winze

Etymology

Alteration of the plural noun winds, 1757.

noun

1. (mining) A steep shaft for such purposes as: to join two levels in a mine; or to explore greater depths when considering whether to open a new level; or to permit forced ventilation of deeper levels.
   The air on the 2,350-ft. level passes through the main drift, while the air from the fan on the 2,250-ft. level passes into a cross-cut and a drift east of the main drift, returns, and joins the air passing through the main drift towards the Ophir winze. 1909 George J. Young Ventilating-System at the Comstock Mines, Nevada. Transactions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers. Vol. XLI 1910. (Spokane Meeting, September 1909)
   A formation that is liable to fool the prospector, I found in the Oconguas district... In prospecting along the stream ... I got some rich pannings. The gold was rather angular and I decided that it had not traveled far. I proceeded up the hill... panning the manto and getting "colors" all the way up... I found a veinlet about 15 in. wide and very rich in gold. Trenching along its outcrop showed that it extended about 100 ft. and then pinched out altogether. A winze sunk on the veinlet showed that it "petered out" entirely at 25 or 30 ft. Further work showed that small veinlets of this kind ran through the porphyry, and that the gold in the manto and the stream came from these elos, as the Nicaraguans call them, and not from a large, well-defined vein, such as I had hoped to find. Although I got remarkably rich pannings from the hill, the discovery was of no economic importance. 1910 T. Lane Carter: Mining in Nicaragua. Transactions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers. Vol. XLI. 1910. Canal Zone Meeting, October, 1910