In a former part of this work, we gave a list of the principal Tin and Copper Mines in this county; but as we apprehended the limits of it would not allow a particular description of them, we have since, at the suggestion of some of our subscribers, curtailed the historical and topographical notices, with the view to enable us to present our readers with some little particulars as to the situation and nature of the most valuable mines now working. In passing through the county according to the plan of our several Excursions, there are not any mines deserving of particular attention, until the traveller arrives at St. Austell; here it is necessary that he should make some stay, as the vicinity of the town possesses many attractions, and the numerous works now in progress will amply gratify his curiosity.
The most considerable Tin Mine in the county is Polgooth, which is situated about two miles south-west of St. Austell; and even in Borlase’s time, is said to have yielded to its proprietors a profit of £20,000 annually for some years. Owing, however, to some unfortunate disputes, the operations have been suspended for nearly 20 years, but have lately been resumed with increased vigour. From the extensive nature of the works carried on in this mine, the whole surface of the country in its vicinity, has been completely disfigured, and presents a very gloomy aspect. The quantity of ore which has been raised from this mine, during the progress of its workings, is far beyond calculation: the immense piles of earth, which have been excavated and thrown up, have quite a mountainous appearance: roads have been formed in several directions leading to the places or shafts, where the miners are at work; and the dreariness of the scene is only enlivened by the humble cottages, which have been erected for their residence. The number of shafts which have been sunk in this mine, amount to near 50, and the greater part of them are mostly working; but since the introduction of steam engines, the operations have been considerably increased, as the water is now raised to the level of the adits, and which before had in some cases overflowed certain parts of the mine.
The introduction of steam engines for drawing off the water from the mines in Cornwall, is one of the most valuable discoveries imaginable; and the greatest advantages have attended these powerful machines, while on the other hand few accidents have been occasioned by their adoption.[48]
In Dr. Maton’s Observations on the Western Counties, is the following description of a Steam Engine; but since that time, their powers of acting have been considerably augmented; and on some occasions they are now made on a very large scale, with cylinders even 90 inches in diameter.
“The Steam Engine is one of the most curious, and perhaps most useful machines that owe their origin to the discoveries of philosophy; without it many of the mines in Cornwall must long ago have ceased to have been worked; and among other purposes to which it has elsewhere been most advantageously applied, should be mentioned, the supplying of towns with water, the grinding of corn, the turning of the wheels of machines in woollen manufactories, and the blowing of bellows to fuse ores and metals; we have to boast of this grand machine, being invented, as well as perfected, in our own country: Captain Savery is said to have first discovered the method of raising water by the pressure of air, in consequence of the condensation of steam; or at least he was the first person that put any method of this sort into practice: he obtained a patent, in the year 1698, for a machine contrived in the following manner; the air was expelled from a vessel by steam, and the steam condensed by the admission of cold water, which causing a vacuum, the pressure of the atmosphere forced the water to ascend into the steam vessel through a pipe 24 or 26 feet high: by dense steam brought from the boiler, the water in the steam vessel was elevated to the requisite height. This construction, however, did not answer, because very strong vessels were wanted to resist the expansive violence of the steam; an enormous quantity of which was, besides, condensed by coming in contact with the cold water in the steam vessel. The danger of bursting the vessels was avoided soon afterwards by the invention of Messrs. Newcomen and Cawley, of Dartmouth. These gentlemen employed for the steam vessel a hollow cylinder, shut at the bottom and open at the top, and furnished with a piston sliding easily up and down in it, but made tight by oakum or hemp, and covered with water: the piston was suspended by chains from one end of a beam moveable on an axis in the middle of its length; to the other end of this beam hung the pump rods. Some imperfections still remained; but the most important were at length wholly removed by the discoveries of Mr. Watt, and the construction made use of by that gentleman and Mr. Bolton, of Soho, near Birmingham; who obtained a patent for 25 years, in addition to the term granted to Mr. Watt alone, in the year 1768. One of these machines will work a pump of 18 inches in diameter, and upwards of 100 fathoms in height, at the rate of 10 or 12 strokes, of seven feet long each, in one minute. It will raise to the height of 80 feet, in that same space of time, a weight equal to 18,000 pounds; the combined action of 200 horses could not effect more. In Newcomen’s engine this would have required a cylinder 10 feet in diameter; but as, in the new engine, the steam acts, and a vacuum is made, alternately above and below the piston, the power exerted is double to what the same cylinder would otherwise produce; and is farther augmented by an inequality in the length of the two ends of the lever. It must be considered too, that one-third part only of the coals which the old engine would have required, is used for the same portion of work.” The expense of erecting the first steam engine in the Polgooth Mine, amounted to nearly £20,000; and the quantity of coals consumed by it, in the short space of 24 hours, is stated to amount to 144 bushels.
