The New York herald., 1922-12-24
Continued from First Page.

smiths forge at WilkeS-Barre in 1863. In
1775> the first shipment of coal was made
on boats down the Susquehanna to Harris
burg and thence by wagons to Carlisle
where the Continental armies had an
arsenal This first shipment was used in
making arms for Washington's troops
Popular interest in anthracite still was al
a very low level and the mining of coal
on a commercial basis had not been yet
started.
The value of coal lands In that early
period may be realized from the fact that
in 1906 Abijah Smith. at Plymouth. Pa,
purchased seventy-five acres for only $500.
His neighbors called Abijah a spendthrift
but the pioneer from New England knew
what he was doing. He shipped fifty tons
of coal to Columbia, Pa, the next year
and started production on a commercial
basis.
In 1893 coal was discovered at Carbon
dale. 1t was there in great quantities
and 1t still Is there in great quantities.
The question at the time was how to get
it 70 the big cities. Transportation by
wagon was slow. tedious and costly. The
problem was solved when this country
began to build canals. Waterways like the
Erie Canal. the Morris Canal, the Delaware
and Hudson and Pennsylvania canals
brought the mines closer to their markets
stimulated production and with lower
prices stimulated the use of this new SUBJ
stitute for wood.
Perhaps the biggest artery for the dis
tribution of coal in the first era of the
industry was the Delaware and Hudson
Canal-a waterway which stretched for
1O7 miles from Honesdale. Pa, to Rond-
out5 near Kingston, on the Hudson. This
canal was built by the Delaware & Hud-
son Canal Company which was formed
in 1925, for the express purpose of NOV
ing coal. The mines were at Carbondale
and from there to Honesdale the product
was moved on small railway over which
the first locomotive run in the United
States was used.
In 1929. the Delaware and Hudson
Canal moved 1000 tons of coal-and what
an ado there was thereoveri That record
really marks the beginning of the highly
important and financially productive in
dustry of mining and moving coal. II
brought the price down considerably in a
few years and by 1896 close to 100000
tons of anthracite were set down as the
annual production mark
In 1908. the newspapers of the time
gave considerable publicity to the fact
that Judge Jesse Fell had succeeded in
making coal burn in the big iron CRATE OF
his fireplace. Editors marvelled at the
miracle of stone burning and asked. What
next?' But the experience of Judge Eel
did not prevent the magistrates of Phila-
delphia from issuing writs in 1912 for the
apprehension of Col. Shoemaker as ar
impostor.
Before 1907 the mining of coal was
negligible From 1907 to 1920 only 10000
tons were produced. In 1921 the record
jumped TO 1922 tons. but still more re-
markable tonnage was shown for 1922
when the mark was set at 4,5S3. In 1872;
there were $3.50 tons of hard coal-and
so il went, production increasing by leaps
and bounds until. In 1886, the figures
showed that s42,ss2 tons had been mined
The figures for the year 1897 show the
attainment of the million mark, OH ,151
to be exact. By 1863 the tonnage waf
n.7S5,320. Compare that with the 9S, 1896
0Sf tons OF 191sI To date more than three
billion tons of hard coal have been mined.
Having done with the production ngures
let us get at the prices. In the very early
days only the wealthiest of our citizen.
could afford the luxury of even thinking OF
using coal The prices ranged from so tc