Coal Camps of Eastern Utah

by SueAnn Martell, Western Mining and Railroad Museum

Overview

Nestled between the Wasatch Plateau and the Book Cliff Mountains, hundreds of feet underground, vast coal deposits make up the heart of Utah's coal country. This high-grade bituminous coal attracted the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad to the area, and small, company-owned towns sprang up everywhere coal could be accessed. Life in these camps was difficult at best, as the mines were dangerous and the threat of disaster was never far away. In spite of these hardships though, the residents, many of whom were foreign-born, enjoyed recreational activities at the local baseball diamonds, amusement halls, and confectioneries. Their lives were shaped by coal, but the coal camps shaped their souls. Eastern Utah's coal mining legacy continues today, and while most of these camps have disappeared, many of the people who lived there still call them home.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780738556451
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	09/15/2008
Series:	Images of America Series
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	1,104,915
Product dimensions:	9.22(w) x 10.88(h) x 0.31(d)

About the Author

Author SueAnn Martell is director of the Western Mining and Railroad Museum in Helper, Utah. A second-generation resident of Helper, Martell has worked to preserve the coal mining and railroading history of the area. Drawing from the archives of the Western Mining and Railroad Museum as well as from her own collection, she has assembled photographs, many of them never before published, that tell the story of these company towns and of the remarkable people who lived in them.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 6 Introduction 7
1 Finnish Immigrants, Deadly Mines, and Ski Resorts 9
2 Clustered around the Castle Gate 25
3 Six Towns in Six Miles 53
4 In the Shadow of Kenilworth Castle 81
5 "Dempseyville" and the Wasatch Plateau Trio 91
6 Coal to Make Steel 99
7 Lions, Warriors, and Four Mining Magnates 113