Pittsburgh coal seam
Encyclopedia
The Pittsburgh Coal Seam is the thickest and most extensive coal bed in the Appalachian Basin; hence, it is the most economically important coal beds in the eastern United States
. The Upper Pennsylvanian Pittsburgh coal bed of the Monongahela Group is extensive and continuous, extending over 11,000 mi2 through 53 counties. It extends from Allegany County, Maryland
to Belmont County, Ohio
and from Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
southwest to Putnam County, West Virginia
.
This coal seam is named for its outcrop high on the sheer north face of Mount Washington
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
, and it is considered to form the base of the upper coal measures
of the Allegheny Plateau
, now known as the Monongahela Group. The first reference to the Pittsburgh coal bed, named by H.D. Rodgers of the First Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, was on a 1751 map.
The section of the Pittsburgh seam under the Georges Creek Valley
of Western Maryland is known as The Big Vein
This is isolated from the rest of the Pittsburgh seam by Savage Mountain
(part of the Deer Park anticline), the Negro Mountain
anticline, the Laurel Hill
anticline, and the Chestnut Ridge anticline. Between these anticlines, the strata containing the Pittsburgh coal have been almost obliterated by erosion. The exception is a small remnant in Somerset County, Pennsylvania
, in the Berlin Syncline between Negro Mountain
and Savage Mountain
.
(late Carboniferous
) and Permian
(330–265mya) eras in a subsiding foreland basin that was filled in with sediments eroded from an ancient landmass located to the east. The Monongahela Group and other northern and central Appalachian Basin (fig. 1) Pennsylvanian sediments were deposited on an aggrading and prograding coastal plain within a foreland basin adjacent to the Alleghanian fold and thrust belt.
The Pittsburgh coal bed formed during a hiatus in active clastic deposition that allowed for the development of a huge peat mire. The extensively thick peat deposit was destined to become one of the most valuable energy resources in the world. The distribution of some of the sediments, particularly the channel sands, may have been controlled in part by deep, Early Cambrian basement faults that were reactivated during the Alleghany orogeny (Root and Hoskins, 1977; Root, 1995).
Significant parts of the clay layer immediately below the Pittsburgh coal rest on an unconformity
, that is, an old eroded surface. For this reason, the Pittsburgh seam is taken as the basal member of the Monongahela Group. The underlying erosion surface is considered the top of the Conemaugh Group, formerly known as the Lower barren measures because this formation contains few coal seams.
The Monongahela is composed mainly of sandstone, limestone, dolomite, and coal, and consists of a series of up to ten cyclothems
. During each cyclothem, the land was flooded, allowing the accumulation of marine deposits such as shale
, limestone
and sandstone
. When the sea level fell, coal formed from the remains of swampland. Some of the coal beds in the Monongahela group are erratic, sometimes little more than a black streak in the rock, while others are of commercial importance.
The Pittsburgh coal seam is laterally extensive. It commonly occurs in southwestern Pennsylvania in two benches, and the lower bench can be over six feet thick. The Pittsburgh rider coal bed, which overlies the lower bench, can range from 0 to 3 feet in thickness.
and reported that there was a mine on Coal Hill, the original name given to Mount Washington
across the Monongahela River
from the fort. The coal was extracted from drift mine entries into the Pittsburgh coal seam at outcrop along the hillside about 200 feet above the river. The coal was poured into trenches dug into the hillside, rolled to the edge of the river, and transported by canoe and boats to the military garrison. Sometime around 1765, a fire broke out in this mine, which continued to burn for years, leading to collapse of part of the face of the hill. Mining rights were formally purchased from the chiefs of the Six Nations
in 1768, and from this point on, coal fueled the explosive growth of industry in the Pittsburgh Region.
