<P> The first important mines appeared in the 1750s, in the valleys of the rivers Ruhr, Inde and Wurm where coal seams outcropped and horizontal adit mining was possible . In 1782 the Krupp family began operations near Essen . After 1815 entrepreneurs in the Ruhr Area, which then became part of Prussia took advantage of the tariff zone (Zollverein) to open new mines and associated iron smelters . New railways were built by British engineers around 1850 . Numerous small industrial centres sprang up, focused on ironworks, using local coal . The iron and steel works typically bought mines, and erected coking ovens to supply their own requirements in coke and gas . These integrated coal - iron firms ("Huettenzechen") became numerous after 1854; after 1900 they became mixed firms called "Konzern ." </P> <P> The average output of a mine in 1850 was about 8,500 short tons; its employment about 64 . By 1900, the average mine's output had risen to 280,000 and the employment to about 1,400 . Total Ruhr coal output rose from 2.0 million short tons in 1850 to 22 in 1880, 60 in 1900, and 114 in 1913, on the verge of war . In 1932 output was down to 73 million short tons, growing to 130 in 1940 . Output peaked in 1957 (at 123 million), declining to 78 million short tons in 1974 . End of 2010 five coal mines were producing in Germany . </P> <P> The miners in the Ruhr region were divided by ethnicity (with Germans and Poles) and religion (Protestants and Catholics). Mobility in and out of the mining camps to nearby industrial areas was high . The miners split into several unions, with an affiliation to a political party . As a result, the socialist union (affiliated with the Social Democratic Party) competed with Catholic and Communist unions until 1933, when the Nazis took over all of them . After 1945 the socialists came to the fore . </P> <P> By 1830 when iron and later steel became important in Wallonia the Belgian coal industry had long been established, and used steam engines for pumping . The Belgian coalfield lay near the navigable River Meuse, so coal was shipped downstream to the ports and cities of the Rhine - Meuse - Scheldt delta . The opening of the Saint - Quentin Canal in 1810 allowed coal to go by barge to Paris . The Belgian coalfield outcrops over most of its area, and the highly folded nature of the coal seams, part of the geological Rhenohercynian Zone, meant that surface occurrences of the coal were very abundant . Deep mines were not required at first, so a large number of small operations sprang up . There was a complex legal system for concessions, and often multiple layers had different owners . Entrepreneurs started going deeper and deeper, thanks to the good pumping system . In 1790, the maximum depth of mines was 220 meters (720 ft). By 1856, the average depth in the Borinage was 361 meters (1,184 ft), and in 1866, 437 meters (1,434 ft) and some pits had reached down 700 to 900 meters (2,300 to 3,000 ft); one was 1,065 meters (3,494 ft) deep, probably the deepest coal mine in Europe at this time . Gas explosions were a serious problem, and Belgium had high coal miner fatality rates . By the late 19th century the seams were becoming exhausted, and the steel industry was importing some coal from the Ruhr . André Dumont's discovery in 1900 of coal in the Campine basin, in the Belgian Province Limburg, prompted entrepreneurs from Liège to open coal mines, mainly producing coal for the steel industry . An announced reorganisation of the Belgian coal mines in 1965 resulted in strikes and a revolt which led to the death of two coal miners in 1966 at the Zwartberg mine . Coal was mined in the Liège basin until 1980, in the Southern Wallonian basin until 1984, and in the Campine basin until 1992 . </P>

When did the coal industry start to decline