I grew up in the 1940s in Peoria. There were several coal dealers in town,
sometimes combined with a lumber yard. Our house was heated by a coal
furnace with a stoker. I had to fill the stoker at least once a day, and
remove the clinkers from the furnace. Dad bought coal by the ton, usually
two or three at a time. Stoker coal was very small, about the size of
nickel. Our basement had one room next to the furnace room which was used as
a coal bunker. It had a metal door which opened onto the driveway. The coal
dealer brought the coal in a dump truck, backed into our driveway, opened the
door to the coal bunker and put a metal chute thru the door. Then he would
dump the coal from the truck into the chute and into the bunker. I remember
using "Blue" coal, and "Orient" coal. The latter contained small yellow
paper tags identifying it as Orient coal.
Ray C.
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