490 
JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
may be met with, *over many parts of the county, and especially 
may the handsome little country town of Tavistock be regarded 
as a lasting monument of the mining industry of the celebrated 
Devon Great Consols ; and its older inhabitants can tell interest- 
ing stories respecting old Wheal Friendship, Wheal Betsey, Ding 
Dong. Danescomb, Crebor, Virtuous Lady, W. Franco, Drake 
Walls, Gunnislake, Liscombe, George and Charlotte, and other 
notabilities, whose records made its reputation as a mining town 
in the Metropolis. 
In Cornwall bright memories of the past are linked with the 
histories of the silver and lead mines of the Menhenniot district, 
Trelawny, and Mary Ann ; of the copper mines of the Caradon 
district, of the Fowey district, such as Great Fowey Consols and 
Crinnis, the united mines of St. Day, the Carn Brea series, includ- 
ing Dolcoath, Cook's Kitchen, East Pool, and others, producing 
copper, tin, silver, wolfram, cobalt, arsenic, zinc, &c. ; and then, 
further south and west, the Helston and St. Just districts, pro- 
ducing copper and tin from, amongst others, the old celebrities 
Levant, Botallack, Wheal Vor, &c. 
Unfortunately at the present moment scarcely more than a 
dozen mines in the two counties are paying costs ; and conse- 
quently the oldest mine adventurers are so exceedingly dispirited 
that they profess the belief that there is no alternative but to 
abandon their undertakings, and give up further effort. There is 
therefore the most pressing necessity for enteriug on the enquiry 
as to the possibility of reviving our mining industries, and of 
securing such a development of our resources as shall far exceed 
the brightest dreams of the miners and their well-wishers. 
A close circumstantial review of the origin and development of 
some of the most remarkable mining enterprises shows the neces- 
sity for the application of the highest class of administrative and 
executive ability, in order to the application of the most powerful 
resources of mining and engineering principles. In view of the 
manner in which operations have actually been carried on, it is 
only wonderful to find how large a measure of success has been 
obtained, proving rather how rich the deposits must have been than 
the efficiency of the power applied for rendering them available. 
Refraining from reflecting on the history of the past further 
than is absolutely necessary, let us consider what may be done in 
the future. 
