238 EEPOBT— 1886. 



'Collected hij Mr. C. E. Be Ranee from Mr. William Blackshaiv, Borough 



Surveyor, Stafford. 



Stafford Corporation Waterworhs Pumping Shaft and Trial Boring at 



Ensonmoor. 

 Particulars of Strata passed through. 



Soil. 



Clay. 



Loamy sand. 



Gravel jnelding 400,000 gallons of water per 24 hoiirs. 



Ked marl. 



Sand. 



Light friable sandstone. 



Blue and red rock marl with veins of gypsum yielding 800,000 



gallons of water per 24 hours. 

 Blue and red rock marl with veins of gypsum but no water. 

 Red and grey sandstone. 



850 4 

 June 3, 1886. — Water overflowing at the rate of 44,000 gallons per 24 hours. 



South Staffordshire. — In districts of Old Hill and Tipton many of the 

 coal mines are waterlogged, and are underwatered by a pumping commission, 

 appointed in 1873, with powers to levy rates of dd. per ton on coal, iron- 

 stone, and slack, and 2>d. a ton on fireclay and limestone. In Tipton in 1873 

 there were 77 pumping stations ; in 1885 these were reduced to 10. The 

 principal pumping stations over an area of 50 square miles are Bradley 

 Station (near Moxley, G. W. R.), which can raise four million gallons from 

 a depth of 126 yards, the Moat, and the Stoneheath Stations. 



Appendix I. 



Memoranda for Mr. Be Bance, Reporter to the Underground Water Com- 

 mittee of the British Association, Birmingham Meeting, 1886. By 

 Mr. E. B. Marten, of Pedmore, Stourbridge. 



The Committee have investigated chiefly the Triassic Rocks, and with 

 a view to trace the flow of potable water, with a few illustrations from 

 other geological formations. 



The drainage of the South Stafi'ordshire and Bast Worcestershire 

 coalfield being taken up by a commission under the South Stafi'ordshire 

 Mines Drainage Act, 1873, information has been obtained of the state of 

 the underground water, and many a puzzle has presented itself as to how 

 far the eff"ects of any one pumping station will reach, as it depended not 

 •only on the natural porosity of the strata, but also on the extent to which 

 the natural barriers had been pierced or weakened by mining opemtions. 

 It was found that although naturally the underground water would 

 level itself and flow out at the nearest surface stream, as if all the coal- 

 fields were one homogeneous rock, it was far from the case when attempts 

 were made to pump the whole sufficiently for mining purposes. It was 

 then found that the part dealt with by the Act divided itself into the two 

 sides east and west of the Sedgley, Dudley, and Rowley Hills ; and the 

 east side again into four smaller areas, Bentley, Bilston, Tipton, and Old- 

 bury ; and in the west Kingsaricford and Old Hill, any one of which 

 could be pumped separately. These smaller districts were again divided 

 into smaller pounds, each separated when the water was pumped down 

 below the broken barriers. 



