1887 - 2021: Hanna History 

THE HANNA MINER: At the Bottom of the Mine

Bob Leathers’ Notebook
Revised June 27, 2021

All Rights Reserved by Bob Leathers

The purpose of this notebook is to help others connect to the past by collecting, preserving and sharing historical information about Wyoming's Hanna Basin. I invite you to explore how the Hanna Basin came to be and how it touched the lives of many. (Bob Leathers)

A huge thank you to my family and friends for their important contributions to this notebook.

COAL MINERS AND THEIR MULES AT THE UNION PACIFIC COAL COMPANY’S NO. 1 MINE IN HANNA (While family Collection from bob Leathers)

"There is no avocation so constantly attended with peril as the working coal miner. No law can be enacted, however well framed and enforced, or any system of mine rules rigidly carried out, that will secure the coal miner at work from danger or accident." (Wyoming Mine Inspector, 1898)

Introduction ​

Over time I discovered twelve men in my family were killed in the Hanna coal mines. They all died horrible deaths. Who were they? How did they die and why? This notebook is their story, and the story of many other Hanna miners just like them. I found the twelve miner deaths shocking, but what I found even more shocking was how their early exit from life resulted in unimaginable misery and hardships for most of their surviving families. Their families, in most cases – 8 wives and 32 children - were left without housing and with only charitable financial means to support themselves. Thirty-two children were left without a father and the eight wives without a husband. They were forced to live with the mental images of how their loved ones were killed and the condition of the bodies when they were buried or that their bodies were never recovered and were still in the mine. Many of the women and children were forced to leave Hanna for parts unknown to survive. The dead were left behind at the bottom of the No. 1 mine or in the surrounding cemeteries at Carbon and Hanna, tragically becoming lost in memory to those living today. 

​Numbers That Matter 
 
The Hanna Basin includes the Wyoming towns of Hanna and Elmo, which still exist, and the coal camps of Carbon, Sampo and Dana, which are now ghost towns. The coal camp of Carbon came first. When the coal ran out in Carbon, the citizens moved, over time, to the new coal fields developed at Hanna. The Hanna Basin mines produced over 220 million tons of coal. The coal however, came at a tremendous human cost. A staggering 373 coal miners were killed in the Hanna Basin mines while in the process of mining the coal. The Hanna Basin mines produced coal for 144 years. Coal production started at Carbon in 1868 and ended in Carbon in 1902, which amounted to 35 years of continuous production. Hanna started coal production in 1890 and ended in 2012, for 122 continuous years of production. The two coal camps overlapped production for 13 years, from 1890 to 1902.
 
During those 144 years:

• 43 coal mining companies operated over 50 individual mines in the Hanna Basin between 1868 and 2012. 
• 220,032,841 tons of coal was produced between 1868 and 2012 in the Hanna Basin.
• 373 men were killed in the Hanna Basin mines.

​Carbon Mines

• 41 of the 373 men killed in the Hanna Basin mines took place in the Union Pacific Coal Company’s Carbon mines.
• 14 of the 41 men killed in Carbon were in unknown underground Carbon mines.
• 5 of the 41 men killed in Carbon were in the No. 1 underground mine.
• 14 of the 41 men killed in Carbon were in the No. 2 underground mine.
• 3 of the 41 men killed in Carbon were in the No. 5 underground mine.
• 4 of the 41 men killed in Carbon were in the No. 6 underground mine.
• 1 of the 41 men killed in Carbon was in the No. 7 underground mine.

 
Dana and Miller Mines

• 2 of the 373 men killed in the Hanna Basin mines took place in the Dana and Miller underground mines.

