Spring Canyon Coal Company, by William Shipler, 1925.
Although the area where the Spring Canyon Coal Company would develop a mine had long been known for a rich coal seam, it would be decades before commercial operations began. In the late 1800s, Helper residents often hauled coal by wagon from an opening on the side of the mountain. Teancum Pratt worked a small mine in Sowbelly Gulch in 1895, building a wagon road and hauling coal back to Helper. Around 1897, bought the acreage and operated his small coal mining venture until 1912. At that time, Jesse Knight and other investors in Provo, Utah, purchased the land and organized the Spring Canyon Coal Company.
Utah Railroad Company Cars at the Spring Canyon, Utah Tipple by Harry Shipler.
The company began developing some 2,000 acres of coal land and planned to build a railroad to connect the mine in Spring Canyon with the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad at nearby Helper. With just about a half dozen miners, supervised by Provo ex-sheriff George Storrs, the company first shipped coal to Helper by wagon.
However, when the railroad was completed in October 1912, the mine began its first shipments by train, which sported a brand-new locomotive. Storrs also served as superintendent of both the railroad and the mine.
Coal was delivered from the mine to the canyon floor via an aerial tramway. As operations expanded quickly, a new steel tipple began construction in March 1913, capable of handling about 2,000 tons of coal per day. By May, it was operational and was shipping about 600 tons daily with expectations of quick growth. That same year, the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad bought the private railroad.
As the mine expanded, the camp that supported it also grew, taking on the name Storrs for the mine superintendent. The company also built several four-room cottages for the miners, which included hot and cold running water, a store, a hotel, and a hospital. By the end of 1914, the mine produced about 1,000 tons of coal daily. In 1919, a new surface tramway replaced the mine’s aerial tramway.
Mining remnants in Spring Canyon, Utah, by Kathy Alexander.
Jesse Knight died on March 14, 1921, and the following year, the company was sold to James B. Smith and his associates in San Francisco, California.
In 1924, the Town of Storrs changed its name to Spring Canyon, perhaps because its first superintendent, George Storrs, who had moved on and started his own company, was indicted on mail fraud charges in connection with promoting his Great Western Coal Company in Gordon Creek Canyon. Though Storrs would later be cleared of the charges, the town would forever be known as Spring Canyon. By then, the town boasted a population of about 1,100 people.
By 1940, the Spring Canyon mine was ranked as the fourth-largest producer in the state. By 1948, the ever-expanding Spring Canyon Coal Company also operated the Standard and Royal Mines.
However, the prosperity couldn’t last forever. By 1954, much of the coal had been depleted, and the Spring Canyon Coal Company shut down most of its operations, operating with just a skeleton crew. Most residents left town, but the mine continued to operate until 1969 when it was closed.
An old railroad bridge in Spring Canyon, Utah, by Kathy Alexander.
Unfortunately, six years later, in 1975, the entire town was raised, leaving only parts of the tipple trestle.
© Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated September 2026.
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