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Coal entrepreneurs such as Burslem, Boultbee and Raper and Fenton
spent money to develop their mines to more modern standards with
a view to being able to exploit the bulk carrying capacity of the
canal. Amid great hopes for future employment and prosperity a boat
carrying 10 tons of coal from Burslem's mines delivered its load
to Loughborough, which was then transferred onto another boat to
be carried to Leicester in October 1794. The operation proved expensive
however requiring three transshipments from wagon to boat, boat
to wagon, and then wagon to boat. Problems were also encountered
in building a reservoir dam at Blackbrook and this eventually burst
on February 20 1799 "like a clap of thunder" and the reservoir emptied
itself in 11 minutes, inundating the land as far as Dishley on the
River Soar and destroying all obstacles in its path. The proprietors
were required to compensate for damage and rebuild the dam. However
the coalmine owners had had enough of the problem and either sold
or closed their mines, even though the canal was open for use again
by 1801. In 1804 the reservoir was emptied and the dam dismantled.
The line of the horse-drawn tramroad, through cuttings and on embankments,
to Raper and Fenton's mine on Limby Hall Lane can still be traced
from Thringstone Bridge, and parts of the tramroad to Boultbee's
and Burslem's mines can be detected.
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