366 BELL ON THE VALUE OP 



ness, in going down, it will be perceived that a first rate quarry 

 requires to have such a situation that it can be advantageously 

 worked to a great depth. The great depth of the principal quar- 

 ries' in "Wales is one of the reasons which cause the Welsh slates 

 to be so highly prized. 



The peculiarly favorable position of the Walton Quarry 

 and the perpendicular cleavage of the slate, offer every facility 

 for the most extensive and advantageous working. The top of 

 the quarry is 451 feet above the St. Francis River at the depot, so 

 that ample room is afforded for working by horizontal galleries 

 driven from tbe side of the hill, thus avoiding all expense for 

 pumping and hoisting. For future working, it is proposed to run 

 an adit at a level of forty feet below the present one, and ultimate- 

 ly, one from the bank of the river at about 360 feet below the 

 same level. From this last an almost unlimited supply of the 

 finest slates might be taken out at the level of the railway. The 

 quarry, in its present state, is capable of yielding 20,000 squares 

 a year, so that the galleries referred to may be looked upon as 

 work to be performed by another generation. It measures 24 

 yards in depth, 14 in breadth aud 32 in length, giving a total of 

 10,752 cubic yards which have been excavated. The yield of slate 

 up to the present time has been about 10,000 squares. Tbe 

 proportion of waste to manufactured slate has of course very 

 much diminished in the lower portion of the quarry, and there 

 now remain 381 feet between the bottom of the quarry and the 

 level of the St. Francis, in which even better slate may be expected 

 than that hitherto obtained. 



The position of the quarry is about the centre of the 22nd lot 

 in the 6th range of Melbourne township. The property to which 

 it belongs comprises 1180 acres, extending in every direction 

 from the quarry — as far as the railway, to the eastward — and in- 

 cluding the ground around the depot. The great band of serpen- 

 tine in contact with the slate has a steep slope to the north, 

 while to the south of the slate band, the ground falls away gradu- 

 ally, and the rock is seldom seen. The roofing slate has been 

 ascertained to have a breadth of at least a third of a mile at tbe 

 broadest place, and the whole of it appears to be equally good, as 

 far as can be determined from surface trials. The quarry is situated 

 on the widest part, and the band is traceable on the surface (west- 

 ward from the river) for about a mile and a half; at the end o* 

 which distance it appears to be cut off by the serpentine, but 



