INDUSTRIES 



valley near Boot. These occurring in the 

 Eskdale granite have produced the largest 

 quantity of ore. From 1872 to 1883, 59,266 

 tons were worked from these mines, princi- 

 pally from the vein known as ' Nab Ghyll.' 

 About the beginning of the decade ending 

 1880 considerable interest was excited by the 

 glowing reports which were made as to the 

 productiveness and extent of these deposits. 

 One of these reports on the Eskdale district 

 reckoned the probable yield of some of the 

 veins by millions of tons, and asserted that a 

 large portion of the upper part of the de- 

 posits could be worked and conveyed to the 

 terminus of the Ravenglass and Eskdale rail- 

 way at a cost of 2s. 6d. per ton. After 

 working for the period above stated, the 

 Eskdale Mining Co. proved conclusively that, 

 although the veins here were richer than other 

 known veins in the older rocks, they were too 

 irregular and too much mixed up with foreign 

 matter to admit of their being carried on pro- 

 fitably. No ore appears to have been worked 

 from these mines since the year 1883. 



ANALYSIS OF ORE FROM ' NAB GHYLL' VEIN 



The quality of the Eskdale ore was found 

 to be very variable, as the foregoing analysis, 

 given by Mr. Kendall in his work already 

 referred to, clearly shows. 



ALSTON DISTRICT 



This district has long been famous for its 

 production of lead ore, but, as already men- 

 tioned, brown haematite ore occurring in the 

 limestone and associated with the lead veins 

 has been worked from time to time. No 

 large deposits of ore however have at any 

 time been found, and owing to its low yield 

 of metallic iron it has not proved of much 

 value commercially. Since the rich deposits 

 of the Whitehaven and Millom districts have 

 been so largely worked, little attention has 

 been given to the iron ores of Alston, the 

 Board of Trade returns since 1872 only 

 showing an output of 8,639 tons - 



The following table (No. IX.) shows the 

 output of haematite from each mine and the 

 total production from each of the ore pro- 

 ducing parishes in Cumberland for the year 

 1900. The Hodbarrow Mining Co. Ltd. 

 has been the only company outside the 

 Whitehaven district returning an output of 

 ore for some years past, and for the year 

 1900 the output obtained from these mines, 

 viz. 415,615 tons, represents 60-43 P er cent 

 of the total quantity raised in the White- 

 haven district, which amounted to 687,815 

 tons. 



The numbers placed before the names of 

 the different mines have reference to the 

 position of the latter as shown on plan No. i . 



TABLE No. IX 



Showing the output of haematite from the individual mines, in the various parish areas in Cumber- 

 land already enumerated, for the year 1900. 



WHITEHAVEN DISTRICT 



399 



