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)
Wattis Mine
Mining operations at the Wattis mine "began in 1916, when Wattis Brothers and Mr. Browning bought 160 acres from the United States and took steps to open the property for production. Coal was not shipped until autumn 1917, at which time the railroad was completed. The camp was named for W. H. Wattis, who sold the Wattis interests to the Lion Coal Company in 1919." (Madsen, p. 56)
On May 31, 1917 the Wattis Coal Company was organized, with E. O. Wattis of Ogden as president, and M. S. Browning, also of Ogden, as vice president, both holding each a quarter of the company's stock. (Utah corporation, index number 12741)
"WATTIS BRANCH (Industrial Spur). In 1917 the Wattis Coal Company (Name later changed to Lion Coal Corporation), in developing a mine at a point which was given the present name of Wattis, built a 2.5 miles spur track between Wattis and a point to connect with Utah Railway near Mile Post 18, later named Wattis Junction. Shipments commenced April 11, 1918. This trackage was maintained by the owner and service rendered by the Utah Railway Company at cost. The spur track was purchased by Utah Railway Company under agreement dated November 1, 1921. The cost of the Wattis industrial spur was $170,954.00." (Utah Railway: Manual, p. 24)
During late November 1917, Wattis Coal Company was constructing two miles of standard gauge railroad. Upon completion the tipple at the mine was to be built. The company expected to be shipping coal in March 1918. (Salt Lake Mining Review, November 30, 1917, p. 35, "Coal Notes & Personals")
The two mile spur from Utah Railway to the Wattis mine was to be completed about April 10. (Salt Lake Mining Review, March 30, 1918, p. 33, "Coal Notes & Personals")
Wattis Coal Company made the first trip over its surface tramway on March 18, 1918. Initial mine production was projected at 200 tons per day. (Salt Lake Mining Review, March 30, 1918, p. 33, "Coal Notes & Personals")
The Wattis mine shipped its first coal on April 11, 1918. (Utah Railway: Coal Mines)
On April 1, 1919, Utah Railway began taking shipments from the Wattis mine in the name of the Lion Coal Company, which had succeeded the Wattis Coal Company. (Utah Railway: Coal Mines)
On May 29, 1919, Lion Coal Company bought the property and interests of the Wattis Coal Company. (Utah corporation, index number 12741, Wattis Coal Company)
The Lion Coal Company was "founded" by David Eccles shortly before his death in 1912, and began operations four miles outside of Rock Springs, Wyoming. A railroad spur was constructed between the mine and Union Pacific Railroad, and completed in late 1912. In 1919 the Eccles-owned Lion Coal Company, valued at $2 million, merged with the Wattis Coal Company, valued at $1.5 million under the name of the Lion Coal Company. (Arrington: Eccles, p. 268)
The Lion Coal Company was incorporated in Utah on October 7, 1912. The corporation was "revoked" on September 29, 1934. (Utah corporation, index number 9782)
The railroad spur of the Lion Coal Company at Wattis was sold to Utah Railway on November 1, 1921. The 2.45 mile spur began at Utah Railway's mile post 18 and extended to its end 460 feet west of the coal company's coal tipple. The purchase price included a $20,000.00 cash down payment and a repayment schedule that consisted of free transportation of coal at a cost of fifteen cents per ton until the purchase price of $170,954.00 was paid off (about 1,006,000 tons of coal, or about 25,170 forty-ton car loads). With the coal company guaranteeing at least 100,000 tons of coal per year, the pay off would take about ten years. (Carbon County Miscellaneous Records Book 3-G, p. 393)
United States Fuel Company sued Lion Coal Company for encroachment. United States Fuel won the case, Lion Coal paid $173,004.00. (Coal Index: The Sun, April 30, 1926, p. 1)
Lion Coal Company was succeeded by the Lion Coal Corporation on January 1, 1931. (Utah Railway: Coal Mines)
Lion Coal Corporation operated the Wattis mine until 1964. In late 1964 the mine was purchased for its salvage value by Mountain States Machinery of Salt Lake City. When the salvage company realized that only about ten percent of the total coal reserves had been mined, it renamed the Lion Coal Corporation to the Plateau Mining Company and extraction work began. In 1967 the Wattis property, consisting of the Wattis vein (8.3 feet average thickness), the Third vein (8.8 feet), and the Hiawatha vein (5.9 feet) was sold to Plateau Mining Company (by that time owned by Star Point Holding Company), and the mine was returned to production. The Plateau company was acquired by United Nuclear Corporations on October 1, 1971. (Sun Advocate & Helper Journal, January 2, 1975, p. 3)
By 1978 Plateau had increased production to 1.5 million tons per year, using both continuous and traditional room-and-pillar mining methods. Coal was transported by truck for one mile, from the mine to the preparation plant, and by conveyor from the preparation plant to the Wattis unit train load-out on the Utah Railway. (Coal Age, Volume 83, number 3, March 1978, pp. 112-117)
In May 1980 Plateau Mining Company's parent company, UNC Industries, announced that they were interested in leaving the coal business. (Salt Lake Tribune, May 18, 1980)
During July 1980 Plateau Mining Company was shipping export coal for Japan from the Wattis mine. Kaiser Steel Company had shipped metallurgical coal for Japan's steel industry from its Sunnyside mine from April 1971 until March 1972. (Salt Lake Tribune, July 8, 1980)
