Dear Freinds
Further to Margarets ref' to shape of shafts, let me detail the below:
At the old Montacute Copper Mines in the hills above Adelaide c 1840's, I came across the below things:-
A small square air shaft came to my notice measured at the inside 20"x20" and about 20 feet deep- must have been VERY small miner? Then the Lady owner made the remark that she had picked up on the mine many hole'e Chinese Coins, and square black Snaps bottles!!!!
Then fare in the future c1980', another miner due to a broken formation got two old empty petrol tanks, and using them as a sort of mining shield pushed them into the workings with a bulldozer, Ive put that photo in the State Library Photo Collection.
Regarding oval cornish shafts, I must say having peered into many hundreds of old shafts in SA they were normally oblong- Cornish Miners at their best were always happy to use the oblong shaft which suited the later addition of seperate footways, skip-roads, and also in an oblong shaft there was the safety factor of being able to keep well away from the kibble.
Re' the round shaft I feel it was a Chinese methoid, as it makes a quite secure shaft- but I could be wrong.
For anyone interested I have drawn a number of scale drawings of shafts I have come across!!!
Take Care.
Roger B Bradford
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