Note 139 — Chapter XIII

There are no such shafts upon railways as there are in mining. The shafts of the Consolidated and United Mines, Cornwall, are 1,488 and 1,650 feet. The shaft of the Nesvain Copper Mine is 2,180 feet; of the Veta Grande Mines, Mexico, 1,092 feet; of the Valenciana Mine, Mexico, 1,860; of the mines of Himmelsfurst, Saxony, 1,080 feet; of the salt mines near Cracow, 1,783 feet. Several mines in the Harz Mountains, in Bohemia, and in Cornwall, have also been worked to a depth exceeding 2,000 feet. The deepest in Bohemia is Keettenburg, said to be 3,000 feet below the surface of the soil. The deepest in Cornwall is that of Fowey Consols. The shaft of the Fahlam Copper Mine of Sweden is 1,300 feet deep. The shaft of Mr. Astley’s colliery at Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, is 2,100 feet deep. The deep workings are 1,500 feet below the bottom of the shaft. The shaft of Wearmouth Colliery is 1,600 feet deep; that of Dukenfield, Cheshire, 2,004 feet; and the lowest working in the colliery is 2,504 feet. At Pendleton, coal is worked from a depth of 2,505 feet. One of the collieries at Wigan is 1,775 below the surface. Many of the Durham collieries are equally deep. For further particulars see Dr. Ure’s Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures and Mines, edition of 1861.