Imagine waking up to an unseasonably warm day in Wyoming, just as the Fourth of July weekend is approaching. We'll uncover how this heat wave is reshaping activities like floating on the Bighorn River and impacting the well-being of both humans and animals. As we navigate through erratic weather patterns in the Midwest and unusual fires in New Mexico, we’ll ponder the possibility of weather modification. You'll also hear a touching story about Steve, a man facing homelessness, and how a small act of kindness became a moment of profound significance.
Travel back with us to the early days of the Union Pacific's expansion into Rock Springs, Wyoming, and discover how the coal mining industry shaped the region. We'll explore the ethnic diversity of the workforce, the bustling coal camps, and the technological advancements that peaked during World War II. Alongside these rich historical insights, we’ll discuss the significant role of foreign workers and a recently published book that chronicles these events. Join us as we honor Wyoming's heritage and the indelible mark left by its coal mining industry.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Good morning and welcome to let's Talk Wyoming.
I'm Mark Hamilton, your host.
Today.
We'll be talking about Wyomingweather, and it's been warm and
our weather around the US hasbeen rather strange.
We'll have a story on beingthankful for what you have and
we'll talk about the coal minesat Reliance Wyoming.
(00:41):
Thanks for joining us today andwe hope you enjoy the show.
Taking a look at Wyoming weatherhere on the 24th day of June.
(01:05):
June is slowly but surelycoming to a close.
Also our weather here inWyoming.
As I've seen around the country, it has definitely warmed up.
We're having a heat wave rightnow.
Over the weekend it's gottenhot.
Yesterday, sunday, was just anabsolute furnace outside Hot,
almost 100 degrees, with astrong wind blowing.
(01:28):
It is definitely not good.
Right now All my animals aresleeping inside.
They're all inside laying onthe floor resting.
It's amazing.
Animals know about this hotweather and know that they just
might as well lay low becauseit's not very conductive to much
activity outside.
(01:48):
So but it looks like thisweather is going to stay around
for the rest of the week.
Maybe a little brief cool downon Friday.
Then it's going to be back andwarm going into the 4th of July.
The 4th of July is right aroundthe corner and it looks like
we're going to have some goodweather.
Now, this may be the first yearin quite a while.
Here in Hot Springs CountyPeople like to float on the
(02:11):
Bighorn River and this may bethe first time in a while the
weather's been conductive, theweather's been good, the river's
actually going to be down andit looks like it's going to be a
good Fourth of July weekend toget on the water.
I've heard that usual float.
Also, boysen Reservoir is downquite a bit.
(02:32):
I think they had someestimation issues.
I think they were expecting alittle bigger runoff than what
we ended up with.
I know they're talking aboutwater flows are going to be
reduced.
So again, part of this.
And then I look at weatheraround the country here recently
the weather out in the Midwest.
I saw places in Iowa and I sawSioux Falls, south Dakota All
(02:56):
these areas are just gettingunbelievable amount of rain,
just epic amount of rain.
There's something definitelygoing on.
I can remember a podcast fromoh, probably two years ago, from
Wyoming History, where theytalked about weather
modification and a lot of peopledon't believe in this type of
stuff, but I sure do.
Somebody's messing around withour weather.
(03:16):
And then you see down in NewMexico, in Rio Dosa, down in New
Mexico it's down in thatsouthern part of the state of
New Mexico they suddenly hadthese crazy fires that came in,
a little bit like the ones thatyou saw in California and also
in Hawaii, that suddenly appearout of nowhere and the heat is
(03:38):
just unbelievable.
A little strange out there theactivities are going on, but
summertime is here and it'sgoing to be a long time before
we're going to have any relief.
We better just hunker down andlay low and be like the dogs,
maybe take a nap.
I'd like to share a story that Isaw this evening.
(04:01):
As I was leaving Best Buy, Inoticed this man going through
the garbage can outside of thestore.
As I walked to my car, Iwatched him as he reached into
the garbage can and pulled outfast food trash bags and
inspected all that was in thethrown away bags.
He did this for several minutes.
He would find a few fries inone bag and a bite or two of a
(04:23):
hamburger in another bag.
You can see the hamburgerwrapper by his knee where he was
placing the food items he'dfound.
