216 



GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 



Castlegate. 



Elevation 6,120 feet. 

 ]'opulation 1,120. 

 Denver 6.">0 miles. 



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 

 main line is Castlegate, at the mouth of Willow 

 Creek, which enters the main stream from the east 

 (right). 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 directlj^ opposite it the rock wall on the 

 right looks like a thin finger, as shown in Plate LXXXVII, 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 LXXXVIII. As a matter of fact the two 

 walls are not directl}^ 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, however, 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. 



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 

 450 feet high. This sandstone is lo- 

 cally known as the Castlegate " reef " 

 and crops out for many miles from east 

 to west. (See Pis. LXXXVII, C, and 

 LXXXVIII.) The sandstone grad- 

 ually becomes thinner toward the east 

 and at Sunnyside is only about 150 

 feet 'thick. 



The section shown in figure 57 in- 

 cludes the rocks exposed from the di- 



version dam on Price River 3 miles 

 south of Helper to the Castlegate 

 " reef " sandstone at Cameron. 



" The term " tipple " is applied in 

 the soft-coal regions of the United 

 States to the platform or building to 

 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. 



