page_title: History of coal mining in the United States
section_title: Mining history by state
hierarchical_section_title: History of coal mining in the United States / Mining history by state
caption_attribution_description: English: Breaker boys, Woodward Coal Mines, Kingston, Pa.
context_page_description: The history of coal mining in the United States goes back to the 1300s, when the Hopi Indians used coal. The first commercial use came in 1701, within the Manakin-Sabot area of Richmond, Virginia. Coal was the dominant power source in the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and although in rapid decline it remains a significant source of energy in 2019.
  Coal became the largest source of energy in the 1880s, when it overtook wood, and remained the largest source until the early 1950s, when coal was exceeded by petroleum. Coal provided more than half of the nation's energy from the 1880s to the 1940s, and from 1906 to 1920 provided more than three-quarters of US energy.
caption: Breaker boys, Woodward Coal Mines, Kingston, Pennsylvania., ca. 1900
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