 A wealthy landowner named Jacob Weiss provided the capital to form the Lehigh Coal Mine Company with other businessmen from Philadelphia.The company had a slow start because of the difficulty in igniting anthracite coal and the inability to transfer the coal to urban markets (Dublin, Licht, 11).Judge Jesse Fell of Wilkes-Barre discovered a solution to ignite anthracite in 1808 with the usage of an iron grate that allowed the coal to light and burn easier.