Detail View: Colorado Coal Project: Interview with Mr. Fred Voll

Collection Name: 
Colorado Coal Project
Title: 
Interview with Mr. Fred Voll
Creator: 
Margolis, Eric, 1947-
Creator URI: 
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n00101170
Creator: 
McMahan, Ronald L.
Creator URI: 
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no94033808
Subject: 
Coal mines and mining
Subject URI: 
http://id.worldcat.org/fast/865355
Subject: 
Coal mines and mining--Utah--Carbon County
Subject: 
Utah--Helper
Subject URI: 
http://id.worldcat.org/fast/1226781
Subject: 
Voll, Fred W., 1896-1991
Subject URI: 
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2009164650
Subject: 
Coal miners
Subject URI: 
http://id.worldcat.org/fast/865316
Subject: 
Retirees
Subject URI: 
http://id.worldcat.org/fast/1096254
Subject: 
Interviewing
Subject URI: 
http://id.worldcat.org/fast/977601
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 Co. 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 shoe 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
Description: 
(Transcript available starting at 17:18) 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: 
Segment sequence
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
Identifier ARK: 
https://ark.colorado.edu/ark:/47540/kg3v131896hw
Language: 
English
Relation: 
Title: Interview with Mr. Fred Voll
Relation Type: 
isFormatOf
Relation href: 
https://ark.colorado.edu/ark:/47540/rm486d7482jw
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)