USA > Wyoming > History of Wyoming, Volume I > Part 61
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COKEVILLE
On the Oregon Short Line Railroad, in the western part of Lincoln County, forty-two miles northwest of Kemmerer, is the incorporated Town of Cokeville. One would judge from the name that the town's chief interest lay in coal mining, but such is not the case, although some coal is mined in the vicinity. Cokeville is a sheepman's town, where fortunes have been made in that line of industry. The first white settler here was John Bourne, who located on the townsite it 1874. He was followed by Sylvanus Collett and family and in 1879 the first store was opened by J. W. Stoner. A postoffice was established in 1881. For several years after this Cokeville was only a trading post for trappers and Indians, but when the Oregon Short Line Railroad was built in the early 'gos the town began to grow.
Near the town, Smith's Fork, one of Lincoln County's streams famous for trout, empties into the Bear River. The Oregon Short Line station at Cokeville is one of the best on the entire line. Near the depot is a large wool warehouse, from which several million pounds of wool are shipped annually. The town has a splendid system of waterworks, municipally owned, the water being taken from a spring on Pine Creek, and a municipal electric light and power plant was installed in the summer of 1917. Cokeville has a bank, a telephone exchange, a fine public school building, good cement sidewalks, and mercantile establishments handling all lines of goods. The early settlers were Mormons, and there is a large church of the Latter Day Saints at Cokeville. The population in 1915 was 305.
COWLEY
In the northwestern part of Bighorn County, fifty miles from Basin, is the incorporated Town of Cowley. It is located on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad and grew up after that road was completed. Cowley has a large carbon manufacturing plant that cost $1,000,000, a bank, a money order postoffice, tele- graph and telephone service, several general stores, an electric light and power plant, a weekly newspaper, a Latter Day Saints Church and an academy that is conducted under the auspices of that denomination. The population in 1915 was 630.
DAYTON
Dayton is situated in the northwestern part of Sheridan County, on the north fork of the Tongue River, eighteen miles from Sheridan and six miles southwest of Ranchester, which is the nearest railroad station. Among the industries of Dayton are a large flour mill, a municipal light and water plant and several minor
COLONEL WILLIAM F. CODY
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concerns. The town has a bank, a good public school building, a Congregational Church and is connected with the surrounding towns by telephone.
DIAMONDVILLE
A short distance south of Kemmerer, the county seat of Lincoln County, is the incorporated Town of Diamondville, the headquarters of the Diamond Coal and Coke Company, which operates the mines at Diamondville, Glencoe and Oakley. The first mine was opened here in 1894 by Thomas Sneddon, and the town has grown up about the mines. The mines of the Diamond Company employ 1,200 men and the daily output is 3,000 tons. Aside from the mining interests the principal business concern is the Mountain Trading Company, one of the largest mercantile establishments in Western Wyoming, which has branch stores at Oakley and Glencoe. The town also has a good hotel, a lumber yard, a modern public school building, an electric light plant, a good system of waterworks, churches of the Latter Day Saints and Methodists, and a number of small business concerns.
On April 27, 1918, a mass meeting of the citizens of Diamondville decided not to hold the usual annual election, but to continue the mayor and two councilmen, whose terms expire on the ist of June, for another year and use the election fund for the purchase of Liberty Bonds. Accordingly the council, thus instructed by the voters, purchased bonds to the amount of $3,000, nearly three dollars for every inhabitant, as the population in 1915 was reported as being 1,018.
DIETZ
The little mining Town of Dietz is situated on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, six miles north of Sheridan, the county seat of Sheridan County. It dates its beginning from the time the railroad was completed and now ships 4.000 tons of coal daily. Dietz has a good public school building, Catholic and Methodist churches, telegraph and telephone service, a number of mercantile establishments, and in 1915 reported a population of 150.
DIXON
Situated on the Little Snake River, in the southwestern part of Carbon County, is the incorporated Town of Dixon. It is seventy-five miles south of Rawlins, the county seat, and sixty miles from Wamsutter, the nearest railroad point, with which place it is connected by a daily mail stage line. Dixon has a large milling and power plant, a sawmill, a bank which carries deposits of over a quarter of a million dollars, a telephone exchange, a public school, several stores and an Epis- copal Church. Its altitude is 6,854 feet and in 1915 its population was 111.
