Wattis Mine (later Star Point Mine)
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This page was last updated on April 12, 2021.
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Overview
Mining operations began in 1916 when the Wattis Brothers and Mr. Browning bought 160 acres from the United States and developed the property for coal production.
Coal shipments from the Wattis mine began in April 1918, by way of a new rail line built by Utah Railway. The Lion Coal Company bought the coal interest in 1919. The mine remained in operation until 1964. The mine had been mined out by the then-current room-and-pillar method and was sold for its salvage value to Mountain States Machinery of Salt Lake City. Mountain States soon discovered that the mine contained significant coal reserves and organized the Plateau Mining Company, which began mining operations in 1967, shipping by way of Utah Railway's Wattis Branch. The original Wattis mine became Star Point Number 1. Later production was from Star Point Number 2.
Plateau Mining installed a longwall mining machine in the Star Point Number 2 mine in early 1983. A contract was signed to furnish 200,000 tons per year beginning in 1987 to the Intermountain Power Project at Delta, Utah. To load the coal for IPP, Plateau built a conveyor 7,500 feet long to move coal from its Star Point mine (formerly the Wattis mine), from the mine to a new flood loader for unit coal trains located on Utah Railway's nearby mainline, completely bypassing the Wattis Branch. Production continued through late 1997 when longwall mining ceased and the mine was closed. Coal production moved to Plateau's new Willow Creek mine near Castle Gate. Also in 1997, the Wattis/Star Point conveyor and flood loader were removed.
In 1971, United Nuclear purchased the mine and in July 1980 it was transferred to Plateau Mining Corporation. Ownership changed from Cyprus Plateau Mining Corporation to RAG American in 1999. Foundation Coal bought R.A.G. in 2004.
Historically, the Star Point Number 2 Mine developed coal resources in the Hiawatha seam, the Third seam, and the Wattis seam by the room and pillar, and longwall mining methods with an annual production of 1 to 3 million tons. Reclamation of remote portals and sealing of the mine was completed in 2000. Reclamation of the main facilities area started in 2001 and was completed in 2003. Star Point Mine received a Phase I bond release in 2004. (Utah Division of Natural Resources, Utah Coal Program)
Timeline
1916
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)
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)
November 30, 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")
March 18, 1918
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 surface tram was 6,400 feet long, lowering the loaded mine cars from the mine portal at 8,500 feet elevation, down to the coal preparation plant at 7,500 feet elevation. (Coal Age magazine, November 1948, page 79)
April 10, 1918
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")
April 11, 1918
The Wattis mine shipped its first coal on April 11, 1918. (Utah Railway: Coal Mines)
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)
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)
November 1, 1921
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)
April 30, 1926
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)
January 1, 1931
Lion Coal Company was succeeded by the Lion Coal Corporation on January 1, 1931. (Utah Railway: Coal Mines)
1946
Lion Coal began using trackless rubber-tired shuttle cars, cutters and drills in its Wattis coal mine. By 1948, there were four sets of drills, cutters and shuttle cars in operation in the mine.
(The underground mining methods of the Lion Coal Corporation's Wattis coal mine were the subject of a six-page article in Coal Age magazine, November 1948. The article included several photos of the underground and surface operations, and several diagrams of the mine workings.)
July 1949
The Lion Coal company contracted with Roberts and Schaefer Company to build a new steel cleaning plant and tipple, with pneumatic coal cleaning technology, using the company's "Super-Airflow" system. (Coal Age magazine, July 1949, page 170)
1952
Lion Coal Company replaced the original wooden loadout tipple at Wattis, with a new steel loadout in 1952.
1964
Lion Coal Corporation operated the Wattis mine until 1964. In late 1964 the mine was purchased for its salvage value by Mountain States Machinery and Supply of Price.
May 21, 1964
The Wattis mine of the Lion Coal company was closed. (Sun Advocate, February 14, 1979)
The following comes from the February 14, 1979 issue of the Sun Advocate newspaper.
During the 56 years that Lion Coal Corporation operated the mine they extracted approximately 12 million tons of high BTU coal from the Wattis No. 1 and No. 2 mines. They used a selective plan of mining — only the coal that was easily accessible or of high quality, thus leaving areas of low BTU coal, coal with clay and rock splits, and coal that is located in peninsulas, barrier pillars and other areas hard to reach.
