DIGGING up the PAST Coal Carts Exiting a Drift Mine in Butler County (Photo Courtesy of Sam Brydon)

CHAPTERONE DIGGING UP THE PAST Coal carts exiting a drift mine in Butler county (Photo courtesy of Sam Brydon) For centuries, humans have struggled Fueling History The first use of coal in Europe was by to extract coal from below the earth’s the Romans when they occupied Using coal as a source of fuel surface in order to provide a cheap and Scotland. The coal was referred to as spawned important technological plentiful source of energy. During this “sea coal” for it was found washing onto time, technology was continually being advancements that unlocked the the beaches. Actually the coal did not developed to improve the way this mineral’s true energy potential and come directly from the sea. It had been resource was to be mined and used. ultimately improved our way of life. dislodged from exposures found along Many inventions that affect our daily the coast by the relentless pounding lives are the result of this perpetual It is not precisely known when the of waves. search for an efficient source of energy. energy value of coal was first discovered. Evidence suggests that When the Romans withdrew from The story behind the universal use several ancient civilizations knew that Scotland in the fifth century AD, the of coal is a testament to the human coal burned but this discovery played unique resource they had discovered spirit filled with perseverance only a small role in the advancement of and used was left behind and forgotten. and dedication. their cultures. Centuries later the use of coal slowly The Chinese were thought to have first resurfaced in Britain. At first, little use pioneered the use of coal as fuel during could be found for coal. It was not used the Han dynasty (206 BC to 220 AD). to heat homes because most houses Upon returning to Italy following his visit had no chimney, but had simply a to China, Marco Polo wrote of these depression in the floor for a fireplace. people using unusual black stones The noxious smoke and fumes released as fuel. by the burning coal proved to be unbearable. 2 3 CHAPTERONE DIGGINGUPTHEPAST Buried Sunshine which fell into the warm, murky water below. This sluggish stew of decaying Reading layers of earth and rock like a plant material slowly formed a thick mat complicated mystery novel, geologists of organic material called peat. Sand are able to piece together the 4.5 and silt gradually accumulated on top of billion-year history of our planet. Coal this peat. Over time, the heat and has a short but fascinating chapter pressure created by the weight of this near the end of this long and complex overlying sediment compacted the peat, reference book called Earth. squeezing out virtually all the water, forming a hard, black concentrated 365 million years ago, during what is carbon-rich material. referred to as the Carboniferous Period, Pennsylvania would have been a very This “living fossil”, called coal, has interesting place to visit. A bathing suit stored the sun’s energy beneath the and sunscreen would have been in order earth for millions of years. When burned, for Pennsylvania was located near the this concentrated energy is released. equator and enjoyed a tropical climate, Coal burns much hotter and longer than much like the Everglades in southern wood, which makes it such an extremely Florida. Most of western Pennsylvania Neatly stacked logs covered by leaves and soil create the slow smolder necessary to produce charcoal. valuable energy resource. (Photo courtesy of National Park Service, Hopewell Furnace NHS) was covered by vast swamps rich with vegetation consisting mainly of ferns It was not until the iron industry had allowed coal to replace wood as the and fern-like plants. These were no exhausted the forests of Europe did a primary fuel for separating, or smelting, ordinary plants, some may have reached real interest in coal develop, raising the copper, tin, and lead from ore, and for heights of 75 feet. These lush, tropical price of wood and , which is making glass. Unlike previous furnaces, charcoal forests created tons of debris, such as made by partially burning wood using this innovative furnace could heat the leaves, twigs, branches and trunks, only a small amount of oxygen. Soon, material to be smelted without mixing it as coal became cheaper than wood, directly with the fuel. Separating the fuel chimneys became a common addition from the ore prevented any impurities to most homes. normally associated with coal from tainting the smelted material. Although Coal eventually found a place in early this new invention worked well for industry thanks to a significant producing tin, copper, and glass, it could advancement in technology. In 1612, not generate the intense heat needed to the invention of a