Back when coal was king - heating homes, buildings and for small businesses like my father's bakery in the 1940's and 50's were the customers. Local coal dealers had dump pits with silos or, a dump trestle. Anthracite was the main coal used in the northeastern US, dug from mines in NE Pennsylvania. Coal dealers stored it in various sizes such as egg, pea and buckwheat. When a carload was delivered it had to be carefully spotted where that size coal was to be dumped. Each bay of a dealer's coal dump trestle usually held a specific size of coal. Not good to mix them up!
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