Black Hawk Coal Mine

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Later became known as King Mine No. 1

This page was last updated on January 19, 2019.

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Blackhawk vs. Black Hawk

The original mining company was the Black Hawk Coal Company (incorporated in 1911), but almost all references on maps and documents in later years, especially during the 1970s and later, used the Blackhawk name. Advertising materials used the "Black Hawk" brand name.

The Black Hawk coal mine was separated from the Black Hawk company's tipple by an incline tram road that was 7,400 feet long, with a drop from mine to tipple of 1,000 feet. (Robert S. Lewis, "The Book Cliffs Coal Field, Utah," AIME Transactions, Volume 50, 1914, page 675)

Timeline

1910
The Black Hawk mine was opened in 1910 by Ogden interests. (Coal Index: The Sun, February 24, 1922, p. 8)

June - November 1910
George Heiner, James A. Anderson, and Daniel Nephi Heiner each received land patents for 160 acres from the United States government between June through November 1910. (Emery County Book A-1, p. 106)

April 28, 1911
Ownership of those patents was sold to Black Hawk Coal Company on April 28, 1911. (Emery County Book B-5, p. 504)

May 31, 1911
Black Hawk Coal Company as a corporation was filed in Utah. (Utah Railway: Manual)

June 1, 1911
A $200,000.00 mortgage to Ogden Savings Bank was filed on June 1, 1911. (Emery County Book F-5, p. 103) (The mortgage was released on December 7, 1917, after all assets had been sold to United States Fuel Company)

The Black Hawk Coal Company was organized on February 13, 1911. The corporation filed in Nevada on March 14, 1911, and in Utah on March 31, 1911. The organizers included Daniel Heiner, John Heiner, and James Anderson, all of Morgan, and David Eccles, Matthew S. Browning, Joseph Scowcroft, John Pingree, E. S. Rolapp, and George H. Tribe, all of Ogden -- each holding one hundred shares of the stock. Daniel Heiner was the majority shareholder, as president and trustee, holding 23,100 shares of the original 30,000 shares. (Utah corporation, index number 9026)

By December 28, 1911, the stock had been redistributed, giving George S. Tribe the largest block, 2,808 shares; David Eccles held 2,708 shares; James Anderson held 1,942 shares; Matthew S. and John M. Browning holding 1,840 shares together. These majority shareholders, along with six others accounted for fifty-two percent ownership of the company. When first organized, the coal lands controlled by the company represented 1,040 acres. The original lands consisted of just over 1,050 acres. (Utah corporation, index number 9026; Poors Manual of Industrials, 1916, page 1237)

Black Hawk mine was incorporated by the Black Hawk Coal Company on May 31, 1911. (Utah Railway: Coal Mines)

Matthew S. Browning, and fourteen others, called "Ogden interests", each filed on 160 acres of coal lands, making for 2,400 acres owned by one group. (15x160=2,400) (Coal Index: Eastern Utah Advocate, May 8, 1913, p. 1, article states 3,000 acres)

July 6, 1911
Grading for Black Hawk Coal Company's railroad was being done by the Fullmer Brothers of Price and Orangeville, which had forty teams working on the job. The coal company planned to begin shipping coal within ninety days, by the end of September 1911. (Eastern Utah Advocate, July 6, 1911)

September 1911
The town of Black Hawk was originally called Eccles and had only ten homes, with thirty-five others under construction. (Zehnder, Chuck. A Guide To Carbon County Coal Camps And Ghost Towns, page 35)

December 30, 1911
"The Black Hawk Coal Company of Ogden is busily engaged in the equipment and development of its property near Castle Junction Utah on the Castle Valley Railroad and is arranging to handle 2000 tons of coal daily the expectation being that the coal company will begin shipping in February 1912. Among the heavy owners in the enterprise are Matt Browning and David Eccles of Ogden and Mr. Heiner of Morgan Utah. The company owns a large acreage of excellent coal lands and while not much has been said regarding its operations it is quietly claimed that this promises to develop into one of the most important coal producers in the state." (Salt Lake Mining Review, December 30, 1911, Dips Spurs and Angles; Utah Digital Newspapers Collection)

January 1912
David Eccles announced he would build a 12-mile railroad line from the Black Hawk District to a connection with the D&RGW at Wellington, Utah. (Railway Age, January 19, 1912, p. 133)

(The above Railway Age article also mentioned that the mine was located a thousand feet above the southern side of the mouth of Miller Creek canyon, and required a one-mile tramway to get the coal down to the railroad, at the townsite of Black Hawk. When first opened, the mine employed 125 men.)

The Black Hawk coal mine was connected to the Black Hawk company's tipple by an incline tram road that was 7,400 feet long, with a drop from mine to tipple of 1,000 feet. (Robert S. Lewis, "The Book Cliffs Coal Field, Utah," AIME Transactions, Volume 50, 1914, page 675)

February 29, 1912
W. G. Sharp, of United States Smelting, Refining & Mining, had already taken all of the stock and bonds of Castle Valley Coal company, Black Hawk Coal company, and an option for Consolidated Fuel company. (Salt Lake Tribune, February 29, 1912)

May 23, 1912
The Black Hawk company contracted with Sam C. Sherrill of Salt Lake City to construct fifty cottages for the mine workers. (Coal Index: Eastern Utah Advocate, May 23, 1912, p. 5)

The first houses at Black Hawk were built in 1911, located east of the railroad tracks. In 1912 and 1913, other houses were located along the tramway between the mine and the tipple. (Madsen, p. 40)

