The control and elimination of silicosis in the west coast haematite iron ore industry.

Introduction The history of haematite iron ore mining in the Cumberland and Furness districts has been excellently described by Kendall (1893), and from a summary of this and works by Smith (1924), the following brief facts have been taken. The date of the first working of haematite in Cumberland and Furness is uncertain, but the exposed veins in the Lake District must have been known long before the concealed bodies were discovered. The Furness ore appears to have been known to the ancient Britons, for, some time ago, polished celts w6re found in old workings at Stainton. That the Romans worked iron ore in Cumberland and Furness is probable. Numerous heaps of cinders found in Furness have been attributed to the Roman period, but some authorities attribute them to the Norsemen. The earliest account dealing with Cumberland is of mining at Bigrigg in 1179, and at this time a forge was set up, but it was not until the eighteenth century that ore was produced in any quantity, although constant mining was in progress until 1701 at Bigrigg, and even in 1694 the ore was being shipped via Whitehaven to the Forest of Dean. In 1816 mining was almost discontinued, but the Bigrigg mines were re-opened in 1825. From the accounts of Fell (1908), the monks dug their ore from trenches, but towards the end of the fourteenth century mining came into practice. Pumps were installed in 1721, and in 1840 a steam engine was used. The ordinary tools employed by the miner were the pick, the gad, and the spade, which even as late as the first half of the nineteenth century were wooden and shod with iron. The hammer and jumper method was the regulation method of drilling from early times until 1913. In 1913 the pneumatic drill, afterwards known as the dry drill type, was introduced, and was in universal use until about 1925, when the wet drill was first used at Florence Mines, and gradually came into