According to Borlase, the main vein of ore in this mine, was about six feet thick, running from east to west, and dipping to the north, at the rate of about six feet in a fathom; towards the east it divides into two branches, and there is another that cuts the former nearly at a right angle, and consequently runs north and south, but dipping to the east. The ore is disseminated in general through a matrix of Caple,[49] accompanied with a yellow cupreous pyrites, and sometimes a ferrugineous ochre; it is of the vitreous kind, but rarely found in crystals, the colour for the most part being of a greyish brown.
Crennis Copper Mine, which is situated about two miles east of St. Austell, is highly deserving of notice: here also steam engines have been introduced with the most beneficial effects; but although the ore found in this mine is extremely rich, it was not discovered till within the last few years, but is stated in some instances to have yielded a clear profit to its proprietors of £84,000 in one year.
The several Tin Stream Works also in the neighbourhood of St. Austell, are particularly deserving of notice; the one on the left of the road near Pentuan, has proved a considerable benefit to the adventurers concerned in it. In Luxilian parish, through which the road leading from St. Austell to Bodmin has been formed, there are several works of a similar nature; but owing to the number of excavations which have been made for the discovery of ore, it is desirable that strangers should avoid travelling in this direction after dusk. The celebrated Wood Tin, as it is called, is mostly found in the Stream Works, and which although extremely valuable, appears far from prepossessing in the minds of those persons who are unacquainted with mineralogy.
Small particles of gold are frequently found in the Stream Works, but they are mostly incorporated with tin crystals in streaks.
The celebrated Clay Works in the parish of St. Stephen’s are also well deserving of attention; as they are now conducted upon a very extensive scale. In a commercial point of view, the discovery of this clay, or china stone, has been attended with the greatest advantages, besides being the means of affording employment to many men, women, and children. The value of this clay, or china stone, as it is generally called, was accidentally discovered about 60 years ago; since which time, immense quantities have been exported for the porcelain manufactories in Staffordshire and Wales. It is a decomposed granite, the felspar of which has lost its properties of fusibility; but, in the manufacture of china and earthenware, it is of the greatest value. In the manufacture of crucibles at Truro, it has been found of much value. Notwithstanding, however, the great success which has attended the progress of the china stone works, it is to be lamented, the wages allowed to the several persons employed in them, are so trifling. Little occurs to interest the traveller in regard to mines, after leaving St. Austell, until his arrival at Truro.
The Carnon Stream Works, on the left of the road leading to Falmouth, are the most considerable in the county, and merit particular observation. It is now nearly 40 years since they were first discovered; and the quantity of tin which they have yielded, has proved a golden harvest to the proprietors of them. The works occupy a considerable extent of ground, and appear to have been gained from the sea; the mud and other matter washed down by the stream, having raised a sort of embankment, which, by its continual extension, and some assistance from art, has gradually contracted the boundaries of the tide.[50] The bed of pebbles from which the tin is extracted, is about 30 feet below the surface of the ground, and from four to six feet thick. As a proof that these works must have been known in very early times, a wooden shovel, and picks made of deers’ horns, together with some human bones and skulls, have been found at different periods. Great improvements have been lately made in the works for drawing off the water, and which has also, from the lowness of their situation, been attended with considerable benefit to several other mines in the neighbourhood.
When at Helston, the traveller will derive much gratification from visiting the celebrated Tin Mine, called Huel Vor, which is situated about three miles west of that town. This mine is allowed to be one of the most valuable in the county; and its proprietors are said to have gained a clear profit of upwards of £10,000, in the short space of three months, notwithstanding the monthly charges amount to £5,000. Here are no less than five large steam engines for drawing off the water, besides several others of less magnitude for raising the ore, &c. There are also four large stamping mills worked by steam. The operations of this mine extend more than a mile and a quarter below the surface of the earth, and about 1300 persons are employed in conducting the different works. The ore is smelted and roasted on the spot; and when properly cleansed, is ladled from the furnaces into moulds of 370lbs. each. The principal lode in this mine is said to be of the enormous width of 30 feet, and extremely rich. The expenses incident to carrying on the working of this mine are very great; especially in the consumption of candles and gunpowder, which far exceeds any estimate a stranger to mining concerns could form. In this mine, no less than 3,000lbs. of candles, and about 3,500lbs. of gunpowder are consumed every month.
The Botallack Tin and Copper Mine, in the parish of St. Just, near the Land’s End, is one of the most surprising undertakings in the county, as the operations of the miners extend for nearly 70 fathoms under the bed of the sea; and the entrance to the works is at least 200 feet below the cliffs.
