Coal (fuel source)

Coal has been the primary fossil fuel since Native American times. Once coal companies started in the United States in the early to mid 1800s, men from England (Great Britain now United Kingdom), Scotland, and other European countries were recruited to come to the US. Local coal miners, especially in the bituminous coal field (Pittsburgh PA Coal Field which extended through SW PA, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky) viewed these immigrants as "foreigners" and demanded companies only hire "practical" (experienced) miners; however, this idea formed solely because of language barriers and other biases, since overseas miners were very experienced in their home countries. Coal, as a fossil fuel, has been continuously mined in the US from the mid-1800s to the present.