Much of Britain's early industrial success came from having coal, iron ore, and water power all close to each other. That's a rare situation worldwide. That clo

Much of Britain's early industrial success came from having coal, iron ore, and water power all close to each other. That's a rare situation worldwide. That closeness allowed starting up a high-volume iron industry. Once railroads came in, and heavy low-value materials could be moved cost-effectively, such centralization wasn't necessary. Iron-making goes way back, but mostly it was powered by charcoal made from wood. Most of the labor was in digging out ore and cutting wood. Once coal was used to make coke, the process worked much better. (This is all pre-steel. Steel is another story. Steel production in volume only began in the 1880s, and Britain led only for a few years until passed by the US.)