sumption in large quantities covers only a comparatively
recent period. The Chinese made use of coal in the hoary
ages of the past, and Greek writers tell of the knowledge
of coal as fuel by people living on the north shore of the
Mediterranean Sea as early as the fourth century before
Christ. At the time of the Roman invasion of the British
Isles, we learn that coal was taken from the outcrop with
picks made of flint and hard oak.
The first discovery of coal in the New World by white
men, is recorded by Father Hennepin, in his journal, as
having been made on the banks of the Illinois River in
1679. At the time of the Revolutionary War, coal was
shipped north from the Richmond district of Virginia.
Anthracite coal was first used by a blacksmith in the eastern
part of Pennsylvania in 1796, but was not successfully used
in manufacturing until the year 1812, when it played an im-
portant part in the fuel supply.
As far back as 1684, William Penn was granted a char-
ter to mine coal in the hills fronting Pittsburgh. In 1758,
coal was discovered in what was soon afterward called
“Coal Hill; and in 1760, Thomas Hutchins visited Fort
Pitt, and wrote about a “cole” mine on the west side of
the Monongahela River.
The very earliest successful mining and use of coal in
the United States took place within what is now the cor-
porate limits of the City of Pittsburgh. One of the first
mines was located on what is now Duquesne Heights,
Nineteenth Ward, and was known as “Indian Pit.” The
first steam engine in Pittsburgh was built in 1794, and
after this important event the use of coal increased very
rapidly. Not only was coal first mined and used here,
but the first coal ever exported was shipped from this
district. In 1803 a company of French merchants built at
Pittsburgh the ship “Louisiana,” on board which they
loaded 350 tons of Pittsburgh coal, “Which was sold for
$9 per ton.” By the year 1817, navigation of the Ohio
had developed to such an extent that regular shipments of
coal were sent south, the chief markets being Cincinnati,
Louisville and Maysville. In 1844, the first locks on the
