Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-04-18
COAL HOD FILLED BY FISHING.
Convenient Deposit in the Bed of a
Pennsylvania River.

When coal is needed on PennSyl-
Nania farm bordering the Susquehan-
na river little Johnnie does not grab
his coal hod and scoot for the cellar
Instead he unfastens his boat pulls
out into the river and fishes till his
hed is overlooking.
To he sure Johnnie doesn't fish with
rod and line, nor yet with a net His
apparatus consists of a wire scoop,
SNAPPED like a shovel and not dissim-
liar to minnow net, with an eight
foot handle. And his boat is a broad.
hat-bottomed affair. sometimes square
ended and sometimes with sharp
bows, built like a scow, with the
maximum of capacity and the mimi
mum of draught, for the coal fish
er's catch is usually made in shallow
water.
And the catch is unlike any coal
you ever saw. This run of the river
coal comes in all sizes. from little
fakes to chunks as big as your head.
But mostly it is smaller than ped
coal Coal from the mines is bright
and shiny and all angles that reflect
the light.
River coal is neither angular nor
shiny. Every piece of ii is worn down.
buffed, rounded off like a beach peb-
bic, with AN exterior as dull as ground
glass. To the uninitiated d heap of
river coal looks exactly like a pile OF
black pebbles. But let a piece of it
be cracked open and the shiny heart
stands forth like the meat in a hick-
DRY nut.
Despite this apparent difference be-
tween mine and river coal, there is
really no difference at all. or rather
the difference, like beauty, is only
skin deep. For river coal is simply
mine coal that has gone overheard.
Ever since men began delving for
coal the operator has cast aside as
refuse thousands upon thousands of
tons of good coal, flung it out on the
eulm heaps What is his loss is the
gain of the coal fishers in the river
below. Into this stream, by way of
its feeders, the mountain brooks, coal
is washed by the rains, which gnaW
deep guilies in the faces of the culm
banks. This "black sand thus wash
ed into the brooks turns them to ink.
For. after all its years and miles of
rolling, river coal comes eventually to
rest on a sand shoal, The stony parts
of the river bottom give it no lodg-
ment against the swift current, no
place to imbed itself. But in a sand
bar it can bury itself like a clam.
Particle after particle comes to rest
here, each adding to the size of the
barrier. like coral insects building a
coral reef by the deposit of their own
bodies. Every freshet sweeps down
great layers of coal. depositing it
either in some sandy bed or in the
watery coal bin formed by dam.
How far this coal travels cannot be
told exactly. The first supply comes
into the river in the region of Wilkes
Barre. Twenty-Five miles below
Wilkes Barre at Nescopeck. they dig
river coal Twenty-Five miles further
down stream, at Sunbury, the coal
fishers are still busy. Here second
supply of coal empties into the Sus-
quehanna with the inky waters of the
Shamokin creek.
Another Is miles down stream at
Liverpool one still finds the coal fish
ers. delving like so many oyster tong
ers; and little fleets of coal boats
move up and down the river at Har-
risburg. another 25 miles below. SO
that for 100 miles at least the bed
OF the Susquehanna is dotted with lit
tie coal piles.
So. too, are the shores bordering
this stretch of river For every farm
er has mis- riverside coal bin, a board
ed-in space by the river bank, along
side which he can moor his boat to
unload. Frequently the farmer has
several bins, for he separates his coal
according to size by means of screens
with meshes of different widths.
Hard by lie the coal boats, each with
its long pushing pole, its sievelike
slovels. and it's anchor pins For
when Johnnie goes to fish for coal
he anchors his boat at right angles
to the current by means of two pieces
of iron pipe that he thrusts down into
the river bed through iron rings on
the side of his craft.
Then he takes his scoop, which is
really a wire-covered frame, and
brings up scoopful of the river bot
tom. He rests his shovel-handle on