Utah Fuel Company

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This page was last updated on June 16, 2024.

Utah Fuel Company Mines

This is a general history of Utah Fuel Company. For more specific history of each of its coal mines, click on one of the links below:

Overview

"The Pleasant Valley Coal Company owns and operates the Winter Quarters, Castle Gate and Utah mines and the Utah Fuel Company owns the Sunnyside, Clear Creek and Somerset, Colorado mines. The former, or parent company, is a Utah corporation and the Utah Fuel Company is a New Jersey corporation. Both companies are managed and directed by the same force of executive officers and practically one board of directors. The Pleasant Valley Coal Company was organized about 1876 at the time the Sanpete and Winter Quarters mines were opened; the Utah Fuel Company was organized in 1887. The consolidation of the two companies took place in 1899 or 1900." (A. C. Watts, "Opening First Commercial Coal Mine Described" in Centennial Echos From Carbon County, 1948, page 35)

Utah Fuel Company was organized in 1887 as a subsidiary of the Denver & Rio Grande Western railroad. It remained a subsidiary of the railroad when the railroad was reorganized as the Rio Grande Western in 1889 to finance the conversion from narrow gauge to standard gauge. Utah Fuel Company was sold to the Denver & Rio Grande along with the Rio Grande Western in May 1901. The D&RG was forced to sell all of its stock in Utah Fuel in June 1918. The coal company was sold to William Salomon of New York for $4 million. (Athearn: Rio Grande, pp. 194, 195, 236)

Up to the turn of the century, most of the mining effort in Carbon County had been towards the development of the coking industry, in part to serve the "Smelting Capital of the West" at Salt Lake City. Sunnyside had built 200 coke ovens by 1902 and its coke production had reached 139,792 tons (about 2,800 carloads) for that year. By 1907 Sunnyside had 650 coke ovens and together with the 104 ovens at Castle Gate, along with some smaller operations, the total coke production for Carbon County was 324,692 tons, or over 12,800 railroad cars of coke. However, in 1908, with a major drop in demand, the coke production dropped over fifty percent to 134,195 tons. (Powell, Labor, p. 19)

"The Utah Fuel Co. was the pioneer company in this State and introduced electrically operated locomotives into its mines about 1891. Since 1891 this company has operated at one time or another 8 mines in Utah and 1 in Colorado, all using 500-volt, d. c. locomotives." (U. S. Bureau of Mines Information Circular 6747, "Use of Electric Power in Castle Gate No. 2 Mine, Utah Fuel Co.," October 1933)

Timeline

Pleasant Valley Coal Company was organized about 1876, at about the time the San Pete and Winter Quarters mines were opened. Utah Fuel Company was organized in 1887. The consolidation of the two companies took place in 1899. (Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Our Pioneer Heritage, Volume 7, page 75)

December 11, 1875
Commercial development of the coal resource in what is now Carbon County began in 1875 with the organization of the Pleasant Valley Coal Company by Milan O. Packard, M. P. Crandall, and Nephi Packard, all of Springville. At the same time, on December 11, 1875, these same individuals also organized the Utah & Pleasant Valley Railway to build a rail line between Provo and their new mine in Pleasant Valley. (Utah corporation, index number 4301)

(Read more about the development of the Winter Quarters mine -- the first mine opened by Pleasant Valley Coal Company.)

(When D&RGW purchased control of the Utah & Pleasant Valley Railway from Scofield as early as October 1880, and definitely by June 1882, the sale included the Pleasant Valley Coal Company, which was owned by the same people as Utah & Pleasant Valley Railway.)

Utah Fuel purchased the Winter Quarters mine in 1882, the Castle Gate mine in 1888, and developed the Sunnyside mine in 1900. (Alexander, p. 237)

June 8, 1881
There was a law suit between the Utah & Pleasant Valley Coal Company, and the Utah & Pleasant Valley Railway. (Salt Lake Herald, June 8, 1881)

September 6, 1882
Pleasant Valley Coal Company was organized in Utah, with stock valued at $200,000. On April 30, 1890, the stock was increased to $2 million. (Utah Fuel Company and Wasatch Store Company Statistics, University of Utah Special Collections)

July 1889
The Pleasant Valley Coal and Coke company began operations of its coke ovens at Castle Gate in July 1889. By late December 1889, the company had shipped 780 tons of coke, mostly to the Germania smelter in Salt Lake valley. (Salt Lake Herald, December 25, 1889)

May 21, 1898
The Castle Gate Coal Company was incorporated on May 21, 1898. The corporation was voluntarily dissolved on November 8, 1950. (Utah corporation, index number 2233)

(This was the first of three companies with the Castle Gate Coal Company name, and may have been the name used by Utah Fuel for the Castle Gate mine.)

