A late 19th century photo of a Sicilian boy and his donkey

Until the middle of the 20th century donkeys - transporting heavy loads, powering millstones and dragging plows - were a common sight in the Sicilian countryside. During the heyday of sulphur mining in the 19th century the island was crossed by long lines of donkeys carrying the "yellow gold of Sicily".

Donkeys have of course also been - and still are - used for transporting people. The boy in this late 19th century picture earned his living by taking visitors on donkey rides:

Sulphur mines in Sicily a hundred years ago: "The nearest thing to hell"

The  temperature in the sulfur mines could rise to 50 degrees
Celsius (122  Fahrenheit).

Already in ancient times, sulfur was found in the volcanic regions of Sicily. Originally Sicilian sulphur was extracted from open-pit mines, but later on the mining was done under the surface of the Earth:

Eventually the surface-borne deposits played out, and miners excavated veins that ultimately dotted the Sicilian landscape with labyrinthine mines. Mining was unmechanized and labor-intensive, with pickmen freeing the ore from the rock, and mine-boys or carusi carrying baskets of ore to the surface, often through a mile or more of tunnels. Once the ore was at the surface, it was reduced and extracted in smelting ovens. The conditions in Sicilian sulfur mines were horrific, prompting Booker T. Washington to write "I am not prepared just now to say to what extent I believe in a physical hell in the next world, but a sulphur mine in Sicily is about the nearest thing to hell that I expect to see in this life."

Thank God, things have improved since those days!

A sulphur mine in Sicily in the early 20th century.

Sicilian sulphur miners. The 13 - 17 year old mine-boys - the carusi - had to carry the sacks of sulphur - often weighing up to 20 kg - to the surface along the hot and slippery tunnels. (Photo probably from 1908).

The smelting ovens.

A cableway was used for transporting the ore.