There are two types of coal found in Pennsylvania: anthracite, the hard coal found in Northeastern Pennsylvania below the Allegheny Ridge southwest to Harrisburg, and bituminous, the soft coal found west of the Allegheny Front escarpment). Anthracite coal is a natural mineral with a high carbon and energy content that gives off light and heat produced energy when burned, making it useful as a fuel. It was possibly first used in Pennsylvania as a fuel in 1769, but its history begins with a documented discovery near Summit Hill and the founding of the Lehigh Coal Mine Company in 1792 to periodically send expeditions to the wilderness atop Pisgah Ridge to mine the deposits, mostly with notable lack of great success, over the next 22 years.
The owners of this company were absentee managers who were reliant on teams of workers sent under a foreman to fell timber to build so called 'arks' (high-sided punts), then mine coal around nine miles in present-day Summit Hill, Pennsylvania from the right bank of the Lehigh River terminus at Mauch Chunk), then trek with mule loads to fill the boats for the trip down the rapid-strewn Lehigh River, and then more than to the Lehigh Valley docks on the unimproved, often log-choked river.
Around 1790, the nation's first energy crisis became evident even in smaller towns: the forests needed for charcoal for smelting and other manufacturing, and stands of wood for heating fire wood were quickly vanishing, farther and farther from population centers. Transport of wood or an alternative fuel became very important to people, and bituminous was cheaper to import from England than 'chancy, unreliable' anthracite was to buy in Philadelphia. Suffering through British navy blockades during the war, industrialist Josiah White set his mill supervisors the task of experimenting with anthracite to get to ignite and burn in a useful way. Draft control and reflected heat proved to be the key to using anthracite for all processes. With sufficient heat, which excess air flow retards and cools, the fuel ignited and burned well. Soon other measures were found that within a decade made it the preferred home heating fuel in all the developed and settled East coast.
In 1813, the first mining actually begun at Beaver Meadows, however, because of the various struggles getting it the to Philadelphia and because it is far more difficult to ignite anthracite with its sporadic and unreliable supply, it did not come to be generally used regularly until after the War of 1812. Industrialists Hazard and White showed the way. The developments of the canal and then railroad system made transporting the anthracite exponentially easier, and by the 1860s anthracite coal was regularly supplying urban centers like Philadelphia and New York City and was helping to fuel the American Industrial Revolution.
Geology Anthracite and bituminous coal were formed in the eastern and western regions of Pennsylvania in the Carboniferous Geological Period. The Pennsylvania Anthracite Region is in the Valley and Ridge Province of the Appalachian Mountains, with the coal located in the folded and faulted terrain of the Province.
The anthracite fields are maintained in synclinal basins that are surrounded by sandstone ridges, which help to "protect" the anthracite.
There are four different anthracite coalfields in Pennsylvania, all located on the eastern side of the state. The Northern field is located predominantly in the Luzerne, Lackawanna, Susquehanna and Wayne Counties; the Western Middle field in Northumberland, Columbia, and Schuylkill Counties; Eastern Middle field mainly in Luzerne County but extending into Schuylkill, Carbon, and Columbia Counties; the Southern field in Carbon, Schuylkill, Lebanon, and Dauphin Counties. Anthracite differs from bituminous in usage in that it has better heat quality and fewer disadvantageous by-products, but it has higher carbon content and is therefore harder to ignite and requires a grate to separate the ashes from the burning coal.
History 17th century One of the earliest mentions that coal might be found in the Pennsylvania area dates back to 1698, when Gabriel Thomas wrote an account dedicated to William Penn. He notes the possibility of coal because the running water had the same coloring as the water in the coalmines in Wales.
18th century The actual presence of coal is first recorded on a map made in 1753 by John Pattin, an Indian trader, although it is possible he did not detect the coal first hand, but rather heard about it from other traders. In 1754, George Washington led an expedition across the Allegheny Mountains, and his second-in-command wrote a letter detailing an abundance of natural luxuries including coal in Western Pennsylvania.
In 1761, the first actual Pennsylvania coal mine is recorded on the "Plan of Fort Pitts and Parts Adjacent" map. The bituminous mine was located in Fort Pitt near the top of Coal Hill, which is now Downtown Pittsburgh. Anthracite coal was first found in 1762, and then was used for the first time around 1769 by Obadiah Gore and his brother in their blacksmith shop in Wilkes-Barre. However, coal usage was generally restricted to local consumption needs until the industry began to expand at the turn of the 19th century.
The Lehigh Coal Mine Company first used coal commercially in 1792. The company was founded after German immigrant Philip Ginder discovered beds of the anthracite "stone coal" near Summit Hill in 1791 while out hunting.