For the Sunnyside mine, coal was discovered in the vicinity of Whitmore canyon in 1898 by cattlemen from Wellington. The land for the Sunnyside mine was purchased by Robert Forrester for Utah Fuel Company for $250.00. The excellent coking properties of the Sunnyside coal was discovered when Forrester sent a sample to the coke ovens at Castle Gate. Work began on the Sunnyside mine in 1898. (Madsen, p. 52)

The first coal from Sunnyside was shipped on November 19, 1899, the first day of railroad operations from the coal camp. (Gibson: Sunnyside, p. 203)

The Clear Creek Mine at the head of Pleasant Valley was opened in 1899. (United States Fuel: Thirty Years, p. 6)

The Carbon County Railway (of 1899), in addition to its line from Mounds to Sunnyside in the eastern part of the county, also built the present six-mile D&RGW branch south from Scofield to the Clear Creek Mine of the Utah Fuel Company. (Utah corporation, index number 2749, projected to be seven miles long.)

May 1, 1900
A fire and explosion in the Winter Quarters coal mine near Scofield, Utah, caused the deaths of 200 men.

(Read the Wikipedia article about the Scofield mine disaster)

August 1900
Royal C. Peabody, treasurer of the Rio Grande Western Railway, purchased 6,130 acres of coal lands located at Sunnyside. The purchase price was reported as $47,235.20, and the lands were purchased from Orange Seely, John T. Tidwell, W. J. Tidwell, and others. (Salt Lake Mining Review, August 15, 1900)

(In January 1908, in a deposition, Peabody confessed that in all the coal land sale papers he signed, he had never seen the land, and did not read the papers he signed, which he signed at the request of a brother who was an "attache" of the coal company.)

Utah Fuel Company Created

October 19, 1900
Utah Coal & Coke Company was organized in New Jersey, with a stock value of $10,000. On October 31, 1900 the stock was increased to $10 million, and the company name was changed to Utah Fuel Company. (Utah Fuel Company and Wasatch Store Company Statistics, University of Utah Special Collections)

"Utah Fuel Co. -- Incorporated October 19, 1900, in New Jersey, for the purpose of acquiring coal properties, conducting mining operations in the State of Utah and elsewhere, and operating stores for the sale of supplies to miners, and is further authorized to acquire the securities of other corporations organized for the same general purposes. The company owns the entire capital stock of the Pleasant Valley Coal Co., the Wasatch Store Co. and the Holladay Coal Co. The entire capital stock of the Utah Fuel Co. is deposited with the Guaranty Trust Co., New York, N.Y., as collateral to the first consolidated mortgage bonds of the Rio Grande Western Railway Co." "Properties comprise 29,708 acres of land completely owned, estimated to contain 250,000,000 tons of coal. Some of the coal yields coke, and company operates 800 coke ovens. Entire stock owned by Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Co., and deposited with the Guaranty Trust Co., New York, N.Y., as collateral to the first consolidated mortgage bonds of the Rio Grande Western Railway Co." (Poor's Manual of Industries, 1917, page 1327-1328)

March 1, 1901
Pleasant Valley Coal Company executed a trust mortgage in the amount of $2 million to Morton Trust Company, to secure the payment of bonds of Utah Fuel Company. (Salt Lake Tribune, May 16, 1907)

March 15, 1901
Utah Fuel Company purchased 2,400 acres of land, including mining apparatus and coking plant from Royal C. Peabody. On the same date, Utah Fuel Company filed a $1,000,000 trust deed with Morton Trust Company of New York for 7,564 acres of coal lands in Carbon and adjoining counties. (Salt Lake Tribune, March 16, 1901)

(In November 1899, Royal C. Peabody was shown as the treasurer of both the Rio Grande Western Railway, and the Pleasant Valley Coal Company. -- Salt Lake Herald, November 19, 1899)

(During 1900, the Pleasant Valley Coal Company furnished 17 percent of the revenue for the Rio Grande Western Railway. -- Salt Lake Tribune, March 27, 1901)

April 17, 1901
Utah Fuel Company was incorporated in Utah. (Utah corporation, index number 3111)

