The town of Sunlight, originally named Sunshine, was located at the southern end of Four-mile Creek and opened its first coal mine in 1883. Immigrant workers from Italy, Greece, Austria and Mexico came to the coal camp to work in the mine, and many of their descendants still live in the Roaring Fork Valley. Sunlight’s coal production played an important role in the valley’s development, providing coal used to smelt silver ore mined in Aspen. In 1887, the Colorado Midland Railroad hauled coal from Sunlight to the coke ovens at Cardiff, south of Glenwood Springs. Colorado Fuel & Iron took control of the Sunlight Mine from 1892 to 1893 and again from 1897 to 1904. The mine continued operating on a smaller scale until World War I.