History of anthracite coal mining in Pennsylvania coal was being transported annually to Philadelphia using the Schuylkill River (Dublin, Licht, 13) The Wurts brothers, William and Maurice, owned coalfields in the northeastern Pennsylvania anthracite region, but found an unresponsive market in Philadelphia, which was receiving coal from the Schuylkill and Lehigh routes. They saw business potential in finding a connection route between anthracite fields and the New York City market, and so they had the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company incorporated in 1823 (Sciaky, 275-6). The D&H Company built a canal system across parts of the Delaware and Hudson Rivers that stretched from Honesdale, PA to Rondout,
History of anthracite coal mining in Pennsylvania the building of a canal. By 1840, over 250,000 tons of anthracite mined from the region annually reached Philadelphia through White and Hazard’s Lehigh River system (Dublin, Licht, 12-3). A group of Germans wanted to seek the rights to the Schuylkill River. They received a charter in 1815 to incorporate the Schuylkill Navigation Company, which would have control over the Schuylkill River. After receiving investors the Schuylkill Navigation Company was able to finance a 108-mile long river and canal system that connected the Pottsville area to Philadelphia that opened in 1825. By the early 1840s, some 500,000 tons of anthracite