Richmond daily register. (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1917-1978, 1921-11-09
JILLS0N TELLS HISTORY
Of COAL IN STATE
IN Asseefat.a D. "a


hrst discovered and uFcd by white
men in Kentucky in ESQ and its
use and production has steadily
increased during most Of the in
tcrvening la years" DIR. VII
lard Rouse iilbon. director and
geoloeis1 of the Kentucky Geo
logical Survey. asserted here last
night in reading history OF the
coal industry IN Kentucky before
The lil5on Club That the In
dian and their forebears undouht
.dIr knew 81 coal although here
IS 10 record ii their having bum
ed 1t. Dr. lillson asserted.
Dr Thomas Walker credited
with being the first white man!
to traverse the Wilderness and
whose survey was the basi, ON
which The boundary line btcwccn
Kentucky ard Tennessee was
finally determined. was the FIRST
white man 10 find and use coal
and record the fact in Kentucky
DR.. Walkers diary. published ~,
Che Ellison Club. and which WAS
quoted by DIR Jillson. shows AM
entry on April Is. 1880. wherein
u all>cr mentions the finding OF
large Jumps of coal in Cumber-
land zap. then Cal'cd Cave Can.
AND It's use iev camp fires. Ills
diary. according to DIR. Iill>ou. /
shows frequent mention - coal
thereafter. q
Christopher Gi>t. who entered
Kentucky in The spring OF Isl !
mentioned tn" indin" 81 coal in |
The eastern part OF Kentucky and
on May Il. iT5l. his diary show /
th2t he took samples to his en- |
ploycrS. the ohio Land Company
Of MARYLAND.
DR.. lill>on. after giving crcdi, |
to the Indians for first seeing /
and using coal, largely for the
carving OF ornaments. expires cd |
the opinion that it was strange |
that thew did not discover burn
ing properties. inasmuch rs they |
were always putting stones into
fires for cooking purposes. The
Indians of the southwest. hc said. |
used coal for firing pottery.
lie then dealt with the forna-
ton period in which hc said the
newly formed land was covered |
with forest 9rowths and THEN bv
4 siesmic disturbance was again |
lowered INTO the sea where 1t lvast
turned INTO very soft formation
that later solidihed into coal
The earliest known white man
To pass the kentucky coal fields
was LaSalle according To DIR
J !llson He did not. however,
apparently, discover coal during
his Trip down the Ohio from the
mouth OF the Allegheny in 1869
20. nor did other explorers who
touched on the borders OF the
s ate between l643 and 100.
The exact date al thc> start
ing OF production OF coal for m
translate transport IS uncertain"
Dr. Jillson said. but il is certain
that the cXten OF tibet coal fields
and many OF the best veins were
known III lSl0."'
In 1920 William D. Mclean
opened a mine on Green River,
the iirst commercial operation III
tie " estern Kentucky fields.
Production for sale in 1923 was
i2S short tons Prior to this coal
seems to have figured little in the
calculations OF writer's and eN-
plorers. he SAYS. as Filson in his
book published in 1885 fails to
mention IT, Mining. however. had
been spaSmodically carried on
from 1872 and during the latter
part OF the eighteenth century
coal from Kentucky was used tol
forge iron smelted in the first |
iron furnace west OF the Nile
ghenies which was founded at |
Owinesville.
Since 1923 the coal production
OF the state has grown steadily |
with , brief halt after and during |
the civil war when production |
fell from more than $4,000 tons |
TO Approximately 10000 tons. 1t |
the impetus however.
after the civil war although the |
development was comparatively |
slow until 1913 when railroads |
were extended to the leadquaf-