Mining ceased from May 21, 1964 until Mountain States Machinery opened a mine in January, 1967 under the name of Plateau Mining, Ltd. The new mine was near the center of Section 16 in the Hiawatha coal seam. Until this time the seam had never been mined on this property. Plateau Mining, Ltd. operated from January, 1967 until November, 1971 using the same selective mining system as Lion Coal to obtain the most accessible and highest quality coal.
Plateau, Ltd. also opened the Star Point No. 2 mine in the Wattis No. 1 coal seam during 1969. Coal from this mine is dropped 135 feet through a 15 foot diameter stope hole to the No. 1 mine where it is conveyed to the surface by belt. The No. 2 mine was closed in 1970 because of the low quality, high ash coal that was encountered and no wash plant was available to upgrade the coal.
(Available online newspapers, including the local Sun Advocate or the Salt Lake City newspapers, did not cover the closure of the Wattis mine by Lion Coal company, or the reason for the closure.)
Plateau Mining - Star Point Mine
(1967 to 1985)
Plateau Mining Company, 1967
In late 1964 the Wattis mine was purchased for its salvage value by Mountain States Machinery and Supply of Price. 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. (Sun Advocate & Helper Journal, January 2, 1975, p. 3)
(The Star Point name comes from the geologic sandstone formation that underlies the Wattis coal seam by about 90 to 120 feet. Most of the mineable coal in this area of Utah lies between Castlegate Sandstone and Star Point Sandstone formations.)
1967
After purchasing the Wattis mine in late 1964, over the next two years as Mountain States Machinery and Supply of Price, continued its salvage operation, the company realized that only about 10 percent of the coal reserves had been mined. As a result, Mountain States opened a new mine, and in 1967, Lion Coal Company was renamed as Plateau Mining Company. (Coal Age magazine, March 1978, page 113)
February 11, 1967
Plateau Mining company was organized on February 11, 1967 to own and operate the coal land and equipment purchased from the Lion Coal company. The new company, a partnership, owned and leased 34 million tons of recoverable coal located on 2,700 acres of land. The mine was producing 325 tons per day using a temporary crushing and loading system. A new crusher and loader was to be completed by July 1, 1967.
(Sun Advocate, June 1, 1967)
Star Point Holdings was organized by Wayne Baker, who was the president and chief stockholder of Mountain States Machinery and Supply in Price. Baker had been looking for a suitable coal property and found the Wattis mine. Baker was the general manager of the newly organized joint-venture Plateau Mining company, and was the major moving force behind the enterprise. Baker purchased the holdings of the Lion Coal company and abandoned the old workings in favor of developing a mine to take coal from other coal seams in the same leases. (Sun Advocate, March 16, 1967)
March 16, 1967
Plateau Mining company started development and limited production "this week" in the Wattis mine of the former Lion Coal company. The new company included investors from Southern California, including television personality Art Linkletter, and John Tyler, president and founder of Farmers Insurance Group, along with a limited partnership with the Tri-Oil Co. of Los Angeles and Sun Dance Oil Co. of Denver. The tipple of the former Lion Coal Corp., at Wattis was being utilized and at the present time all shipments, via the Utah Railway, were being sent to Amalgamated Sugar Corp, and its plants in Utah, Idaho and Oregon. By May 1967, production was 325 tons per day, using 18 employees. Plans were in place to increase production to 1,500 tons per day, using 25 employees. (Sun-Advocate, March 16, 1967; Salt Lake Tribune, May 23, 1967)
October 1, 1971
Plateau Mining Company was sold to United Nuclear Corporation on October 1, 1971. (Coal Age magazine, March 1978, page 113)
Plateau and United Nuclear, 1971
November 3, 1971
Plateau Mining Company was sold to United Nuclear Corporation of Elmsford, New York, for a reported $5 million. Mine production was reported to be 3,000 tons per day. Plateau Mining was a partnership that included Starpoint Mining, Ltd. (40 percent), whose principle owner was Wayne Baker who had started the Plateau company in 1967. Other partners included Sundance Oil Co. of Denver (33 percent) and television personality Art Linkletter (20 percent). (Salt Lake Tribune, November 3, 1971)
March 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 magazine, March 1978, page 112-117)
(The underground mining methods of the Plateau Mining company's Star Point mine were the subject of a seven-page article in Coal Age magazine, March 1978. The article included several photos of the underground operations, and a diagram of the coal processing plant.)
