The Emery County Historical Society trek to Historic Mohrland began at the Huntington Utah Stake Center. Bernice Payne introduced a Mohrland Utah history booklet with a timeline, a list of interesting facts and photos of the original Mohrland buildings and a few people. This booklet was produced by Lori Ann Larsen, her husband Kerry Larsen assisted by Vernell Rowley, Edward Geary and the Helper Mining Museum.
Rowley stated that 100 years ago on Sunday, June 24, 1917 the Mammoth Reservoir in the Lower Gooseberry Valley broke sending thousands of feet of water into the Price River Valley. The Castle Gate Tipple stood firm with the force of the water however the water picked up the Castle Gate railroad depot and smashed it against the Tipple demolishing the building. This event washed out the rail line and cut off the transportation of coal from Mohrland to Helper and the main rail line.
Edward Geary said the failure of the Mammoth Reservoir in Gooseberry Valley affected Mohrland. The original rail connection was the southern Utah Railroad that went from Price to Hiawatha and the Castle Valley Railroad came around the mountain to Mohrland. After the Utah Railway was built in 1912 all the coal went that way and a passenger train was run on the old Southern Utah Railway so passengers could go back and forth to Price. The flood washed out the bridge across the Price River. That ended the passenger service from Price to Mohrland. Rowley said the people of Emery County were cut off from Price for more than a week.
Geary led the trek up the canyon to the large block building across the road from the original Cedar Creek mine which later became the Mohrland mine. It had a 17 foot high coal seam of very high quality coal. One of the best coal deposits in the Wasatch Plateau.
After leaving Huntington the trek caravan turned left at the Huntington State Park and then traveled Northwest about 10 miles, passing the road to Hiawatha, to view the ghost town Mohrland. This ghost town is completely abandoned and the houses have all been removed only the foundations remain. Parts of the old rail line remains, but all houses have been moved to other locations. The buildings sold for as little as $50 per house to a salvage company. Some of the houses were moved for housing at the Hiawatha Mine.
In 1907 Mohrland was the only coal camp in Emery County the mine employed 275 men, and was owned by the United States fuel company. Without warning, the mine shut down in 1925. The company reopened the mine a year later, but struggled. During the 1930s depression, the mine was permanently closed. Then in 1938 the coal was being taken out through the Hiawatha mine which had the advantage of a shorter haulage distance to Helper. While touring the remnants of this ghost town the group saw an aerial map of what the settlement was like in 1922. They saw pictures of homes, railroads, coal tipples and community buildings. They also learned from Geary many historical facts.
The group drove up the canyon to the closed and sealed mine portal. There they saw the building that was once the hoist house for the tram and what was left of the mine equipment.
Over the top of the mine portal the faded words covered by bushes spell out USF Mohrland Mine 1909 and 1938. There was another mine portal close by that had the words Mohrland Mine 1910 USF 1916. This portal was also closed and with a stream of water flowing out of an opening in the mine.
The 10 inch pipe line paralleling the Cedar Creek road is used to transfer water from the Mohrland mine to the Hiawatha mine.
Mohrland is located in Cedar Creek Canyon North and West of Huntington. At one time Mohrland was the largest coal mining town in Emery County with a population of nearly 1,000 in 1920. The mining of coal in Cedar Creek Canyon began before 1896 by William and Erin Howard. The coal at that time was mined primarily for the heating of homes in Emery County. The Howard’s did not get a title to the 160 acre mining property and had to discontinue their mining operation.
Three Grange brothers Samuel, Ulysses and Ernest, together with Albert Gardner purchased the property and operated the mine for about 12 years. The coal seam was 17 feet thick. This allowed the miners to drive a team and wagon into the mine and load coal into the wagon from the face of the coal. Several mines in Utah operated this way and were called wagon mines.
In 1907, Castle Valley Fuel Company, the investment group, of Mays, Orem, Heiner and Rice, headed by Salt Lake City Attorney James Mays, bought the mine and the surrounding property. This group then established a railroad to Mohrland around the mountain past the Hiawatha mine to a railroad connection at Helper. In April of 1910, the Mohrland Mine began shipping coal by rail. The town of Mohrland was named after the four owners by using the first letter in each of their names, Mays, Orem, Heiner and Rice.
