THE ENNERGLYN BROWN COAL.

Colonist, Volume XXXIV, Issue 6067, 23 March 1891, Page 5

THE ENNERGLYN BROWN COAL.

Fob the la&t month or more Mr Edward Thomas, who has bean acousiomad to mining for very mauy jears, baa been engaged in prospecting in the neighborhood of Enuerglyn for a continuation of the brown ooal depoßits formerly mined by the lato Mr Jenkins on hia estate known as Ennerglyn. MaDy years ago Mr Jeukins opened up a coal mine on his property and .three shaftwere put in, it being stated that tbe quantity of ooal got out of the mipe was about 20C0 tons, but eventually work waa otaßed, apparently. on account of the seam 3 worked running put to the surface, and in face of other ,poal discoveries there was probably no great enoouragement to expend very mucti i,n . prospecting. At the prtßßnt time tht surface from under which coal was taten by Mr|JJenkinß has fallen in aoj that the old

workings are obliterated, and . any further operations will need to be commenced from a new point. At the request of Mr Thomas a representative of this paper has visited the locality, and he reports as f r-llows : Passing Mr O'Briens woo'shed, and takicg an easterly direction, I ascended a Email valley till retiohing a spar from the lof y hil? beyond, whiota spur has an spp&arance as though it had intruded within tha email valley leaving little more than gulliea on either side of it. It was on the first brow of

'his spur that tbe driven were pnfc in wbioh tapped the coal deposit, and not more ihan, 3'iy 30 feet, ab ye these tho spar fla'tened out for some little distiwea in EOinawhat the form of a table land, and in more than one

r-lace after rising pretty sfez-piy there are small flats on ihe s; ux tiil it approaches the bi^ hiil, and u-.> that portion of it & z gzp.g track lias been cut to some bush. From the scare rf the o'd workings one looks in a we-terly direction ovi r the neighboroooJ of Annesbrook acrrss thi wata-3 of Tasma?-: Ba? to Hi" wesrern r j m,'ey, aul on either sido is n ranov gull- hh a'vcaiy d-s rib^ri. After viewing th«. scens of t : ia o ! d worl; itite, Mr Thomas led t>ia way rein 1 Uie spur by way of the vaHey on thu nortii^riy s\df, >h <t ncarvßt NrJsoD, ?nd on reaching -i j r>o*; just br-Tond the !iae wb^rci the old workin 'a ended w-! iiirivoi a" an old driw, whkli Mr I'homaa Ln? e'ear-fi cue FnN drive, li<informed me, win in 1 *>0 feet, parsing t.l!ivue,b j a co'ipl-im-'iet^ for 130 feet of th<u di 9 ancr. Th^ iirive hid ffUleu ii at thn-euil, bat on r*-

:<icvl a some of t'-<i- stuff .Mr Thomas info me! me 'hat he fo "d some c nl with it, and fr?m (his he concluded that ;he c^a ; ■■.•>i3

-love the cingiomeratH, und that therefo-e 'he drive v.aa at too low a leval to :urike ihf deposit F?oin this ■-< n 'lus'.on aad guided by the Jinding f the pitc\-! of co?.! he rr.n a line in r-r 4 easterly dirriiio;: to -.v-n-s rh;' spur is cut nuo by a w^t,. r worn g' l '}'. tvl hf-ro st'ir.ed culling :i ; rt-riijb into tho si '.■: ■.:■' ?»a

