Excerpt taken by Henry Herbst, 13 December 2000
Coal on the World's Fair Site
Farm Machinery, April 28, 1903.
Coal dug on the site of the Government Building is being burnt under the boiler of the pile driver now at work on the podium of that building, and is being hauled away in considerable quantities for use by contractors in other parts of the site. The coal is dug from a vein about two feet thick which was uncovered by the grading operations in progress on Government Hill. The vein runs back into the hill, growing better the farther it lies from its outcrop. It is a good quality of bituminous coal. The firemen who use it pronounce it better than the bituminous coal shipped into the fair grounds from Illinois. The vein of coal was first uncovered last August . . . . The existence of coal in Forest Park was known for half a century or more. All through the Plateau of States and through the district south of the park dumps may be seen on which "slack coal" was "wasted" by miners who shipped to market the better quality of coal in the center of the vein. A number of tons of the product have already been used and considerable additional supply is still in sight.
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