by Darrin “Bobcat” Teply
I am honored to have been asked by Lisa Bonnice to write these words about her book, Castle Gate, in my recently deceased wife’s place after the tragedy of SueAnn’s death from misdiagnosed cancer and its ensuing medical circus.
What now seems like several lifetimes ago, in researching this book Lisa Bonnice contacted my wife (SueAnn “Miss Kitty” Martell-Teply) and me (Darrin “Bobcat” Teply) as co-directors of the Eastern Utah Tourism & History Association about the history of Castle Gate, the disasters there, and about Lisa’s relatives who were buried in the local cemetery. A few extensive tours, as well as photos, copies of historical documents mailed to Lisa, and some electronic communications later we became fast friends.
Over the next decade we would spend time telling Lisa the history of Castle Gate, its disaster, and Carbon County, while driving her to various locations. The once thriving town-sites that were now nothing more than eroded foundations in the sand, the exploited cemeteries collapsing into the coal mines below, the twisting walks to the barricaded mine entrances, the politically charged monuments, all of which were now resting amidst the rotting bits of mostly forgotten lives scattered in the overgrown sagebrush. We would research other bits and answer miscellaneous questions about what daily life was like a hundred years ago for the residents and ill-fated coal miners and families of Castle Gate.
Sometimes, we’d say to ourselves that we wonder where Lisa is going with that question, other questions would be “aha!” moments for us. So, it is nice to be able to read her book as it is all now put together in a linear form.
I often say that the dead and their ghosts choose some unfortunate historian and decide that this historian will be the one(s) to tell their story and then push all of the clues to them. We believe that this happened with Lisa, SueAnn, and I. Lisa’s family at times “reached out” to dump information in our lap during our research and tours as one research thread suddenly became many in a cascade of aged dominoes falling on yellowing paper. Then we would find out that something similar had happened to Lisa on the same day hundreds of miles away that would push her research further along and back to us with our new information.
In today’s society many people gloss over the migrants that came through places like Ellis Island and their motives in looking to make a better life for themselves and their families. Lately, educational teachers get even more so glossy as the struggles of immigrants do not fit the “new educational woke agenda.”
As a historian, I can tell you that History has always been a series of cherry-picked facts and perspectives. But more importantly, the actual telling of History is an art form. History is usually viewed as something told in a monotone by a professor with the personality of a cardboard cutout who quotes dates and names off an index card system that only exists in that professor’s head. It takes a passion to tell history in such a way that hooks you into the story. Some events you ignore because it’s so unbelievable as it goes against established facts, and with other historical snippets you jump up and down and say, “This puts a whole new spin on the boring narrative.”
I will end with what I’ve been building up to; in a “modern” society with a short attention span and littered with lost or misplaced records, what you now hold in your hands truly is a rare “LITERARY UNICORN.” It is an amazing, well researched and creative historical telling of the story of some of the “cursed” new residents that came to America, who became coal miners, who struggled to survive, and who still got the short pointy end of the proverbial stick, most of which did not survive long-enough to completely tell their tales. Lives that were cut horribly short trying to better themselves and their families. With this book you hold a piece of art, square-bound in a canvas of papers. It is a love-letter to Lisa’s ancestors celebrating their contributions in a now almost forgotten time, in a mostly forgotten place, called Castle Gate.
Thank you and enjoy.
Darrin “Bobcat” Teply
Surviving Co-Director of the Eastern Utah Tourism & History Association
Castle Gate - The Book 