I thought I would share with you guys not from mining areas what a spadman is. In underground mines the miners need to have something to keep them going in the right direction. Since mining equipment travels on the floor of a mine, the directional control needs to be in the roof. Surveyors maintain survey control in the mine by drilling small holes in the mine roof and inserting a wooden plug. The plug receives a piece of flat metal driven into it with a portion of it sticking down with a hole in it. Two of these set exactly on line with a weight on a string in each are used like gun sights. The metal pieces are called spads, or spades. The person who puts these in is called the Spadman. I’m proud to have been associated with this profession for many years. I’ve put a bunch of them in.
