Helper

Vol. 2
No. 7

May
1926

Helper, In the Heart of Utah's Great Coal Fields

LESS than 46 years ago Helper was nothing more than a gap in the Price River canyon with only one log cabin owned by Teahcom Pratt, who settled here on July 5, 1880. His cabin still stands in the heart of the city. Today, Helper has 3000 population, hundreds of modern up-to-date residences electric lights, paved streets, three blocks of business houses costing more than half a million dollars, a railroad roundhouse and repair shop, coal chute-a bustling, prosperous western city, right in the heart of Utah's greatest coal fields.

Helper has not grown up overnight as has been the case with many western cities. Its growth has been steady and healthy along with the development of the mines and the railroad in this district.

The first houses to be erected in Helper were built by the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad that was completed through here on into Salt Lake and Ogden during 1883. These first buildings were one small frame building near the tracks that is now used press office, a bunk house for the handful of section men who were then stationed here, and a twenty-foot narrow gauge box car for a passenger station.

By the fall of 1887 the railroad had built twenty-seven frame residences, and in the summer of the following year ten more were erected. It was planned by President Palmer of the road to make Helper a freight terminal as soon as the line was standard gauged, and these residences were for the purpose of housing the railroad men and their families.

Standard gauging of the line began in 1889, and Helper became a division point for the road. It remained so for thirty years, or up to the time the terminal was moved to Soldier Summit, and it still is an important helper station where engines are kept in readiness to help through trains up the hill to Soldier Summit.

With the completion of the standard gauging of the track in 1891 the road built a roundhouse and small machine shop here. A large railroad hotel was also erected to provide accommodation for men required to operate the terminal.

In 1893 the present commodious passenger station was built. The top floor of this building was converted into a library and billiard room for the men, and remained so until Helper Railroad Y.M.C.A. was built, when it became quarters for Division officers.

Aside from these railroad buildings, the first house to be built in Helper was a two-story frame house built by J. Tom Fitch in 1891.

The first business house was a small saloon; this was followed by the first store building, both being built in 1891 The first school house was built in 1893. Previous to that time school was conducted in a private residence.

Helper precinct, including the road and school districts, was organized in 1892 and set off from Spring Glen precinct by order of the county commission.

Things were fairly booming in Helper by this time. The railroad employed hundreds of men here. The coal mines that were then opened were working to capacity, and employed many more men. Business houses and residences began shooting up with startling rapidity. While not as extensive now, building has never ceased in Helper. Every year since its inception has seen new houses built.

While the railroad has always contributed liberally to Helper's growth and prosperity, the development of the coal mines in Price and Spring Canyons has done more than any other source to make it the city it now is.

HELPER is situated. right at the mouth of both Price and Springs Canyons where most of the coal mined in Utah is produced. In this strategic location it is a natural source of supply for the many coal camps located in these canyons.

The first coal mined in Carbon County was at Scofield and Winter Quarters in the early eighties. These mines were opened before the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad had reached this far, and the coal had to be hauled to market in wagons over roads that were passable only during the summer months. These mines are still producing, but are not in the Helper district. They are reached by the Scofield branch of the Denver & Rio Grande from Colton, on the main line.

Castle Gate, which is but a short distance up Price Canyon from Helper, was opened by the Utah Fuel Company, who also owned and operated and are still operating the original Winter Quarters mine, in 1885. They also put in a small coking plant here, but it was not successful, due to the poor quality of Castle Gate coal for coking purposes. Later, this company opened its Sunnyside mine, which was found to be the highest grade coking coal in the West. At first this coal was shipped from Sunnyside to Helper for coking, then the company built a coking plant at Sunnyside. Today this is the largest coking coal mine in the world, operating over 900 bee-hive coking ovens. Sunnyside is reached by a branch of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad from its main line at Mounds, Utah.

The Independent Coal Company mines then opened up, and the Utah Fuel Company's Clear Creek properties followed. Helper grew along with these increased activities in coal production, and by this time had developed into a prosperous little town.

During October, 1907, Helper township was regularly organized and incorporated. The first officers were J. Tom Fitch, mayor, and W. C. Broeker, J. H. Harrison, Steve Gianotti and Louis Lowenstein, councilmen.

This move proved to be a city awakening for the people of Helper. A franchise to a twentyfoot strip of ground along Main street was secured, fences along this strip were moved back, telephone poles taken from the center of the street, and the main street of Helper was widened to fifty feet.

The stimulus that this improvement afforded caused people to buy suitable residence sites and build comfortable and attractive homes. The coming prosperity of the town was much in evidence.

Mr. Fitch gave the city a strip of land thirty feet wide and a quarter of a mile long, which was immediately declared Janet street, and building sites mapped out along its course for residential purposes. Lawns and gardens were planted by most of the residents; some put in fruit and shade trees, and the town took on the resultant cloak of natural beauty. Nestling as it does in the palm of the hills, Helper is a beautiful spot, and is an ideal location for a home. The climate is ideal, winter and summer, making it a fine place to live the year around. There is an ample water supply for a city of 16,000 people, which is fresh from a bubbling mountain spring at Colton, through a recently completed pipe-line. Before this pipe-line was completed, Helper depended upon the Price River for its water supply.

UP until the time the Kenilworth mine was opened in 1908, a few general stores had been able to handle the business of the territory. Then followed the opening of mines in Spring Canyon in 1910, Hiawatha, Raines, Storrs, Standardville. and others; Liberty in 1918, and Helper's few general stores were found inadequate for the needs of the rapidly growing mining population. New business houses along Main street were added until the present busy little mining metropolis resulted.

In 1919 Helper was changed from a town to third class city, and the end of its development is not in sight and may not be for many years to come.

Surrounded as it is by an inexhaustible supply of coal-enough to
supply the needs of the world for one hundred years-situated only
ten miles from the heart of the Price River Water Conservation District, whose great agricultural possibilities are now coming to be developed with the opening of the Horsley Dam, Helper's future is full of promise to the homeseeker and investor.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: We are indebted to the Helper Times for much of the information appearing in this article.)

helper main street 1925 d2-7.jpg (154196 bytes)

Main street Helper 1925

New homes on Janet Street