Utah Fuels the West
Utah's coal industry and the railroads that served it
By Don Strack
This page was last updated on July 18, 2002
(Incomplete… research continues)
Old Hiawatha Mine
The original mine in Miller Creek Canyon at Hiawatha, later known as East Hiawatha or Old Hiawatha.
- Consolidated Fuel Company
- Southern Utah Railroad
In 1907 coal was found in Miller Creek Canyon, the site of present day Hiawatha. This led to the organization of the Consolidated Fuel Company to develop 1,700 acres of land which included those same coal deposits. (Eastern Utah Advocate, October 24, 1907)
Ten separate parcels of land, each a quarter section containing 160 acres (total of 1,600 acres), were sold to the Consolidated company on October 15, 1907. (Carbon County Miscellaneous Records Book 3-A, pp. 436-445, 614-616)
The Consolidated Fuel Company was incorporated on October 16, 1907. The corporation was involuntarily dissolved on October 5, 1927. (Utah corporation, index number 6618)
Just six weeks earlier, on August 31, 1907, the same people also organized the Southern Utah Railroad to haul their coal from their new Miller Creek mine twenty‑three miles north to Price, where the new railroad would connect with the Denver & Rio Grande. (Utah corporation, index number 6549)
Early press reports misnamed the railroad, calling it the Utah Southern Railroad, after the pioneering railroad of the 1870s and 1880s that operated south of Salt Lake City. (Coal Index: Eastern Utah Advocate, June 6, 1907; June 13, 1907; June 20, 1907)
Work began on developing the mine in Miller Creek as soon as the coal company was organized. In February 1908, work was halted and the coal stockpiled until the railroad reached the mine. (Zehnder, p. 34)
Originally the route for the railroad was to be constructed to connect with the D&RGW at a point about four miles north of Price, which would have shortened the length to about twenty miles. The connection was changed to Price after the citizens showed that they would support the direct connection between Price and the Miller Creek area. Officers of the Southern Utah Railroad stated that the railroad would build from Price rather than Helper if Price puts up approximately $8,500.00. (Coal Index: Eastern Utah Advocate, March 12, 1908, p. 1. "Is Now Up To The People Of Price")
The land for the new depot was donated by the publisher of the local newspaper, R. W. Crockett. (Eastern Utah Advocate, May 13, 1909, "Work On New Road Progresses")
During early November 1908 the Southern Utah began construction. The work at the southern-most seven miles, beginning at Miller Creek, was being done by three separate grading crews of the Ely Construction Company of Springville, at a reported cost of $25,000.00. Ely's manager was C. L. Crandall. At the same time, there were three crews of surveyors out on the line. (Eastern Utah Advocate, November 5, 1908, "Down To Actual Work…")
By mid November there were 150 men and 85 teams working at grading the Southern Utah. The contract for the grading of the final eight miles into Price had not yet been let. (Eastern Utah Advocate, November 19, 1908)
The development of the mine of Consolidated Fuel was progressing well, with the rails for the mine trackage having been delivered. The destination for the Southern Utah Railroad beyond those first southern seven miles from the mine are as yet unknown. (Eastern Utah Advocate, November 26, 1908)
During early December 1908, the contract for the remaining eight miles of the line into Price was let also to the Ely Construction Company, making them the sole contractor for the entire job. C. L. Crandall was the president in the Ely company. Arthur A. Sweet was the general manager of the Southern Utah Railroad. (Eastern Utah Advocate, December 10, 1908)
In December 1908, the three largest entries for coal lands, up to that time, were made at the U. S. Land Office by Charles Croft, John Heiner, Arthur Tribe, and Charles Heiner, all at Miller Creek. (Coal Index: Eastern Utah Advocate, December 10, 1908, p. 1)
