The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-05-01

mining and preparation they pass the
greater portion of their lives-of its
wonderful formation and discovery
and development. OF the methods of
mining they all know something, and
perhaps they are familiar with some
of the local geological pecularlties,
but how small the number of those
who delve further into the under
ground mysteries and how few are
able to converse intelligently on what
history and science impart concerning
this greatest of all products which man
has discovered and turned to his use.
Well does an eminent writer (Jevons)
say that coal in truth stands not be-
side but entirely above all other COM
modities. 1t is the material energy
of the countryside UNIVERSAL aid
the factor in everything that we do
With coal almost any feat lis possible
or easy: without it.. we are. thrown.
back into the laborious poverty of
early times" |'t
This valley, with it's vast beds of an
thracite, is in very truth one of the
chief factors in turning the multitudin-
Gus wheels of commerce and industry,
and is the backbone of a business Of
such Importance as to reach the enor-
nous total in value of nearly two hun
dred millions of dollars annually.
These are the wonderful facts which
lead to the thought that the story OF
how it was all brought about ought
to be on the tongue Of every man who
turns a coal drill and every boy who
drives a mine mule. 1t certainly is
fascinating subject, and our attention
has been directed to it anew by the re-
ceipt from the j. Il. LippinCCtt COM
pany, Philadelphia, Of a copy of Will
liam Jasper NicOls's most valuable
work, THE Story of American Goals"
The title in itself is most happy and
is suggestive of the attractive style
of the author. The coal business is
cminently practical one, and yet the
operations of Nature which have made
such a mighty industry possible are so
Wondrous and mysterious as to en-
circle it's record with many of the de-
lights of a fascinating story.
Fifteen years of employment in the
coal regions Of this state gave the au-
thor the practical experience so help
full in a work of this nature, and fur
/ nished opportunities for the gathering
! of material from every available
| source. To these facts, coupled with
Mr.. NicOll's very evident literary gifts,
we are indebted for the very interest
! ing and instructive work now pub
! lished.
| Mr. Nicolls divides his work into four
! sections "Orign," Development" !"
Transportation" "Consunption"-an
| treats each prehensively.. OF the
| first division of the work, it is sufficient
| to say that the author simply presents
| in brief the different views held by au-
| thoritics On geology holding that
! whether the great inland seas of the
! biologists ever burst their barriers
| through the AlleGhenies destroying in
| the wild rushing waters every living
| thing in their destructive paths
/ whether the noble seams of coal traV-
| ersing cur grand continent from
| northeast to southwest, were deposit
| ed in marshland or valley, oceans or
/ seas, rivers or ponds. need not con-
| Germ us in our efforts to develop the
/ immense treasure the Alm ghty has so
generously supplied to US and for our
| use"
In the historical chapters, we are
| told of the discovery of anthracite coal
! in the Wyoming valley in 1866. the au-
| thor following Pierce and other au-
| thorities in giving the credit for first
using the product to the Gore brothers,
members of the Connecticut colony;
| and the familiar steps by which its
! introduction as a fuel was accom-
/ plished and its value demonstrated are
| followed up in brief but interesting
/ manner. The cost OF transporting
! coal to market by the primitive river
] I'll oh
/ a ton, but as it sold at SO, it left a
| profit of s. a ton. Incidentally, it is
worth noting that the producers of an
/ thraCite coal are not now making a
| profit of So a ton. In 1904, William
| Boyd shipped the first ark-load of the
| Clearfield semi -bitumircus Goals down
! the Susquehanna to Columbia. From
| this small beginning, shipments have
! increased from that region to an out
put, yearly, of several millions of tons.
! Mr.. Nicolls very properly deems it
| suitable TO begin his general descrip-
! ton Of the American coal fields with
| the anthracite region of Pennsylvania,
| as being of the first Importance, and
| on this subject says: Nearly all Of
| the anthracite coal in the United states
| comes from Pennsylvania, but from a
| comparatively small part Of it. Geo
! graphically, the anthracite coal fields
are situated about the middle of the
! eastern portOin Of the state and in
clude the counties of Susquehanna,
/ L.aclawanna, Luzerne, Carbon, Schuyl-
! kill, Columbia, Northumberland and
/ rauphin, including an area of about
/ 4S0 square miles. From the compara-
! lively small section of our country. we
| have mined in the past seventy years
or, say, during a mans lifetime
| over one billion gross tons of anthra-
| cite coal. These seventy years may
| be said to contain the entire history
! of American coal In that short time
| we have advanced in the worlds coal
! production from the tail of the class
/ to the head. In 1749 the strip of Penn
! sylvania territory which includes all
of the anthracite deposits, and much
more, a strip about 125 miles long by
! about thirty miles wide, was purchased
! by the proprietary government for the
sum of 500 pounds, or in our money,
| say s., 500, about the cost Of an Ameri-
can workingman's two-story brick
| house. From the investment we have
! realized nearly S2,00OO,0O0 900, the value
of the coal mined, at tidewater! Sim
! ilarly, from the purchase of the bitum-
| inous coal fields form the chiefs Of the
! Six Nationos, for nominal sum, we
| have reaped a million fold. 1t is only
! fair to add, that the value of the land
! was equally unknown to the seller
| and purchaser. 1t was not until a
! hundred years later that the aEthra-
| tite trade, with an annual output OF
only three million tons, could be said
! to have passed the lines between pre-
! carious experiment to a commercial
| e,tcpass Al that time the pthryaci = a