1905 - 1920: The Union Pacific Coal Company's No. 3 Town and Mine at Hanna, Wyoming

Page by Bob Leathers

The Union Pacific Coal Company's No. 3 underground mine in Hanna opened for mine development on June 13, 1905 and started coal production in 1906. The mine operated on a 25 foot thick seam, a track gauge of 42 inches and 3 ton pit cars. The mine operated with mule haulage in the entries and a Dickenson hoist on the slope with a 1.25 inch hoist rope. The No. 3 was abandoned June 30, 1920, because the mine was worked out. The No. 3 and No. 3.5 mines shared the same coal dump. The No. 3 mine was open for 15 years and produced a total of 2,130,342 tons of coal over that time. The mine’s peak production was 326,751 tons of coal produced with 170 workers in 1910. Over its history the No. 3 mine experienced several serious fires. The Hanna Basin Mines (Hanna, Elmo, Carbon, Sampo and Dana) experienced a total of 372 miner deaths. The No. 3 Mine in Hanna was responsible for 6 of the 372 deaths.

View the names at: 6 men killed in the Hanna No. 3 Mine

Hanna's No. 3 Town and Mine

Hanna No. 3 Town (While Family Collection from Bob Leathers)

Hanna No. 3 Mine. (While Family Collection from Bob Leathers)

Union Pacific Coal Company Hanna No. 3 Mine Dump. The dump was utilized by the No. 3 and No. 3.5 mines. (While Family Collection from Bob Leathers)

Hanna No. 3 Town (While Family Collection from Bob Leathers)

Hanna No. 3 Mine with Boiler House (While Family Collection from Bob Leathers)

Hanna No. 3 Mine Power Plant (Gert Milliken from Gary Milliken)

Hanna. Loading and moving the coal (Hanna Basin Museum)

Hanna No. 3 Town and Mine Maps

Hanna No. 3 Mine

This mine was opened in the spring of 1905 and worked out a basin of coal in the No. 1 Seam similar to that operated at the No. 1 Mine on the same seam. The main slopes were driven down to the west flank of the basin, continued across the basin and up the eastern slope to a surface outlet. Some of the entries driven along the strike started from the west side slope and extended around the basin, and intersected the same slope on the east flank of the basin. The coal seam at this mine was similar to the coal in No. 1 Mine. The mine was a large producer and was worked out and abandoned June 30, 1920. (UPCCEM, Nov. 1940)

Union Pacific Coal Company's Hanna Town and Mines (Mine Map Collection from the Hanna Basin Museum)

Map of the Union Pacific Coal Company Mines in Hanna, Wyoming (Mine Map Collection from the Hanna Basin Museum)

Hanna Union Pacific Coal Company Mine No.3 and 3.5 (Map Collection from Hanna Basin Museum)