130 KILLINGWORTH COAL-MINE. CHAP. VIII. 



winning was disposed of at the pit-bottom in a barrel 

 or trunk, and was drawn up by the power of the engine 

 which worked the other machinery. The dip at the 

 time of my visit was nearly a mile in length, but has 

 since been greatly extended. As I was considerably 

 tired by my wanderings in the galleries, when I arrived 

 at the forehead of the dip, Mr. Stephenson said to me, 

 4 You may very speedily be carried up to the rise, by 

 laying yourself flat upon the coal-baskets,' which were 

 laden and ready to be taken up the incline. This I at 

 once did, and was straightway wafted on the wings of 

 fire to the bottom of the pit, from whence I was borne 

 swiftly up to the light by the steam machinery on the 

 pit-head." The whole of the working arrangements 

 seemed to Mr. Bald to be conducted in the most skilful 

 and efficient manner, and reflected the highest credit on 

 the colliery engineer. 



Besides attending to the underground arrangements, 

 the improved transit of the coals aboveground from the 

 pit-head to the shipping-place, demanded an increasing 

 share of his attention. Every day's experience con- 

 vinced him that the locomotive constructed by him 

 after his patent of the year 1815, was far from per- 

 fect ; though he continued to entertain confident hopes 

 of its complete eventual success. He even went so 

 far as to say that the locomotive would yet supersede 

 every other traction-power for drawing heavy loads. 

 Many still regarded his travelling engine as little better 

 than a curious toy ; and some, shaking their heads, pre- 

 dicted for it " a terrible blow-up some day." Neverthe- 

 less, it was daily performing its work with regularity, 

 dragging the coal-waggons between the colliery and the 

 staiths, and saving the labour of many men and horses. 

 There was not, however, so marked a saving in the 

 expense of haulage as to induce the northern colliery 

 masters to adopt locomotive power generally as a sub- 

 stitute for horses. How it could be improved and 