As a late writer[51] justly observes, that on descending to the surface of the mine, “You will then behold a combination of the powers of art with the wild sublimity of nature, which is quite unparalleled; the effects of the whole being not a little heightened by the hollow roar of the raging billows which are perpetually lashing the cliff beneath. In looking up you will observe troops of mules laden with sacks of coals, for the supply of the engine, with their undaunted riders, fearlessly trotting down the winding path which you trembled at descending even on foot. As you approach the engine, the cliff becomes almost perpendicular; and the ore raised from the mine is therefore drawn up over an inclined plane, by means of a horse engine placed on the extreme verge of the overhanging rocks above, and which seems to the spectator below, as if suspended in “Mid Air.”
The ore of this mine is the grey and yellow sulphuret of copper, mixed with oxide of tin. Here a great variety of interesting minerals have been collected, among which are several varieties of jasper; arborescent native copper; jaspery iron ore; arseniate of iron; sulphuret of bismuth, imbedded in jasper; beautiful specular iron ore; lamatitic iron, and the hydrous oxide of iron, in prisms terminated by pyramids.
The neighbourhood of Redruth is, as before stated in a preceding part of this work, the very centre of the mining district; and there are more mines in the vicinity of that town than in any other part of the County. We therefore recommend travellers, especially those who are interested in mining transactions, to make some stay at Redruth, and we can venture to say that they will derive much gratification in consequence.
About two miles west of that town is the noted Copper Mine of Dolcoath, which from its situation on the brow of a hill, enables the visitor to see at one view, all the principal machinery by which its working is conducted. As the same writer justly observes; “it is quite impossible to convey an idea of this singular and interesting scene; steam engines, water wheels, horse whims, and stamping mills are all in motion; while in the glen beneath, many hundred labourers are to be seen busily engaged in the different operations of separating, dressing, and cleansing the ore. In the whole circle of human inventions, there is nothing which so fully manifests the resources of intellect, for the production of immense effects, as the stupendous art of mining, and it is impossible that the workings of Dolcoath Mine, can be viewed without exciting the strongest sensation of wonder and exultation.” The works of this mine extend upwards of a mile in length, from east to west, and in depth, 1050 feet below the level of the sea; being much deeper than any other mine in the county.
Cook’s Kitchen in Illogan, another rich copper mine, is also situated on the summit of the same hill, and from the extent of its operations presents a grand scene, the picturesque effect of which is materially heightened by the solemnity of Carnbre’ Hill, and the numerous ponderous masses of rock which lie scattered about its base
In the Chacewater Mine, which is situated three miles south of Redruth, is one of the largest steam engines now in use; and when erected in the year 1813, was then the most powerful engine ever made. As a proof of its immense power, if it were applied as a mill, it could grind a bushel of wheat in a minute; and notwithstanding its velocity, and the complex nature of its several parts, the engineer in charge of it, can in one instant put a stop to its motion, by the mere act of turning a screw. This engine is made upon the improved system, by Bolton and Watt, and finished with much elegance. The cylinder is 66 inches in diameter; the depth of the engine shaft is 128 fathoms; from the adit to the bottom, 90 fathoms. It makes eight strokes in a minute, and at every stroke raises 108 gallons of water to the adit, and at the same time also, 60 gallons 10 fathoms high, for the purpose of condensing the steam. The quantity of coals which it consumes in 24 hours, is estimated at about eight chaldrons.
About two miles from hence, in a southerly direction, are the Consolidated Mines, which have only lately been re-established.[52] Here are two very powerful steam engines, with cylinders 90 inches in diameter. The expenses attending the resumption of the workings of these mines, are said to have amounted to the enormous sum of nearly £70,000; but owing to the immense quantity of copper ore which has been raised, and other advantageous circumstances, the shares are now selling in London at more than £100 per cent. The monthly charges for workmen, &c. amounts to no less a sum than £7000. These mines are now under the management of Mr. Taylor and a London Company.
Huel Unity and the Poldice Mines are also situated in this neighbourhood; the former produces copper, and the latter tin and copper. Both have been very profitable to their adventurers, and are said to have yielded them a profit of from 12 to £16,000 annually. The Poldice Mine is one of the oldest in the county, and yields a yellowish copper ore, a rosin tin, and a few stones of galena. In both of these, steam engines have been long erected, but they are not on so extensive a scale as those used in some of the mines above noticed. In these mines, some of the most beautiful specimens of arseniate of copper and lead have been discovered. A whitish grey copper, crystallized, in triangular and quadrangular pyramids, has also been found here.
