steam-navvy

[184] The "steam-navvy" is, however, making digging a machine industry.

The Evolution of Modern Capitalism A Study of Machine Production 1899

Here Norton's Abyssinian tubes, sunk in the bed after it has been carefully worked by the steam-navvy for the rich alluvium underlying the surface, would act like pumps, and dams would form huge tanks.

To The Gold Coast for Gold, Vol. II A Personal Narrative Richard Francis Burton 1855