View of railway leading to the Douglass Copper mine shaft where several workers stand in the entrance. Other buildings, perhaps containing ore crushing equipment and a smelter that produced ingots of pure copper, are in the background. Copper was found along Mines Road in western Blue Hill in 1876. Because of the quality of the ore and the prospect of shipping it out easily from the harbor (perhaps not in winter) a major mining boom ensued. Speculation ran rampant, fueled by visiting experts. By 1881, the companies began to fail because of an unstable market and management issues.