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)
Plateau and Getty Oil, 1980
Mid-1980
Plateau Mining Company was purchased by Getty Mineral Resources Company, a subsidiary of Getty Oil Company. Plateau had shipped 200,000 tons of coal to Japan for use by steel and cement companies, and in 1981 had a contract to ship 100,000 tons to a Japanese utility for testing. (Mining Congress Journal, January 1981, Volume 67, Number 1, page 9)
July 1980
The Plateau mine (as the Plateau Mining Corporation) was shipping export coal for Japan from the Wattis mine. (Salt Lake Tribune, July 8, 1980)
July 1980
The Plateau Mining Company was reorganized as the Plateau Mining Corporation.
April 1982
Getty Mineral Resources' Plateau mine was reported as having already installed a 1.33-mile, 48-inch wide conveyor system from within its underground mine, out to a new crushing plant. Photos show the crushing plant as being immediately south and adjacent to the old preparation plant of the Lion Coal Company at Wattis. (Coal Age, April 1982, Volume 87, Number 4, page 64)
(The underground mining methods of Plateau Mining company's Star Point mine were the subject of a five-page article in Coal Age magazine, April 1982. The article included several photos of the underground operations, and a diagram of the coal seams being worked.)
The coal was still being loaded at Wattis. The flood loader was not yet in place.
August 26, 1982
Plateau Mining Corporation was incorporated in Delaware;
- changed to Cyprus Plateau Mining Company, June 8, 1987;
- changed to Cyprus Plateau Mining Corp., July 6, 1987;
- changed to Plateau Mining Corp, June 30, 1999;
- changed to Plateau Mining LLC, July 13, 2016
May 1983
Getty Mineral Resources signed a contract with IPA to furnish 14 million tons over a 20 year period from both the Plateau mine, fully owned by Getty, and the Skyline mine, jointly owned by Getty and Coastal States Energy. IPA's power plant near Delta was scheduled to begin producing electricity in 1986. (Coal Age, May 1983, Volume 88, Number 5, page 17)
February 1984
Plateau Mining Company came under the corporate ownership of Texaco Corporation in February 1984 when Plateau's parent company, Getty Oil Company (and its subsidiary of Getty Minerals Resources Company, owner of Plateau) was sold to Texaco, at a reported cost of $10.1 billion. The Texaco-Getty merger was said to be the second largest merger in U. S. history. (Salt Lake Tribune, December 29, 1985)
April-May 1985
Plateau's Star Point mine was one of several coal mines in the immediate area that began furnishing coal to Utah Power & Light's Huntington and Hunter power plants upon the closure of UP&L's own Wilberg mine on December 19, 1984. A total of 27 miners were killed in the Wilberg mine fire. The sudden increase in coal truck traffic in the area was the cause of extensive damage to several local highways, including the road between Wattis and UP&L's two power plants. (Deseret News, April 6, 1985) The Wattis road was completely rebuilt, including several major realignments. (Deseret News, May 4, 1985)
When Intermountain Power Agency began construction of their Intermountain Power Project coal-fired electrical generation plant near Delta, Utah, they also began arranging for a steady supply of coal that could be used by the plant, about 12,000 tons per day. Several contracts were signed with coal mining companies to ensure a continuing supply of coal, which was to be transported by unit coal trains from points on D&RGW and Utah Railway, over Soldier Summit to Provo, then south by Union Pacific to the IPP plant near Delta. (Read more about IPP)
Three large coal loadouts were constructed to serve these IPP unit coal trains. First was the already existing C. V. Spur, south of Price. The second was a new flood loader on Utah Railway for the Star Point mine (formerly the Wattis mine), which went into service in January 1986. The third site was a new flood loader at Wildcat, also on Utah Railway.
