I believe the problem with Victoria level may have been because they
followed the base of the main lime and so the rise in the level refelcts the
rise in the beds. However as i am reliing on second hand information albeit
from a mining engineer i cannot confirm this.
As to the comments about the connection between Bunting and Hard level, i
have to agree with Mike it was not an error. The agents notebooks indicate
that the connection on the Old Rake vein was equiped with a pair of "metal
hoppers". I would suggest that this referes to hoppers for metal not hoppers
made of metal. So this would indicate that the hoppers served as a
collection point for ore from the west side of the Old Gang Mine complex
which could then be trammed out of Hard level to the dressing floor and
smeltmill. One question that this raises is why use the term "metal hopper",
does this suggest that it was dressed material trammed in from the Bunting
dressing floor that was tipped down the hoppers? This dressing floor apears
to have worked throughout the 19th century and the easiest way to transport
dressed ore to the companies smelt mill would have been through the mine.
The question of how well the surveyors and engineers knew the local geology
is an interesting one. Boring rods had been used during the 1680s when they
were used to drain a shaft and to provide air. It seems hard to imagine that
they were not also used to prove the position of the bearing beds and
possibly the position of the veins.
Martin Roe
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