April 18, 1901
"Amends Its Articles -- Another Move in Coal Company Reorganization. -- The Utah Coal and Coke company, a New Jersey corporation, yesterday filed with the Secretary of State here an amendment to its articles, changing the name to the Utah Fuel company and increasing its capital stock from $10,000 to $10,000,000, the shares being $100. The principal place of business is Castle Gate, Carbon county, and H. G. Williams of that place is made the resident agent." "The original Utah Coal and Coke company covered only the Sunnyside mines on the Rio Grande Western, which company was separate and distinct from the Pleasant Valley Coal company, as is now the Utah Fuel company, but with the increase in the latter's capital stock it can absorb the Pleasant Valley company, and that is what will soon happen, when the Utah Fuel company will take in all the mines of the two companies at Sunnyside, Castle Gate, Clear Creek, Scofield, Winter Quarters and other places." (Salt Lake Tribune, April 19, 1901, "yesterday")

During late 1901, slack coal from the Sunnyside mine was shipped to Utah Fuel's Castle Gate mine and used in the 201 coke ovens there to produce about 5,000 tons of coke per month. (Higgins: Industries, p. 14)

November 30, 1901
Utah Fuel company operated all of the former Pleasant Valley Coal Company mines, with the Pleasant Valley company serving as the retail outlet for the coal. (Salt Lake Mining Review, November 30, 1901)

All coal from Sunnyside from 1899 to 1902 was sent to Castle Gate to be made into coke. In the years 1902-1903, 480 coke ovens were built at Sunnyside. These were increased to 550 in 1912, to 624 in 1914, and again to 713 ovens in 1917, although not all ovens were in operation at the same time. The first coke was produced at Sunnyside in April 1902, and the volume grew steadily until the late 1920s. At its peak in the 1920s, there were 1,100 men on the Utah Fuel payroll at Sunnyside. In 1929 coking operations were practically suspended. Coke production was suspended at Castle Gate in 1905. (Madsen, p. 53)

1902-1903
There were rumors that Utah Fuel Company and Colorado Fuel and Iron Company were about to be merged. (New York Times, December 27, 1902; July 28, 1903)

June 18, 1902
The first mention of Utah Fuel Company in the property records was on June 18, 1902 when E. L. Carpenter (paymaster at Castle Gate Coal Company) sold 2,446.93 acres at Castle Gate to Utah Fuel Company. (Carbon County Miscellaneous Records Book 3, p. 575)

(Read more about E. L. Carpenter)

December 1, 1903
Utah Fuel Company and Pleasant Valley Coal Company withdrew from the retail selling of coal, and placed their retail interests in the hands of the Bamberger Coal Company, effective December 1, 1903. D. J. Sharp resigned his position as head of the retail department on November 15, 1903, and since November 17, 1903, had continued with the companies as an order clerk. (Deseret Evening News, December 5, 1903)

In 1904 the Utah Fuel Company was furnishing 100 to 200 tons of coke per day from Sunnyside to the Anaconda smelter in Montana. (Salt Lake Mining Review, July 30, 1904, p. 30)

September 10, 1906
U. S. Attorney General Moody filed a suit in Federal Court in Trenton, New Jersey, against Utah Fuel Company, to recover possession of coal land in Utah that the government said had been obtained through fraud, by using "agents" to apply for federal land grants, then turn the land over to Utah Fuel Company. (New York Times, September 11, 1906)

November 8, 1906
"Salt Lake City, Nov. 8 -- Suits instituted by the Federal Government to recover thousands of acres of coal lands now held by Utah Fuel and Pleasant Valley Coal Company, came up today before Judge John A. Marshall in the United States District Court. These coal companies are known as Gould corporations, and are controlled in the interest of the Denver & Rio Grande Railway system." The defense argued that the Utah court did not hold jurisdiction because the coal companies were incorporated in New Jersey, and the co-defendant Morton Trust Company of New York, was a New York corporation. The defense also argued that the federal law allowing land grants to individuals, in this case forest and timber lands, did not make any exception or exemption as to how the land could be disposed of after the land had been granted by the state land board. (New York Times, November 9, 1906)

Late March 1909
In late 1906, the United States filed suit alleging fraud on the part of Pleasant Valley Coal Company, and Utah Fuel Company, along with Morton Trust Company, and to "quiet" the titles to certain coal lands in Utah. The suit was filed in District Court in Utah, and testimony was taken in late November and early December 1906. In January 1907, the court found against the coal companies and the trust company, and ordered them to show cause as to why they were entitled to retain deed and title to the coal lands. The answers were filed with the court in May 1907. Because this suit involved the conveyance or transfer of property, testimony continued through June 1908 before a Master of Chancery, an officer of a court appointed to assist the court in finding the facts of a case. The suits were decided in late March 1909, but only as a criminal case involving land in Salina Canyon, to which the coal companies plead guilty and paid for the coal that had been extracted.

