Ghosts of SEGO - Towns Lost to Time | Thompson Springs, Sego Rock Art & Sego Ghost Town | Utah

Exploring Utah's past! Join us on a journey through Sego Canyon to the ghost towns of Sego & Thompson Springs. See the ancient rock art panels, learn about the history of the area, & experience the beauty and mystery of this incredible place.
Tucked away north of Interstate 70 in Utah are several excellent and easy-to-access remnants of different generations throughout time.
The first town is Thompson Springs. Established in the late nineteenth century, Thompson Springs served as a station stop on the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. Its importance grew in the early 1900s when a coal mine located to the north was established and a rail line connecting the mine to the town was built.
Between the two towns, are the Sego Rock Art panels. Four rock wall surfaces feature petroglyph and pictograph styles of three cultures - Fremont, Ute, and Barrier Canyon. The rock art styles date roughly from about 2000 BC to 1300 AD.
Sego was established in 1910 and coal mining operations continued until 1950. Once operations ceased, the use of the rail line also stopped. In 1997 the town of Thompson Springs no longer served as a stop for any rail line as traffic became scarce with the construction of Interstate 70. Though there was still a population of 99 residents as of 2020, one today mostly will find the shuttered-up buildings of old businesses.
VIDEO FILMED: 04/14/2023
▬▬ R E L A T E D V I D E O S ▬▬
⚪ Buckhorn Wash Pictograph Panel - • Roadtrip through the S...
▬▬ L O C A T I O N I N F O ▬▬
⚪ Directions to SEGO GHOST TOWN - goo.gl/maps/qGF2HeXYPEbms8B28
▬▬ T I M E S T A M P S ▬▬
00:00 Thompson Springs
07:13 Sego Rock Art
15:11 Sego Ghost Town
▬▬ L I N K S ▬▬
⚪ Gear we use - www.amazon.com/shop/thecactus...
⚪ See where we've been - www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mi...
⚪ Music from Epidemic Sound - www.epidemicsound.com/referra...
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Welcome to the Cactus Atlas! We are Glenn and Amy and invite you to join us as we visit all sorts of locations across the American West. We tour both natural and man-made attractions.
Our base of operations is in the Phoenix, AZ area. We do a lot of hiking, day trips, and campground reviews and hope that we will be a great resource if you are planning a trip to the American West. We also hope to delight you with our exciting adventures!

[@Wendy-Frazier]

My dad went to kindergarten here. In the 50’s . Thanks for a great video!

[@CactusAtlas]

Very cool! Thank you! 😊

[@susanasalinas4273]

Live the ghost towns. Scenery is amazing.

[@SomeplaceOrAnother]

Great day exploring 🤠 those old ghost towns are cool 😎 Great drone video too 👍

[@CactusAtlas]

Thanks! 👍 We're kinda suckers for ghost towns and history. 😅

[@guipe43]

Thank you for sharing! By remembering those who rest in humble and even unmarked graves, you show the nobility of your own heart! Greetings from Sweden!

[@CactusAtlas]

Our pleasure! Thanks for watching! 😄

[@chumpy2389]

Consistently awesome! Thank you, Amy and Glenn for another great video!

[@CactusAtlas]

Why thank you! Glad you like them! 😊

[@guswatts]

Amy your music choices are amazing. Love how you hear it without realizing it and it just draws you into Glens narrative and drone shots. ❤ I like what Glen said about the rock art being pics of their gods. The large eyes 👀 some may say are alien but we often say that eyes are windows to our souls. Very interesting indeed.

[@CactusAtlas]

Aw, thank you so much! I always get so paranoid about the music because I know it's divisive among people and different devices tend to make the balance sound different. 😅 You really do have to wonder who or what the images represent, don't you? A higher power? A leader? The mind wanders.

[@CFarnwide]

Finally… the algorithm decided to be nice and recommend your channel to me. Thanks from a new subscriber!

[@CactusAtlas]

Awesome, thank you, and welcome to our channel! 😄

[@charlielaudico3523]

My son Brian lived in Moab in the 90s and went thru Thompson springs and found a stray dog there,and took it home him an named him Thompson !

[@CactusAtlas]

Aww, that's awesome! 😄

[@carolguezen5829]

Thanks so much Glen and Amy for bringing us out on another great adventure. I love the pictographs and can imagine the feeling of spirits hanging out there! Stay safe on your adventures and keep these awesome videos coming!

