The Coal Region is a region of Northeastern Pennsylvania. It is known for being home to the largest known deposits of anthracite coal in the world with an estimated reserve of seven billion short tons. The region is typically defined as comprising five Pennsylvania counties, Carbon County, Lackawanna County, Luzerne County, Northumberland County, and Schuylkill County. It is home to 910,716 people as of the 2010 census. The Coal Region is bordered by Berks, Lehigh, and

Northampton Northampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is the county town of Northamptonshire and the administrative centre of the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. The town is sit ...

Counties (including the Lehigh Valley) to its south; Columbia and Dauphin Counties to its west; Wyoming County to its north; and Monroe County, Pennsylvania to its east.

History

18th century

By the 18th century, the Susquehannock Native American tribe that had inhabited the region was reduced 90 percentsee facts cited and cites of American Heritage book of Indians (1961) in articles: Iroquois, Susquehannock in three years of a plague of diseases and possibly war, opening up the Susquehanna Valley and all of Pennsylvania to European settlers. Settlement in the region predates the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

. Both Delaware and Susquehannock power had been broken by disease and wars between Native American tribes before the British took over the Dutch and Swedish colonies and settled Pennsylvania. The first discovery of anthracite coal in the region occurred in 1762, and the first mine was established 13 years later, in 1775 near present-day

Pittston Pittston is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city lies in the Wyoming Valley on the east side of the Susquehanna River and on the south side of the Lackawanna River. It is approximately midway between Wilkes-Barre, Pen ...

. In 1791, anthracite was discovered by a hunter atop Pisgah Ridge, and by 1792 the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company began producing and shipping coal to

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

via present-day

Jim Thorpe James Francis Thorpe (; May 22 or 28, 1887March 28, 1953) was an American athlete who won Olympic gold medals and played professional American football, football, baseball, and basketball. A citizen of the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe was ...

from the Southern Anthracite Field and Summit Hill, built between Schuylkill County and what would become Carbon County.

19th century

In 1818, customers fed up with the inconsistent mismanagement leased the Lehigh Coal Mining Company and founded the Lehigh Navigation Company. Construction of

navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the motion, movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navig ...

and locks and dams on the Lehigh River rapids, later known as the Lehigh Canal, was completed in 1820. In 1822, the two companies merged as the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company (LC&N). By 1824, the company was shipping large volumes of coal down the Lehigh and Delaware Canals. Meanwhile, three brothers had similar ideas from near the turn of the century, and about the same time began mining coal in Carbondale, northeast of Scranton, but high enough to run a gravity railroad to the Delaware River and feed

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

via the Delaware and Hudson Canal. Pennsylvania began the Delaware Canal to connect the Lehigh Canal to Philadelphia and environs, while funding to build a canal across the Appalachians' Allegheny Mountains to

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

. In 1827, LC&N built the nation's second railroad, whose Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway ran from Summit Hill to present-day

. The region's population grew rapidly following the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, due largely to the expansion of the mining and railroad industries. English, Welsh, Irish, and German immigrants formed a large portion of this increase. This immigration wave was followed, in turn, by Polish, Slovak, Ruthenian, Ukrainian, Hungarian, Italian, Russian, Belarusian, Jewish, and Lithuanian immigrants. The influence of these immigrant populations is still strongly felt in the region, with various towns featuring and offering various ethnic characters and cuisine.

20th century

In 1959, the Knox Mine Disaster served as a death knell for deep mining, leading to its ultimate shutdown in the mid-1960s; almost all current anthracite mining is done via strip mining. Strip mines and fires, most notably in Centralia, remain visible. Several violent incidents in the history of the U.S. labor movement occurred within the coal region, which was the home of the Molly Maguires and the location of the Lattimer Massacre.Thomas Keil, Jacqueline M. Keil; 2014. Anthracite's Demise and the Post-Coal Economy of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Lehigh University Press. pp. 15–. . Tours of underground mines can be taken in Ashland, Scranton, and Lansford, each of which have museums dedicated to the region's historic anthracite mining industry. Patch towns and small villages, often historically founded and owned by mining companies, also still exist. While they are no longer company-owned, most of them still exist as boroughs or townships, and one of them, the Eckley Miners' Village, is a museum and preserved historical town owned and administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, which seeks to restore patch towns to their original state.

