Mahanoy City High School - Maroon and Black Yearbook (Mahanoy City, PA)

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1, i f 754 - 4 Marco Polo, the famous author and world traveler, of Venice, brought back stories from Cathay QChinaJ of black rocks which the natives burned. But Marco Polo brought back a great many other tales, which seemed unbelievable, so his friends only smiled. Later, when the coal fields of China became known, it was seen that Marco Polo told the truth. But let us return to our Pennsylvania layer cake. However, not much was known about its use and even some years after the eighteen hundreds had passed, we find that only accident pointed out the way to make the best of its qualities. It was then that Colonel George Shoemaker loaded nine wagons with hard coal near Mahanoy City and had them hauled laboriously over the rough roads of that time to Philadelphia. Here he managed to sell two, and gave away the rest, narrowly escaping impris- onment for attempting to cheat the canny Quakers of Penn's leading city. The story of the discovery of how to burn Anthracite has been often told but it will bear repeating because it illustrates one of its great- est virtues and shows how it should be handled even today. One of the loads that the Colonel sold went to the firm of Wliite ESC Hazard, who were making wire at the Falls of the Schuylkill, now a IP. part of the City of Phliadelphia. Workmen at the plant made every effort to get the coal to burn, but could not do it. Tiring of their ef- forts, they set out for their homes, leaving the coal in the furnace and happening to leave the furnace door open. One of the workmen forgot his coat and, after reaching home, returned to get it. The Anthracite, which had been left alone for some time, had started to burn radiantly. Then it was that men first learned the main principle of a good An- thracite fire, which is, give it some air, then leave it pretty much alone. So finally came the knowledge of the greatest Anthracite fields in the world. Today, this Pennsylvania layer cake is the basis of a vast industry that adds half a billion dollars to the nation's wealth each year. 1gc7l

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4 I 4. CY g rf Forests of giant ferns grew and died and grew again until their tan- gled remains built up a great mat- ting, bog or swamp, from one hun- dred to eight thousand feet thick. Slowly it changed, then came a time when the Earth,s surface was de- pressed and this whole area sank in a basin-like manner. Over the Earth flowed the ocean, making a playground for tropical fishes, where the mosses and ferns flourished so luxuriantly. Waves beat along the shores, hurling rocks together and grinding them into sand. Volcanoes blew great clouds of dust and ash into the air to settle slowly on land and water. Rivers poured their muddy cur- rents into the basin. All these depos- its formed layers which hardened into slate and sandstone. A layer of bog, sand, and mud was thus turned into a cake of peat and rock with the fossil re- mains of fish and lizards stuck into the cake like plums in a pudding! This process of growth and de- cay and burial took place over and over again through the ages. Four- teen layers of coal in Eastern Penn- sylvania are a record of the number of forests that grew, died and were buried there when the Earth was young. Up to this time, the coal was still soft and crumbly. It still was a vegetable mass imprisoned un- I Page 6 derground. Changes and refinements had to take place in the eastern Pennsylvania layer cake in order to transform it into Anthracite, the most perfect of all fuels. The Earth's surface began to contract, and this region was twisted and crumbled by forces too great to calculate. Warping and folding, the layer cake finally broke under the strain and the Allegheny Mountains rose above the plains. . The coal beds, held between hard layers of rock and squeezed under terrihc pressure, were flat- tened and fractured. The heat be- came so intense that the soft coal gave off its gases and became harder and harder. As time went on, the warm sunshine and rain mellowed the ground so that foliage could grow again, and queer beasts roamed the forests above the coal beds. Millions of years passed slowly by. The creatures of Earth changed. The stage was set for the coming of the future master of the world- Man. The first record we have of the use of coal dates back to three hun- dred years before Christ, when a Greek philosopher named Theo- phrastus wrote about black stones which burned like charcoal. He called them anthractes, che word from which Anthracite is derived. I

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l. I A E X If DEDICATION T IS for his inspirational guidance to us as individuals toward nobler achievements, and with affection, respect, and appreciation, and wich confidence in his ability to accomplish for our High School unprecedented Well-being, We, the class of nineteen hundred thirty-five dedicate this YEAR Booli to JOSEPH E. BGYLE vrau 51Ef,HP-mn l+lll1 Av, H l fliul 1 rll?f'IS' ,Lug 'W .. ' Jiffl' ll 'Nfl lift? it ,i gi-sf-zfiium1W llwfi,a , .mm ME?-f-1.: '-ET-?i?' ' '1 ' 'W ' if i1'5 i 5 K igiiiil -g ag in x!'L , I Page 81