Page:Japan by the Japanese (1904).djvu/493

The Ashio Copper-mine is situated in the province of Shimotsuke, close to Nikko; its exact position is latitude 36° 30′ north and longitude 0° 20′ west. The highest part of the mine is 4,400 feet above the sea-level. The office of the mine, even, which is situated in a valley, lies as high as 2,580 feet above the sea-level. It was in A.D. 1610 that the existence of copper here was first discovered, and from the year following the Tokugawa Shogunate undertook the work as a source of revenue. The copper used in the magnificent temples of Shiba, Uyeno and Nikko was all supplied from this mine. In Yedo (the present Tokyo), Osaka, and Nagasaki, depots were established for selling the copper produced. The amount of copper produced in those days is difficult to ascertain, but one-fifth of the amount sold in those depots is said to have been bought by the Dutch and exported. The work of the mine has not been free from vicissitudes, but its richness is so great that even to-day its possibilities cannot be adequately estimated, and the mine still continues to be a most promising and paying concern.

At the commencement of the New Era (the Restoration period), 1867–68, the mine, then under the control of the Nikko Prefecture, encountered its greatest adversity, and the enterprise was far from prosperous. In 1871 the work was transferred from the Government to private undertakings, but this only resulted in an increase in the amount of production of some 25 or 26 tons a year.

In 1877, however, the work began to show signs of improvement owing to the joint efforts of Messrs. Ichiu Furukawa, Eiichi Shibusawa (now Baron), and Naomichi Shiga; later the last two gentlemen transferred their interests to Mr. Furukawa, who thus became the sole owner of the mine.

The mine having been worked for so many years, there are many old levels, but they have been completely abandoned as a result of the introduction of improved methods of working. The present levels are those of Honzan, Ariki, Kotaki, and Tsudo. Their total length is 149,973 feet, and all are connected by shafts and wings. The length of the vertical shafts is 12,269 feet.

The present works in the mine being above the lowest water-level of the mountains, the lodes are worked mainly by the driven levels, and the vertical shafts are sunk where communication between the levels, transportation, or ventilation, makes them necessary. There is no necessity for furnishing power for pumping and winding, which is so great a feature in mines below the water-level, which is a great advantage in the working of the mine.

The underground working faces upon which work is now