DOUGLAS
When the Fremont. Elkhorn & Missouri Valley (now the Chicago & North- western) Railroad was built up the North Platte River in 1886, Douglas was not then in existence. About two hundred people were living about Fort Fetterman, which was the only settlement of consequence in what is now Converse County.
VIEW OF EVANSTON
MEATMARKET
DOUGLAS IN 1886
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When the county was created in 1888, Douglas was made the county seat and its history really dates from that time. Then came the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad and Douglas began to assume an air of importance among the towns and cities of the state. Situated near one of the leading oil fields of the state, in the heart of a rich agricultural district, with coal deposits not far away, the natural advantages of Douglas may be readily understood.
One of the big business institutions of the city is the warehouse and offices of the Chicago Hide, Fur and Wool Company, which employs about twenty-five people, has 50,000 names upon its mailing list, and does an annual business amount- ing to more than a million dollars. The city has three banks, two newspapers, an excellent system of waterworks, a postoffice building that cost $75,000, a new $50,000 courthouse, a $60,000 county high school building, a modern city hall that cost $20,000, and several fine church edifices. The state fair grounds are located here and the city also has a Chautauqua Association that conducts a course every year. A land office is located in the postoffice building. Douglas also has a large brick making plant that turns out a fine quality of pressed brick, a wagon factory, an electric light and power company, a hospital, a public library, good hotels, and the usual complement of mercantile houses, garages, etc., found in cities of its class. In 1910 the United States census reported the population of Douglas as 2,246, but the state census of 1915, greatly to the surprise of the citizens of the city reported only 1,845. As the school population increased nearly 40 per cent annually during the five years, the Douglas Commercial Club thinks there is something wrong with the enumeration of 1915 and estimates the population of the city at nearly double that shown by the state census.
DUBOIS
Dubois is located on the Wind River in the northwestern part of Fremont County, about eighty miles northwest of Lander, the county seat, at an altitude of 6.909 feet. It is probable that this part of the state was visited by Verendrye in 1733, by John Colter in 1807, and it is known that Smith, Jackson and Sublette had their rendezvous near here in 1828. The nearest railroad point is Thermopolis, seventy miles distant, but owing to the mountainous character of the country between that place and Dubois, most of the freighting and stage transportation is through the Wind River Valley to Lander. Dubois is the trading and banking center for a large district in the upper Wind River country and in 1915 reported a population of 142.
ELK MOUNTAIN
This town takes its name from the mountain range a few miles south of it. It is situated in the east central part of Carbon County, fifteen miles southeast of Hanna, with which place it is connected by a daily stage line. Elk Mountain has an electric light plant, a large sawmill, several general stores, a hotel, a money order postoffice, a public school and a telephone exchange of the Intermountain Telephone Company. It had a population of 177 in 1915.
PUBLIC LIBRARY, EVANSTON
MASONIC TEMPLE, EVANSTON
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ENCAMPMENT
The incorporated Town of Encampment is located in the southern part of Carbon County, on the Grand Encampment River in the beautiful valley between the Medicine Bow and Sierra Madre mountains. It was established in 1902 and is the outgrowth of the development of the gold and copper mines in that section of the state. The name was adopted because it was here that the grand encamp- ment of the Indian tribes was located for the season's hunting. A smelter was built here soon after the town was started, which added materially to its growth. En- campment is the southern terminus of the Saratoga & Encampment Railroad, which connects with the Union Pacific at Walcott. It has a bank, several good stores. telegraph and telephone service. Presbyterian Church, a graded public school and a number of cozy homes. Situated at an altitude of 7,270 feet, at the junction of the two forks of the Grand Encampment River, the town is a favorite resort for fishermen during the trout season. The population in 1915 was 218. Three years later it was estimated at 500.