[@CactusAtlas]

Our pleasure! Plenty more videos coming for sure. 👍

[@brianfow4666]

I love your channel. Been subscribed for a few years now. I’m a God-fearing man but not much of a church goer. Your videos make for a nice relaxing Sunday morning watches

[@CactusAtlas]

Oh, wow! That's so nice to hear. Thank you! 😊

[@blacksmithcowboy4725]

Great video, I enjoyed seeing Sego again. I grew up near Green River to the west on a ranch. Couple things that I wanted to share, I didn't see the multiple panel wall in your video that is worth the trip alone. The shelters were dugout homes used by the miners that lived and worked there. My Grandfather told me a fair amount about the area, but its been many years now. Also, to the north of the mercantile store, where you parked your truck was a wooden structure at one time that was the brothel/boarding house when Sego was alive. When I was a young boy, a fair amount of the structure was still there. It's been a long time since I visited Sego with my Grandparents.

[@CactusAtlas]

I believe I've seen old photos of the wooden building. Too bad it isn't really around now. Thanks for all the info! 👍

[@lzwnn]

This was another fabulous episode with beautiful scenery and history. Those petroglyphs reminded me of some of the sightings the Native Americans have described at Skinwalker Ranch with the menacing profiles and huge eye sockets. Really weird juju. That ghost town could not have been in a more picturesque spot, wow that was beautiful!

[@CactusAtlas]

They are a little eerie yet absolutely fascinating. That whole area is simply breathtaking. 😊

[@SidetrackAdventures]

I can imagine someone long ago holding their friends feet while they hung over the edge to draw some of those pictographs. Always amazing to see them and think about what they were trying to say.

[@CactusAtlas]

😄 Love the image. I always wonder if it would take the fascination down a notch if we knew what the intent of meaning was of such markings.

[@oldgeezer53]

Nice video. As - apparently - the only person in my family/group of friends who can drive a car and dodge potholes at the same time, I tend to miss out on some of the visual splendor of excursions. Videos like this fill in some of the blanks. I place the petroglyphs into three categories - 1. Scenes with horses (Post-Conquest Ute). 2. Trapezoidal figures, mostly unadorned (Fremont) and 3. The intricate spooky ones (Archaic/Barrier Canyon - much like Horseshoe Canyon to the south) which can be around 4,000 years old.

[@CactusAtlas]

Haha! It's funny... Glenn says the same thing about being able to rewatch the videos once they are edited as sometimes he misses things because of filming. 😅 Your categorization of the images sounds about spot on from what I've read. Hard to image those pictographs are that old, isn't it?

[@gilbertpalacios9874]

Just watched your Sego video. Great job. My dad was born in Sego and went to that school house. We have had at least two family reunions up in Sego canyon. All but one of the aunts and uncles gas passed but they all talked of Sego.

[@CactusAtlas]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing. 😄👍

[@davidelack8809]

Neat video! Thanks for doing it. I moved to Az from the midwest in 1978 as a tweener and I have yet to get over the wonder and awe of the landscape! I am truly blessed to live here.I imagine the youngsters who attended that school feel the same.

[@CactusAtlas]

The landscape is something else, isn't it? And when you really get down to it, there's so much variety as well. 😄

[@davidelack8809]

Best place in the world 😁🌍!

[@lauraleegreen7516]

A little research ahead will tell you more about the Rock Art at Sego Canyon. The painted red “Barrier Canyon” rock art is as old as the pyramids. 2000 BC. The anamorphic figures (the scary ones you mentioned with antennae) symbolize ancient leaders. However, this particular panels have been featured on the History Channel’s Ancient Aliens many times. It is a super famous panel. It is a must see when visiting Moab. 4000 years old and very special. You can find them throughout the whole southwest region of Utah.

[@CactusAtlas]

We've featured similar panels in other videos. Glenn did not have much info for this video as it was VERY impromptu due to a different video being scrapped. I provided him with what info I could get to him on short notice and limited internet access.

