The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1893-07-05
WHEN COAL WAS FIRST USED.
It Was Brought Into Service in England
In the Seventeenth Century.

Though coal had been employed for
centuries in the manufacture of salt
on the shores of the coal fields wood
had hitherto continued to be the fuel
at the inland salt works, says the Con-
temporary ReUieGO. The use of coal at
Nantwich is mentioned as novelty in
1856; at Droitwich wood fuel and
leaden pans were in use up till 1851.
In this era the sea-salt manufacture
was in the zenith of its prosperity.
But the substitution of coal for wood
in the inland salt trade, aided by the
discovery of rock salt, which took
place accidentally in boring for coal in
Cheshire. 1870, led to the gradual de-
cline and final extinction of the manu-
facture of salt on the coast. The only
traces now remaining of this once
hourishing industry exists in such
names as Howdon Pans on the Tyne,
Prestonpans on the Forth, Saltcoaus in
Ayrshire, and Saltpans in Arran and
Kintyre, or in the Scottish proverb,
"Carry salt to Dysart," synonymous
with the English "Carry coal to New
CASTLE"
In no branch of industry was the
scarcity of wood more keenly felt than
in the smelling of metalliferous ores.
Continued efforts to accomplish this
with coal began Immediately after the
accession of James l. and were perse-
vered in throughout the seventeenth
century. But for a prolonged period
the new fuel proved highly intractable,
and scheme after scheme ended in
failure and disappointment.
After eighty years of oft repeated
trials the tantalizing problem remain
ed unsolved. Wood and charcoal still
held the field in the smelling furnaces.
and all hope of ever seeing coal substi-
tuteG for them had well-nigh died out.
In 1856 Sir John Pettus, in his Essays
on Words Metallick," concluded his
observations regarding sea coal and
pit coal with the remark: "These are
not useful to metals"
The unpromising prospect, however,
soon began to brighten. Immediately
after the revival of lead and copper
mining, which took place about 1896
having. probably been more or less
in allegiance since tie interruptions
occasioned by the civil wars when
| The fisher left his skiff to rock
| On Tamars glittering waves;
| The rugged miners rushed to war
| From Mendip's sunless caves.
these ores came to be smelted with
coal The extraction of silver from
lead with coal was accomplished by {
Mr.. Lydal in 1897, and the same indi
vidual appears to have been the frs
to successfully employ coal in ths
smelling of tin in 1705.
The ores of iron proved more refrac
tory, no substantial and permanent
success in smelling them with coal be
ing obtained till near the middle o
the eighteenth century, when th'
manufacture of charcoal iron haC
dwindled to very small proportions
in fact, was dying out for want of fuel
1t then at length became an accom-
plished fact at Coalbrookdale Irol
works in Shropshire. The success wa
at first ascribed to the Shropshire coal
but probably the employment of
strong blast had great deal to d.
with it. From this the coal becam
the life of the iron manufacture. Th
ci-de-vant dropping trade rapid.
revived, and the latter part of tn
eighteenth century saw coal-iron fur
naces in successful operation through
out the kingdom.