Coal.
The business of coal-mining in the
United States for commercial purposes has entirely grown up since 1825.
It was known before the Revolution that coal existed in
Pennsylvania.
As early as 1769.
a blacksmith,
Obadiah Gore, in the
Wyoming Valley, used coal found lying on the surface of the ground.
Forty years afterwards he tried the successful experiment of burning it in a grate for fuel.
During the Revolution anthracite coal was used in the armory at
Carlisle, Pa., for blacksmiths' fires.
In 1790 an old hunter,
Philip Gintner, in the
Lehigh Valley, discovered coal near the present
Mauch Chunk.
In 1792 the Lehigh Coal-Mining Company was formed for mining it, but it did little more than purchase lands.
In 1806 200 or 300 bushels were taken to
Philadelphia.
but experiments to use it for ordinary fuel failed.
In 1812
Col. George Shoemaker took nine wagon-loads to
Philadelphia, but could not sell it. It was soon afterwards used with success in rolling-mills in
Delaware county, and it soon found purchasers elsewhere.
But it was not until 1825 that the coal-trade began to assume
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notable proportions, when anthracite was used in factories and in private houses for fuel.
The whole amount of anthracite sent to market in 1820 was 365 tons.
The entire product of the country in the calendar year 1899 was 193,321,987 short tons of bituminous, spot value, $167,935,304; and 53,944,647 long tons of
Pennsylvania anthracite, spot value, $88,142,130.
