Mineral Facts and Problems: 1960 Edition Page: 56

MINERAL FACTS AND PROBLEMS, ANNIVERSARY EDITION

holdings of coal land have been relinquished
by nonpayment of taxes, and ownership has
been transferred to the local governments. In
other cases, requests for lower assessment val-
ues on reserve coal land have been granted to
alleviate the problem.
In common with other mineral industries,
anthracite producers are allowed a depletion
deduction when computing Federal income
taxes to compensate for that part of the coal
reserves used in annual production. The the-
ory underlying the 10-percent deduction al-
lowed anthracite producers is the same as that
for the depreciation of other assets, namely, to
permit the tax-free recovery of capital.
DISTRIBUTION AND TRANSPORTATION
Although Pennsylvania anthracite is distrib-
uted to most sections of the country and is an
important export commodity, more than four-
fifths of the annual output is marketed in New
England and Middle Atlantic States areas. Of
the 20 million tons reported shipped during the
1958-59 coal year, these areas, combined, re-
ceived approximately 83 percent, with only 7
percent going to all other States. Canada ac-
counted for 7 percent and exports to all other
countries, 3 percent (figure 4). As shown by

All other States I.I -,

(O
NV

100%= 20,293,237 NET TONS
FIGURE 4.-Distribution of Pennsylvania Anthracite
for the Coal Year April 1958-March 1959, by Desti-
nations, in Percent of Total.
NOTE.-"Lake States" Include Illinois, Michigan,
Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. "South Atlantic" In-
cludes Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, and
Virginia.

the data in table 8, Pennsylvania is anthracite's
largest market-taking 42 percent of the coal-
year shipments-followed by New York with
23 percent and New Jersey with 12 percent.
Of total exports during the 1958-59 coal year,
1,075,000 tons were shipped to the Province of
Ontario, 412,000 tons to Quebec, 23,000 tons to
the Maritimes and about 605,000 net tons to
all other countries.
Although the truck shipments reported to
the Bureau for the 1958-59 coal year repre-
sented a decline of 3 percent from the preced-
ing coal year, truck transportation of anthra-
cite has made rapid gains in recent years. Of
total shipments during the 1958-59 coal year
over one-third left the mines by truck (table
8), while as recently as 10 years ago (during
the 1948-49 coal year) only 15 percent was
shipped by truck. Several factors account for
this trend: (1) Increased rail freight rates,
(2) improved highways, (3) increased truck
capacities, (4) truck dieselization, (5) shorter
time lapse between mine and consumer, and (6)
greater flexibility in retail-dealer operations.
On the other hand, rail shipments have shown
a rather steady decline-the 1958-59 coal-year
shipments representing a decrease of 22 per-
cent from the 1957-58 coal year.
Rail freight rates on anthracite are seldom
based on the per-ton-mile factor. Therefore, it
is generally found that rail transportation costs
decrease somewhat in proportion to length of
haul. As truck costs per-ton-mile remain rela-
tively constant, anthracite trucking is re-
stricted to areas within a radius of roughly
200 miles. Present North-South economic
trucking limits are southern Connecticut and
northern Virginia. The preponderant part of
the Pennsylvania tonnage is delivered east of
Harrisburg. In Now York, most of the trucked
coal goes to New York City and the southern
part of the State, while the northern sections
of New Jersey and Delaware take the bulk of
coal moving into those States. In Maryland,
the principal truck markets are Baltimore and
Eastern Shore points.
Except for a minor tonnage moving over the
lakes, exported anthracite moves all-rail,
whether to Canada or to the ports of Phila-
delphia and Baltimore for oversea shipment.
Other tonnages originating as rail shipments
at the mines are subsequently transshipped to
final destinations by lake and tidewater car-
riers. In calendar year 1958 approximately
270,000 tons were dumped at Lake Erie and
Lake Ontario docks for movement by lake car-
riers. Tidewater shipments to the New Eng-
land States, once totaling millions of tons per
year, had shrunk by 1958 to less than 4,000
tons.

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