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Show - 1 tremely lowi rates per unit, and th 1 distribution of electrical powr froa I ! a few central points at a groat saT. : Ing of cost. A 8lnglo centrally locst-ed locst-ed electrical plant could supply with power an area of 20,000 square" mlkj, 1 or more than three times that of all New England Such a developmeat would hasten tho electrification of all ,, railroad traction, would Bave our.Mgb ! , grade coals, would make travel can ' j and factories smokeless, and would vastly reduce our annual loss froa ! forest fires, many of which are caus-ed caus-ed by sparks from the steam locomo- : ttves. Briquets of lignite are cheaply 1 made and are a highly effective fuel, so that they could be used as a sub-' I stltute for coal In many operations, both commercial and domestic. I The figures quoted In the discus- slon are so stupendous as to make : one's head swim, and no doubt eom. thing must be allowed for the enthu-; enthu-; siajm of the author; but If he ia with, i In 50 per cent of the truth the mat j tor Is one . of the highest practlod importance. 1 The fact that lignite is found u far northward as the Dakota? and I as far south as Mississippi and Tcxu : gives the question great significance. ; If Mr. Mitchell is not too sanguln?, lignite and other cheap fuels used u 1 gas generator are destined to revo-. revo-. lutionize our industrial conditions. It ! should be said in justice to him thst, I while he speaks in superlatives, h' 1 bases his declarations upon high ac-thoritles. ac-thoritles. The United States goo! ical survey estimates that wo bar I nearly 1.400,000.000,000 short tons of j lignite and sub-bituminous coals, t. : sides vast deposits of peat; and Mr. Mitchell says that while the loss a.' I energy in coal used for generate j steam power is frrn 90 to 95 j cent, the loss in the case of llmiti . applied to the generation of gas Is less than SO per cent, Boston Her- aid. Kjyj LIGNITE A NEW SOURCE OF POWER Lignite and other low grade coals, peat and tho waste of blast furnaces promise, according to Guy Elliott j Mitchell, ho writes of the subject in . the November issue of tho Geograph- ic Magazine, to drive out the steam ' engine anil substitute for it the ga-5 engine, with an Incalculable saving in fuel and increase in power. ! Lignite, the chief fuel likely t. be used iii the gas producers of the fu-! fu-! ture, is widely distributed throughout i the United States, and is especially 1 abundant in the northern part of the i region between the Mississippi and the Rockies and in Alaska. It is estimated esti-mated that wre have in this country, exclusive of Alaska, 740 billion tons of lignite, of which one-third is on public pub-lic land. The Alaskan deposits are estimated at olio billion tons or more. Peat, which may be used for gas pro- J duetion. Is also widelv distributed in I regions that have no "lignite, as New England. New York. New Jersey. Flor- ! idn. Wiscousin, Michigan and Mlnne-' sota. i Up to a very recent time lignite was regarded as nearly worthless because be-cause it could not be profitably used as a steam producer Experiments by the federal government, however, have shown that lignite as a gas producer far surpasses tho richest coal. In fact, lignite used as a gas producer J has from two and a half to three and a half times the value In horso power pow-er that It has as a steam producer, and far surpasses in tTlcieucy the expensive ex-pensive coals. ' 1 Estimates are made that tbe saving ' in the annual coal bill of tho eountry through tho use of lignite in gas plants instead of c.al In steam plants will be from one million to two million mil-lion dollars. It is furthermore asserted assert-ed that lignite and other cheap fuels will make possible the generation of electricity hi- the us e-ngiues at cx- |