#sego

Not a beehive, but perhaps a Sego lily for Utah's flag?

Welcome to the first installment of my ghost town photo series! I am obsessed with ghost towns. I can’t explain it; I just love them. I’ve been to several, mostly in the western U.S., and I have a gajillion pictures to share with you whether you wanted to see them or not.

In this post, we're visiting the old coal-mining town of Sego (SAY-go), Utah. Wedged into Sego Canyon, the town limped along for many decades on the promise of riches from deep in the earth. It finally succumbed to failure after railroads began converting to diesel-powered engines and demand for coal tanked. There’s also a coal-seam fire still burning underground.

Petroglyphs at the mouth of Sego Canyon. Gay Whipple was a real person, and Google told me his first name was Nelson.

Pictographs at the mouth of Sego Canyon. These are representative of the Barrier Canyon art style, and are attributed to the Fremont peoples.

At first glance, a cozy little dugout.

Okay, I see now why it was abandoned.

The Sego Canyon railroad spur was constantly being taken out by flash flooding during the monsoon season. This is one of the few remaining trestles.

A view of the company store and Sego Canyon.

The coal mine company store gets its close-up. A two-story boarding house used to sit right across the road, but it was quite flat when I visited.

An old stone building tucked further back into Sego Canyon.

The Open Book has been waiting for this Tiny Desk for some time now. Back in April, a friend of mine had the pleasure of being in the NPR offices during Masego’s Tiny Desk Concert. Masego, a TrapHouseJazz artist, hails from Virginia and has quickly become a popular name in the contemporary R&B scene as he blends jazz, R&B, Hip-Hop, and more in his music.

Cooler than the saxophone he plays, Masego uses his charm to hypnotize the audience at Tiny Desk with music, personality, and unmatched charisma.  With a set featuring "Tadow", "Nayhoo", "Queen Tings", "Black Love" and "I Do Everything," Sego juggled and made it rain while requesting someone put him on with Lupita Nyong’o.