By 1796, coal mines extended along the face of Mount Washington for 300 fathoms (1800 feet), centered across the Monongahela from Wood Street.40°25′55.74"N 80°0′24.08"W By 1814, there were at least 40 coal mines in the Pittsburgh region, worked from Adit
s in the face of the coal seam using room and pillar
methods. By 1830, the city of Pittsburgh consumed more than 400 tons per day of bituminous coal for domestic and light industrial use. In the early 19th century, Pittsburgh coal became the city’s
primary fuel source: about 250,000 bushels (approximately 400 short tons) of coal were consumed daily for domestic and light industrial use. The primary reason for the switch from wood to coal was one of economics. In 1809, a cord of wood cost $2.00 and a bushel of coal cost $0.06, delivered. The coal was plentiful and laborers, working in mines within a mile of Pittsburgh, earned about $1.60 per week and could produce as many as 100 bushels of coal daily.
The Pittsburgh seam was America's principal seam of coal production during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Pittsburgh-seam coal was ideally suited to making coke, particularly for iron blast furnaces. It fostered the development of much of southwestern Pennsylvania, particularly a section of the Pittsburgh seam known as the Connellsville district. The Pittsburgh seam was America's principal seam of coal production during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
Exploitation of the Pittsburgh-seam coal began slowly. Initially, blacksmiths and foundrymen made coal into coke to use in their hearths and small furnaces. During the early nineteenth century, entrepreneurs in western Pennsylvania adapted British coke-making practices to produce coke for local iron works. To make coke, coal is burned under controlled conditions to drive off volatile matter (gases expelled when coal is burned), leaving carbon and ash from the coal fused together in the form of coke. They made coke in turf-covered "mounds," in which coal burned slowly and without oxygen to drive off impurities. The adoption of beehive coke ovens in the 1830s spurred the use of Pittsburgh-seam coal in iron furnaces, and these ovens made better-quality coke than mounds.
Pittsburgh-seam coal, especially the highest-quality coal found in the Connellsville district, was the best coal in America for making coke. When converted into coke, it was sufficiently strong to withstand the weight of iron ore that was piled with coke inside iron furnaces. It has a high proportion of carbon, which accelerates combustion, and a low proportion of impurities, including ash and moisture, which retards combustion. Pittsburgh coal also has a low proportion of sulfur, which is critical to making high-quality iron. In addition, the Pittsburgh seam was located close to Pittsburgh, then the center of the growing American iron and steel industry. Coke had to be transported by water or rail to iron furnaces, and the Pittsburgh seam's proximity to iron furnaces gave the bed another competitive advantage over more distant coal seams that could produce coke.
The mining of Pittsburgh-seam coal boomed off after 1860 as the rapidly expanding iron and steel industry adopted coke. The output of the iron and steel industry burgeoned during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century as demand for steel products surged. To meet the corresponding demand for coke, Pittsburgh-seam mines vastly increased their production from 4.3 million tons of coal in 1880 to a peak of forty million tons in 1916. Most of the pre-1900 growth in coal output occurred in the Connellsville district. However, the iron and steel industry's demand rose so rapidly that it became clear by 1900 that this district could not satisfy demand by itself. During the 1900s and 1910s, mine companies exploited the Lower Connellsville district of the Pittsburgh seam, adding greatly to total output. The growth of Pittsburgh-seam mining was so massive, and so intertwined with coke production for the iron and steel industry, that the late nineteenth and early twentieth century has been called the "Golden Age of King Coal, Queen Coke and Princess Steel."
Beginning in the 1910s, important technological and industrial changes spelled the end of the Pittsburgh seam's importance. By-product coke ovens, which yielded more coke per ton from coal, replaced most beehive coke ovens from 1910 to 1940. By-product ovens utilized coal that was lower quality than Pittsburgh-seam coal, greatly reducing demand for Pittsburgh-seam coal. The Great Depression
also contributed significantly to the decline of production. Pittsburgh-seam output continued to fall after a World War II
surge as steel mills adopted alternative fuels such as natural gas and oil and improved the energy efficiency of iron furnaces. Another major blow came during the late 1970s and 1980s as the American steel industry closed many steel mills in the Pittsburgh region and elsewhere. The decline of Pittsburgh-seam mining brought large-scale social and economic changes to southwestern Pennsylvania, as unemployment climbed, the region lost population due to out-migration, businesses dependent on coal miners' income folded, and municipalities had declining tax bases.
