Castle Gate, Price Canyon, Utah, by Detroit Publishing, 1898.
Castle Gate, Utah, started in 1886 when the Pleasant Valley Coal Company began mining operations. This company town of miners was surrounded by rock formations, cliffs, mountains, valleys, and another exciting element – outlaws. The remote region was a perfect hideout for cattle rustlers and train robbers, including one of the Old West’s most famous characters – Butch Cassidy and his gang of bandits.
On April 21, 1897, the train from Salt Lake City coasted into Castle Gate, carrying the payroll for the Pleasant Valley Coal Company. Shortly before the train arrived, a lone cowboy had hitched his horse in front of the saloon and sat inside, waiting for the train whistle. When he heard it, he left the saloon and went to the train. As the lone cowboy sat watching, another cowboy was loitering near the stairway of the company office.
Pleasant Valley Coal Company Office, about 1898.
As the baggage was unloaded from the train, three men, including the company paymaster and two guards, gathered the payroll, which consisted of three bags estimated at $8,800, emerged from the Baggage Room and headed to the Company office some 75 yards away.
However, before they reached the office, the lone cowboy held the three at gunpoint, taking the largest bag from the paymaster. In the meantime, the other man also approached, relieving them of another bag. In broad daylight, the two men had stolen the company payroll, with only one person attempting to interfere. When a customer at a nearby store tried to interlude, he was met with a gun.
Butch Cassidy, 1893.
The two cowboys, now known to have been Butch Cassidy and Elza Lay, got on their horses and rode south, pursued by two citizens, one in a buggy and the other on horseback, shouting, “Bring that money back!” But it was too late; the pair and an estimated $8,000 were gone.
Immediate attempts were made to reach the Sheriff by telephone, but the lines had been cut. Cassidy and Lay fled to Robbers Roost, cutting telegraph lines along the trail to prevent the news of the robbery from spreading to lawmen along their escape route.
The outlaw loot was never recovered, and many believe the gang hid it somewhere near Robbers Roost, located along the Outlaw Trail in southeastern Utah.
Officially incorporated as a town in 1914, Castle Gate would become news again years later, when on March 8, 1924, an explosion at Castle Gate Mine #2 claimed the lives of 172 miners. At the time, it was the third-worst mining disaster in the United States and is still the tenth deadliest.
The town of Castle Gate was dismantled in 1974. All that’s left today is a historical marker along the highway north of Helper, Utah.
Castle Gate, Utah, today, courtesy of Google Maps.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated November 2024.
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