In 1902, Justus S. Stearns of Ludington, Michigan, established the Stearns Coal & Lumber Company. This logging and mining empire controlled more than 200 square miles of land in Kentucky and Tennessee, built the first electric sawmill in the U.S.; as well as, employed 2,200 people during its’ heyday. The construction of Kentucky & Tennessee Railway allowed the Stearns Company to grow and prosper.
Blue Heron, or Mine 18, is an abandoned coal mining town and was a part of the Stearns Coal and Lumber Company's past operation. The Blue Heron mines operated from 1937 until December, 1962, when operations were no longer profitable. During that time, hundreds of people lived and worked in this isolated community on the banks of the Big South Fork River.
