Fringe

To begin the story one must know what the gates are. They’re not really gates, you see. Long, long ago, before the Metro-East area of St. Louis (Illinois) was as large and developed as it is now, there were still vast chunks of land and country between the cities ofCollinsville, Fairview Heights, Belleville, O’Fallon, Troy, and Lebanon…. And many of these towns used to be mining towns diggin’ for coal & fortune. So, the area was criss-crossed with railroad tracks that carried the cars which shuttled the coal and other mined goods away. In some areas of the country, the land was so hilly, they needed to build bridges so the trains could run smoothly from hill top to hill top. Over the years many county roads developed, some going right under those train trestles. Thus, people now drove their cars under the tracks; the sides needing to be shored up stronger, thicker, and soon as one approached them s/he saw what appeared to be great walls coming out of the side of the hills with arches or high beams running across the top, giving the appearance of large gates. ...