Peerless / New Peerless

Peerless, just 3 miles west of Helper, was the first mine developed in the Spring Canyon District. Brothers William and Charles Sweet purchased the property in 1916 and developed the coal operation, including a gravity tramway and a tipple on the canyon floor. In 1917 they sold it to The Peerless Coal Company, organized by James Murdoch and Eara Thompson, and former mine inspector Robert Howard became the first superintendent. Coal production peaked during World War I at 2000 tons per day, and after the war the company had contracts to ship coal to Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and the Hawaiian Islands while producing 500 tons per day. During the boom, the coal paid for the project and cleared a bonded indebtedness of $400,000, and by 1920 the mine was free from outstanding obligations. At its peak, the town of Peerless had around 300 people, including 150 miners, and contained about 30 houses, a store, a school, the company mine office, a post office, a pool hall, and a clubhouse for company officials. In July 1930 the Peerless Coal Company discontinued operations because of low production and high production costs, declared bankruptcy the following year, and in August 1931 leased the mine to former superintendent Robert Howard and Robert Tumer, who used new mining technology to reduce costs and began shipping coal in September 1931. Less than a year later, in May 1932, the mine was taken over by the Peerless Sales Company. Around 1938 mining activity began to decline and people moved away; after World War the mine operated sporadically, and few residents remained. The mine closed in 1953, its assets were sold, and the last residents left. Anticipating exhaustion of the old Peerless coal reserves, the Peerless Coal Company leased adjacent coal property in Price Canyon near the Royal mine at ROLAPP for New Peerless. This property contained 2 coal seams, one 24 feet thick and the other 16 to 18 feet thick, at an elevation of 6300 feet. To reach the coal, tunnels were driven through rock on a 30-degree downward incline, encountering the seams at 1900 feet and 2300 feet, more than two miles in and about 1100 feet below the level of the Price River. The mine portal stood on top of the canyon walls above the tipple, and the tipple, built in 1929 by the Pittsburg Boiler and Machine Co., stood on the canyon floor beside the D&RGW mainline with a capacity of 400 tons per hour. Coal traveled from portal to tipple by aerial tramway, and by mid-January 1930 the mine was producing. New Peerless was a gassy mine, and on March 8, 1930, an explosion killed Clement Turner, Daniel Turner, Lester Curtis, William Curtis, and James Jenson and injured A. L. Ross, Tony Canrinker, B. W. Hall, L. S. King, Ole Swanson, Roy Story, and Frank Hensley. A second explosion on June 3, 1930 caused no injuries. On January 28, 1932, New Peerless closed and its assets were sold to satisfy creditors. Its closure was blamed on low demand for coal during the Depression and the high debt load incurred during development. From 1929 to 1931, New Peerless produced a total of 100,000 tons of coal.

Helper, Utah · United States