RECALL a sparkling
spring day. Air like velvet. Wild flowers drinking in sunshine. Blue clear skies. Bright
sparkling cold streams babbling down mountain dells. Warm sunshafts that invigorate and
stimulate the whole being.
Such a procession of golden days, bright, warm, sunny, is the contradiction that summer
brings in Scofield, Utah. Not too warm, and not too cool. This is the climatic condition
from June to September that greets the pleasure -seeker, or a man looking for employment
when he comes to this locality.
Scofield is located in Carbon county on the Pleasant Valley branch of The Denver & Rio
Grande Western Railroad, fifteen miles from Colton. It is a small railroad junction
connecting lines to Clear Creek, the famous coal camp of the Utah Fuel Company, and
Winterquarters, a coal camp of the same company. Scofield is 660 miles west from Denver,
and lies at the head of a beautiful valley known as Pleasant Valley, with an elevation of
7702 feet.
The population is 900.
There is an elementary school, also an accredited Junior High School well equipped, and
qualified teachers, which assures a good education for the children up to and including
the ninth grade. The total enrollment of schools is 265.
Abundant pure, cool, mountain spring water is brought to Scofield through a two-mile long
red cedar pipe line buried deep in the earth, which retains and assures the freshness and
coolness of the water as it issues from the springs.
Hotel accommodations are adequate. The Dunn Hotel, under the management of George Dunn, is
conducted on the American plan, and contains fifteen rooms. The Scofield Hotel is also
conducted on the American plan. It is managed by Tom Raptes.
Nearby, in the mountains, contiguous to this little town, are found deer, bears, mountain
lions, beavers, sage hens, willow grouse, and other variety of small game. Swamps north of
Scofield are also noted for duck shooting in the fall.
It must not be overlooked by the pleasure seeker, that shortly the Pleasant Valley
Reservoir dam will be completed at the lower end of the valley, which will back the water
up, forming a beautiful reservoir about two miles wide and six miles long. This project is
undertaken by the Price River Water Conservation District, and is to be completed this
summer at a cost, for purchasing site, moving railroad, etc., of $750,000. The water thus
empounded is to be used in the vicinity of Price, Utah, forty miles east, for irrigation
purposes. Besides furnishing much needed water to the farmers below, this reservoir will
be a mecca for the fisherman as this locality is already famous for an abundance of
mountain trout.
Coal mining is the chief industry in this community and, in fact, this valley is the
pioneer in the coal industry in the state. The old Pleasant Valley Coal Company, now
operated by the Utah Fuel Company, is one of the oldest coal mines in the state and has
been in continuous operation since the early seventies of the last century.
The Pleasant Valley coal field, having been known for many years in the West, tells the
story of the quality of coal which is produced here. The mines in operation at the present
time in and around Scofield are:, Scofield Coal, Kinney Coal, and Utah Central. The
equipment of these mines is modern, all coal being mined and run by electricallyoperated
machinery. The screening plants give perfect segregation and provide an excellent
preparation of all sizes and grades of coal.
Pleasant Valley and Scofield are easily and economically reached, being situated in a
little cozy nook in the green mountains just fifteen miles from Colton on the Pleasant
Valley branch of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad.
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