By the first week of February 1909, bad weather was delaying work all along the line, with work almost being at a standstill. Work was progressing at a point eight miles north of Miller Creek. A week later, a bad storm hit and brought work to a near complete halt. While waiting for better weather, the horses of the contract graders were pastured at Huntington. There were some delays in the acquisition of a right-of-way between the Price River, requiring condemnation proceedings in the courts. The route from the crossing of the Price River into Price had been surveyed and staked out. Chief Engineer of the road was named Williamson. (Eastern Utah Advocate, February 4, 1909, "Bad Weather Is Delaying Work")
Only a crew of forty Greeks were working in a cut eight miles north of Miller Creek. (Eastern Utah Advocate, February 11, 1909)
In mid February 1909, general manager Sweet purchased twenty-one miles of 56-pound rail in Chicago for use in the construction of the Southern Utah Railroad. He also made arrangements for the purchase of the road's Shay and one other locomotive. Construction work was at a complete standstill because of the bad weather. (Eastern Utah Advocate, February 18, 1909)
In April 1909 the railroad's general manager, F. A. Sweet, announced on the 26th that the company had purchased an eighty-ton, consolidated, direct connected locomotive and that it would be delivered in about seventy-five days. The company had also purchased a six-passenger gasoline passenger car to run between Price and the mines for the convenience of the officers and to carry the mail and express. Construction work on bridges was to begin the next week, using a home-made pile driver. Switch stands, frogs, and turnouts, along with other needed construction tools and equipment were ordered and were to be delivered within a week. Ties for the connection with D&RG were being laid. (Eastern Utah Advocate, April 29, 1909, "Engine And Materials For Southern Coming")
By mid May 1909 the connection with the Denver & Rio Grande at Price was complete and the rails were being laid in the direction of the Price River. Also the contract for the construction of the depot in Price had been let. The depot was to be thirty by sixty feet in size. (Eastern Utah Advocate, May 13, 1909, "Work On New Road Progresses") (A line drawing of the new Southern Utah depot front elevation was printed in Eastern Utah Advocate, May 20, 1909)
Ties and timbers for the road and its bridge work were being taken from Miller Creek. The government stopped the work of cutting timbers, causing some delay, and the timbers may be taken from Cedar Creek. The bridge over the Price River is complete and the pile driver had moved on to Drunkard's Wash, the site of the next bridge, of eight more to be completed. (Eastern Utah Advocate, June 3, 1909, "Southern Utah Work Goes On")
On June 19, 1909 the Consolidated Fuel Company purchased an "improved electric stationary " Box Car Loader with a 50 H.P. 440 volts, 60 cycle motor from the Ottumwa Box Car Loader Company of Ottumwa, Iowa. The purchase price was $2,750.00 and the loader was to be delivered on or before September 1, 1909. The Loader company agreed to furnish a competent mechanic, at the coal company's expense, to oversee the installation of the loader. The coal company was to furnish the foundation, steam and electrical connections and any changes to the tracks, chutes, and tipple necessary for the satisfactory operation of the loader. (Carbon County Miscellaneous Records Book 3-B, p. 65)
In July 1909 Southern Utah leased D&RG 4-6-0 number 503 for use in the construction of its line. The delivery of their own locomotive had been delayed due to the builder having a large backlog of orders. F. A. Sweet, general manager, just returned from the East where he had purchased all the machinery and equipment for the Miller Creek mine, stating that everything would be electrical and would be the best coal mining machinery ever brought into the state. The Price River bridge was being strengthened after being weakened by a recent flood. (Eastern Utah Advocate, July 29, 1909, "Southern Utah Pushing Along")
