Whether you’re seeking adventure in Sweetwater County or just passing by, it’s hard to miss the abundant industrial sites located across the vast high desert landscape. Wyoming is a well-known leader in the world’s energy industry and Sweetwater County is at the head of that race.
As you travel east to west across Sweetwater County you will first notice the enormous drag lines located at the Bridger Coal and Black Butte Coal Company mines at work excavating the thick layer of sediment or “overburden” to expose the high grade coal deposits below. These mines provide coal for export and for use as a fuel source to generate steam to turn the large power turbines at the Jim Bridger Power Generation Plant located just north of Interstate 80 at Point of Rocks. Next you will pass the Superior, Wyoming exit which is home to one of the oldest coal camps in Sweetwater County that provided coal to the Union Pacific Railroad. This mine also provided coal to private citizens for use in coal stoves for cooking and heat in the early 1900s. As you continue west you will pass a large butte just east of Rock Springs, which was the original Lioncoal Mine, another significant source of this much sought after mineral heavily depended on by industry, local businesses and residents of the surrounding areas.
Next you will arrive in Rock Springs, which was once hometo several coal mines in the downtown district alone. In theearly days, most of these mines were owned by the Union PacificRailroad and supplied coal to fuel the steam locomotives as therailroad made its way west. Numerous mines existed in thisonce small community including the Stansbury Mine, WintonMine, Reliance Mine and Gunn Mine just to name a few. TheQuealy Mine, another old coal mine, is still in operation todayjust south of Rock Springs and provides high quality coal. Coalwas mined over most of the entire Rock Springs corporate citylimits and also in several different seams or depths aroundthe community. Each seam was given a number such as “TheNumber One”, “The Number Seven” and “The Number Four”.These number designations also became the names for sectionsof town where that particular mine entry was located and itwas not uncommon for the residents to use these labels indescribing who you were and to define which part of town youbelonged to. Each section of town designated by these numbersseemed to have their own culture and unique characteristics.New mining practices including “Coal Gasification” andexperimenting with clean coal technology are currentlybeing developed which will allow coal to continue its use as adependent fuel source for the nation with less carbon emissionsto our atmosphere.Traveling west, you will pass the city of Green River and willquickly notice a number of surface processing plants for whatis known as the “Trona Patch.” Sweetwater County contains themost massive and easily mineable deposits of trona known inthe world.
Wyoming’s trona originatedas a precipitate from an ancientlarge freshwater lake. About 50million years ago, Lake Gosiutecovered as much as 15,000 squaremiles in southwestern Wyoming.Over a long period of evaporation,minerals settled to the lake bedto form the trona deposit whichwe mine today. Bedded tronawas discovered in a core whendrilling for oil at John HayNo. 1 well in 1938, south ofWestvaco, Wyoming.
Trona, the raw material for soda ash, is used to make glass,paper and various other common products. SweetwaterCounty is home to four trona mines and one manufacturingand processing company that produces products such as Arm& Hammer baking soda, deodorant and detergent. Mine waterwhich seeps into the trona mines is gathered and stored intolarge “sumps” allowing the trona which is left behind fromconventional mining methods to dissolve. Once the trona isdissolved by the water it is then pumped to the surface to a millwhich then produces “caustic soda”, a product that has manyuses including medicinal and cosmetic needs.
* A report by the U.S. Geological Survey in 1997 estimatedthe total reserve to be 127 billion tons of trona and mixedtrona and halite in beds of over four feet thick, some as thickas 14’. However, only 40 billion tons are currently consideredrecoverable by conventional mining methods. The BLMestimates that one square mile of eight foot trona bed contains14.8 million tons of trona. At the current rate of operation,Wyoming’s reserves of trona will last 2,350 years. All Wyomingtrona is mined underground. Wyoming has the world’s largestdeposit of trona, and supplies about 90% of the nation’s soda ash.Trona is a water bearing sodium carbonate bearing compound.
Wyoming’s trona industry produced over 17.6 million tons,employing 2,178 mine and processing plant workers in 2008.
Oil and Natural gas production is also a large componentof the energy industry in Sweetwater County and has beensurging in recent years. Throughout the area drilling rigs arevisible for miles and extracting oil and natural gas from someof the largest deposits in North America. New developmentsin rock fracturing or “fracking” have allowed more oil andgas to be removed from these deposits than in the early daysof development. Co2, a product also manufactured here, isinjected into the older formations to force the gas and oil up tothe surface for processing through a drill stem and gatheringsystem. Numerous gas plants exist throughout the county andmany can be seen from Interstate 80.The minerals extracted from Sweetwater County provide alarge revenue stream to the state by the taxes generated fromproduction and sales. Mineral extraction accounts for 67% ofthe total revenue generated in Sweetwater County. A portion ofthese revenues are then returned back to each community fromthe state through mineral royalty revenues for use in fundingcapital projects and operational and maintenance needs.
Adventure Itinerary
Whether visiting for a week or just passing through, there are enough exciting opportunities to keep you occupied for years to come.
