Aladdin Coal Tipple. Aladdin, Wyoming
This crumbling structure is a rare surviving relic of a bygone mining industry. This wooden coal tipple is one of the last structures of its kind in the American West. It’s a great example of mining technology used in the late 1800s, constructed to store coal coming out of the mine and sort the resource as it moved down the chutes.
In 1898, the Aladdin coal mining operation was just one of many such enterprises in the valley. But following the closure of the nearby railroad, Aladdin, Wyoming, became one of the last mining operations to survive—for a while. At the height of the town’s mining boom, the surrounding area had a population of 500 people. But coal production began dwindling by 1911. Just three decades later, the mine’s entrance was blown shut for safety. After the mine closed, people abandoned the area. Today, the town of Aladdin boasts a population of less than 20 people.
In the years following the mine's closure, the corrosive coal slack caused the tipple’s wood to rot away, eventually making its top half topple. Yes - the Tipple began to topple. Local preservationists stepped in to re-stabilize the structure so it could continue to stand.
Don’t know what a coal tipple is? Me either… A coal tipple is a surface structure at a coal mine used to sort, screen, and load extracted coal into railroad hopper cars. The term comes from early operations where miners tipped or dumped small coal carts from the mine to empty their contents. Tipples typically feature shakers, screens, and crushers to separate raw coal into different commercial sizes—such as block, egg, nut, stoker, and carbon coal. Many historic tipples included picking tables to remove rock and debris by hand, functioning as early precursors to modern coal preparation plants that wash and process mined materials.
