The Slug

This is the name given by old miners to an underground channel excavated to drain water from the two mines due north of Milbourne into the Churnett River. It took nearly four years to excavate the channel, which is some 8 feet in diameter. Leakage of heavily ore-tainted waters over many decades has poisoned the ground above, so that the grass growing overhead is yellow and rank, and the land wholly unsuitable for any agriculture. The Slug's depth below ground depends on its distance from the river. At its point of origin it lies some 150 feet below the surface, but the land slopes downhill to the river, so that the channel is just below the surface at the point where it empties into the Churnett.