Today is August 30, 2023.
On August 30, 1923, 100 years ago today, Helen Garroch was laid to rest in the Castle Gate Cemetery. She was only 38. (In this photo she was approximately 14 years old.)
Also 100 years ago today, it was Helen’s only son’s 18th birthday. In the coal mining town of Castle Gate, Utah there was a rite-of-passage tradition on a young man’s 18th birthday. His task was to go to the nearby town of Helper and start drinking at the first saloon on Main Street. He was challenged to make it to the end of the row of saloons still sober enough to hire some female companionship at one of the many brothels there in town.
Helen’s son Willie, who eventually became my grandfather — instead of celebrating his adulthood with his pals — attended his young mother’s funeral. The family had only emigrated from Scotland a couple years ago and Willie’s heart still ached for his homeland. Now he had lost one of his ties to home, his beloved mom.
Willie didn’t know that, less than a year later, he would also lose his father in one of the biggest coal mine disasters in American history.
You can read the rest of their story in the book Castle Gate, which will be available on November 30, 2023 (the author’s birthday). Sign up here on this page to be notified when it’s available for pre-order.
Castle Gate - The Book 