 
Hanna Mines

• 330 of the 373 men killed in the Hanna Basin mines took place in the Hanna mines.
• 250 of the 330 men killed in Hanna mines were in the Union Pacific Coal Company’s No. 1 underground mine.
• 28 of the 330 men killed in Hanna mines were in the Union Pacific Coal Company’s No. 2 underground mine.
• 6 of the 330 men killed in Hanna mines were in the Union Pacific Coal Company’s No. 3 underground mine.
• 2 of the 330 men killed in Hanna mines were in the Union Pacific Coal Company’s No. 3.5 underground mine.
• 24 of the 330 men killed in Hanna mines were in the Union Pacific Coal Company’s No. 4 underground mine.
• 7 of the 330 men killed in Hanna mines were in the Union Pacific Coal Company’s No. 4A underground mine.
• 1 of the 330 men killed in Hanna mines was in the Carbon County Coal underground mine.
• 1 of the 330 men killed in Hanna mines occurred in the Cyprus Shoshone underground mine.
• 1 of the 330 men killed in Hanna mines took place in the Energy Vanguard No. 1 underground mine.
• 4 of the 330 men killed in Hanna mines took place in the Energy Vanguard No. 2 underground mine.
• 4 of the 330 men killed in Hanna mines occurred in the Rosebud surface mine.
• 1 of the 330 men killed in Hanna mines took place in the Nugget surface mine.
• 1 of the 330 men killed in the Hanna mines took place in the Medicine Bow surface mine.
• 28 of the 330 men killed in Hanna mines were not recovered from the bottom of the No. 1 mine.
• 88 of the 330 men killed in Hanna mines were buried in marked graves in the Hanna cemetery.
• 134 of the 330 men killed in Hanna mines were buried in unmarked graves in the Hanna cemetery.
• 45 of the 330 men killed in the Hanna mines were buried in other towns than Hanna.
• 35 of the 330 men killed in Hanna mines were buried in unknown places or towns. 
• 322 of the 330 men killed in the Hanna mines occurred in underground mines.
• 6 of the 330 men killed in the Hanna mines occurred in surface mines.

 
Hanna Mines: June 30, 1903 Explosion of Union Pacific Coal Company’s No. 1 mine

• 169 of the 330 men killed in the Hanna mines took place in the June 30, 1903 explosion of Union Pacific Coal Company’s No. 1 mine.
• 25 of the 169 men killed in the explosion were African American.
• 1 of the 169 men killed in the explosion was from Belgium.
• 98 of the 169 men killed in the explosion were from Finland.
• 1 of the 169 men killed in the explosion was from Germany.
• 3 of the 169 men killed in the explosion were from Ireland.
• 11 of the 169 men killed in the explosion were from Italy.
• 8 of the 169 men killed in the explosion were from Sweden.
• 22 of the 169 men killed in the explosion were from the United Kingdom.
• 1 of the 169 men killed in the explosion was not recovered from the bottom of the mine.
• 38 of the 169 men killed in the explosion were buried in marked graves in the Hanna cemetery.
• 110 of the 169 men killed in the explosion were buried in unmarked graves in the Hanna cemetery.
• 20 of the 169 men killed in the explosion were buried in other places or towns. 

 
Hanna Mines: March 28, 1908 Explosion of Union Pacific Coal Company’s No. 1 mine.

• 59 of the 330 men killed in the Hanna mines took place in the March 28, 1908 explosion of Union Pacific Coal Company’s No. 1 mine.
• 27 of the 59 men killed in the explosion were not recovered from the bottom of the mine.
• 10 of the 59 men killed in the explosion were buried in marked graves in the Hanna cemetery.
• 17 of the 59 men killed in the explosion were buried in unmarked graves in the Hanna cemetery.
• 5 of the 59 men killed in the explosion were buried in other towns than Hanna.
• 18 of the 59 miners in the Fire Crew were killed in the first explosion.
• 14 of the 18 men killed in the Fire Crew were not recovered from the bottom of the mine.
• 2 of the 18 men killed in the Fire Crew were buried in marked graves in the Hanna cemetery.
• 2 of the 18 men killed in the Fire Crew were buried in other towns than Hanna.
• 41 of the 59 miners in the Rescue Crew were killed in the second explosion.
• 13 of the 41 men killed in the Rescue Crew were not recovered from the bottom of the mine.
• 8 of the 41 men killed in the Rescue Crew were buried in marked graves in the Hanna cemetery.
• 17 of the 41 men killed in the Rescue Crew were buried in unmarked graves in the Hanna cemetery.
• 3 of the 41 men killed in the Rescue Crew were buried in other towns than Hanna.

​State Inspector of Mines
 
Regular inspection of the Hanna Basin mines fell upon the Wyoming Mine Inspector. The only reliable record of what happened in the Hanna mines over time comes primarily from the mine inspector reports. The Wyoming Constitution established the office of the State Inspector of Mines. Wyoming Statutes required the office be maintained in the city of Rock Springs. It was the responsibility of the State Inspectors to inspect every mine several times each year and report their findings to the Governor. The inspectors, by law, had to investigate all fatal or serious accidents in addition to investigating complaints by employees of unsafe working conditions. Without the inspections and required reporting process set forth in the Wyoming Constitution, little would be known about the historical operations of the Hanna Basin coal mines. In the early days, the reporting year for the State Mine Inspector Reports to the Governor of Wyoming was September 30th of each year. This left the last three months of each year to be reported in the following year's report. The early reporting date caused many problems with accurately reporting the annual coal production or reporting the numbers of miners injured and killed in the mines. In addition to date and timing issues, the state was divided into two reporting districts. District No. 1 was the southern part of the state and District No. 2 was the northern part of the state. The two districts submitted their reports together to the Governor, but they were separate reports and the numbers were not combined together to give one picture of what was going on in the state. In 1919 the Mine Inspector reporting calendar change from a year ending date of September 30th to December 31st of each year and was then printed as one report.