He never bothered anyone ortried to stop and beg for money
as people entered and left thestore.
After he went through theentire trash can, he neatly
cleaned up the area and wrappedup the food he had found in the
(04:44):
dirty hamburger wrapper.
My heart hurt for him.
I am not someone who just handsout money or even helps
homeless people, because so manyare not truly homeless.
I don't guess I've ever seensomeone actually go through a
garbage can to try to find foodto eat.
I knew I had to help him.
I got out of my car and askedif I could buy him something to
(05:06):
eat.
He told me he would appreciateanything I could get him.
He was on a bike and I told himif he'd follow me I'd buy him a
meal at the fast food placearound the block.
He followed me and I bought thebiggest meal they had on the
menu.
The only request he gave me forthis order was if he could get
a big glass of sweet tea to gowith the meal.
(05:27):
Brought the food to him.
He was so thankful.
He told me his name was Steveand he'd been homeless ever
since his sister died lastSeptember.
He was trying to get off thestreets but it was so hard.
I told him God loved him and Iwould pray for him.
He told me again how much heappreciated the meal.
When I got back in my car Idrove off with such a heaviness
(05:50):
in my heart for this man.
I drove down the road and feltcompelled to go back to help
this man.
When I came back, he hadfinished his meal and was riding
away.
I pulled up beside him andasked him if there was any way I
could help him.
He told me not really.
He never asked me for money.
I asked him if I could buy hima few meals and put on a gift
(06:10):
card for him.
He told me that would be kind.
I drove to McDonald's andbought him some meals and gave
him a gift card.
He broke down crying.
He told me that he had prayedfor me today.
I wasn't sure what he meantcrying.
He told me that he had prayedfor me today.
I wasn't sure what he meant.
I was assuming he was prayingfor me, for what I did for him.
So I thanked him.
(06:30):
He said no, you don'tunderstand.
I prayed that God would sendsomeone to buy me a hot meal
today, and he sent you.
I don't know what to say I wasspeechless.
(06:59):
Maybe God uses me to answerthis man's prayer, to let him
know that he cares for him.
But maybe God used this man toshow me just how blessed I am
and what I take for granted.
He said you see, I have cancer.
He pulled up his shirt andpointed to a huge mass that was
poking out from his stomach.
He said he knew it wouldn't bemuch longer.
(07:21):
I asked him if he knew Jesus.
He told me that he did.
I asked if I could pray for himand he said that I could.
We prayed right there on thesidewalk of McDonald's.
Tears just poured from his eyes.
He told me he knew that he wasgoing to die and that he was
ready to die.
He was tired of being in painand would be better off off dead
(07:43):
, because this was no lifeliving this way.
I stayed and encouraged him fora few minutes, just trying to
fight back my tears.
My prayer is that I showed himthe love of Jesus today, that
something I said gave him hope.
You see, everybody has a story.
I know Steve's story allbecause I felt compelled to help
(08:05):
him.
He ended up touching me today.
When I left him, I knew I haddone what God wanted me to do.
God put him in my path today.
I know he did.
I never felt such a feeling tohelp someone as I did today.
I was reminded again of howblessed I am.
I have a vehicle that gets mefrom place to place.
(08:25):
I have a roof over my head,clean clothes, money to buy a
hot meal, running water,electricity, my health, a job,
family and friends.
Sometimes God sends situationsour way to remind us of how
blessed we are.
Please remember Steve in yourprayers.
Yes, I have been blessed.
(08:46):
God's so good to me.
Precious are his thoughts ofyou and me.
There's no way I could countthem, there's not enough time,
so I'll just thank him for beingso kind.
God has been good, so good.
I've been blessed.
I've been blessed.
(09:07):
Today in our world, coal is sucha nasty name.
A lot of coal-fired plants arebeing attacked by
environmentalists and it'shaving a major impact in the
state of Wyoming.
Wanted to look at a story fromback from the wildhistoryorg by
(09:28):
Dick Bluss Jr.
Reliance, the last of theSweetwater County coal camps.
While trappers and traders hadlong been aware of extensive
coal deposits in the area, theimmense Rock Springs Coal Field
in present-day Sweetwater County.
Wyoming was first documentedofficially by Captain Howard
Stansbury of the US ArmyTopographical Engineers.
