Series 4 > Scottish industrial history

SCOTTISH INDUSTRIAL HISTORY
country. (Mineral waters or healing wells they have in several
places, as at New Aberdeen and two miles from Perth,1 which are
said to be very good, and are in use every year; at Kinghome
opposite Lith is a mineral spring, etc.)
As for metals proper, it is clear that until now very little has been
done in Scottland. But four or five years ago, a silver-mine was
discovered at Alva (of which more below)2; it was fairly rich, and
the work was richly rewarded, so that it then caused a great stir
in the country, and awoke the desires of several who thought they
had some metal on their land to try their own luck. As a result,
copper veins in particular have recently been discovered at many
places, as I shall mention below, with the date and place of each,
and its possibilities. Time must show how these will turn out and
succeed, but I cannot forbear to mention that there are few which
are thought to hold any promise, and I have been told that some
years ago the Scots were just as enthusiastic for discovering mines
as they are now, but that after four or five years the urge was
suddenly lost, either because they did not in that time make the
expected profits, or because they had no encouragement from the
public.3 And for several reasons I cannot but believe that though
these new attempts prove there must be metals hidden in certain
places, little can be expected from them, considering the ignorance
of the people in such matters, the scarcity of money in Scottland,
and of fortune among people who might wish to be enterprising in
this way, as well as the small encouragement that the English
government gives for improving Scottland. Moreover, seeing that
trade with Sweden and the Baltic has now become more secure and
free, and that in England copper works are coming more and more
into operation, they must find it too inconvenient to develop such
works in Scotland, especially as consumption within the country is
nothing, and manufactories are unknown.
In former times, iron works also appear to have been in operation
1 I.e. Pitkeathly ‘medicine well’ near the Bridge of Earn.
2 See p. 38 below.
3 R. W. Cochran-Patrick, Early Records of Mining in Scotland (Edinburgh, 1878)
(henceforth cited as Cochran-Patrick, Early Records of Mining), demonstrates that
there were bursts of prospecting activity on several occasions in the sixteenth century,
and in the period 1603-1616. There also seems to have been a revival of interest in
the years just before and after 1680.