By order of the Mortgagees on Wednesday and Thursday, March 3rd and
4th, 1880, Mr. Douglas Young sold by auction the plant and machinery
of the above extensive works, including 5 large Cornish steam boilers,
tubular boiler, 3 egg boilers, a bottle boiler, a 4000 gallon wrought
iron tank, 12 smaller ditto, 4 large circular tanks, 5 steam barrel
of various sizes, flange pipes, 3 large iron coils, about 70 tons
old metal, several copper and iron boilers of various sizes, furnace
fittings, weighing bridge by Hodgson and Stead, self-feeding
boiler and engine, about 150,000 sound bricks, a large quantity of
sound timber including balk timber, yellow deals, planks, battens,
die-square, floor and lining boards, and 50 tons of breeze, several
stacks of firewood, pantiles, drain pipes and other plant materials.
SLEAFORD STREET appears to have obtained an amount of respectability
that it had not of yore. Once upon a time one side was nicknamed
"Ginbottle Row," and the opposite side was called "Soapsuds Bay!"
Mill-Pond Bridge was very narrow, about half its present width, with a
low parapet on both sides.
If the following statement could be relied on, it would perhaps allay
the fears created by certain alarmists respecting the physical limits
to deep coal mining and duration of the coal supply. "There are coal
deposits in various parts of Great Britain at all depths down to
10,000 or 12,000 feet. Mining is possible to a depth of 4,000 feet,
but beyond this the high temperature is likely to prove a barrier. The
temperature of a coal mine at a depth of 4,000 feet will probably be
found as high as 120º Fahr.; but there is reason to believe that by
the agency of an efficient system of ventilation the temperature may
be reduced, at least during the cooler months of the year, as to allow
mining operations without unusual danger to health. Adopting a depth
of 4,000 feet as the limit to deep mining there is still a quantity of
coal in store in Great Britain sufficient to afford the annual supply
of twenty-two millions of tons for a thousand years."--_Hull._[1]
[Footnote 1: More than a quarter of a century ago, Professor Buckland
when examined before the House of Commons, limits the supply to 400
years. Mr. Bailey in his Survey of Durham limits the supply to 200
years only. But some proprietors when examined in 1830 extended the
period of total exhaustion of the mines to 1,727 years; they assumed
that there are 837 square miles of coal strata in this field and that
only 105 miles had been worked out.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account