History of anthracite coal mining in Pennsylvania bituminous fuel reaching the US, and there was also a shortage in Virginia’s supply resulting in a fuel crisis (Adams, “Warming the Poor,” 76). Before the war citizens did not like to use anthracite coal because it was difficult to ignite and maintain, but the wartime shortage forced them to start using anthracite. Jacob Cist of Wilkes-Barre promoted the use of anthracite during and after the War of 1812. Jacob Cist’s father was a major investor in the Lehigh Coal Mine Company, so Cist began to transport the company’s coal to Philadelphia by the Lehigh and Delaware Rivers (Dublin, Licht,
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