Despite two centuries of mining, about 16 billion short tons of resources remain, with the largest remaining block in southwestern Pennsylvania and adjacent areas of West Virginia. Much of the remaining resource to the south of Marion County, W. Va., and west through much of Ohio is high in ash and sulfur, and is not likely to be extensively mined in the near future given current economic trends.
, but it was not until 1824 that small-scale shipment to Georgetown
began. The first mine was the Neff mine, later known as the Eckhart mine 39°39′4.46"N 78°54′1.59"W. Mining was seasonal, confined largely to winter time. Coal was hauled overland to Cumberland, Maryland
and then loaded onto flatboat
s for shipment down the Potomac River
during the spring floods.
In 1842, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
reached Cumberland, followed in 1850 by the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
. These allowed large-scale exploitation.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The Upper Pennsylvanian Pittsburgh coal bed of the Monongahela Group is extensive and continuous, extending over 11,000 mi2 through 53 counties. It extends from Allegany County, Maryland
Allegany County, Maryland
Allegany County is a county located in the northwestern part of the US state of Maryland. It is part of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010, the population was 75,087. Its county seat is Cumberland...
to Belmont County, Ohio
Belmont County, Ohio
Belmont County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. It is part of the Wheeling, West Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010, the population was 70,400. Its county seat is St. Clairsville...
and from Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Allegheny County is a county in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,223,348; making it the second most populous county in Pennsylvania, following Philadelphia County. The county seat is Pittsburgh...
southwest to Putnam County, West Virginia
Putnam County, West Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 51,589 people, 20,028 households, and 15,281 families residing in the county. The population density was 149 people per square mile . There were 21,621 housing units at an average density of 62 per square mile...
.
This coal seam is named for its outcrop high on the sheer north face of Mount Washington
Mount Washington (Pittsburgh)
Mount Washington is a neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's south city area. It has a zip code of 15211 and has representation on Pittsburgh City Council by both the council members for District 3 and District 2 .It is known for its steep hill overlooking the Pittsburgh skyline, which was...
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, and it is considered to form the base of the upper coal measures
Coal Measures
The Coal Measures is a lithostratigraphical term for the coal-bearing part of the Upper Carboniferous System. It represents the remains of fluvio-deltaic sediment, and consists mainly of clastic rocks interstratified with the beds of coal...
of the Allegheny Plateau
Allegheny Plateau
The Allegheny Plateau is a large dissected plateau area in western and central New York, northern and western Pennsylvania, northern and western West Virginia, and eastern Ohio...
, now known as the Monongahela Group. The first reference to the Pittsburgh coal bed, named by H.D. Rodgers of the First Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, was on a 1751 map.
The section of the Pittsburgh seam under the Georges Creek Valley
Georges Creek Valley
Georges Creek Valley is located in Allegany County, Maryland along the George's Creek. The valley is rich in wide veins of coal, known historically as the "The Big Vein." Coal was once extracted by deep mines but is only mined today through surface mining...
of Western Maryland is known as The Big Vein
The Big Vein
The Big Vein refers to a thick seam of bituminous coal discovered in the Georges Creek Valley of Western Maryland in the early 19th century. This coal vein became famous for its clean-burning low sulfur content that made it ideal for powering ocean steamers, river boats, locomotives, steam mills,...
This is isolated from the rest of the Pittsburgh seam by Savage Mountain
Savage Mountain
The two Big Savage Mountain summits are part of Savage Mountain.The two Big Savage Mountain summits are part of Savage Mountain....
(part of the Deer Park anticline), the Negro Mountain
Negro Mountain
Negro Mountain is a long ridge of the Allegheny Mountains extending from Deep Creek Lake in Maryland, north to the Casselman River in Pennsylvania, USA. The summit, Mount Davis, is the highest point in Pennsylvania...
anticline, the Laurel Hill
Laurel Hill (Pennsylvania)
Laurel Hill, also known as Laurel Ridge or Laurel Mountain, is a long mountain in Pennsylvania's Allegheny Mountains. This ridge is flanked by Negro Mountain to its east and Chestnut Ridge to its west. The mountain is home to six State Parks; Laurel Ridge State Park, Laurel Mountain State Park,...
anticline, and the Chestnut Ridge anticline. Between these anticlines, the strata containing the Pittsburgh coal have been almost obliterated by erosion. The exception is a small remnant in Somerset County, Pennsylvania
Somerset County, Pennsylvania
Somerset County is a county located in the state of Pennsylvania. As of 2010, the population was 77,742. Somerset County was created on April 17, 1795, from part of Bedford County and named for Somerset, United Kingdom. Its county seat is Somerset. It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania,...
