The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1893-07-14
MINING COAL IN A RIVER BED.
THE CHANNEL OF THE sUsQUEHANNA
RICH IN FUEL DEPOSITS.

The following appeared in last
Mondays Press as a despatch from
Northumberland.
although this quiet, old fashioned
town, which only lacked one vote of
being chosen for the county seat can
not boast of coal deposits in their
natural state, the digging of dusky
diamonds and their subsequent sale
has become an important industry
here. This coal, Of which several
thousand tons are now marketed an
nually, is mined in a manner very
similar to the gold placer operations
in Western rivers and creeks.
To be more explicit it is taken
from the bed of the Susquehanna
River by the thrifty farm workers and
is then delivered to customers at
points along the river banks at prices
slightly below the market rate for
other regularly mined coal. The min
ing of the fuel in this manner is far
more pleasant than the dangerous
work of cutting it from its natural
state in the bowels of the earth, and
is more remunerative also as the un-
tutored country youth can clear from
81 to SO, as the result of each days
labor.
These deposits have been washed.
to their present location in the north
branch of the river, by the floods Of
the past twenty years, from the big
coal operations situated on the river
banks at Wilkes-Barre, Nanticoke,
Plymouth, and Pittston. The big
dam thrown across the river below
Sunbury has acted as a most effective
barrier and has prevented this valu-
able fuel from passing to points far
ther down the stream. Old river men
maintain that layers of the choicest
coal, several feet in thickness, cover
the river bed for many miles above
the breast of the dam, and their as
sertion seems to be verified by the
large amounts of the products which
are daily being removed.
Low water in the river means
rich harvest for the scores of toilers
who pursue this new vocation, as they
are then enabled to greatly increase
their output. These workers are at
times out in such numbers that the
entire surface of the water is covered
so thickly with their boats that the
steamers plying on this part Of the
river find much difficulty in passing
up or down the stream without run
ming down the miner boatmen.
The workers start out early in the
morning with two large fat-bottomed
rowboats and casting anchor in from
five to nine feet of water begin their
labors. They are supplied with
long handled scoop netting, similar in
shape to a round pointed shovel.
Using one of the boats as base of
operations the miner pushes his scoop
net into the accumulations of mud,
sand and coal lying on the bed rock
Of the river. In raising it, by one or
two dexterous movements he washes
all of the mud and sand out of the
net. The remainder of the haul,
which is half a bushel of COAL is de-
posted in the second boat
These maneuvers are repeated un-
til cargo has been secured, when
the miner becomes a riverman and
rows his treasure to some purchaser
at Sunbury, Northumberland or other
point. The coal is entirely free from
slate. The water has worn it smooth
and ronnd like river boulders. In
size it ranges from chestnut to small
stove, thus adapting it admirably for
household and steam purposes. Oc-
caslonally, however, Jumps as large as
egg and broken are brought to light
One can harvest from two to three
tons by working all day and he finds
ready market for his product at
$a.2o per ton. People who have
used this fuel say that it retains its
life and burns as well as newly mined
coal. AS the regular daysswages paid
company miners is from $a.oo to
$a.a5, it can readily be seen that the
Northumberland boatmen can double
the farmers earnings without under
going any more risk than very tired
back, and no miner working in steep
and narrow veins is exempt from that
same penalty.
During the early years of coal min
ing the smaller sizes of coal were
dumped on the culm banks without
any attempt to prepare them for mar
ket In the Luzerne regions many of
these collieries bordered on the banks
of the Susquehanna or tributary
streams and hundreds Of thousands of
tons of what was then considered