The mines seen as temples

The Galinheiro mine had over thirty tunnels each 15 to 20 metres wide and over 50
metres deep. Those looking at this enterprise were marveled at the imponence and the
terror it inspired as well as the entrepreneur genius of those who made it come true. Those
giant catacombs communicated among them through doors excavated in the walls raising
from the depth of the abyss and going up vertically like the columns in a temple.

Fear and dread in the mines

In the mines you could breathe the smell of death. Many workers paid with their life for such
dangerous risky work. Although the pits were dug after geological studies and under the supervision
of experienced engineers, many families were victims of fatality. Many parents would repeat to their
children with pain and sorrow: ‘Your grandfather died behind that slab’ or ‘Your elder brother was
crushed to death deep down that pit.’

Untold stories
It was in ‘Casa dos motores’ (house of the motors) that the slate was
cut. The company guards used to say that evil spirits were around. They
would tell that during the night a ghost would come and kick the kettle
making coffee on the stove. It would be thrown into the air, but it suddenly
returned to its position on the stove as if nothing had happened.

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Accidents in the mines

Fortunately some great accidents in the slate mines and quarries did not cause any victims.
Such was the case of ‘arrasamento’ in Galinheiro. That was on a Christmas Eve in 1890. So nobody
was injured or killed. It is said that the slate extraction in Galinheiro mine met soft ground. The
pressure of the land over the mines led to the collapse of several pits.

Later it became a lake for the delight of many of the residents in Valongo, particularly young
people, who would enjoy their free time at the place.

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 By the 60’s in Campo several mines collapsed in a single day. The miners from two different
companies went down the pits in the morning and when excavating the walls (pillars) that separated
the mines, the miners met face to face. There was a great demand for slate at the time. The miners
had left the mine for lunch, when they heard a terrible noise: several mines had collapsed.

However in Companhia Nova (as people would call it) in Carvoeira (one of the partners was
English, the owner’s son of Milharia) once the miners were hammering the rock they broke the pillar
separating it from another slate mine full of water. The result was a sudden flood. Most miners died.
Some managed to survive swimming until they could grab the ladder to the top of the mine.

The miners’ dance

The song depicts the miners’ life. It was made and rehearsed by a miner in 1888. He lived and
experienced the feelings that inspire this song.
Joaquim Chiquita, a miner in the mines Of Vale d’Acha, was injured in the collapse of a tunnel
deep down the mine. His health was ruined and he eventually died.
The characters dressed as miners start their performance by dancing. Then they pretend to
be working digging the ground with their working tools, wedges, drills, picks and hammers, while they
sing the following verses.

Desgraçado do mineiro
Que anda debaixo do chão
Acontece uma desgraça,
Lá morre sem confissão
Ai!
Desce à mina o desgraçado.

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 Aí fica a trabalhar
Andando na escuridão
Sem luz, nem dia, nem ar!
Ai!
O trabalho todo custa,
Mas o nosso muito mais;
Quantos vão pois e não voltam,
Não tornam a ver seus pais!
Ai!
Nossa vida é negra e dura, entre perigos o viver,
Em vida na sepultura
Com o suor a escorrer!
Ai!..

The ‘cantina’
The English company cared for its workers. It had a ‘cantina’, where workers could get much
different kind of products. Goods were scarce. The canteen would supply goods and the workers
would have them discounted in their wage. That was a kind of credit. Some old ex-miners say that all
goods were cheaper. For example rice would be one ‘tostão’ cheaper per Kg. The ‘canteen’ was first
built in Chã and later in Valongo.
The English company also had a football field they had built in Cardosos, the first one in
Valongo and a music band.

The miners’ living and working conditions

Life was hard. Living conditions were poor. The commodities and amenities of modern life did

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not exist at the time.
There was no healthcare or welfare system (only after 1947). If you were ill (and most were
victims of tuberculosis or silicosis because of the dust in the mines and in the processing of slate; at 50
most workers were unable to work) you would starve.

And it is said that……

It said that the English company created a subsidy: if a worker fell ill, he would receive the
equivalent to 3 days’ work of his wage. Then there was a time when out of about 1000 workers over
200 were ill. Thus, on the day for the payment of the subsidy, it was always on Saturdays, the
company communicated that the subsidy had been abolished. On the following Monday only six
workers, suffering from tuberculosis, didn’t get back to work. And the boss exclaimed: ‘They weren’t
ill after all! What a miserable people they are!‘ (Source: ex-miner son)

And then the war broke

out

In 1930 in the Great

Depression period, the Valongo Slate
and Marble Quarries sold all its
liabilities and assets to Empresa das
Lousas de Valongo. The new
company had both Portuguese and
English shareholders.
In the late 30’s (1939) when World
War II broke the company went
through a serious economic crisis. Before the war there were around 1600 workers. In September 39
only 300 kept their jobs. Europe was destroyed and the governments adopted protective politics as
far as their own industries were concerned. Only after the 50’s with the reconstruction of Europe, did
the economy flourish again. Slate as a decorative stone began to be used in the building industry.
Slate mining and processing became a highly mechanized industry.

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The mines at present

Nowadays the work at Milharia is almost completely mechanized.

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 There’s a semiautomatic assembly line for the tiles production, a machine designed to
calibrate thickness and a department for billiard slate.

Today in the area of Galinheiro Mines there’s a department store and there are plans to build more
houses.

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 The extraction of slate at Milharia is open cast and the main markets for its products are
Germany, the UK, Spain, the USA, Japan and Australia.

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These mountainous heaps of waste in Milharia quarries represent over a hundred years’ slate mining.

It´s a live museum!

th
Just like this building the The Vallongo Slate & Marble Quarries Company had built in the 19
century.

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This is typical British industrial architecture.

The same building inside

A perfect example of the various

applications of slate in the
decoration of houses.

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