Housekeeping
Before we begin I think it prudent to lay out some well established ground rules for the locations I'm inviting you to visit. All are on the National Historical Register, recognized for their historical significance and thus protected. DO NOT touch rock art, the oils in your hands can irrevocably damage these fragile reminants of ancient cultures. DO NOT carve or write anything on the rocks. Not only is it tacky, shallow, and ugly, it's ILLEGAL. DO NOT remove artifacts that you may find in these areas. A rusted can tells just as much of a story of the canyon as the rock art does. These sites are considered sacred to some, myself included. My initial hesitation to use the site for a virtual cache has been assuaged by the knowledge that the site is monitored by cameras to help in the identification of those who would not play nicely.
In short, treat the sites with dignity and respect.
Take only pictures, leave only footprints. Please and thank you.
Inspiration
Before I picked up geocaching I was very interested in railroads and rock art. I came to realize that geocaching had the potential to take me to places heretofore unknown to me that could further pique and satisfy my appetite for those pursuits. Fast forward a few years and geocaching has raced to the fore while the rock and the rail have taken up second fiddle, but *always* ready to be entreated while caching. The series of sites listed in the waypoints all hold a spot of nostalgia and wonder for me since I discovered them a decade ago: A home for ancient natives and nomads, a long abandonded and troubled mineral strike that's been played out, a wood and steel road being reclaimed by nature. All of them with a strong will to thrive in a less-than-hospitable landscape.
History
Located north of Thompson Springs, Utah is Sego Canyon, also known as Book Cliffs and Thompson Wash. This side trip off of I-70 west of the Utah/Colorado line provides not only a peek at prehistoric rock-art, but also the remains of the old coal town of Sego, a once-thriving coal mining camp.
About 3 ½ miles north of Thompson Springs, on Sego Canyon Road, are the petroglyphs and pictographs left by several distinctly different cultures. The Fremont culture thrived from A.D. 600 to 1250 and were contemporary with the Anasazi culture of the Four Corners area. There is also rock art from the Archaic period, known for thier use of Barrier Canyon Style pictographs, dating from 7000 B.C. to around 2000 B.C., and the Ute tribe dating from A.D. 1300.
Though preservation and restoration efforts are continual, unfortunately, there is quite a bit of graffiti and damage to the art.
(Additional information about the rock art can be found here.)
After viewing the historic rock art, head north on Sego Canyon Road. After about ½ mile, the road forks, with the left fork headed into Thompson Canyon, and the right fork heading into Sego Canyon. Take the right fork, which quickly leads to Sego’s old cemetery. The ghost town of Sego is about another mile or so on up the canyon.
Sego got its start in the early 1890s when an affluent farmer/rancher named Harry Ballard discovered coal on land adjacent to his ranch. Keeping his discovery a secret, he began to buy the adjacent property and started coal operations on a small scale.
The small community that sprang up around the operations was first called Ballard, for its owner. The coal was initially dug out manually and hauled down the narrow canyon by wagons. Soon, news of the high-quality coal in Sego Canyon reached Salt Lake City. When a hardware store owner named B.F. Bauer heard of the find, he bought out Ballard’s property and formed the American Fuel Company, selling stock valued at $1 million.
In 1911, the company began to develop the area in earnest with aggressive plans for long-term coal production. They built the American Fuel Company Store, a boarding house, mining buildings, the first coal washer west of the Mississippi River, and a tipple.
They also renamed the settlement Neslin, for the general manager of the American Fuel Company, Richard Neslin.
In 1914, the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad built a spur line from Thompson to the coal camp, which crossed the stream 13 times in its five-mile journey. Almost immediately, the camp was plagued with water problems, which continued throughout the life of the camp. On numerous occasions, the water table was so low; the coal washer could not be operated. The camp also experienced problems with the railroad spur trains, which were often off their tracks.
By 1916, the primary investor, B.F. Bauer, was not happy with the low profits and fired the general manager, Richard Neslin. The town’s name was then renamed Sego, for the state flower of Utah and the mine’s name was changed to the Chesterfield Company. Up until 1927, the camp had supplied its own power for mine operations, which also created numerous problems with break downs. That year, they secured electricity from Columbia, Utah, some 100 miles away at a cost of more than $100,000, placing more financial strain on the company. At times, the company was unable to make the payroll and paid their miners in scrip, which could be spent at the company store.
