Memoirs of Thomas Yates
I was then moved to what we call a Day Eye, this is a drift mine and this was situated in a wood about a mile from Glenburn Colliery. It was 6ft clear coal and the drift was about 200 yards down and we had to haul the coal up the incline which was one yard in five of an incline. This was done by a stationary engine fixed at the top and worked by an electric motor and could pull four 7cwt trucks filled with coal to a siding at the top of the incline. These were then coupled up to make a train of 8 trucks which would then be taken by pony and his driver to the main pit head at Glenburn and put in wagons.
My chief trouble here was water from the surface which I had to keep under control. A Tangye pump was fitted up with three rams and worked by an endless rope from the surface, and worked with the same electric power as our haulage engine. I thoroughly enjoyed working here because the coal was easily got and of good quality and I had a contented number of men with me. My chief trouble, as I have said previously was water and I have had to go at the weekend to examine the water level which sometimes would have stopped the colliers working if it got too high but I always managed to keep it under control. We all did quite well here and got many a pat on the back by the management. I used to think to myself when I have gone down that drift to examine the workings before the men arrive to see if everything was safe, "what a wonderful place to work at, especially on a spring morning when everything was bursting into life". Just imagine a coal mine in a wood surrounded by all the beauty of nature. We extracted quite a lot of coal from this mine and in about nine months finished this seam of coal. It was called the Dalton Colliery.