CLASS 1. Mining and Mineral Products. of upwards of 800 miles. Both from its extent and the varied character of its numerous beds of coal and iron, it may be considered as the most important of all our coalfields. The upper measures furnish the best Red Ash coals for household purposes, whilst its lower measures are well adapted for iron-smelting, and for steam coal. The number of furnaces now in blast is 143, averaging about 100 tons of iron each per week: or a gross annual production of 700,000 tons, and requiring 2,000,000 tons of ironstone, principally furnished from this coal-field. The annual production of coal is estimated at from 5 to 6,000,000 tons. In 1796, the annual production of iron in South Wales was 34,011 tons, and in 1823, 182,325 tons; since which time the production has been nearly trebled. In the eastern part of the district the coals are bituminous; as they approach the west they gradually become semi-anthracitic; and in the western district all the coals are anthracitic. From the great area of this coal-field, and the great variety in character, both of its beds of coal, and its measures of ironstone and blackband, it will, in all probability, long remain the most important iron-making district in the world. White Fiats, Donnington Wood. Main Pennystime, Donnington Wood (No. 1), Madeley Court (No. 2). Sulphur Coal Clunch Coal Clod Coal Little Flint Coal Crawstone, Madeley Wood. Black Flats (position not given). 73222 2 00440 Annual production of iron about 90,000 tons. This field was one of the first important iron-making districts of the kingdom; but from its limited extent, the production of iron in it has remained, for a considerable period, nearly stationary. The quality which it produces is very good. The coal measures of Shropshire were probably once connected with those of South Staffordshire indeed, of the identity of some of the measures in the two districts there can be little doubt. This is especially evident in the Whitestone and Cakes of the one, and the Pennystone of the other; and a great resemblance between all the measures of the two fields may also be traced, the difference in their thickness, &c., not being greater than might be expected at such distant points, judging from actual changes that are known to occur in some of the South Staffordshire beds, over comparatively a small space of ground. SOUTH STAFFORDSHIRE. Three Yard Coal Brassey Coal Upper Yard Ironstone, Rhuahon.- Four irregular courses (No. 1 to No. 4), averaging about 7 inches. Upper Yard Coal Red Coal Ironstone Balls, Rhuabon. Red Coal Stone Coal Ironstone, Rhuabon. — Four courses (No. 6 to No. 9). Stone Coal Half-yard Coal Two Yard Coal Ironstone, Rhuabon. Lower Yard Coal Ironstone, Rhuabon. Wall and Bench Ironstones, Rhuabon.-6 Lower Yard Coal courses 12 inches (No. 12 to No. 17), lying in about 7 feet of ground. Wall and Bench Coals Rhuabon. 15 courses (No. 18 to No. 32), averaging 30 inches, all worked with the coal in three lifts. Will yield 8,000 to 9,000 tons per 6 180, 181 182, 183 184 Pins Ironstone, Dudley. 3 Penny Earth Ironstone, Dudley. 4 Ten Foot Stone, Dudley. The production of iron in this district is very limited: the coals are principally thin, good but in quality: and the ironstones, although lean, furnish very good iron. only important works now in blast are the Rhuabon and the Brymbo. The Brymbo series appear by themselves. Thick Coal The 6 Gubbin Ironstone, Dudley. 188 189 Gubbin Cannock. SHROPSHIRE. White Ironstone Binds, Dudley. 8 White Ironstone, Dudley. White Ironstone, Brockmoor. 9 Cakes, or Bluestone, Dudley. Madeley Wood 3 Madeley Court The Castle 1 Light Moor Horse-hay 1 Lawley Dark Lane Langley 33 Furnaces Sulphur Coal Fire Clay Balls, Dudley. The Dudley Division of the South Staffordshire and Worcestershire Coal-field is principally celebrated for the Ten Yard, or Thick Coal, so named from its being 30 feet thick, and which may well be termed, par excellence, "The Thick Coal." This is the largest and most important bed of coal in the kingdom, and is of excellent quality, both for household purposes and for the manufacture of iron. When undisturbed by faults, and of CLASS 1. Mining and Mineral Products. average quality, this bed of coal, with the associated thin coals and ironstones, is worth at least 1,000l. per acre. The quality of iron made is very superior. It was in this district that coal was first used in the year 1619, for the purpose of smelting iron. The Gubbin and White Ironstones are the principal ironstones of this district. The Gubbin measures will average about 1,500 tons per acre; the White Ironstone varies much both in quantity and richness. It yields from 1,000 to, occasionally, 3,000 tons per acre; 1,500 tons may be taken as about the average. Strata. Gutter Coal Red Shag Coal. Bassey Mine, Foley Colliery, Longton.Four courses; thickness 2 to 3 feet in some places (as at Apedale) it attains the great thickness of 6 feet. 10 0 206, 207 4 Gubbin and Balls, Bunker's Hill. Mealy Grey Coal 222 3 5 Blue Flats, Bunker's Hill. Bristol Diamonds, Darlaston. The space of ground occupied by the above measures from the Sulphur Coal to the Bristol Diamonds is about 90 yards. These measures occupy a position in the general coal series, below the Thick Coal of the Dudley District; and attain in the Wolverhampton Field a much greater thickness and importance than at Dudley, where scarcely any of the above measures of coal and ironstone prove workable. The ironstones are all of extremely good quality, averaging from 30 to 35 per cent. From the low cost at which they are generally raised, the number and variety of the measures both of coal and ironstone contained in so small a space of ground, and the superior quality of the iron produced, the Wolverhampton Division of the South Staffordshire Coal-field may be considered as one of the most important, in proportion to its area, of any of our iron-making districts. 223 4 224 5 7 New Ironstone, Foley Colliery, Longton.Five courses = 16 inches in 34 feet of ground. Little Mine, Foley Colliery, Longton. Little Mine Coal Series from Shelton Colliery, Hanley. 230to2361 to 7 Red Shag Ironstone. Gutter Mine. Bassey Mine. Penny Stone. Deep Mine. Chalky Mine. Gubbin Stone. Series from Apedale, near Newcastle. 237to249 1 to 13 Blackband Ironstone-4 to 5 feet thick. Red Shag-6 feet thick. Red Mine-9 feet thick. Bassey Mine-7 feet thick. Cannel Mine. Black Mine. Rusty Mine. Chalky Mine. Little Mine. New Mine. Brown Mine. Thickband. Gold Mine. These last two series are not numbered according to their position in the coal measures. Many of them belong to the same measures as those of the Foley Colliery, Longton, although named differently. The North Staffordshire Coal-field, although not of great importance directly, as an iron-making district, its annual produce being only about 55,000 tons, is yet of great importance from the amazing extent of ironstone which it contains, and the large quantities sent thence to the South Staffordshire, and the North Welsh iron districts. No other known coal-field contains anything like an equal number and extent of ironstone measures. From the Bassey Mine to the Knowles Mine, a series of measures at the Foley Colliery, Longton, of only 250 yards in thickness, there are nine distinct workable measures of ironstone. At Apedale, the Blackband, Red-shag, Bassey Mine, and Red Mine, ironstones, are respectively 4, 6, 7, and 9 feet thick. consequence of so large a proportion of the cheapest worked ironstone measures being Blackband or carbonaceous, and also from the inferior quality of its coals, the iron of this district is inferior. The thickness of the coal measures already known, is upwards of 1,100 yards, containing 32 seams of coal, varying in thickness from 5 inches to 8 feet. Of these, there are 14 beds below the Little Mine coal, all of which, excepting one, are from 2 to 7 feet thick. In Coal Kilburn Coal Honeycroft Rake, Stanton.-Yield per acre 6,000 tons. Chitters; Tufty Balls; Barren Beet; Civilly Rake, Stanton.-Yield per acre 4,000 Annual production of iron about 60,000 tons. Average thickness of coal measures, from magnesian limestone to Kilburne, or lowest worked coal, 600 yards. Many of the beds of ironstone lie in such a thickness of measure as only to be workable to advantage by open work or bell-pits. Where these means of working can be adopted, the produce per acre is oftentimes very large; in the Honeycroft Rake it is 6,000 tons per acre; in the Black Shale 8,000 tons. NORTHUMBERLAND, CUMBERLAND, and DURHAM. Carbonate of Iron, Alston. The Annual production of iron about 90,000 tons. iron works of this district are gradually increasing in importance, the cost of fuel being so low as to permit ores to be brought from many different localities. The black bands of Scotland, and of Haydon Bridge, the brown hæmatites, and white carbonates of Alston and Weardale, and the argillaceous ironstones of the lias of Whitby and Middlesborough, are all used for the supply of the iron works of this district. The brown hæmatites deserve especial attention. They are found associated in very large masses, with the lead veins of this district, and occasionally they occur as distinct and regular beds. They contain from 20 to 40 per cent. of iron. Sometimes they exist as "riders to the vein, sometimes they form its entire mass, and, in this case, they occasionally attain a thickness of 20, 30, and even is only recent, but the supply of ore which they can fur50 yards. Their employment for iron-making purposes nish is almost unlimited, and when some better means of separating the zinc and lead associated with them may have been discovered, they will, doubtless, be found to Remarkable changes sometimes be of great importance. occur in the character of the metalliferous veins of this district; the same vein which at one point bears principally lead ore, changing to a calamine vein, and then again to brown hæmatite. LANCASHIRE and WEST CUMBERLAND. Blackband, Hadley, Northumberland. Blackband, Haydon Bridge.-This bed probably occupies the position of one of the beds of coal underneath the Great Limestone, and forms an interesting instance of the manner in which thin beds of Coal sometimes change into beds of Blackband Ironstone. It averages, probably, three feet in thickness. Ballstone, Haltwhistle, Northumberland. Ballstone, Nent Head, Cumberland.-These measures (Nos. 3 and 4) lie in the Plate bed over the Great Limestone, and in about 6 yards of ground: they have been worked extensively on some parts of the out crop. Average yield 30 to 35 per cent. Ft. In. or The production of iron in this district is very limited, being confined to the Cleator Works, and one two small charcoal works in the Ulverstone district. The quality of the latter, charcoal being used for fuel, is very superior, and the produce commands the highest prices, as it combines, with the fluidity of cast-iron, a certain malleability, especially after careful annealing. The iron of the Cleator Works is smelted with coal, and though, in consequence, not equal to the other, is yet of superior quality. The ore, both of the Whitehaven, and the Ul. verstone and Furness districts, is raised most extensively for shipment to the iron works of Yorkshire, Staffordshire, and North and South Wales. In quality, these ores may be considered as the finest in this kingdom, and the supplies which these districts are calculated to produce are very great. The large per centage of iron which they contain, from 60 to 65 per cent., and their superior quality also enable them to bear the cost of transport, and they |