MOHRLAND

In 1906 William Howard and his brother Erin A. opened a coal mine in Cedar Creek Canyon near the site where the town of Mohrland was built. They lost this mine because they failed to prove their claim. Three brothers—Samuel, Ulysses, and Ernest Grange, along with Albert Gardner, all of Huntington, Utah, then filed on the 160 acre coal mine. William Howard and his son Ernest filed on another claim of forty acres and opened a mine a short distance from the Grange claim. They worked this mine and hauled the coal out by team and wagon. The two mines were worked for two or three years and then sold to James H. Mays, A.J. Oren, Moroni Heiner and W.V. Rice, who formed a company known as the Castle Valley Fuel Co.

In 1909 the United States Fuel Company was organized. Coal mining was always a very dangerous operation. First aid training was offered annually to the miners by the U.S. Bureau of Mins and all employees were expected to participate in the training which included controlling bleeding, bandaging wounds, and the Shaefer Method of Artificial Respiration.

In spite of their efforts there were 17 fatalities at the Mohrland Mine from 1910 to 1938. Mohrland thrived until the mid 1920s, but then the decline began. From 1925 – 1926 the mines were shut down and many people left town. The death blow to the town came in 1935 when U.S. Fuel tunneled through to connect its Mohrland Mine with its Hiawatha Mine. With Hiawatha being closer to the shipping points for coal, the need for the town of Mohrland ceased to exist. 

On April 19, 1927, in Nicholas Fonteechio’s two room office in the salvaging building in Price, Utah, UMWA District 22 officials and local workers organized the Mohrland Local Union 6510.

On July 6, 1922 55 coal operators and officials from New Mexico,  Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Montana, and Washington state met at the Newhouse Hotel in SLC, Utah to draft a uniform code for the Western Coal Industry. On November 8, 1933 at the signing of the National Bituminous Code, The Mohrland, Utah U.M.W.A. Local 6510 became an active local union.

With the closing of the Mohrland mine portals the Mohrland UMWA Local 6510 merged with Hiawatha Local 6363 on November 4, 1938.

Mohrland Town

A Street in Mohrland

By 1922 the Mohrland Mine employed 275 men and the town boasted a population in excess of 1000. Mohrland’s water was piped  down from springs located at the top of the canyon. Electricity was brought to the town sometime before 1919, quite early for this part of the country. There were two telephones in town. One is in the Mine Office, and one in the Company Store. The store had a cancellation office which served as a Post Office until one could be built. The company hospital was small but serviceable. The company also provided prizes for the best gardens, best looking yards or best flowers. Competition was keen and mad Mohrland a fine looking mining town. In the above left photograph Main Street is seen in foreground; the school is close to the mountain.

 The Amusement Hall 

Mohrland--Amusement Hall on left

The Company Amusement Hall was located on the north side of Main STreet next to the doctor's office and store. It contained a bowling alley, a confectionary, a large hall for picture shows and dances, a pool room and a barber shop in the basement. Picture shows were held twice a week and a dance was held almost every Saturday night. Mohrland even had its own orchestra to play at the dances. A monthly fee was collected from each employee which entitled the family to doctors's service, movies, dances and other entertainment.

The confectionery was a favorite "hang out" and sold great sodas and ice cream and delicious  baked goods. Prior to its closing, Bill Baldwin was the manager of the Amusement Hall and responsible for keeping it clean, scheduling activities and movies.

To the isolated mining towns of the early twentieth century, amusement was a major concern. Because of time, distance and unsuitable roads most citizens celebrated their holidays at home. Annual barbecues were held for the 4th of July. The LDS Relief Society held ward parties at least annually. The Greek people had celebrations every Easter.

Company Store (center building)

Mohrland Store

Inside of Company Store

In 1909 Castle Valley Fuel Company became the United States Fuel Company. The town was named Mohrland. In the first year, six homes, a company store, a home for the superintendent, a company doctor's office, a company boarding house and a company hospital were built. 

In the spring of 1910 the town held a celebration in honor of the town and the opening of the company store. Mohrland was growing rapidly at this point with families moving in every month.

