The Breadalhane Mines. 197 



(2.) Veinstones. — The gangue^ is almost entirely white 

 quartz, both in the Coninish and Tyndrum veins. Calcite 

 occurs sparingly, and barytes accompanies the ore, but only 

 at places where it is richest. 



In the clay vein the ore is found chiefly in a black in- 

 durated fault breccia made up of schist and quartzite frag- 

 ments cemented together in a matrix of crystallised quartz. 



The thickness of the ore was very variable. When only 

 4 inches thick it could be worked to a profit, and where 

 richest in the Stamp, Bryan, and Long Levels, it had an 

 average breadth of from 10 to 20 inches. The hard vein had 

 sometimes a thickness of over 4 feet, and was richest where 

 it had a regularly defined hanging wall, i.e., where it was a 

 true fissure vein, and this, as we have seen, was only the 

 case above the line of junction with the clay vein. The 

 hardness and toughness of the surrounding quartzites added 

 greatly to the cost of mining it. 



5. Mining" History. — The vein at Tyndrum was accidently 

 discovered in 1741, during the lease of the Breadalbane 

 minerals to Sir Eobert Clifton, who, between that year and 

 1745, raised 1697 tons of lead ore. He was succeeded by 

 the Mine Adventurers of England, who worked the mine for 

 the next 15 years, producing, between 1745 and 1760, 2046 

 tons of ore. From 1760 till 1762 the Eipon Company mined 

 330 tons, and from 1762 till 1768, 942 tons were raised by 

 Messrs Kichardson & Paton. 



In 1768 the lease fell into the hands of the Scots Mining 

 Company, and during their tenure the mine was more 

 vigorously worked. The existing levels were driven further 

 into the hill, and the ground in the vicinity of the Inveroran 

 Eoad was explored by means of two close mines, but the 

 results did not justify further expenditure of capital. Up to 

 this time the ore had been carried by way of Loch Lomond 

 to Glasgow for shipment to the south, but the Scots Mining 



1 This Cornish, word is derived from the Gerraan Gang, a term applied 

 technically to veins and intrusive dykes, but originally meaning a course or 

 going, and survives in the Scottish, gang, to go, and in the English, gangwsLj. 

 It should be purged of the superfluous and silent ue, and spelt in its original 

 simple form, gang. 



