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<br />8. Significance: <br />Period: 1900 <br />Area of Significance: Archaeology-Historic <br />Industry <br />Specific Dates: 1909-1913 <br />The Cowan Mine was originally listed under the name "Conine" mine and <br />was reportedly opened in 1906. I[ was producing a good quality of <br />compact bituminous coal well suited for the domestic market. A horse <br />was used to haul the coal from the mine to an incline chute which <br />carried it dawn into wagons. The mine was located amid prominent <br />cliffs of the Rollins Sandstone Formation. <br />The mine was located on the 160 acre tract patented by Frank Converse <br />in August of 1906, operator of the Converse Mine on the same 160 acre <br />tract. Will Conine possibly leased his mine from Converse and for <br />some reason lost this lease which then passed to Charles Cowan. <br />The Cowan Mine was a sizeable development representing a large invest- <br />ment. Cowan, who was an experienced professional coal miner built a <br />• mammoth trestle for a gravity tram to get his coal down out of the cliffs. <br />He was attempting to tap a wider commercial market made available by the <br />railroad out of the North Fork Valley. The 1912 geological report stated <br />[hat this mine was producing 500 tons of coal a month. If correct, [his <br />was a large output at that time and explains the justification for investing <br />in the gravity [ram. <br />Cowan's enterprise was short-lived. He had obtained the mine about 1909 <br />but was killed in 1913 when he attempted to ride the tram home and was <br />thrown into the canyon below. After his death the mine closed and the <br />trestle was eventually razed. <br />The Cowan tram trestle was an impressive engineering feat, particularly <br />when viewed within the local regional context. Coal mining started in <br />the region as early as 1883 with the Somerset and Bowie mines. However, it <br />as no[ until the arrival of the railroad in Somerset in 1902 that commercial <br />mining on a large scale was feasible. Major coal production started with <br />the Utah Fuel Company which acquired the Somerset property in 1901. <br />In addition [o large commercial operations such as the Somerset, Oliver <br />and Bowie mines, many other small mines were opened in [he North Fork. <br />The Cowan Mine was just such a small operation commonly called a "wagon <br />mine." Unlike the other wagon mines, Cowan did not produce solely for the <br />local market but attempted [o tap a much wider market. <br />• <br />7 <br />