The Charlie Smith



“Two major improvements in mining equipment were initiated in Rock Springs before 1900.  In the 1880s the U.P. Coal Company installed the first air-operated cutting and drilling machines in the No. 4 mine.  About 10 years later came the first step in mechanized hauling:  an electric mine locomotive, the first ever built in the United States, went to work in the U.P. No. 7 mine at Rock Springs.  The squat little engine hummed up and down the slope of the mine, tugging trains of loaded cars up and coasting down with empties, except when it took the “man trip,” cars carrying miners.  It was quickly dubbed “Charlie Smith,” for its first driver, and when it was ceremoniously “retired” in 1929, it was inducted into the Union Pacific Coal Company’s Old Timers Association and mounted on a pedestal in front of the Old Timers building.” (1)











The Charlie Smith now resides west of the Union Pacific Railroad Depot.
“First electric mine locomotive manufactured in the U.S.A. Terrapin back type—weight nine tons.  Capacity 6 horse power—500 volts D.C. Speed 8 miles per hour.  Gauge 30 inches.  Purchased from North West Thompson-Houston Electric Co., St. Paul Minn., May 16, 1892.  ‘I have a grievance to present.  I have worked for 34 years and deserve a place in the Old Timers Assocition.’ ---Locomotive “Charlie Smith”.’(2)


   
Source: (1)Rhode, Robert B., “Booms & Busts on Bitter Creek”, Fred Pruett Book, Boulder, Colorado, 1987, page 79.
(2)“History of the Union Pacific Coal Mines 1868-1940”, The Colonial Press, Omaha, Nebraska, Wyoming Centennial Reprint sponsored by Sweetwater County Historical Society, page 172. 
Photographs:  Roberts Roots & Branches 2013

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