By the end of the second week of August, eighty to a hundred men were laying track, installing culverts and bridges, and surfacing the line. Steel rail had been laid beyond the irrigation canal of the Irrigated Lands Company, a distance of about five miles. Tracklaying would progress from then on at about a half mile per day. The Price depot had been completed and was being used as a company headquarters. F. S. Hadley, formerly of the Kenilworth company, was the chief clerk and J. H. Riddle was the new general superintendent of the railroad. (Eastern Utah Advocate, August 5, 1909, "Southern Utah Is Now Making Half Mile Or More Every Day")
On August 7, 1909, with about five miles of Southern Utah's track laid the road's bridge over the Price River was washed out, stranding the leased D&RG engine on the other side. (Eastern Utah Advocate, August 12, 1909)
By mid August 1909 seven miles of track had been laid. (Eastern Utah Advocate, August 19, 1909)
On August 24, 1909, the Ely Construction Company filed a lien against the Southern Utah Railroad in the amount of $7,175.38 for construction work completed between December 8, 1908 and June 29, 1909. (Carbon County Miscellaneous Records Book 3-B, p. 29)
On August 25, 1909 Southern Utah Railroad agreed to lease its road number 100, a direct locomotive, with construction serial number 1088, from the Lima Locomotive & Machine Company. The lease was for the period of one year while the purchase price of $11,000.00 was being paid off in four equal payments of $2,750.00. The lease started on November 9, 1909. The locomotive was fully paid for by May 18, 1912. (Carbon County Miscellaneous Records Book 3-B, p. 376)
Another flood damaged the Southern Utah's bridge over the Price River again on August 31, 1909. (Eastern Utah Advocate, September 2, 1909)
By late September, there was eleven miles of track completed, reaching the Miller ranch. (Eastern Utah Advocate, September 23, 1909)
By mid October, the deadline of the joint operating agreement, twenty miles of line was laid with track, with just a half mile of rail remaining to be laid. The completion of the line to Miller Creek included a connection with the tramway from Consolidated's Hiawatha mine, two miles further on, along with laying ties for the connection to the Castle Valley line. Also during mid October a sample car of Hiawatha coal was shipped to Salt Lake City. All that remained to complete the line was some surfacing and to complete the bridge at the mouth of Miller Creek canyon. Many cars of machinery were in the Price yards, at the end of track, and on the two sidings along the line. (Eastern Utah Advocate, October 14, 1909, "Twenty Miles Of Rails Are Down")
In an inspection trip in October 1909 with some of his Salt Lake City friends, general manager Fred Sweet rode out to the end of track in mid October, using the gasoline motor car. He was "well satisfied" with the road's progress. (Salt Lake Mining Review, October 15, 1909, p. 23, from the Advocate, Price, Utah)
The Southern Utah Railroad received its first locomotive, number 100, a 2-8-0 from Lima Locomotive Company in Lima, Ohio. The new locomotive was delivered on Wednesday, October 20, 1909. During late October 1909, a large force of carpenters, masons, electricians and laborers were at work at the tipple and mine. (Eastern Utah Advocate, October 21, 1909, "Southern Utah Engine Arrives")
In late October 1909 the Southern Utah completed its line to East Hiawatha, the site of the under-construction, loading tipple for Consolidated Fuel's Hiawatha mine. The bridge over Miller Creek at the mouth of the canyon was not yet completed. (Eastern Utah Advocate, October 28, 1909, "Order Is Placed For New Engine")
On November 30, 1909 the Southern Utah Railroad purchased the entire flow of Miller Creek from William H. Sweet, secretary of the company. (Carbon County Miscellaneous Records Book 3-B, p. 59)
Hiawatha was chosen as a name for the mine by Fred Sweet, and was named after a famous coal mine in Pennsylvania, which itself was named for Hiawatha, a famous chief of the Five Nations. (Sun Advocate & Helper Journal, January 2, 1975, p. 2)
(COMMENT: Another, undocumented, version has it simply that Longfellow's famous 1855 poem, Song of Hiawatha, was one of Fred Sweet's favorites. The version of him naming it after a larger, more famous mine in Pennsylvania makes a bit more sense.)
