It was not till 1859 that the first "oil gusher" of western Pennsylvania opened up an entirely new source of wealth.

Though we had the largest coal deposits known to geologists, we were bringing large supplies of this indispensable necessity from Nova Scotia.

It has been said that coal and iron are the two mineral products that have chiefly affected modern civilization.

Certainly the nations that have made the greatest progress industrially and commercially--England, Germany, America--are the three that possess these minerals in largest amount.

From sixty to seventy per cent of all the known coal deposits in the world were located in our national domain.