Together.
"We believe in each other," said Judi Bishop, whose cousin was trapped in the mine with five others when it collapsed early Monday morning. "We know no religion and we know no race. We know no barriers."
Inside the center, Bishop said the miners' relatives and friends were "somber and hopeful."
"When you give up hope, you give up life," she said Monday night.
In a larger sense, the community - which long ago accepted the risks associated with mining in the heart of Utah's coal country - has also gathered around them.
"I just hope they get them out all right," said Bill Mitchell, a retired miner. However, Mitchell said the fact that there has been no contact with the trapped miners doesn't bode well. He explained that miners are trained to periodically tap the roof of the mine if they're trapped by a cave-in to let rescuers know they are alive and where to find them.
"If they was alive, they would be tapping on the top to get out," Mitchell said.
Mitchell, who has worked in the Crandall Canyon mine, said it is one of the safer mines around, but accidents can and do happen in mines. Mitchell said a ceiling can appear stable one day and collapse the next.
Huntington resident Steven Gordon, who was a teenager when 27 miners were killed in the 1984 Wilberg mine disaster near here, said the mine collapse was the talk of the town Monday, with people straining for whatever information they could find about the trapped miners.
"Everybody who comes by here asks questions," said Blaine Rowley, who was selling melons and corn at a roadside stand in Huntington. But Rowley said he had little to offer than what has already been released by officials.
Randy Behling, who stopped in Huntington on his way home to Ferron from a shift at the Deer Creek Mine, said the main question on people's minds is who is trapped underground.
"A lot of people want to know who is in there," said Behling, who knows miners who are working in the mine. Company officials did not disclose the miners' identities Monday.
While Jacob Young doesn't have any friends or relatives in the mine, he is closely following the news and hoping there's a happy ending, like others here.
"Everybody's one great big family," Young said.
But the day was not without its tense moments. Officials of Murray Energy Corp., which owns and operates the Crandall mine, told the estimated group of 75 family members and friends not to speak with members of the media, who had gathered in large numbers outside the senior center. That led to several flare-ups between officials and reporters.
"There's apprehension right now. We don't know if they're dead or alive," company CEO Robert E. Murray said.
Instead, the contingent of relatives and friends spent most of the day inside watching television news coverage, and later dining together before scattering for home late Monday night.
