South Caradon Mine- A timeline

Navsbooks>South Caradon Mine>History>Timeline

The recovery of the ‘Views of South Caradon’ continues with the history theme. In this post I will rescue the timeline from its geocities vault, and along the way add some cross referenced dates from other time lines on this blog. Should be interesting to see how the histories interwine. The photographs on this post come from a series I took in 2015 on a rare occasion when the South Caradon site was covered in snow and bathed in bright sunshine.

1833 to 1890

Six decades of industrial industry

The mine started in the Seaton Valley but its production moved eastwards in the later part of the history. The richest part of the mine lay in these easterly lodes.

Early working

1662

First record of mineral workings in the area at the Gonamena open works.

Early 19th century

 

A promise of wealth

Experience in the west of the Cornwall suggested that copper deposits probably existed under Caradon Hill. Large deposits of fine gozzen near the surface suggested that workable mineral lodes would exist deeper down. These gozzans may have been worked for tin. Attempts at finding copper had been made by small groups of miners driving adits into the hillside, but with no success prior to the South Caradon find.

Missed chances

On each lease transfer the opportunity of huge wealth was missed by the leaseholder, at one point the sett sold for less than a guinea.

1801 William West was born at Dolcoath

1817 to 1819 William West works at Dolcoath fitting shop

Ennor’s Trial

A miner called Ennor working for a group of Plymouth and Devonport adventurers dug an adit in from the Seaton Valley. This was probably at the location of what became main lode adit.

Some indications of minerals may have been found, but the trial was abandoned on advice of experts. The lease then changes hands several times, often for very small amounts.

The start

1831 West was Engaged by  J. T. Austin at Fowey Consols

1833

The miner James Clymo and members of the Kittow family started looking for Copper in the area. An adit running eastwards from the Seaton Valley was the starting point of their enterprise.

1834 Austen’s Engine is started

1834-1835

Despite shortage or resources the miners continue to persevere in extending the adit, following promising signs of mineralization deeper into the hill.

1835 Trial of Austen’s engine

1836

The adventurers perseverance and determination is rewarded when the main ore body is discovered, but no investors in London could be found to finance the venture. The original miners therefore financed the mine themselves.

1836 -1838 Cornwall Great United Mining Association worked the mines that would become Phoenix United.

1837

First returns are made for the mine after just over £327 had been paid out. 130 tons of ore (of 10% metal) is produced. _{Ref: Shambrock (Allan gives this production as starting in 1838)}

The first engine was installed at sump shaft by William West.
Within a few years South Caradon became one of the biggest copper mines in the world.

 

William West started working for South Caradon mine

The story goes…

That James Clymo offered the shares to a mine adventurer on the coach back from London. The adventurer refused the shares at £5 each. A few months later the shares fetched £2000 each!

Another story is of two maidens who sold some rough land to a lawyer and immediately learnt about the discovery of copper beneath its surface. By the following day they had repurchased the land claiming that they where sentimentally attached to it.
The lawyer heard about the copper the following morning…..just that bit too late
1837 West became the Fowey Consols sole engineer

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The Victorian period starts

1839 West patented the double-beat self acting valve

The rise

1840’s

The mines in West Cornwall suffered a decline but South Caradon’s success sparked a mining boom around Caradon Hill. The mine was producing nearly 4,000 tons of ore a year.

1842 Wheal Phoenix was formed

1848 St. Blazey foundry is established by West

1850’s

1850 William West commenced his association with Phoenix United Mine

What is in a name?

The success of the mine sparked a rush of mines being named with the magic word “Caradon” in their title, in the hope of attracting investors. A practice that became far too common after 1850, and earned the term “market mining”. None of these mines ever came near of matching the success of South Caradon.

• Caradon Consols
• Caradon Vale
• East Caradon
• Caradon Copper
• Great Caradon
• New West Caradon
• Glasgow Caradon Consols
• New South Caradon
• The Caradon Mine
• West Caradon Mine
• Wheal Caradon Mine

Tredhenam  house is built

1852 West installed his first Man engine at Fowey Consols

The Fall

1863 Brenton Symons publishes his map of the Caradon mining District and Webb and Geach produce their book.

Mid-1860’s

The price of copper drops, despite large amounts of ore being produced profits start to fall.
Nearly 6,000 tons of ore a year was being produced by South Caradon.
The mine became the biggest copper producer in Cornwall. But profits still fell.