cpur itt tne pMir w

<-re h ■■ iina.'in

sbould be. Wo then walk d :nii>><i in ii guily, th-.it I might 3ee wbat h>:<] h en done, in i I found that clise to tha w.-Ur-r d ursj "m a ;rfHca bad been ont do •; n, wi h the r^uH i t lije prospectors judgment was proved to 3 g)cd. '!'};a face - xnosdd vva3 only a f.w :oe:in df'th, ani abuut five fjet below the : rface the coal stata was vis':bl a . This tr;it& corsists of puggy clsy with thin bands of br >wn coal, and though of no va'ue in itself is a promising indieatio'i. Above th;' b aok pug and clay is a greenish clay, h-raen ing into arenic iiu rcok, ft' ove which in band of o -tnenfc, eich of the layers bring only a fey/ inches in t'lic'^n- ss. The coil st.a.a f.ppf a-s to dip in « southerly dir.-cti-jn at an • tiglo if f.b.;iit fivi in ! !i. and is consequently i/oirg into the hill. So" 'far as I c uld judoH. however, t ! ':e indications at this pom 1 ; Osun-jt i.c followed far wi houfc some difficulty aa the wrUt com'ng down the quUr ! l'ude.l to will have to be dd.-.of,l f , with. From ihia point Mr Thomas led ni3?nme 2^o higher up th?, j-,n 1} to a place about 80 t\et in rsiiituda above when? he found iho cod s.r.-ta, and fh',ra he h:»d cut a iren:h in the -Us of the spur to p.scertiiu tbe nature of i!i- r< ck. i he woik dono hsre sh-.iws jm irjdr.r ;ted cay rovk of browni h colo^, which. ko far as I cou v see appoire.t io I>b i>i audi«inrbed coumry. If tbe s Hi country ha^ bren i'e-'.ci;cd heci ther.j are nc s-iiVi I : i e :i of a s.-.m of coal exiting wklious seri p U3 f.-ult, and fivm tha ind'ca ious obtained be'ov it would seem worth while -n f-irther prospco 1 . To do th 9 it would appear from a e r i?uil v'ew fr ?m tho v;p of the sy:r tijat no grtnK outlay nf; j .d be exDendtd for to the easn and n3:t ■:-

e.»sfc of where the best indications a~e tv;o or three ricL.es e\i-t wit.h narrow •ie 3 between. Th^ t-iking of ca?uful ltiVel^ should show whero, if a coal seam ext-t j , io is iikeiy to bo met with, uni the forces of nature have combined to render the work of p o-p.cting eoinparativeiy ligh f , i'bire are iodictiona of the existr-iic-. of c irai"ar 00-l io that obtained by Mr Jenkins' al bis mine over a rojgidar^ble disiauno in the neii'hb JurhooJ referred to, deposits exisi; irrg ab Eiohuiond, and a FiniiUr stra'.a runs through tbe Anneabro^k estate, sod alo g the hill*, where it miy be seeu in the gillies to n^r tbe Arrow rock. We understand that Mr Thomas h&i promises of assistance in tearing ihe Co3t of proep. cting, the owner of the Ennerglyn estate having promised very favornb'e arrangarnents, and the sucee33 of tbe interprise would undoubtedly bo h&i'e3 with satisfaction. It will b 3 remembered by old i' colonists that Mr Jenkins' mine was visited by the celebrated Dr Hochetetter in 1559 who ii a lecture delivered in Nelson in September of that .year, and reported in this papsr, said ns follows :—" On the en,stem side, near Nelson, the marine strata of the tertiary formation form th« cliffs fom Green's poiat to tbe WaiineaPhins, and in a line between tbe town and village of Kicbmond the brown 00-nl foruia ion ex tends, opened at Mr J. nkins' coal mine. The first exeutsion, which I made after visiting Nelson, was by tbe cliffs to this coal mine, und it was with great surprise th.»t I saw ihe extraordinary disturbances which miict have taken pact) in the sirauficatiou. The dip of the strata is towards the eaßi at an angle of about 60 degree?. As it is genlogieal'y impossible that a newer tertiary ttraturn can underlie the older slate formations of the ranges, it follows that the strata about Mr Jenkins' coalmine, by an hrmense force from the eastward, must have been completely turned over, and in the mine its-elf there U abundant proof of this The strata there shows unmistake*b'e evideeces th.it they jjhave b9en ruV.bed and pressed together. Under th'.sa cirounistancei it ia v^ry doubtful whether a mine in that particular place could be successfully worked. To Mr Jenkins the peopla of Nelson are indebted for proving to them t ha* they have coal in the immediate vioinity of the town, and I think it not impro&nble that in the same line of stratification between Nelson and Richmond, a place may be found where, perhaps at a greater depth, the Goal seams lie ia their natural position, and workings may b 8 carried on with success."