Utah's coal mines: Dealing with danger

May 13, 1975 — "Rescue workers brought the body of a third dead miner from the Deer Creek Mine shortly before midnight Monday. Recovery of the body ended 12 hours of dramatic effort by miners to dig through to him." — Deseret News

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HUNTINGTON — Deep inside Utah's coal mines lie a thousand stories.

You'll find them in the faces of miners like Ray Guymon, who turned a one-time summer job into a career.

Thirty-two years later, Guymon, 54, a safety engineer in Utah Power's Deer Creek Mine in Emery County, spends his time driving through a labyrinth, checking machinery and accompanying federal inspectors on weekly rounds.

Main West to Main North.

Main East to 3rd North.

10th West to 4th North.

6th North to 7th Right.

The seemingly endless corridors wind their way far into the mountain, across fault zones and spent coal seams, eight miles into blackness where millions of tons of coal still lie.

It's here in the new Mill Fork lease tract, beneath nearly 2,500 feet of mountain, that an estimated 65 million tons of coal remain, enough to last another 12 to 15 years.

"The Mill Fork area is virgin territory for us," said Scott Timothy, operations superintendent of the Deer Creek Mine. "That's the last of our big leases we can access from Deer Creek."

The Deer Creek Mine is one of the oldest and longest operating mines in the state, with operations dating back to the turn of the century. More than 4 million tons of coal are mined each year, making it Utah's second-most-productive mine.

"Deer Creek has been around longer than any of the mines that exist today," Timothy said. "Most of the other mines that were big mines have closed."

In 2002, Utah mines produced 25.3 million tons of coal, making Utah the 13th-largest coal-producing state in the country.

And in spite of renewable energy campaigns and a shift to natural gas-fired power plants, coal remains the primary fuel for Utah's electricity production, supplying 95 percent of the state's power and half of the nation's generation.

The best part of working in a coal mine is the people, Guymon will tell you. It's a brotherhood forged through demanding and dangerous work.