1864 The Liskeard and District is Bank formed

 1867 Fowey Consols failed

1868 West obtains majority shares in Phoenix United

1879 William West Dies

1880

Work Stopped at the mine

1883

A limited company was formed to raise more capital, and attempts are made to keep the mine more profitable by extending the eastern part of the workings.

The Death

1885

Work Ceases, despite having copper reserves the mine was too expensive to run with the low price of copper. A picture of the mine prior to closure

1889

Attempts made to re-work the mine, but with no success.
The venture planned to run East Caradon, Glasgow Caradon and South Caradon as one mine.

1890

Final closure.
The site becomes mine history.

 

The end of an Industry

When the South Caradon Mine pumps stopped the water rose to flood the workings of adjacent mines forcing them to close. Even Railways suffered. 1885 saw the Liskeard and Caradon Railway going into receivership. A railway whose existence was dependent on the wealth produced by the South Caradon Mine.

Other Time lines on  this blog

• The President Steam Engine
• Samuel Grose
• William West
• J.T.Austen
• Phoenix United

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A Great Book Shop

To find books about the history of the Caradon Hill area pop in to the excellent book shop at Liskeard. They keep some well stocked shelves on Cornish local history, including my two paperbacks on William West– The Last Great Cornish Engineer, and the Liskeard Mining District .

The President Steam Engine- Key dates

A Cornish Engine in the USA

These dates have been derived from a quick dip into Damian Nance’s article on the engine, and correspondence from Mark Connar; I dived in, grabbed a few dates and sorted them out into an order. Then to add some context I have added a few dates from the life of William West, John West’s famous uncle.

Events leading up to the engine’s creation

1801 William West is born at Dolcoath

1835 Austen Engine’s Trial

1838 East London Waterworks engine started

1845 A rich zinc ore deposit in the dolomite limestone of Saucon Valley was discovered

1853 A  predecessor company to the Lehigh Zinc Company was formed to extract and smelt this primary material.

1854 Ueberotth mine was opencast operation

1860 Lehigh Zinc Company formed

1866 John West erected a 32″ double acting engine

1868  the Company’s engineer, John West from Cornwall as commissioned to design an engine capable of pumping 12,000 gallons/minute from a depth of 300 feet.

By 1869 three different engines were being used to clear the mines of water

The Engine’s operating years

1872 The President  was erected

1874 the engine’s crank broke and it took a number of days for it to be repaired and there was concern that the mines would fill with water.

1876 Operations were suspended

1879 William West dies

The President’s later life

1881 One of the owners of the Correll Mine in Friedensville purchased the mining assets of Lehigh Zinc and unified them under the name “Friedensville Zinc Company”

1883 New shafts were being dug and that the plan was to move the President to the new shaft location. This equipment move never transpired.

1884, Water was controlled in the mines by using two new steam pumps with the President was being kept in operational condition as a backup pump. Later that year, in May, the President was restarted.

By 1890 The Ueberroth mine was no longer being worked and the President was being used to lower the water in the other, still active, mine works.

1891 The last reported time that the President Pump operated

Events after the engine’s final steaming

1898 Unsuccessful efforts were made to raise capital in Europe to restart the Friedensville mine.

1893 All mining activities in the Friedensville area ceased

1899 The President was for sale

1900 The President was sold to Philadelphia based scrap dealers for $10,000

1901 The sixteen boilers were removed from the site to South Bethlehem by the New Jersey Zinc Company. The plan was to reuse these equipment pieces at other New Jersey Zinc mines.

1940s A new Friedensville mine was opened by the New Jersey Zinc Company which operated until 1983

Other Time Lines on this blog

• William West  The last Great Cornish Enginee
• J.T. Austen  The King of Mid- Cornwall
• Samuel Grose The most scientific of all Cornish Engineers
• John Taylor A mining genius

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Sketch of the life of William West of Tredenham

This publication describes the life and work of John West’s uncle through the eyes of a Victorian biographer.

Available on kindle>

The paperback “Last Great Cornish Engineer” explores the Engineer’s life beyond the words of the sketch.

Samuel Grose- Some key dates in the Cornish Engineer’s life

Navsbooks>William West>Samuel Grose

The most scientific engineer in Cornwall

William West was given his opportunity to create history at Austen’s engine   as a result of his work for Samuel Grose at Wheal Towan.   This post gathers together some of the key dates in Groses’s life into short potted history .

Samuel Grose (1791-1866) made a major contribution to the development of the Cornish Steam engine. His work on improving the thermal efficiency of steam engines enabled some of the largest increases in performances  achieved in its history.

