A mining town approximately ninety miles (140 km) southeast of Salt Lake City, its name was derived from a rock formation near the mouth of Price Canyon.

This formation features two sheer sandstone walls on either side of the Price River, which appear to open like a giant gate as travelers approach this narrow section of the canyon.

In 1914, Castle Gate was incorporated as a town, which was owned and tightly controlled by the Utah Fuel Company and the D&RGW; a third mine opened in 1922.

On April 21, 1897, Butch Cassidy and Elzy Lay held up an employee of the Pleasant Valley Coal Company in a daylight robbery at the busy railroad station in Castle Gate, making off with $7,000 in gold.

[citation needed] Castle Gate was dismantled in the summer of 1974,[3] and residents were relocated to a new subdivision at the mouth of Spring Canyon, west of Helper.