During late 1909 the first steel loading tipple in the state was erected at Utah Fuel's Winter Quarters mine. (Watts: Carbon County, p. 404)

A. C. Watts, the chief engineer for Utah Fuel at the time, stated in a 1913 article that the coal deposits at Castle Gate on the mainline of the RGW were opened in 1889, and that the Castle Gate mine was the second commercial mine in Carbon County, after Winter Quarters. The Castle Gate mine was also notable because it was the first mine to sprinkle coal dust with water to control the fire hazard and the first to use electricity in a coal mine. (Watts: Carbon County, p. 400)

The first coal seam opened by Utah Fuel in Willow Creek canyon was a disappointing four feet thick. Later explorations showed a twenty foot seam directly below, which was reached by a pair of rock tunnels. The coal from the Willow Creek (Castle Gate No. 2) mine was found to be the finest coal in the region. (Madsen, p. 29)

During the summer of 1912 a steel tipple was erected at the Castle Gate mine, being the second steel tipple in the state, and also the second steel tipple for a Utah Fuel mine. (Watts: Carbon County, p. 404)

In May 1912, Utah Fuel had five mines operating in Utah. The company was building fifty cottages for workers at Willow Creek for the opening of production of that new mine. (Coal Index: Eastern Utah Advocate, May 23, 1912, p. 5)

(In July 1913 the U. S. government filed suit against D&RG over its ownership of Utah Fuel. -- Coal Index: Eastern Utah Advocate, July 17, 1913, p. 2)

(RESEARCH: Find court proceedings for U. S. government suit against D&RG and Utah Fuel, circa July 1913.)

(Mr. T. A. Ketchum filed a suit against Pleasant Valley Coal Company, Utah Fuel Company, and D&RG. -- Coal Index: News-Advocate, December 24, 1915, p. 1)

(Ketchum was from Portland, Oregon, and organized the Ketchum Coal Company at Castle Gate. The mine was under development in July 1914. -- Salt Lake Mining Review, July 30, 1914, p. 32; August 15, 1914, p. 28)

June 15, 1916
Truman A. Ketchum of Portland, Oregon, filed suit against Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, Pleasant Valley Coal Company, and Utah Fuel Company, alleging violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. (Ogden Standard Examiner, June 15, 1916)

(RESEARCH: Find proceedings for Ketchum's suit against Utah Fuel, Pleasant Valley Coal and D&RG, circa December 1915.)

D&RG Loses Utah Fuel, 1918

June 20, 1918
As part of its receivership and foreclosure proceedings, D&RGW was forced to sell 100,000 shares in Utah Fuel Company to William Salomon & Company, for the amount of $4 million, for the Western Pacific Railroad and others. The suit for foreclosure had been brought by Equitable Trust Company to recover bonds in the amount of $36.9 million. (New York Times, June 21, 1918, "yesterday")

(100,000 shares of Utah Fuel Company were all of the company's shares, and all were owned by D&RG; all were sold at the above mentioned sheriff's sale. -- New York Times, November 22, 1921)

June 1923
As part of the reorganization of Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad, its interest in Utah Fuel Company was to be converted to 300,000 shares of common stock that were to be owned equally by Western Pacific and Missouri Pacific railroads. (New York Times, June 21, 1923)

July 3, 1924
One half of the stock of Utah Fuel Company was held by Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad. (Coal Age magazine, July 3, 1924, page 32)

August 5, 1926
Utah Fuel company has purchased the Bamberger Coal company, one of the largest retail coal dealers in Salt Lake City. (Coal Age magazine, August 5, 1926)

