Although relatively safe, the Bell Island mines were wet and pumps ran continuously to prevent them from flooding. When a miner came to the surface, every visible part of his body was red and his clothes were usually wet. The men cleaned themselves up - or attempted to clean themselves up - and left their working clothes to dry in buildings known as "dryhouses". This picture shows the interior of one such building. When it rained, the potholes and ruts that scarred the many dirt roads on the Island filled with water of the same rich ochre colour that the miner struggled daily to wash away. Once a car had been driven on Bell Island for awhile it was indelibly marked. When you drove to "town," as St. John's was called, you didn't have to tell anyone you were from the Iron Isle. Your car said it for you.
