Summit County Coal Mines

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This page was last updated on August 27, 2026.

Overview

The two principle districts in Summit County where coal was mined were in Chalk Creek Canyon, directly east of Coalville, and in Grass Creek Canyon, about six miles north of Coalville.

Coal was a badly needed resource as a source of home fuel for Utah's growing population, and to fuel its rapidly growing economy, to fuel the fires of the territory's growing mining, smelting, and manufacturing industries. In 1854, the Territorial Legislature offered a $1,000 reward to anyone who discovered a source of coal within 40 miles of Salt Lake City.

January 14, 1854
The following comes from the January 19, 1854 issue of the Deseret News.

Resolution
Offering a Reward for the Discovery of a
Coal Bed near Great Salt Lake City
Be it resolved by the Governor and Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah, That the sum of one thousand dollars be and the same is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the public Treasury not otherwise appropriated, as a reward to any resident of this Territory who will open a good coal-mine not less than eighteen inches thick, within forty miles of Great Salt Lake City, in any accessible position, and that can be profitably worked; and when the Governor shall become satisfied of the fact, he may draw on the Treasury of the Territory for the amount in favor of the person entitled to it; and the Governor shall control said coal mine until further provided for by law.
Approved Jan. 14th, 1854

The coal in Summit County at and near Coalville was worked for a generation, from the 1860s to the 1880s, when the discovery of the Castle Gate coal seams in the very early 1880s diminished the value of Coalville's product. Coal coming from these Castle Gate mines, and others in Carbon County was better quality, and shipment by railroad made it cheaper, especially in the major markets in Salt Lake City and Ogden. The coal coming from Carbon County limited the Summit County mines to local residents and to customers in the mines and mills of Park City, and the cement plant at Devil's Slide.

First Coal In Utah

The coal mines in Grass Creek and Chalk Creek canyons were about five years after the first coal mine in Utah, but they were the first coal mines in northern Utah.

The coal mine at Wales in the San Pete Valley in central Utah was the first commercial venture involving coal mining in Utah. The location of coal at what was called Coalbed, and later Wales, was first discovered in 1854 by John Rees and John Price. The San Pete coal mine was too far from Salt Lake City to claim the legislature's $1000 prize.

John Rees and others developed the San Pete coal mine to furnish coal that was used mostly within the local surrounding areas. Some of the coal was purchased at the mine for $4.00 per ton and hauled by wagon to Salt Lake City where it was sold for $30.00 to $35.00 per ton. The coal from Wales soon gained a reputation as being good for the making of coke, which is coal after it has been "distilled" with heat in the absence of air, producing a high quality source of fuel. In the west, coke was used mostly for blacksmithing, and later in the early smelters in Utah. In fact, Wales' coal was known as the best blacksmithing coal in Utah.

After the San Pete mine in 1854, and the Church mine in 1860, the next coal discovery was the Winter Quarters mine in Carbon County in 1873-1874, then the Castle Gate mine in 1881.

The first coal from Coalville arrived in Salt Lake City by rail on January 13, 1870, when two car loads of coal from the Wasatch Coal company at Coalville arrived in Salt Lake City. The coal was shipped on the Utah Central the entire distance from Echo on Union Pacific, using the trackage rights that were part of the September 1869 grading contract settlement between Union Pacific and Brigham Young.

By 1910, the most significant mines in Summit County were the Wasatch mine above Coalville, and the Grass Creek mines. The Wasatch or Weber mine was owned and operated by the Weber Coal Company, which was a part of the Ontario Mining & Milling Company of Park City. This mine was located on about 200 acres of coal land about two miles northeast of Coalville and was working a vein of ten feet in thickness. The output of the mine was about 300 tons per day.

In Grass Creek, the big mines were the Union Fuel mine, formerly known as the Church mine, and the Rees-Grass Creek Coal Company. The latter company was developing a mine one mile west of the Union Fuel Company on a lease from Union Pacific Coal Company, shipping about 100 tons per day. As mentioned, the market for Weber region coal was mainly Park City, and the cement plant located at Devil's Slide.

(Read about the coal mines of Summit County; from a 1947 history of Summit County prepared by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers)

(A portion of this research was completed on February 19 and 21, 1992 and on March 5, 1992 at Summit County courthouse in Coalville, Utah)

Contemporary Sources

Historical research is best when it focuses on contemporary sources (known as primary sources), and not on summaries produced up to a hundred years later (known as secondary sources). Contemporary sources include original documents and publications produced closest in time to the event itself, based on information from persons who witnessed the event. But in many cases, these sources can also be based on personal memory, or personal journals and diaries. Contemporary newspapers are also (usually) a good source.

Newspaper sources from the mid 1850s through to the 1890s only carried occasional stories about coal being mined in Summit County, popularly known as "Weber coal," named for the mines' close proximity to the Weber River. The mines above Coalville, in Chalk Creek Canyon, were regularly confused with each other and with the mines in Grass Creek Canyon, six miles to the north where the Church mine was located. Of course, the mine owners themselves gained from the confusion since they were using wagons to ship their coal to Salt Lake City, and selling it for whatever the market would bear. Weber Coal was Weber Coal, regardless of which mine it came from. In almost every case, the newspapers depended on whatever information was shared with them either from the mine owners as they made a point of visiting the newspaper offices, or from what were essentially letters to the editors, signed by anonymous "correspondents."

Grass Creek Coal Mines

Chalk Creek (Coalville) Coal Mines

Hauling Coal, Before The Railroad

After coal was found in Grass Creek Canyon and Chalk Creek Canyon above Coalville, the first shipments went by way of the rudimentary Territorial toll road between Echo and Salt Lake City that passed from the Weber River to Parleys Park, and through today's Parleys Canyon.

(Read about hauling coal to Salt Lake City by way of what later became U. S. Highway 189, and today id Interstate 80)

More Information

Union Pacific's Park City Branch

Summit County Railroad, 1871-1881

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