[@shirleyrichards2514]

I just love Sego and Thomson. One of my favorite places. I love going there over and over...☆♡☆

[@CactusAtlas]

Oh, we would be going many times over and over as well if we lived closer. I know we missed a lot, but it was a very impromptu visit. 😅

[@candymcclure2476]

very interesting. I enjoy your narratives. Gramma Candy

[@CactusAtlas]

Thank you!

[@redpill5471]

Hi Glenn and Amy nice subject channel. That was a wood burning stove/heater. Not a furnace so to speak. Not as in a modern furnace. Glen smile more. So serious looking lol. Tks for the lil adventure.

[@CactusAtlas]

I blame Amy for your last comment. I do all sorts of funny things, but she never puts those bits in. 🤷‍♂️. Then again, if she did, we’d probably have a lot less viewers with my strange sense of humor. 😅

[@mset510]

Nice pictograph AND petroglyph panels. Always an added bonus to see the two types together. Sweet!

[@OneMansOdyssey]

I think the art is so high up because the ground was probably higher a few hundred years ago. There’s some rock art in a similar canyon in New Mexico and everything is about 10-12 feet above the ground because natural erosion has lowered the ground level.

[@CactusAtlas]

Could well be the reason! 👍

[@kingstonsean]

We visited Canyon De Chelly last year. The guide said the canyon gets deeper every year. He pointed out rock art 20 feet up the wall that he drew about 50 years ago as a teenager. A government dude told him the drawing was hundreds of years old. 🤣

[@shirleyrichards2514]

Thanks for sharing ❤❤

[@CactusAtlas]

😊🙏

[@CeeBee-outdoors]

I was just there a couple of weeks ago! The pictographs are really very eerie, and also surprisingly large. We were not expecting to see that huge building in the Sego ghost town, and wondered what it was. Thanks for explaining that it was the company store. Your drone footage of it is great! You missed the arch - if you are looking at the first large pictograph panel, it is behind you on the other side of the road. Also, did you notice on the first petroglyph panel (the one that says “Gay Whipple”), there are faded red pictographs above the petroglyphs? I read that the petroglyphs were put over them.

[@CactusAtlas]

If I recall correctly, the red pictographs would be by the older culture so not surprising. 👍

[@AlanZabriskie-tr2uj]

Sego produced athracite coal for the Denver and Rio Grande railroad until in the early 1950s when the railroad started using diesel electric. The road you took was the railroad grade and had numerous trestles (flash floods). The town didn't have reliable water supply to wash the coal. There are numerous underground coal fires.

[@charlielaudico3523]

My son Brian stopped in Thompson springs to get some gas!there was a puppy, my son took him home and named him Thompson, he drove home to Moab and he still has Thompson!

[@CactusAtlas]

😶😶😶🥰 That's adorable!! I love stories like that!

[@DiscoverexplorerS]

That Sego Rock art is amazing. So different from what we see here in Arizona. Great adventure!

[@CactusAtlas]

It really is! And it's especially interesting to see two different styles next to each other from different times and cultures. 😊

[@kingstonsean]

The building with the thick walls and dirt covered roof would have been a type of "root cellar".

[@sapawarrior9247]

Awesome v

[@CactusAtlas]

Thank you! 🙌

[@user-oz8su3ne5b]

Not many years back you could ride the train down from Salt Lake. I use to pick up a guy that would ride down and work on some oil wells.

[@CactusAtlas]

It's always a little shocking how fast things change, isn't it?

[@charlielaudico3523]

Both of my sons did live in Moab! We always too foad trips to see this town it had more when we were there! That was in the early 1990s!, time does destroy alot! There were people living there then

[@CactusAtlas]

I can only imagine how different it was. We've heard stories about that word pile once being a building. Sadly, it seems to be an all too common fate for wood buildings from that time. 😟

[@granthryze2694]

If you continued past Sego, there's a really cool rock cabin up a hill. If you kept going ,you come across the coal mines. Sego is really cool.

[@CactusAtlas]

Good to know! Wish we had the time to check them out at the time. 👍

[@SwiftyTravels]

Interesting area I’ve never heard of it. The rock art wall was incredible. It looks like those figures were really large?!?- aliens!😮👽

[@CactusAtlas]

I hadn't heard of it either until I was poking around on Google maps and started researching. The figures are fairly large compared to other petroglyphs. The pictographs have some similar sized ones in the same vicinity. 😊

[@Rfk1966]

Haven’t been here in a few years. Seems like Thompson Springs continues to be an outlier by not being heavily vandalized.

