. Historical sketches of Plymouth, Luzerne Co., s their sole oc-cupation. They prosecuted their employment withgreat energy and perseverance, and amid a greatmany difficulties and disappointments: and althoughneither of them lived to see their anticipations real-ized, their descendants—who are still the ownei-s ofthe estates they purchased more than a half centuryag\~i—are enjoying the advantages and comforts whichresulted from their ancestors foresight and judg-ment. Ahijah died in 1826. at his residence, the site ofwhich is now occupied hy the new brick Music Hall,recently put up hy
. Historical sketches of Plymouth, Luzerne Co., s their sole oc-cupation. They prosecuted their employment withgreat energy and perseverance, and amid a greatmany difficulties and disappointments: and althoughneither of them lived to see their anticipations real-ized, their descendants—who are still the ownei-s ofthe estates they purchased more than a half centuryag\~i—are enjoying the advantages and comforts whichresulted from their ancestors foresight and judg-ment. Ahijah died in 1826. at his residence, the site ofwhich is now occupied hy the new brick Music Hall,recently put up hy his son, John B. Smith, of Ply-mouth. His brother John died iu 1S52. I knew them both intimately for a great numberof years. They were industrious, upright and worthymen. They started the coal trade, and their nameswill ever be blended with it. It is proper that we shoulit examine into thedetails of the mode and manner of mining and trans-portation, as pui-sued by these early pioneeis iu thebusiness. There are but few now eno;-jioed in the li-reat. J O E > ff 31 I T H. PROCESS OF MINING. 317 trade who are aware of the troubles and sacrificeswhich attended it in its infancy. We will look at thechild when in its swathing bands; it is now a giant,but fifty years ago it was in its infancy. The experi-ment which was perseveringly followed up, and beseton all sides by difficulties and hazards, resulted in agrand success. The annual trade, which at the commencementwas limited to hundreds of tons, has now become tensof millions of tons. The price of coal land of fivedollars an acre, in the days of the Smith purchase, isnow a thousand per acre. What the future d(jmandfor the article may be—or the annual production—thefuture alone can determine, human foresight cannot;nor can it be said that the field is is a limit to it; and those who will occupy ourplaces five hundred years hence, will say that ourprophecy is not entirely fiction. In the early process of
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