Guy Lindsey in Castle Gate
I have had the amazing privilege of reading old letters from my Great Aunt Dora to my grandmother and my great grandparents Will and Ella Sherwood living in Wisconsin. Aunt Dora had married Guy Lindsey almost 105 years ago on February 15, 1912 in Pocatello, Idaho. She wrote to her parents ten days after that:
"I wish you could realize how thoughtful and good my boy is
to me in every way. I am sure you will all be happy to know that I am no longer
wandering alone in the world but that I can be guarded and cared for. In spite of my years, Mrs. Cox and the regulars
here have always called me their little girl and you have no idea with what
interest they have followed the little romance of “love at first sight” which
began with the Carlyle Fire Nov. 15 and culminated at the same Carlyle just
three months later. For the short time
we have been here we both have so many friends here and those who know us both
are so delighted. At the same time we
were able to go out together so little that our friends on the outside were
greatly surprised. I would not recommend
that younger persons or those who had seen less of people and the world should
be quite so hasty. As Mrs. Cox said, you
are both old enough to know what you want, and any one can see that it was a
case of infatuation on both sides. You
who knew the “school marm” so sedate would scarcely recognize the unrestrained,
carefree, girlishness of the bride in #22 and perhaps not wonder so much at her
being called the “little girl.”
Later Guy wrote to his in-laws that: "My work isn’t the best in the world as I may be called out at any time and gone for days at a time. And then there is more or less danger attached to it. Because I know most every crook and box car robber from coast to coast and they all know me and something may happen some day. Dora worries so, every time I step out of the house, that I have made up my mind to quit in a very short while."
This bit of terrain actually matches up with the photo above! We can picture the rail cars laden with coal laboring their way up the mountains!
Another train coming through Castle Gate. I always have feelings of nostalgia when I have occasionally heard a steam train -- an event becoming even more rare as time goes by.
It seems that this bit of terrain would have been easy to match up if we had known -- or had randomly faced the camera in the right direction! We were told that the miner houses were all moved to Helper, Utah Although there is a blog that appears to be a pretty good description of the terrible mine explosion that took place in 1924.
(I'm not advocating hauntings -- but the blog seems to have a good description of the terrifying and sad events.) Dora and Guy lost at least one family friend in the mine disaster, a John L Davis, whose family moved to Salt Lake and Dora mentioned getting together with his family in June of 1927. Guy and Dora Lindsey had by that time already moved on to Price before they finally settled in Salt Lake City.
This same winter Dora's parents came out to visit (as they loved to do) and Grandpa Sherwood showed that he was still young at heart!
Little Margaret goes sledding behind their house in Castle Gate..
Castle Gate remains a part of our extended family history. But Guy and Dora eventually moved on to live out most of their years in Salt Lake City.
My husband and I flew to Salt Lake City to visit relatives and planned to visit the "ghost towns" where my great uncle and great aunt and family lived between 1913 and 1924 or so. These have such charming names as Tucker, Gilluly, Soldier Summit, Castle Gate, Helper, Rains and Winter Quarters. I have a drawing of part of Tucker done by my great-grandmother and she waited for the birth of her first grand-daughter Margaret. The drawing shows the house, cellar, nearby church, hills, railroad and creek and I had had such hopes of being able to find a foundation or two and perhaps match up the drawing with the terrain. Alas, what is left of Tucker is now buried under a vastly improved road. We didn't have time to find the little cemetery that is supposed to be on the hill on the other side of the highway, but sometime hope to see if there is a little headstone for a cousin Ruby who was either stillborn or only lived a short while. So, Tucker was buried, Gilluly was only a sign along the highway with not so much as a hole in the ground to give perspective. Soldier Summit still survives with a gas station and a few houses, no longer the bustling train center it once was. We chatted with a local man who remembered Tucker and who said that the drawing looked very much like what he remembered. He told us about the museum at Helper and there we learned about the fact that all the houses at Castle Gate had been moved to land on the outskirts of Helper. So perhaps the homes of my relatives are now there, but there is no way to know which house might have been which. Castle Gate is now the coal source it was then, but fires an electric plant to keep us all warm, fed and on line with all our gadgets. I don't imagine Dora and George would recognize it now. Our last attempt, late in the day, was to find our way to Winter Quarters. Rains is now on private property and for all intents and purposes is not easily found. But we had hopes for Winter Quarters. We drove to Scofield, but then couldn't seem to find the road that was supposed to lead to Winter Quarters. As we were leaving later we saw a gas station, but by then it was too late. While there we didn't see anyone outside, driving around or otherwise available to ask for directions. So we gave up and headed back to Salt Lake. Over all it was a fun day, somewhat disappointing, but the autumn colors were spectacular and well worth the trip in and of themselves. 
Later, at my second cousins house, we discovered a few photos of Winter Quarters. So while we didn't make it there this time, we have these old photos to share. This photo says that it is George Sherwood, Homer Lidell and Neil Carswell, Trackman. This was taken in December of 1920. The middle man looks like George, I'm guessing that Homer is on the left and Neil on the right. But am open to being corrected about that. The photo of the saloon at the top of this entry has instructions on the back. We are NOT to hyphenate Frank's last name because if you do it "sounds like something naughty." 