Geography

The Coal Region lies north of the Lehigh Valley and Berks County regions, south of the Endless Mountains, west of the Pocono Mountains, and east of the Susquehanna Valley. The region lies at the northern edge of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, and draws its name from the vast deposits of anthracite coal that can be found under several of the valleys in the region. The Wyoming Valley is the most densely populated of these valleys, and contains the cities of Wilkes-Barre, Greater Pittston, and Scranton. Hazleton and Pottsville are two of the larger cities in the southern portion of the region. The Lehigh and Schuylkill rivers both originate within the region, while the much larger

Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River ( ; Unami language, Lenape: ) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, crossing three lower Northeastern United States, Northeast states (New York, Pennsylvani ...

skirts the northern edge. Academics have made the distinction between the North Anthracite Coal Field and the South Anthracite Coal Field,Healey, Richard (2005) ''"The Breakers of the Northern Anthracite Coalfield of Pennsylvania", 'Vol. 1, Major breakers prior to 1902'.'' Dept of Geography, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth. ''"Northern Anthracite Coalfield of Pennsylvania" (implying there is a Southern Anthracite Coalfield of Pennsylvania)'' the lower region bearing the further classification Anthracite UplandsSevon, W. D., compiler, 2000, , Pennsylvania Geological Survey of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Pennsylvania Geological Survey, 4th ser., Map 13, scale 1:2,000,000. in physical geology. The Southern Coal Region can be further broken into the Southeastern and Southwestern Coal Regions, with the divide between the Little Schuylkill River and easternmost tributary of the

Schuylkill River The Schuylkill River ( , ) is a river in eastern Pennsylvania. It flows for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map(). accessed April 1, 2011. from Pottsville, Pennsylvania, Pottsville ...

with the additional divide line from the Lehigh River watershed extended through Barnesville the determining basins.

People

;Notable people from the Coal Region * Nick Adams, actor * Brianna Collins, singer/songwriter, artist * Joe Amato, five-time NHRA Top Fuel Champion Drag Racer * Gary Becker,

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

–winning economist *

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

, 46th President of the United States * David Bohm, quantum physicist * George Bretz (1842–1895), photographed the Coal Region * Les Brown, jazz musician * Bill Bufalino, attorney * Russell Bufalino, Northeastern Pennsylvania crime boss and head of Bufalino crime family * Ben Burnley, lead singer of rock band Breaking Benjamin * P. J. Carlesimo, professional basketball coach,

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

* Robert P. Casey, former Governor of Pennsylvania * Bob Casey, Jr., U.S. Senator * George Catlin, artist * Jimmy Cefalo, professional football player, Miami Dolphins * Stan Coveleski, Major League Baseball Hall of Fame member * Anthony P. Damato, United States Marine, Medal of Honor recipient * Jack Dolbin, professional football player, Denver Broncos * Jimmy Dorsey, jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, big band leader * Tommy Dorsey, jazz trombonist, big band leader * Ellen Albertini Dow, actress, ''The Wedding Singer''s Rapping Granny * Ham Fisher, cartoonist * Daniel J. Flood, U.S. Congressman * Alexander Joseph Foley, United States Marine, Medal of Honor recipient * Howard Gardner, scientist, author * James M. Gavin, Lieutenant General, United States Army * Jimmy Gownley, author, illustrator, cartoonist * Tim Holden, former U.S. Congressman * Henry Hynoski, professional football player for the New York Giants *

Jane Jacobs Jane Isabel Jacobs (''née'' Butzner; 4 May 1916 – 25 April 2006) was an American-Canadian journalist, author, theorist, and activist who influenced urban studies, sociology, and economics. Her book ''The Death and Life of Great American Ci ...

