Anthracite, Alberta Anthracite, Alberta Anthracite is a ghost town located within Banff National Park in southern Alberta, Canada. It is named after the anthracite variety of coal. Anthracite existed from 1886 to 1904, during which time extensive coal mining operations were carried out by the Canadian Anthracite Coal Company in the surrounding Banff National Park, which is now a World Heritage Site as defined by the United Nations. The town was one of many that sprang up around the building sites of the Canadian Pacific Railway after workers accidentally stumbled upon some hot springs in nearby Banff. By 1887 the town's population
Anthracite February 1808, by Judge Jesse Fell in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on an open grate in a fireplace. Anthracite differs from wood in that it needs a draft from the bottom, and Judge Fell proved with his grate design that it was a viable heating fuel. In spring 1808, John and Abijah Smith shipped the first commercially mined load of anthracite down the Susquehanna River from Plymouth, Pennsylvania, marking the birth of commercial anthracite mining in the United States. From that first mine, production rose to an all-time high of over 100 million tons in 1917. Anthracite usage was inhibited by the