Mexborough and Swinton Times August 14, 1896
Good News From Cadeby Main Colliery
The Barnsley Bed Reached at Last
For nearly a couple of years the Cadeby Main Colliery has been something of a mystery, and the question as to whether it would ultimately prove a valuable property or merely a white elephant on the hands of the shareholders has exercised the minds of many in the South Yorkshire district.
Rumours have filled the air telling of disappointment upon disappointment which the management of the company had had to put up with, and of difficulties untold with which the skill and ingenuity of the engineers at work below the surface had had to contend, and everyone who passed the colliery premises wondered vainly why the huge headgear of the main shaft stood still longer unused, and surmised vaguely that something was wrong. T
Time flew by and the big wheels over No. 1 shaft began to revolve and yet the rumour had it that so far the purpose for which the colliery had been sunk was maintained, and the enormous expenditure entailed by the construction of the shafts had failed to bring the company any adequate return. How far these rumours were true or false the public had no means of judging, but the truth has been told at last. It was communicated by Mr. W. H. Chambers, the manager of the Denaby and Cadeby colliery’s, Ltd., to a representative of their “Mexborough and Swinton Times” in a special interview which he had with the gentleman on Monday.
Mr Chambers informed our representatives that shareholders in the Denaby and Cadeby Main Collieries limited, would be delighted to hear that there management have at last succeeded in triumphing over the peculiar natural obstacles presented below the surface at the new colliery at Cadeby, and have reached an exceedingly fine bed of the Barnsley seam, some 700 yards from the bottom of their shaft. When the shaft was sunk, some three or four years ago, it was found to have been carried into the great Don fault, running between Denaby and Cadeby, the centre which had not then been proved, and the existence of which so far east of Denaby, was not expected. After the enormous difficulties which had been encountered in sinking the shaft, owing principally to water, this was of course a severe disappointment to the company.
However, about 18 months ago it was determined to run a drift through the fault in search of the Barnsley seam, which disappeared in the throw at that point. The drift was commenced in a north-westerly direction, with the gradients of one in six, until about 200 yards from the shaft, and at an elevation of 65 yards above the Barnsley bed and the Denaby side, the Swallow Wood bed of coal was discovered. From here a branch drift in a more northerly direction was commenced, the gradient being increased to 1 in 2 ½, and on July 29th last the way men engaged in the drift came through the fault, upon a good bed of clean coal and of full thickness, about 9’6” and lying fully 121 yards above the Denaby bed of the Barnsley seam. It is proposed to work this immediately by means of the branch drift, but in the meantime the original drift, at a gradient of one in six, will be carried forward until it reaches the coal.
Mr W. H. Chambers, the manager of the company, informed the representative of the “Mexborough and Swinton Times” that he anticipates that all the coal required at present can be brought to the pit bottom by means of this deeper gradient, until the easier gradient is available. In the course of the week or two the hydraulic machinery on the surface and below will be completed, the Cadeby Main Colliery will then be in a fair way to become the greatest colliery undertaking in Yorkshire. We have the managers invitation, when the machinery is complete, to accompany him upon a tour of inspection at the colliery, above and below ground, and our readers will then have the benefit of our description of this unique undertaking.
The development of the colliery will be pushed forward, and when the second drift is completed Mr Chambers is sanguine that a record output will be secured. The company are making extensive arrangements on the surface to cope with the requirements, and have recently completed arrangements for the acquisition of additional land on which to erect a further row of coke ovens. and is, there are already nearly a quarter of a mile of coke furnaces, of the beehive pattern, which yield 60%, of coke, for which the company find a ready market.