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The Dates

1791

Samuel Grose was born  at Nether Stowey, Somerset . His parents Samuel Grose  and Eleanor Giddy were both from Redruth.  His farther was employed for many years as a ‘Captain’ at the Dodington Copper mine

1802

The Grose family returned to Cornwall in February, where Sam senior took up a position at the Wheal Alfred mine near Hayle. Sam junior became an apprentice under Richard Trevithick until the famous engineer left for London.

1810

Trevithick returned to Cornwall and began a busy period of erecting his pumping machinery at various mines, with his Grose as his overseer.  Grose supervised the  first “plunger pole” engine  to be erected at Wheal Prosper near Gwithian  This engine was completed in 1812 and others were erected by Grose at Beeralston (Devon) and Wheal Treasure (Fowey). He is also reported as working at Wheal Treskerby during this period.

Click here for more information on Wheal Prosper from the engineering timelines website>

1812

The Wheal Prosper plunger pole completed, others were erected by Gros
e at Beeralston and Wheal Treasure. He is also reported as working at Wheal Treskerby and erecting a high-pressure engine for Wheal Prosper for Richard Trevthick.

Click here for a diagram of the plunger pump on engineering timelines website>

1816

Trevithick left for Peru.

1820s

Grose  became  associated with the Cornish Copper Co.

1825

Grose erects his engine at the Wheal Hope Mine 1825.  This engine first introduced the concept of insulating the  the cylinders, nozzles, and steam pipes, an introduction that greatly improved the efficiency of the engine.

1827

Grose erected an  80in. engine at Wheal Lowan mine that incorporated his developments.

He engaged William West as his assistant at Wheal Towan.

Groses  80″ engine at Wheal Towan reached the highest yet duty reported of 62.2m in July, and 61.7 in August.

1828

1828 In April Grose’s Towan engine returned 87m, following an annual average of 77.3m

1834

He built a steam engine for the Torpoint ferry in 1834.

Grose at this stage was working for many mines all over Cornwall.

1837

building the pump for the Wherry mine at Penzance

1840

“They were introduced by Captain Samuel Grose whose experiments upon the generation and preservation of heat led to great improvements and ultimately established a new era in the history of the Cornish engine. In 1826 Captain Grose’s engine at Wheal Hope attained a duty of 62,000,000 Ibs and in July of the following year one of Mr Woolf’s single cylinder engines performed the unprecedented duty of 67 million. From this time Captain Grose’s improvements were appreciated and generally introduced they led to a still greater advance in the duty which this year reached as high as 87 million Ibs” _{THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT’S Journal DEc 1840}

1844

“In 1825 Captain Samuel Grose erected an engine at Wheal Hope upon which he took the opportunity of making many experiments with a view to the further saving of fuel. These led to valuable improvements which considerably raised the duty of the engine.

One of the principal of these was the introduction of a more effectual system of preventing all needless condensation and waste of heat by carefully clothing the boilers pipes cylinder and all parts to which steam had access with a considerable thickness of some substance which was a bad conductor of caloric and thus preventing the radiation and loss of heat formerly dispersed from the metallic surfaces into the surrounding air. Watt Woolf and others had previously used clothing in some degree but Captain Grose carried it much further and made it more perfect and complete than it had ever been before. He also considerably increased the pressure of the steam used and thereby gained much economical advantage.

Having completed his experiments on the Wheal Hope engine and satisfied himself of the advantage of his plans he proceeded to put them in practice in an engine with an 80 inch cylinder which he had manufactured with great care and erected at Wheal Towan in 1827. The result was that it immediately took by far the lead of all others performing a duty of upwards of 60 millions In July 1827 it reached 62 2 millions”

_{William Pole, On the Cornish Pumping Engine a Treatise, 1844}

1854

An 80″engine was designed by Grose for Wheal Alfred that after a long career would become the famous Robinson’s engine at South Crofty.

1856

Grose retired to Goneva farm at Wall, Gwithian, although  he was still advising for a number of mines.

1862

An advertisement of one of the many engines built by him described him as “the oldest and most scientific engineer in Cornwall”

1866

Samuel Grose died at his home in Gwinear.

Obituary

“It is with much regret we announce the death of Mr. S. Grose, who is well known for his labours in bringing the Cornish engine to that state of excellence in which it now exists.

He died at his residence at Gwinear, at the age of seventy-five years. Mr. W. Husband, of Hayle, a gentleman who was intimately acquainted with him, and who for a great many years has been brought in frequent contact with him in the execution of his professional duties, speaks of him (in a communication to us) as a man of great ability and sound judgment, very unassuming in his manners, and highly respected as an authority on engineering questions. He was engineer to some of the principal mines in Cornwall up to the time of hie death.

