Superior

Superior. In Dedication. This monument is dedicated to the miners who worked here and especially to those who lost their lives. It is also a monument to the living -- those who ave remained and exemplify the men and women whose independent character created this community. , The town of Superior, Wyoming had its origins in the coal boom days around the turn of the century. A prospecting team led by Morgan Griffiths entered Horse Thief Canyon in 1900, and established the site for the first of Superior’s many coal mines. The town grew to its largest population of 2,700 in the mid 1940s when, during world War II, hundreds of workers came to the mines, living in quarters fashioned from boxcars. , The Superior mines produced nearly 24,000,000 tons of coal annually in their prime, second only to Rock Springs. There were eight mines in the area, all but two owned and operated by the Union Pacific Coal Company to supply their locomotives. The Premier and Copenhagen Mines were independents. The Union Pacific mines were the last to close their mining operations, forbidden by law to sell their coal to the public, and having no great use for it themselves because of the advent of the diesel locomotive. The D.O. Clark Mine was closed in 1963. , The town of South Superior was an incorporated town, with a separate identity from the company town of Superior. This Hall and the standing buildings located north of here are all part of South Superior. The company-owned houses and stores have long since disappeared. These are the remnants of an independent venture built to serve the miners living in the area.