Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-10-30
Slate Quarries of Wales and
How They Are Worked.
BELONG TO LORD PENRHYN
Proud, Pompous and Wealthy Owner
Pays Poor Wages.
IRISH MATHEMATICS PERPLEx:
Birthplace Of the Tudor Dynasty,
Home Of Llewellyn and Other
Famous Places.
BY WILLIAM r. CURTIS.

BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence Of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.
| BANGOR, October %. 1908.
| The slate quarries Of north Wales are
a rare treasure for any country to pos
sess. They are more reliable than gold
mines. more profitable than coal or iron,
and their limit has never been found.
| They lie in the mountain sides, which
are being slowly terraced by thousands
of busy men, who blast out great masses
of slate. split them into thin slices, load
them upon small railway trucks and run
them down gravity railways to the docks
on the several bays along the coast. The
Welsh quarryman is solid sample of
human nature. serious, plain spoken,
thrifty. honest, Industrious, a shouting
Methodist or Presbyterian or deep-water
Baptist. whose theological views and
politics could not be dislodged by the
dynamite he uses to dislodge the slate
He knows his Bible End the doctrinal
i points of his creed as well as he knows
his tools. and Is always ready to use
either. as the situation may require.
There are 10000 such citizens In this
vicinity. distributed into towns and viii
lagos that surround the quarries. The
number of church spires indicates the
character of the community.
How They Quarry Slate!
| The Penrhyn quarry at Bethesda is the
largest in the world. 1t produces about
500 tons of slate per day and employs
about 1000 quarrymen. A blast is set
off eight times a day, at twenty-five
minutes past the hour, and the quarry
| men work in gangs of four, associated
by their own choice. One Of them takes
the chunk of slate from the pile, another
carries 1t away, the third splits and the
| fourth trims and dresses it. Both split
| ting and trimming are difficult feats for
| an amateur. but a skilled hand can slice
| what looks like boulder into thin leaves
as easily as dairyman can cut cheese.
The trimmer is expected to practice the
greatest economy possible, and make the
best and largest piece of slate he can out
of the material passed down to him.
There are four standard Sizes which he
! measures accurately with his eyes. They
are classed as queens. duchesses, count
esses and ladies. Each size must be of
a certain thickness. which is also gagged
by the practiced eye of the trimmer. II
he has piece of slate large enough to
be queen but as thin as duchess, he
has to cut 1t down accordingly, and the
several ranks of the nobility are piled
up separately to be shipped away.
Pompous Owner and Poor Wages.
Lord Penrhyn, who owns the quarry, is
man of great wealth and considerable
ostentation. He has had good dea. of
trouble with his men. They strike quite
frequently. and in 1895 and 1896 there
was a long and bitter struggle over
wages. which are very small, judging by
our standard and vary from % to 80
shillings a week, according to the task.
1t does not seem possible to the Ameri-
can mind for man to support family
on such wages, but somehow or other
they do it here, and not only educate
their children, but save money.
The Right Honorable Lord Penrhyn
lives in a splendid new castle just outside
the town Of Bangor. which was originally
built by Rhodrick Moelwynog, a Welsh
prince who flourished about the year TO.
1t would be difficult to find more beauti-
full site or more imposing structure. 1t
is an imitation of the early Norman style
of architecture and is built of pure white
marble, with lofty towers. From the
top of the towers may be seen some of
the most charming scenery in all the
kingdom. and the park is a model of
landscape gardening and scientific for
estry. A tourist has to pay shillings to
see It, and 1t is worth the money.
The castle is almost entirely modern
The original was partially destroyed by
Llewellyn the Great, who confiscated it
and bestowed the estate upon one of his
loyal followers Gruffydd ap Heilyn ap
Syr Tudor ap Ednyfed Fychan. the found
er of the Griffith family, which flourshed
here for many centuries and took an act
i've part in Welsh affairs Piers Gruffydd,
or Griffith, who lived here at the time of
Queen Elizabeth. distinguished himself by
equtpping and commanding vessel in the
fight with the Spanish armada. He was
estate passing out of his hands and
through several families until it finally
became the property of John Pennant.
Remarkable Lord Penrhyn.
His son was elevated to the peerage as
Lord Penrhyn, and rebuilt the castle in it's
present form, developed the slate quar-
ries, built model village for his tenants
just outside the gate. made new roads
through the county, repaired and rebuilt
all the farmhouses and the miners cot
tages, constructed the railway and the
docks and brought the town of Bangor
unprecedented prosperity. The first Lord
remarkable for his foresight as we'll as
his enterprise, and his posterity are en-
joying the fruits of his wisdom.
The most interesting relic in the castle
is beautiful specimen of the hirlas. or
ancient drinking cup. made from the horn
of an OK. ornamented with eXquisitely
chased silver and a chain of the same
metal by which 1t was suspended from
the owners neck 1t was the custom in
ancient times when the lord of castle
gave banquet to his retainers to pass
this horn around. and after each knight
had drained it of wine he blew a rousing
blast to show that 1t was empty.
Dodges the Mathematician.
The Penrhyn estate is surrounded by a
wall thirteen feet high and seven miles
in circuit / will not venture to state the
number of acres, lest some mathemati-
clan figures out that 1 am wrong. When
| was writing about the Duke of Lien
ster's park in Ireland l gave the length Of
the wall as 1t was told to me and the
number of acres it incloses, whereupon
some friendly mathematician proceeded
to demonstrate that it would require a
wall twice as long to encircle so large an
acreage. l gave the figures as they were
given to me by my Irish friends. and can
only suggest by way of explanation that
my critic does not realize the length of
an Irish mile, which differs according to
the locality you are in and the people you
are talking with. Some Irish miles have
no end. When 1 inquired the cause OF
that phenomenon a young woman who
teaches the lace school at Killarney ex-
planned that 1t was due to the generous
nature of the Irish race.