ILLUSTRATIONS. FIGURE A. Curve showing value of mineral production of the United States, 1. Curve showing price at New York City, by months, 1910-1913, of 2. Map showing chromic iron ore localities in Shasta County, Cal.. 5. Curve showing production of coke and anthracite pig iron in the 6. Curve showing prices of basic pig iron, 1907-1913.. 7. Average weekly price of spelter at London and St. Louis, 1912-13... Page. CLXV 20 34 35 292 323 326 662 743 INSERT. Mineral products of the United States, 1904 to 1913.. In pocket. V MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE UNITED STATES IN 1913-PART I. MINERAL PRODUCTS OF THE UNITED STATES: REVIEW OF CONDITIONS AND OUTPUT IN 1912 AND 1913. By EDWARD W. PARKER. INTRODUCTION. With the present report, which covers primarily the calendar year 1913, the statistical division of the United States Geological Survey completes its thirty-second year. The initial authorization for this now important feature of the Survey's activities was contained in a provision inserted in the act of Congress making appropriations for the fiscal year 1883, that not to exceed $10,000 of the amount appropriated for the Geological Survey, might, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, be applied to the procuring of statistics in relation to mines and quarries other than gold and silver and in making chemical analyses of iron, coal, and oil." The exemption of gold and silver at that time from the statistical work of the Survey was made because the production of those metals was reported on by the Director of the Mint. With the small allotment available when the work was begun, it was possible to include in the reports (the first one of which covered the calendar year 1882) only statistical estimates prepared by experts on the several subjects, more or less extended reviews of market conditions and prices, and some special contributions on mining localities, mining methods, and technical progress. This method prevailed for the greater part of a decade. In 1889 the statistics of mineral production were compiled through a cooperating arrangement between the Survey and the Census Office, as a result of which complete lists of mining operations were obtained. These lists have been kept up to date by the Geological Survey, and the statistical history as presented in the volumes of Mineral Resources from 1889 to the present time has been the result of annual censuses of the mining industry, though many of the chapters during the next ten years continued to be prepared on contract by experts outside of the Survey organization. In the meantime, however, the work in the division of geology had developed specialists within the organization and for the last 10 years the reports on the several mineral products have been prepared by Survey geologists who have given particular study to the subjects assigned to them. This change has per mitted a more satisfactory compliance with the organic act of the Survey which provides that this bureau shall have charge of the "classification of the public lands and examination of the geological structure, mineral resources, and products of the public domain." As the work developed in scope and usefulness it became apparent that in the study of our mineral resources it was necessary to have more accurate knowledge of the sources from which the supply of gold and silver was obtained and in 1900 the Director of the Geological Survey was authorized to collect the mine statistics of gold and silver production, supplementing but not duplicating the work of the Director of the Mint. Since that time the statistics of gold and silver production as published have been the result of cooperative work with the Bureau of the Mint, the Survey being responsible for the statements of distribution by States, districts, and counties, and as to the character of the ores or deposits from which the metals were derived. The statistical treatment has been developed to a high degree of accuracy, in addition to which the chapters on the different subjects have been enriched by studies of the sources of the mineral production and of the application of the products to the use of man. It is recognized than an accurate knowledge of nature's storehouses from which future supplies may be drawn is as essential as the record of past achievement, and the assembling and dissemination of information of this character has been in recent years, and will continue to be, an important feature of these reports. An instance of the more comprehensive study of the sources of mineral wealth is given in the report on the production of iron ore in 1908, which contains maps and a brief description of the iron-producing districts and the location of the blast furnaces. A map showing the geographic distribution of the production of the precious and semiprecious metals in the Western States was published in the report for 1907, and the report on the production of coal in 1910 contains maps of the coal areas by States and groups of States, with brief descriptions of the areas themselves. Maps showing the cement localities have also been published, and current with the present report is published a wall map showing the developed petroleum and natural-gas fields of the United States. The present report completes a series of maps showing the distribution of the quarrying operations, the various stones, marble, granite, sandstone, etc., being indicated by different symbols. The first of the series, published in the report for 1911, showed by maps the quarry locations in the Eastern States. The report for 1912 contained maps giving similar information for the Central States, and maps accompanying the present report show the distribution of the quarrying industries in the Rocky Mountain and Pacific coast States. The present report also contains maps showing the borax and magnesite localities in California, the only State from which these mineral products are obtained. The value of the mineral products of the United States now exceeds $2,000,000,000 a year. When compared with the value of the agricultural products this sum, vast as it is, appears relatively small. The value of the corn crop alone in 1913 was $1,692,000,000, more than double the value of the principal mineral product-coal—and the total value of all grains was nearly $2,900,000,000. The marketed products of the barnyard, which include the poultry and dairy |