Utah Ghost Towns - On a recent visit to Utah, we had the opportunity to visit a number of mining camps, old railroad settlements, and towns that died when they were bypassed by the interstate. Two favorites were the two old Mormon settlements of Fruita, located in the Capitol Reef National Park and Grafton, just outside of Zion National Park. Both of these old farming communities were situated in beautiful and lush valleys, surrounded by cragged cliffs, mountains and looming red spires.  Near the Colorado border are the crusty desert towns of Cisco, a parched old railroad town and Thompson Springs, which is reminiscent of a Route 66 ghost town with good reason, as it died when it was by bypassed by I-70. Just north of Thompson Springs in Sego Canyon, is the old coal mining camp of Sego as well as some centuries old Native American petroglyphs and pictographs. More ghost towns and tales of fortune can be found in Carbon County, such as the Castle Gate Lost Treasure, Hidden Loot in Winter Quarters and the fading remains of coal camps, Kenilworth, Standardville, Scofield, and dozens of others.