June 1, 1912
"Coal Deal Consummated", news item about the United States Smelting, Refining & Mining paying $1.2 million for controlling interest in Consolidated Fuel on June 1, 1912, along with half interest in Southern Utah Railroad. USSRMCO purchased 800,000 shares of Consolidated Fuel at $1.50 each. Properties controlled by USSRMCO ("the Sharp interests") included Consolidated Fuel (the Hiawatha mine), the Black Hawk mine, and Castle Valley Coal Company. (Salt Lake Mining Review, June 15, 1912, pp. 19,20)

June 27, 1912
The Black Hawk Coal Company was sold to William G. Sharp and reorganized as a unit of the United States Smelting Company. At the same time, the new company announced that they would be spending $150,000 to double production. (Coal Index: Eastern Utah Advocate, June 27, 1912, p. 1, "Move Headquarters")

Sharp purchased the company from David Eccles and his associates. (Eccles, p. 267)

David Eccles died unexpectedly on December 5, 1912. (Eccles, p. 172)

July 13, 1912
"Salt Lake City -- The reorganized corporation of the Black Hawk Coal Co. has just begun a series of improvements at and around the Black Hawk mine, that will necessitate expenditures amounting to $150,000. Material is now on the ground at Black Hawk for fifty new miners' cottages, which will be erected at once. The company also is putting in automatic box-car loaders, electric locomotives, undercutting coal machines and railroad-yard betterments. The mine is now capable of producing 1000 tons daily, but after these improvements have been made the capacity will be doubled." (Coal Age, July 13, 1913, page 64)

January 3, 1913
Consolidated Fuel bought 160 acres at Black Hawk for $11,000.00. (Coal Index: Eastern Utah Advocate, January 3, 1913, p. 5)

August 1914
The name of the coal mine operated by Black Hawk Coal Company was apparently changed from "Black Hawk", to "Hiawatha". (Salt Lake Mining Review, July 30, 1914, page 32; Salt Lake Mining Review, August 15, 1914, page 28, "The Black Hawk Coal Company...at its Hiawatha mine at Black Hawk.")

July 30, 1914
The tipple at Black Hawk was built by Heyl & Patterson of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was projected to go into production by October 1, 1914. (Salt Lake Mining Review, July 30, 1914, p. 32)

October 15, 1914
The new steel tipple for the Black Hawk Coal Company at Black Hawk was to be put into commission on October 20, 1914. Its stated capacity was 3,000 tons every eight hours. (Salt Lake Mining Review, October 15, 1914, p. 22, "Coal Notes & Personals")

October 30, 1914
The new tipple construction included a new terminal and yard at Black Hawk, along with an increased water supply and a large number of new cottages for the miners. (Salt Lake Mining Review, October 30, 1914, p. 21)

November 30, 1914
News item about the tipple of the Black Hawk Coal Company having been put into commission. (Salt Lake Mining Review, November 30, 1914, p. 17, "Coal Notes & Personals")

January 31, 1915
A fire was discovered in the Black Hawk mine on Sunday January 31, 1915. The fire was still burning a month later. The fire was apparently extinguished in late March 1915, after burning for about two months. (Eastern Utah Advocate, February 5, 1915; February 26, 1915, "The Black Hawk mine is still burning..."; March 19, 1915, "Flames Not yet Subdued"; Carbon County News, April 2, 1915, "the last spark has been extinguished")

March 19, 1915
"Mammoth Coal Merger -- Four Big Utah Mines to be Consolidated -- Salt Lake City -- It is reported here that four large Utah coal companies will be merged on April 1 into one company, to be known as the United States Fuel Company, with a total capitalization of $10,000,000. The companies whose holdings are to be taken over by the big new company are the Castle Valley Coal company, the Consolidated Fuel company, the Black Hawk Coal company and the Panther Coal company. These four companies are the owners of extensive tracts of coal lands and producing coal mines in Carbon and Emery counties." (Carbon County News, March 19, 1915)

March 30, 1915
United States Fuel Company was incorporated in Nevada on March 30, 1915. (Nevada Secretary of State, entity C208-1915; revoked in December 1991, reinstated in February 1992, still active as of July 2013, offices in Memphis, Tennessee)

September 1915
News item about the town of Black Hawk changing its name to Hiawatha "about a month to six weeks ago." (September 1915). (Salt Lake Mining Review, October 15, 1915, p. 21, "Coal Notes & Personals")

The Utah Company was incorporated in Maine on March 26, 1912, as a holding company subsidiary of USSR&M. The Utah Company was shown in 1916 as holding 100 percent of the following companies, except as noted.

January 3, 1916
United States Fuel Company filed articles of incorporation with Utah secretary of state. Capitalized for $10 million, with incorporators being E. L. Carpenter, Moroni Heiner, E. R. Gibson, G. E. Forrester and H. R. Mcmillan. the company was to take over the interests of Consolidated Fuel Company, Castle Valley Coal Company, Black Hawk Coal Company, Utah Coal Sales Company, and a number of smaller coal mines in Emery and Carbon counties. United States Fuel Company was organized in Nevada. (News Advocate, January 7, 1916, page 1, "Monday")

December 7, 1917
The Black Coal Company mortgage was released on December 7, 1917. (Emery County Book C, p. 206)

More Information

Consolidated Fuel Company -- Information about the mines in Miller Creek Canyon, including the original Consolidated Fuel mine at East Hiawatha or Old Hiawatha, and Southern Utah Railroad.

Castle Valley Coal Company -- Information about the parent company of Castle Valley Railroad

Panther Coal Company -- Information about the Panther Coal Company and its mine near Castle Gate, served by Utah Railway; opened in 1912, closed in 1937.

United States Fuel -- Information about the mines of United States Fuel Company, the merger of Consolidated Fuel, Castle Valley Coal and Black Hawk Coal companies, served by Utah Railway after 1914.

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