Coal Areas in the United States

A prime example of coal industry propaganda.

This simple little map was published in a folding brochure that was issued in 1955 by the National Coal Association. Large swathes of various colors indicate substantive coal deposits of various types across the United States.

Though the map is relatively innocuous, text on the verso is more indicative of the publishers’ aims:

“In estimating the total mineral fuel reserves for the future of this nation, the U.S. Bureau of Mines calculates…that our recoverable coal offers us more than 90 percent of our future energy reservoir…Coal and its sister-fuel, lignite, will remain, as one must therefore conclude, America’s long-term reliance not only for solid fuels but for liquid and gaseous fuels as well.”