Coal Camps of Eastern Utah

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.

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.