SHALE WORK FOR SALE, EAST HERMAND, WEST CALDER,
To be SOLD by PUBLIC ROUP, within Dowell's Salerooms, 18 George Street, Edinburgh, on Wednesday, the 4th December next at Two o'clock Afternoon.
The SUB-LEASE of the MINERALS lying under the EASTERN PORTION of the LANDS of HERMAND, extending to about 250 acres or thereby, and belonging to the EAST HERMAND SHALE COMPANY, of which 25 years are still to run, with the whole Works, Plant, and Machinery belonging to the Company. The Works, which have been erected within the last five years, at a cost of nearly £20,000 are upon the most approved principle, and are fully equipped with all the necessary apparatus for the manufacture of Crude Oil and Sulphate of Ammonia. They embrace –
- 231 Horizontal Retorts, divided into 9 benches of which 7 are under cover.
- 2 Shale Mines, close to the Works with 3 Engines and Pumping and Winding Machinery complete.
- 4 Store Tanks for Oil with an aggregate capacity of 17,000 gallons.
- 5 Water Tanks.
- 3 Engines used for Pumping Oil, hoisting Spent Shale and in connection with a Jones' Exhaust Engine driving 5 Pan Mills for Brickmaking.
- Sulphate of Ammonia Plant consisting of 4 Stills, with apparatus complete, all under cover, and 2 Store Tanks.
- 10 Single Workman's Houses,
- 4 Double Workmen's Houses,
- Pay Office. Smithy &c.
There is also a Level Railway Siding and Branches, connecting the Works with the Cleland and Mid-Calder Line of the Caledonian Railway, the Works being within a mile of West-Calder Station.
Scotsman, 30th November 1872
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The examination in bankruptcy of Matthew Dunnet and James Mungo Brown, individual partners of the East Hermand Shale Company, West Calder, was made on Thursday, in Edinburgh, before Sheriff Hamilton ……. Dunnet, after being sworn, deponed "ln 1866 I began business in the manufacture of crude oil from shale in partnership with James Ferrie. We took the sub-lease from Messrs Thomson (sic, Thornton?) of the East Hermand shale field in July 1866. The duration of the lease was thirty-one years from May of that year, and the rent was payable either m fixed rents or in lordships at the option of the proprietor. My capital consisted of sums borrowed from my friends. I had capital under the contract with Mr Ferrie was £1000, his being £2000. In consequence of Mr Ferrie not putting in the capital stipulated, the partnership was dissolved in December 1866. Up to that time we had been going on with the erection of the works. For the next twelve months I continued erecting the works and developing the shale fields on my own account, and in December 1867 I arranged with Mr J. M. Brown to join me as at lst January 1868. He was to furnish £2500, and I was to furnish £2000 of capital. Both of these obligations were implemented. From the beginning of 1868 up to our stoppage we were periodically extending; the work at an aggregate outlay of about £19,600, which was provided by cash advances and by parties with whom we were trading. I attribute my difficulties to our capital being too small for the largeness of our business, and to losses sustained on contracts made in the opening of the present year, and the great rise in the price of coal. If the works were still of the value equivalent to their cost, the firm would be solvent and able to meet its obligations". Mr James Mungo Brown, after being sworn, concurred in omnibus with Mr Dunnet so far as related to the period after which he became a partner.
Falkirk Herald, 12th December 1872
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An appeal for a deliverance of the trustee of the bankrupt estate of the East Hermand Shale Company (Limited), West Calder. At the date of the bankruptcy of this company the Caledonian Railway Company were their creditors for an account of £70s, 14s. 8d., of which £263, 4s 2d was stated to have consisted of charges or tolls for carriage of oil for the company; a second proportion of the account, consisting of charges for the supplying of engine-power and other expenses in carrying certain wagon-tanks in which the oil was held; and the third, of rates for the carriage of other goods along the railway, including therein tolls for the use of the railway, the amount of these tolls much exceeding, it was said, £280. The railway company, also at the date of bankruptcy, held a number of wagons and tanks, in which the oil was carried along the line, belonging to the shale company, the estimated value of these tanks being £280.
Scotsman, 28th November 1873
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FOR SALE, at East Hermand Oil Work, West Calder.
- A Pan Mill,
- 1 Hutch weighing machine,
- 3 Set Fanners,
- A quantity of Malleable Iron Pipes, from 1in to 2in,
- A quantity of Square cube stones
- About 350,000 good Square Bricks, put in waggon here at 19s per 1000.
- A number of Workmen's houses &c.
The above will be sold cheap. Can be seen at the Works; or apply to Thomas Gentles, East Hermand, West Calder.
Glasgow Herald, 3rd February 1874