, in the Berlin Syncline between Negro Mountain
Negro Mountain
Negro Mountain is a long ridge of the Allegheny Mountains extending from Deep Creek Lake in Maryland, north to the Casselman River in Pennsylvania, USA. The summit, Mount Davis, is the highest point in Pennsylvania...
and Savage Mountain
Savage Mountain
The two Big Savage Mountain summits are part of Savage Mountain.The two Big Savage Mountain summits are part of Savage Mountain....
.
Formation
The Pittsburgh coal is one of many minable coal beds that were deposited across the PennsylvanianPennsylvanian
The Pennsylvanian is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the younger of two subperiods of the Carboniferous Period. It lasted from roughly . As with most other geochronologic units, the rock beds that define the Pennsylvanian are well identified, but the exact date of the start and end are uncertain...
(late Carboniferous
Carboniferous
The Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Devonian Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya , to the beginning of the Permian Period, about 299.0 ± 0.8 Mya . The name is derived from the Latin word for coal, carbo. Carboniferous means "coal-bearing"...
) and Permian
Permian
The PermianThe term "Permian" was introduced into geology in 1841 by Sir Sir R. I. Murchison, president of the Geological Society of London, who identified typical strata in extensive Russian explorations undertaken with Edouard de Verneuil; Murchison asserted in 1841 that he named his "Permian...
(330–265mya) eras in a subsiding foreland basin that was filled in with sediments eroded from an ancient landmass located to the east. The Monongahela Group and other northern and central Appalachian Basin (fig. 1) Pennsylvanian sediments were deposited on an aggrading and prograding coastal plain within a foreland basin adjacent to the Alleghanian fold and thrust belt.
The Pittsburgh coal bed formed during a hiatus in active clastic deposition that allowed for the development of a huge peat mire. The extensively thick peat deposit was destined to become one of the most valuable energy resources in the world. The distribution of some of the sediments, particularly the channel sands, may have been controlled in part by deep, Early Cambrian basement faults that were reactivated during the Alleghany orogeny (Root and Hoskins, 1977; Root, 1995).
Significant parts of the clay layer immediately below the Pittsburgh coal rest on an unconformity
Unconformity
An unconformity is a buried erosion surface separating two rock masses or strata of different ages, indicating that sediment deposition was not continuous. In general, the older layer was exposed to erosion for an interval of time before deposition of the younger, but the term is used to describe...
, that is, an old eroded surface. For this reason, the Pittsburgh seam is taken as the basal member of the Monongahela Group. The underlying erosion surface is considered the top of the Conemaugh Group, formerly known as the Lower barren measures because this formation contains few coal seams.
The Monongahela is composed mainly of sandstone, limestone, dolomite, and coal, and consists of a series of up to ten cyclothems
Cyclothems
In geology, cyclothems are alternating stratigraphic sequences of marine and non-marine sediments, sometimes interbedded with coal seams. Historically, the term was defined by the European coal geologists that worked in coal basins formed during the Carboniferous and earliest Permian periods...
. During each cyclothem, the land was flooded, allowing the accumulation of marine deposits such as shale
Shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering...
, limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
and sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
. When the sea level fell, coal formed from the remains of swampland. Some of the coal beds in the Monongahela group are erratic, sometimes little more than a black streak in the rock, while others are of commercial importance.
The Pittsburgh coal seam is laterally extensive. It commonly occurs in southwestern Pennsylvania in two benches, and the lower bench can be over six feet thick. The Pittsburgh rider coal bed, which overlies the lower bench, can range from 0 to 3 feet in thickness.
