History of anthracite coal mining in Pennsylvania saved up to 25% in the production of iron, and that the quality of the iron was also superior (Adams, “US Coal Industry”). By the 1850s anthracite was used in the manufacture of about half of all crude iron produced in the US. The increased efficiency of anthracite heat was also instrumental in the manufacture of metal machinery and the transformation of water into steam for machinery power (Dublin, Licht, 17). The Civil War created a shift in the makeup of the anthracite coal industry. Prior to the war, the industry involved many small-scale mines with short-term leases resulting in
History of anthracite coal mining in Pennsylvania British navy blockades through during the war, industrialist Josiah White set his mill supervisors the task of experimenting with Anthracite to get to ignite and burn in a useful way. In 1813, the first mining actually in the Lehigh Valley was begun at Beaver Meadows, however, because of the various struggles getting it the to Philadelphia and because it is far more difficult to ignite Anthracite with its sporadic and unreliable supply did not come to be generally used regularly until after the War of 1812 and Hazard and White showed the way. The developments of the canal and then