Thanks to Skillzy for finding an intriguing photoblog that goes by the name of Shorpy.
A hundred years ago wasn't a great time to be a kid.
Lew Wickes Hine's other photos of Bessie Mine can be found here on one of the Library of Congress websites, and here is where the mine was located. As you can see, it's actually closer to West Jefferson than Dora. If you follow that yellow road marked Flat Top Road, you will see it passes over a river, and there's a railroad trestle adjacent to it. Long time ago (although not quite a hundred years), my dad used to take me fishing at the foot of that trestle.
I never did catch anything.
Oh, by the way--one of the photos has a picture of a kid carrying what are called "spragging irons."
In case you ever wondered, this is where I get the slang term I use occasionally for when something gets jammed up--"a sprag in the wheel." Basically it's an iron rod you poke through the spokes of a wheel to keep it from turning.
Posted by Terry Oglesby at March 22, 2007 09:59 AMWow, thanks for doing all the extra legwork! I know that there is still an active surface mine at Quinton, I'm not sure about the Bessie mine. With the price of coal up, lots of old mines are being opened back up around here.
Posted by: skillzy at March 22, 2007 01:20 PMBest I can tell it suspended operations in August of 1988. Jim Walter still owns the land, but it would probably be cost-prohibitive at today's prices to put it back into operation.
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at March 22, 2007 01:40 PM