112:(LCMC) which was later part of the historic merger which formed the influential and historically important Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company (LC&N)—anthracite was known of, but it was not known well. How to get 'Stone Coal' to burn easily or reliably was another question, yet the Eastern Seaboard was suffering the same sort of deforestation that had occasioned the use of coal in Great Britain. Unlike Europe, the young American nation did not have millennium of commerce to wear cart navigable, if poor and muddy, roads between cities. Most roads were still trails unfriendly to any vehicle with axles. Travel by water was the only fast way to get anywhere, and the only effective way to ship heavy or bulky goods, and anthracite coal was both.
105:, and brother-in-law Charlie Cist; Hillegas had been the Treasurer of the United States under the Continental Congress through the American Revolution. Upon authentication, Weiss was authorized to grant Ginter what he propositioned for his discovery upon pointing out the exact location where it was found. Ginter built a mill on the tract of land he acquired but was later deprived of it by the owner who had filed a prior claim at the US patent office.
101:, which he recognized as possibly being coal. To verify this discovery, Mr. Ginder gave it to Col. Weiss the very next day. Col. Weiss said he would give Mr. Ginder 300 acres (1.2 km) of land if he showed where the coal was found, and Mr. Ginder agreed to the deal. Col. Weiss took the specimen by horseback to Philadelphia and had it further inspected by John Nicholson,
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Meanwhile, infant
American industries and the wealthy in the other former colonies were importing fuels. Companies were even shipping coal from England and Virginia for American cities to use for heat or power. Early on in 1792 this new LCMC company attempted to be the first that regularly brought
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of
Northeast Pennsylvania. The trip down from the mine necessitated the use of pack mules and then later with some road improvements, oxen and carts to transship the sacks or baskets of coal down hill 8–9 miles (12.9–14.5 km) to load the coal into sturdy boats, probably along the
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According to local historians, Philip Ginder, often called Ginter, made the early discovery of coal in this remote area in 1791. Ginder was a local miller who was out hunting along "Sharpe
Mountain" and found an outcrop of a hard rock that was called "stone coal", or
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on August 21, 1750. He was the son of native German physician John Jacob Weiss, who emigrated to
Philadelphia in 1740. His father became a citizen on September 27, 1740. He later married Rebecca Cox on October 14, 1746, and purchased land in the area of
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was only part of the transportation problem & solution— for the river had spates of rapids and was infamously treacherous. As recently as 1817 3 of 5 barges foundered on their way down the river, an event which triggered the founding of
80:, Northampton County, Pennsylvania. This was under considerable recommendation of his previous post served under General Greene. His last move of the service was in 1780 to a place called
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Early in his military career, Jacob Weiss served for the first company of the
Philadelphia Volunteers under Captain Cadwalader. He was then appointed acting Quartermaster-General by
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84:, with his family. Weiss then concluded service there in 1783. He returned to his home in the Lehigh Valley and purchased a tract of land next to the
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and occasion a new management team taking over the LCMC in 1818—this eventually led (1820) to the formation of the company which built the
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76:. After serving under Gen. Greene, Weiss was assigned a post in 1780 as the Deputy Quartermaster General in
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officer and an early coal businessman. During the
Revolution, Weiss served as the Quartermaster-General under
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Getting the anthracite mined and then down to the Lehigh River; a right bank tributary of the
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Weiss, Hillegas, and
Nicholson in 1791-92 were some of the original investors in the
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Weissport. They had 11 children, one of whom was Jacob Weiss.
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when the LCMC couldn't deliver coal regularly nor reliably.
246:"Weiss family of Weissport, Pennsylvania papers"
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292:Continental Army officers from Pennsylvania
153:on the opposite shore from Colonel Weiss's
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19:(August 21, 1750 - January 9, 1839) was a
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124:in the rough terrains typical of the
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110:Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company
52:, which would become later known as
224:. Arcadia Publishing. pp. 7–.
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297:American people of German descent
287:Businesspeople from Philadelphia
130:Southern Anthracite Coal Region
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141:or along the nearly parallel
92:Coal Industry founding father
179:'Lehigh Navigation Company',
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302:Coal in the United States
187:America's second railroad
128:mountainous areas of the
118:Summit Hill, Pennsylvania
72:Nathanael Greene of the
39:Jacob Weiss was born in
25:General Nathanael Greene
199:Weissport, Pennsylvania
155:Weissport, Pennsylvania
145:(which bisects nearby
82:Nazareth, Pennsylvania
201:on January 9, 1839.
250:PACSCL Finding Aids
218:Lee Mantz (2009).
231:978-0-7385-6500-2
21:Revolutionary War
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255:10 September
253:. Retrieved
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183:Lehigh Canal
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151:Lehigh River
122:Pisgah Ridge
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45:Pennsylvania
41:Philadelphia
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282:1839 deaths
277:1750 births
221:Summit Hill
17:Jacob Weiss
271:Categories
205:References
193:Later life
99:anthracite
50:Fort Allen
35:Early life
174:Bethlehem
170:Allentown
147:Lehighton
135:Packerton
54:Lehighton
185:and the
120:across
70:General
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78:Easton
257:2017
226:ISBN
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