Bill Bennett: “Certainly. In the Utah Enabling Act, Congress granted the new State of Utah the right to select 50,000 acres of…”

“Certainly. In the Utah Enabling Act, Congress granted the new State of Utah the right to select 50,000 acres of unappropriated federal lands for support of a miner's hospital for disabled miners. This 1894 grant was supplemented in 1929 by the grant of an additional 50,000 acres. In the late 1950's, the Utah legislature, with the support of the United Mineworkers of America, determined that accumulated funds from these two grants could best be used for the construction of a rehabilitation center that would serve both miners and the general public, rather than for the construction of a standalone hospital for the limited number of disabled miners in the state. This facility was constructed in 1965 and operated under the supervision of an advisory commission that included representatives of the State's mining unions. Subsequent state legislation has provided that ongoing funds generated from the two land grants are to be used to support this rehabilitation center.”