Standardville Coal Bunker
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by Kevin Gray
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Spring Canyon winds deep into the surrounding mountains to the west of Helper, Utah. Along this canyon lie the scattered remains of several ghost towns, and the abandoned coal mines they were established to serve. For almost a hundred years, from the late 1800s until the 1950s, coal was king here, because it was vital to the railroads to fuel their steam engines. After WW II, when the railroads finally retired their great steam locomotive fleets, most of the smaller coal mines died with the engines they once fueled. And the towns in Spring Canyon that supported the mines dried up and blew away.
Standardville Mine Entrance
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by Kevin Gray
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Standardville was established in 1912 to serve the Standard Mine; the town was so modern and well planned, with beautiful lawns, roads and trees that it became the 'standard' for mining towns to follow, and this resulted in its name. Today, the only things readily visible are a long, low retaining wall, cracked foundations, a few ruined buildings, and an enormous concrete coal storage structure. The collapsed and flooded mine entrance is just up a small canyon above the town; strange white-tinted water trickles from the ruined mile portal. Chunks of coal are strewn everywhere. The bathhouse, where the miners changed their clothes before and after their shifts in the mine, has been burned, bludgeoned, shattered, and tagged, but it still stands.
Standardville Retaining Wall
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by Kevin Gray
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I discovered Standardville while researching Utah ghost towns on the Internet. After finding out a bit about its history, I started looking in Spring Canyon on Google Earth to find it; I was pleasantly surprised to see that there were still some structures visible in the canyon, although which town was which was hard to determine.
Bath House
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by Kevin Gray
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A short visit proved that there was a lot more to see (and climb over) than what Google Earth had shown; the literal "ground truth" of the site is that what looks easy to get to on GE is not at all easy when you're actually walking there!