EVANSTON
In June, 1860, the site of Evanston, the county seat of Uinta County. was selected by the Union Pacific Railroad Company as a suitable place for a town The survey was made the following spring and the first lots were offered for sale on June 25. 1870. E. S. Whittier was the first man to purchase a lot. A postoffice had been established in April previous to the sale of lots, with Charles T. Devel as the first postmaster. He held the position for eight years, when he was succeeded by E. S. Whittier. The first public school was opened on July 8. 1870, with eight pupils in attendance, and before winter the Baptist. Methodist and Presbyterian churches were organized. At the election on September 6, 1870. a majority of the voters of Uinta County voted to remove the county seat from Merrill to Evanston. In November, 1871, the railroad shops were established and brought a number of families to the town.
One of the active early inhabitants was Maj. Frank M. Foote, who was born at South Bend, Ind., in 1846 and came to Wyoming in 1871 as a clerk in the Union Pacific office at Bryan. The next year he was transferred to Evanston. In 1875 he was elected to the lower house of the Territorial Legislature, and in 1876 was elected probate judge and treasurer of Uinta County. He was under sheriff in 1881-82 and then engaged in the cattle business, locating his ranch near Medicine Butte north of the town. Major Foote was active in organizing the Wyoming National Guard and commanded the battalion furnished by the state in the Spanish-American war.
Evanston was first incorporated by an act of the Legislature approved on December 11, 1873, but through the influence of Major Foote and others this incorporation was annulled in 1875. The present form of city government was established under the act of March 4, 1882.
The city is situated on the Bear River, near some extensive coal deposits and is one of the richest irrigated agricultural districts in Western Wyoming. Its altitude is 6,754 feet. It is a division point on the Union Pacific and the railroad company has here extensive shops, a roundhouse that cost $750.000, and one of
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the finest passenger stations on the entire line. The Government erected a new postoffice building a few years ago, at a cost of $184,000, the courthouse is a substantial and commodious structure, the city has a public library building that cost $11,000 and the state insane asylum is located at Evanston. The public utilities include a splendid system of waterworks and a modern electric light and power plant.
Evanston has three banks that carry deposits of about two million dollars, a large flour mill, grain elevators, hotels and theaters, live newspapers, churches of the Catholic, Episcopal, Latter Day Saints, Methodist and Presbyterian denomi- nations, a public school system that is unsurpassed by any city of the state, sub- stantial business buildings and many pretty homes. The population in 1915 was 2,756.
GILLETTE
Near the center of Campbell County is the Town of Gillette, the county seat. It is a division point on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad that runs from Lincoln, Neb., to Billings, Mont., and has important railroad interests. The town was incorporated about the beginning of the present century and when Campbell County was created in 1911, it was made the county seat. Since then its growth has been more rapid and substantial, the population in 1915 being reported as 505.
Gillette has a municipal lighting plant, a system of waterworks, a good sewer system for a town of its size, a new $25,000 high school building, Catholic, Episco- pal and Presbyterian churches, a creamery, two banks with deposits of nearly a million dollars, a hotel, a telephone exchange, etc. The Commercial Club of Gillette is composed of wide awake, energetic business men and is active in advertising the advantages of the town with a view of attracting new business enterprises.
GLENROCK
The development of the oil fields in Wyoming has converted a number of old "cow towns" into towns of the modern and progressive type. Among these is Glenrock, the second town in importance of Converse County. It is located on the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad and the North Platte River, twenty-four miles west of Douglas, near extensive coal beds and the western boundary of the Big Muddy oil fields. In 1915 the state census reported a population of 220, and at the beginning of the year 1918 the population was estimated at 1.500. In April, 1918, the people of the town voted bonds to the amount of $40,000, in addition to some $60,000 previously authorized, to establish a system of waterworks, an electric light plant, and to extend the sewer system.
Glenrock has two banks, an oil refinery, a new $27,000 public school building, an active commercial club, three large lumber yards, Baptist, Catholic and Episcopal churches, a number of stores handling all lines of merchandise, hand- some residences, and early in 1918 the Wyoming Building and Investment Com pany announced its intention to erect a hotel to cost $150,000.
