The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1893-06-29
WHEN COAL WAS FIRST USED.
1t Was Brought into Service in England
in the Seventeenth Century.

Though coal had been employed foi
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, saws the Con-
temporary RecieW. 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 tool,
place accidentally in boring for coal in
Cheshire, 1870, led TO the gradual de-
cline and final extinction of the mama
facture Of salt on the coast. The only
traces now remaining of this once
fourishin@ industry exists in such
names rs Howdon Pans on the Tyne,
Prestonpans on the Forth. Saltcoaus in
Ayrshire, and Saltpan5 in Arran and
kintyre, or i'll the Scottish prOvcrb,
Garry salt to Dvsart," Synonymous
with the English Garry coal to New
castle"
In no branch of industry was the
scarcity of wood more keenly felt than
III the smelling of metalliferouS ores.
Continued efforts 10 accomplish this
with coal began Immediately after the
accession Of James ]. and were pcrse-
vered in throughout the seventeenth
century. But for 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 tautalizing problem remain
ed unsolved. Wood and charcoal still
held the field in the smelling furnaces,
and all hope of ever seeing coal substi-
tuted for them had well-nigh died ont.
In 1886 Sir John Pettus, in his ESSAYS
on Words Metallick," concluded his
observations regarding sea coal and
pit coal with the remark: "Thess are
not useful to metals"
The unpromisin@ prospect, however,
soon began TO brighten. Immediately
after the revival of lead and copper
mining. which took place about 1692
having probably been more or less
in allegiance since the Interruption
occasioned by the civil wars when
The fisher left his skin TO rock
On Tamars gl!ttering waves:
The rugged miners rushed TO war
From Mend pS sunless caves.
these ores came to be smelted with
coal. The extraction of silver from
lead with coal was accomplished by 4
Mr.. Lydal in 1897, and the same indi-
yidual appears to have been the first
TO successfully employ coal in the
smelling of tin in l70J.
The ores of iron proved more refrac.
tory, no substantial and permanent
success in smeiting them with coal be-
ing obtained till near the middle OF
the eighteenth century. when the
manufacture of charcoal iron had
dwiudled to very small proportions -
in fact, was dying out for want of fuel.
1t then at length became an accom-
plished fact at 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 dc
with it. From this the coal became
the life of the iron manufacture. The
ci-de-vant dropping trade rapidly
revived, and the latter part of the
eighteenth century saw coal-iron fur.
naces in successful operation through.
out the kingdom.