Exploitation
In 1760, Captain Thomas Hutchins visited Fort PittFort Pitt (Pennsylvania)
Fort Pitt was a fort built at the location of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.-French and Indian War:The fort was built from 1759 to 1761 during the French and Indian War , next to the site of former Fort Duquesne, at the confluence the Allegheny River and the Monongahela River...
and reported that there was a mine on Coal Hill, the original name given to Mount Washington
Mount Washington (Pittsburgh)
Mount Washington is a neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's south city area. It has a zip code of 15211 and has representation on Pittsburgh City Council by both the council members for District 3 and District 2 .It is known for its steep hill overlooking the Pittsburgh skyline, which was...
across the Monongahela River
Monongahela River
The Monongahela River is a river on the Allegheny Plateau in north-central West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania in the United States...
from the fort. The coal was extracted from drift mine entries into the Pittsburgh coal seam at outcrop along the hillside about 200 feet above the river. The coal was poured into trenches dug into the hillside, rolled to the edge of the river, and transported by canoe and boats to the military garrison. Sometime around 1765, a fire broke out in this mine, which continued to burn for years, leading to collapse of part of the face of the hill. Mining rights were formally purchased from the chiefs of the Six Nations
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
in 1768, and from this point on, coal fueled the explosive growth of industry in the Pittsburgh Region.
By 1796, coal mines extended along the face of Mount Washington for 300 fathoms (1800 feet), centered across the Monongahela from Wood Street.40°25′55.74"N 80°0′24.08"W By 1814, there were at least 40 coal mines in the Pittsburgh region, worked from Adit
Adit
An adit is an entrance to an underground mine which is horizontal or nearly horizontal, by which the mine can be entered, drained of water, and ventilated.-Construction:...
s in the face of the coal seam using room and pillar
Room and pillar
Room and pillar is a mining system in which the mined material is extracted across a horizontal plane while leaving "pillars" of untouched material to support the roof overburden leaving open areas or "rooms" underground...
methods. By 1830, the city of Pittsburgh consumed more than 400 tons per day of bituminous coal for domestic and light industrial use. In the early 19th century, Pittsburgh coal became the city’s
primary fuel source: about 250,000 bushels (approximately 400 short tons) of coal were consumed daily for domestic and light industrial use. The primary reason for the switch from wood to coal was one of economics. In 1809, a cord of wood cost $2.00 and a bushel of coal cost $0.06, delivered. The coal was plentiful and laborers, working in mines within a mile of Pittsburgh, earned about $1.60 per week and could produce as many as 100 bushels of coal daily.
The Pittsburgh seam was America's principal seam of coal production during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Pittsburgh-seam coal was ideally suited to making coke, particularly for iron blast furnaces. It fostered the development of much of southwestern Pennsylvania, particularly a section of the Pittsburgh seam known as the Connellsville district. The Pittsburgh seam was America's principal seam of coal production during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
Exploitation of the Pittsburgh-seam coal began slowly. Initially, blacksmiths and foundrymen made coal into coke to use in their hearths and small furnaces. During the early nineteenth century, entrepreneurs in western Pennsylvania adapted British coke-making practices to produce coke for local iron works. To make coke, coal is burned under controlled conditions to drive off volatile matter (gases expelled when coal is burned), leaving carbon and ash from the coal fused together in the form of coke. They made coke in turf-covered "mounds," in which coal burned slowly and without oxygen to drive off impurities. The adoption of beehive coke ovens in the 1830s spurred the use of Pittsburgh-seam coal in iron furnaces, and these ovens made better-quality coke than mounds.
Pittsburgh-seam coal, especially the highest-quality coal found in the Connellsville district, was the best coal in America for making coke. When converted into coke, it was sufficiently strong to withstand the weight of iron ore that was piled with coke inside iron furnaces. It has a high proportion of carbon, which accelerates combustion, and a low proportion of impurities, including ash and moisture, which retards combustion. Pittsburgh coal also has a low proportion of sulfur, which is critical to making high-quality iron. In addition, the Pittsburgh seam was located close to Pittsburgh, then the center of the growing American iron and steel industry. Coke had to be transported by water or rail to iron furnaces, and the Pittsburgh seam's proximity to iron furnaces gave the bed another competitive advantage over more distant coal seams that could produce coke.
