COLLECTION NAME:
Colorado Coal Project
Record
Collection Name:
Colorado Coal Project
Title:
Interview with Mr. Fred Voll
Creator:
Margolis, Eric, 1947-
Creator:
McMahan, Ronald L.
Subject:
Coal mines and mining
Subject:
Coal mines and mining--Utah--Carbon County
Subject:
Utah--Helper
Subject:
Voll, Fred W., 1896-1991
Subject:
Interviews
Description:
(Transcript not available for this video interview); 10:00 -- viewing film "Helper on Parade;" 20:00 -- continue viewing film; 30:00 -- viewing slide-show about the coal industry in Carbon County, Utah; 40:00 -- continue viewing slide-show about the coal industry in Helper, Utah; 50:00 -- slide-show continues, including views of cemetery; 60:00 -- viewing murals showing development of the coal industry in Utah.
Description Type:
SegmentSequence
Description:
The interview begins with a screening of the short film, "Helper on Parade." Mr. Voll names numerous people seen in the film. Also seen are: an arch and underpass leading into town, the fire engine, the "balance rock" formation on cliff at edge of town, the school, local newspaper, local grocer, the bank, service station, barber shop, the Castle Gate rock formation outside of town. The film shows loading of coal into trucks at the Spring Canyon Coal Company. The mines used gravity to move coal cars. Also seen are the Standardville school, bakery, 1940 footage of a new car, the furniture store, dairy, a sweet shop/theatre, and the railroad roundhouse. Railroad footage ends ~ 20:30. Voll discusses screening of the movie for longtime residents. We see a slide-show about the coal industry in Carbon County, Utah, including coal seams. Castle Gate -- where Butch Cassidy robbed the payroll at the oldest continuously-used mine office in the U.S. All the mining equipment has now been removed. The town was named Helper because it was the place where engines were added, to get the train up the hill. Also seen are views of the company town of Standardville (almost all now removed), views of Sunnyside (served by Rio Grande RR), close-ups of the "balanced rock" formation, a photo of the "Big John" mythical figure, the town hospital, steam power plant, and Scofield, Utah. Mr. Voll describes the murals seen in the Helper Coal Mining Museum: they show the settlement of Winter Quarters, early hand-mining with picks, hand-drilling, and the first railroad from Springville to Tucker. This was a "cut-back" track: the engine would go up to the first curve and then back up along the next leg of the slope. Murals also show the coke ovens at Sunnyside ("bee-hives" which were then the largest coke ovens in the world). The video ends with no audio -- just footage of a photo of a child in miner's gear (holding a pick and smoking a pipe) and footage of U.M.W.A ribbons/awards.
Description Type:
summary
Publisher:
University of Colorado Boulder Archives
Contributor:
Voll, Fred W., 1896-1991
Date:
1978-04-26
Type:
Moving image
Format:
video/mov
Identifier:
158-Voll.mov
Language:
English
Coverage (Spatial):
Helper (Carbon, Utah, United States, North America) (populated place)
Coverage (Temporal):
1922/1978
Coverage (Spatial):
Carbon County (Utah, United States, North America) (civil)
Rights:
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