is probably not exceeded by any other on the continent, and as regards the number and quality of its coal seams, it is no less distinguished, although it is one of the latest brought into operation.

Great expectations have been formed as to the national value of this district, and much enterprise has already been attracted to the development of its important mineral resources; especially those of bituminous coal and iron ore.

The coal business is comparatively in its infancy, but promises a rapid progress in future. Thus the amount shipped coastwise from the port of Gijon, in 1842, was 14,100 tons, and in 1844 was 41,400

tons.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.-Imported Coal.-The only countries from which coal ever finds its way into the United States, are Great Britain and British America, and the contributions from thence appear to be annually diminishing. For a time there was an increasing foreign importation; viz. from 22,123 tons in 1821, to 181,551 tons in 1839. By the operation of the American tariff, this advance was not only checked, but a retrograde movement was produced, so as in 1843 to amount to only 41,163 tons, by the United States returns. By the last annual return, that for 1847, the entry of foreign coals, whether from Europe or from British America, was 148,021 tons; of which from 12,000 to 15,000 tons were re-exported, for the service of the English steamships. 1850, 180,439 tons were imported. into the United States; 1853, 231,508.

INCREASED PRODUCTION OF AMERICAN COAL AND ANTHRACITE.

Bituminous Coal.-We have already indicated that we possess no authentic data for determining the progressive production of this description of fuel in the United States. Such informal details as have reached us, will appear in the proper place; and we can only remark here that the rate of increase is evidently very rapid.

Anthracite. Of this important combustible we shall have much to say, and we possess abundant testimony upon which to found our calculations. The production of anthracite may be said to be entirely confined to the State of Pennsylvania, which possesses a numerous and interesting group of coal basins of various sizes and characters. Our returns show that the consumption of anthracite,-in other words, the coal trade,-commenced with 365 tons in the year 1820; that the production reached 48,047 tons in 1837; that it had increased to 881,026 tons in 1837, and advanced to three millions of tons in 1847; without including much that is consumed on the spot, in the mining districts, or in the interior of the country.

The increased production, therefore, was, in the first ten years, viz., from 1827 to 1837, 1735 per cent.; in the second ten years, viz., from 1837 to 1847, 240 per cent.; and in the twenty years previous to 1848, that is, from 1827 to 1847, 6150 per cent.

We introduce another view of this subject, which exhibits this accelerated increase in the consumption of anthracite, perhaps, with

yet greater perspicuity. The amount which was periodically forwarded to market, exclusive of the consumption in and near the places of production and which has not been estimated, is as follows:

*Aggregate in the 21 years from 1820 to 1840, in

clusive,

In the succeeding 7 years to 1847, inclusive,

Total furnished from the commencement,

From 1848 to 1853, inclusive,

Total furnished from the commencement,

6,847,172 tons. 12,371,961 "

19,219,133 tons.

23,841,358 tons.

43,060,491 "6

With this we terminate our compendium of the coal statistics, into whose details we shall enter at large further on: our immediate object being that of showing the rapid increase in the annual production of coal, all over the globe, within the last quarter of a century.

PRODUCTION OF IRON.

We have already exhibited in the diagram form, the superficial areas of the principal coal producing countries of the world, and also the squares of the coal production of the same countries, in the year 1845. We are induced to occupy a small space here, by a similar mode of illustration in regard to the production of iron, in the same year, by the chief manufacturing countries.

In the preparation of the materials forming this volume, we never contemplated to devote any part of it to the subject of iron. The statistics of coal, which we undertook to elucidate, seemed to promise a task of quite sufficient magnitude to keep us in full occupation. Nevertheless, we have found that the rapid advancement of the coal trade was so intimately connected with the contemporaneous process of the iron manufacture, that we have, almost unconsciously, been led out of our prescribed path; and having collected some interesting results by the way, we give them insertion in their appropriate places.

We now only propose in this place, to introduce a diagram showing the condition, as to production, of the iron manufactory or smelting, in the year 1845, the latest year in which we could obtain a series of contemporary returns.

The respective proportions are as follows:

1. Great Britain,

2. United States,

3. France,

2,200,000

502,000

448,000

R. R. Report.

"During the ten months ending Nov. 5, 1853, Great Britain exported $75,000,000 worth of iron, and by far the largest portion was taken by the United States. Of pig-iron, the United States received 57,000 tons, and Holland, which comes next upon the list, took 13,000. Of bar, bolt and rod-iron, the United States took 263,530 tons, or nearly six times as much as Canada, which received the next largest amount."*

From the London Chronicle.

Iron Trade of the United Kingdom.

Total exports from the United Kingdom in 1852:

Leaving tons,

368,290

for the requirements of the rest of the world.*

We insert the following table from page 331 of the first edition on the Annual Production of Pig and Cast-iron in Great Britain, France and other European countries, and in the United States of America:

Years. G. Britain. France. Belgium. Zolleve- U. States. Austria. Sweden. Russia.
Tons.
Tons. Tons. rein.
Tons. Tons. Tons.
Tons.

Tons.

RAILROADS.

After passing from coal to iron, we are almost unavoidably tempted to diverge yet further, to the subject of railroads, steam-engines, and steam vessels, so closely do all these matters seem interwoven with each other, being at one and the same time both cause and effect, in relation to the enormous increase of coal production, in all parts of the world. Thus we are impelled to notice the astonishing extension of railroads in our day, whereby the coal, the iron, and the other minerals have become more generally accessible, and consequently more valuable, in proportion as they can be transported with cheapness and rapidity to their several markets.

London Mining Journal, April 1st, 1854.

The following statement shows the actual number of miles of railway finished and in progress in Europe and America, in 1844.

In England, in 1845, there were obtained from Parliament new railroad acts for 3543 miles; up to 1846, the total number of miles authorized to be made in Great Britain was 7494 miles, and to January 1st, 1847, 8384 miles, besides 1862 miles already made.

In France, in the same year, the number of miles completed, commenced, and proposed, was 3874-whose estimated cost was $297,220,000, or £61,600,000

In Belgium, there were 282 miles of railroad in operation in 1842, 348 miles in 1844, and 386 miles in 1846,-costing £5,789,872. In the Zollverein, there were completed 24 railroads in 1843, of the length of 1730 miles.

In all Germany, in 1844, 3565 English miles, in 43 railroads.

United States of America.-By an unofficial article, dated June, 1846, it appears that there were then in operation in the United States an aggregate length of 4731 miles, which was constructed at the cost of $127,417,758, equivalent to £26,325,983.

From the data furnished up to that time, we collect that the capital invested in railroads alone, independent of private and local undertakings, had augmented nearly five-fold in ten years.

During the year 1846, the total amount of completed railroads in the United States had reached the aggregate of 4864 miles.

In the beginning of 1847, there were, according to the report of the postmaster-general, of finished railroads 4752 miles; in progress and projected, 264 miles; total, 5016 miles. Omitting the gigantic project of the Oregon railroad.

Thus, at the commencement of 1847, we find that the number of miles of completed and partly finished railroads in the principal countries of Europe and America, amounted to no less than 20,000 miles; being within a few thousand miles of the entire circumference of the globe. Those in Europe were supposed to require 6,157,000 tons of iron. Added to this, the government of British India has had surveys undertaken for 2000 miles of railroad, with a view of commencing a general system of railway in that extended empire. 1853.-The number of miles of railway now in operation upon the surface of the globe is 34,776, of which 16,180 are in the Eastern Hemisphere, and 18,590 are in the Western, and which are distributed as follows: