X]E)JneraIo52» 357 



secured and maintained for so long a period by the present 

 proprietary. Deposits of Copper, small in extent, are scat- 

 tered nearly all over the second division of the slate-rock, 

 and mining operations in search of it have been instituted 

 and carried on for longer and shorter periods, and with more 

 or less success, in many different localities, as Torver, Sea- 

 thwaite, Ulpha, Eskdale, Newlands, Caldbeck, Wythburn, 

 Langdale &c., but, with the exception of those in Newlands 

 and Langdale, it is probable that none of these have been 

 wrought of late to any advantage. 



On account of its antiquity, precedence has been accorded 

 to Copper in this notice of Minerals of the Lake District ; 

 but that metal is far from standing first amongst our mineral 

 productions in point of quantity exported, — in this respect 

 it is far exceeded by coal, slate, iron, and probably by lead. 



Coal. — From the Coalfield of West Cumberland there 

 was exported, in 1857, coal to the amount of 673,000 tons, 

 chiefly to Ireland ; and home consumption exceeding 200,000 

 tons. Adding to these figures 100,000 tons for the produce 

 of the East Cumberland Collieries, we have a total, in round 

 numbers, of 1,000,000 tons, given, at seven shillings per ton, 

 ;i^35o,ooo as the annual value of the coal fields in our West 

 Cumberland map. The colliery at Whitehaven is very ex- 

 tensive, the excavations having been carried for miles be- 

 yond low-water mark, under the bed of the sea. This was 

 the case also at Workington, where, in 1837, through the 

 criminal temerity of an agent, who perished, though warned 

 by the old workmen, in removing the pillars of coal left to 

 support the roof of the mine — the sea broke in and filled 

 the whole of the works, destroying many lives, and property 

 to the value of ;^i 20,000. This mineral is deposited in 

 ' seams or bands ' varying greatly in quality and thickness — 



Y3 



