THE COAL CAMPS
C
/oal mine company towns were a feature of Carbon County life. Between the 1880s when the first company town opened at Winter Quarters and 1942 when the last town was budt at Dragerton, some twenty-four company towns were budt in the Carbon County coal fields. These towns included Winter Quarters, Clear Creek, Scofield, Heiner, Royal, New Peerless, Castle Gate, Consumers, Blackhawk, Hiawatha, Wattis, Sunnyside, Columbia, Dragerton, Kendworth, Coal City, Sweets, Peerless, Spring Canyon, Standardvdle, Latuda, Rains, Mutual, and National. Often these towns began as nothing more than tent-and-shack camps that developed in a haphazard fashion. Others, however, were well-planned "instant" towns. Today there are no company-owned towns remaining, and only a few of the towns have been preserved, since companies sold the houses to private owners. The company town was a natural outgrowth of the beginning of a mine. Usually, coal companies did not act quickly to budd houses; therefore, miners established tent cities with company-provided tents. The tents could not have been very comfortable for a family, 183
