6 Trapped Coal Miners

The history of Utah can be summed up with 4M's, Mormons, Miners, Merchants, and Military. Tonight the Merchant tips his hat to the Miner. As men frantically dig in the Crandall Canyon Mine in an attempt to save their fellow miners, I remember my family's mining heritage. My grandfather worked in the silver mines of Eureka, UT while his brother worked in the coal mines of Hiawatha, Ut. The Crandall Canyon mine is about 7 miles from Hiawatha, as the crow flies, but on the winding mountain roads its closer to 35 miles.

When I was a child, my mother told me stories of her father and brothers working in the mines. I have forgotten most of those stories, but their effect on me remains. I have always felt a great respect, almost a reverence for those who work beneath the earth. I do remember that there was a tradition of putting a candle in the window when miners were trapped underground. A sign to those miners' families of one's thoughts and prayers. Although none of the families of the Crandall Canyon Mine will ever see it, tonight a candle burns in the window of a small house deep in the woods of Missouri.