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COAL PRODUCTION IN WYOMING, KANSAS,
TEXAS, NORTH DAKOTA AND OREGON
IN 1910.
Wyoming, like most of the states in the Rocky
Mountain section, exceeded in 1910 all previous
records in the quantity and value of coal produced.
From an output of 6,393,109 short tons, valued at
$9,896,S48, in 1909, the production increased to
7,533,088 short tons, valued at $11,706,187. accord­
ing to a statement just made public by E. W.
Parker, coal statistician of the United States Geo­
logical Survey. The increase in 1910 was 1,139,-
979 short tons, or 17.S3 per cent., in quantity, and
$1,809,339, or 18.28 per cent., in value. The gain
in output, and the advance in price in Wyoming,
as in Colorado and New Mexico, were due to the
shortage of coal for railroad, manufacturing and
domestic use in the states to the east, caused by
the six months' strike among the miners in the
Central and Southwestern States.
With the exception of Converse county, whose
production at best is relatively small, and tbe out­
put reported from coal banks, the increase in pro­
duction in 1910 was general throughout the state.
The most important increases were in Sheridan.
Sweetwater and Uinta counties, whose gains were,
respectively, 333,189 tons, 233,589 tons, and 374,-
351 tons.
The number of men reported as engaged in the
production of coal in Wyoming in 1910 was 7,771.
There were 1,196 men on strike, but as they lost
only an average of 11 days each, the idleness did
not affect the production.
The first production of coal in Wyoming was
reported in 1865, one year later than the first re­
ported output of coal in Colorado. This pioneer
coal mining was probably carried on in connec­
tion with the construction of the Union Pacific
railroad. The total output in that year amounted
to 800 tons. Five years later, when the railroad
was completed, the production amounted to about
50,000 tons.
The coal fields in Wyoming which have not been
reached by the railroads are the Henry's Fork-
field in southern Sweetwater county; the Rattlesnake
field in Natrona and Freemont counties:
the Owl Creek Mountain field in the Shoshone In­
dian Reservation in Fremont county, the Fall
River basin and Upper Green river field in Uinta
and Fremont counties: the Mount Leidy field, and
the Lander Peak field, and the Grays River field
in Uinta county.
The estimate of the original coal supply of Wyoming,
as made by M. R. Campbell, of the United
States Geological Survey credited that state with
the largest original supply, with the single exception
of North Dakota, which is estimated to have
contained originally 500,000,000.000 short tons of
coal. The areas of North Dakota are. however.
THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN. 29
entirely of lignite, while in Wyoming the coal is
either ot bituminous or semi-bituminous character.
Wyoming's supply is estimated to have been 424,-
085,000,000 short tons, compared with which the
aggregate iiroduction to the close of 1910 (97,234,-
864 short tons appears insignificant. The total
exhaustion of the beds up to the close of 1910
amounted to 146,000,000 short tons, or 0.34 of 1
per cent, of the total estimated supply.
Tbe total coal production of Kansas in 1910
amounted to 4,921,451 short tons, valued at $7-,
914,709.
Kansas lost heavily in coal iiroduction in 1910
by reason of the coal strike. In 1909, when in­
dustrial peace reigned throughout the coal mining
states, Kansas produced 6,986,478 short tons, and
in the boom year 1907 the output amounted to
7,322,449 tons, the maximum for the state. In
1910, when SO per cent, of the men were on strike
and the period of idleness exceeded that of activity,
the production decreased to 4,921,451 short
tons. Compared with 1909 this shows a loss of
2.065.027 short tons, or 29.56 per cent. As in the
other states Kansas prices were naturally ad­
vanced by the shortage in fuel and the decrease
in value was relatively less than the decrease in
quantity. The value of the Kansas product decreased
from $10,083,384 in 1909 to $7,914,709, in
1910. a loss of $2,168,765, or 21.5 per cent. The
average price per ton advanced from $1.44 to $1.61.
The number of men employed in the coal mines
of Kansas in 1910 was 12,870, of whom 10,346 were
idle during the strike. The average number of
days worked was 148 and the average number of
days idle was 153. The total working time was
1,906,151 days and the total idleness was 1,578,027
days. The average production per man was 382
tons annually and 2.58 tons for each working day.
In 1908, when 13.916 men were employed for an
average of 1S1 days in the production of 0,245,508
tons, the average output per man was 449 tons
for tlie year and 2.48 tons for each working day.
The value at the mines of Utah's coal produc­
tion in 1910 was $4,224,556, with an output of 2,-
517.S09 short tons.
Compared with 1909, when the coal production
of Utah amounted to 2,266,899 short tons, valued
at $3,751,810, the output in 1910 showed an in­
crease of 250.910 short tons, or 11.07 per cent, in
quantity and of $472,746, or 12.6 per cent, in value.
Utah's production in 1910 was affected only in­
directly, if at all. by the coal strikes in tbe Middle
west—that is, by the demand created on the mines
of Colorado and New Mexico, which possibly re­
duced the competition of coals from those states
in markets to the west and southwest reached
jointly by them and the coal from Utah mines.
This increased production of Utah coals is looked
upon as only an indication of normal growth that