The mining camps have long since closed and the former Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad hub is gone. The saloons, grocery stores, brothels and Mediterranean-flavored coffee houses that once lined Main Street also are history.

Instead, hollowed storefronts and empty sidewalks speak to a business climate that is as rugged as the Book Cliffs surrounding this town of 2,000 people.

But Helper isn't dying, city leaders insist. It is rising.

A hint of economic hope has appeared on the south end of town, where tilled soil separates the historic Western Mining and Railroad Museum from downtown. Construction is coming.

The museum has announced a $1.2 million expansion that will enlarge the museum by 40 percent, exposing visitors to something more than black-and-white images and decades-old mine and railroad relics.

Visitors will find an underground mine tunnel in the basement, a miniature train track and computer terminals with access to everything from cemetery records to mine-era mule rosters.

"There are so many stories that we still have to tell," said museum director SueAnn Martell. "This is going to give us the space to do that."

The expansion is big news for Helper, particularly if the museum's foot traffic doubles as projected.

The town's largest tourism generator, the museum draws about 10,000 visitors a year. It is the primary reason that True West magazine this year ranked Helper as one of the country's Top 10 "True Western Towns."

Locals hope a bigger museum will mean a bigger economy, for tourists aren't one-stop shoppers, merchants say. They wander up the street to Back to the 50s diner for lunch or to Hermie's Antiques for a souvenir. They stop for gas and sometimes stay the night.

"If the museum continues, our businesses will continue," said Kelly Christensen, manager of Helper Antique Mall.

Brick and mortar: Built in 1913, the Western Mining and Railroad Museum began as a three-story hotel for immigrant workers.

Laborers had come to central Utah in droves, seeking fortune through the mining and railroad industry. Many came from Italy. Others came from China, Greece, Slovakia, France and Ireland.

The town blossomed. Coffee houses, theaters and grocery stores sprang up along Main Street. So did bordellos, bars and gambling houses. Specialty shops sprouted to serve the town's 27 nationalities.

A history of Helper notes that commerce in the town grew 10-fold during the first quarter of the 20th century. The town had 16 shops at the turn of the century but almost 160 by 1925.

Like the rest of downtown, the hotel thrived with immigrant housing upstairs, a post office on the main floor and a saloon that ranked among the rowdiest in the state.

It continued that way until 1940, when the Denver and Rio Grande purchased the building and converted it into a YMCA. The hotel changed hands one more time in 1983, when Helper city acquired the property for a museum.

Since then, the building hasn't changed much. Museum displays are crowded into the same rooms that housed workers almost a century ago.

One room contains maps and photographs of a deadly mine explosion in 1900. Another holds a 35-pound steam engine wrench. Others contain antique X-ray machines, jerseys from mining camp baseball teams and photographs of local World War II veterans.

Officials now want to add 5,600 square feet to the building - a move Martell believes will attract about 20,000 visitors annually and push the museum toward national accreditation. The project is scheduled to begin in March.

Inside the new building, visitors will find a children's train room with an operable railroad and more floor space for the museum's soon-to-grow railroad collection.

The building also will gain an elevator.

Museum supporters have raised about $800,000 of the needed $1.2 million, financial records show - enough to build the outer shell.

New life? No one expects the museum to single-handedly shake the dust from downtown. But almost everyone predicts some kind of boost.

"Whenever you have an engine, gasoline alone doesn't make it run," said City Councilman John Jones. "You have to have oil, pistons and a cam to make the motor run. It is the same thing with a town. You have to have restaurants, museums and things for people to do to make them want to stop."

So the town has touted its outdoor arts festivals, electric light parade and River Parkway Trail. It has spruced up its downtown theater, too.

Says Mayor Mike Dalpiaz, "We're just trying to generate life."

jstettler@sltrib.com