Break It, Remake It

Break It, Remake It. Buffalo National River. , Standing here, let yourself imagine the roar of a blacksmith's forge the hiss of a bellows, and the clang of metal striking metal. the blacksmith was an essential cog in the Morning Star Mine's operation. He kept the company's ore wagons ready and stock teams shoed. He repaired mine equipment, forging new parts as needed. If something broke he fixed it or remade it. Nails, nuts, bolts, and mining tools were readily stocked and available at the blacksmith shop., In 1925 Lee Metley, the company's blacksmith, built this blacksmith shop for the reopening of the Morning Star Mine. the building had two rooms; one for forging and one for storing parts. A large, lean-to warehouse, now gone, was attached to the right side of the shop. There, wagon parts, pipes, pipe joints, and fittings were stored and with the company general manager's prized Jordan car., [Caption:] , From 1935 to 1931 Lee Mediey kept this blacksmith forge burning hot Medley recalled, "in 1931 trucks had took the team and wagon work to a point that there was not enough blacksmith work here to justify me to keep the shop, so i closed it and started farming." , ,

I worked in the shop with Lee Medley and helped him build all them [tram] cars. All the woodwork had rotted. We had lots of fun together. , Milton Snipes, Rush resident