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December 1942. "Production. Mercury. Loading mercury ore into a mine car by hand at the New Idria, California, plant of the New Idria Quicksilver Mining Company. Triple-distilled mercury is produced from cinnabar, an ore containing sulfur and mercury mined at a number of workings near the plant." Photo by Andreas Feininger for the Office of War Information. View full size.
So much for accuracy in captioning. I see three men posing with an ore car. They are not loading it, unless they take frequent breaks. Accuracy in war reporting? Should say, "...Mercury loaders posing with their load. ..."
[You are a master of the obvious! - Dave]
I believe that the hip cannister contained some liquid and some kind of ore that would produce acetylene and it would flow up to their headlamps via the tubing.
[Those are electric lamps; the "tubing" is a cord that connects to the battery. -tterrace]
"Where it's dark as a dungeon, damp as the dew. Were the dangers are many and the pleasures are few."
["Sad"? "Were"? Really? - Dave]
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