Community gathers for funeral of miner killed in collapse


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HUNTINGTON — It wasn't an easy day for the family of Elam Jones, a miner killed in a partial mine collapse March 22. Jones esd laid to rest Wednesday in the town cemetery, near the memorial for miners killed in the Crandall Canyon mine disaster of 2007.

Mining accidents are something the town has gone through many times over the decades, but the difficulties never get any easier.

A crowd of about a thousand turned out for the funeral services in the tight-knit mining community of Huntington. Not everyone in the town knew 29-year-old Jones, who leaves behind a wife and two children — but once a person becomes a miner, they become part of a close brotherhood that everyone has a part in.

"It's like going home. The people are tight-knit. They pull together," said Price resident Lou Shelley. "It doesn't matter whether it's a union mine or non-union. It affects everyone in these communities."

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It's that brotherhood of coal miners people in Carbon and Emery Counties feel with all their souls. So, when one of them dies, everyone feels it.

Shelley says mining is not just a job, but a way of life. Others in the community agreed.

"It's a way of life for years and years," said former coal miner Carl Beckstead. "It's the way we've been brought up."

Mining is a dangerous job. It's hard, tough, manual labor underground. The only thing harder are the emotions after someone dies doing it.

Unfortunately, it's something this community has dealt with time after time after time.

"Nobody wants to die that way, but there's a little bit of an expectation because of how dangerous the work really is," said Emery County resident Mike McCandless. "You just kind of feel like it's inevitable at some point."


It's a sad reality, it is. Every morning you wake up and, honestly, you don't ever know, really, if that's going to be the last time you see him leave your door.

–Michelle Beckstead, wife of local coal miner


"It's a sad reality, it is," said Michelle Beckstead, the wife of a local coal miner. "Every morning you wake up and, honestly, you don't ever know, really, if that's going to be the last time you see him leave your door."

Of course, knowing it's a possibility doesn't make dealing with tragedies any easier. Residents here know that, too. But they also know how to help each other — one tragedy at a time.

"Everybody is your brother. Everybody gets your back," said Dallen McFarlane, a good friend of Jones who was in the Rhino mine with him when a 10-by-10 foot, 22-inch thick slab of rock fell on both of them. His physical scars, like the torn MCL in his knee from last week's mine collapse, will eventually heal. It's his emotional scars that may take longer.

McFarlane said he has been reflecting often on why he survived while his friend died.

"I think about that quite a bit," he said. "We were right next to each other when it happened. I just can't believe how lucky I got."

Friends said that Jones loved the outdoors and loved having fun, especially snowmobiling. Friends lined up snowmobiles outside the service in honor of his favorite pastime.

Jones was buried in the Huntington Cemetery just across from a memorial dedicated to those who perished in the Crandall Canyon Mine disaster that shook the town in 2007.

Jones was one of the original rescue crews who attempted to save the six people trapped in the mine.

Contributing: David Self Newlin

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