Rolapp Mine, Lamphouse, Price Canyon (mouth of Bear Canyon), Helper

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER UTAH,4-HELP.V,2-A-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The lamphouse is associated with events that have made significant contribution to the broad patters of our history, i.e., early century coal raining in Utah and the western United States. It is an integral part of the overall Rolapp mining operation in Bear Canyon, an economically successful operation that lasted for over 50 years. The lamphouse represents a unique component of mine support facilities especially adapted to the coal mining industry. It is the only known intact facility of its type remaining in the area. The lamphouse retains sufficient integrity of setting and physical integrity to convey feeling and association with their period of historical significance. Historians: Robert G. Rosenberg, Historical Consultant A.

Dudley Gardner, Principal Investigator Western Wyoming College August Rolapp Mine, Lamphouse HAER No. UT-53-A (Page 2) The Rolapp Lamphouse (Site Structure is located about 400 feet southwest of U. S, Route 6, near the mouth of Bear Canyon. It is situated on the west side of a gravel access road, running up Bear Canyon in a stand of boxelder trees. The tramway slope for the Rolapp Mine is located directly behind (west) of the building. The building is oriented on a nearly north-south axis and faces east. It is an ell-shaped gable-roofed building, constructed with hollow cement tiles covered with stucco. The overall dimensions are approximately feet north-south by feet east-west. It is divided into two wings. The south or main portion is a taller end gable, topped with a wooden cupola.

It measures feet by feet. The north wing is lower with a gable roof and is feet by feet. The building rests on a mortared native sandstone foundation. The hollow cement tile walls consist of two layers of tile covered with stucco. There are wood timber lintels over all window and door openings. The exterior is painted a blue-gray color. The wood roof and cupola are covered with tarpaper. The roof on the north wing projects over the east elevation and is supported with metal pipe posts set in a poured concrete pad. The lamphouse was a key structure at the Rolapp Mine. Here, the miners' headlamps were stored and batteries charged between shifts. A check board was also installed. Each miner was issued a round tag with a number to carry on his belt when he entered the mine.

When he left for the day, he turned in his tag, and it was hung back on the board. This way, his whereabouts were known at all times. A lamp man generally issued and serviced the headlamps, charged the batteries, and managed the check board in the lamphouse. The check board, once housed at Rolapp, is now on display at the Helper Mining and Railroad Museums. The lamphouse is the only known facility still intact in the area and still retains a battery charging rack. The stucco-covered, hollow, cement tile walls are an interesting architectural feature also used in buildings at Standardville in Spring Canyon. The main portion of the lamphouse has a wood landing on the same elevation, and it appears that the landing was once covered by a shed roof that has been removed.

The only two entrances to the lamphouse are in the east elevation. Both have wood paneled doors and retain the original hardware. The north door has been partially removed. The windows in the east elevation consist of 2 over 2-light double-hung windows with wood frames and plain surrounds. There is a twin set located north of the door in the main portion of the building. They have extended wooden sills on the outside and were probably used by the lampman to hand out and receive headlamps from the miners. There is a window opening to the north of the door in the north wing, that no longer retains any window panes, muntins, or frames. The bottom portion has been partially filled in with wood.

There is also a small square window opening to the north of this window that may have been used for handing tags out to the miners from the check board. There is a rectangular window opening in the south elevation without window panes, muntins, or frames and with plain wooden surrounds. There is a 9-light fixed rectangular window in the north elevation minus Eolapp Mine, Lamphouse HAEE No. UT-53-B (Page 3) window panes with plain wooden surrounds. There is only one window opening in the west elevation, and it is located in the northern addition or wing. It is a small opening and no longer retains any window panes, muntins, or frames. The interior of the "building has concrete floors, and the inner surface of the hollow cement tiles have a corrugated surface.

The walls are painted green on the upper half and brown on the bottom surface. The inner surface of the northern addition has smooth stucco walls. There is a small framed-in opening "between the two wings which are otherwise separated "by a tile wall. The main (south) portion of the building retains wooden shelves built into the partition between rooms. There are also wooden work benches covered with rubber. There is a metal rack with porcelain receptacles for charging the headlamp batteries. Each retains a numbered label below to correspond with each miner's headlamp. This rack is now tipped on its side. The interior also has fiberboard ceilings. The northern addition, presumed to be the check house, is devoid of any furnishings or shelves.

The walls of the lamp house are in fair condition, but the roof is partially collapsed and several boards are missing. It appears that the roof may have been partially burned. The roofing paper is badly torn, and all of the window glass is either broken or removed. The Eolapp lamphouse retains fair to good physical integrity, despite vandalism and lack of maintenance. The integrity of setting is good, with few modern intrusions in the immediate vicinity, except for an electrical substation that ia not visible from the lamphouse. Therefore, the Eolapp lamphouse still conveys feeling and association with its period of historical significance, i.e., early twentieth century coal mining in Utah.

The Eolapp lamphouse stands as the sole, fully-intact remnant of the fifty-year Rolapp coal mining operation, where hundreds of miners and their families lived and worked for two generations. Rolapp Mine, Lamphouse HAER No. UT-53-A (Page 4) i Rolapp Mine, Lampfrouse HAER No. UT-53-A (Page 5)' LU cn oo 6 9=i o c o D c o Cuox Q t Kolapp Mine, Lamphouse HAER No'.- UT-53-A (Page 6) cl o > Rolapp Mine, Lampfrouse HAER No, UT-53-A (Page 7) 1 21 w Tl 2 iS