Rock Springs Coal

Rock Springs Coal. . Buried under the streets of Rock Springs are seams of coal. In 1850 Howard Stansbury noted that coal could be found near the present town. When, in 1868, the Union Pacific Railroad built through the area, the large commercial mines opened. Number 1 Mine, opened in downtown and the village streets were said to have been laid out by "a 'drunken' miner on a dying horse." The Number 1 Mine, along with the nearby Blair Mine, which opened in the early to mid 1860's, formed the nucleus of an infant community. The town became known as the "Newcastle of the West," (after the fabled England coal town). From 1868 to until the mid-nineteenth century, coal from Rock Springs area mines provided relatively clean burning fuel for steam locomotives that crossed the Rocky Mountains. In the late 1800's English, Swedish, Finnish, Chinese, Italian, and Slovenian miners came to work in the mines. By the turn of the century the town boasted miners from around the world. Japanese, Welsh, Cornish, Scottish, German, and Polish workers joined other nationalities in the mines to make Rock Springs one of the most diverse communities in Wyoming. When in the 1950s the underground coal mines closed many thought that Rock Springs would vanish. The newly opened Trona mines west of present Green River employed many of the miners that chose to stay in Rock Springs. Then in the 1970's strip mines opened east and north of present Point of Rocks and coal mining once again provide miners in Rock Springs with jobs. From 1862 to the present coal has been mined in the area around Rock Springs. Coal mining brought Rock Springs to life and modern miners continue to bring to the surface the fuel that fires the areas economy.