Available Coal Resources of the United States State Alabama. Arizona, California, Idaho, and Oregon. Arkansas. Colorado. Georgia. Illinois. Indiana. Iowa. Kansas. Kentucky Maryland. Missouri. Montana. New Mexico. Anthracite 222, 695, 000 66,000 North Carolina. North Dakota. Ohio Oklahoma. Pennsylvania. 14,589, 460, 000 692, 120, 000 1,293, 088, 000 212, 617, 050, 000 916, 295, 000 197, 794, 658, 000 51, 973, 927, 000 28,692, 767, 000 29, 653, 642, 000 121, 546, 161, 000 7,677, 918, 000 1,933, 607, 000 83, 681, 170, 000 2,609, 060, 000 18, 810, 479, 000 66, 135, 000 91, 960, 301, 000 54, 755, 583, 000 103, 300, 820,000 15, 392, 602, 000 1, 407, 808, 021, 000 818, 083, 894, 000 939, 366, 943, 000 Significant items in these two tables are that our coal resources are widely distributed in the Rocky Mountain States and in Washington; Wyoming possesses 72 percent of the sub-bituminous coal, besides 2 percent of the bituminous coal of the country; North Dakota possesses almost two-thirds of the lignite; Montana, the other third of the lignite, besides bituminous and sub-bituminous coal; Colorado, 15 percent of the bituminous coal; and Utah about 6 percent of the bituminous coal. Preliminary figures by the Bureau of Mines, the Bituminous Coal Division, and the Geological Survey show that the total production of coal in the United States and Alaska in 1940 was 504,754,000 tons. During the year the production of coal of all ranks, including lignite, from public land in the United States and Alaska was 4,503,260 tons, or less than 1 percent of the total production. In some States, such as Utah (35 percent), Wyoming (25 percent), and North Dakota (about 30 percent), a large part of the coal is mined from public land, but in other Western States, such as Colorado (9 percent), Montana (9 percent), New Mexico (7 percent), South Dakota (about 5 percent), and Washington (11⁄2 percent), a relatively small part of the production is obtained from public land. The following table shows, by States, the total production of coal in 1940 and the production from public land: The proved reserves of petroleum in the United States has been estimated by the American Petroleum Institute to be 19,024,515,000 barrels at the beginning of the year 1941. According to this estimate the known reserves in the Western States are as follows: The Western States, which contain most of the public land, thus contain 32 percent of the known reserves in the country. In 1934 the Geological Survey estimated about 15 percent of the reserves of petroleum known at that time to be on public land. Since that time the known reserves in the principal oil-producing public land States have decreased about 28 percent while reserves in the country as a whole, have increased about 42 percent. It is probable that the reserves in the public lands now amount to about 1,500,000,000 barrels or between 7 and 8 percent of the reserves of the Nation. The distribution of the reserves is indicated by the accompanying map (fig. 2), which shows the oil fields of the United States and also shows unproductive areas classified with respect to their relative likelihood of yielding commercial quantities of oil. Preliminary figures published by the Bureau of Mines show the total production in the United States in 1940 to be 1,351,847,000 barrels of crude petroleum and 55,249,000 barrels of natural gasoline. During that year slightly more than 3.3 percent (44,442,534 barrels) of the production of crude petroleum and slightly more than 2 percent (1,214,701 barrels) of the production of natural gasoline in the United States was obtained from public lands. In some States, such as Colorado (72 percent), Wyoming (59 percent), and New Mexico (25 percent), a large percentage of the production of crude petroleum is obtained from public lands but in other States, such as California (8 percent), Montana (7 percent), Oklahoma (0.1 percent), public lands supply a relatively small amount of the total production, and in Kansas none of the petroleum produced is obtained from public land. The total production of petroleum, by States, and the production from public land in 1940 are given in the following table: The Geological Survey, in 1938, concluded from published estimates of the reserves of natural gas that the known natural-gas reserves of the Nation are at least of the order of a hundred trillion cubic feet. The reserves are believed to be substantially the same at the present time. Detailed information regarding the distribution of the reserves by States is not available but approximately 40 percent of the reserves, or 40 trillion cubic feet, are in the Rocky Mountain States and California. The distribution of the natural gas fields is shown by the map (fig. 3). During 1940 the total marketed production of natural gas in the United States as reported by the Bureau of Mines was about 2,672,000 million cubic feet, which was in increase of 8 percent over 1939. The production of natural gas from public land during the year 1940 as compiled from the records of the Geological Survey was 80,840 million cubic feet, or about 3 percent of the total marketed production. The percentage of total marketed gas production obtained from public land in the principal Western gas-producing States in 1939 was: California 11 percent. Colorado 69 percent, Montana 11 percent, New Mexico 37 percent, Wyoming 58 percent, and Kansas and Oklahoma none. The following table shows, by States, the total production of natural gas in 1939 and the production from public land in 1939 and 1940: |