The mining of Pittsburgh-seam coal boomed off after 1860 as the rapidly expanding iron and steel industry adopted coke. The output of the iron and steel industry burgeoned during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century as demand for steel products surged. To meet the corresponding demand for coke, Pittsburgh-seam mines vastly increased their production from 4.3 million tons of coal in 1880 to a peak of forty million tons in 1916. Most of the pre-1900 growth in coal output occurred in the Connellsville district. However, the iron and steel industry's demand rose so rapidly that it became clear by 1900 that this district could not satisfy demand by itself. During the 1900s and 1910s, mine companies exploited the Lower Connellsville district of the Pittsburgh seam, adding greatly to total output. The growth of Pittsburgh-seam mining was so massive, and so intertwined with coke production for the iron and steel industry, that the late nineteenth and early twentieth century has been called the "Golden Age of King Coal, Queen Coke and Princess Steel."
Beginning in the 1910s, important technological and industrial changes spelled the end of the Pittsburgh seam's importance. By-product coke ovens, which yielded more coke per ton from coal, replaced most beehive coke ovens from 1910 to 1940. By-product ovens utilized coal that was lower quality than Pittsburgh-seam coal, greatly reducing demand for Pittsburgh-seam coal. The Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
also contributed significantly to the decline of production. Pittsburgh-seam output continued to fall after a World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
surge as steel mills adopted alternative fuels such as natural gas and oil and improved the energy efficiency of iron furnaces. Another major blow came during the late 1970s and 1980s as the American steel industry closed many steel mills in the Pittsburgh region and elsewhere. The decline of Pittsburgh-seam mining brought large-scale social and economic changes to southwestern Pennsylvania, as unemployment climbed, the region lost population due to out-migration, businesses dependent on coal miners' income folded, and municipalities had declining tax bases.
Despite two centuries of mining, about 16 billion short tons of resources remain, with the largest remaining block in southwestern Pennsylvania and adjacent areas of West Virginia. Much of the remaining resource to the south of Marion County, W. Va., and west through much of Ohio is high in ash and sulfur, and is not likely to be extensively mined in the near future given current economic trends.
The Big Vein
The Big Vein was discovered in 1804, in an outcrop east of Frostburg, MarylandFrostburg, Maryland
Frostburg is a city in Allegany County, Maryland, United States located at the head of the Georges Creek Valley. It is part of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,873 at the 2000 census...
, but it was not until 1824 that small-scale shipment to Georgetown
Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
Georgetown is a neighborhood located in northwest Washington, D.C., situated along the Potomac River. Founded in 1751, the port of Georgetown predated the establishment of the federal district and the City of Washington by 40 years...
began. The first mine was the Neff mine, later known as the Eckhart mine 39°39′4.46"N 78°54′1.59"W. Mining was seasonal, confined largely to winter time. Coal was hauled overland to Cumberland, Maryland
Cumberland, Maryland
Cumberland is a city in the far western, Appalachian portion of Maryland, United States. It is the county seat of Allegany County, and the primary city of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the 2010 census, the city had a population of 20,859, and the metropolitan area had a...
and then loaded onto flatboat
Flatboat
Fil1800flatboat.jpgA flatboat is a rectangular flat-bottomed boat with Fil1800flatboat.jpgA flatboat is a rectangular flat-bottomed boat with Fil1800flatboat.jpgA flatboat is a rectangular flat-bottomed boat with (mostlyNOTE: "(parenthesized)" wordings in the quote below are notes added to...
s for shipment down the Potomac River
Potomac River
The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...
during the spring floods.
In 1842, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was one of the oldest railroads in the United States and the first common carrier railroad. It came into being mostly because the city of Baltimore wanted to compete with the newly constructed Erie Canal and another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania, which...
reached Cumberland, followed in 1850 by the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, abbreviated as the C&O Canal, and occasionally referred to as the "Grand Old Ditch," operated from 1831 until 1924 parallel to the Potomac River in Maryland from Cumberland, Maryland to Washington, D.C. The total length of the canal is about . The elevation change of...
. These allowed large-scale exploitation.