The lights in the Hell Roarin' Gulch Print Shop are really aesthetically pleasing, so I thought I'd show them some love on this blog.
I got to go on the Underground Tour at the Museum the other day. It was mind blowing! Looking at so many halftone photos of miners from the collection in the print shop makes me feel like I understand the background of Butte a little more than I used to. But going underground added a level of appreciation to all those men whose faces I have been staring at and printing.
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| These cages carried down people and others the ore |
Being underground is unnerving and so foreign for me. I peered down the shaft that the miners would be raised and lowered into and got swept by an overwhelming feeling of how brave they all were. I think I better understand the saying that the people of Butte are "Butte Tough", because you really had to be as a miner. You put your life in danger everyday. So many miners lost their lives in those mines.
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| Ceiling is covered in wire mesh because rocks still crumble from time to time. And yeah, I was happy to be wearing a hard hat! |
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| The 'Honey Pot" AKA, a toilet mine car. |
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| Mushroom growing out of the wooden frame |
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| Some other type of fungus, I know it looks like frost but it wasn't |
There is also some
really amazing signage in the tunnels. A lot of them remind miners not to smoke. Fire was definitely a huge concern, just read about the
Granite Mountain Mine Disaster of 1917.
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| Manicules are essential for grabbing my attention |
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| That bell still works! And it's loud as hell. |
-Christa
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