More Hispanics Are Working Utah's Mines

Bishop John C. Wester of the Diocese of Salt Lake City welcomes church-goers before service at Mission San Rafael Catholic Church Thursday, Aug. 9, 2007, in Huntington, Utah. Wester held the service for the six miners trapped in the Crandall Canyon Mine and their families.(AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) (Rick Bowmer - AP)

"A lot of these coal miners are trained and knowledgeable miners," said Ricardo Silva, a community activist who volunteers with the Utah Coalition for La Raza and Jobs with Justice. "They need a job and they'll do anything for it, including working in these really dangerous conditions."

The number of Hispanics in Utah grew from about 200,000 in 2000 to about 230,000 in 2005, constituting 11 percent of the state's population, according to Census figures.

University of Utah demographer Pam Perlich said that as of 2000, Hispanics accounted for about 7 percent of Utah's mining-industry work force of 8,150.

By June of this year, about 11,000 people were working in Utah's mining industry, according to the state Department of Workforce Services. Economists said they believe the percentage of Hispanics in mining has grown over the past few years, but that data is not collected at the state or federal level.

"The fact that half of the trapped workers are Latino tells us a lot about the mining industry," said Theresa Martinez, a sociologist at the university. "I would hope that people come to terms with the fact that we have fuel and energy because of those mines and that may be thanks to men and women who are considered illegal aliens."

Even with starting salaries as low as $8 an hour, Mexican miners are still sending thousands of dollars back home to pave streets and build church steeples through groups like one Lazalde named for his village. It is called the Club Santa Rosa, named for a region where residents have mined the silver ore for generations.

On Tuesday, at a Spanish-language Mass where families gathered to pray and console one another, some mining families wondered quietly if they would now have to pool the money they send home for a funeral.

"I just wish there was more we could do to help," said Jose Salazar, a Mexican immigrant, after an invocation to the Virgin of Guadalupe.