[@CactusAtlas]

Kinda interesting, isn't it? Didn't really think about it at the time but it's nice to see. 👍

[@mcoffroadinaz4075]

Those rocks remind me of natural buildings, and those figures remind me of something "different." :) ps- good job avoiding others. I think it makes it better all the way around.

[@CactusAtlas]

Thank you! It's nice to let people have their experience without disrupting. Especially when talking to a camera. 😅

[@gerrystarchild]

Very enjoyable 😊. Just throwing this out there. You should try to get in contact with Adam the woo. He has a KZbin channel and is very well known in the KZbin community. I truly believe you guys would make for a fantastic collaboration 😊. Great video. Big thumbs up 👍

[@CactusAtlas]

I could not agree more! We have been watching Adam for years and he has been an inspiration. Have reached out to him many times with no luck. Will keep trying though!

[@chrisrasmussen4612]

Yes Utah is great and I hope people leave it that way. And I think it's (Seego)but internet says (seigou) not sure how that would be.

[@TailEnd88]

Dude! That graveyard looks just like the graveyard in the beginning of FO New Vegas!

[@CactusAtlas]

Funny you should mention Fallout. We may have just paid a little homage to the game in a future episode. 😉

[@stevenrafters7817]

That was an older wood or coal heater. The stove pipe went out thru that hole above it

[@stevenrafters7817]

Also for information round head nails were coming from 1890 on

[@CactusAtlas]

We actually just recently explored a building with something similar. 😅

[@charlielaudico3523]

Those are cattle pens to load up livestock! It is private property, they belong to a local rancher! I did live near that rock art!

[@AlanZabriskie-tr2uj]

I don't use any online mapping because they are often wrong and cell service is spotty in the remote parts of Utah.

[@Starfish2145]

Say-go

[@reneswarnick5997]

It's pronounced (See-go!!) After the Sego Lily

[@candymcclure2476]

I think those strange figures are ceremonial outfits to ward off something bad/harmful. Gramma Candy

[@CactusAtlas]

Very well could be. Hard to know what the intent could have been but it's interesting to think of the possibilities.

[@johnbailey9408]

Ancient Aliens 👽

[@tommcelroy6975]

By not driving all the way up the road you severly missed out on cool stuff

[@CactusAtlas]

We've been told. 😢 Unfortunately, we got a late start due to a failed attempt to film a video, and had other locations to film later that same day. Our schedule is usually pretty packed and doesn't often lead to larger explorations. 😞 All the more reason to return one day!

[@robertjensen4525]

Petroglyphs are over 1000 years old the landscape changes over time?

[@CactusAtlas]

Erosion would certainly change the landscape, washing away ground.

[@obtomSD]

Curios water levels. What water and when?

[@mset510]

I thought Sego was pronounced SEE-go not seh-go. I dunno. That's how I always pronounced it when I grew up in Utah

[@CactusAtlas]

Interesting! I suppose some people provide it differently as we've heard otherwise from others too. 🤔

[@badapple65]

A new shingled roof on any old structure buys it decades of more time. It’s sad that many old communities just don’t have the finances to save history.

[@CactusAtlas]

Agree with you. It's awesome to see history preserved but the cost is always the bummer.

[@lauraleegreen7516]

It’s always important to learn how to pronounce a town when you visit it. Sego is pronounced “SAYGO”. Just ask someone in the area before filming (like anyone at the 7-11 there).

[@mirandamom1346]

There’s a 7-11 in Thompson Springs?

[@lauraleegreen7516]

yes!! It is right at the exit from the highway- used mostly for people to get gas etc. @@mirandamom1346

[@AlanZabriskie-tr2uj]

The holes in the chests of the pictographs has been theorized to be a competing tribe vandalizing them not unlike one gang today obliterating another gangs graffiti.

[@clairea-t7045]

Are you a city boy?

[@CactusAtlas]

Only when I’m home in Phoenix. My long term goal is to one day be a full on desert rat and live as far away from city life as I can. But yep, my day job keeps me close to urban areas and for that reason, one could say I walk and talk like a city boy.

[@chrisrasmussen4612]

Maybe they are aliens?

[@chrisrasmussen4612]

I hate graffiti om History!!!