CONTENTS. Page. Sources of manganese.. ... Iron-ore reserves of United States Iron and steel industry of United States.. 136 Tungsten, nickel, cobalt, vanadium, etc., by Frank L. Hess. Plate I. Distribution of iron ore in the United States, by E. C. Harder.... In pocket. Plate II. Location of blast furnaces in the United States in 1908, by W. T. FIG. 1. Curve showing the production of iron ore, pig iron, and steel in the United States, 1870-1908, in long tons. 2. Average weekly prices of spelter and of 60 per cent zinc concentrates, and weekly production of zinc concentrates in the Joplin region in 3. Average weekly prices of spelter and of 60 per cent zinc concentrates, and weekly production of zinc concentrates in the Joplin region in MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE UNITED STATES FOR 1908-PART I. INTRODUCTION. CHARACTER AND SCOPE OF REPORT. The arrangement and scope of this report are practically the same as in the twenty-four preceding reports of the series Mineral Resources of the United States. Each report records the development of the mineral industries of the United States since the time covered by the preceding number of the series; the reports should therefore be consulted together. Each chapter is a census of the productive features of the industry under discussion. The statistics of the imports and exports of minerals, which form an essential part of the volume, are obtained through the courtesy of the Chief of the Bureau of Statistics, Department of Commerce and Labor. The summary gives the principal statistical information recorded in this report. In presenting these statistics all unnecessary duplication has been avoided. The coke product, for example, discussed in the following pages and amounting in 1908 to 26,033,518 short tons, valued at $62,483,983, is excluded from the tabular statement, as the quantity and value of the coal used in its manufacture are included in the statistics of coal production. Similarly, white lead, red lead, litharge, and orange mineral, whose average aggregate value for the last ten years has exceeded $15,000,000, are not given in the table, the base from which they are made being included in the output of pig lead. Zinc oxide, zinc-lead, sublimed blue lead, and sublimed white lead, made directly from the ores, and consequently not included in spelter or lead production, are tabulated. The production of pig iron and its value are given in the table as the best means of presenting the statistics of the production of iron in the first marketable condition. The statistics of the production of iron ores are treated in a separate chapter, but are not included in the general statement of mineral products. The quantity and value of the production of iron ores are also shown in a footnote to the table of mineral products. In like manner the value of clay products is given as representing the first marketable condition of the clay resources of the country. Inflation of valuation and all unnecessary duplication are thus avoided as far as practicable. In accordance with a change in the law (sundry civil appropriation act, approved May 27, 1908) governing the publication of this report, it will henceforth appear in two volumes, the first containing the statistics of the metallic products, and the second the statistics of the nonmetallic products of the country. |