 The more successful explorers revealed the existence of a great number of veins of coal, extending over a vast stretch of county and with a seemingly inexhaustible quantity of coal.These discoveries brought excitement and speculation; lands were bought (and sold); roads were laid out in the forest, mines were opened and railroads projected, and innumerable town plots planned.The demand for houses was so great that the lumber for quite a large number was actually framed in Philadelphia and sent by canal to the burgeoning coal region.