December 1938
"The history of the coal mining industry in Utah is ably shown by the growth and development of the Utah Fuel Company and its predecessor, the Pleasant Valley Coal Company. The total production of coal in Utah to and including 1937 was 132 million tons, of which Utah Fuel Company and its predecessors contributed nearly 39 per cent, or more than 51 million tons, representing more than 65 million dollars in direct payroll to employees in mines and offices of the company. In addition, their Colorado mines — Somerset and Calumet — produced an additional 11-1/2 million tons to 1937, making the grand total production more than 62 percent million tons. Mr. Moroni Heiner, President and General Manager of the Utah Fuel Company, has been greatly instrumental in the development of Utah's great coal industry." (The Utah magazine, Volume 2, Number 26, December 1938)

Utah Fuel Sold To Kaiser, 1950

Utah Fuel Mines Sold to Independent, 1951

In December 1951 the Independent Coal & Coke Company purchased from Kaiser, all interests of Utah Fuel Company except the Sunnyside mine, including the mine at Clear Creek, and the mine and coal washing plant at Castle Gate. At that time, most of the coal being mined from Kenilworth was being transported around the mountain by rail from Kenilworth to the Castle Gate coal washing plant. (HAER: Kenilworth, pp. 27,28)

In 1958 Independent Coal & Coke began a 5,000 foot rock tunnel that was drilled north from the 1924-built Aberdeen tunnel to the main slope of the former Utah Fuel Willow Creek mine. With the completion of this new tunnel in 1959, coal was gravity fed down to the Castle Gate mine's main haulage tunnels and exited at the Castle Gate portals, adjacent to the coal washing plant, eliminating the cost of hauling coal around the mountain by railroad. (HAER: Kenilworth, pp. 27,28)

Operations at the mines of the Independent Coal & Coke Company were reduced in early 1960 due to the depressed coal market, with the company cutting back from a five day week to a four day week, and laying off 91 miners from their operations, 50 from Castle Gate, 28 from Kenilworth, and 13 from Clear Creek. Clear Creek was producing about 800 tons per day. (Deseret News, February 5, 1960)

Utah Fuel Mines Sold to North American, 1968

Independent Coal & Coke Company sold its coal interests at Clear Creek and Castle Gate/Kenilworth to North American Coal Company in 1968. (Salt Lake Tribune, February 17, 1973)

North American Coal closed the Castle Gate mine in 1972 when Utah Power & Light purchased the Deseret Mine from the LDS church to supply coal for power generation. At its peak the North American mine produced about 650,000 tons, about 375,000 tons of that production was sold to Utah Power & Light and was used at the Carbon Steam Generating Plant. North American Coal sold the same properties to an undisclosed company (Valley Camp) in February 1973. (Salt Lake Tribune, February 17, 1973)

In June 1973, North American sold the Castle Gate property and the Clear Creek property both to Valley Camp of Utah. In December 1973, Valley Camp sold the Castle Gate property to McCulloch Oil Company.

Later Utah Fuel Company

The Utah Fuel Company name was used again in the late 1970s by Coastal States Energy Company, a subsidiary of Coastal States Gas Corporation, for its newly developed Skyline Mine. (Salt Lake Tribune, March 18, 1979)

Somerset Coal Mine, Colorado

1902
Robert Forrester, geologist for Utah Fuel Company, was sent to Colorado to open the company's newest coal mine at Somerset. (Salt Lake Tribune, December 29, 1907)

At the same time, in 1902, Denver & Rio Grande built its North Fork Branch to serve the new coal mine at Somerset. The narrow gauge line was 43 miles in length, and connected Delta, Colorado, with the Somerset mine, following the North Fork of the Gunnison River. The branch was laid using standard gauge ties, in preparation for conversion from narrow gauge to standard gauge. The conversion was completed in 1906. The North Fork Branch was one of three lines built by the Rio Grande Railroad, a subsidiary of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. This company was absorbed into the parent company in 1908. (Robert LeMassena, Rio Grande To The Pacific, 1974, page 76, 78, 81, 247)

February 7, 1903
David Crow, the mine superintendent at Utah Fuel's mine at Castle Gate, was being transferred to the new mine at Somerset, Colorado. (Salt Lake Herald, February 7, 1903)

(After a review of online digital newspapers, the above note is the earliest reference to the Somerset mine.)

March 23, 1903
The Somerset post office was established.

May 23, 1903
About 100 men were working at the Somerset mine, developing it for production. (Deseret Evening News, May 23, 1903)

1905
Utah Fuel opened a coal mine in Somerset, Colorado. (Gibson: Sunnyside, p. 205)

Sale To Minerals Development Corporation

Minerals Development Corporation was a subsidiary of Heiner Coal Company, of Salt Lake City, Utah. They were the officials of the former Utah Fuel company, and the unsuccessful bidder for the Utah Fuel Company when Kaiser bought that company in 1950 as a asset sale from the reorganization of the Rio Grande railroad.

