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New Castle, CO Coal was discovered in the southeastern corner of Garfield County in 1886 and a support camp soon developed around the site of New Castle. Samuel Wraith was superintendent of one of the large mines in the area and he renamed the town "New Castle" after his birthplace "Newcastle", a town in England famous for their coal mines. The Town was officially incorporated in 1888. As early as 1882, prospectors and miners began migrating to the area upon the discovery of the Wheeler coal vein. The Consolidated Mine, employing 135 men, and the Vulcan Mine, employing 112 men, were opened. Coal mining was firmly established as in industry in New Castle. The Consolidated Mine was the largest on the Wheeler vein. Originally opened by Wheeler & Devereux, the mine was later purchased by the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company in 1888. Located on Burning Mountain, the Consolidated boasted of rich coal veins more than 50 feet thick. The Keystone Mine was opened a mile northwest of town and the Vulcan Mine, owned by Santa Fe Fuel Company, was opened southeast of town on Rodreick’s Ridge, across the Colorado River in 1890. New Castle experienced unprecedented growth and by 1896 Garfield County had ten coal mines in operation that employed 457 miners. Houses appeared throughout the town site and businesses were established. The population of New Castle had grown to almost 2,000. Early citizens established a cannery, brickyard, brewery and cement factory. With fifteen saloons, five restaurants, three livery stables, two bakeries, and several hotels. The coal in the area, although high-grade, produced extremely high levels of methane gas. In 1896 the Vulcan mine experienced a large explosion and fire that killed 49 miners. Efforts made by the mine operators to flood the shafts with water from Elk Creek were unsuccessful and the resulting fire has been burning ever since. Then in 1899, the Consolidated Mine caught fire and had to be closed. Though the closing of the two mines in New Castle forced some miners and their families to leave in search of other work, the town continued to prosper. The community began to turn to cattle raising, mineral prospecting, and agriculture, including fruit farming. Sawmills were established just north of New Castle, and by 1901 the Colorado Telegraph had come to town. In 1912, the Rocky Mountain Fuel Company purchased the Rodreick’s Ridge site from the Santa Fe Fuel Company. Only 200 yards from the original Vulcan mine, they began mining operations once again using the Vulcan name. On December 16, 1913, an explosion in the early morning hours again devastated the Town, this time killing 37 miners. This would signal the decline of the coal industry in New Castle and another blast in 1916, that killed 3 men, would end all sizable coal production. New Castle remained a small community until the late 1980’s. The Town has now extended its boundaries several times by way of annexation and is now, according to the Denver Post and Associated Press, "the fastest growing community on the Western Slope".
THE RAIL YARD Yard tracks to handle the early shipments of coal once filled the site near the Colorado River.
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