Peerless is a
ghost town
A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...
in
Carbon County,
Utah
Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...
, United States. It is located just west of
Helper.
History
In 1916, of land were purchased by William and Charles Sweet. They immediately began to develop
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal i ...
mining operations. In 1917, the Sweets sold the property to the Peerless Coal Company. Coal shipments began over the
Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad
The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad , often shortened to ''Rio Grande'', D&RG or D&RGW, formerly the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, was an American Class I railroad company. The railroad started as a narrow-gauge line running south fr ...
in 1918. As the mining continued, the population grew. At its peak, the town's population was about 300,
half of which worked in the mines. The community included thirty homes, a store, a school, the mine office, a post office, and a poolhall.
Coal production peaked in
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, when 2,000 tons of coal was mined daily.
In 1938, coal mining activity began to decline and people began to leave. By
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the mine was operating very little, and only a few people remained. The mine closed in 1954, and the rest of the residents left.
A few
foundations and filled-in mine shafts remain.
See also
*
List of ghost towns in Utah
This is an incomplete list of ghost towns in Utah, a state of the United States.
Classification
Barren site
* Sites no longer in existence
* Sites that have been destroyed
* Covered with water
* Reverted to pasture
* May have a few dif ...
*
Coal mining in the United States
Coal mining is an industry in transition in the United States. Production in 2019 was down 40% from the peak production of in 2008. Employment of 43,000 coal miners is down from a peak of 883,000 in 1923. Generation of electricity is the l ...
References
External links
Ghost towns in Carbon County, Utah
Populated places established in 1916
Mining communities in Utah
Ghost towns in Utah
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