The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1893-03-09
WHEN COAL WAS FIRST USED.

Heard OF as Fuel as Far Back as 1866
Preceded by Wood and Charcoal.
Though coal has been employed for
centuries in the manufacture Of salt on
the shores OF coal fields, wood had hither-
to continued to be the fuel of the inland
salt works. The use of coal at Nantwich
is mentioned as q novelty In 1856; and ac-
cording to the Contemporary Review
wood fuel and leaden pans were In use up
till 1851. In this era the sea salt manu-
facture was In the zenith of its prosper
ity. But the substitution Of coal for wood
In the inland salt trade, aided by the dis
covery of rock salt, which took place ac-
cidentally in boring for coal in 1870, In
Cheshire, led to the gradual decline and
final extinction Of salt manufacture Of
salt on the coast. The only traces now
remaining of this once fourishing indus
try exist in such names as Howdonpans
on the Tyne, Prestonpans on the Forth,
Saltcoats In Ayrshire, and Saltpans In
Arran and Kintyre, or In the Scottish
proverb, Garry salt to Dysart," synony-
nous with the English Garry Goals to
Newcastle" 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
to accomplish this with coal began i'm
mediately after the accession of James /.
and were persevered in throughout the
seventeenth century. But for long pc
riod the new fuel proved highly intracta-
~. Lad In,
failure and Disappointment.
After eighty years of oft-repeated trials
tho tantallzing problem remained un-
solved. Wood and charcoal still held the
field in the smelling furnaces and all
hope of ever seeing coal substituted for
them had we'll 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 prospects, however, be-
gan to brighten. Immediately after the
revival of lead and copper mining, which
took place about 1692-havlng probably
been more or less In allegiance since the
Interruptions caused 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 individual seems to
nave been the first to successfully employ
coal in the smelling of tin. In 1905. The
ores OF iron proved more refractory, no
| substantial and permanent success In
! smelling them with coal being obtained
| til near the middle Of the eighteenth cen
Jury, when the manufacture of charcoal
iron had dwlndled to very small proper
| tions-in fact, was dying out for want Of
| fuel. II then at length became an accom-
| plished fact at the Coalbrookdale iron
works in Shropshire. The success was
| at first ascribed to the Shropshire coal,
but probably the employment of a strong
blast had great deal to do with It.
| From this the coal became the life Of the
iron manufacture The ci-devant droop
Ing trade rapidly revived, and the latter
part of the eighteenth century saw coal
iron furnaces In successful operation
throughout the kingdom.