The Beginning of Coal Mining in Wyoming

The Beginning of Coal Mining in Wyoming. . , "The lack of rail service in large areas of Wyoming did not prevent small coal mines from being opened. Throughout much of rural Wyoming wood was not readily available, and it was too valuable to be used as fuel on the plains and basins. Coal provided an excellent means of heating and cooking at remote homesteads. Cold weather lasts for nine months in the Intermountain west, and the process of providing cooking fuel continued year round. Wagon mines, literally mines serviced by wagons instead of railroads, were a common site wherever coal was available." , "The seams of coal used for wagon mines were visible on the surface and did not require elaborate mining methods. Cora Ellis, who grew up on a ranch south of Medicine Bow, related that most of the coal from the small mines in the area was sold "to some of the ranchers… but never went any further than just local consumption." In some instances, neighbors would barter for fuel. They would trade cream, butter, eggs or meat for a load of coal. (Forgotten Frontier, A History of Wyoming Coal Mining, A. Dudley Gardener and Verla R. Flores)." , "As the nation began to focus anew on its reserves of coal its visions swung westward. In the American West, and particularly in the northern plains of Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota there could be found billions of tons of sub-bituminous coal. Geologically speaking this is a younger coal than the bituminous and anthracite coals of the midwest and the east." , "The largest unbroken concentration of coal in the United States is the remarkable Wyodak bed, centered in Campbell County, Wyoming. This bed penetrates the surface along the line extending 120 miles at thicknesses ranging from 25 ft. to 150 ft. To a depth of 200 ft., it contains an estimated 15 billion tons of strip mineable coal (or about 20 times the total U.S. output in 1976). To a depth of 2000 ft. it contains perhaps 100 billion tons of coal. (Forgotten Frontier, A History of Wyoming Coal Mining, A. Dudley Gardener and Verla R. Flores)." , [photo caption] , In the 1960s the environmental effects of strip mining were becoming an issue as the demand for coal was once again on the rise. With increasingly larger, more modern equipment, large tracts of land could be devastated in a short period of time.