Coal Camp Trail-WINTER QUARTERS Traditional Cache
Coal Camp Trail-WINTER QUARTERS
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Coal was discovered at Winter Quarters in 1875, a small mine was opened on the western slopes of the canyon. The winter of 1877 came early and was severe, stranding the miners in the canyon and keeping them snowbound until the following February. The ordeal led the miners to name their forced camp Winter Quarters, it became one of the first commercial coal camps in the state. Most of the first miners were from the coal districts of Wales, England and Scotland. On May-1-1900 a spark touched off the fine coal dust deep underground and the Winter Quarters #4 mine exploded in fury, 100 of the men were killed in an instant and the other 99 died from poisonous afterdamp. That one moment of time left 105 widows and 270 fatherless children behind. About 150 of the 199 miners were buried in the cemetery at Scofield. Two special funeral trains carried the rest of the victims to burial grounds in Utahand other states. Four weeks after the disaster, miningresumed at Winter Quarters. The mine operated until the 1930's.
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