Anthracite Coal

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Anthracite coal has been burned for domestic fuel since medieval times in Wales. In 1790, a hunter named Necho Allen discovered anthracite coal in what is now Pottsville, Pennsylvania, when, as the legend goes, his camp fire ignited an outcropping of anthracite. This coal, mined in northeastern Pennsylvania, burned hotter and longer than bituminous coal. Pennsylvania is the only state in which significant deposits of both of these types of coal can be found. This helped fuel the industrial revolution in the United States, especially in the iron industry where anthracite coal was used in the blast furnaces - most notably at Bethlehem Steel. Pennsylvania contains the largest anthracite deposits worldwide in the three northeastern Pennsylvania fields with mineable reserves estimated at 7 billion short tons. Pennsylvania produces ~55% of its electric power needs from coal.* Anthracite coal samples are displayed throughout the exhibit.

*Source: Electric Power Generation Company Courtesy of the Earth and Environmental Sciences Department