Stansbury was on his 1849 to1851 expedition to survey the
(09:54):
Great Salt Lake in Utah,evaluated the Mormon and Oregon
trails and scout routes for atranscontinental railroad.
His return trip took himthrough Bitter Creek Valley and
what is now Rock Springs, wherethe party observed great
outcroppings of coal and a goodquality coal in beds 10 foot
thick, protruding from the hillson the south side of the creek.
(10:18):
In August of 1868, the UnionPacific reached Rock Springs,
though the town was little morethan a stop on the Overland
stage line.
Coal mining had already began.
The Union Pacific CoalDepartment, formed in 1874 and
by 1890 reorganized as the UnionPacific Coal Company, produced
(10:38):
most of the coal mined in theimmediate area.
During the early days ofSweetwater County, coal industry
mining was usually close to therailroad.
Between 1869 and 1900, all butone of the coal mines in the
Rock Springs field were locatedwithin a mile of the main line.
All that changed with the turnof the century, however.
(10:58):
In 1899, upe began a massiveproject to rebuild the entire
line from Omaha to Ogden,straightening curves, boring
tunnels and reducing grades toallow for longer, heavier trains
, a lower cost per ton per mileand more profit.
Demand for coal rose sharply.
Between 1898 and 1910, wyomingcoal production more than
(11:22):
doubled from more than 3 milliontons to more than 7 million
tons per year.
Consequently, the Union Pacificbegan constructing spur lines
north from the main line to newor newly acquired mine sites.
In 1906, a spur up Horse ThiefCanyon, east of Rock Springs, to
(11:43):
the mines at Superior werecompleted, and in 1907, work
began on a line to be calledGunn, three miles north of the
tracks on the western edge ofthe North Baxter Basin, the area
of the Sweetwater coal camps,had begun.
On March 20th of 1910, minersbegan digging at a site several
miles north of Rock Springs.
(12:04):
It was designated the numberone mine, followed soon by
number three and four, and thecoal camp that sprung up near
the mines were christenedReliance.
Other camps followed over theyears along the immense arc of
the Rock Springs Coal Field,including Winton Dines, lion
Coal, east Plain and Stansbury.
(12:25):
The Reliance mine proved highlyproductive.
In 1906, coal production inSweetwater County was reported
at 2.1 million tons, but by 1912, when the Spur line to Reliance
was completed, this figure hadrisen to 2.9 million tons, an
increase of 38%.
This created a demand forworkers.
(12:47):
One Union Pacific newspaperadvertisement called for 1,000
miners and laborers for themines at Rock Springs, superior
and Reliance.
These mines are safe and freefrom gas.
Work is steady and wages aregood, while influx of workers
came.
Extraordinarily ethnic andcultural diversity.
During 1880 and 1910, a full61% of Sweetwater County's
(13:12):
railroad and coal town dwellerswere foreign-born.
More than 20 nationalities wererepresented, including English,
welsh, irish, scottish, belgium, french, canadians, german,
dutch, hungarians, italian,polish, croatian, slovenia,
finnish, serbian, swedish,danish, basque, greek, chinese
(13:33):
and Japanese.
By 1911, the State MineInspector reported that at
Reliance, while the mines werebeing opened, the company
carried on a house-buildingprogram.
Seventy-five comfortable andcommodious houses had been built
and others had been added.
Characterizing the houses ascomfortable and commodious was
probably an exaggeration.
(13:54):
At first water had to be hauledto the dwellings where it was
stored in barrels.
Later wells were drilled andwater was piped in.
Eventually, an enlarged powerplant in Rock Springs brought
electricity to Reliance.
The population grew steadily,if not rapidly.
According to census information, in 1930, there were 626 people
in Reliance and 740 in 1940.
(14:17):
The Union Pacific Coal CompanyReliance Headquarters building
was roughly at the center of thecamp.
It housed the mine office, thecompany store and post office.
Reliance's social center, alarge building called the
Bungalow, featured a largeamusement hall, an activity room
, the camp doctor's office, apool hall and a barbershop.
Dances, concerts and othercommunity events were staged
(14:40):
there and movies were shown.
There was even roller skating.
Reliance served as theunofficial capital of the coal
camps north of Rock Springs.