The financial problems finally got so bad, that the miners reorganized under the United Mine Workers Union in 1933 and with the union’s help, were finally paid regularly. At its peak, the mine employed about 125 miners and the town supported about 500 people.
In 1947, the company’s financial struggles came to a head, when the mine was ordered closed and the property offered for sale at a Sheriff’s auction in Moab, Utah. By that time, only 27 miners were employed, many of whom had worked at the mine for decades and were devastated. The remaining miners agreed to pool their money and make a bid. They were successful when they were able to purchase the equipment and property for $30,010. They changed the name to the Utah Grand Coal Company and once again began operations. However, tragedy struck in 1949, when a fire burned the tipple, drastically decreasing production. That same year, the railroad ceased operations to Sego, which required the new company to purchase dump trucks, and loading ramps, as well as building a new tipple. But, the employee-owned company persevered and recovered.
However, there was nothing they could do about the final blow, when in the early 1950s, the railroad began to use diesel engines, replacing the coal-powered steam engines and reducing the need for the mine’s products. In 1955, the Utah Grand Coal Company sold all its holdings for $25,000, to a Texas based company who had no interest in the coal mines, but rather in the 700 acres of land that showed promise for both oil and natural gas. At that time, some of the buildings were then moved to Moab and Sego became an official ghost town.
For several decades, the canyon was still lined with many homes and buildings, but in the spring of 1973, nature’s worst enemy — people — destroyed much of what was left. On that terrible day, two carloads of treasure hunters were seen searching the old town with metal detectors. Unfortunately, later in the day, many of the buildings lay in smoldering ruins, as the treasure hunters sifted through the cooling ashes. Very sad that the greed of a few destroyed much of what was left of this old mining camp.
Today, the old site continues to display numerous signs of its prosperous past. The stone walls of the old American Fuel Company Store continue to stand, though its windows and roof are long gone. Nearby, are the walls of another stone building, as well as the two-story, crumbling wood “American” boarding house (We were told all that’s left is a pile of wood as of 2011).
Throughout the canyon can be found numerous other crumbling structures, mine shafts, foundations, and the old railroad bridges that crossed the creek. The cemetery provides an overgrown look at the past in its few marked and unmarked headstones.
(More information about the railroad and mine operations can be found here.)
Logistics & Navigation
The drive into the canyon may require a high clearance vehicle and should never be attempted if storms are expected, as flash floods are common. During recent rains, a 4-wheel drive is recommended to navigate rocky and muddy roads.
The exit to Sego Canyon is 25 miles east of Green River, Utah on I-70. Take exit 187 and drive north on the main road through the town of Thompson Springs. The rock art is located 3 ½ miles north. Beyond the rock art, the road continues about ½ mile before it comes to a fork, with the left fork heading into Thompson Canyon, and the right, towards the Sego Cemetery. The ghost town of Sego is about a mile north of the cemetery.
Please respect the town of Sego and its structures, as well as the native American rock art. Your respect will guarantee that future visitors will be able to continue to see these historic remains.
(My gratitude is extended to Kathy Weiser/Legends of America for their kind permission to use this detailed and concise history of Sego Canyon. Any attempt to paraphrase otherwise would have been a disservice to the context of the rich and long history on display in the canyon. I have, however, made a few corrections as I saw fit given my knowledge of the area.)
Logging Requirements
1) Post a picture in your log of yourself with some rock art or historical ruin that particularly caught your eye at the sites listed. I'd love to see your awestruck and/or smiling face with some of the beautiful rock art behind you, but pictures with your caching name and date of visit on a piece of paper (also with some of the rock art/hisorical ruin behind) will suffice for proof of visitation for those who are camera shy. Group shots are welcome, but if you're claiming a find with a group you need to be in the picture to verify your visit. Logs without proper photographic evidence will be subject to deletion without warning per Geocaching guidelines. While I'd also love to see older pictures of the canyon taken throughout the years, only visits after the publication of this cache will be accepted as finds.
2) Please sign the guestbook for you and/or your group. I know I can't monitor this from afar but it helps the site with funding for site maintenance, protection and preservation.
3) (And this is the most important part) HAVE FUN!
Virtual Rewards 3.0 - 2022-2023
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between March 1, 2022 and March 1, 2023. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 3.0 on the Geocaching Blog.