The Mines and its WondersKingston, William Henry Giles
History
The Mines and its Wonders
Kingston, William Henry Giles
Miners -- Juvenile fiction; Mines and mineral resources -- Juvenile fiction; Mothers and sons -- Juvenile fiction
Eight steam-engines of the largest size, and thirty of smaller
dimensions, are employed for drainage and other purposes, their ordinary
working power being equal to 4000 horses, but when their full power is
put on they almost equal that of 8000. To carry off the water from
these mines, a tunnel, with numerous ramifications has been formed,
measuring nearly thirty miles in length. One branch of this tunnel is
upwards of five miles long, carried underground 400 feet beneath the
surface, finding its outlet into the sea near Falmouth.
A few years ago the number of tin mines worked in Cornwall amounted to
139, and to 26 in Devonshire; and about 20,000 persons were employed in
them.
Although the wages of the miners are much inferior to those of the
pitmen in the northern coal-fields, yet they have advantages over their
brethren, being exempted from many of the evils to which the northern
miners are subjected. They have no fear of the fatal fire-damp or
sudden explosions. Intellectually they are also superior, as they are
mostly engaged in work requiring the exercise of mind. Their wages
arise from contract, and depend greatly upon their skill and energy.
They mostly have gardens, which they cultivate, and when near the coast
they engage in the fisheries, thus increasing their incomes and varying
their mode of life.
After leaving Redruth the travellers proceeded over the wildest and most
desolate of moorlands, with blocks of stone scattered about, towards the
wonderful Botallack Mine, on the Cornish coast. No mine in the world is
so singularly placed. Descending to the shore below, on looking
upwards, the view appeared fearfully grand. In one part was a powerful
steam-engine, which had to be lowered almost 200 feet down the cliffs.
Here tall chimneys, pouring out dense volumes of smoke, were seen
perched on the ledges of a tremendous precipice. Here and there also
were the huts of the miners, disputing the ground with the wild
sea-birds, while ladders of great length scaled the rocks in all
directions, enabling them to ascend and descend to their work. In some
parts were paths up which sure-footed mules, with riders on their backs,
were trotting briskly along, where few people unaccustomed to dizzy
heights would have wished to venture even on foot.
As they had determined to visit the mine, they had to ascend to the top
of the cliff and then once more to descend among the rugged rocks to a
ledge about midway between the summit and the ocean, where a small
building, occupied by the mining agent, marked the entrance. Hearing
who they were, the agent at once undertook to guide them, and produced a
couple of woollen mining dresses and two large felt hats.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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