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Show Oun Advocato Balanced Rock since and they have seen many changes. They have been in the neighborhood even longer. When they moved their business into the then-neframe building almost 56 years ago, the move was from the stone building across the street. But Ross Gigliottis story began far away from Martin. His beginnings were in Passenjio, Italy, where he was bom and where his father, By ARVA SMITH Staff writer 1929 Landmarks, the most visible record of time and change, rush by the motorist traveling to the Wee-Helparea via Price e residents Canyon. to visit returning usually begin looking for familiar scenes along the sides of the highway. On the left are the installations of Price River Coal Co., only about a dozen years Felice William Gigliotti, took up old, occupying the space where the stone masons trade. Castle Gate once stood. Gone are the homes of Castle Leaving his family behind, William Gigliotti came amusement Felice hall the Gate, big and the rock Wasatch Store, to the United States in 1906 to where Butch Cassidy staged his work. He returned to Italy to daring daylight payroll robbery visit his family in 1907 and in before the turn of the century. 1913 again returned. This time it The homes were moved, the was to get his family and bring other buildings tom down. them to the United States. We landed here in 1914 and Royal and Heiner, two other went straight to Hiawatha, small coal towns, went earlier. The Castle Gate plant of Utah Ross Gigliotti recalls. The Power & Light Co, built in the family lived on a farm two miles early 1950s, and since enlarged below Hiawatha. and updated, is already Felice William Gigliotti becoming one of the older continued following his stone mason trade in Carbon County, landmarks. Those traveling the highway with more time to look may see the remnants of old coal camps. There are almost forgotten foundations of homes of miners and their families and still Royal visible evidences of old mine, structures. Castle Gate, the mountain formation once considered the gateway to Castle Valley, underwent changes when the new highway was constructed in the 1960s. Cut away was much of the rock formation, which to the Salt Lake City, the state of imaginative eye formed the Washington and as far away as Castle Gate. Also gone is the , . Canada. Jutmei through Wwhich .. all ..Gigliotti r grails. that, his father, k oh the automoblle traffic once did marble Newhouse Hotel and may have traveled. w er Old-tim- - "First they closed Heiner, and then finally Castle Gate." Ross Gigliotti 4 A landmark that has remained is a 100 pound grease drum on a pole on Balanced Rock. The drum, taking the place of flags placed on top of the mountain earlier and tom to shreds by the wind, has signalled the entrance to Castle Valley since 1930. But as the traveler ap- -' proaches Martin, a. business that has stayed in the same spot for a long time comes into view. The white building with the and Ross words Texaco Gigliotti has been there since 1929, unchanged except for being enlarged. , More surprising, the same proprietors, Ross and Stella Gigliotti, have also been there done some on Temple Square. The elder Gigliotti helped build the old coke ovens at Sunnyside, a school in a school in Kenilworth, buildings in Columbia and Sun-nysid- Hiawatha . and some e, in- stallations for Utah Railway Co. and helped supervise the laying of the foundation for the Carbon Hospital which was built later. Gigliotti was paid in gold when he finished building the stone Hiawatha jail which still stands. To celebrate the completion of the job, he went to the saloon where he invited everyone in the establishment to have a drink. Two guys were a little slow responding, Ross said. Finally ..... ,V m v? 4L. ' " - , . , - l .4 i, jj - ft - - , Gigliotti, father of Ross, who learned the stone mason trade in Italy. , , , - , . 7 v ( . First they closed Heiner, then Royal and finally Castle Gate, Gigliotti said. Once the highway came by their front door but in 1960 it was moved. Although still visible from their business location, if is further away and cars are less likely to stop. The children, who all attended universities, have grown up and moved away. Their daughters, Eunetta and Shirley to California and their son, Ross D., to Salt Lake City. But Ross and Stella intend to remain where they have lived for so many years and continue the business. I did not work in a mine or any place where I could get a pension, Gigliotti said. Ross has many memories of the area, including the time in 1921 when Martin, once the heart of Helper, struck out on its in the quarry. Returning to Utah in 1928, he took over a store operated by his brother-in-layi a stone street from across the building his present location. Part of that building, which was constructed by his father, still stands w although time-worHe and Stella Felice, his wife and business partner, were married in 1929. Business was good for several n. years. Gas was added to the other lines they sold. But in 1939 there was a depression. There were lay-ofand many of the mines in the area were working only two days a week. It took only two pay days, pay days when miners could spend little because their pay was fs slim, to wipe us out, Gigliotti said. The Gigliottis were unable to meet their payments on the building and the mortgage was Ross Gigliotti at the door of the grocery and service station business he and his wife, Stella, have operated in Martin for the past 56 years. For 10 years before that they , , " one said Lets go get a drink. the dago is buying drinks. This made the elder Gigliotti angry and a fight ensued. The builder of the jail became its first occupant for a short time. Although Gigliotti was an excellent stone mason and also did some building contracting, times were not easy. The work and seasonal. was piece-wor- k Ross remembers selling lettuce and onions out of a wood macaroni box; delivering eggs to railroad workers and picking up laundry from railroad workers for his mother to wash. ' School meant a two mile walk Hiawatha and he.was.able to , Jo ' attend only for a few years.;. Although his school years in the United States were short, the language presented little dif-- v ficulty for him. People have, told me I speak with a New York accent, he said. When Gigliotti was about 12, he began working on the section for tiie Castle Valley Railroad which ran from Hiawatha to Price. The name of the railroad was later changed to the Utah Railway Co. I earned $1.10 a day, he said. Big wages in those days was $2.50. The roundhouse was at Martin. In the bitter coal strike of the early 1920s, although he belonged to a different union, he joined the miners on the picket 'J- k. This stone building, part of which still stands, was the original site of the Gigliotti business, a landmark in Martin. The building was constructed by Felice William V--- V' operated the business in a stone building across tne street. They have many memories of the area. foreclosed. To continue the business they got property across the street from Paul Pessetto. They paid only the legal fees for the first small strip of land. The Pessetto family took their pay in trade at the store. The Gigliottis tilled in eight feet of dirt to make a , building site, built a new building and moved. Everyone helped, Gigiliotti said. Angus Johnson of Price Trading Co. helped with the financing. We started selling gas first and on Aug. 16, 1940 began selling groceries. In 1947 the original 14 by 20 building was enlarged to include a service station and home. More chunks of land had been purchased to enlarge the building site. The motel at the back was added in 1982 by moving five units from the Mission Motel in Price to the site. Another five units were built. But the surrounding business community has shrunk during the years. own. There was trouble, a man beating his wife at a residence in Martin. Neighbors, using the only telephone in the neighborhood, called the police for assistance. . . The policeman said he was unable to come because it was raining and he did not have a horse. I think Jim Bryner and some of the other residents got together and decided to form their own community, Gigliotti said.. But they went back to Helper a few years later. Henry Ruggeri, later a Seventh District judge, was Helper City attorney in those days. Gigliotti is proud of his civic associations. I am a charter member of the Helper Lions C3ub, he said. He has always been dedicated to the area. I always got up at night to help anyone who needed gas. Sometimes the gas was needed to rush someone to the hospital or for some similar emergency. Their business has become a landmark, an island of stability in a sea of never ending change. - |
