Vern Evans began working at the potash shafts in Saskatchewan in the 1970s right when he was out of university. At the time, those mines were the most advanced in the world – and he has worked in shaft sinking ever since. Evans met Charles Graham on the job in the 1980s and later consulted for him when Graham was the managing director at CAMIRO Mining Division. Bemoaning the fact that innovation in lateral development had been stalled for the past 40 years, the two decided to look back further and see how shaft sinking had evolved.