Construction and finishing work on the new railroad continued during November and December 1909. (Eastern Utah Advocate, January 13, 1910, "First coal out of Hiawatha")
A later account said that the first train of Hiawatha coal was shipped on January 1, 1910. (Eastern Utah Advocate, March 24, 1910)
By mid February the Southern Utah Railroad was shipping ten cars (about 300 tons) per day from the Hiawatha mine. (Eastern Utah Advocate, February 17, 1910)
By early March, the mine was shipping twelve cars a day. The Hiawatha mine was, in March 1910, the only mine in Utah to be equipped with electric shaker screens, providing a clean coal, free from dust and slack. (Eastern Utah Advocate, March 24, 1910, "One Of Carbon County's Greatest Coal Camps", with photograph of Southern Utah number 100, courtesy of Lima)
"ONE OF CARBON COUNTY's GREATEST OF COAL CAMPS"
(from Eastern Utah Advocate, March 24, 1910, with photographs)
"Twelve Cars Or More Coming Out of Hiawatha Daily Into Price"
"Cedar Creek the Next Big Shipper On the List"
"The Consolidated Fuel company owns the stock of the Southern Utah Railroad company, which connects the mines at Hiawatha with the main line of the Denver & Rio Grande at Price. This Line is twenty and a half miles long, and of slight grade, and constructed on standard gauge, so that the company will have no difficulty in delivering its product to the Denver & Rio Grande at Price, one hundred and twenty miles from Salt Lake.
"At this time about twelve cars of coal is daily coming out of the mines of the Consolidated Fuel company at Hiawatha, but of course this is being gradually increased as development progresses. General Superintendent Robert Howard, who has been with some of the best properties in the country, states that about a hundred men are now employed underground and at surface work, while some seventy-five are with the railroad company surfacing the tracks under the direction of ( ) E. Groves, the general superintendent, and by early spring will have the roadbed of the Southern Utah in as good shape as any new road in the entire west.
"To the Locomotive World at Lima, Ohio, (we) are indebted for a picture of the Southern Utah's locomotive, as well as the article reproduced below:
Among the prominent achievements in Utah during 1909 none are of more far reaching importance or of more lasting benefit than the success of the Consolidated Fuel company, composed of Salt Lake City men. The company owns several thousand acres of coal lands in Carbon county in the very midst of one of the most extensive coal fields yet discovered in any Western state. These coal lands contain five large veins of coal of superior quality, the veins being separated by massive sand stones, roof and floor, precluding the possibility of explosion and obviating the necessity of timbering.
The lower vein is eighteen feet thick, clean, pure coal and lies nearly flat, making the operation of extraction a simple one, consisting entirely of drift mining. The dip of the veins being less than 2 per cent offers an ideal condition for electrical motor haulage. This eighteen foot vein has already been opened and developed by one and a half miles of underground workings, all thoroughly ventilated by parallel tunnels and the latest mine fan ventilators. Two large mines are being opened by the company, one on either side of the canyon, which will afford an output of four thousand tons per day when fully developed, and give employment to eight hundred men.
This coal property has every natural advantage possible. The coal will be known as the Hiawatha, named after the new town and post office at the coal mines of the Consolidated Fuel company, 18 miles southwest of Price, formerly Miller Creek. The company owns all water of the three forks of Miller Creek, insuring an abundant supply of pure spring water for domestic, steam and cooking purposes. Ten thousand dollars has been expended upon this gravity water system which connects all parts of the mine and town and affords excellent pressure.
Price is situated on the main line of the Denver & Rio Grande railway, and 121 miles east of Salt Lake City. The Consolidated Fuel company in the past few months have constructed and now have in operation, twenty miles of standard gauge railroad running from Price, in a southwesterly direction to Hiawatha where the mines are located. For fourteen miles out of Price the road traverses a comparatively level country, adapted to agriculture and stock raising, and further along towards the mineral district is an abundance of timber and water and an unlimited quantity of building stone equal to the stone used in the City and County building in Salt Lake City. This railroad is known as the Southern Utah railroad. The company has expended four hundred thousand dollars on the railroad line and mine equipment, which is the finest modern equipment which skill and money can buy.
