This just popped into my head, but throughout history humanity has mined to some lesser or greater extend.
But given that lightbulbs were a recent invention, how did we manage to mine throughout history. I understand the idea of the “canary in coal mine” but does it mean we basically hoped on luck or had venting periods?
I can’t imaging an old mining tunnel with torches being anything but a nightmare.
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There are some great books on this and the ancient side of the development is a good start but things got really cool when industrial extraction got started properly.
The ventilation shafts of old stayed but then extensive systems of flaps operated by actual children took hold. Still, that was not what limited depth of mines. The desire to get clean burning coal eventually forced people to deal with large amounts of water that would seep down. The first steam engines were primarily designed not to move the coal, but for the more challenging subject of removing water from mines.
Also the canari was for finding noxious gases. The presence of flammable gasses was detected by having people walk into a mine with a long pole sporting a candle at the front. These goal was to burn the so called fire-damp before the rest of the workers were at risk.
All in all mining has always been a crazy world, Coal by Barbara Freese is a wild book to read if you’re interested in this world at all.
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