Jim My online findings: http://www.palegacies.org/issues/0101/0101%20feature1.html After the Civil War, though, the market for anthracite was poised to expand exponentially. Pennsylvania�s western bituminous fields were much bigger than her anthracite fields, and by the late-nineteenth century the coal pouring from the western part of the state would, along with oil wells, carry Pennsylvania to dominance in American industry. But anthracite, hard, glossy, and almost pure carbon, was the queen of coals. Bituminous coal worked well for industrial uses, but anthracite burned hot, long, and clean enough to be the fuel of choice in Victorian households. History of Anthracite: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthracite many good links here as well http://www.nathanielturner.com/laborsproblemrealwages3.htm But the second half of the thirteenth century, almost every know coal field in England, Wales, and Scotland was being mined, and the slavery of the miners was well under way. It is true enough that coal mining tends to become unprofitable, and equally true that the operators of the mines have often suffered severe financial loss. But the real, long-term losers have been men and the women (and, until recently, the children) who spent their lives underground. The United Mine Workers of America, of course, may well claim this group as an ancestor, but its more immediate fore-fathers mined coal in Illinois, where they finally struck against wage cuts and declining earnings in 1861. By the early nineteenth century, coal mining had become a profitable enterprise in the United States. Although at one time it took seven days to bring 60 tons of anthracite to tidewater on the Susquehanna (where it was sold at from $10 to $12 per ton), the four canals built for the carrying of coal by 1829 increased the production of anthracite alone to 112,000 tons annually. Because of the limited quantities of anthracite or hard coal in the United States, virtual monopolies were established shortly, while the vast regions of bituminous fields made soft coal a highly competitive industry. Both these conditions were to react on the men in the mines. The combined areas of coal fields in this country measure approximately 185,000 square miles. Of this, the anthracite area, confined to Pennsylvania, accounts for about 470 square miles. Actually, the first miners� union in America was formed by the anthracite miners in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, in 1848. The union, known as the Bates Union, after the Englishman who was its "agent," had a peak membership of 5,000 and organized a partially successful strike in 1849. Lastly, http://anthracitemining.productfinder.com/section_741_2.html links here suggest anthracite is mined in other countries (http://anon.free.anonymizer.com/http://www.kommersant.com/tree.asp?rubric=5&node=408&doc_id=-64 Russia's "Rostov Region has reserves of anthracite, which has the highest caloric value of any coal". Jim Dolan <[email protected]> wrote: Perhaps someone on the list can help me, I did several Google searches with no luck. I'm trying to determine if anthracite coal is unique to the US. Was the first anthracite discovered in Northeastern Pennsylvania? Thanks in advance, Jim Dolan ==== PALACKAW Mailing List ==== Visit the Northeast Pennsylvania Genealogical Society http://rootsweb.com/~panepgs/ To unsubscribe: http://www.rootsweb.com/~palackaw/mailist.html#unsubscribe Sue --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Search presents - Jib Jab's 'Second Term'