Everything will be run by electricity, including motor engines for mine haulage and the operation of the shaker screens. This is the only coal company in Utah equipped with shaker screens, which will enable the company to produce a clean coal free from slack. The town of Hiawatha will be electrically lighted and also the main haulage avenue in the mine, thus reducing the liability of accidents.
The magnitude of this property may be imagined when it is stated that should ten thousand tons of coal be produced daily for fifty years, its resources would not be exhausted. Hiawatha coal has been pronounced by some of the best authorities of the United States as superior to any coal now upon the local market, and equal to Connellsville, Pa., coal in every respect and excelling Connellsville coal for coking purposes, as the Hiawatha coal contains but one-half the sulphur and no phosphorus.
The Southern Utah Railroad company, which is controlled by the Consolidated Fuel company, has recently purchased from the Lima Locomotive & Machine company of Lima, O., and placed into service, a consolidation locomotive, a photograph of which is shown herewith. This locomotive is of modern construction, cast steel used in the driving wheels, boxes and frames, and the eccentric straps are fitted with bronze creeper rings, the Stephenson link motion, with plain flat balanced valves, is used.
Shipments of coal on the Southern Utah started January 1st, and as soon as there is a sufficient amount of car equipment available the road will be taxed to its capacity. While much the larger part of the traffic will be the movement of coal, considerable revenue will also be derived from passengers and supplies to the several growing settlements in Carbon and Emery counties to the south of Price, which up to this time could only be reached by wagon haul.
It is evident that good judgement was exercised in locating the new line, from the fact that while the country is considerably broken in approaching the southern terminus the curves have been contained to a maximum of twelve degrees and the grades not over 4 per cent. On the steepest grades and sharpest curves, they have recently ordered from Lima Locomotive & Machine company a heavy Shay geared locomotive which is expected to be engaged in handling the tonnage on the new line.
About four miles from the property of the Consolidated Fuel company, in a like range of country, is located the mines of the Castle Valley Coal company. The latter company have now under construction eight miles of track in order to form a junction with the Southern Utah at a point fifteen miles from Price, from which place the Southern Utah is expected to serve the purpose of both companies during the early stages of shipment. The Castle Valley Coal company have also ordered from the Lima Locomotive & Machine company and placed in commission a consolidation locomotive, a duplicate of the one now in service by the Southern Utah.
The completion of the Southern Utah road exemplifies the perseverance of some of the Salt Lake City citizens, and links with bands of steel the largest coal fields of the highest quality ever discovered, with the vast and ever growing market of Utah and the West. Numerous substantial buildings have been erected at Hiawatha, among which is a two-story hotel now in service, an elegant stone store building, forty by sixty feet, a stone hoist building, a stone power house, and many other stone buildings erected at a cost of twenty thousand dollars.'"
