Beneath This Monument (Union Pacific No. 1 Mine)

The mine under this stone opened in 1868 on a contract that let the railroad's own directors profit from it. That July, Thomas Wardell and Cyrus Godfrey, Missouri coal dealers, agreed to sell the Union Pacific coal at six dollars a ton with a guaranteed profit; their company was soon ninety percent owned by Union Pacific directors. After a government investigation the railroad took the mines over in 1874, and its president Charles Adams later said they had saved the Union Pacific. Ten mines ran under downtown alone, and the ground still settles.

What the plaque says

Beneath this monument coal was first mined in this district Site of Union Pacific No. 1 Mine A.D. 1868 Erected September 17, 1938

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Expedition Island — 14 mi
  Where John Wesley Powell's 1871 survey left for the canyons of the Green and Colorado; where his 1869 trip started has never been proven.

More markers nearby

• Rock Springs Coal — steps away
• Rock Springs Stage Station Site — 1.3 mi
• The Reliance Tipple — 5.8 mi
• Landscapes of Power — 10 mi