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LEBURN, KY. — An eastern Kentucky county hit hard in recent years by the region's dwindling coal industry has built a tourist attraction on the remains of an old Appalachian mine.

All-terrain vehicles and motorbikes now zoom along the hilly terrain in Knott County that was left behind when mine operators shut down operations and left, taking good-paying jobs with them.

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Now the mining site, renamed the Mine Made Adventure Park, is buzzing with the sound of two-stroke engines as all-terrain vehicle, dirt bike and horseback riders dot the wide-open landscape, bringing with them the potential for a tourism boost to the economy.

"We have to develop an alternate economy, and finding that alternate economy that can provide sustainable jobs," said Shawn Owens, Knott's tourism director.

"You know, coal miners were making $20 and $25 an hour here, and those jobs are gone now."

Inside the park there are no obvious signs to visitors that it was once a coal min Kory Caudill – Talent Magazines FYMIG