While younger children attendedgrade school at their own camp,
all attended high school at theReliance High School completed
in 1928.
The first class graduated in1931.
(15:00):
At coal mining operations of thecoal camp era in the West, coal
sorting stations called tipples, were used to sort mine coal by
size and also to remove debris.
The sorted coal was then loadedon rail cars for shipment.
For decades a wooden tippleserved the Reliance mines, but
in 1936, a massive steel andconcrete tipple replaced it.
(15:22):
Twenty or more coal haulingcars at a time, with a capacity
of four tons each, traveled aspecial trolley line from the
mines to a new tipple, poweredby cables that ran overhead in
the mines and were strung onpoles alongside the trolley
tracks.
At the tipple the cars weretipped sideways with special
(15:42):
machinery dumping the coal intothe hopper.
The coal then moved to a shakerscreen that sorted the coal
into one of four categories ofsize powder, nut, egg or lump.
Tipple's main conveyor,delivering the coal to rail cars
, was a 48-inch wide rubbercovered belt traveling at 310
feet per second.
(16:02):
The plant could process 500tons of coal per hour.
As production increased from1936 on, more workers were
needed at the Tipple.
America's entry into World WarII in December of 1941, however,
caused a manpower shortage,with many men, enlisting
Consequently women, worked atthe temple during the war to
pick bony or waste material,mostly slate that needed to be
(16:26):
removed by hand from the coal.
At their peak, during World WarII, their reliance mines
produced 1.4 million tons ofcoal per year coal per year.
But during the late 1940s andearly 1950s, as the Union
Pacific accelerated itschangeover to diesel electric
locomotives, demand for coaldeclined.
By the late 1950s thetransition was complete.
(16:46):
When the demand for coal ceased, the mines closed and the coal
camps died.
Winton, stansbury, gunn, dynes,lion Coal were abandoned and
dismantled.
To avoid paying taxes on thenow vacant miners' houses, the
coal companies sold them for apittance and many were
transported out whole to thetowns of Rock Springs, pinedale,
(17:06):
big Piney, lander and Hudson,wyoming.
Some even went out of state toIdaho, utah and Colorado.
All that remains of the campstoday are foundations and a few
crumbling walls.
Reliance was and remains theexception that stubborn little
town population in the lowhundreds continued to hang on.
It has a branch of theSweetwater County Library open
(17:27):
four days a week.
Reliance residents may have todrive to Rock Springs for
groceries and gas, but they canget their dogs groomed at Cute
and Curly on Main Street.
The old high school stillstands.
By 1958, it was down to fiveseniors and closed in 1959.
But from 1960 to 61, served asthe second campus of the Western
(17:49):
Wyoming Community College,first to offer daytime classes.
The high school, one-time homeof the Reliance Pirates, was
placed on the National Registryof Historical Places.
The Reliance Temple remains too.
When the last of the Reliancemines shut down in 1954, the
temple was abandoned.
Its powerful electric motorswere salvaged and sold off, but
(18:09):
the structure itself and itsinternal components, including
shakers, hoppers and screens,were left intact.
Shakers, hoppers and screenswere left intact.
Some of the metalwork hasfallen away and its glass
windows are long broken out.
But there it stands, only 100yards from South Street, a
hulking icon of an age gone byand nearly a lone one.
(18:31):
The other surviving coal tipplefrom the Wyoming coal camp era
is a wooden Aladdin tipple inCrook County.
The Reliance tipple from theWyoming coal camp era is the
Wooden Aladdin Tipple in CrookCounty.
The Reliance Tipple is listedon the National Register of
Historical Places and visitorsare welcome.
With a caveat Stay out of theinterior.
The Sweetwater CountyHistorical Museum in Green River
confirms that the site isfenced, posted and under video
(18:53):
surveillance.
The interior is dangerous andoff-limits People entering the
tipple place themselves at risk.
Just another great story on thecoal industry here in the state
of Wyoming and at these othermines they had the same thing
with the influx of these foreignworkers.
As you read different storiesabout mines around the state,
even here in Hot Springs Countyat the Chibo mine years ago,
(19:18):
there has been a book justrecently published on the mines
in that area and the amount offoreign workers that came and
worked in these mines.
All part of our history ofWyoming.
