Accession Number

2019.008

Description

Burgundy, fabric covered book, "Colliery Management" by Johnathan Hyslop. Embossed boarder on the covers. Title and author printed in gold on the spine. 480 pages, with fold out illustrated plates at the end.

Narrative

The author dedicated this 1870 book to John Galloway, Esq. of the Barleith and Dollars Collieries then located near Kilmarnock, the Ayshire town where Robert and Joan Dunsmuir lived in 1850 when they decided to emigrate to Vancouver’s Island.

The book describes every aspect of colliery management, from the search for coal, surveying, the sinking and bracing of shafts, to conveying coal within the mine and up to the surface, ventilation, explosions and safety, the building and operation of colliery railways, and weigh scales. The operation of steam engines and other colliery infrastructure is described in considerable detail and presented in the book’s many fold-out illustrations. The economics of the coal business is explained as is the matter of miners’ housing.

This book is useful in the understanding of colliery management during the time that the Dunsmuir family’s business life was at its zenith. Its publication in 1870 came at the precise time that Robert Dunsmuir and sons James and Alexander began opening and operating the Wellington Colliery north of Nanaimo. The book also reveals the tremendous scope of mathematical and practical knowledge that a colliery manager required in the nineteenth century. These qualifications explain the hands-on approach that all of the senior Dunsmuir men took during their working lives. 

History of Use

This book was used by the donor’s grandfather, John William Bryden (1869-1953) who trained as a mining engineer in Freiburg Germany with his first cousin Robert William (aka Robin) Dunsmuir (1877-1925) in 1898. It was possibly acquired and used by his father, John Cowper Bryden (1848-1915) and/or his grandfather, Robert Dunsmuir (1825-1889).

Date

1870

Dimensions

22 x 14.5 x 4.5 cm

Material

Paper; Fabric, cotton