1983.] History of Anthracite Coal in Nature and Art. 3 
the continent. The red shales became covered with extensive 
beds of gravel or deposits of sand, which, hardening into a gritty 
rock, form the millstone grit and sandstone, which underly the 
coal measures. These fragments are the veins of some quartzose 
formations of former ages, which have again and again been 
cemented and re-broken, to repose at last a barrier against further 
destruction of the beds of coal. Forbidding as these barrier 
mountains may appear whence no valuable return could reward 
the cultivator, they may be regarded as proofs of the wisdom of 
the great architect who has provided that they should preserve, 
by their enormous eastward thickening, the secure basins har- 
dened and toughened to resist further denudation, to become the 
strong storehouse of treasures more truly golden than all the 
glittering mines of Colorado and California. 
“ Coal,” says Professor Newberry, “is entitled to be considered 
the mainspring of our [material] civilization. Wealth with its 
comforts, the luxuries and triumphs it brings, are its gifts, and its 
possession is. therefore the highest material boon that can be 
craved by a community or nation.” Coal is to the world of in- 
dustry what the sun is to the natural world, the great source of 
light and heat, with their innumerable benefits. It is not only 
the principal generator of steam, but steam is also dependent 
upon iron, and the manufacture of iron is dependent upon coal, 
therefore these three most powerful among physical agents of 
modern advancement have their basis in the coal mine. “ The 
exclusive possession of vast mines of anthracite within short dis- 
tances from the seaboard, is one of inestimable value, and places- 
Pennsylvania in an enviable position.” “ And it is difficult to say 
what vast populations its production alone will hereafter sus- 
tain, and to what height of power and importance it may ulti- 
mately elevate the State.” 
From Bethlehem we have followed the beautiful Lehigh, whose 
waters have been drawn largely into the canal,the massive walls and 
locks of which are a fitting measurement of the enterprise and in- 
domitable energy of the father of the Lehigh coal business, and 
whose name is commemorative of the town which stands at the 
upper extremity of his noble work. The story of the efforts of 
Josiah White, of Philadelphia, and his indomitable pluck, deserves 
to be again and again rehearsed, conveying as it does a lesson of 
instruction to new men of new generations. It has been well told 
