Abundance of Coal and Coke.

Mr. E. W. Parker, of the United States Geological Survey, who served by appointment of President Roosevelt as one of the anthracite strike arbitrators, recently called the attention of the Washington State Press Association to the fact that Pennsylvania, Illinois, Colorado and Washington are the chief coal-producing States in the four longitudinal sections or belts of the United States from east to west and that each of these States takes the lead in manufacturing among all the States in its section. Washington has incalculable supplies of coal of excellent quality for producing heat and generating steam. The coal is stored in the Cascade Mountains and the mines of Pierce, Kittitas and Southern King Counties are in close and direct railway communication with Tacoma. It is said that the cars loaded with coal at fifty mine openings in Western Washington, would run by gravity into Tacoma by simply unloosening the brakes. Tacoma has huge bunkers for coaling steamships and a line of colliers plies constantly between this port and San Francisco. The best, if not the only coking coal yet mined in Washington is found in abundance in Pierce County within thirty miles of Tacoma. But fuel from the waste of the great lumber mills is so abundant and cheap in Tacoma that the tremendous advantage of her proximity to the rich coal fields of Washington is not as yet fully realized.

Inexhaustible Supply of Power.

Of even greater value than her coal as a factor in the industrial development of Tacoma is the utilization of the enormous water power which has its origin and source in the snow-capped and glacier-buttressed dome of Mount Tacoma. The mountain from which Tacoma takes her name is an inexhaustible reservoir of power whose efficiency is immeasurable. Tacoma lies at its feet and is the natural outlet and market for its harnessed energies.

Science has discovered the means for the conversion of water power into electrical energy transmissible over a wire from the place of its generation to a convenient point for its application and use. There is a loss in transmission which increases with the distance. Therefore Tacoma, which is the nearest seaport and railway terminal to the mountain from whose dizzy heights torrents of water rush ceaselessly to the sea level, is favored by her geographical position in the use of this power. There are numerous streams which make a descent of thousands of feet within fifty miles of the city. Capital has been enlisted and freely expended in the work of generating power for industrial and transportation purposes, besides current for light and heat.

Puget Sound Power Company’s Plant.