CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY
OF THE
First Shipment of Anthracite
COAL
From the LEHIGH REGION at LAUSANNE, Pa.,
(One Mile above Mauch Chunk,)
August 9th, 1814.
CARBON CO. HISTORICAL SOCIETY
MAUCH CHUNK, PA.
PAMPHLET NO. 1.
1914
The
following account of the discovery of anthracite coal was given by Dr. Thomas
C. James, of Philadelphia, who in the year 1804, in company with Anthony
Morris, Esq., during an excursion to some lands on the Lehigh, their joint
property, visited this section.
"In
the course of our pilgrimage, We reached the summit of the Mauch Chunk mountain,
the present site of the mine, or rather quarry, of anthracite coal. At that
time there were only to be seen three or four small pits, which had much the
appearance of the commencement of crude wells, into one of which, our guide
(Philip Ginter) descended with great ease, and threw up some pieces of coal for
our examination. After which, whilst we lingered on the spot, contemplating the
wildness of the scene, honest Philip amused us with the following narrative of
the original discovery of this most valuable of minerals, now promising from
its general diffusion, so much of wealth and comfort to a great portion of
Pennsylvania.
He
said, when he first took up his residence in that district of country, he built
for himself a rough cabin in the forest, and supported his family by the
proceeds of his rifle, being literally a hunter of the back woods. The game he
shot, including bear and deer, he carried to the nearest store and exchanged
for other necessaries of life. But at the particular time to which he then
alluded, he was without a supply of food for his family and after being out all
day with his gun in quest of it, he was returning towards evening over the
Mauch Chunk mountain, entirely unsuccessful and dispirited; a drizzling rain
beginning to fall, and night approaching he bent his course homeward,
considering himself one of the most forsaken of human beings. As he trod slowly
over the ground, his foot stumbled against something which, by the stroke, was
driven before him; observing it to be black, to distinguish which there was
just light enough remaining, he took it up, and as he had often listened to the
traditions of the country of the existence of coal in the vicinity, it occurred
to him, that this might be a portion of that "stone coal" of which he
had heard.
He
accordingly took it with him to his cabin, and the next day carried it to Col.
Jacob Weiss, residing at Am was then known by the name of Fort Allen
(Weissport). The Colonel who was alive to the subject, brought the specimen with
him to Philadelphia and-submitted it to the inspection of John Nicholson and
Michael Hillegas, Esqrs., and of Charles Cist an intelligent printer, who
ascertained its nature and qualities and authorized the Colonel to satisfy
Ginter for his discovery, upon his pointing out the precise spot where he found
the coal. This was done by acceding to Ginter's proposal, of getting through
the forms of the patent office, the title of a small tract of land, which he
supposed had never been taken up, comprising the mill site on which he
afterwards built the mill which afforded us the lodging of the preceding night
and which he afterwards was unhappily deprived of by the claim of a prior
survey.
Hillegas,
Cist, Weiss and others immediately after (about the beginning of the year 1792)
formed the "Lehigh Coal Mine Company," but without a charter of
incorporation, and took up 8 or 10,000 acres of unlocated land including the
Mauch Chunk mountain. 'The mine now wrought was opened by this Company but the
difficulties of transporting coal to market were then insurmountable and their
enterprise was abandoned. The mine remained in a neglected state, used only by
the smiths and others of the immediate vicinity until the year 1806, when Wm.
Turnbill, Esq., caused an ark to be constructed at Lausanne, which brought to
the city (Philadelphia), two or three hundred bushels. A portion was sold to
the manager of the Water Works for the use of the Centre Square steam engine.
Upon trial here it was deemed rather an extinguisher than an aliment of fire,
was rejected as worthless and was broken up and spread on the walks of the
surrounding garden, in the place of gravel.
Excerpted
from the pamphlet in Lehigh University's collection. Call number SC TRX 1982E
About The Hopkin Thomas Project.
Rev.
December 2009