So, true. There are 1000's of inventions that changed lives during this time. That it took a forest full of trees every day to make enough coal in order to get a furnace hot enough to make steel before other fuel alternatives could be developed for the production of steel was a major effect on the communites and the environment.
You and I have began our relationship discussing trees and wood. To have witnessed the uses and changes of the technologies involved in wood products from 1650 to 1800 would have been a real joy for me.
(I worked at Oregon Steel Mills when I was 18,...did grinding and cutting and general labor. Not there long enough to do much more, but my Step-father (married to Mom for 29 years) was an electricion there for 22 years and my Mom was head of Workman's Comp for them for 30 years.) They were a specialty steel company known for the extremely high quality of their steel.