Sweets Coal Company - Consumers - National

Sweets Coal Company - Consumers - National. . , Sweets Coal Company , In 1928 Will Sweet discovered coal in a small canyon northeast of National. Sweets was the smallest of the mines in the Gordon Creek area. It was a tent city for almost 10 years with a population of close to 200 people. They had a post office from January 26, 1927 to September 25, 1941 when it closed., The Sweets Mine closed temporarily in 1937, but reopened during World War I. In the early 1940's, there were approximately 20 small three room houses built on the main street of Sweets. They all had red tile roofs., In 1998 Horizon Mine reclaimed the town of Sweets., Sweets Mine had the highest death rate of the three towns. They had 17 miners killed, mostly by roof falls. By the early 1950's Sweets, like Consumers and National were ghost towns. , Consumers , Coal was discovered in the Gordon Creek area by Arthur E. Gibson who secured 1500 acres of land in 1908. The town was originally called Gibson, but was changed to Consumers in 1924 Large scale mining did not start until the 1920's., During the winter of 1921-1922 Gibson hired ten men to work the mine and during that time they were able to mine thirty-four coal car loads and deliver it to the Wildcat Roll siding by wagon. The Consumers mine was the first in Utah to use conveyor belts to haul coal rather than mine cars., In 1927, Consumers was bought out by the Blue Blaze Coal Company. By the end of 1938 the Blue Blaze Coal Company was in receivership and the mine closed., In 1939, MacGowan Coal Company bought the mine at auction. In October 1939 the mine was again sold, this time to the Hudson Coal Company. By the early 1950's Consumers was another ghost town. In Consumers history there were nine miners killed., National , Coal was discovered in 1908 by a man named Willamson. The property was developed by Fred Sweet. Coal shipments from the National Mine began in August of 1927. Fred Sweet resigned as president of the National Coal Company in January 1935. He was replaced by C. D. Craddock., Operations at the National Mine were discontinued on July 23, 1938. The National Coal Company was sold under foreclosure on December 2, 1938 to the Reconstruction Finance Corp. The tipple. machinery and trackage were sold in March of 1940 to a salvage company. The steel was sold to Japan for $20.00 a ton., In June of 1940, Carl Nyman of Price bought the coal rights for National. A new 540 foot long spur, was purchased from Utah Railway. It had a nine car capacity and was completed on November 9, 1940. The National Coal Company was purchased by the Hudson Coal Company in 1949., The population of National peaked at 250 people at the end of World War. By 1950 the town of National had become a ghost town., Only 7 miners were killed in the history of National.,