Hochstetter's Visit

By the end of February 1859 the company had exhausted its capital and Sir David Monro, a shareholder, wrote on the 9 March 1859 that "both the shafts that had been sunk are in such a place to miss the seams" and prophetically remarked that the stratification did not seem continuous. Also the quality was inferior to that obtained earlier and had proved unsuitable when used in the Tasmanian Maid. With the Austrian geologist Ferdinand von Hochstetter due to visit Nelson, the company, a fortnight later, resolved to suspend all operations and get Hochstetter's opinion. As this would have left the mine idle for three months some shareholders tried to raise a further £35 to find the seam from which coal, to the value of £42 10s 4d, had been sold to the White Swan. However this was unsuccessful and during the winter of 1859 Jenkins began mining operations again and, starting page 7on 26 May, was advertising coal at £2 per ton delivered or £ 1 10s per ton at the works. Broad, in his Jubilee History of Nelson, wrote that "good household fuel was sent into town at the rate of two tons a day and found a ready sale". How long Jenkins continued mining is uncertain but he was still advertising coal early in 1860. However by 1875 the geologist Alexander McKay found that the mine at Enner Glynn had fallen in.

Hochstetter, who was commissioned by the Nelson Provincial Government to assess the geology and in particular the mineral wealth of the province, made a detailed examination of the mine and its environs in early August. He noted in a 252ft drive put in by Jenkins several seams, 3 to 6ft thick, that dipped steeply (50 to 60°) into the hill (i.e. towards the southeast). He reasoned that as the coal measures were apparently overlain by older rocks to the southeast they were in fact overturned and had been subjected to considerable tectonic pressures. Hochstetter incorrectly described it as a brown, rather than bituminous, coal. No doubt due to the weathered nature of the coal close to the surface. This was also a mistake that was to be repeated several times by geologists such as McKay, J. M. Bell and others.

Today the remains of the mine can still be seen although most of the workings have been bulldozed over to allow pasture establishment. However, pieces of coal are widespread in the soil. Several exploratory drives that penetrate the Port Hills Gravel and which were probably put in much later than Jenkins day, are still in good repair. It appears from the reports of Wrey and Marsden that the coal measures in this locality had collapsed from higher up on Jenkins Hill and thus the shaft had bottomed in the Port Hills Gravel which normally overlies the coal measures.