is area not much more
than one-half is workable. In Europe there are estimated to be about one
hundred thousand square miles of coal-lands, of which about half are
productive at the present time. Of this Great Britain has 12,000 square
miles, Spain 4,000, France 2,000, Germany 1,800, and Belgium 500. In
Canada there are about 20,000 square miles of coal-land; a part of this
is included in the Nanaimo field on the Pacific coast, but the most
important are the Nova Scotia beds, which form about the only supply for
the British naval stations of America. China has extensive coal-fields.

In character coal is broadly divided into two classes--anthracite or
hard, and bituminous or soft, coal. Anthracite coal occurs in folded and
metamorphic rocks. It is hard and glassy, and does not split into thin
layers or leaves. The beds have been subjected to intense heat and
pressure, and the coal has but a very small amount--rarely more than
five per cent.--of volatile matter; it burns, therefore, with little or
no smoke and soot, and on this account is very desirable as a fuel in
cities. Two areas in Colorado and New Mexico produce small quantities of
pure anthracite; practically all the commercial anthracite comes from
three small basins in Pennsylvania. In quality it is known as "red ash"
and "white ash," the former being the superior.

The yearly output of the anthracite mines is upward of fifty-five
million long tons a year, or somewhat less than five million tons per
month. In winter the rate of consumption is somewhat greater than that
of production. A shortage in the summer production is therefore apt to
be keenly felt in the winter. Before shipment to the market the coal is
crushed at the breakers, sorted in different sizes, and washed.

Most of the anthracite coal-mines are owned by the railway companies
centring at New York and Philadelphia, or else are operated by companies
controlled by the railways. About one-fourth of the output is produced
by independent operators who, as a rule, sell their coal to the railway
companies. The Reading, Pennsylvania, Central of New Jersey, Lackawanna,
Lehigh Valley, Ontario & Western, Erie, and Delaware & Hudson are
popularly known as "coalers" because the larger part of their eastern
business consists in carrying anthracite coal.

[Illustration: A VIEW OF THREE COLLIERIES IN THE ANTHRACITE COAL BASIN
NEAR MAHANOY CITY, PA.]

Formerly much of the coal was shipped by canals, but the lat