Hiawatha, Utah
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Coordinates: 39°29′3.61″N 111°00′47.05″W / 39.4843361, -111.0130694
Hiawatha is a ghost town, formerly a coal mining town in Carbon County, Utah, United States. The town is located at the base of Gentry Mountain, some 12 miles (19 km) southwest of Price. It used to be a vibrant mining town, with a population of above 1,500 in the 1940s. Coal was discovered here in 1909, a mine was built, a railroad was constructed, and the city was incorporated in 1911. Another nearby village called Blackhawk was merged with Hiawatha in 1915. Hiawatha was a company town; the United States Fuel Company, which owned the Hiawatha mine and had its headquarters here, essentially ran the town.[1] After the 1940s, production began to drop and people began to move away. The population fell from 439 in 1960 to 43 in 1990. The city was disincorporated on November 20, 1992.
On December 12, 1997 the permit for the Hiawatha Mines Complex was transferred from U.S. Fuel Company to Hiawatha Coal Company.[2] The company plans to recommence mining in the near future. In September 2006 the Carbon County commission approved the rezoning of three of Hiawatha's six sections as residential, at the request of the property owner ANR Inc.[3] It is estimated that around three or four families currently live in Hiawatha. Some homes have been remodeled, and further construction is ongoing.
It is the belief of some people that both Hiawatha Coal Co. and ANR Inc. are owned by the Latter Day Church of Christ's Davis County Cooperative Society.[4] This belief has been propagated by ex-members of the church. The officers of both companies deny this, and the issue is currently being litigated in the Utah court system.
Hiawatha was also notable for having a vibrant Greek immigrant community, particularly from the island of Crete, who lived in the town and worked in the local coal mines.