Gents Mag 1751 p.51

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	Gentleman's Magazine 1751 p.51
black lead mines
	Black Lead Mines Report of a visit to the black lead mines above Seathwaite, by GS, George Smith, published in the Gentleman's Magazine, London, February 1751. THE Gentleman's Magazine: For FEBRUARY 1751. Mr URBAN, THE public attention has been drawn to the black lead mines, in Cumberland, call'd the Wad, by the account of their having been plundered, which has lately appear'd in the papers: but as yet they have not been described, and though it is not known that there is any other mine of the same kind in the world, yet, I believe, they have never been visited with a view to natural history, except by myself, and some gentlemen who went with me. I, therefore, send you the following narrative of our journey and discoveries, which, I hope, will be acceptable to your readers. Yours, &c. G.S. I Had long intended a journey to the Wad, and had often been prevented from effecting it by unfavourable weather, and other accidents; but in the beginning of Aug. 1749, I set out from Wigton, in company with two or three friends, and had appointed others to meet us from Cockermouth, who waited only for my message to set out; for as this expedition had been long projected, they had determined to bear me company.- From Wigton, in about 3 hours, we arrived at Orthwaite, a small village under mount Skiddow: (See Vol.XVIII. p.292). A sudden storm of rain obliged us to take shelter in a little alehouse at this place, and an uninterrupted series of bad weather kept us prisoners near a week; however as the neighbouring clergymen charitably visited us every day, we did not much suffer by our confinement. Here the gentlemen from Cockermouth joined us on the first fair morning; and the afternoon being clear we agreed to meet the next morning at the Royal Oak in Keswic, a market town, on the south side of Skiddow. This mountain, which I had visited the year before, and of which I have already given you some account (See V.XVIII. p.4) is a fissile absorbing slate: This slate is flaked off with a kind of wedge, peculiarly adapted to the work, in quarries near the top of the mountain, and is conveyed down to the plain by laborers, in a machine so contrived as to be carried upon the shoulder, the man walking upright: In these machines each man carries as much as would load a Cumberland cart, but having by long use learnt to improve the advantage afforded by the declivity of the mountain, they descend with little labour, and less hazard. Skiddow is undoubtedly one of the highest mountains in Britain, the declivity from the white-water dash, at the foot, to the summit, measures near 5000 yards, but the perpendicular height cannot be much more then one fourth of that measure. The neighbouring mountains are all very high, and the greater part terminate in craggy precipices, that
	gazetteer links
	-- (black lead mine, Seathwaite)
	-- Orthwaite
	-- "Skiddow" -- Skiddaw
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