Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1871.djvu/625

 RAILWAYS.

589

15,786,122 bushels of buckwheat, 98,965,198 bushels of potatoes, 18,346,730 tons of hay, and 163,353,082 lbs. of tobacco. The assessed value of real and personal property in the United States •was 6,010,207,300 dollars in 1850, while at the census of 1860 it had risen to 12,006,838,576 dollars.

The yield of the precious metals in the United States during 1868 was estimated at 66.50(1.001) dollars ; California produced the largest amount, 20,000,000 dollars, and after it came Nevada. 18,000,000 ; Montana, 12,000,000; Idaho, 6,000,000; Oregon, 5,000,000; and Colorado, 4,000,000 dollars. Washington, New Mexico, and Ari- zona territories produced smaller amounts.

It is calculated that 25,800,000 tons of coal were raised in the year 1867. The great coal region of the United States is Pennsylvania, and in this district 13,405,016 tons of anthracite coal were raised in 1868, as compared with 12,650,571 tons in 1867, showing an increase of 754,445 tons. The extraction of bituminous and semi- bituminous coal in 1868 amounted to 2,251,820 tons, as compared with 2,255,738 tons, in 1866, showing an increase of 3,918 tons.

The coal region is divided into three sections, namely, the Schuyl- kill, or southern district, the Lehigh, or middle district, and the Wyoming, or northern district. In 1868, the raising of coal through- out the region employed upwards of 35,000 men, mostly natives of Wales, England, and Ireland.

The growth of the railway system of the United States dates from 1827, when the first line was opened for traffic at Quincey, Massa- chusetts. The extent of railway in operation in 1830 was 41 miles- in 1835, 918 miles; in 1840, 2,197 miles; in 1845, 4,522 miles; and in 1850, 7,475 miles. At the end of 1851 there were 8,589 miles of railway ; from 1851 to 1857 inclusive, there were opened 2,400 miles, on an average, per annum, bringing the total up to 25,000 miles; from 1858tol866inclusive,the average of milesopened was 1,300 per annum, bringing up the total to 36,900 miles. In 1867, 2,227 miles were opened ; in 1868, 3,000 miles ; and in 1869, 4,500 miles. The year of greatest railway enterprise was 1851, in which 2,500 miles were constructed, and that of least, 1864 when only 738 miles were built. On the 1st of January, 1870, there were 48,860 miles of railway open for traffic, and" 27,507 miles projected and in progress. The railway lines open for traffic were spread over the country, according to a communication made by the Secretary of the Interior to the Statesman's Year-book, as follows : — ■

Miles West and north-west States 20,828 Pacific and west „ 1,835

Total. . . 48,860

Miles North-east States. . 4,274 Middle-east „. . 10,792

South-east „. . ft,837 Gulf and south-west States 5,294