1886
In the News

• October 28, 1886: President Grover Cleveland dedicated the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor.
• September 4, 1886: Apache Chief Geronimo surrendered to the United States troops.
• The University of Wyoming in Laramie was chartered.

 
Carbon Miner
 
One fatality occurred in the mines.

1. Alfred Ball was killed in the Union Pacific's Carbon No. 6 mine. He died October 19, 1886 from a fall of top coal. He was buried in the Carbon cemetery in a marked grave. (Anderson)

The Carbon mines produced a total of 214,235 tons of coal in 1886. (UPCM)

The coal camp at Carbon, Wyoming was strong and vibrant in 1886. The demand for coal was high and rapidly growing.  The citizens of Carbon thought their coal field would last forever and the camp would prosper for many years to come. Little did they know that 1886 was the beginning of the end for their town. There were eleven coal mines producing coal in the Wyoming Territory in 1886; two of those mines were located at Carbon and owned by the Union Pacific Railway Company. They were the No. 2 and the No. 6 mines. The Union Pacific Railroad officials, especially Charles Adams, the president of the railroad, were facing some difficult times and hard decisions in 1886. The situations were politically complex, but the bottom line was simple. The railroad had to increase revenue or go broke. The railroad was facing a financial crisis on many fronts, but the debt owed the federal government was the most worrisome. In order to pay the bills, the railroad needed to increase profits. The mining industry was one place the railroad felt more funds could be collected. But in order to increase income, some basic problems had to be solved.

A growing welter of problems in the mines, of which labor unrest was only one, existed. Some of the mines were played out and no longer economical to work. New veins had been located but would be costly to develop. As productive mines burrowed deeper, longer hauls were required, thereby hiking costs. Labor was scarce, coal cars even scarcer. Machinery wore down faster than expected, and some proved too light for the work demanded of it. The new machinery performed well but was expensive. To improve ventilation new fans needed to be installed. (Union Pacific, Vol. 1, Maury Klein)

Union Pacific General Manager, T.J. Potter, reported to Adams that he was concerned that if production didn't increase, the railroad would not have enough coal to meet their needs.​

The question as Potter saw it was, “Shall the Company go ahead and expand, within the next two years, half a million dollars to put the mines in condition to increase their output, or will they lease them on some fair basis to responsible parties?”  Potter favored a lease, perhaps to Beckwith, which would take the company out of the coal business at least until it settled the funding dispute with the government. The board responded by naming Adams, Fred Ames and Mark Hanna to a committee to take up Potter’s recommendation. Early in 1888, Beckwith was given charge of the Colorado coal and stone properties, but Adams wanted Hanna to run the Wyoming mines. When Potter died unexpectedly, the matter fell once more into confusion. (Union Pacific, Vol. 1, Maury Klein)

Beckwith was a labor contractor for the railroad. He also owned the Beckwith Mercantile stores. He provided the labor for the mines. He also served as paymaster for the miners. Potter felt Beckwith already had his fingers firmly in the pot and would be a natural fit to take over the production of the mines as well. Adams was swamped by railroad problems, so he looked to Mark Hanna for help with the production problems and the coal mining issues as a whole. In order to better understand the situation, Mark Hanna visited the Wyoming coal mines to examine the problems. Hanna returned from his visit with some insight as to what was happening in the Wyoming coal mines. Primarily, he thought more investment was needed to get more profit. He also importantly believed the labor problems had to be solved. It was Beckwith who provided the Chinese labor to work in the coal mines and on the railroad. The miners in Carbon had gone on strike in January 1885 over wages and the importing of Chinese miners. It was the clash between the Chinese and white miners in Rock Springs that lead to the Chinese Massacre on September 2, 1885. Labor relations were severely affected by the hiring of Chinese labor and were a problem Mark Hanna had to deal with. Because of the massacre, no more Chinese would be hired, but Beckwith was now doing the same thing with other miners especially the Finnish miners. If he had control of production as well as labor, Hanna did not like how that might end up. On purpose, Beckwith provided workers who would not mix with the white miners. The hope was that they would not join the union or go on strike.

