Page:A tour through the northern counties of England, and the borders of Scotland - Volume II.djvu/172

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salt-mines; of which there are many in the neigh- bourhood, two strata of this valuable mineral un- derlying it in every direction. Its discovery took place accidentally about one hundred and twenty years back, in a small estate contiguous to the town, belonging to a Mr. Marbury; the advanta- ges of it were not long exclusively his own, as further search was attended with like success in adjoining townships. Since this period, many mines have been worked and exhausted; but na- ture has provided such an unconsumable store of the article, as bids fair to answer the public demand as long as time shall last. Into one of the largest of these mines, belonging to Messrs. Kent and Nailor of Liverpool, about half a mile from the town, we descended, accompanied by a miner; placed in a large bucket, which being attached to a rope, is let down into the pit by the revolution of a windlass, whose action is rendered uniform by a steam-engine. This office is in general performed by a horse and large wheel, but the other method obviates the jerks, and inequality of motion, which the uncertainty of the animal's efforts occasions, and is therefore usually adopted here in preference. The shaft by which we descended is circular, en- larging in a very small proportion in capacity as it penetrates further into the bowels of the earth; its

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