The Riverside Library for Young People Number 5 COAL AND THE COAL MINES By HOMER GREENE [Illustration] COAL AND THE COAL MINES BY HOMER GREENE _WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM DRAWINGS BY THE AUTHOR_ [Illustration] BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY The Riverside Press, Cambridge 1898 Copyright, 1889. BY HOMER GREENE. _All rights reserved._ _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, U. S. A._: Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Company. To MY SON, GILES POLLARD GREENE, WHO WAS BORN ON THE DAY THIS BOOK WAS BEGUN, AND WHOSE SMILES AND TEARS THROUGH HALF A YEAR HAVE BEEN A DAILY INSPIRATION IN THE WORK, This Completed Task IS NOW DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. [Illustration] In treating of so large a theme in so small a compass it is impossible to do more than make an outline sketch. It has been the aim of the author to give reliable information free from minute details and technicalities. That information has been, for the most part, gathered through personal experience in the mines. The literature of this special subject is very meagre, and the author is unable to acknowledge any real indebtedness to more than half a dozen volumes. First among these is the valuable treatise on “Coal Mining,” by H. M. Chance of the Pennsylvania Geological Survey. Other volumes from which the author has derived considerable information are the State geological reports of Pennsylvania, the mine inspector’s reports of the same State, and the “Coal Trade Annuals,” issued by Frederick E. Saward of New York. The author desires also to acknowledge his indebtedness for valuable assistance in the preparation of this work to John B. Law and Andrew Bryden, mining superintendents, and George Johnson, real estate agent, all of the Pennsylvania Coal Company, at Pittston, Pennsylvania, and to the officers of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society of Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. HOMER GREENE. Honesdale, Pa., _May 15, 1889_. CONTENTS. [Illustration]