June 1985
Construction started on a new flood loader for the Star Point mine. The new loader was located on Utah Railway's mainline, and would allow the Wattis Branch to be abandoned. (Crossroads of the West, page 129)
Cyprus Plateau, 1985
(1985 to 2000)
August 30, 1985
Plateau Mining Company was sold to Cyprus Minerals Company of Englewood, Colorado. Cyprus had become an independent company after being spun off from Amoco Corporation on July 1, 1985. Cyprus Minerals purchased the coal mining operations of Getty Minerals Company from Texaco. (Salt Lake Tribune, December 29, 1985)
December 1985
To increase its capability of loading unit trains, Plateau Mining constructed a conveyor between its mine and a siding on Utah Railway that did away with the need for the Wattis Branch. The new conveyor (reported as being 7500 feet long) and flood loader began operations in 1986, loading unit coal trains on Utah Railway by use of a new siding 13,000 feet long adjacent to the road's mainline. The flood loader included an 11,000 ton-capacity silo that could load trains at the rate of 6,000 tons per hour, allowing an 84-car train to be loaded in 90 minutes. (Salt Lake Tribune, December 29, 1985; Coal Age October 1986, Volume 91, Number 10, page 44)
December 1985
During 1985, Plateau produced 1.4 million tons of coal, all from the Star Point Number 2 mine, with 435,000 tons of that total being exported to utility companies and cement companies in Japan and Taiwan. (Salt Lake Tribune, December 29, 1985)
January 1986
The new flood loader was constructed to allow Plateau to fulfill its newly-signed contract with Intermountain Power Agency to furnish 200,000 tons per year to IPA's Intermountain Power Project at Delta, Utah. The conveyor and flood loader were to become operational in January 1986, with full production to begin in August 1986. The IPA contract called for an increase in 1989 from 200,000 tons to 360,000 to 440,000 tons per year. (Salt Lake Tribune, December 29, 1985)
Construction on the Intermountain Power Project began in September 1981. IPP began its coal reserve stockpile in June 1985 when the first unit coal train dumped its coal at the new facility. Commercial operation of unit 1 started in June 1986, and IPP's second unit went on line on June 13, 1987. (Read more about IPP)
November 1986
The new contract between Cyprus and Intermountain Power Agency, at 17 million tons delivered over 22 years, superseded the previous contract between IPA and Getty, at 14 million tons delivered over 20 years. (Coal Age, November 1986, Volume 91, Number 11, page 31)
Cyprus Amax, 1993
(1993 to 1999)
Cyprus Amax Minerals company was the result of the 1993 merger of Cyprus Minerals and Amax Coal. Cyprus Minerals owned the Plateau Star Point (former Wattis) mine. Amax Coal owned the Castle Gate (former Price River Coal) mine.
Cyprus Plateau Mining Corporation was a subsidiary of Cyprus Minerals Company, and later Cyprus Amax Minerals Company after the 1993 merger of Cyprus Minerals and Amax Coal.
(Read more about Cyprus Amax, Cyprus Plateau, and the later RAG American Coal Company, including the corporate succession to today's Alpha American Coal Company, LLC.)
By 1995, coal reserves accessible by longwall techniques at the Star Point mine rapidly diminished due to increased faulting and non-coal intrusions in the three coal seams being worked.
September 1997
Longwall mining ceased in the Star Point mine due to unsafe geologic conditions. The longwall machine was abandoned in place due to the same unsafe geologic conditions. Production was by continuous mining continued until February 2000, following a fire at the company's Willow Creek mine. Employees from the Willow Creek mine were transferred to the Star Point mine. (Documents on file with the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining)
RAG American, 1999
(1999 to 2000)
In 1999, Cyprus Plateau Mining Corporation was sold to RAG American. In 2004 RAG American was purchased by Foundation Coal.
(Read more about Cyprus Amax, Cyprus Plateau, and the later RAG American Coal Company, including the corporate succession to today's Alpha American Coal Company, LLC.)
February 11, 2000
Active mining of the Star Point mine by Plateau Mining Corporation ended. (Documents on file with the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining)
August 1, 2000
A fire and explosion at the Willow Creek coal mine killed two miners. The mine has remained closed since that incident due to continued danger from pockets of methane gas, and vaporized crude oil. Mining ceased at the Willow Creek mine in December 2000.
September 27, 2001
The unit train loadout silo at the Star Point mine was demolished. The silo was felled with explosives, into a trench 200 feet long, 90 feet wide and 15 feet deep, parallel to the Utah Railway tracks. (Documents on file with the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining)
2000-2013
Reclamation efforts for the entire Star Point and Wattis mine site started in February 2000. Reclamation was completed in 2003. After a ten year period of monitoring, the mine was declared fully reclaimed on July 29, 2013. (Documents on file with the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining)
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