At the time of writing, aged 82 years, CRH describes how he encountered the lead mines in the Conwy Valley, in the course of a holiday at Llandudno in June, 1905. Having seen men working by hand, he felt sure he could work more profitably by using compressed air drills; accordingly he negotiated a 3 year Take Note on Parc, Llanrwst and Gorlan setts with Mr. MacIntyre, of the Gwydyr Estate Office, to extract Galena and zinc blende. Describes the machinery he installed, the nature of ore mined and costs of labour up to, during and after the First World War. Also refers to Trecastell Mine and its Manager, Capt. Owen Evans. After a few weeks initial and unsatisfactory work, CRH received a letter from the local Council giving notice that since mining operations would involve extraordinary traffic on the road, he would be held liable for repairing them. Upon this he immediately terminated all operations and laid off the workmen, informing the Council that he proposed to transfer his attentions to some of the other 1000 derelict mines in Great Britain, where the roads were in a less 'delicate state of health'. This resulted in an apologetic visit by some council officials, but Parc remained closed whilst CRH attempted to find a way of improving his drilling system. Eventually he designed his own machine, which was capable of penetrating 4" rock per minute, and these were used throughout his time at the mine. Describes constructing a magazine for dynamite and gelignite storage. Refers to the difficulty in finding a suitable mine manager. Describes the construction of Parc Villa at a cost of £440 in about 1908; refers to construction work carried out on a Sunday provoking an extreme response from the Minister of the local chapel. In 1909 he acquired a Foden steam lorry for £175, which in addition to using for the mine haulage, he hired out for timber transportation. Describes a narrow escape for a herd of cows with the Foden.
During the course of the First World War, the Ministry of Munitions took over the mining of iron pyrites at Trefriw, which are high in sulphur. The work was exceedingly slow and the installation was only just completed by the time the war finished, so the plant and machinery was sold off as scrap. Also during WWI, there was a desperate need for increased lead production and CRH was loaned £1,200 in order to develop the mine. Substantial quantities of lead were found in the principle lode but very little in the west drive.
Talks about the ongoing problem in finding good workers. The best, he says, were young farm workers who had never been in a mine before but learned rapidly. The worst of all came from the Blaenau Ffestiniog quarries. Describes his process of selling galena to the smelters. Refers to a person called Dawson (who had a strange growth on his skull) who enquired about buying the mine. In 1917 CRH leased Gorlan and Llanrwst mines for £1,500 to a mining engineer who was acting on behalf of a merchant in London. It rapidly became clear to CRH that some confidence trick was being played against the principle and he describes how he was begged to pay off the miners and cease operations. As a result the mining engineer took out a lawsuit against him and that this was reported in the 'North Wales Weekly News'.
Refers to Aberllyn mine, which operated an oil flotation process with varied results. Pandora mine was leased by a London stockbroker called A.T. Salisbury-Jones in c.1920. Describes the intermittent workings at Pandora including an idea to introduce the oil flotation process there in the mistaken belief that there was 100,000 tons of ore waiting to be extracted. Froggatt was the mining engineer for Pandora at the time.
Gives a brief description of market day in Llanrwst and drinking in the 'King's Head' before riding home to Parc Villa. In 1927, the year when a total eclipse of the sun was due to occur, a Saturday evening drink led to CRH leaping to a potentially embarrassing conclusion about the motives of a pair of young men who called at Parc, looking for accommodation for 30 boys from the school where they taught in Stratford upon Avon, so that they could see the eclipse. After a prolonged story recounting CRH's misunderstanding, the visit went off successfully, with the boys being lodged in a haybarn.
In 1929 George Froggatt, the son of Frogatt who had been manager of the Pandora was killed in an accident in Parc's gas engine shed. His father took out a suit against CRH and the trial was held in Llanrwst Police Court, where the judge found for CRH.
Refers to seeing films in the cinema in Watling Street, Llanrwst, and to being 'eaten alive by the myriads of ravenous fleas which infested the place'.
Tells a long story about a man called Joseph Aspinall, who arrived in the neighbourhood in 1917. JA took a Take Note on land north of Parc Mine, extending to the end of Llyn Geirionydd, and set men to work on cleaning out all the loose dirt from the 2 tunnels on his site. He called at Parc, saying that he was the largest mine owner and operator in Britain, and offered to buy CRH's galena concentrates at 50% above ordinary market price, as the lead ores in the Conwy Valley contained a rare and valuable ingredient, known only to himself. CRH concluded he was both a liar and a lunatic, and told him all his concentrates were under contract with the smelter. JA then offered to buy CRH's waste dump for £350, claiming that it also contained the mysterious secret ingredient. Suspecting that what JA actually wanted was his galena dump, CRH made sure that he prepared a bill of sale, which clearly marked the location of the waste dump. JA was dismayed by this but, to CRH's surprise, did hand over a cheque for £50 as a down payment, but neither removed any of the minerals or paid the outstanding £300. Later, 20 tons of lead concentrates arrived at the railway station from Cornwall, for the 'Crafnant & Devon Mining Syndicate Ltd', (JA's co.). CRH comments that this was 'an odd route for lead concentrates to take on their way to the markets of the world.' As he recounts, 'the plot thickened' when the interiors of the tunnels were squirted with a sticky substance, which was dusted with lead concentrates so that the tunnels glistened like Aladdin's cave. Men were recruited, but appeared to have nothing to do apart from appear busy when JA arrived with groups of visitors. Many of these were Asians, sons of wealthy families sent to London to be educated. JA had rented an estate near Conwy where he kept racehorses, and maintained a luxurious yacht on the bay, where he brought his visitors. According to CRH, JA was claiming that he had located a seam of silver, which was 2 miles thick.
On a visit to London, CRH decided to visit the headquarters of the 'Crafnant and Devon Mining Syndicate Ltd,' where he had an interesting conversation with JA's private secretary, posing as a wealthy Australian prospective investor. He also called at Somerset House where he discovered that the company had an authorised capital of £100 and a paid up capital of £2. On the journey home, waiting for a train at [Llandudno] Junction, CRH saw a newspaper with an article revealing that there was a huge deposit of pure virgin silver ion the Welsh mountains, which was now about to be mined 'for the purpose of assisting the Government to finance the war.'
CRH wrote to Scotland Yard, telling them all he had witnessed and discovered, and within a few days a detective arrived to see for himself. The outcome was that JA was found guilty of fraud at the Old Bailey and sentenced to 4 year's imprisonment. After release he went to France and attempted a similar operation, which was also discovered, with JA being given 5 years.
CRH concludes this lengthy and entertaining letter by saying that he stopped mining in 1929 when the Depression struck, and the price of pig lead fell to £9 per ton. Nevertheless, he hung on to Parc until 1936, when it was sold to the Kenya Co., who had 'more optimism than experience in lead mining.' He finishes by wishing Mr. Gray better luck with the mine.