History of anthracite coal mining in Pennsylvania the Delaware Division and Morris Canals, canal companies successfully provided urban markets for anthracite coal (Latzko, 3). The anthracite commercial market greatly expanded, and the hard coal was used as valuable fuel for heating and cooking domestically, as well as energy sources for small businesses such as blacksmiths, brewers, bakers, and manufacturers (Adams, “US Coal Industry”). Joseph White and Erskine Hazard founded the Lehigh Navigation Company in 1818. They wanted to use rivers to more efficiently transport anthracite coal. After they were declined a charter to the Schuylkill River, they tried to receive a charter for the Lehigh River. The
Anthracite times been futile, and several such combustion areas exist today. The existence of an underground combustion site can sometimes be identified in the winter where fallen snow is seen to be melted by the warmth conducted from below. Proposals for harnessing this heat as geothermal energy have not been successful. A vein of anthracite that caught fire in Centralia, Pennsylvania in 1962 has been burning ever since, turning the once-thriving borough into a ghost town. Among current producers, Russia, China and Ukraine have the largest estimated recoverable reserves of anthracite. Other countries with substantial reserves include Vietnam and North Korea.