"Among those connected with the company are F. A. Sweet, B. F. Bauer, A. A. Sweet, L. H. Curtis, F. W. Francis, W. H. Sweet, C. T. Lemley, E. D. Miller, C. M. Sweet, W. J. Burton, C. W. Reece, and J. H. R. Franklin." (Eastern Utah Advocate, March 24, 1910)
The Hiawatha mine of the Consolidated Fuel Company held two principle coal veins, called "measures". The main measure was eighteen feet thick and was worked from two openings which faced each other across Miller Creek canyon, level with the upper terminal of the tramway. A second measure, located about twenty feet above the lower measure, was six and a half feet thick and contained coal of superior coking quality. (Higgins: Consolidated, p. 18)
Hiawatha No. 1 was on the south side and Hiawatha No. 2 was on the north side. (Higgins: Hiawatha, p. 15-18)
The two mines together had a capacity of 2,000 tons per day. Twelve-ton Goodman electric locomotives were used to move the loaded mine cars along the main haulage way within the mines out to the surface at the upper terminal of the 10,500 foot long gravity tramway, with one locomotive assigned to each of the two mines. The in-mine gathering was done with five-ton Goodman locomotives. The mine cars each had a capacity of three and a half tons and were assembled into twenty car trains, called "trips", which were lowered by way of the two-mile gravity tramway to the rail car loading tipple at East Hiawatha. The tramway was controlled by a brake and a winding engine at the upper terminal, but was operated by gravity. The controlling mechanism was located at the upper terminal and consisted of a General Electric 82-horsepower induction motor connected to two tandem and coupled six-inch drums (one for lowering and the other for raising), the speed being controlled by a clutch. The trips of cars were connected to their respective drums by two miles of one-inch cable. The lowering of twenty loaded cars raised a similar train of twenty empty mine cars back to the mine. The two inside rails of Consolidated Fuel's double track mine-to-tipple tramway were set at standard gauge to allow the operation of Southern Utah's Shay locomotive to the mine when the necessity arose. (Higgins: Consolidated, pp. 18,19)
(NOTE: A photo accompanying this article shows that the double tracks of the gravity tramway were laid used long, single length ties, giving credence to the claim that the inside rails of the tramway were standard gauge to allow the Shay to get to the mine, although the gauge looks much wider than the two tramway tracks, which would have had a gauge of either forty or forty-two inches.)
The wooden tipple was fully modern in construction and design, using equipment furnished by Link-Belt of Chicago. Five different grades of coal were shipped in rail cars from the East Hiawatha tipple: regular lump (eight-inch minus); domestic lump (six-inch minus); nut or egg coal; and slack coal. The fifth grade was "especially large lump", with lumps weighing as much as a hundred pounds, and used mainly for storage purposes. Also at East Hiawatha was the company's electric power plant which generated power for the mine's hoisting, pumping, hauling and lighting, and for the coal grading screens at the tipple. The power plant used slack and waste coal from the mine as fuel. The Hiawatha mine was a success from the start. (Higgins: Consolidated, p. 19)
In 1910 the mine produced 152,000 tons of coal. (Higgins: Consolidated, p. 20, approximately 3,800 forty-ton car loads, or about 12 cars per day for a 300 day year.)
Within a year of May 1911, plans called for the increase of the then-current 2,000 tons per day to 4,000 or 5,000 tons per day. To accommodate this increase, plans also called for a new, steel tipple to be constructed at East Hiawatha. Expansion plans also called for the construction of coke ovens, to allow the use of the reserve of coking coal, which had been tested against coking coal from Pennsylvania and found to be superior. (Higgins: Hiawatha, p. 18)
The mine to tipple gravity tramway had a grade of nine percent, and was shown as the beginning two mile portion of the Southern Utah Railroad. (condensed profile of the Southern Utah Railroad)
On Monday evening, April 3, 1910, the Southern Utah Railroad received its Shay locomotive number 50. The new locomotive was taken out on the line for the first time on April 6th. (Eastern Utah Advocate, April 7, 1910)
The 70-ton Shay locomotive, construction serial number 2274, was ordered on December 28, 1909. The railroad leased the locomotive from Lima Locomotive & Machine Company of Lima, Ohio, for the period of a year, while the purchase price of $10,810.00 was paid off, in four equal payments of $2,702.50. The lease was dated February 23, 1910, and began on April 20, 1910. (Carbon County Miscellaneous Records Book 3-B, pp. 98,99) The locomotive was fully paid for by May 18, 1912, when the title was formally released to the railroad. (Carbon County Miscellaneous Records Book 3-B, p. 376)
The construction records of the Lima Locomotive & Machine Works show the Southern Utah Shay as being given construction serial number 2274, and a completion date of March 15, 1910. (Koch, builder's record)
(COMMENT: The Shay locomotive may not have operated away from the East Hiawatha vicinity, with two photos published in contemporary sources (1910 and 1911) showing the Shay switching cars at the East Hiawatha tipple. Note was made in 1910 that the Shay was also used to take cars of materials directly up to the mine, over the center rails of the nine percent gravity tramway. No mention of the Southern Utah Shay is made in any sources after the photo in 1911. It is not shown as being part of the Southern Utah at the time its locomotives were leased to the Utah Railway in 1917. The locomotive was sold, on an unknown date, to Booth-Kelley Limber Company in Wendling, Oregon, as their number 5.)
