Chapter I: Preface

In treating of so large a theme in so small a compass it is impossible to do more than make an outline sketch. It has been the aim of the author to give reliable information free from minute details and technicalities. That information has been, for the most part, gathered through personal experience in the mines. The literature of this special subject is very meagre, and the author is unable to acknowledge any real indebtedness to more than half a dozen volumes. First among these is the valuable treatise on “Coal Mining,” by H. M. Chance of the Pennsylvania Geological Survey. Other volumes from which the author has derived considerable information are the State geological reports of Pennsylvania, the mine inspector’s reports of the same State, and the “Coal Trade Annuals,” issued by Frederick E. Saward of New York.

The author desires also to acknowledge his indebtedness for valuable assistance in the preparation of this work to John B. Law and Andrew Bryden, mining superintendents, and George Johnson, real estate agent, all of the Pennsylvania Coal Company, at Pittston, Pennsylvania, and to the officers of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society of Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania.

HOMER GREENE.

Honesdale, Pa.,
_May 15, 1889_.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE
I. IN THE BEGINNING 1
II. THE COMPOSITION OF COAL 6
III. WHEN COAL WAS FORMED 14
IV. HOW THE COAL BEDS LIE 22
V. THE DISCOVERY OF COAL 35
VI. THE INTRODUCTION OF COAL INTO USE 51
VII. THE WAY INTO THE MINES 75
VIII. A PLAN OF A COAL MINE 94
IX. THE MINER AT WORK 112
X. WHEN THE MINE ROOF FALLS 127
XI. AIR AND WATER IN THE MINES 147
XII. THE DANGEROUS GASES 159
XIII. THE ANTHRACITE COAL BREAKER 176
XIV. IN THE BITUMINOUS COAL MINES 192
XV. THE BOY WORKERS AT THE MINES 204
XVI. MINERS AND THEIR WAGES 222

COAL AND THE COAL MINES.