(There were rumors as early as April 1950, during the sale of Utah Fuel to Kaiser Steel, that Minerals Development Corp., was financially backed by United States Steel. -- see Pittsburgh Press, April 16, 1950)

December 3, 1951
Minerals Development Corporation of Salt Lake City, purchased the Somerset and Oliver coal mines in Colorado from the Utah Fuel Division of Kaiser Steel Corporation. Minerals Development was controlled by the Cabot interests in Boston, New York, and Salt Lake City, with Claude P. Heiner of Salt Lake City as president. The company offices were in Salt Lake City. Minerals Development Corporation was shown as a subsidiary of Godfrey L. Cabot, Inc., a 65 year old firm that was reported as the largest producer of carbon black in the country, with principal operations in Texas, Louisiana, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, along with gas and oil holdings throughout the west. (Salt Lake Tribune, December 4, 1951, "yesterday")

January 1952
"Minerals Development Corp., Salt Lake City, has taken over the coal properties of the Kaiser Steel Corp. in Delta and Gunnison Counties, Colorado, including 3,700 acres of coal land and two operating mines, Oliver and Somerset, and planned to immediately re-open the mines, closed since Nov. 15, it was announced last month. President of the recently formed company is Claude P. Heiner, former president, Utah Fuel Co. and Calumet Fuel Co. General manager is R. C. Oliver, former president, Oliver Coal Co., and general manager, Utah Fuel. No major changes in mine personnel are contemplated. Minerals Development Corp. is a subsidiary of Godfrey L. Cabot, Inc., of Boston, a large chemical firm which reportedly is one of the largest producers of carbon black in the U. S. Entry of the two firms into the coal business in that region is believed to be a step, eventually leading to the development of important new carbonization processes, it was reported." (Coal Age magazine, January 1952, page 150)

October 5, 1955
Minerals Development Corporation sold its Somerset coal properties in Colorado (the Somerset and Oliver mines) to U. S. Steel's Columbia-Geneva Steel Division. U. S. Steel had successful tested Somerset coal in its Geneva steel mill, starting in January 1953, and purchased an option to buy the mine in January 1955. The two mines were shipping 10,000 tons per month to Geneva. (Daily Herald, October 5, 1955, "announced today")

(After 1953, coal from the Somerset and Oliver mines was shipped to U. S. Steel at Geneva. U. S. Steel completed its wash and preparation plant near Wellington, Utah, in 1958. After 1958, Somerset coal was shipped to Wellington and blended with coal from U. S. Steel's Horse Canyon mine (served by Carbon County Ry.), and the blended coal was shipped to Geneva.)

1955
Minerals Development Corporation leased the Somerset coal mine from U. S. Steel's Columbia-Geneva Steel Division. (Daily Herald, December 22, 1960)

November 1955
"Colorado Coal Properties Bought By U. S. Steel -- United States Steel Corp. has exercised an option to purchase two coking, coal properties of Minerals Development Corp., in western Colorado. Claude P. Heiner, Salt Lake City, Utah, president of Minerals Development, said the price was "very substantial." The properties are estimated to contain between 25 and 50 million tons of recoverable coal for the Columbia Works, Geneva, Utah. Coking coals are rare in the western United States. These were discovered only after close analysis of beds of the Somerset and Oliver mines. The Somerset properties, some 5,300 acres, have been producing bituminous on a commercial basis for more than 30 years. L. J. Westhaver, San Francisco, operating vice president of Columbia-Geneva Steel Div., said the purchase was made to assure U. S. Steel a continued future reserve." (Coal Age magazine, November 1955, page 126)

January 1, 1961
Columbia-Geneva Steel took over active management of the Somerset coal mine, ending the lease to Minerals Development. All employees became direct employees of the steel company. (Daily Herald, December 22, 1960)

Kaiser owned the Somerset Mine in Colorado briefly in the mid-1950s, but determined rather quickly that Somerset coal was inferior to what it was producing from Sunnyside. The Somerset mine was located in Colorado's North Fork Valley, 38 miles northeast of Delta. One of the managers of Kaiser's Somerset mine bought Somerset in the name of Minerals Development Corporation of Colorado. Minerals Development sold the mine to U.S. Steel in 1960; USS took over January 1, 1961. After selling to Minerals Development, Kaiser did not buy coal from the Somerset mine. (Bruce Collins, email dated November 14, 2007)

