216 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 
As the coal beds occur well up in the Mesaverde formation, they 
lie near the tops of the ridges at the mouth of the canyon, and the 
coal mines here must lower the coal by long inclined tramways to 
the tipple,* which is at railroad level. This form of handling the 
coal is well illustrated at the Panther mine, near milepost 629. Far- 
ther up the canyon the coal beds lie nearer the creek level, and they 
finally pass below water level and are seen no more. 
The most prominent mine and mining town on the 
Lik cet eaten main line is Castlegate, at the mouth of Willow 
eae eo ming Creek, which enters the main stream from the east 
feughh. The mines are on both sides of the valley 
a few rods above the mouth of Willow Creek, and the coal taken 
from them comes to a common tipple, which spans the railroad at 
this place. 
The name “ Castlegate” was taken from that of the peculiar gate- 
like passage 2 miles above the town, the sides of which seem to be 
walls or dikes of sandstone projecting from the sides of the canyon. 
When viewed from a point directly opposite it the rock wall on the 
right looks like a thin finger, as shown in Plate LX X XVI, C, but 
when seen from a point farther up the canyon the walls on the two 
sides.seem to project so far into the canyon as almost to obstruct it 
and to bar the railroad from further progress. This aspect of the 
gateway is shown in Plate LXX XVIII. Asa matter of fact the two 
walls are not directly opposite, though this fact is not indicated in the 
illustration, but are offset a considerable distance, so that the opening 
is not so narrow as it appears. It is, ROS a striking feature of 
the canyon and well deserves the name “ Castlegate.” The spurs that 
form the gate are not the only projecting ledges of sandstone, for each 
point or spur, whether it is at railroad level or high on the mountain 
side, is bounded by great cliffs of gray sandstone hundreds of feet 
high. 7 
Castlegate. 
mined are probably part of the Castle- 
gate group. On the north side of the 
river, at Cameron, a massive sand- 
stone crops out in a vertical cliff about 
is | 
cally known as the Castlegate “reef” 
and crops out for many miles from east 
to west. (See Pls. LXXXVII, C, and 
LXXXVIII.) The sandstone grad- 
ually becomes thinner toward the east 
and at Sunnyside is only about 150 
ipa ‘thick 
satan shown in figure 57 in- 
ate the rocks exposed from the di- 
version dam on Price River 3 m 
oan of Helper to the Cassa 
¥ han ges oe at Camero! 
Sipnd term “tipple” is abailsait' ti 
the soft-coal regions of the United 
States to the platform or building te 
which the coal is delivered from the 
mine. The tipple generally stands well 
above the railroad so that when the 
coal is dumped from the mine cars it 
descends by gravity through screens 
and is thus sorted into different sizes 
or grades before it reaches the railroad 
car in which it is shipped to market. 
71 