Thanks for joining us today andwe hope you enjoy our podcast.
As per the Code of the West, weride for the brand and we hope
(19:41):
you enjoy our podcast.
As per the code of the West, weride the.
We are the, we are the, we arethe, we are the, we are the, we
(20:09):
are the, we are the, we are the,we are the, we are the, we are
the, we are the, we are the, weare the, we are the, we are the,
we are the, we are the, we arethe, we are the, we are the, we
(20:46):
are the, we are the, we are the,we are the, we are the, we are
the, we are the, we are the.
© BF-WATCH TV 2021.
Good morning and welcome to let's Talk Wyoming.
I'm Mark Hamilton, your host.
Today.
We'll be talking about Wyomingweather, and it's been warm and
our weather around the US hasbeen rather strange.
We'll have a story on beingthankful for what you have and
we'll talk about the coal minesat Reliance Wyoming.
(00:41):
Thanks for joining us today andwe hope you enjoy the show.
Taking a look at Wyoming weatherhere on the 24th day of June.
(01:05):
June is slowly but surelycoming to a close.
Also our weather here inWyoming.
As I've seen around the country, it has definitely warmed up.
We're having a heat wave rightnow.
Over the weekend it's gottenhot.
Yesterday, sunday, was just anabsolute furnace outside Hot,
almost 100 degrees, with astrong wind blowing.
(01:28):
It is definitely not good.
Right now All my animals aresleeping inside.
They're all inside laying onthe floor resting.
It's amazing.
Animals know about this hotweather and know that they just
might as well lay low becauseit's not very conductive to much
activity outside.
(01:48):
So but it looks like thisweather is going to stay around
for the rest of the week.
Maybe a little brief cool downon Friday.
Then it's going to be back andwarm going into the 4th of July.
The 4th of July is right aroundthe corner and it looks like
we're going to have some goodweather.
Now, this may be the first yearin quite a while.
Here in Hot Springs CountyPeople like to float on the
(02:11):
Bighorn River and this may bethe first time in a while the
weather's been conductive, theweather's been good, the river's
actually going to be down andit looks like it's going to be a
good Fourth of July weekend toget on the water.
I've heard that usual float.
Also, boysen Reservoir is downquite a bit.
(02:32):
I think they had someestimation issues.
I think they were expecting alittle bigger runoff than what
we ended up with.
I know they're talking aboutwater flows are going to be
reduced.
So again, part of this.
And then I look at weatheraround the country here recently
the weather out in the Midwest.
I saw places in Iowa and I sawSioux Falls, south Dakota All
(02:56):
these areas are just gettingunbelievable amount of rain,
just epic amount of rain.
There's something definitelygoing on.
I can remember a podcast fromoh, probably two years ago, from
Wyoming History, where theytalked about weather
modification and a lot of peopledon't believe in this type of
stuff, but I sure do.
Somebody's messing around withour weather.
(03:16):
And then you see down in NewMexico, in Rio Dosa, down in New
Mexico it's down in thatsouthern part of the state of
New Mexico they suddenly hadthese crazy fires that came in,
a little bit like the ones thatyou saw in California and also
in Hawaii, that suddenly appearout of nowhere and the heat is
(03:38):
just unbelievable.
A little strange out there theactivities are going on, but
summertime is here and it'sgoing to be a long time before
we're going to have any relief.
We better just hunker down andlay low and be like the dogs,
maybe take a nap.
I'd like to share a story that Isaw this evening.
(04:01):
As I was leaving Best Buy, Inoticed this man going through
the garbage can outside of thestore.
As I walked to my car, Iwatched him as he reached into
the garbage can and pulled outfast food trash bags and
inspected all that was in thethrown away bags.
He did this for several minutes.
He would find a few fries inone bag and a bite or two of a
(04:23):
hamburger in another bag.
You can see the hamburgerwrapper by his knee where he was
placing the food items he'dfound.
He never bothered anyone ortried to stop and beg for money
as people entered and left thestore.
After he went through theentire trash can, he neatly
cleaned up the area and wrappedup the food he had found in the
(04:44):
dirty hamburger wrapper.
My heart hurt for him.
I am not someone who just handsout money or even helps
homeless people, because so manyare not truly homeless.