, sociologist, author * Russell Johnson, actor * John E. Jones III, judge * George Joulwan, Supreme Allied Commander, Europe from 1993 to 1997. * Paul E. Kanjorski, member of Congress * Jean Kerr, author * Eddie Korbich, actor * William Kotzwinkle, author * Matthew Lesko, infomercial personality * Edward B. Lewis, Nobel Prize-winning scientist *

Joe Maddon Joseph John Maddon (born February 8, 1954) is an American former professional baseball manager (baseball), manager and coach. He has managed the Tampa Bay Rays, Chicago Cubs, and Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB). After playing ...

, manager of the Chicago Cubs * Joseph L. Mankiewicz, film director, producer, and screenwriter * Richard Marcinko, Navy Seal, author * Christy Mathewson, professional baseball player * Francis T. McAndrew, psychologist, professor, and author * Mary McDonnell, actress * Gerry McNamara, college basketball player, Syracuse University * Jason Miller, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, actor * Mike Munchak, professional football coach and former professional football player * Jozef Murgaš, radio pioneer * Amedeo Obici, founder of the Planters Peanuts Company * John O'Hara, author * Jim O'Neill, former baseball player *

Steve O'Neill Stephen Francis O'Neill (July 6, 1891 – January 26, 1962) was an American professional baseball catcher and Manager (baseball), manager. He played his first 13 seasons with the Cleveland Indians. As a manager, he led the Detroit Tigers to a ...

, former baseball player * Jack Palance, actor * William Daniel Phillips, Nobel Prize-winning scientist * Joe Pisarcik, former NFL quarterback * Darryl Ponicsan, author, screenwriter * Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor * Paul W. Richards, former astronaut * Conrad Richter, author * Hugh Rodham, father of Hillary Rodham Clinton * Tim Ruddy, former professional football player, Miami Dolphins *

Victor Schertzinger Victor L. Schertzinger (April 8, 1888 – October 26, 1941) was an American composer, film director, film producer, and screenwriter. His films include ''Paramount on Parade'' (co-director, 1930 in film, 1930), ''Something to Sing About (1937 fi ...

, composer, film director, film producer and screenwriter *

William Scranton William Warren Scranton (July 19, 1917 – July 28, 2013) was an American Republican Party (United States), Republican Party politician and diplomat. Scranton served as the 38th governor of Pennsylvania from 1963 to 1967, and as United States Am ...

, former Governor of Pennsylvania and 1964 U.S. presidential candidate * William Scranton, III, former Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania * B. F. Skinner, psychologist, radical behaviorist, Harvard professor, and author * Jimmy Spencer, former NASCAR driver and current TV analyst * Bob Sura, former NBA basketball player * Charley Trippi, played for Pittston Patriots, NFL Hall of Fame * John Anthony Walker, spy for the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

* Ed Walsh, former professional baseball player,

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

* Richard Yuengling Jr., American billionaire businessman and president and owner of Yuengling Brewing * Frank Zane, three-time Mr. Olympia

References

External links

Coal Mine Region - The Carpathian ConnectionPennsylvania's Northern Coal FieldA collection of nostalgia and regionalisms from the Anthracite Coal Region of PennsylvaniaAbandoned Anthracite Mines in PA"A Jewel In the Crown of Old King Coal Eckley Miners' Village" by Tony Wesolowsky, ''Pennsylvania Heritage Magazine'', Volume XXII, Number 1 - Winter 1996 A website with extensive detail on and a virtual tour of Eckley
{{Authority control Carbon County, Pennsylvania Coal mining regions in the United States Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Coal mining in Pennsylvania Northeastern Pennsylvania Northumberland County, Pennsylvania Regions of Pennsylvania Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania