National is a ghost town

Ghost town

A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...

 in Carbon County

Carbon County, Utah

Carbon County is a county located in the U.S. state of Utah. Named for the major coal deposits in the area, the county seat and largest city, is Price. Carbon County is the second largest natural gas producer in Utah , with 94 billion cubic feet produced in 2008. As of 2010 the population was...

, Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It is located along upper Gordon Creek.

History

Coal

Coal

Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

 was discovered in the area in 1908, but large-scale mining didn't begin until the National Coal Company purchased the mines in the 1920s. All of the building

Building

In architecture, construction, engineering, real estate development and technology the word building may refer to one of the following:...

s in National were constructed of the same brick

Brick

A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...

 material. In 1921, the National Coal Company, together with the Gordon Creek Coal Company, built a railroad line from Helper to the mining operations. In July 1938, the National Coal Company discontinued mining

Mining

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...

 operations in the area. The mine was sold under foreclosure

Foreclosure

Foreclosure is the legal process by which a mortgage lender , or other lien holder, obtains a termination of a mortgage borrower 's equitable right of redemption, either by court order or by operation of law...

 by the end of the year. All of the mining equipment that had value was sold. Mining continued under a new owner for a short time, but the town was soon abandoned. A few foundations and deteriorating buildings remain in National. National is only a few miles away from the ghost town of Coal City

Coal City, Utah

Coal City is a ghost town in Carbon County, Utah, United States. Coal City was established in 1885, and soon after it was established, coal was discovered in the area. Small-scale mining began to take place, and because the mining operations were a mile or two away from the mines at National and...

.