6 History of Anthractte Coal in Nature and Art. [January, 
ficial navigation, the whole quantity being 365 tons, which was 
more than enough to supply the families who would use it, 
although they never asked more than eight dollars and forty cents 
aton. To overcome the objection many found owing to the diffi- 
culties found in igniting the coal, Josiah White made many ex- 
periments with different kinds of grates, fixtures in his office and 
at his house in Philadelphia, and had a fire in operation for the 
inspection of the public, which showed the complete practicability 
of using anthracite for household warming, cooking, etc. 
Though the company was mining or rather quarrying the finest 
mass of coal yet known to exist, the difficulties in the way of 
selling the stock or extending the works seemed to increase; 
but “there is no difficulty to him that wills,’ and by allowing 
new subscribers extraordinary advantages, the company obtained 
means to continue the improvements. In January, 1823, they 
` were declared finished, and in this year, 5800 tons were sent 
down the Lehigh, and but about 1000 tons were left on hand un- 
sold in the following spring. Josiah White had, about this time, 
contrived the present plan of weighing coal in wagons, with a 
scale, the dish resting on four knife-edged fulcrums and com- 
pound levers. His genius seemed equal to any emergency. In 
1824, they sent down 9540 tons. The public had begun to be- 
lieve in the permanency of the supply, and new forms of grates 
and stoves having been introduced and the price kept steadily at 
eight dollars and forty cents per ton, the demand increased. 
Several patriotic ladies exhibited sample-fires, and their glowing 
grates warmed the indifferent to a zeal for anthracite, making it 
popular, so that, in 1825, the company sent 28,393 tons to mar- 
ket. In 1827 the railroad from Mauch Chunk to the mines was 
made, mainly upon the old wagon route laid out by Josiah White 
and Erskine Hazard, in 1818. This was the first railroad in this 
country constructed for the transportation of coal, and, with one 
or two trifling exceptions, the first constructed for any purpose. 
This was a gravity road, having a descent of 100 feet per mile for 
upwards of nine miles. After the mules, which had hauled back 
the trains, had ridden down with the coal in a car made for the 
purpose of carrying them, they could not be forced to walk down 
again, being ever ready to enjoy the luxury of a ride. 
Josiah White thus divides with another enterprising Friend, 
or Quaker, Edward Pease, of Darlington, England, the honor of 
i 
3 
e 
E 
ie 
$ 
$ 
iQ 
i 
a 
; 
a 
i 
j 
g 
i 
