If you want to see what Mount Streeter looked like, the White River Museum has a wonderful panoramic photo in its gift shop. To continue the Streeter history… In 1924, Doctor Lee H. Pattison, a blind chiropractor of South Bend, Indiana, headed up a group of Axial Basin Development Co. stockholders who took over the properties with a new company. From the ashes of Axial Basin Development Co. emerged the Ute Coal Co.
Dr. Lee promptly renamed the town Pattison in honor of himself. Dr. Pattison was not the only survivor of the original M.T. Streeter promotion. Clifford Gregory Phelan, an Irish-American, is listed in the 1920 US Census, living next door to Morris T. Streeter himself. In 1922 Cliff is named as Resident Manager of the A.B.D. Co. Phelan was replaced when Pattison’s group took control as Ute Coal Company. Cliff Phelan used his money to acquire some of the bankrupt A.B.D. personal property and sell it at auction. We mentioned the ill-fated auction last week. A building floor collapsed during the auction, spilling people everywhere. He used the money to invest in The Basin Mercantile and Hotel in nearby Axial, Colorado. Cliff also used his money and expertise to file a claim and open a mine within yards of the original 1914 Colom [Streeter] Mine. He called it the Red Wing. The dream of a railroad continued until 1927 when they forfeited the government rights to build it. In May of 1929, the Ute Coal Co. was trying to sell the Streeter mine and land to a New York syndicate. No doubt, the September 1929 Stock Market Crash put a hold on that plan.
The Ute Coal Co. managed to produce coal but struggled into the 1930s. Coal was delivered by truck around the Craig area. In 1933 the troubled Ute Coal Company assets were acquired by our dear Dr. Pattison, who organized a new company, with Pattison having controlling interest. The big production and profits from “The world’s largest coal mine” were always just out of reach. The Streeter Mine experienced a cave-in and fire which trapped $20,000 of equipment underground. It was ordered closed and sealed in January of 1953 to close off oxygen to the underground fire that had been burning for over a year. There was a rumor that Streeter was played out and that the closure and insurance money was very convenient for the company. The Streeter Mine outlived its promoter by 23 years. The nearby Red Wing Mine was unaffected by the cave-in. Although there was concern that the fire or gases would spread to the Red Wing, now owned by the Colowyo Coal Co. [formed in 1945]. In late 1973, Colowyo became a wholly owned subsidiary of W. R. Grace and Company. The Red Wing shut down underground operations in 1974. Their intent was to restart as an open pit mine reaching the upper layers of coal close to the surface. In March of 1978 trucks were making 108 trips a day hauling the coal from the pit to Craig. Each semi-truck contained 27 tons of coal. Still, no railroad.
My thanks to Jere Taylor, Rio Blanco Hist. Soc., Sam Love, Colorado Historical Newspapers.
BY ED PECK
