Posted by Andy Clayton on October 26, 2000 at 15:43:40 from 193.117.128.23:
In Reply to: Re: pigeon post oddities cont. posted by Adam Quinan on October 26, 2000 at 00:36:39:
Addits were mentioned early on in this correspondance, and being from Cornwall I thought I'd add a bit of mining info. An addit is a horizontal access to a mine. Now in hilly or mountainous country there may be internal excavations above this level, in which, any water will naturaly drain down and out. Any digging down below this level will soon start to see a need for pumps. To save expense pumped water was only lifted to addit. So an addit was very often driven in at the lowest possible point, though above any river flood level. The addits driven in half way up Coniston old man were probably driven in following a promising outcrop rather than going to the top of the hill and dropping verticaly down as in a conventional mine. As a shaft is sunk, horizontal levels are driven out, in Cornwall at 10 fathom intervals, and the ore rich ground between these levels is then removed. A bit like removing the Ham from a sandwich. Often short interconnecting shafts linked these levels and these are known as winzes. They are exceedingly dangerous to uninitiated addit explorers as in the dark or covered with rotting timbers they may only reveal their existence by dropping you hundreds of feet deeper into the mine. If you survived the fall the chances of getting yourself out again are remote.