I don't guess I've ever seensomeone actually go through a
garbage can to try to find foodto eat.
I knew I had to help him.
I got out of my car and askedif I could buy him something to
(05:06):
eat.
He told me he would appreciateanything I could get him.
He was on a bike and I told himif he'd follow me I'd buy him a
meal at the fast food placearound the block.
He followed me and I bought thebiggest meal they had on the
menu.
The only request he gave me forthis order was if he could get
a big glass of sweet tea to gowith the meal.
(05:27):
Brought the food to him.
He was so thankful.
He told me his name was Steveand he'd been homeless ever
since his sister died lastSeptember.
He was trying to get off thestreets but it was so hard.
I told him God loved him and Iwould pray for him.
He told me again how much heappreciated the meal.
When I got back in my car Idrove off with such a heaviness
(05:50):
in my heart for this man.
I drove down the road and feltcompelled to go back to help
this man.
When I came back, he hadfinished his meal and was riding
away.
I pulled up beside him andasked him if there was any way I
could help him.
He told me not really.
He never asked me for money.
I asked him if I could buy hima few meals and put on a gift
(06:10):
card for him.
He told me that would be kind.
I drove to McDonald's andbought him some meals and gave
him a gift card.
He broke down crying.
He told me that he had prayedfor me today.
I wasn't sure what he meantcrying.
He told me that he had prayedfor me today.
I wasn't sure what he meant.
I was assuming he was prayingfor me, for what I did for him.
So I thanked him.
(06:30):
He said no, you don'tunderstand.
I prayed that God would sendsomeone to buy me a hot meal
today, and he sent you.
I don't know what to say I wasspeechless.
(06:59):
Maybe God uses me to answerthis man's prayer, to let him
know that he cares for him.
But maybe God used this man toshow me just how blessed I am
and what I take for granted.
He said you see, I have cancer.
He pulled up his shirt andpointed to a huge mass that was
poking out from his stomach.
He said he knew it wouldn't bemuch longer.
(07:21):
I asked him if he knew Jesus.
He told me that he did.
I asked if I could pray for himand he said that I could.
We prayed right there on thesidewalk of McDonald's.
Tears just poured from his eyes.
He told me he knew that he wasgoing to die and that he was
ready to die.
He was tired of being in painand would be better off off dead
(07:43):
, because this was no lifeliving this way.
I stayed and encouraged him fora few minutes, just trying to
fight back my tears.
My prayer is that I showed himthe love of Jesus today, that
something I said gave him hope.
You see, everybody has a story.
I know Steve's story allbecause I felt compelled to help
(08:05):
him.
He ended up touching me today.
When I left him, I knew I haddone what God wanted me to do.
God put him in my path today.
I know he did.
I never felt such a feeling tohelp someone as I did today.
I was reminded again of howblessed I am.
I have a vehicle that gets mefrom place to place.
(08:25):
I have a roof over my head,clean clothes, money to buy a
hot meal, running water,electricity, my health, a job,
family and friends.
Sometimes God sends situationsour way to remind us of how
blessed we are.
Please remember Steve in yourprayers.
Yes, I have been blessed.
(08:46):
God's so good to me.
Precious are his thoughts ofyou and me.
There's no way I could countthem, there's not enough time,
so I'll just thank him for beingso kind.
God has been good, so good.
I've been blessed.
I've been blessed.
(09:07):
Today in our world, coal is sucha nasty name.
A lot of coal-fired plants arebeing attacked by
environmentalists and it'shaving a major impact in the
state of Wyoming.
Wanted to look at a story fromback from the wildhistoryorg by
(09:28):
Dick Bluss Jr.
Reliance, the last of theSweetwater County coal camps.
While trappers and traders hadlong been aware of extensive
coal deposits in the area, theimmense Rock Springs Coal Field
in present-day Sweetwater County.
Wyoming was first documentedofficially by Captain Howard
Stansbury of the US ArmyTopographical Engineers.
Stansbury was on his 1849 to1851 expedition to survey the
(09:54):
Great Salt Lake in Utah,evaluated the Mormon and Oregon
trails and scout routes for atranscontinental railroad.
His return trip took himthrough Bitter Creek Valley and
what is now Rock Springs, wherethe party observed great
outcroppings of coal and a goodquality coal in beds 10 foot
thick, protruding from the hillson the south side of the creek.