(RESEARCH: Check the ICC valuation equipment records for either Southern Utah or Utah Railway ownership of the Shay.)
The grades of the Southern Utah varied from 0.54 and 4.9 percent; all downhill towards Price. Mile post distances on the Southern Utah were measured in miles from the mine opening at the Hiawatha mine. The first two miles were those of the gravity tramway, and had a downward grade of 9.1 percent. The line from Mile Post 2 at the East Hiawatha loading tipple down to Castle Junction (Mile Post 3.25) was 4.9 percent down. The seven miles from Castle Junction down to Mile Post 11 was 3.8 percent. The two miles from Mile Post 11 down to Mile Post 13 was almost level at 0.54 percent. The next two miles from Mile Post 13 down to Mile Post 15 was an even 2 percent. From Mile Post 15 down to Price (Mile Post 19.5) was 2.6 percent. (Condensed Profile of the Southern Utah Railroad)
Stations served by the Southern Utah Railroad included, Price, Gaylord, Millerton, Franklin, Castle Junction, and East Hiawatha. (Public Service Commission of Utah, case 314)
Business was good for the two coal companies. To show off the success, on Sunday August 7, 1910, Fred Sweet accompanied noted Salt Lake photographer Harry Shipler out on the railroad line and at the Miller Creek mine, where Shipler took twenty-five views that would be used in the promotion of the coal companies' products. (Eastern Utah Advocate, August 11, 1910)
(PHOTOGRAPHS: Supposedly, all Shipler negatives are in the possession of the Utah State Historical Society in Salt Lake City.)
By December 1910, Consolidated Fuel was producing 1,200 tons per day. (Coal Index: Eastern Utah Advocate, December 1, 1910, p. 1)
Consolidated Fuel purchased an additional 1,500 acres of coal lands in March 1911, bringing its holdings up to over 3,000 acres. (Salt Lake Mining Review, March 30, 1911, p. 32)
On the financial side, on May 1, 1911 the Consolidated Fuel Company and the Southern Utah Railroad Company arranged for a $600,000.00 mortgage with Utah Savings & Trust Company of Salt Lake City. Utah Savings attempted to sell bonds in the equivalent amount but was unsuccessful. The mortgage was released on August 28, 1911. The cost of constructing the improvements at the mine, together with the railroad had been $750,000.00, half of which had been from a earlier mortgage. (Carbon County Mortgages Book 4-C, pp. 123-137,185-189) (COMMENT: Pages 125 and 126 contain a complete description of the property and improvements subject to the mortgage, of both the coal company and the railroad.)
Another mortgage was filed between the coal company, the railroad, and Continental & Commercial Trust & Savings Company of Illinois on September 1, 1911. The description of the property of the Southern Utah at the time of the mortgage shows four locomotives: numbers 50, 100, 102, and 104. Consolidated Fuel owned all of the stock of the Southern Utah Railroad at the time of the mortgage. (Carbon County Mortgages Book 4-C, pp. 205-243) The mortgage was released by Continental on October 11, 1923. (Carbon County Mortgages Book 4-J, p. 201)
A special Southern Utah Railroad stockholders meeting was held to get Consolidated Fuel to extend its credit to the Southern Utah to allow the railroad to extend its line to Salina Canyon. (Eastern Utah Advocate, August 3, 1911)
The completion of the Southern Utah, and the shipment of the first coal from the Hiawatha mine was also the start of the joint operation of the Southern Utah's line from the connection with the Castle Valley line, north to Price.
