pick-and-shovel

There are no factories shut down through lack of labor, no projected railroads unbuilt for want of pick-and-shovel men.

THE TRAMP 2010

But if I take that same strength of arm and use it at pick-and-shovel work for a day and earn two dollars, you won't have anything to do with the two dollars.

Chapter XVII 2010

Since most jobs were of the pick-and-shovel variety, the original ‘contract’ was, say, three cubic metres per man for a day’s work.

Alan Glass 2010

Through his conversations with businessmen and pick-and-shovel miners, Mr. Eichstaedt shows that many of these people, rather than working to fund violence, are just trying to make a living while struggling with corrupt officials and roving militias.

Digging for the Truth About a Dirty Trade Jason Stearns 2011

Tip it off to him that there's diamonds on the red-hot ramparts of hell, and Mr. White Man will storm the ramparts and set old Satan himself to pick-and-shovel work.

THE INEVITABLE WHITE MAN 2010

WASHINGTON Deborah Zabarenko – A U.S. law from the pick-and-shovel days of the Western frontier now threatens natural treasures including Grand Canyon National Park as mining claims on public lands proliferate, an environmental group said on Friday.

1872 Mining Law Lets Companies Take $1 Billion A Year From Public Lands Without Paying Royalties 2011

While the pick-and-shovel boys scrambled out of the way, he backfilled and tamped a hundred feet of trench on one pass, hi about 90 seconds-a job which would have taken the 60-odd men the rest of the week.

Arcana Magi - c.1: Oryn Zentharis, Seeker of the Truth 2010

Part of the answer is technological: Most WPA and CWA workers were employed on pick-and-shovel jobs long since replaced by labor-saving and job-reducing machines.

A grim lesson from the stimulus Ezra Klein 2010

Since the navvy's wage was then 6s a day, and he was paid fortnightly, he seldom lacked the cash to lubricate a thirst built up by loss of body liquids during pick-and-shovel work performed in dust, scorching sunshine, and, often, parching dry wind.

Australian Story Online - Chapter 2 2009

Again, as during the French effort, the labor force came from every part of the world–ninety-seven countries according to the records– but again the unskilled pick-and-shovel workers were nearly all black men and this time it was Barbados, rather than Jamaica, that supplied the majority.

The Path Between the Seas DAVID McCULLOUGH. 2005