Mohrland School

Mohrland School

In 1915 the first school was built. Up to this time school had been held in the amusement hall. The school was built in Tipple Town and later moved to Centerville. The school consisted of four rooms with two classes in each room. There were three teachers and a principal in the school at a time. From 1924 to 1926 high school students were driven to and from high school in Huntington by David Leonard in his car. In 1927 Emery County bought a bus to transport these students. William Green was the first bus driver. Wintertime was sometimes very uncomfortable on the unheated bus, but Mr. Green would try to make it bearable by placing headed bricks in the bus the had heated in the school house furnace during the night. Although Greens home was in Huntington he staying in the school house at night after driving the bus to Mohrland.


The Yellow Roses

Edith Finley on her return from a visit to her former home in Beloit, Wisconsin brought with her a Harrison Yellow Rose bush which she planted in her front yard in 1917. She tended and nurtured it through wet and dry years and it grew beautiful yellow roses. Although it has not been tended since 1938, it still thrives and blooms amongst the sage brush as though it was still nurtured by her loving hands. 


As you visit and explore the ghostly remains of Mohrland, visualize the men, women, and children that lived, worked and played in Mohrland--their dress, their pride in their homes, yards, victory gardens, and their dreams for the future.

Preserving and Understanding Emery County's Past

Interpretive Signs

With the assistance of grants from Utah State Historic Preservation Office, the Commission has installed interpretive signs at several historic locations. Additional sites will be added as funding permits. You may nominate a site or donate money toward these preservation projects by commenting at the end of this blog.

Muddy Creek Interpretive Panel



• The Muddy Creek Bridge

The early pioneers of Emery County settled along the creeks that flow down from the high Wasatch Plateau. The last of the four major creeks to be settled was Muddy Creek, in 1881. The settlement was originally called “The Muddy.” After a few years, a labor-intensive canal was completed onto the benchlands to the south. The settlement was moved there and given the name of Emery. Later, another community, Rochester (later renamed Moore) was established northeast of Muddy Creek. Several bridges spanned the creek over the years, some of them washed away by the Muddy floods. The courage and tenacity of these early settlers is memorialized in an interpretive sign placed in the town of Emery by the Emery County Historic Preservation Commission.

• The San Rafael River Bridge

  

  The San Rafael Bridge Interpretive Panel
  
  

The “Swinging Bridge,” as it is affectionately known, is the only cable-suspension bridge that has been preserved in Utah. It spans the flood-prone San Rafael River near the mouth of Buckhorn Draw. Erected by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1935-37, after an earlier bridge at the site was destroyed by floods, the Swinging Bridge opened up the “Mystery Lands” of the San Rafael Swell to public access. The preservation of the Swinging Bridge is a ongoing project. It is no longer used by motor vehicles, but remains as a pedestrian bridge and a monument to the past. The Emery County Historic Preservation Commission has placed an interpretive sign at the bridge to inform the public of its historical value.and value.

• The Morrison Knudsen Tunnels

  

  Morrison Knudsen Tunnel Panel #1

After the conclusion of World War II, and with “Cold War” tensions increasing between the United States and the Soviet Union, the Department of Defense undertook studies to determine possible locations for hardened defensive sites. Under the supervision of

Morrison Knudsen Tunnels Panel #2

the Corps of Engineers, the Morrison-Knudsen Construction Company drilled extensive tunnels into the Navajo Sandstone formation near Buckhorn Draw, then tested the strength of the stone by detonating massive explosive charges. A temporary shanty-town was established and hundreds of employees worked for almost three years—all under a cloak of official secrecy. The rock proved unsuited to military purposes, but the “M-K Tunnels” remained as a point of historical interest for local residents until they were closed for safety reasons. The Emery County Historic Preservation Commission has installed two interpretive signs near the tunnel sites as a reminder of this interesting chapter in the county’s history.

•  Temple Mountain -- the Uranium Day

Temple Mountain  Panel

 Temple Mountain, a distinctive geological formation in the southeastern part of the San Rafael Swell, was an important source of radioactive ores from the early nineteen-hundreds, when radium from the area was used in the landmark experiments of Marie Curie. The Temple Mountain mines were re-opened in the nineteen-fifties during the “uranium boom” that stimulated excitement throughout the Colorado Plateau region. Numerous adits were opened, including a narrow bore-hole through which miners and equipment were lowered hundreds of feet to work the rich deposits deep underground. Despite the lack of water, a busy community of workers developed near the base of the mountain and many tales are still told of the uranium days. The Emery County Historic Preservation Commission has installed an interpretive sign at the Temple Mountain picnic grounds to inform visitors of the fascinating history of this site.