308 ANTHRACITE COAL-FIELDS. 



what are called clinhers, which a white heat pro- 

 duces in all the red-ash coals. On these accounts 

 it is better suited for stoves and for manufacturing 

 purposes. This is the product of the northern por- 

 tion of the first or Schuylkill, as well as of the other 

 two fields. 



" The consumption of anthracite coal is rapidly 

 increasing. It is superseding all other kinds of fuel 

 in a considerable part of this country, for almost 

 every purpose. It is now very generally used for 

 domestic purposes upon the seaboard. In station- 

 ary steam-engines it is now a common fuel, and in 

 locomotives it is daily becoming more general. 

 During the last year it has been effectually intro- 

 duced into steamboats. It is the common fuel in the 

 coal regions for blacksmiths' forges, in preference 

 to any other; and it has lately been introduced 

 with success in the manufacture of iron ; in Wales 

 on a large scale, in this country on a scale suffi- 

 cient to prove its economy. It may be fair to put 

 the saving in the use of anthracite coal instead of 

 wood as high as 50 per cent. 



" The progressive consumption of anthracite coal, 

 for the first 15 years after its introduction into use, 

 was quite extraordinary, amounting to about 3S per 

 cent, per annum. For the last three years the in- 

 crease has been only about 16 per cent, per annum. 

 About 830,000 tons were consumed in 1838. As 

 our forests, too, disappear, and as the demand for 

 timber for building purposes increases, the con- 

 sumption of coal must also increase ; and the pe- 

 riod is fast approaching when its importance to us 

 may not be less than is that of the collieries* of Eng- 

 land to her." 



* Prof. H. Vethake. Dictionary of Commerce, No. III. 



