The tour of Utah’s Coal Country was a drive-it-yourself car caravan excursion starting in Park City.  The first stop was in Helper, Utah, at the Western Mining and Railroad Museum for its extensive indoor exhibits depicting the history of the town, its diverse population, and it’s mining and railroad industry.  The museum’s extensive outdoor exhibit area provided an opportunity to get an up-close look at a unique collection of underground mining equipment more recently used in local room and pillar and longwall coal mining.  A sit-down lunch in Helper was enjoyed by the MHAers.  Following lunch, the tour continued to the historic mining town of Hiawatha where many of the town’s buildings are still intact.  Several of the coal mine sites near Hiawatha were visited.

A panoramic view of the historic main street of Helper, Utah.

Waiting for the tour group to assemble, Dawn enjoys her breakfast outside a café in Helper.

Just down the street is the Western Mining and Railroad Museum, the first stop on the tour.

(Left) The Western Mining and Railroad Museum celebrates both the coal mining, coke making, and railroading heritage of the town.

(Left) The basement level of the museum is devoted to various underground mining displays.  Coal augurs and an ore bucket sit next to an example of mine timber cribbing.

(Above and Right) A wide variety of coal mining tools are on display against a simulated coal face depicting the days of augur drilling and hand shoveling.

Modern electric mining lamps are in a charging rack waiting for the next shift of miners.

(Left) Skilled blacksmiths were essential to an early mine’s operation.  Various tools of the blacksmith’s trade are included in the shop’s exhibit.

(Above) Several generations of miners’ lunch buckets/boxes sit on the lower shelf.  Belt buckles are still prized as collectibles by miners everywhere.

The most unusual piece of mining equipment on display was the “Miners Skateboard.”  It was used by mine hoist men to ride inclined tracks from the mines to the tipples.

The upper floors of the museum contain exhibit rooms that depict many local businesses, schools, and athletic activities.

Other displays tell the stories of service and fraternal organizations.