Lead Mining Bargains

Method of mining and terms used

A mine is entered either by a shaft or a level, most frequently the latter. A level is a passage cut in the solid rock large enough for the easy passage of men and horses, the usual dimensions being three feet wide at the bottom, gradually widening to the middle height, where it is three and a half or four feet wide, and from thence has an arched form to the top, where it is from six to seven feet high. On the floor of levels, wood or iron rails are laid at the sides, which greatly facilitate the passage of the waggons. Levels are driven either above or below the stratum intended to be worked, but if possible below, in order that the work may fall down, and at one side of the vein, because the strata there are firmer than close to the vein. From the level access is had to the vein by a rise, which is a shaft communicating from one side of the level to the vein. These rises are made at fifteen or twenty fathoms distance from each other. But when it is necessary to descend either to the workings of a vein or to explore lower strata, a shaft is sunk. This underground shaft is called a sump. When a vein is reached, a drift, is made about six feet high, and at least two or three feet wide. The working of the vein is then prosecuted. If poor, the drift is continued in search of ore; if rich, the contents are regularly worked. This, and indeed nearly all mining work, is done by partnerships of four, six, or eight men, seldom of two, but sometimes in very wet shafts or sumps of twelve each. The partnerships bargain with the master to work at a certain price for a specified period, and as these bargains are regulated by the present appearance and prospects of the strata or veins, an unexpected change may occur productive either of gain or loss to the miner. The bargain usually includes not only the labour in the mine, but also requires that the cost of gunpowder and candles, as well as the conveyance of the stone or ore to the day or outside of the mine, and the washing and preparing it so as to be fit for smelting, shall be included in the miner's share of the agreement. It is by the bing of eight cwts. of ore in this state that the price of working is fixed. In some veins ore is found in a perfectly pure state, and is then easily obtained; in others blasting with gunpowder is required. It generally happens that the ore is more or less mixed with veinstone, and sometimes the vein itself, however pure, is so thin, perhaps only three or four inches, that a great quantity of stone must be cut away for drift room, to allow space for working it. By all these circumstances the prices of mining labour are estimated. Four bings of ore are usually considered to produce a fother of lead.

After working a length in a productive vein, the excavation is filled up with deads, i.e., loose stones, rubbish, etc., from adjacent parts of the mine, leaving only a rise, from which another drift called a heading is made, and the same operation is repeated to the top of the stratum, and above it, if the vein continues productive. These rises are thus frequently eight or ten fathoms high, and have stemples or pieces of wood placed at two opposite sides, four or five feet above each other. These form a rude and apparently dangerous staircase, which the miner climbs with great ease and security, and down which the work is thrown from above to the rise foot below. Workings continued downwards under the first made drift are called stoups, and in them the vein is worked downward from the bottom of the drift.

When a vein, either continues productive, or is expected to be so, below the horse level, a sump is sunk to the required depth, which, if in soft strata, is walled, but in hard is left rugged and irregular. From the sump a drift is made, and the vein, if rich, is worked by headings and stoups as before, the work being drawn up the sump by a hand whimsey similar to what is used at draw wells, In a flat vein the workings frequently run to a great extent, and the roof being supported by substantial posts of timber, the whole, especially when dimly lighted, presents a wonderful receding vista. When well lighted the lowness of the roof destroys to some extent this effect, but the glittering treasures which adorn the sides are then seen, and are often exceedingly beautiful.

All the work wrought in mines is included in the terms ore, bouse, and deads. The first needs no explanation. Bouse comprehends all the work that contains any portion of ore, and the term deads denotes the stone, earth, and other substances excavated in the level or vein, from which no profit is derived. The bing-stead, bouse-team, and dead-heap are the places where these different kinds of work are deposited at the outside of the mine.

In some places, where either the stratum or vein is hard, a partnership of six or eight men will scarcely work a shift of eight waggons in a week, while in others two men can work that quantity or even more in a day. In a tolerably good vein a waggon will hold bouse containing a bing of ore, and in very rich mines two bings.

Lead miners generally work eight hours a day, and four, five, or six days a week. Some miners have small farms which occupy their leisure time, while gardening and reading form the relaxations of many.

Some of the mines are so near the residence of the workmen as admit of their returning home between shifts, while others are situated amid wild and extensive hills and moors, far from any human habitation. Near the entrance of such remote mines is house or mining shop with accommodation, not only for the miners, but also for the smiths and joiners employed in making and repairing waggons, railways, etc.

Extracted from "History of the County of Durham" by J. R. Boyle, F.S.A., first published in 1892.