Kaiser operated a steel mill in California and coal mines in Utah and New Mexico. Its mines produced only high-volatile coal, so it had to purchase mid-volatile coal used in steel manufacturing from another producer. Since 1959, Kaiser has purchased virtually all of its mid-volatile coal requirements from Mid-Continent Coal and Coke Company's mine at Redstone, Colorado. Coal from the Mid-Continent mine was loaded at Carbondale, Colorado, and shipped westward by way of Denver & Rio Grande railroad. (Kaiser Steel Corp. v. Mullins, 455 U.S. 72; 1982, a law suit brought by mine workers' union over Kaiser's decision to stop paying into the workers' health and retirement funds because it was no longer actively mining coal)

"Mid-Continent never had anything to do with Somerset. According to state records and my dubious memory Somerset was closed in December 1985, with replacement coal from Mid-Continent's Dutch Creek No. 2 mine. The plan was for Mid-Continent Resources to be US Steel's main supplier, but that only last until the United Steel Workers of America went on strike in August of 1986, idling the Geneva mill. The Somerset Mine never reopened. A new mine, Sanborn Creek, was opened just above Somerset in a higher seam in 1992 and produced through 2002. It was replaced by the Elk Creek Mine in 2003, and it is still producing (3,794,264 tons in 2010). For a time after USS closed Somerset the property was owned by the same people that owned the Kaiser Utah properties (Sunnyside), but it's been owned and operated by Oxbow Mining, LLC, for a long time. Oxbow is owned by William Koch. Arch owns the West Elk Mine, on up the canyon a little ways." (Bruce Collins, email dated April 10, 2011)

After 1956 Mid-Continent operated the Dutch Creek coal mines above Redstone, the same location as Colorado Fuel & Iron's Coal Basin mine on the Crystal River narrow gauge, from 1956 to 1991, and loaded it on the D&RGW east of Carbondale, on the Aspen Branch. (Bruce Collins via email dated May 8, 2001)

In later years, Kaiser purchased coal from the Mid-Continent mine at Redstone and loaded at Carbondale in Colorado, not from Somerset. All Kaiser coal purchases ended in late 1982 as Kaiser prepared to close its Fontana steel plant, which took place a year later.

After US Steel closed its captive mine at Somerset in late 1985, Geneva Steel began buying coal from Mid-Continent Resources. The shipment of coal from Redstone/Carbondale continued until a fire at the mine severely reduced production in August 1990. Geneva Steel was forced to start buying its coal from other sources, and the last train loaded at Carbondale in late January 1991. (Bruce Collins, email dated October 19, 2004)

December 1985
"Kaiser Coal Corporation acquired the Somerset coal mine complex near Paonia, Colorado and a coal preparation plant near Wellington, Utah from United States Steel Corporation and U.S. Steel Mining Co., Inc. At the same time, Kaiser Coal Corporation entered into a contract to supply the requirements of high volatile metallurgical coal to United States Steel Corporation's Geneva Steel Mill in Provo, Utah. The Company expects to supply 750,000 to 800,000 tons of coal per year through 1989 under this contract. The Somerset coal mine complex contains 60 million tons of recoverable high Btu, low ash, low sulfur coal. The mine, which was idled prior to the acquisition, also includes a unit train loadout facility and mining equipment, some of which has been relocated to Kaiser Coal Corporation's operating mines in Utah and New Mexico." (Kaiser Steel Corporation, SEC 10-K Annual Report for the year ending December 31, 1985)

More Information

Sunnyside mine -- Information about the Sunnyside coal mine from 1896-1943, prior to being purchased by Kaiser Steel

Kaiser Coal Company at Sunnyside -- After Kaiser bought the Sunnyside mine in 1943, it became a dedicated coal mine that furnished coal solely to Kaiser Steel Company.

Pleasant Valley Coal Mines -- Information about the Utah Fuel Company coal mines in Pleasant Valley, including Scofield, Winter Quarters, and Clear Creek, also the later Skyline Mine, served by D&RGW.

Castle Gate Mines -- Information about the Utah Fuel Company coal mines in the area of Castle Gate, including the Willow Creek, Panther, New Peerless, Rolapp, Cameron, and Hardscrabble mines.

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