Huel Alfred Copper Mine, which, some years ago, was the richest and most profitable mine in Cornwall, is situated about a mile and a half south-east of Hayle. In former times the adventurers in this mine are said to have gained £130,000; but owing to some misunderstanding, the operations have been discontinued since the year 1816, until within the last six months. It is in contemplation to erect two steam engines in this mine, with cylinders of the largest dimensions; when, no doubt, from the favourable appearance of the lodes, the proprietors will be amply repaid the expenses incident to such an undertaking. To the Mineralogist this mine is highly interesting, as several very rare and curious minerals have been discovered; viz. stalactitic swimming, and cubic quartz, carbonate and phosphate of lead, stalactitic, cotryoidal, and investing calcedony, &c. If a stranger should be desirous of descending into a mine, he cannot select a better opportunity than here presents itself, owing to the extensive scales of the lodes. On these occasions, it is always customary to put on a suitable dress; viz. a flannel jacket and trowsers, a close cap, an old broad brimmed hat, and a thick pair of shoes; thus accoutred, a lighted candle is put into his hand, and another suspended to a button of his jacket. A few years ago the Duke of R—d gratified his curiosity in this respect, and many others have followed his example; but as a satisfaction to our readers, we insert Dr. Forbes’s observations on the subject. “A person unacquainted with the details of mining, on being informed of many hundreds of men being employed in a single mine, might naturally imagine that a visit to their deep recesses, would afford a picturesque and imposing spectacle of gregarious labour and bustle; tremendous noise, and much artificial brilliancy to cheer the gloom: nothing, however, is further from the truth, as far as regards the mines of Cornwall; for, like their fellow labourers, the moles, the miners are solitary in their operations. Seldom do we find more than three or four men in one level or gallery, at a time, where they are seen pursuing the common operations of digging, or boring the rock, by the feeble glimmering of a small candle, stuck close by them, with very little noise or more latitude for bodily movement; besides whom, there are generally one or two boys employed in wheeling the broken ore, &c. to the shaft. Each of these boys has also a candle affixed to his wheelbarrow by the universal subterranean candlestick, a piece of clay. A certain band of men, who, however numerous, are always called “a pair,” generally undertake the working of a particular level. These subdivide themselves into smaller bodies, which by relieving each other at the end of every six or eight hours, keep up the work, uninterruptedly, except on Sunday. By means of this subdivision of the pairs, there is in general not more than one third of the under-ground labourers below at any one time. Very seldom are the miners within the sound of each other’s operations, except occasionally they hear the dull report of the explosions. In the vicinity of the main shaft, indeed, the incessant action of the huge chain of pumps, produces a constant, but not very loud noise; while the occasional rattling of the metallic buckets against the walls of the shaft, as they ascend and descend, relieves the monotony both of the silence and the sound; still every thing is dreary, dull, and cheerless; and you can be with difficulty persuaded, even when in the richest and most populous mines, that you are in the centre of such extensive and important operations.
The Herland Mines are situated about a mile east of Huel Alfred, and are chiefly remarkable for the beautiful specimens of native silver, vitreous silver ore, and black oxide of silver, which they have produced, and which has been noticed in a former part of this work.
After an interval of nearly 20 years, the workings of these mines have lately been resumed, under the management of a London Company; who have had two steam engines erected, with cylinders 80 inches in diameter. The copper ore found in the Herland Mines is extremely rich; but although the lodes are more numerous than in Huel Alfred, they are not so large. All mines are placed under the superintendance of a foreman, called the Captain, who keeps the accounts, and pays, and regulates the workmen; they are in general men of respectability, and get liberally paid. The designation of Captain, however, is very absurd; for in many instances, even strangers are frequently accosted as such by the Cornish people. There are also inferior superintendants, who are employed to superintend the internal operations of the miners.
The miners, in general, are a civil, honest, and active class of beings, and since the extension of the Wesleyan system, have become very religious. The hardships many of them endure is beyond belief, particularly such as have large families; and who, in most cases, live in little huts in the immediate vicinity of the mines. Their mode of living is very hard, as they seldom taste animal food; indeed, the reduced scale of their wages is such as scarcely to allow bread, and that in many instances composed of ground barley only. In some cases, many of the miners work like slaves, and are obliged to wheel barrows a considerable distance, filled with ore to the extent of four cwt.; while on the other hand, those who are employed under ground, have a wretched emaciated appearance, and mostly die at an early age, in pulmonary consumptions.