Vol. 1-37
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GRANGER
Granger, also called the "Junction City," is located in the western part of Sweetwater County, thirty miles west from Green River, the county seat. It is the terminus of the Oregon Short Line Railroad, which here joins the Union Pacific. An important industry is that of furnishing ties to the two railroads. The ties are cut in the mountains on Ham's Fork and Black's Fork of the Green River and floated down to the "tie-boom" a short distance east of the town. Thousands of railroad ties are supplied to the railroad companies annually and during the summer months the "boom" is one of the busiest places in Sweetwater County. In 1917 the preliminary steps were taken to establish an electric light plant and a system of waterworks for the town. The population in 1915 is given in the state census as 134.
GREEN RIVER
Probably no county seat in Wyoming has a more picturesque and romantic site than Green River, the county seat of Sweetwater County. It stands upon an elevated position on the banks of the Green River, at the western end of the Table Mountains. Passengers on the Union Pacific have looked out of the car windows and speculated on the height of Castle Rock, but few of them have realized that its summit is more than one thousand feet above the railroad station grounds. Here, too, is the Pulpit Rock, from which Brigham Young delivered a sermon to his Mormon followers when they were on their way to Salt Lake Valley in 1847. The main street in Green River was once the famous Oregon Trail, and later the Overland stages passed along this street on their way to and from the Pacific Coast. Here Col. Albert Sidney Johnston's army crossed the Green River in 1857, when the little frontier town was composed entirely of adobe houses. At Green River the expeditions of Maj. J. W. Powell, Julius F. Stone, the Kolb brothers and others outfitted for the exploration of the Green River and the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. An account of these expeditions is given in another chapter of this work.
Green River was founded in April, 1868, and for years after that it was the "frontier," where civilization and savagery met on almost an equal footing and struggled for the mastery. The town was the home of quite a number of men who played important parts in the public affairs of Wyoming during the terri- torial days and in the early years of statehood. Among them were A. C. Beck- with, Edward J. Morris, P. L. Williams, Patrick Barrett, William A. Johnson, A. E. Bradbury, John Dykins, T. S. Taliaferro and Asbury B. Conaway, chief justice of the Wyoming Supreme Court. Not only did these men give strength and character to the Commonwealth of Wyoming, but their influence extended to the adjoining states in numerous instances.
The Green River of the present is one of the active, progressive cities of Wyoming. It has two banks, the largest brewery in the state, a great caustic soda manufactory, a fine public library building which was the gift of Andrew Carnegie, a substantial court-house for transacting the business of Sweetwater County, modern public school buildings, electric light and waterworks, beautiful public parks, several large mercantile houses, Catholic, Congregational, Episcopal
SHANGHAI
CAFE
COSY
SCENES TAKEN WHEN THE FIRST ENLISTED BOYS LEFT GREEN RIVER FOR THEIR ENCAMPMENT, PREPARATORY TO ENTERING THE WORLD'S WAR
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and Methodist churches, and many handsome residences. The population in 1915 was 1,219.
GREYBULL
One of the most important shipping points in the County of Bighorn is the town of Greybull, situated on the Denver & Billings division of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, eight miles north of Basin. The people of this town take pleasure in referring to it as the "Oil City," on account of the great oil fields in the vicinity. Greybull has two oil refineries, with a daily capacity of 30,000 barrels, the railroad company has a roundhouse at this place, fuel and light are supplied by the natural gas wells near the town and there is also an electric light plant.
Greybull takes its name from the Greybull River, which empties into the Big Horn a short distance above the town. It has two banks, good streets, cement sidewalks, a modern public school building, Baptist, Episcopal and Presbyterian churches, and a number of mercantile concerns, being the principal supply point for a large farming district in the Big Horn Basin. The population in 1915 was 421, an increase of 163 during the preceding five years, and the growth since the census of 1915 was taken has been in even greater proportion.
GUERNSEY
Guernsey is the second largest town in Platte County. It is situated on the North Platte River at the junction of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy and the Colorado & Wyoming railroads, in the center of a rich mining district, and ships large quantities of iron and copper ores. The "Burlington Route" has established stock yards and shearing pens at Guernsey, so that wool and live stock are among the leading exports. The railroad company also has a roundhouse at this point. Guernsey has two banks, a telephone exchange, a good public school building, the usual number of general stores found in towns of its class, and in 1915 reported a population of 239.
