4GS ANNUAL llEPOKT OF Til 10 Off. Doc. 



instructive as is the story of coal, the limited time at my disposal 

 will not permit me, much as I would like to do, to give it in detail. 



Briefly, the successive stages through which the vegetation passed 

 in the formation of anthracite coals are: 



Peat 



T • -x i Brown 

 Lignite I j3j^^^ 



Bituminous Coal 

 Semi-Bituminous Coal 

 Semi-Anthracite Coal 

 Anthracite Coal 



No considerable, if any, commercial deposits of Peat or Lignite are 

 found in Pennsylvania, but no more valuable deposits of Anthracite 

 and Bituminous coals are, perhaps, to be found anywhere, than in 

 our own Commonwealth. The anthracites are used largely for house- 

 hold and industrial purposes. The semi-anthracites furnish an al- 

 most ideal domestic fuel, and as such, notwithstanding their extra 

 cost, are in brisk demand throughout the year. Formerly, anthracite 

 coal was extensively used in smelting iron, both in furnaces and 

 cupolas, but of late years coke, because of its superiority has prac- 

 tically supplanted raw coal, in this direction. A new use for anthra- 

 cite has been found in recent years for the production in connection 

 with crude petroleum, of illuminating gas, and through the use of 

 gas producers, it will sooner or later be extensively used for the 

 production of gas for heating, metallurgical and other purposes. 

 Bituminous coals vary much more in analyses than do the anthracites, 

 for while the component parts are practically the same, their propor- 

 tions differ widely. 



In selecting a coal for specific uses, care must be exercised, because 

 for certain purposes, a more expensive coal would not give as good 

 results as a lower priced product. Certain coals are far better 

 adapted to one purpose than another. 



For smithing purposes, a semi-bituminous coal is far superior to 

 a true bituminous coal, for by the use of the latter, because of its 

 high volatile matter percentage, instead of a steady hot fire, the smith 

 has a flaming one, from which much of the heat which should be 

 concentrated escapes into the shop or passes out through the chim- 

 ney. At several collieries in Clearfield county, mining the Lower 

 Freeport coal bed, an ideal blacksmith's coal can be obtained. For 

 the smithery and steam generation, the semi-bituminous coals are 

 preferable to the bituminous or high volatile coals. Valuable as are 

 the semi-bituminous coals for the smithery and for generating steam, 

 for the manufacture of illuminating gas, they are not adapted and 

 should not be used for this purpose. 



In the matter of gas coals, Pennsylvania again shows her superi- 

 ority, for the coal of the Pittsburg bed in parts of Westmoreland 

 and Allegheny counties has no superior, if an equal, in the United 

 States for the manufacture of illuminating gas. The coal produced 

 from the Pittsburg bed in the Connellsville region makes the stand- 

 ard coke of the United States and, as a coal approaches or recedes 

 from the analysis of this coal, its value as a coking coal is seemingly 

 determined, at least by the trade. 



It is interesting to study the changes shown in the analyses of 

 coal from the Pittsburg coal bed, as they show much diff'erence in 