(10:18):
In August of 1868, the UnionPacific reached Rock Springs,
though the town was little morethan a stop on the Overland
stage line.
Coal mining had already began.
The Union Pacific CoalDepartment, formed in 1874 and
by 1890 reorganized as the UnionPacific Coal Company, produced
(10:38):
most of the coal mined in theimmediate area.
During the early days ofSweetwater County, coal industry
mining was usually close to therailroad.
Between 1869 and 1900, all butone of the coal mines in the
Rock Springs field were locatedwithin a mile of the main line.
All that changed with the turnof the century, however.
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In 1899, upe began a massiveproject to rebuild the entire
line from Omaha to Ogden,straightening curves, boring
tunnels and reducing grades toallow for longer, heavier trains
, a lower cost per ton per mileand more profit.
Demand for coal rose sharply.
Between 1898 and 1910, wyomingcoal production more than
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doubled from more than 3 milliontons to more than 7 million
tons per year.
Consequently, the Union Pacificbegan constructing spur lines
north from the main line to newor newly acquired mine sites.
In 1906, a spur up Horse ThiefCanyon, east of Rock Springs, to
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the mines at Superior werecompleted, and in 1907, work
began on a line to be calledGunn, three miles north of the
tracks on the western edge ofthe North Baxter Basin, the area
of the Sweetwater coal camps,had begun.
On March 20th of 1910, minersbegan digging at a site several
miles north of Rock Springs.
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It was designated the numberone mine, followed soon by
number three and four, and thecoal camp that sprung up near
the mines were christenedReliance.
Other camps followed over theyears along the immense arc of
the Rock Springs Coal Field,including Winton Dines, lion
Coal, east Plain and Stansbury.
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The Reliance mine proved highlyproductive.
In 1906, coal production inSweetwater County was reported
at 2.1 million tons, but by 1912, when the Spur line to Reliance
was completed, this figure hadrisen to 2.9 million tons, an
increase of 38%.
This created a demand forworkers.
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One Union Pacific newspaperadvertisement called for 1,000
miners and laborers for themines at Rock Springs, superior
and Reliance.
These mines are safe and freefrom gas.
Work is steady and wages aregood, while influx of workers
came.
Extraordinarily ethnic andcultural diversity.
During 1880 and 1910, a full61% of Sweetwater County's
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railroad and coal town dwellerswere foreign-born.
More than 20 nationalities wererepresented, including English,
welsh, irish, scottish, belgium, french, canadians, german,
dutch, hungarians, italian,polish, croatian, slovenia,
finnish, serbian, swedish,danish, basque, greek, chinese
(13:33):
and Japanese.
By 1911, the State MineInspector reported that at
Reliance, while the mines werebeing opened, the company
carried on a house-buildingprogram.
Seventy-five comfortable andcommodious houses had been built
and others had been added.
Characterizing the houses ascomfortable and commodious was
probably an exaggeration.
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At first water had to be hauledto the dwellings where it was
stored in barrels.
Later wells were drilled andwater was piped in.
Eventually, an enlarged powerplant in Rock Springs brought
electricity to Reliance.
The population grew steadily,if not rapidly.
According to census information, in 1930, there were 626 people
in Reliance and 740 in 1940.
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The Union Pacific Coal CompanyReliance Headquarters building
was roughly at the center of thecamp.
It housed the mine office, thecompany store and post office.
Reliance's social center, alarge building called the
Bungalow, featured a largeamusement hall, an activity room
, the camp doctor's office, apool hall and a barbershop.
Dances, concerts and othercommunity events were staged
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there and movies were shown.
There was even roller skating.
Reliance served as theunofficial capital of the coal
camps north of Rock Springs.
While younger children attendedgrade school at their own camp,
all attended high school at theReliance High School completed
in 1928.
The first class graduated in1931.
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At coal mining operations of thecoal camp era in the West, coal
sorting stations called tipples, were used to sort mine coal by
size and also to remove debris.
The sorted coal was then loadedon rail cars for shipment.
For decades a wooden tippleserved the Reliance mines, but
in 1936, a massive steel andconcrete tipple replaced it.