In 1825 Mr. S. Grose first introduced clothing the cylinders, nozzles, steam pipes, &c., in an engine at Wheal Hope mine, and in 1827 he carried out his plans in an 80in. engine at Wheal Lowan mine; he also increased the pressure of steam there, obtaining from this engine a duty of 60,000,000. His engines were always characterised by a strict attention to detail, which displayed a keen discernment on the part of the designer.

We had the pleasure of his acquaintance, and much admired his kind disposition and unpretending manners. He lived not to astonish the world with very brilliant discoveries, but he “Did good by stealth and blushed to find it fame”, and left the world bequeathing to engineering science his improvements in the Cornish engine, which rank first in importance since the time of Trevithick and Wolf.”

_{The Engineer
June 29 1866}

 Click here for original transcript in Grace’s guide>

1901

South Crofty mine started to sink Robinson’s shaft

Robinson’s shaft on the heartlands website>

Grose’s engine installed at South Crofty, an engine that had worked four other mimes previously. Robinson’s engine was built in 1854 at the Copperhouse Foundry, and has a cylinder replaced by Harvey and Co.

1955

On 1st May 1955, Robinson’s engine stopped pumping. It was the last Cornish beam engine to work a Cornish mine.

2012

Heartlands opens at Robinson’s Shaft, with Grose’s engine as its focus.

Click here for the Heartlands website>

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Sources of information

• The Last Great Cornish Engineer- William West of Tredenham
• Mr. Lean and the engine reporters
• Grace’s guide
• Peter Garner’s paper on Samuel Grose
• Twelveheads press index of mine names

William West- Some key dates

Dates in the life of William West of Tredenham

The Last Great Cornish Engineer

As a foundation to build my next talk around I have thrown together a few dates in William West’s life. Yes there are many gaps, and yes it is all a bit random in topics, but it does create a quick orientation time.  As this series of posts progress, so will this post be updated.  For a very quick biography of  William West Click here> 

1801

William West is born at Dolcoath

1808

West held a candle for Trevithick has he designed his ‘Catch-Me-Who-Can’ locomotive

1817 to 1819

West works at Dolcoath fitting shop

1822

West is chief working engineer at South Roskear and other mines

1828

Grose’s engine at Great Towan achieves an impressive 87 million duty with Wilson’s engine, a result partially the result of West’s improvement in insulation

1831

•  Engaged by  J. T. Austin at Fowey Consols
• Austins Engine was first proposed

1833

Contract for Austen’s engine signed

1834

Austen’s Engine is started

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1835

• Trial of Austen’s engine 
• Received from the adventurers in Holmbush twenty-five guineas and a
  silver snuff-box
• First steam capstan installed at South Hooe

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1837

• West became the Fowey Consols sole engineer
• The East Cornwall The engine was put up for sale by Harvey’s

The Victorian period starts

1838

The East London Engine was started

1839

• West patented the double-beat self acting valve
• West installed the Wheal Treasure long stoke engine

1840

West started working for South Caradon mine

1843

• West installed the first horizontal whim at Par Consols
• West obtained a licence to build Sims compound engines

1845

• West installed his first large Sims engine at Great Wheal Martha
• Was contractor  on  Brunel’s atmospheric railway

1847-1858

Brownes engine reporter is printed

1848

St. Blazey foundry is established by West

1850

William West commenced his association with Phoenix United Mine

1852

Tredhenam  house is built

1852

• West installed his first Man engine at Fowey Consols
• Duke of Wellington is laid to rest in a Tomb made from stone cut with Wests machinery

1856

St. Austell Lower foundry purchased by West

1863

Brenton Symons publishes his map of the Caradon mining District and Webb and Geach produce their book.

1864

• The Liskeard and District Bank formed
• Newquay and Cornwall Junction Railway construction started

1867

• Fowey Consols failed
• South Fowey Consols founded

1869

Newquay and Junction Railway completed to Drinnick Mill

1868

• Penquite house purchaced
• West obtains majority shares in Phoenix United

1870

Presentation to West of a time piece by the Phoenix United miners

1872

The South Caradon man engine is installed

1873

Cornwall Minerals Railway’s Act of Parliament was laid

1874

Cornwall Minerals Railway opened

1879

1891

St. Blazey Foundry closed

1897

Phoenix United closed

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The Last Great Cornish Engineer

William West of Tredenham

A paperback from the Trevitihick Society