(1895)
237,815; (1900) 296,938. Its surface is a roughly broken plateau,
traversed N.W. to S.E. by several ranges of mountains and sloping gently
toward the Rio Grande. The only level tract of any size in the state is
the Bolson de Mapimi, a great depression on the western side which was
long considered barren and uninhabitable. It is a region of lakes and
morasses, of arid plains and high temperatures, but experiments with
irrigation toward the end of the 19th century were highly successful and
considerable tracts have since been brought under cultivation. In
general the state is insufficiently watered, the rainfall being light
and the rivers small. The rivers flow eastward to the Rio Grande. The
climate is hot and dry, and generally healthy. Stock-raising was for a
time the principal industry, but agriculture has been largely developed
in several localities, among the chief products of which are
cotton--Coahuila is the principal cotton-producing state in
Mexico--Indian corn, wheat, beans, sugar and grapes. The Parras district
in the southern part of the state has long been celebrated for its wines
and brandies. The mineral wealth of the state is very great, and the
mining industries, largely operated with foreign capital, are important.
The mineral products include silver, lead, coal, copper, and iron. The
mining operations are chiefly centred in the Sierra Mojada, Sierra
Carmen, and in the Santa Rosa valley. The modern industrial development
of the state is due to the railway lines constructed across it during
the last quarter of the 19th century, and to the investment of foreign
capital in local enterprises. The first Spanish settlement in the region
now called Coahuila was at Saltillo in 1586, when it formed part of the
province of Nueva Viscaya. Later it became the province of Nueva
Estremadura under the Spanish regime, and in 1824, under the new
republican organization, it became the state of Coahuila and included
Texas and Nuevo Leon. Later in the same year Nuevo Leon was detached,
but Texas remained a part of the state until 1835. The capital of the
state is Saltillo; Monclova was the capital from 1833 to 1835. Among the
more important towns are Parras (pop. 6476 in 1900), 98 m. W. by N. of
Saltillo in a rich grape-producing district, Ciudad Porfirio Diaz, and
Monclova (pop. 6684 in 1900), 105 m. N. by W. of Saltillo, on the
Mexican International railway.

COAL. In its most general sense the term "coal"