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SLATEd for work

Discovering The Rich Story Of Slate Mining In Wales

By Carl H. Larsen

Photo by Iain Robinson
n the shadows of Mount Snow- ripped open, with flat landings or at the end of the Ice Age valley…I
don, the highest peak in Wales, deep galleries carved into the jagged was confronted with the mighty slag
there’s a perplexing and disturb- rock face every few feet. At the base, heaps deposited by the Industrial
I ing aspect to the outstanding massive heaps of slag create a barren Age,” he wrote in a guide to Wales.
countryside that is so popular among landscape. The contrast is startling. Men toiled and died here in a quest
hikers, climbers and anglers.
Author Peter Sager was unprepared for a commodity that once was nearly
for the sudden change. “There I was, as important to Wales as were its rich
In some places, you can find a plun- fresh from the nature trail of Snow- deposits of coal. Here, in northwest
dered landscape. Mountainsides are
donia National Park, and suddenly, Wales, it was slate they were after.

84 Wine Dine & Travel Spring 2014