Anthracite coal

Examples of Anthracite coal in the following topics:

• The Coal Strike of 1902

  • The Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902 is significant as the first labor episode in which the federal government intervened as a mediator.
  • The Coal Strike of 1902 was a strike by the United Mine Workers of America in the anthracite coal fields of eastern Pennsylvania .
  • Homes and apartments were heated with anthracite or "hard" coal because it had higher heat value and less smoke than "soft" or bituminous coal.
  • The Anthracite Coal Strike is significant because it was the first labor episode in which the federal government intervened as a neutral arbitrator.
  • The anthracite strike ended, after 163 days, on October 23, 1902.

• Industrialization and the Environment

  • In 1790, anthracite coal was first discovered in what is now known as the Coal Region of Pennsylvania.
  • A harder and high-quality form of coal, anthracite soon became the primary source of fuel in the United States for domestic and industrial use.
  • The consumption of immense quantities of coal and other fossil fuels eventually gave rise to unprecedented air pollution.
  • Anthracite coal breaker and power house buildings, New Mexico, ca. 1935
  • Coal tends to release large quantities of carbon as it is burned to make electricity.

• Irish Immigration

  • The anthracite-coal region of northeastern Pennsylvania saw a massive influx of Irish during this time period; conditions in the mines eventually gave rise to groups and secret societies such as the Molly Maguires.

• The Square Deal

  • In May 1902, anthracite coal miners went on strike, threatening a national energy shortage.
  • After threatening the coal operators with intervention by federal troops, Roosevelt won their agreement to an arbitration of the dispute by a commission, which succeeded in stopping the strike, dropping coal prices and retiring furnaces; the accord with J.P.

• The Molly Maguires

  • The Molly Maguires were a secret Irish-American organization that consisted mainly of coal miners.
  • During the mid 19th century, "hard coal" mining came to dominate northeastern Pennsylvania.
  • The families blamed the coal company for failing to finance a secondary exit for the mine.
  • The union grew powerful; thirty thousand members — 85% of Pennsylvania's anthracite miners — had joined.
  • Gowen, the president of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad as well as the Coal and Iron Company, had built a combination of his own, bringing all of the mine operators into an employers' association known as the Anthracite Board of Trade.

• Territory and Reparations

  • The Versailles Reparations came in a variety of forms, including coal, steel, intellectual property (e.g., the trademark for Aspirin), and agricultural products.
  • Reparations in the form of coal played a big part in punishing Germany.
  • The Treaty of Versailles declared that Germany was responsible for the destruction of coal mines in Northern France, parts of Belgium, and parts of Italy.
  • Therefore, France was awarded full possession of Germany′s most productive coal-bearing region for a period.
  • Also, Germany was forced to provide France, Belgium, and Italy with millions of tons of coal for 10 years.

• Ballinger and Pinchot

  • Glavis met with the president at Taft's summer retreat in Beverly, Massachusetts, and presented him with a 50-page report accusing Ballinger of an improper interest in his handling of coal field claims in Alaska.
  • Glavis claimed that Ballinger, first as Commissioner of the General Land Office, and then as Secretary of the Interior, had interfered with investigations of coal claim purchases made by Clarence Cunningham of Idaho.
  • In 1907, Cunningham had partnered with the Morgan-Guggenheim "Alaska Syndicate" to develop coal interests in Alaska.

• The Second Industrial Revolution

  • A synergy between iron and steel, and railroads and coal developed at the beginning of the Second Industrial Revolution.
  • Railroads also benefited from cheap coal for their steam locomotives.
  • Improvements in steam efficiency, such as triple-expansion steam engines, allowed ships to carry much more freight than coal, resulting in greatly increased volumes of international trade.

• Mobilizing a Nation

  • The coal shortage that struck the nation in December 1917 exemplified the confusion.
  • Coal was the major source of energy and heat.
  • Plenty of coal was mined, but a crisis developed when 44,000 loaded freight and coal cars were tied up in horrendous traffic jams in the rail yards of the East Coast, leaving 200 ships waiting in New York harbor for the delayed cargo.
  • Apart from "Wheatless Wednesdays" and "Meatless Tuesdays" due to poor harvests in 1916 and 1917, there were "Fuelless Mondays" and "Gasless Sundays" to preserve coal and gasoline.
  • As well as paid jobs, women were also expected to take on voluntary work such as packing coal into sacks for distribution wherever it was needed, or rolling bandages, knitting clothes and preparing hampers for soldiers on the front.

• The Progressive Era

  • Novels like King Coal (1917), The Coal War (published posthumously), Oil!
  • (1927) and The Flivver King (1937) describe the working conditions of the coal, oil and auto industries at the time.