The Express.
London, England, 1853-09-08 00:00:00

IRE EXPRESS, THURSDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 8, 1853.

°PEW° OF A NEIV COAL FIELD IN
STAFFORDSHIRE.

CANNOCK, SIFT. 7.
A very important ceremony takes place here to.
I morrow—the formal upeni:.g of a Lew coal field
•
in this
locality. The event is interesting and worthy of uppers,.
notice, if it was only because of the feet that coal has bean
discovered to abound in large quantities over an immense
territory at a time when the commodity is scarce and dear—
d than it has been for many years, and because of the
peculiar circumstance of a region, hitherto believed to be
valueless as it was unproductive, turning into a mine not
merely of wealth but of utility. Cannock Chase, now dis-
covered to be a great coal field, is one of the peculiarities
of this island : anybody at all familiar with the old coach
road to Liverpool from the metropolis would be sure to
point to Cannock Chase as one of the most no*
iiteiNe things remembered of that journey ; from
Lichfield to Rugby, and far away to Stafford, miles and
miles of unfenced, bleak, dreary, desolate moor. Nothing
grew there: the crown held it. own, and the old chieftain,
the Marquis of Anglesey, held his own, and looked out
from his old castle in that dark region on the unproductive
waste. For Cannock Chase grew not even herbage enough
for a sheep-walk, and people of our day, inheriting the
opinion of those who have gone before them for many ages,
shunned Cannock for its unproductive, ungenial soil,
dreaming of its hidden wealth. Now it has been discovered
that all that cheerless d is one vast coal-field, em-
bracing within its bowels millions upon millions of tons of
coal, and the Marquis of Anglesey, the chief lord of the
soil, with his 85 years upon his head, comes here to-morrow
"to open with ceremony this new industrial hive."
The almost universal application of steam power, daily so
much on the increase, and requiring such a large supply of
coals, added to their increasing consumption for manufac-
turing and domestic purposes and the production of gas,
induces one to look upon the means of obtaining an econo-
mical and regular yield of that article as being second in
importance only to that of an ample supply of corn. Means
adopted for securing this necessary object become a matter
of interest to every member of the community. In the
recent reports and proceedings of the Birmingham Canal
and South Staffordshire Railway Companies considerable
importance has been attached to the colliery operations on
Cannock Chase. The Hammerwich Colliery bas been in
working several years, and has supplied its immediate
neighbourhood, and sent a large quantity of coals to Bir-
mingham by means of the canal, the results have been 'if
such a nature as to justify the advisers of the noble
marquis in recommending a large extension of mining
operations. During the last few months the " Cab' idge
Pits" have been sunk on the Chase, near the north west of
Norton Pool, in the midst of a coal bed of many thousand
sues. Engines and machinery, and workshops and houses
for engineers, smiths, and joiners, have been erected, and a
railway laid down communicating with the canal and join•
ing the South Stafforshire line, thus giving effect to the
efforts of science and labour in converting a broad waste
inhabited for centuries by wild animals fate a hive of in•
duilley and wealth.
Three measures of coal will be opened by the new pits
that to be first workedis five feet thick and lies 120 yards
from the surface. Though the, yield per acre does not
bear comparison with portions of the Smith Staffordshire
district, where the ten-yard coal is found, the workings
and machinery of the " Uxbridge " are so constructed as to
be capable of raising 500 tons per day. The whole has
been completed from the designs and under the
superintendence of J. T. Woodhouse, Seq., FDB.,
mining engineer, upon; the plane adopted by him
at the Moira Eitaveley, Babbington, and supported
hy Thomas Moira,
Esq., the agent to the estates.
The winding-eugine, of great power and peculiar
construction, comprises all proved advantages of economy
and efficiency in working. This stupendous machine,
a helms, is finished in the most minute and careful
manner, the connexions and working parts being polished
bright ; the buildings in which it is contained are fitted up
and furnished in a corresponding style, the whole being a
pattern of order and neatnees ; the heads of the establish-
ment taking into account that no means were so likely as a
good example at head-quarters te establish a system of
regularity and care among the subordinates and through-
out the establishment. The locomotive (appropriately
named the " Black Cock ") provided for conveying
the coals along the colliery railway to the canal
basin and public railway, is also an object of con-
siderable interest, built expressly for the short and quick
journeys it has to perform, the tender usually attached to
locomotives is dispensed with, the necessary supply of
water and coke being carried underneath and at the sides
of the boiler.

For the canal trade the trucks have rails across the floors,
the gauge corsisponding with the wheels of the pit wag-
gons. flu of theme, on arriving at the =nem are rolled
on to each truck. Ten or twelve of these form a train, to
be conveyed to the wharf, and the coals are discharged into
the boats. _

The trucks for the railway trade are of the ordinary eon-
@traction. The works have recently been visited by a de-
put.tion from the Canal Company, and by several gentle.
men engaged in mining operations, who have expressed
great utislaction with the perfect arrangements for carry-
ing out the undertaking on a gigantic scale.

DINNER TO SIR JOSEPH THACKIVELL, AT