Staley-Pitman
This is
how Winter Quarters came into being. Pleasant
Valley which was named
Winter Quarters, was a luxuriant spot in the 18070s.
Settlers came from all over. Then coal was discovered about 1875.
In 1877
a small mine was opened. The winter that year came early and severe, stranding
the miners. Because of their ordeal, they named the little camp Winter
Quarters.
Miners
were attracted and soon a thriving town was established in order to move the
coal. The Utah Fuel Co., took over the mine and town in 1882.
In
1900, several hundred men were in the mine and with their families, numbered between 1200-1800. The mine was considered the safest in the
region. However, May 1 a spark touched off the coal dust, which exploded,
killing two hundred men.
Sorrow
shrouds the community for many years. They were unable to find my Grandfather
Pitman’s body at that time. They kept searching, and it was recovered the
following August, 1900.
My
parents, John Chester Staley and Amy Pitman were living in Winter Quarters at
the time of the disaster. They met later and were married, February 17, 1901,
in Scofield,
Utah. I was born February 7,
1907, in a little white house on the Thomas ranch. My father was employed as
barn foreman and a law officer for the Utah Fuel Co.
From
the journal of Delia Marie Staley Nowers
Entry
dated April 23, 1979
