The Entrance to a Slope Coal Mine in 1936 in Southern Iowa similar to the Blomgren’s Four Star Coal Mine. The mine was located beneath their 40 acre farm directly north across from Buxton in Mahaska County. Slope Mines were used when the coal was less than 100 feet below the surface. Shaft mines were dug when the mines were deeper than 100 feet. I am sure the automobile in the photo was organized in such a matter as to be used in raising the coal cars from the bottom of the mines. In the earlier years of mining mules were used to pull the coal cars. My Dads Uncle Richard Olson, who was married to my grandmother Emma Peterson’s sister Tekla, was a mule driver in mines. It was a dangerous job in the mines as were all the jobs. Carl Mydans photo