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Twenty or more coal haulingcars at a time, with a capacity
of four tons each, traveled aspecial trolley line from the
mines to a new tipple, poweredby cables that ran overhead in
the mines and were strung onpoles alongside the trolley
tracks.
At the tipple the cars weretipped sideways with special
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machinery dumping the coal intothe hopper.
The coal then moved to a shakerscreen that sorted the coal
into one of four categories ofsize powder, nut, egg or lump.
Tipple's main conveyor,delivering the coal to rail cars
, was a 48-inch wide rubbercovered belt traveling at 310
feet per second.
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The plant could process 500tons of coal per hour.
As production increased from1936 on, more workers were
needed at the Tipple.
America's entry into World WarII in December of 1941, however,
caused a manpower shortage,with many men, enlisting
Consequently women, worked atthe temple during the war to
pick bony or waste material,mostly slate that needed to be
(16:26):
removed by hand from the coal.
At their peak, during World WarII, their reliance mines
produced 1.4 million tons ofcoal per year coal per year.
But during the late 1940s andearly 1950s, as the Union
Pacific accelerated itschangeover to diesel electric
locomotives, demand for coaldeclined.
By the late 1950s thetransition was complete.
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When the demand for coal ceased, the mines closed and the coal
camps died.
Winton, stansbury, gunn, dynes,lion Coal were abandoned and
dismantled.
To avoid paying taxes on thenow vacant miners' houses, the
coal companies sold them for apittance and many were
transported out whole to thetowns of Rock Springs, pinedale,
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big Piney, lander and Hudson,wyoming.
Some even went out of state toIdaho, utah and Colorado.
All that remains of the campstoday are foundations and a few
crumbling walls.
Reliance was and remains theexception that stubborn little
town population in the lowhundreds continued to hang on.
It has a branch of theSweetwater County Library open
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four days a week.
Reliance residents may have todrive to Rock Springs for
groceries and gas, but they canget their dogs groomed at Cute
and Curly on Main Street.
The old high school stillstands.
By 1958, it was down to fiveseniors and closed in 1959.
But from 1960 to 61, served asthe second campus of the Western
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Wyoming Community College,first to offer daytime classes.
The high school, one-time homeof the Reliance Pirates, was
placed on the National Registryof Historical Places.
The Reliance Temple remains too.
When the last of the Reliancemines shut down in 1954, the
temple was abandoned.
Its powerful electric motorswere salvaged and sold off, but
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the structure itself and itsinternal components, including
shakers, hoppers and screens,were left intact.
Shakers, hoppers and screenswere left intact.
Some of the metalwork hasfallen away and its glass
windows are long broken out.
But there it stands, only 100yards from South Street, a
hulking icon of an age gone byand nearly a lone one.
(18:31):
The other surviving coal tipplefrom the Wyoming coal camp era
is a wooden Aladdin tipple inCrook County.
The Reliance tipple from theWyoming coal camp era is the
Wooden Aladdin Tipple in CrookCounty.
The Reliance Tipple is listedon the National Register of
Historical Places and visitorsare welcome.
With a caveat Stay out of theinterior.
The Sweetwater CountyHistorical Museum in Green River
confirms that the site isfenced, posted and under video
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surveillance.
The interior is dangerous andoff-limits People entering the
tipple place themselves at risk.
Just another great story on thecoal industry here in the state
of Wyoming and at these othermines they had the same thing
with the influx of these foreignworkers.
As you read different storiesabout mines around the state,
even here in Hot Springs Countyat the Chibo mine years ago,
(19:18):
there has been a book justrecently published on the mines
in that area and the amount offoreign workers that came and
worked in these mines.
All part of our history ofWyoming.
Thanks for joining us today andwe hope you enjoy our podcast.
As per the Code of the West, weride for the brand and we hope
(19:41):
you enjoy our podcast.
As per the code of the West, weride the.
We are the, we are the, we arethe, we are the, we are the, we
(20:09):
are the, we are the, we are the,we are the, we are the, we are
the, we are the, we are the, weare the, we are the, we are the,
we are the, we are the, we arethe, we are the, we are the, we
(20:46):
are the, we are the, we are the,we are the, we are the, we are
the, we are the, we are the.
© BF-WATCH TV 2021.
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