Changes

==Coal mining==

==Coal mining==

see [[Coal Mining: History]]

:see [[Coal Mining: History]]

The fuel problem was severe. Wood was scarce—the forests were gone.  Water power required fast-flowing rivers of the sort that were abundant in America but uncommon in Europe.  Horses could be used, but the efficient solution was fueling steam engines with coal, of which the island had an abundance. Before 1750 miners worked in shallow digs with few safety devices; floods, cave-ins, and gas explosions were omnipresent threats. Productivity was low. Even before Sir Humphry Davy invented the safety lamp in 1815 ways were found to detect the presence of choke damp, carbon monoxide, and coal dust; ventilation of mines was improved; systems of siphoning and continuous pumping were installed to rid the mines of water; and improved methods were introduced for sinking shafts. An early use of steam engines was to pump water out of the mines; the first locomotives pulled cars of coal out of the shafts. In 1700 2.5 million tons of coal were mined; in 1800 10 million tons; in 1861 57 million tons.<ref>Nef (1932); A Robert Lindsay Galloway, ''A history of coal mining in Great Britain'' (1882) [https://books.google.com/books?id=2DsDAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA1&dq=intitle:coal&num=30&as_brr=1#PPP1,M1 online edition]</ref>

The fuel problem was severe. Wood was scarce—the forests were gone.  Water power required fast-flowing rivers of the sort that were abundant in America but uncommon in Europe.  Horses could be used, but the efficient solution was fueling steam engines with coal, of which the island had an abundance. Before 1750 miners worked in shallow digs with few safety devices; floods, cave-ins, and gas explosions were omnipresent threats. Productivity was low. Even before Sir Humphry Davy invented the safety lamp in 1815 ways were found to detect the presence of choke damp, carbon monoxide, and coal dust; ventilation of mines was improved; systems of siphoning and continuous pumping were installed to rid the mines of water; and improved methods were introduced for sinking shafts. An early use of steam engines was to pump water out of the mines; the first locomotives pulled cars of coal out of the shafts. In 1700 2.5 million tons of coal were mined; in 1800 10 million tons; in 1861 57 million tons.<ref>Nef (1932); A Robert Lindsay Galloway, ''A history of coal mining in Great Britain'' (1882) [https://books.google.com/books?id=2DsDAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA1&dq=intitle:coal&num=30&as_brr=1#PPP1,M1 online edition]</ref>