29G 



ROBERT ACTS AS ENGINEER. 



CHAP. XIV. 



miles in length, towards the end of 1830. The works 

 were comparatively easy, excepting at the Leicester end, 

 where the young engineer encountered his first stiff bit of 

 tunnelling. The line passed underground for a mile and 

 three-quarters, and 500 yards of its course lay through 

 loose running sand. The presence of this material ren- 

 dered it necessary for the engineer, in the first place, to 

 construct a wooden tunnel to support the soil while the 

 brickwork was being executed. This measure proved 

 sufficient, and the whole was brought to a successful 

 termination within a reasonable time. While the works 

 were in progress, Robert kept up a regular correspond- 

 ence with his father at Liverpool, consulting him on all 

 points in which his greater experience was likely to be 

 of service. Like his father, Eobert was very observant, 

 and always ready to seize opportunity by the forelock. 

 It happened that the estate of Snibston, near Ashby-de- 

 la-Zouch, was advertised for sale ; and the young engi- 

 neer's experience as a coal- viewer and practical geologist 

 suggested to his mind that coal was most probably to be 

 found underneath. He communicated his views to his 

 father on the subject. 1 The estate lay in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of the railway ; and if the conjecture 

 proved correct, the finding of the coal must necessarily 

 prove a most fortunate circumstance for the purchasers 



1 George Stephenson was himself 

 always on the look-out for new coal- 

 fields, and eventually became a large 

 coal-owner in the neighbourhood of 

 Chesterfield, through discovering new 

 beds of that mineral while construct- 

 ing the Midland Railway. As early 

 as 1824 we find, from a letter written 

 by him to Mr. Sandars, of Liverpool, 

 handed to us by Robert Stephenson, 

 that he was actively speculating on the 

 subject of the strata underlying the 

 line of the then proposed Liverpool and 

 Manchester Railway. " On my way 

 to Bolton," said he, u and whilst at 

 Bolton, I collected a great deal of use- 

 ful information respecting the coal- 



fields in that neighbourhood. It is 

 my opinion that coal will be found 

 under Chat Moss. I think there will 

 be none under Kirkby Moss, but im- 

 mediately on the south-east point of 

 Mossbro Road, from where the rail- 

 road crosses, I think it will be found ; 

 and I believe the coal-field will pass 

 up, even under Knowsley Hall, and 

 continue through the whole of that 

 high country by Prescott. But I 

 should not advise any purchase to be 

 made of coal-fields until a closer inves- 

 tigation is made, even though you 

 were certain of the Act passing." We 

 are not aware whether these specula- 

 tions have been verified or not. 



