copper

This appears to be Guggenheim's testimony before the Walsh Commission at New York's City Hall on January 21, 1915. Guggenheim was a copper magnate. Other pictures from the Commission hearings in New York are in the Bain collection: www.flickr.com/search/?w=8623220@N02&q=walsh%20commis... I don't know why the picture is dated 1926. Perhaps it was pulled for another use at that time.

artolog, You're correct - this definitely seems to be a photograph of Guggenheim's testimony before the Walsh Commission. And yes, I think your supposition about the other date on the image reflecting a later usage is correct as well. On January 18, 1926, the date on the photo, Guggenheim was in the news for pledging $2.5 million to then Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover in order to establish the Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics. We will update the record to reflect more details - as well as make sure the other images from the Walsh Commission hearings are more accurately labeled. Thanks for your help!

Mystery solved.. and you're welcome.. I've learned a lot from dipping into the Walsh Commission history as a result of LOC's sharing of these photos. There was a lot of rage, anarchy and revolution in the air, and the Commission brought the key players, as well as social and economic thinkers and doers together for a public examination of the ills of Capitalism at the end of the Gilded Age. Though it had no power to do anything, it showed people that we were a democracy where controversial issues could be examined publicly.

I wonder what this looks like now. I live in Tennessee and would like to see what this area is like present day.

It's pretty much restored. I grew up here, and when the plant closed down in the late '80's, the earth reapired itself pretty quickly.

Doesn't look all that much restored from this image: www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?q=ducktown,+tn&mkt=en-...

This is the caption that Marion Post Walcott included with her photo from 1939 but the actual damage to the vegetation occurred in the late 1800's. The smelting technology of that time did not allow the sulfur dioxide generated by the heating of the ore to be captured. By 1909 the mining companies developed new practices which let them recover the sulfur dioxide and use it in the manufacture of sulfuric acid. Reclamation in the Basin began in the 1930's with varying degrees of success initially. By the 1970's new techniques were developed and today most of the Basin has been revegetated.

hi good day!! can i ask something what are the factors and manufacturing of materials of sulfuric acid ? thanks

denise.denava: You may want to use the Library of Congress's online reference service "Ask a Librarian" for the anwer to your question. For more information see: www.loc.gov/rr/askalib/ask-scitech.html

Looks like something straight out of a Tim Burton movie set....

My grandfather worked here as a steel rigger most of his adult life, raising his kids and taking care of his family. From the 1920's into the late 50's. Long before Copperhill was a tourist destination for rafting, the copper mines were the main source of revenue for the community. Thank you so much for posting this picture. I've added it, with photo credits attached, to my genealogy page.

Thank you, Life...through Leesha's lens for sharing your story. The photographer, Marion Post Wolcott, also took some black and white photos of this location at the same time, like this one: www.loc.gov/pictures/item/fsa2000032603/PP/