CASTLE DALE — The lives and sacrifices of 123 men and one woman were memorialized Saturday as Utah's coal country paid tribute to the people lost in Emery County mining accidents stretching back to the late 1800s.
A community fundraising effort generated $170,000 to pay for the memorial unveiled at the Museum of the San Rafael in a crowd that included friends and relatives of the victims and hundreds of residents who turned out for support.
The memorial features a statue of a miner gazing into the distance, appearing ready to go to work, as well as an angel about to release a dove.
Dominating the center of the memorial are the names of the miners killed as a result of accidents over the years, including the 27 lost in the 1984 Wilberg mine fire — the worst coal mine fire in Utah history — as well as that of Elam Jones, 29, the most recent victim of a mining accident that happened nearly three years ago in a sudden collapse at the Rhino mine.
Saturday's dedication of the Emery County Mining Memorial follows that of one last September in Carbon County in downtown Price, where the names of 1,352 lost miners were read aloud by relatives, friends or strangers. A similar reading of the names ceremony was held in Emery County.
The memorials are the brainchild of two men who between them spent more than 80 years underground in Utah's coal mines.
Dennis Ardohain and Frank Markosek decided three years ago that the indelible imprint of coal mining on Carbon and Emery counties needed to be formally memorialized by honoring the sacrifices made by families members and the people lost to mining accidents.
They set about gathering support of community leaders, residents and even elected officials, securing a $100,000 appropriation from the Utah Legislature to help pay for the memorials. All told, they and a committee of dedicated residents have raised a half-million dollars.
"Coal mining is at the heart of these communities," Ardohain said. "That is what all these people lived for, what they died for."
Markosek, in fact, was a coal miner before he went to work for the Mine Safety and Health Administration and nearly died in a rescue attempt of six trapped miners at Crandall Canyon Mine in August 2007. His injuries forced him to retire.
Ardohain said the Emery County Miners Memorial is particularly poignant for residents because of the recent mining disasters like Crandall Canyon and Wilberg.
"There are a lot of family members who are still living," he said. "A lot of these family members lost their dads, brothers, uncles or sons who went to work and never came home. Their children are left with widowed mothers to raise them."
Email: amyjoi@deseretnews.com
Twitter: amyjoi16