November 1942. "Flotation machines at one of the copper concentrators of the Utah Copper Company. Its plants at Magna and Arthur in Utah are treating vast quantities of the copper so vital for war purposes." Photo by Andreas Feininger for the Office of War Information. View full size.

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.

        On Shorpy.com's seventh birthday, a look back at our namesake, the teenage mine greaser Shorpy Higginbotham, shown here in 1910 at age 14. His life was cut short by a mine accident in 1928, when he was crushed by a rock.

December 1910. Jefferson County, Alabama. "Shorpy Higginbotham, a 'greaser' on the tipple at Bessie Mine, of the Sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron Co. Said he was 14 years old, but it is doubtful. Carries two heavy pails of grease, and is often in danger of being run over by the coal cars." Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine for the National Child Labor Committee. View full size.

December 1942. "Armed guard at a copper smelter of the Phelps-Dodge Mining Company at Morenci, Arizona. This plant is supplying great quantities of the copper so vital in our war effort." Oh, and: Merry Christmas! Photo by Fritz Henle for the Office of War Information. View full size.

December 1942. "Part of the copper concentrating plant of the Phelps-Dodge Mining Company at Morenci, Arizona. This plant supplies great quantities of the copper so vital in our war effort." Photo by Fritz Henle. View full size.

Fall 1942. "War production drive. Anthracite rallies. Jeep headlights form V for Victory at the night rally for Pennsylvania anthracite miners in Wilkes-Barre on Sept. 29. Similar rallies were held in other anthracite cities from Sept. 28 through Oct. 1." Photo by William Perlitch, Office of War Information. View full size.

November 1942. "Bingham Canyon, Utah. Ore trains on a trestle bridge above an open-pit mine of the Utah Copper Company." Photo by Andreas Feininger for the Office of War Information. View full size.

"Clear Creek Cañon." Georgetown, Colorado, circa 1901. Famous for the Georgetown Loop, a narrow-gauge railroad visible in the distance. 8x10 glass plate by William Henry Jackson, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size.

December 1910. "Hard work and dangerous for such a young boy. James O'Dell, a greaser and coupler on the tipple of the Cross Mountain Mine, Knoxville Iron Co., in the vicinity of Coal Creek, Tennessee. James has been here four months. Helps push these heavily loaded cars. Appears to be about 12 or 13 years old." Photo by Lewis Wickes Hine for the National Child Labor Committee. View full size.

1938. "Shenandoah, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Joe Gladski, wife of a coal miner at Maple Hill." Photo by Sheldon Dick, Resettlement Administration. View full size.

Copper production circa 1906. "12,000 horsepower compound pump, Calumet and Hecla stamp mill, Lake Linden, Michigan." Note the faint double exposure in this 8x10 inch glass plate. Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

Circa 1905. "Calumet and Hecla smelters, Lake Linden, Michigan." Starting point for the web of copper telephone and streetcar wires seen in so many of the other Detroit Publishing images. Panorama of two 8x10 glass plates. View full size.

1935. "Miner's house at Scott's Run, West Virginia. Note sewerage system." Photo by Elmer Johnson for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.

March 1937. "Scott's Run, West Virginia. Pursglove No. 2 coal mine. Scene taken from main highway shows company store and typical hillside camp." Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine, three years before his death. View full size.

March 1937. Scotts Run, West Virginia. "Employed bachelor coal miner at home in Sessa Hill. This scene is typical of hundreds of bachelors who belong to a group of immigrants whose family was separated by immigration restrictions. This man may, or may not, have a wife in another country." Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine. Decor by Coca-Cola. Large format acetate negative. View full size.