"This first thorough survey of Utah's mining history provides overviews of the geology, economic history, and folklore of mining in the state; recounts the development of a selection of historically significant minerals, such as coal, salines, and uranium; and includes region-by-region histories of Utah's mining booms and busts. The essays are written by notable experts in the field, among them historians Thomas G. Alexander, Martha Sonntag Bradley-Evans, James E. Fell Jr., Laurence P. James, Brigham D. Madsen, Allen Kent Powell, W. Paul Reeve, and Raye C. Ringholz and geologists J. Wallace Gwynn and William T. Parry."--BOOK JACKET.

Utah’s coal industry experienced a difficult and tragic year in 2007. The terrible circumstances surrounding the unexpected closure of the Crandall Canyon mine, followed by the idling of the Aberdeen mine, resulted in a 7.1% decrease in Utah coal production to a total of 24.3 million short tons. These closures also resulted in a 5.3% loss in mine-related employment. In addition, difficult mining conditions at Canyon Fuel Company’s SUFCO and Dugout Canyon mines contributed to production declines. On the brighter side, Canyon Fuel’s Skyline mine, with a full-year of longwall operation, increased its production by 45.4% and UtahAmerican’s West Ridge mine increased its production by 34.3%. Also noteworthy are record production for both Carbon County and State lands, and a 20-year high in the average price for a short ton of Utah coal: $25.18. Distribution of Utah coal decreased slightly in 2007 to 24.5 million short tons, while out-of-state coal imports hit a 20-year low of only 1.5 million tons.

Utah coal production in 2006 increased for the second straight year to 26.1 million short tons, 6.4% higher than 2005’s production total and 20% higher than the 10-year low experienced in 2004. This year’s increase was the result of renewed longwall mining at the Skyline mine and significant production increases at Aberdeen,West Ridge, and SUFCO. In addition, Utah achieved record production in the Book Cliffs coal field, record production in Carbon County, and record production on State lands. In fact, in 2007, coal production on State lands is expected to out-pace federal coal production for the first time in history. Despite this recent surge in production, many coal mine operators are experiencing increasingly difficult mining conditions, resulting in a higher ash product.

May 1, 1900 turned into a day of horror at Scofield, Utah, where a mine explosion killed two hundred men. In the traumatic days that followed, the surviving miners began to understand that they, too, might be called to make this ultimate sacrifice for mine owners. The time for unionization in Utah was at hand. A sensitive and in-depth portrayal of the efforts to unionize Utah's coal miners, The Next Time We Strike explores the ethnic tensions and nativistic sentiments that hampered unionization efforts even in the face of mine explosions and economic exploitation. Powell utilizes oral interviews, coal company reports, newspapers, letters, and union records to tell the story from the miners' perspective.