Mohrland continued to flourish and by 1920 boasted more than 200 houses, a large amusement hall, a school, a hospital, the company boardinghouse, Errol Charlestrom’s Wasatch Store that housed the post office, the grocery store and a butcher shop. There were also several saloons in operation. The town of Mohrland, like most mining towns in that era, was owned and controlled by the mining company for the benefit of the mine owner, the miners and their families. The mining company provided mine employees with benefits, which included medical services, dances, films, and other special events.
The company baseball team was popular and successful. In the spring of 1915 this team played an exhibition game at Price against the Chicago White Sox. The game had an audience of more than 10,000. The score was 17 to 1 in favor of the Chicago White Sox.
The United States Fuel Company which owned the town of Hiawatha to the north, purchased Mohrland and the mine in 1915. The Mohrland Company had worked hard to make Mohrland a pleasant place to live on the edge of the desert. Streets were lined with shade trees and the stream of running water along the canyon bottom was brought by canal from above the town to provide moisture for vegetation and gardens.
A tram (a truck or car on rails for carrying loads in a mine) was installed to carry coal from inside the mine to the coal tipple (a structure used for loading coal into railroad cars) about a mile from the mine and East down the canyon. The tram used electricity and large electric motors and a large cable to move the coal from the mine to the tipple where it was loaded into railroad cars. The loaded tram cars going down the hill to the tipple helped pull the empty cars back up to the mine.
The best years for the sale of coal were the 1920s, but on March 1, 1925, US fuel shut down the mine without warning. This left Mohrland’s residents without jobs and without credit at the company store. Most of the people had no money or food. Then in September 1926, the company reopened the mine and Mohrland struggled to get back on its feet.
In 1930 the population was 620. Coal continued to be less profitable and during the Great Depression US Fuel announced in 1938, they would close Mohrland and consolidate mining operations at Hiawatha, which had a shorter haulage route.
The Historical Society visited the area where the tipple used to load coal on railroad cars. There they saw the remnants of old worn out mining equipment, the abandoned rails and a layer of coal lying on the ground. Across the creek on the hillside can be seen the cement walls of the amusement hall and crumbling walls of the old store.
Large electric fans were installed outside the mine in a long fan house to exchange the air in the mine. One of these large fans is still located near the mine entrance and the fan can be walked into for a closer look. There is a building on the side of the hill near the fan house called the lamp house. Each miner had his own numbered lamp and a lamp tag that stayed in the lamp house when he was not in the mine. When a shift was over if a lamp was missing a search was made for the missing miner.
A bore hole was drilled in the top of the mine to go into the mine about half way from the mine entrance and the coal face. The bore hole was used for electric cables to provide electricity in the mine. When the length of the electric cables got too long to carry sufficient electricity through the mine entrance, the bore hole was used to shorten the length of the electric cable and provide more electrical power.
Geary pointed out the deteriorating footers for the tram still seen on the north side of the canyon along with some old tram tracks nearly buried in the dirt.
The community of Mohrland was divided into several ethnic groups. Just east of the tipple, the town was called Center Town, across the canyon on a hill to the south was Gobblers Knob, up the canyon to the west was Tipple Town, the next town up the canyon was called Greek Town and the town nearest the mine portal in the canyon was the Japanese section. Not all the miners had houses, many of them lived in dugouts in the side of the hills.
Gobblers Knob was on a ridge and it was reported that they used to raise potatoes up there. You may still see the remnants of buildings on Gobblers Knob.
A Mohrland resident, Edith Findley came back from a trip to Wisconsin with some yellow rose plants which she planted in front of her house. Those roses are still surviving, after over 100 years. Today there was one yellow rose growing on a rosebush.
The large cement walled building with windows and doors that are gone was said to be the amusement hall. Because of the sagebrush growth over the past years it is difficult to view where the foundations of the homes and businesses of this thriving community were located.
After this adventuresome tour to Mohrland the group adjourned to Lions Park in Huntington for hot dogs and a potluck lunch.
Tour of Mohrland: ghost town/mining town
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