The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1897-08-01

growth consisting of pine trees. fir trees
ana all kinds of MOSES and plants, which,
dying down year after year. became a
great matted bed OF vegetation. They
tell you how this bed was bottled up by
being covered up with rocks and how It
hnaily turned into coal. They can tell you
just when this happened and how long it
came to pass before Noah was baby or
cain killed little Abel outside the Garden
OF Eden
How Coal Was Discovered.
Men lived for thousands of year upon
tie earth before they knew that coal was
good 20 burn. All the iron made before
the days OF the middle ages was with
charcoal, and a fairy tale is told in Bel
GUM OF how poor blacksmith discover
ed the nrst black diamonds. He found
that he could not get along for II took
50 much time 10 make his charcoal for
ms furnace lie was Just about TO COM
nit suicide when a white-bearded old man
appeared al his shop and told him TO go
70 the mountains near by and dig out the
black earth and burn il. lie did SO, and
was able 70 make a horse shoe at one
forging. This il the Belgian story II the
discovery of coal. The first coal found
~ America was near Ottawa. III. II is
mentioned by Father Hennepin. French
explorer, who visited there ia 1879 The
INST mines worked were about Richmond.
( va This coal vas discovered by boy
While out fishing
lie was hunting for crabs for bait in a
s'nat X. and thus stumbled upon the
oatcroppings of ehe James river coal
oea. our anthracite coal fields have per-
maps paid better than any other coal fields
% the world. They were discovered hy a
hunter named Nicho Allen when George
Washington WAS president. Allen en-
c7mped enc night in tho schuyikill re-
glons. kindling his fire upon some black
stones. lie awake to find himself Amos.
roasted TIE stones were on fire. and an
ihFaciie was burning for the first time
shortly after this a company was gotten
up 10 sell anthracite coal Ii was taken
around To the hiacksmlths. bat they did
not know how 20 use II, and IL was very
Unpopular. Some Of Il was shipped TO
Philadelphia by "a Col. Shoemaker and
Soid There II WAS not al all satisfactory.
ana a writ was gotten out from the city
authorities denouucing the colonel as a
knave and scoundrel for trying to in-
pose rocks upon them a. coal. Stlll Phiia-
oeiphia has largely been built uP by an
fHfacife coal and % 600 80 tons of this
coal were taken out OF the Pennsylva MA
fields In 1895
since then some ~ these coal lands
save oeen sold as high as 1880 an acre.
ana the Philadelphia and Reading Com
Z" coal land IN this region. As a sample
81 tha amount N business done In an
thfact'e coei the Delaware and Hudson
Cana! Company paid t5.e1 so in one year
Ter mining and their coal sales that year
amounted . more than 500" 30,
We Beat the World.
II Is hard - estimate the enormous
amount ~ money the United States
makes out of It's coal. We get more than
tire. times as much out OF our coal
rlineS as out ~ our gold mines. and the
silver metal IL not in il with the black
diamonds There IS u little region in cast
eFn Pennsylvania about - miles from
fhHadelphia, and Tot more than Pc miles
from New J ork which produces every
wear coal 10 a greater value than all the
gold mines ~ the Rockies Canada and
Alaska X IS our anthrsc site coal fields
whleh turn eur between 81 - fat and 81 70
'st"@ tons = anthracite every year. W.
h3*s $50 addition 10 THIS a hundred and
'hirty odd r.lfion :oEs ~ biiuminog< coal
annually. We have, n short che biggest
ard bSs' coal measures an the globe II
i estimated that cur coal east II ,33s
ROCKY mountains covers 1872 1sa square
miles, anG within the past few years coal
nts been found IN many parts Of the far
west Colorado viii eventually De- a great
ma manufacturing state on account of It's
coal.