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CHAPTER XXIII. COAL, COKE, RAILROADS AND LUMBER.      The earliest evidence of the discovery of coal or that a coal bank was open in the county appears on the endorsement for the warrant for the William Barr tract of land, which was the old farm owned by Louis Von Lunen, in Moxham, now a part of the city of Johnstown. The endorsements made by the deputy surveyor general are as follows: "Date of Warrant, April 3, 1769; name of warrantee, William Barr; number of acres, 300. Remarks: On the south side of Stone Creek (Stony-creek river), opposite to the Stone Cole bank. Returned, &c. 31st October, 1788." At that time there were several inhabitants in this vicinity, and within five years Joseph Johns acquired the Campbell tract of land and made a settlement upon it.      Mrs. Ann Linton used coal as a fuel for domestic purposes while living in Johnstown in 1822. Three years later, Matthew and Michael Myers opened a coal bank west of Lilly, and operated it before the construction of the old Portage railroad. The coal was mined more especially for blacksmiths' use in the Juniata valley, and was carried across the mountains on pack horses. William Tiley opened a bank near it some years after. Prior to July 3, 1839, Charles Murray had a coal bank in operation on the land of Samuel Singer, near Vinco. It was on the public road leading from Johnstown to Ebensburg. The usual fuel for domestic purposes was wood until as late as 1860. It was the principal fuel for locomotives until after that date, but coal began to be common in the fifties. Coal banks along the railroad in Croyle township have been in operation for many years, yet until 1885 there was none near Lovett's station, which is a few miles south of South Fork. Prior to that date the coal for domestic purposes had to be hauled from the Heitingfelter bank, or the Erb bank, which were on the Solomon's Run, a distance of eight, miles.      On April 3, 1843, the court of common pleas approved the proceedings of William Rodgers to condemn a strip of land leading from his coal mine, then on the land occupied by John Farren, to a point on the west side of the culvert on the Alle-

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