Rob,

This looks fascinating, for all sorts of reasons.

What's the procedure for getting hold of a copy?

Martin Potts


----- Original Message -----
From: "Rob Vernon" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 22 July 2000 23:21
Subject: Book on Linares Mines


Book Review on       Las Minas de Linares - Apuntes Históricos

by                            Francisco Gutiérrez Guzmán

Published by             collegio oficial de ingenieros técnicos de
minas de Linares (Jaén, Granada y Malaga).

665 pages plus map     Size 238mm by 170mm      In Spanish

ISBN 84-930339-1-X                                          Price 5000
pts

The lead mining region around Linares and La Carolina, Jaén, Spain has
been discussed on the mailbase on
several occasions - for its many engine houses (Cornish and other),
under threat by olive tree planting and
stone headframes. Until now literature on the area has been scant
(unless you have access to British mining
journals or the Spanish equivalent, Revista Minera). The book under
review has finally put aside the
frustrations felt by those of us who visit the area regularly, who need
to know the names of the mines,
when were they worked and by whom?

The author starts with a short history of Linares mining. Part of this
section describes how the Taylors
became involved in the area and continued mining into the last century.
Other operations described were
owned by the Spanish, Belgians, French and Germans. In 1889 there are
930 mines listed.

The main part of the book is fundamentally a gazetteer of the mine
sites. It is in two parts, large mines and
others. Seventeen mines are described as large and these include all
those operated by the Taylors (Linares
Lead, Los Alamillos, La Fortuna etc) and by Thomas Sopwith jnr (La
Tortilla, la Gitana etc). The first
mine to be described is Arrayanes which occupied the largest
pertenencias or mine sett and was operated by the
Spanish government. Each mine description is preceded by a map showing
the location and names of the
mine setts that constituted that mine. The text gives a short history of
the site and is illustrated with small
photographs either showing the site when it was working or what can be
seen now. More importantly the
features are named and identified so that anyone visiting the area now
can know precisely where they are
and the name of the mine.

The book finishes with chapters on the three main lead smelters (La
Tortilla, La Cruz and San Luis) and
the history of mines drainage schemes. The last one commenced in the
1950s. Several annexes detail
production and the companies that operated in the late 19th century.
The final section is an index of the
mines and concessions.

Both text and photographs are printed throughout in a dark brown ink.
This seems to work with the text but
not with all the photographs. The latter are generally small throughout
the book  (7.5cm by 5cm) with the
consequential loss of detail. However one cannot fault the author for
trying to put as many useful
photographs in to assist with the descriptions of the mines.

The publication of this book must be regarded as a significant step
towards our understanding of one of Spain's
most interesting mining areas. It will no doubt be the foundation for
any future work for which there is
ample scope. The book for example doesn't describe the mine workings or
the geology in detail. Certainly
as far as the Taylor's and Sopwith's operations are concerned it would
be nice to identify precisely where
the various shafts are. The author for example has used the names of the
mining setts for shafts whereas
detailed reports often refer to specific shafts, for example Taylors
Shaft, Warnes Shaft etc. This problem is
probably due to the lack of existing mine plans and sections for many of
the mines. Certainly the
information that exists of this nature tends to be piecemeal.  However
this only goes to prove the point that
there is still much research to be done at Linares. As a guide to the
mines and surface remains the book is
excellent and a must for all those interested in the Linares area. At a
price of approximately £20 it is certainly
value for money.

Rob Vernon





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