About the year 1800, we learn from the same source, a Mr. William Morris, who owned a large tract of land near Port Carbon, procured a wagon-load of coal, we suppose from his own land, and took it to Phila delphia; but he was unable to bring it into notice, or induce the honest Quakers to buy his rocks, any more than his successors in the trade from the Lehigh. He returned, sold his lands, abandoned his plans, and retired from the business in disgust. The coal-trade of the Schuylkill did not revive from this shock until 1806. But about this time coal was found in cutting the tail-race of the Valley Forge, on the Schuylkill. It was tried by David Berlin, a blacksmith of the neighborhood, with complete success: they had stumbled on some good coal, and from that time stone coal grew into repute among the smiths of the Schuylkill, as it had, long before, grown in favor with the Vulcans of Wyoming and the Susquehanna.
In 1812, Col. George Shoemaker, of Pottsville, loaded nine wagons of coal from his mines at Centreville,—a locality now abandoned, on the main turnpike road from Pottsville to Ashland, and about a mile from Potts ville,—and with these proceeded to Philadelphia, hoping to find a market. But the experience of the Philadelphians with anthracite or stone coal was very unfavorable at that period; the frequent and persistent attempts to impose rocks on them for coal had roused their indignation, and Col. Shoemaker was denounced as a knave and a scoundrel ! Col. Shoemaker persisted, however, and disposed of two loads, at the cost of transportation,—one to Messrs. White & Hazzard, of the Fair mount Nail and Wire Works, at the Falls of the Schuylkill, and the other to Messrs. Mellon & Bishop, of the Delaware County Rolling-Mill. The remaining seven loads he either gave away, or disposed of to blacksmiths and others who promised to try it, for a trifle. But the colonel was not to get off so easily. Though he lost money, time, and trouble in his attempts to introduce a fuel which has since made Philadelphia one of the most wealthy and prosperous cities in the world, the very men to whom he had given his coal obtained a writ from the authorities of that city for his arrest as an impostor and a swindler. Col. Shoemaker was forced to beat a hasty retreat, and only saved himself from persecution and " justice" by taking a wide circuit around the Quaker City on his way home.
In the mean time, Mr. White, who was anxious to succeed in burning this coal, and some of his men, spent a whole morning in trying to ignite it and raise a heat in one of their furnaces. They tried every possible
expedient which skill and experience in other fuels could suggest. They raked it, and poked it, and stirred it up, and blew upon the surface through open-furnace doors, with perseverance and persistent determination, but all to no purpose. Col. Shoemaker's rocks would not burn, and the attempt was abandoned. But dinner-time had arrived, and the men shut the furnace-doors in disgust, heartily tired of the stones, or stone-coal, if such it was.
Returning from dinner at the usual time, all hands were astonished at the phenomenon which they beheld. The furnace-doors were red-hot, and the whole furnace in danger of being melted down with a heat never before experienced. On opening the doors, a glowing mass at white-heat was discovered. So hot a fire had never been seen in the furnace before. From this time anthracite or stone-coal found friends and advocates in Philadelphia, and the motto "let it alone" became a receipt for its use rather than its abuse.
Messrs. Mellon & Bishop also succeeded, about the same time, in using successfully the load of coal they had obtained from Col. Shoemaker; but it appears evident they took the hint from the motto adopted at the Falls of the Schuylkill, and acted accordingly.
The result of these successes got into the papers, and the press, as usual, soon gave it reputation. Everybody knew stone-coal was coal, as soon as somebody proved it such.
In 1814 the Schuylkill Navigation was projected, and so far completed in 1822 that 1480 tons of coal were sent down; but not until 1825 was the navigation in a condition to pass boats to and from Pottsville and Phila delphia ; and in the mean time the coal-trade of the Lehigh had been opened, mainly through the exertions of Messrs. White & Hazzard, who devoted their time and their means with the most determined perseverance to what was then a herculean task, and beset with difficulties and risks of the most formidable character.
Though a small quantity of coal was sent down the Schuylkill Naviga- • tion each year from 1822, it was not until 1825, when 6500 tons were sent down, that we can fairly date the commencement of the trade from this region. From that time it has increased rapidly, and in the year 1860, 1,356,688 tons were transported over the canal alone. It was not until 1841 that the Reading Railroad was open to the coal-trade, and 850 tons transported over it to market. Last year, or 1864, 3,065,577 tons went over this railroad to Port Richmond,—the shipping-point on the Delaware.