ABSTRACT
In the early sixties, indeed, more than half the coal mined in South Staffordshire was used in the local blast-furnaces, forges and mills—a fact which emphasizes how intimately the fortunes of the coal and iron trades were linked at this time. It was estimated in 1866 that the Black Country's output of ironstone amounted at that time to only about half of the total consumption in the locality. Since the proportion of locally produced raw materials was declining as compared with that brought from elsewhere, the transport question was becoming more and more intimately connected with the maintenance of the district's importance as an iron centre. A description of the economic structure of the area would be incomplete if no account were taken of the type of machinery and of power which were employed there; and so an attempt will now be made to deal in a general way with the mechanical equipment of the local industries.
