This is written for all those who need more information than just go find water, dirt and dig. It is intended neither for those wholly ignorant of mining, nor for those long experienced in the profession. The bulk of the material presented is the common heritage of the profession, and if any one may think there is insufficient reference to previous writers, let him endeavor to find to whom the origin of our methods should be credited. The science has grown by small contributions of experience since, or before, those unnamed Egyptian engineers, whose works prove their knowledge of many fundamentals of mine engineering six thousand eight hundred years ago. If I have contributed one sentence to the accumulated knowledge of a thousand generations of engineers, or have thrown one new ray of light on the work, I shall have done my share. I therefore must acknowledge my obligations to all those who have gone before, to all that has been written that I have read, to those engineers with whom I have been associated for many years, and in particular to many friends for kindly reply to inquiry upon points herein discussed. Previously written in 1906, and re-wrote in 2011. There were many instances of wrong information learned over the years. I did my best to make it as informative as possible. Have fun with the book, I learned more than I ever knew while reading and re-writing the book.