Rains
1915-1958
In 1915 prominent mining engineer Leon Felix Rains convinced P. J. Quealy, a coal operator from Wyoming, to invest in the coal rich lands west of Standardville. Soon the Carbon Coal Company was organized and the land was purchased from the government. Mr. Rains served as president.
Rains had been a grand opera singer until he became interested in the coal industry. He first gained experience by selling coal in California. He then worked as the general manager for the Standard Coal Company from 1913 to 1914 before starting the Carbon Coal Company. The coal seam in the Rains mine was so thick (18 feet) the company had very little development work to do before shipping out its first load in November of 1915.
The coal camp that grew up around the mine took on the name of its president and the company built around 60 houses for its employees as well as a school, a boarding house, a bath house, a post office and a store.
By June of 1916 the Carbon Coal Company was shipping about 300 tons of coal per day on its own railroad spur built from the end of the line near Standardville. The Liberty Mine at Latuda also used the same spur. In 1919 the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad bought and operated the spur between Standardville and Rains. The mine continued to prosper until 1930 when a portion of the operations were shut down. In 1938 the Carbon Coal Company extended its underground workings into the adjacent and by then defunct Mutual Mine and prospered during the war years. After World War II the mine was sold. In late 1945 it was under the ownership of the Utah-Carbon Coal Company and in 1951 was operated by the Hi-Heat Coal Company. In 1958 the mine was shut down completely and the town was deserted. During its peak the mine produced about 1500-2000 tons of coal per day, employed about 200 men and the town was called home by about 500 residents.
This historic marker is located on the Price River Parkway Gold Medal Mile in Helper, Utah and was dedicated by the Matt Warner Chapter 1900 of E Clampus Vitus on July 23, 2016 (6021)
