Sunnyside, Utah, was originally a mining community in Eastern Carbon County. Jefferson Tidwell and his three sons began mining coal in the Sunset District, which became known as Sunnyside, in 1896. In 1898, after discovering that this coal was much better for coking than the coal they were producing in Castle Gate, the Utah Fuel Company purchased the rights to the coal mining property from Tidwell. By 1917 they had built 813 coke ovens. The multi-ethnic community grew to 2000 and then during the Great Depression mining declined as did the number of people in the mining camps.
When World War II was threatening, the demand for steel grew incredibly, as did the need for coking coal. Kaiser built an entirely new subdivision to Sunnyside, called Sunnydale and recruited coal miners from all over the country. It was a boom town during the war, but mining in eastern Carbon County declined steadily and today there are very few producing mines in the area.
Please keep in mind that these photographs have been reduced in size to approximately 1 1/2" to 2" to save on server space and download time. The original size of the photograph varies. Please see the Introduction page for details on ordering photographs along with the price list.
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Photo #: 97-1-8 Date of origin: 1902
Item Name: Coke Ovens
Description: The construction of the coke ovens in Sunnyside |
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Photo #: 97-1-84 Date of origin: 1920
Item Name: Coke Ovens
Description: Coke Ovens at Sunnyside, Utah |
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Photo #: 97-1-85 Date of origin: 1900
Item Name: Tipple
Description: Sunnyside Tipple build in about 1900 |
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Photo #: 97-1-86 bottom Date of origin: 1900
Item Name: Coke Ovens
Description: Building coke ovens in Sunnyside. |
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Photo #: 97-1-86 top Date of origin: 1900
Item Name: Sunnyside Tipple
Description: A portion of the Sunnyside Tipple |
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Photo #: 97-1-89 Date of origin: 1900
Item Name: Coal cars
Description: Coal cars coming out of coal mine. |
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Photo #: 97-1-90 Date of origin: 1900
Item Name: store
Description: Company store in center, mine office. |
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Photo #: 97-1-91 Date of origin: 1900
Item Name: Sunnyside Tipple
Description: Sunnyside Tipple |
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Photo #: 97-1-92 Date of origin: 1900
Item Name: Mine Building
Description: Mine building at Sunnyside. |
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Photo #: 97-2-2 Date of origin: 1930
Item Name: Train Wreck
Description: D&RGW 3600 runaway Sunnyside overturned at Columbia Junction |
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Photo #: 97-3-16 Date of origin: 1920
Item Name: Post Office
Description: Post office at Sunnyside. The first post office was established in 1901. |
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Photo #: 97-3-17 Date of origin: 1920
Item Name: Sunnyside Community
Description: One of the canyons with Sunnyside homes. |
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Photo #: 97-3-18 Date of origin: 1920
Item Name: Sunnyside Community
Description: One of the streets of Sunnyside. |
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Photo #: 97-3-20 Date of origin:
Item Name: Company store
Description: The company store in Sunnyside. |
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Photo #: 97-3-31 Date of origin: 1910
Item Name: Slovenian Lodge
Description: Sunnyside Slovenian Lodge
Donor: Tony Hribar |
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Photo #: 97-3-32 Date of origin: 1942
Item Name: Sunnyside
Description: Sunnyside (Sunnydale) under construction. Original in John Peperakis collection in archives. |
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Photo #: 97-3-33 Date of origin: 1942
Item Name: Sunnyside
Description: Sunnyside and Dragerton. Original in John Peperakis collection in archives. |
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Photo #: 97-3-37 Date of origin:
Item Name: Sunnyside
Description: Sunnyside store and amusement hall. |
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Photo #: 97-3-42 Date of origin: 1946
Item Name: Sunnyside hospital
Description: Sunnyside hospital. Picture taken in 1946 after mine explosion in 1945. |
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Photo #: 97-3-45 Date of origin: 1958
Item Name: Sunnyside school
Description: Sunnyside school. |
