Going more granular, it's easy to see other steps on this pathway— coal, then oil/gasoline/fuel, and now many uses like power generation and some fleet vehicles

Going more granular, it's easy to see other steps on this pathway— coal, then oil/gasoline/fuel, and now many uses like power generation and some fleet vehicles (taxis, buses) are shifted to NG. In any case, I agree! None of these fuel systems were going to be long term sustainable, thought the economics involved have created an enormous incentive for certain firms and individuals to pretend so for as long as absolutely possible. Anyway, hopefully they have been enough of a technology bootstrap to enable the jump to ones that would be. Certainly no one in 1892 was going to be inventing a commercially viable nuclear reactor or solar panel with what was available at the time.