GUNN
In the Rock Springs mining district of Sweetwater County, on a branch of the Union Pacific Railroad, about eight miles northeast of Rock Springs, is the little mining town of Gunn, which ships large quantities of coal every year. It was incorporated under the general laws of Wyoming about 1908, and in 1915 had a population of 227.
HANNA
Although this town is not incorporated, it is one of the important shipping points and trading centers of Carbon County. It is located on the main line of the Union Pacific Railroad forty miles east of Rawlins, the county seat, has elec- tric light and waterworks, an opera house, a bank, Episcopal and Methodist churches, telegraph and telephone service, and is a great stage center, daily stage
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lines connecting a number of the surrounding towns with the railroad at Hanna. The population in 1915 was 1,347.
HARTVILLE
In 1881 H. T. Miller discovered the mineral deposits where the town of Hart- ville now stands, in the northeastern part of Platte County. I. S. Bartlett inter- ested a number of capitalists in the mines and organized the Wyoming Copper Company, which purchased the "Sunrise" mine and erected a smelter at Fairbank. The first miners came from the Black Hills and Hartville was for several years a typical western mining town, with the customary saloons, gambling houses, dance halls, etc. With the building of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad up the Platte Valley, much of Hartville's business was diverted to the towns that sprang up along the railroad. Then a branch of the railroad was built to the Sunrise mine and the town regained some of its lost prestige, without the "wide open" features. In 1918 the population was reported as being 205.
The principal business of Hartville at the present time is the quarrying of limestone from the quarries adjoining the town. These quarries were opened about 1906 by I. S. Bartlett & Sons. From seventy-five to one hundred men are employed in the two quarries, one owned by I. S. Bartlett & Company and the other by the Great Western Sugar Company.
HUDSON
Ten miles east of Lander, on the Popo Agie River and the Chicago & North- western Railroad, is the town of Hudson, the third largest in Fremont County. Three large coal mines are near the town and the railroad company gives Hudson the credit of shipping more live stock than any station west of Casper. The town has two banks, a modern hotel, a weekly newspaper, a telephone exchange, Catholic and Methodist churches, lodges of the leading fraternal orders, good public schools, electric light and waterworks. The population in 1915 was 428, an increase of 109 during the preceding five years. Hudson is on the line of the Shoshone Indian reservation and is an important trading point for the rich farm- ing district in the Popo Agie Valley.
JACKSON
As early as 1828 the region south of the Yellowstone National Park. in what is now the northern part of Lincoln County, was given the name of "Jackson's Hole" by W. L. Sublette, in recognition of the fact that his partner, David E. Jackson, had passed the preceding winter there. Since that time the name "Jack- son" has been applied to other objects in that section, and finally to a town about fifteen miles from the Idaho line. Jackson is beautifully situated in the Snake River Valley, near the eastern end of the Teton Pass, through which a stage line runs between Jackson and Victor, Ida., the nearest railroad town. It is in the big game country and the elk refuge reservation is not far from the town. Jack- son is the principal trading post and banking town for the settlers in a large part of the Snake River Valley and in 1915 reported a population of 204. It is the largest town in the northern part of Lincoln County.
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KAYCEE
In the southern part of Johnson County, on the Powder River and about forty-five miles south of Buffalo, is the incorporated town of Kaycee. The state census for 1915 gives Kaycee a population of 57, but the residents of the town claim nearly ten times that number. They also claim that their town is the largest in the United States without a railroad. These claims are at least partially sustained by the fact that Kaycee has two banks and a large graded public school building, accommodations that would hardly be required by the number of inhab- itants reported by the census. Daily stages run between Kaycee and Buffalo.
KEMMERER
When the first coal mine was opened at Diamondville in 1894, the attention of capitalists was drawn to the new field. P. J. Quealy went to New York and succeeded in interesting M. S. Kemmerer in the coal mining proposition. Three years later he made a trip to Boston and made arrangements with Samuel Carr, president of the Oregon Short Line Railroad Company, to build a branch to the coal fields. In September, 1897, the Town of Kemmerer took its place upon the map of Wyoming and was named for M. S. Kemmerer, whose financial aid made the development of the coal industry possible. One of the early residents tells the following story of that period :
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