EARLY HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE ANTHRACITE REGIONS ON PENNSYLVANIA.
The early history of coal in America is much less obscure and uncertain than its history in England, for obvious reasons. In fact, the printers themselves were among the pioneers of our coal-mines: first to advocate the value of coal, first to embark in its development, and first to chronicle its success; though we cannot say they were the first to profit. We may notice the examples of Cist, Miner, and Bannan, whose names appear prominent in the early history of anthracite coal, and to whom we shall refer in the following pages.
Though the anthracite coals of Pennsylvania were the first of our coals to acquire prominence or reputation, they were not the first to be discovered or worked in this country.
The bituminous coals of Richmond, Virginia, were the first to be developed, and enjoyed a trade with Philadelphia, New York, and Boston as early as 1789; while it had been used pretty extensively in the vicinity of the mines as early as 1775, and, during the War of Independence, was used at Westham, on the James River, five miles above Richmond, for the manufacture of shot, shell, &c., or until destroyed by the traitor Arnold
in 1781.
It must have been discovered and worked as early as 1750. The writer has seen oak-trees, at least one hundred years of age, growing on the coal banks of the old excavations, which, like all the primitive developments of the kind, were simple quarries or open cuts on the outcrops of the seams. Tradition says the coal of the Richmond field was first discovered by a boy who was digging for "crawfish" as bait when on a fishing excursion.