UPSTREAM CIRCUIT - "THE LAND" : Minerals of the Island (SB2A)
How the British have drawn on their natural resources to produce raw materials for industry.
"Just as some of our forbears- the farmers- took the variety of the natural scene as they found it and exploited its variations, so others perceived and followed downwards the surface clues to the mineral wealth that had been locked up far below when the British Isles were built.
Of this wealth, coal is the prize gem. Indeed, it is the key with which the storerooms of all mineral wealth may be unlocked. Recent advances in coal-getting and utilisation are shown in this Pavilion.
Among metals, particular attention is given to iron and steel. Alloys-metals tailormade to fit a thousand different jobs-are then considered and after them, other minerals of the island that play an important part in our industrial life. Here can be seen the value of salt, limestone, clay, sand, and even air from which we have learned to isolate its different gases for use in many man-made chemicals."
Click here to go on to "Power and Production"