DESERET NEWS, Dec. 20, 1984: ORANGEVILLE, Emery County -- A stubborn fire kept 27 coal miners trapped thousands of feet inside a Utah Power & Light Co. mine seven miles north of Orangeville Thursday as federal mining inspectors sent a rescue team into the mine after them.
But the team was forced back out, probably by the heat . . . Officials were forced to turn their efforts to other rescue options.The blaze broke out on a conveyor belt about 5,000 feet into the mine at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday. The workers were mining about 3,000 feet beyond that . . . DESERET NEWS, Dec. 16, 1985: ORANGEVILLE, Emery County -- Emery Mining Corp. crews Monday found the last two bodies of 27 miners who perished in a fire last December at the Wilberg Mine, company spokesman Bob Henrie said.
The discovery of the remains about 9:30 a.m. came just three days before the one-year anniversary of the Dec. 19 disaster.
Yet another fatal explosion in one of Utah's mines brought grief to coal-mining communities and an outpouring of sympathy from all of the state. The long interval between the accident and the recovery of bodies prolonged the agony for survivors. A monument dedicated at the end of 1985 helped bring conclusion to the event.