After our last potter in the Letter Box area of the Smallcleugh
Cross Vein we found a sump, but with no SRT gear with us we had to leave it
until now (see
Smallcleugh
Old Fan Flats and The Letter Box).
This was going to be a quick trip
to see where the sump went to, we made our way into Smallcleugh and headed for
the Letter Box, and then the sump. We tied a sling around the rail tracks
across it and I abseiled down, about 3-4m down a level could be seen which
looked like it gained access into some flats, I passed this and in a few metres
more I was able to swing into an intersecting level running southeast to
northwest. Karli joined me at this point but he landed on the other side of the
level - a quick looked proved it to be totally blocked. My side of the level
was also blocked after 10m or so, but there was an ore shoot going up in very
good condition - however it looked like it was capped with timbers and deads,
we noted that the timbers where sagging so heads got retracted. There was a lot
of wooden debris in this level and dry rot. We spotted some tools and even a
tallow candle.
For the next part of the descent a deviation was needed
and thankfully there were two iron rungs driven into the wall of the sump that
we could use. Karli rigged it and descended down into a chamber - very quickly
he shouted up that he knew where this was - it was the chamber we had found
last year at the end of a sublevel with the rather dodgy stone walling! (see
the last picture in
Cross Vein,
Smallcleugh Mine Trip Report). Before descending in to it he had to do some
gardening as there was a lot of loose material. When I joined him he pointed
out a large slab of fallen roof purched on a crumbling wall - is was like
something out of Wile E Coyote. This was the long way round to getting to this
part of the sublevels. We proceeded to refresh ourselves with the lay of the
land.
From what we can gather the first level down the sump that was
blocked could coincide with the level we dropped down in the trip report above.
We could do with two teams here to see if contact could be made with sound on
the collapses, also could the second sublevel actually be Carr's? We only have
an estimate of the depth of it - some 20m, but this could be right especially
if the level rises deeper into the mine - any information would be appreciated
on this. The second sublevel gains access to some large flats below the
Smallcleugh Horse Level and it looks like the multiple passages here are in the
deads used to fill in the flat.
There are many ore shoots to still
explore in this area and it would be useful to try and carry out a survey to
link it all together - a full days work at some point. |