special furnace, produce iron. A blast furnace was the known as a reverberatory furnace, 4 5 CHAPTERONE DIGGINGUPTHEPAST only furnace capable of producing such Not until the practice of charring coal Did Beer Change Abraham Darby, an English Quaker extreme temperatures. Blast furnaces was developed in 1642 was the full The World? familiar with both the brewing industry are named for the loud roar that is heard potential of coal realized. Charring coal and the iron industry, determined what By the end of the 1600’s industrial and when air is violently introduced to the by partly burning it in covered heaps, was good for malt must be good for iron. economic growth in Europe, ironically an fire with large bellows to create the similar to the way charcoal is made, In 1709, using a leased blast furnace and intense heat necessary to melt iron. Coal produced a hard cinder of almost pure area laden with coal, had become coke he prepared himself, Mr. Darby could not be used in a blast furnace. It is carbon that would burn with a clean, stagnant. Mass deforestation had driven produced the first quality iron ever made much softer than charcoal, and would smokeless heat. This cinder, called coke, the cost of wood and charcoal out of the from coal. This monumental event “slump” into a dense mass under the revolutionized the industrial uses for reach of many struggling industries. The proved that iron could be made by using intense heat and choke the furnace. coal and spawned the Industrial brewing industry was among those England’s seemingly limitless coal fields In addition, the impurities found in coal, Revolution in Europe. desperately in need of an alternative such as sulfur, caused the iron that was rather than its vanishing forests. The With the settlement of the New World, fuel. Brewers tried using coal-fired ovens produced to be very brittle. Industrial Revolution had begun. coal was again basically ignored as a to dry malt, a “stew” of grain, usually fuel source. The virtually unlimited barley, that is steeped in water until it sprouts; however, the coal’s foul smoke and many impurities affected the taste of the beer, just as it had affected the quality of iron when used in blast furnaces. Frustrated, brewers tried charring coal just as wood is charred to form charcoal. When the resulting coal cinders, or coke, were used in the malt ovens, the best beer England had ever tasted was produced. Remains of an iron furnace (Photo courtesy of Steve Smith) 6 7 CHAPTERONE DIGGINGUPTHEPAST supply of timber made it unnecessary Coal in Pennsylvania, as in the rest of Mining Through Time exceeded the production of 276 million to pursue the difficult and dangerous the United States, fueled the American tons of coal, more than any state has The rise in popularity of coal as an practice of mining coal. But wood Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, ever produced in one year. energy source greatly increased the eventually became scarce and two World Wars and thrust the United Thousands of men have lost their lives expensive. The same situation that had States to the forefront as the industrial demand for its mass production. during the slow and painful evolution of occurred in England a century before, capital of the world. Today, the United Improved methods of extraction mining. It took hundreds of years for occurred in the United States. The New States is the second largest global and transportation have led to the technology to improve the working World now had to look beneath the consumer of coal. Most of this coal is methods used today, as well as conditions and efficiency of a coal mine. surface of the earth for an alternative used to satisfy our increasing demand several inventions we now take To this day, removing a mineral from energy source. for electricity. Eight out of every ten tons for granted. below the earth’s surface is a difficult of coal consumed nationwide is used by Commercial coal mining in the U.S. and dangerous task. an electric generating plant. During more than 200 years of mining, began in the mid 1700’s in Virginia. The Pennsylvania is the third largest Pennsylvania has produced nearly a first coal production in Pennsylvania consumer of coal in the United States. fourth of all the coal ever extracted in began in 1761 at Coal Hill, what is now Electric generation consumes 90% of all the United States. In 1918, Pennsylvania Mt. Washington in Pittsburgh. Coal once coal used in the state. In addition to again became the principle fuel of electric generation, coal remains the choice for use in iron furnaces and glass primary fuel for the iron industry and for works, and eventually provided fuel for the production of chemicals, paper, James Watt’s monumental invention of cement and even food.

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