total amount of anthracite coal at 13,-
260,392,591 tons, of which 3,580,036,000 tons could
be marketed, the balance being waste. Some
years later Mr. Harris increased his estimate to
14,453,397,000 tons, from which 5,960,000,000 tons
could be saved. Mr. Shaeffer estimated the waste
at about two-thirds and Mr. Harris was at that
time of the opinion that nearly 50 per cent, of the
coal in the ground could be saved for marketable
purposes, and in the future a greater percentage.
This would indicate a supply for 100 years if the
annual production was 60,000,000 tons with maximum
output about the year 1915.
In 1895 William Griffith estimated the unmined
coal of the different companies to have been as
follows:
Tons unmined. Per cent. Years.
Reading 2,143,706,500 42.25 216
C. R. R. N. J 877,569,700 17.30 163
Lehigh Valley . . . 855,511,750 16.87 116
Lackawanna 332,332,000 6.55 54
Pennsylvania . . . 316,502,750 6.24 63
Del. & Hud 115,823,200 2.20 26
Erie & Wyo 94,876,600 1.82 54
D., S. & S 69,901,200 1.38 35
Erie 38,879,400 .77 21
N. Y., S. & W 26,890,500 .54 IS
Ontario 13,971.100 .28 9
The duration of the supply is based on the production
of coal in 1895, when it was 46,511.000
tons. According to these figures the Reading, including
Jersey Central, controls 49.35 per cent, of
Ithe unmined anthracite coal. Of the tonnage
credited to the Jersey Central nearly 60 per cent.
is owned by the Lehigh Coal & Navigation. This
tonnage is controlled through lease by the Jersey
Central, which latter company is owned by the
Reading company. The total amount of the Lehigh
Coal & Navigation Co.'s unmined coal is estimated
at about 500,000,000 tons and that company,
next to the Reading and Lehigh Valley, is the
largest owner of anthracite eoal territory.
THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN. 29
W. W. Ruley, the well known statistician of the
anthracite companies, has estimated the acreage
and unmined coal of the various anthracite companies
as follows:
Acres. Unmined.
Phila. & Reading 102,000 2,450,000,000
Del. & Hudson 21,300 260,000,000
D-. L. & W 15,200 400,000,000
Penna. Coal Co 12.600 180,000,000
Hillside Coal & 1 7,200 70,000,000
Lehigh Valley 22,720 400,000,000
Lehigh & w.-B 13,600 335,000,000
Lehigh & Luzerne 800 5,000,000
Lehigh Coal & N 9,400 370,000,000
Alliance Coal M. Co 4,000 130,000,000
Penna. Railroad 4,280 74,000,000
Totals 213,000 4,684,000,000
Mr. Jones' estimate is made by regions and is
as follows in tons:
Unmined. Marketable.
Schuylkill 9,500,000,000 5,700,000,000
Mahanoy & Sham 5,000,000,000 3,000,000,000
Lehigh 500,000,000 300,000,000
Wyoming 6,500,000,000 3,900,000,000
Total 21,500,000,000 12,900,000,000
Mr. Jones estimates the wastage at 60 per cent.
and he intimates in a note that his general estimate
of unmined coal is a low one.
The percentage of coal territory owned in 1896
and the percentage of coal tonnage alloted to the
various companies and the percentage of actual
shipments this year, were as follows:
Area. Allotments. Shipments.
Phila. & Reading 42.25 20.50 19.88
Lehigh Valley 16.S7 15.65 16.39
N. J. Central 17.30 11.70 12.78
Lackawanna 6.55 13.35 16.13
Penna. R. R 6.24 11.40 8.36
Del. & Hud 2.29 9.60 9.49
Erie 3.13 11.20 10.24
D., S. & S 1.38 3.50 2.71
N. Y., O. & W 28 3.10 4.62
Any estimate of the value of coal territory based
on a cash valuation of the coal in the ground is
apt to be fallacious. The coal must be mined and
marketed covering a period of many years during
which values would be subject to all the commercial
contingencies of any industrial or producing
corporation. An estimate predicted on the cash
value of coal in the ground when Mr. Gowen
bought the Reading coal lands more than 30 years
ago might have made the Reading company's stock
worth more than a thousand dollars per share, but
the purchase broke the Reading company and
wiped out the whole value of the stock. The damage
was only repaired after many years of careful,
conservative management.