The stereotypical image of historic miners is that of an unskilled laborer with a pick-ax and shovel. Think of the Seven Dwarfs. “We dig, dig, dig . . .” Once a mine had been established, workers performed various jobs, and few of them looked like the dwarfs swinging pick-axes in vast, well-lit caverns.
In order to lengthen the tunnels, rock had to be blasted and removed. The miners would . . .