Fortunately, one of Adam's government directors was Mark Hanna, the shrewd, intelligent coal dealer from Cleveland who would later carve an impressive career in politics as he had in business. Hanna inspected the Wyoming mines in October 1886 to investigate complaints made by miners. Among other things he found that Beckwith was hiring Finnish miners because they did not “fraternize” with other miners” and resisted organizing. A strike in Colorado, provoked by a pay reduction, prompted officials there to seek Hungarians as replacements for the same reason. No more Chinese were imported, but the object was still to find men who would not join the union. As a result, labor tensions remained high at all the mines. (Union Pacific, Vol. 1, Maury Klein)

​1887
 In the News

• May 9, 1887: Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show opened in London. 
• January 1887: Wyoming experienced record cold and snowfall which decimated the state livestock industry, especially the large cattle herds.
• The Carbon mines were operating, but the mineable coal was diminishing. A new source of coal was needed. 

 
Carbon Miner
 
Fortunately, there were no reported fatalities in mines this year.

The Carbon mines produced a total of 288,358 tons of coal in 1887. (UPCM)

Wyoming Miner
 
The Territory of Wyoming had its first million tons of coal produced in 1887 (855,920 tons of coal were produced in 1884; 806,417 tons produced in 1885; 835, 999 tons produced in 1886 and 1,119,909 tons produced in 1887).

​1888
 In the News

• March 12, 1888: Chinese laborers were excluded from the United States. The United States and China approved a treaty forbidding Chinese laborers from entering the United States for 20 years.

 1888,

•  Hanna town site at Chimney was surveyed and the area explored for coal mine locations. Mark Hanna, at the request of the Union Pacific Railroad, toured the Wyoming coal mines. On his trip he visited the newly discovered coal fields at Chimney Springs for possible expansion. He recommended the coal field be developed. When the decision to move the coal operation from Carbon to Hanna was made, the coal site at Chimney Springs was named Hanna after Mark Hanna.

 
Carbon and Hanna Miner
 
Two miners were killed in the Carbon mines.

1. Andrew Palso was so badly hurt from a fall of top coal in the Union Pacific Mine No. 2 in Carbon on January 15, 1888, that he died on the way to the U.P. Hospital in Denver the next day. (1888 MIR) The burial place of Andrew Palso is unknown. (Anderson)

1. John Peterson, on February 27, 1888, received injuries in No. 2 U.P. mine in Carbon by a fall of top coal in his room that was so serious he died in the U.P. Hospital at Denver on March 3, 1888. (1888 MIR) The burial place of John Peterson is unknown. (Anderson)

The Carbon mines produced a total of 347,754 tons of coal in 1888. (UPCM)

Joseph "Joe" Cox, who would later be responsible for developing the No. 1 and No. 2 mines in Hanna, was granted his Mine Foreman certificate on March 21, 1888. Alex Briggs, who would later become Superintendent of both the Carbon and Hanna mines, was granted the certificate to perform the duties of a Mine Foreman on May 28, 1888. Resulting from the depletion of the quantity and quality of coal in the Carbon area, the story of the town of Hanna actually began in 1888 when the Union Pacific decided to develop the coal fields north of Carbon. The decision meant the abandonment of the coal field at Carbon and consequently the town of Carbon. The citizens of Carbon were for the most part devastated by the decision. Right up to the end, the people living in Carbon refused to believe their town was doomed. Mark Hanna toured the Wyoming coal mines again in 1888. Adams trusted Hanna and his judgment, so he sent Hanna west again to examine the productivity, costs, and demand for Wyoming coal. While in Carbon, Hanna visited the newly discovered coal fields north of Carbon for possible expansion. He liked what he saw. After the trip to the area, Hanna recommended to Adams and the railroad board of directors that additional expenditures be made to modernize the mines at Rock Springs and to develop the coal fields north of Carbon. His recommendation indicated that the area north of Carbon was rich in coal and could possibly meet the fuel needs of the railroad for years to come. The latter part of 1888 was used to survey the Hanna town site and explore in detail the location of the proposed mines. ​

THE HANNA TOWN SITE AND MINES NO. 1 AND NO. 2 WERE DEVELOPED DURING THE WINTER OF 1889. DURING THE FIRST WINTER, THE MEN LIVED IN TENTS. (WYOMING STATE ARCHIVES, DEPARTMENT OF STATE PARKS AND CULTURAL RESOURCES)

Wyoming Miner
 
The Territory of Wyoming produced 1,512,936 tons of coal in 1888 with 2,205 miners and total employees of 2,685. This was only the second year that the territorial mines produced over one million tons of coal in a single calendar year.

Revision in progress. Much more to come.