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Helper UT mine disaster (#0096)

by Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)
In keeping with this trip's honoring of monuments that don't really work, here and the next picture are two. Both are well-crafted, but are on the edge of a pull-off on a dangerous curve with heavy and fast traffic. The pull-off itself is wide, but it looked to mainly be a place for trucks to stop.

This monument is for the Castle Gate mine disaster, one of the largest mine disasters in the U.S., where 171 men were killed (all of the men in the mine plus one rescuer) from a series of three explosions related to improper damping of coal dust. To compound the disaster, due to decreased demand at the time, the mine had just recently laid off many of the unmarried miners and miners without dependents, thus the disaster took a heavy toll on fathers and families

Due to the angle of the sun, this isn't a particular good picture, but looking at a larger version of it will indicate the extensive detail of faces and mine equipment on the memorial.

See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Gate_Mine_disaster
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3 comments

slgwv said:

And it wasn't even the worst mine disaster in Utah--
10 years ago

Don Barrett (aka DBs… replied to slgwv:

I hadn't realized that section of Utah was so coal intensive, or about the larger disaster (Scofield) relatively nearby.
10 years ago

Clint said:

I'd heard of Scofield. I didn't know about this one.

I love the design of this plaque. It's unusually well-done for this sort of thing. Too bad it's in such a bad spot.
10 years ago