INDUSTRIES 



the High House mines 120,036 tons in 1873, 

 and from Crossgill 41,134 tons in 1873. A 

 list of the haematite producing mines in this 

 parish in the year 1900, with their respective 

 outputs, is afterwards given in Table No. IX. 

 Among the mines which have now ceased 

 working, Birks and Yeathouse may be men- 

 tioned as being two of the oldest mines in 

 the parish ; the others include Dyke-Nook, 

 Goose Green and Rattenrow. Table No. VI. 

 shows a gradual decrease in the production 

 of haematite from this area during the three 

 decades specified, the falling off in output 

 between the first and third decade being 

 2 5'77 P er cent - The Parkside and Crossgill 

 mines still yield considerable quantities of ore, 

 both royalties being now worked by the 

 Parkside Mining Co. 



CLEATOR PARISH. As will be seen by 

 reference to Table No. VI., this parish pro- 

 duced by far the largest quantity of haematite 

 during the ten years ending 1880. The 

 principal producing mines at that time were 

 Montreal, worked by Mr. John Stirling ; 

 Cleator, worked by the Cleator Iron Ore 

 Co. (Messrs. Ainsworth) ; Crossfield, worked 

 by the Crossfield Iron Ore Co. from 1865 

 until 1894, and now carried on by Mr. 

 James Robertson Walker, the present owner 

 of the property ; Crowgarth, worked by 

 Lord Leconfield ; and Longlands and Row- 

 foot at the south end of the parish, worked 

 by the Messrs. Lindow. 



The largest deposit of haematite in this 

 area has been that in the Montreal mines 

 along the east and west ' fault ' forming the 

 junction of the coal and limestone measures. 

 This ' fault ' has a ' downthrow ' to the north 

 of over 2OO fathoms. The extent of this 

 rich deposit will be best understood by the 

 fact that during the decade ending 1880, 

 2,008,748 tons of haematite were obtained 

 from these mines. The ore, as is the case 

 with most of the deposits in this parish, is 

 of a very good quality, one of the analyses 

 previously given being from a sample obtained 

 from this part of the district. It is worthy 

 of notice that for many years a considerable 

 output of both iron ore and coal has been 

 raised from the No. 4 pit in the Montreal 

 royalty. This, so far as the writer is aware, 

 forms a unique feature in the mining records 

 of the United Kingdom. The maximum 

 yearly output of haematite from the Montreal 

 mines was attained in 1877, when 265,678 

 tons were raised. For the decade ending 

 1880, the production of haematite from the 

 Crossfield mines was 928,526 tons, and from 

 the Cleator Iron Ore mines, 583,742 tons ; 



while the maximum outputs were 136,597 

 tons in 1876 from the former, and 88,640 

 tons in 1877 from the latter. Coal was also 

 found in a portion of the Crossfield estate, 

 but this was worked by Mr. Stirling and 

 raised from his No. 4 pit. Large quantities 

 of rich ore were also raised during this period 

 from Lord Leconfield's Crowgarth and Messrs. 

 Lindow's Longlands, and Rowfoot mines. In 

 this parish the ore was worked ' open-cast ' 

 in several places. 



Mr. John Stirling, who afterwards proved 

 so successful in opening up large and valuable 

 deposits in the Montreal royalty, first began 

 his mining operations at ' Todholes,' a small 

 property near Cleator Moor. The deposit 

 here was worked 'open-cast,' and had been 

 working for some time before the year 1860. 

 Mention is made of this ' open-cast ' by 

 Whellan as follows : ' At a place called Tod- 

 holes near Cleator an openwork has for some 

 time been in operation ; the superficial cover- 

 ing of 15 to 20 feet in thickness which con- 

 tains very numerous angular fragments of 

 limestone being removed, the red iron ore 

 was worked as a quarry. The floor of the 

 deposit is a white and red mottled shale ; 

 boreholes have been sunk in it to a depth of 

 30 or 40 feet without meeting with any other 

 material.' 1 The bed of haematite overlying 

 this shale is said to have been upwards of 30 

 feet in thickness. The next important ' open- 

 cast ' was opened up and worked by Mr. 

 Thomas Ainsworth near Cleator. This was 

 an ' outcrop ' of haematite lying on a north 

 and south ' fault,' having an ' upthrow ' to 

 the west of about 40 fathoms, and in its 

 extension northwards running through the 

 Crossfield and Montreal properties. It was 

 worked on an extensive scale and at a com- 

 paratively early date. Later, during the 

 decade ending 1880, the Crossfield Iron Ore 

 Co. worked similar deposits of haematite by 

 means of two ' open-casts,' and Mr. Stirling, 

 by another, further to the north, all being on 

 the same ' fault ' as that at Cleator. The 

 three last ' open-casts ' were situated in the 

 low lying ground close to the river Keekle. 

 This stream is subject in wet weather to 

 sudden and heavy floods from its extensive 

 watershed, although in dry seasons it contains 

 very little water. To avert the danger from 

 flooding of these open workings, as well as 

 to insure the safety of the adjacent mines, 

 it was found necessary to construct a large 

 wooden trough in the bed of the river. This 

 troughing was formed of 4-inch pitch pine 

 planks, resting on 12-inch square pitch pine 



1 History of Cumberland, p. 7 7 (published 1860) 



II 



393 