The Iron Foundries at Hayle are well deserving of notice, and here some of the largest engines used in the mines were cast. The Water Dam which was constructed about 30 years ago, (near the house where the copper was formerly smelted,) for scouring out the sand from the harbour, has been attended with the most beneficial effects. It is now in contemplation to have a causeway built across the Hayle, the estimate for which amounts to about £5,000; and which, if accomplished, will be highly beneficial.
The singular and desolate appearance of the whole surface of the country in this neighbourhood, which, with few exceptions, extends even as far as Padstow, excites the attention of every stranger. The immense banks of sand which have been thrown up on the coast, have been a great injury; and in some instances, many dwellings have even been buried by the shifting of the sands; here human bones have also been frequently discovered, supposed to have belonged to cemeteries which have been inundated during violent hurricanes.
Many of the above particulars were obligingly communicated by Sir Christopher Hawkins, Bart., M.P., and Recorder for St. Ives; and who also has a seat, called Trewinnard, in this part of the county.
Tredea, which is near to Trewinnard, is the property of Davies Gilbert, Esq., M.P. for Bodmin, and President of the Royal Geological Society at Penzance.
With the view to enable mineralogists to prosecute their endeavours, it is necessary on their proceeding into Cornwall, that they should visit the most interesting collections in the county. Of these may be ranked the valuable collection belonging to William Rashleigh, Esq., at Menabilly, near Fowey, which has been noticed in a former part of this work. In this splendid collection are some very magnificent oxide of tin, fluors, melachite, and some very rare varieties of sulphuret of copper; wood tin forming a vein in a matrix of quartz, to one side of which adheres a fragment of rock. An account is given in the first volume of the transactions of the Penzance Geological Society. Here are also some fine specimens of yellow copper ore, with opal; triple sulphuret of antimony; copper and lead in various forms; ruby copper in cubes; quartz with water in globules; topazes of beautiful lustre; and green fluor, in crystals with 24 sides. Many of the specimens above enumerated are of considerable value and scarcity, besides which there are also many others highly interesting. They are contained in a spacious apartment, which has been fitted up in the most elegant manner, with glass cases to prevent them from being injured. Mr. Rashleigh takes great pleasure in allowing strangers to visit his collection, and is entitled to every mark of commendation for his politeness on such occasions.
In the collection of Joseph Carne, Esq. at Penzance, may be seen prehnite in a variety of forms, axinite in its usual form, stilbite in flat four-sided prisms terminated by pyramids, mesotype radiated, garnets in 12 and 24 sided, crystals, pirite in six and 12 sided prisms, uranite in quadrangular tables with the angles in some cases truncated, and also in forms much resembling cubes and octohedrons, uranochre, native bismuth, and specular iron ore, very simular to that found at Elba; grey sulphuret of copper, the best defined crystals of which are very obtuse dodecahedrons, and six-sided prisms; in some specimens the dodecahedrons are so placed upon the summit of the prisms, as to resemble a nail: this is one of the most rare specimens ever found in Cornwall, and is much sought after by mineralogists. Here are also two very rare and curious specimens of yellow and grey sulphuret of copper, in forms resembling a cube, the latter being pseudomorphous.
The Royal Geological Society at Penzance possessed many valuable and rare specimens; among the earthy species may be enumerated, calcedony, sodalite, haiiyne, petalite, colophonite, vesuvian, &c. In the metallic branch, is carbonate of lead, specular iron, arseniate of iron, the oxide, carbonate, arseniate and phosphate of copper, native gold, found in the Cornish Tin Stream Works; arsenical pyrites, uranite, uran ochre, native nickel, &c. besides a mineral but little known, viz. subcarburet of iron, and which was analyzed by the late Rev. W. Gregor.
The cabinet of John Williams, Esq. at Scorrier House, near Redruth, is unrivalled in its specimens of red oxide of copper in octohedrons, cubes, and capillary crystals; there are also some fine specimens of arseniate of copper in very perfect obtuse octohedrons; a mass of uranite, which for size and beauty surpasses any that has ever been found: blende in octohedrons and cubes, native and ruby silver, besides a very rare and highly valuable specimen of the muriate of horn silver and arseniate of lead in six-sided prisms.
Such strangers as are desirous of forming a collection of the several minerals which have been found in this county, cannot adopt a better plan than applying to the different dealers; they are, however, sometimes to be had of the miners. The most respectable dealers in minerals are, at St. Austell, Mr. Hennah, Bookseller; at Truro, Tregoning and Mudge; at Falmouth, Mr. Trathan; at Penzance, Mr. Jacobs; at Redruth, Mr. Bennett; at Gwenap, Mr. Michell; at St. Agnes, Mr. Argall; and the landlord of the Tamar Inn, Calstock; who was once a superintendant of some of the mines near St. Austell.