Seeing underground : maps, models, and mining engineering in America /
Nystrom, Eric Charles.
Digging mineral wealth from the ground dates to prehistoric times, but the arrival of industrial mining techniques, especially after the California Gold Rush, made mines deeper and more complex than ever before. As American industrial mining came of age, mining engineers turned to maps and models in their efforts to understand and control the mines they made. Unlike mechanical or civil engineers, who could see what they built, mining engineers created pitch-dark, dangerous, three-dimensional spaces deep underground. New kinds of maps and models were crucial in envisioning those spaces and predicting where deposits and hazards would be found. This visual culture was central to changes in mining, such as implementing new safety regulations, discerning the geology of mineral ores, and settling claims to wealth below ground. The mining maps and models of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are much more than fascinating artifacts in museums and libraries. They show us how a new visual culture helped create a new professional class of mining engineers and changed how mining was done.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 229-289) and index.
Digging mineral wealth from the ground dates to prehistoric times, but the arrival of industrial mining techniques, especially after the California Gold Rush, made mines deeper and more complex than ever before. As American industrial mining came of age, mining engineers turned to maps and models in their efforts to understand and control the mines they made. Unlike mechanical or civil engineers, who could see what they built, mining engineers created pitch-dark, dangerous, three-dimensional spaces deep underground. New kinds of maps and models were crucial in envisioning those spaces and predicting where deposits and hazards would be found. This visual culture was central to changes in mining, such as implementing new safety regulations, discerning the geology of mineral ores, and settling claims to wealth below ground. The mining maps and models of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are much more than fascinating artifacts in museums and libraries. They show us how a new visual culture helped create a new professional class of mining engineers and changed how mining was done.
Mine maps
Mines and mineral resources
Geological mapping