A wealthy landowner, Jacob Weiss, and other Philadelphia businessmen provided the capital to form the Lehigh Coal Mine Company. The company had a slow start because of the difficulty in igniting anthracite coal and the inability to transfer the coal to urban markets. Judge Jesse Fell of Wilkes-Barre discovered a solution to ignite anthracite in 1808 with the usage of an iron grate that allowed the coal to light and burn easier. Demand for the anthracite coal increased slightly. Brothers Abijah and John Smith were the first to successfully transport hard coal when they moved 50 tons on an ark down the Susquehanna River to Columbia in 1807.
19th century In 1810, 350 tons of anthracite was mined in Pennsylvania. The use of anthracite coal was restricted due to the difficulties in transporting it efficiently, and the industry was still small and undeveloped. The War of 1812 against Great Britain increased the usage of anthracite coal. Prior to the war, citizens of the nation's urban centers such as New York and Philadelphia received most of their coal fuel needs from Britain and Virginia's bituminous coal supplies. During the war the British blockade of American ports severely limited the supply of British bituminous fuel reaching the US, and there was also a shortage in Virginia's supply resulting in a fuel crisis.
Prior to the War of 1812, citizens did not like to use anthracite coal because it was difficult to ignite and maintain, but the wartime shortage forced them to start using anthracite. Jacob Cist of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania promoted the use of anthracite during and after the War of 1812. Jacob Cist's father was a major investor in the Lehigh Coal Mine Company, so Cist began to transport the company's coal to Philadelphia by the Lehigh and Delaware rivers.
Once in Philadelphia, he used testimonials and public demonstrations to negate the stereotype of anthracite and convince Philadelphia society that the hard coal could be used as a replacement for bituminous coal. Cist and other advocates including the Pennsylvania state legislature and government officials continued to promote the anthracite, and the War of 1812 was able to open the way for Pennsylvania anthracite coal to outdo Virginia's bituminous share of the market.
With the opening of the major canals Lehigh, Schuylkill, and Delaware & Hudson in addition to smaller ones such as the Delaware Division and Morris Canals, canal companies successfully provided urban markets for anthracite coal. The anthracite commercial market greatly expanded, and the hard coal was used as valuable fuel for heating and cooking domestically, as well as energy sources for small businesses such as blacksmiths, brewers, bakers, and manufacturers.
Lehigh Canal
Josiah White and Erskine Hazard founded the Lehigh Navigation Company in 1818. They wanted to use rivers to more efficiently transport anthracite coal. After they were declined a charter to the Schuylkill River, they tried to receive a charter for the Lehigh River. The Lehigh River was located near the Summit Hill Mine, which was mined and operated by the Lehigh Coal Mine Company. Josiah White and Erskine Hazard made a partnership between their company and the Lehigh Coal Mine Company to form the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company, which was incorporated in 1822. They received a charter from the Pennsylvania legislature giving them the right to improve navigation on the Lehigh River, which effectively granted them a monopoly over the Lehigh. White and Hazard ordered the construction of a roadway to link the Summit Hill Mine and the Lehigh River, and then ordered the building of a canal. By 1840, over 250,000 tons of anthracite mined from the region annually reached Philadelphia through White and Hazard's Lehigh River system.
Schuylkill Canal A group of Germans wanted to seek the rights to the Schuylkill River. They received a charter in 1815 to incorporate the Schuylkill Navigation Company, which would have control over the Schuylkill River. After receiving investors, the Schuylkill Navigation Company was able to finance a 108-mile long river and canal system that connected the Pottsville area to Philadelphia that opened in 1825. By the early 1840s, some 500,000 tons of anthracite coal was being transported annually to Philadelphia using the Schuylkill River.
Delaware & Hudson Canal The Wurts brothers, William and Maurice, owned coalfields in the Northeastern Pennsylvania anthracite region, but found an unresponsive market in Philadelphia, which was receiving coal from the Schuylkill and Lehigh routes. They saw business potential in finding a connection route between anthracite fields and the New York City market, so they had the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company incorporated in 1823. The D&H Company built a canal system across parts of the Delaware and Hudson Rivers that stretched from Honesdale, Pennsylvania to Rondout, New York, which was completed in 1828.
Railway The rise of the railway system expanded the anthracite coal industry. The D&H Company was one of the first to attempt the use of steam locomotives in the United States. They purchased a locomotive from England so they could transport coal from the mines to their canal, and tested it on a railroad track in 1829. The locomotive ultimately failed, since it was too heavy for the wooden track, but demand was sparked for lighter locomotives that could transport coal from the mines to the canals.
Locomotives that solely transported coal from mines to canal entries were in use in the 1830s, but goals were set to use railroads to bypass canals all together. In 1855 Asa Packer opened the Lehigh Valley Railroad (LVRR) to compete with the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company's monopoly. The LVRR would eventually link the Mauch Chunk area of Pennsylvania all the way through New Jersey to New York City. The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad was opened in 1839 connecting Reading, PA in the southern anthracite region to Philadelphia.