Town of Hiawatha

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Hiawatha Town

The town of Hiawatha was the center of operations for the United States Fuel Company. It was where many employees lived, and where coal was loaded into rail cars. The rail cars came from Utah Railway's large rail yard immediately east of the large coal preparation plant and rail car loadout.

Located 18 miles southwest of Price, the town of Hiawatha grew following the opening of the first mine in 1908. Another nearby mine, the Castle Valley Coal mine at Mohrland, was opened soon after, and for a time there were three towns: East Hiawatha, Hiawatha and Black Hawk. In 1912 the U.S. Fuel Company purchased and consolidated the two mines, and the (East) Hiawatha post office was closed. The town government moved to Black Hawk and the name changed to Hiawatha. Population fluctuated with the boom and bust cycles of mining, but the community had a store, post office, church, amusement hall, doctor and doctor's office, a boardinghouse and dormitory and school through the eighth grade along with rows of neat frame homes.

The town of Hiawatha, owned by U.S. Fuel, was developed during World War I. The population in 1985 was about 200. At one time, the town's population reached nearly 1500, but in the mid-1950s, and the 1960s, the population declined to about 150, in response to the diminished national importance of coal as an energy source. The Hiawatha townsite covered an area of about 55 acres.

August 2, 1909
An application was made to the U. S. Post Office Department to establish a post office at Hiawatha. (Post Office Department Reports of Site Locations, 1837-1950; M1126; Roll 594; Image 749; https://catalog.archives.gov/id/68774429?objectPage=749)

(The description given on the above application shows the location as being at the midpoint of Section 28, very near the boundary of Section 28 and Section 27 in Township 15 South, Range 8 East. This was at the west end of the row of houses of what later became known as East Hiawatha, along the Southern Utah Railroad's track along Miller Creek.)

March 24, 1910
""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." (Eastern Utah Advocate, March 24, 1910)

As early as June 1911, there was a company-owned "Hiawatha Mercantile Company." (Eastern Utah Advocate, June 29, 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, 1984, page 35)

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. (C. H. Madsen, Carbon County, A History, 1947, p. 40)

September 26, 1911
The Carbon County commission accepted the petition for the incorporation of the Town of Hiawatha. The petition was signed by 70 voters in the new town. (Carbon County News, September 29, 1911, "Tuesday" which was September 26th)

(This would have been the original town of Hiawatha, located at and near the mine portals, and along the tramway of the original Hiawatha mine of the Consolidated Fuel company.)

(East Hiawatha was a row of houses along the north side of the tracks of the Southern Utah railroad, across Miller Creek from the rail car loadout at the east end and lower end of the inclined tramway. This was also where the Hiawatha post office was.)

August 1914
The name of the coal mine operated by Black Hawk Coal Company was 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.")

October 22, 1914
In the elections of November 1914, polling places included the mine office at "West Hiawatha" [at the mine] and the city hall at "East Hiawatha." (Carbon County News, October 22, 1914)

August 21, 1915
"The post office at Blackhawk, Carbon County, has been discontinued. Hereafter the mail will be sent to Hiawatha and supplies to Salt Lake City." (Deseret News, August 21, 1915)

August 27, 1915
"Dispatches from Washington, D. C., announce that the postoffice at Black Hawk has been discontinued. Hereafter Black Hawk citizens will get their mail at Hiawatha-East Hiawatha." (The Sun, August 27, 1915)

September 1915
News item about the town of Black Hawk (or Blackhawk) 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")

October 1915
The Carbon County commission designated voter registration agents for all three towns: East Hiawatha, West Hiawatha, and Black Hawk. (The Sun, October 8, 1915)

Also by October 1915, there were company-owned Carbon-Emery stores at Mohrland, Hiawatha, East Hiawatha and Black Hawk. (The Sun, October 8, 1915)

The following comes from "The Historical Guide to Utah Ghost Towns" by Stephen L. Carr, published in 1972 and enlarged in 1974.

It is notable that coal miners, like the precious metal prospectors, named their strikes after the first thing that came into their heads. It is entirely possible that the discoverer of the Hiawatha mine had been reading Henry Wadsworth Longfellow the night before he located the coal in a cradle of Gentry Mountain at the site of an old abandoned ranch. In 1909, shortly after the mine was developed, a small coal railroad was built directly up to the coal docks from Price. The town of Hiawatha enlarged to 500 people by 1911 and was incorporated. Another mine and tiny village nearby named Blackhawk also had a post office and in 1915 the Hiawatha post office was closed, the town government was moved to Blackhawk and the whole community was then called Hiawatha. Earlier, in 1914, the Utah Railway had built down from Helper and the older, extremely steep track to Price was abandoned.

The United States Fuel Company, with headquarters in Hiawatha, built homes, stores, school, a recreation hall, hotel for visiting dignitaries, and even several different churches. The company operated a fine dairy farm outside of the city. Townsfolk were conscientious in planting lawns, shrubs, trees and in beautifying the townsite.

From 1940-50, 1500 residents lived in some 200 homes and apartment buildings. Mining operations have fallen off markedly in the last twenty years till now only twenty-five homes and apartments are left housing 160 people. The schoolhouse and town hall have been recently razed but a small grocery store, post office and gasoline station still serve the town.

State Highway 122 strikes westward off State Highway 10, eight miles south of Price, and runs about nine and a half miles into Hiawatha. Three and a half miles along this road, State Highway 50 swings off northwestward seven and a half miles into Wattis.

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