MINE, Ax excavation made either in the rock, strata, or in the earth which generally covers the rock, of which there are three distinct kinds, viz.
Ipt, A mine employed in the art of war, particularly in sieges.
2d, A mine made for the working of veins, containing the ores of metals; which veins are generally in a po sition nearly vertical.
3d, A mine for the working of such minerals as ge nerally lie in beds, having a moderate angle of inclina tion with the horizon, such as a coal-mine, an ironstone mine, or limestone mine, The first kind or mine will be found described in the article FORTIFICATION.
The second kind will be described under the article VEIN.• The third kind, in particular the working of coal mines, will be now described.
Although mineral coal is found abundantly in various quarters of the globe, as noticed under the article COAL, it is admitted that the most valuable fields of it are found in Great Britain, and have been wrought to a much greater extent there than in any other part of the world.
As nothing but pit-coal is used as fuel for domestic purposes in Britain, excepting in a few of the inland districts, where a small quantity of wood and turf are substituted ; and as all the numerous and extensive iron-works, with the innumerable steam-engines and manufactories, depend entirely upon a regular supply of coal. at a moderate price, the working of the coal-fields, in a systematic and economical manner, has been much studied, and brought to greater perfection in Britain than in any other country.
Coal, as an inflammable substance, appears to have been known to the ancients, and to the Britons, before the Romans visited this island, it being found so fre quently in ravines and beds of rivers, of a colour and texture so decidedly different from the strata which in general accompany it ; but as, at that period, and for centuries afterwards, the country was covered with im mense forests, which supplied abundance of fuel for every purpose of life, there was no necessity for using coal as fuel.
The working of coal, therefore, only became an ob ject of attention as population and civilization advanced, when agriculture began to be studied, the woods cleared away, and the arts of civil life cultivated ; accordingly we find, that the working of coal in Britain, as an arti cle of commerce, is comparatively of modern date, and appears to have commenced about the end of the 12th century. The first charter, giving liberty to the town of
Newcastle-upon-Tyne to dig coal, was granted by Henry Ill. anno 1239 ; it was then denominated Sea-coal, on account of its ht ing shipped for places at a distance. In the year 1281, the Newcastle coal-trade had become so extensive and important that laws were enacted for its regulation.
In Scotland, coals began to be wrought much about the same time; and a charter was granted in the year 1291, in favour of the abbot and convent of Dunferm line in the county of Fife, giving the right of digging coals in the lands of Pittencrief, adjoining the convent. From this period the working of coal gradually increas ed, though on a very limited scale, until the beginning of the last century, when the steam-engine was brought forward by Newcomen in the year 1705, and was ap plied to collieries in the vicinity of Newcastle about the year 1715. This machine produced a new era in the mining concerns of Great Britain, and, as it were in an instant, put every coal-field within the grasp of its owner. Collieries were opened in every quarter ; and the coal trade rapidly extended to an astonishing scale. This extension of the trade was greatly aided by the genius of the late James Watt, Esq. of Glasgow, whose pridosophic mind made the most brilliant discoveries, and so very much improved the principles and power of the steam-engine, as to render it one of the most complete and must useful pieces of mechanism. To Newcomer] and Watt the milling interest of Great Bri tain is highly indebted ; to the latter, the empire owes its great rise and improvement as a manufacturing country.