HELPER, Utah — A 100-year-old miner's cap that served as an antique reminder of Carbon County’s past life of blood-coal mining and the railroads was stolen last month from the Helper Museum.
“When I came in Monday, I noticed one of our cases had been moved,” said Roman Vega, Director & Curator of Helper Museum. “And as I continued to look through the case, I noticed that one of our signs which says ‘miner's hat’ had fallen from where it was originally placed.”
As Vega continued to look into the case, he noticed the hat was gone. While Vega doesn’t know the exact motivations of the thief, he did point out the hat’s unique features that are telling of that era.
“In early mining in the 1900s they didn't have hard hats that they currently use today,” Vega explained. “What they would use and what they would have would be a soft cap.”
The front of that soft cap has a place to hold carbide or an open-flame lamp.
“Depending on what you were looking at, this would be the only light source that the worker would have had when he was underground.
“It wasn't until 1924 after the Castle Gate disaster that they stopped using carbide, open flame in mines,” Vega said.
Vega says he doesn’t plan to press charges. He just hopes the hat will be returned to its home.
“Hopefully the word will get out, you know, and if whoever took the item will have a guilty conscience and possibly bring it back. “It's, an item that unfortunately is irreplaceable, it's priceless.”
