diggings

He said his crew was not familiar with smoldering peat fires that can burn below ground in the Canada woods, and they are still getting used to “all those diggings.”

But her family letters from a century ago told of gatherings, as well as grave diggings.

Foremole and his team knew all there was to know about the diggings: depth, approximate dimensions, the placement of shoring, even where the first rat’s head was likely to break ground.

The name was popularized during the California gold rush, when tens of thousands of prospectors passed through Panama on their way to the diggings, many of them picking up a hat along the way.

On one road, they have set up a checkpoint to control access to their diggings.