USA > Wyoming > History of Wyoming, Volume I > Part 63
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Besides the penitentiary, already mentioned, Rawlins has an $80,000 post- office building, a $50,000 high school, an Elks' Home that cost $50,000, and a Masonic temple that cost $60.000, besides a number of fine church edifices and
BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF RAWLINS
OSBORNE BLOCK, RAWLINS
POSTOFFICE, RAWLINS
RESIDENCE OF CHARLES H. ANDERSON One of the landmarks of Rawlins.
WEST PINE STREET, RAWLINS
ELKS' HOME, RAWLINS
MASONIC TEMPLE, RAWLINS
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HISTORY OF WYOMING
other public buildings. It has three banks, a fine system of waterworks, an electric light plant, a good sewer system, many modern homes and in 1915 re- ported a population of 2,975.
RIVERTON
Near the eastern end of the Shoshone Indian reservation, in the beautiful and fertile Popo Agie Valley, is the incorporated Town of Riverton. It is located on the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, twenty-three miles east of Lander, and is the second largest town in Fremont County. Being in the center of a rich irrigated district, Riverton is an important shipping point for live stock and farm products. Oil fields have recently been developed near the town, which have added to its importance as a trading center and supply point. Stage and freight lines run from Riverton up the Wind River to Dubois and intermediate towns. The town has three banks, electric light and waterworks, large flour mills, grain elevators, mercantile houses of all kinds, a fine public school building, churches of different denominations, etc., and in 1915 the population was 803, an increase of 320 during the preceding five years. Riverton was incorporated in 1907.
ROCK RIVER
Although a small town, Rock River is an important shipping point and trad- ing center in the western part of Albany County. It is located on the Union Pacific Railroad, thirty-eight miles west of Laramie, the county seat, in the center of an irrigated district and on the Lincoln Highway. It has a bank, a hotel, general stores, a $20,000 public school building, and is supplied with pure water piped from springs in the mountains. The town was incorporated about 1908 and in 1915 had a population of 195. It is the center of several stage lines.
ROCK SPRINGS
Forty years ago Rock Springs, now the largest coal mining center in Wyo- ming and the third city of the state in population, was generally referred to as a "one liorse town." The name was appropriate, as there was really but one horse and wagon there. They belonged to the Beckwith-Quinn Company, which opened the first coal mines and also established a company store, which was the first mercantile concern. The wagon was used for delivering goods to cus- tomers, hauling freight from the railroad depot, as a hearse for funerals-in fact for everything where a vehicle of any kind was needed.
The first schoolhouse, which stood on the site of the present high school, was the largest room in the town and was used for political meetings, dances, religious services and the regular school. The first Sunday school was organized in this old schoolhouse by O. C. Smith, Solomon Rouff and Mrs. J. M. Tisdell, a sister of Senator Clarence D. Clark. The city now has Baptist, Catholic, Con- gregational, Episcopal and Methodist church organizations, all of which have comfortable houses of worship, and the new high school building, which has taken the place of the old frame schoolhouse, is one of the finest in Wyoming.
A
SOUTH FRONT STREET, ROCK SPRINGS
Paris (si
NORTH FRONT STREET, ROCK SPRINGS
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HISTORY OF WYOMING
In the early days there was neither physician nor undertaker in Rock Springs. If any one was taken ill, William Mellor, mine foreman for the Beckwith-Quinn Company, was sent for, as he knew something of medicine and kept a few stan- dard remedies ready for emergencies. If the person died, the Beckwith-Quinn Company furnished the coffin and their delivery wagon came into use as the hearse. The coffins were bought unfinished and were lined and trimmed in a room over the store, the clerks doing the work.
The second store in the town was opened by a man named Johnson. Shortly after he began business the rumor became current that he lived on crackers and molasses, and from that time he was known almost exclusively by the sobriquet of "Molasses Johnson." His store was in a "dug-out" near the old bridge.
An old Rock Springs miner says that in the early '80s miners there were making from ten to fifteen dollars per day, but notwithstanding such wages they organized and struck for more. Chinamen were then brought in, which led to the riot of 1885, an account of which is given in another chapter. The Beckwith- Quinn store stood near the depot and the postoffice was kept in the store. The company had a Chinese department, in which several Chinamen were employed as clerks. At the time of the riot one of these clerks was kept concealed in the basement of the store for a week, as the rioters had ordered every Chinaman to leave town.
The Rock Springs of the present day is quite different from the "one horse town" of forty years ago. Instead of only one store, there are now more than a score of well appointed mercantile houses. It has a city hall that is one of the finest public buildings in the state, a system of waterworks that cost over two hundred thousand dollars, three banks, two newspapers, an electric light plant, an $80,000 high school and modern grade school buildings, a postoffice building that cost the United States $90,000, the Elks have a $25,000 club house, and the Masonic fraternity has a fine temple. The Wyoming General Hospital is located here. The city takes its name from a large spring that flows from a rocky cliff. Rock Springs claims to be the most cosmopolitan city in Wyoming, having forty-one nationalities among its population of 5,699 in 1915. Stage lines run between Rock Springs and several of the outlying towns of Sweet- water County.
SARATOGA
Twenty-one miles south of Walcott, on the upper waters of the North Platte River, in the south central part of Carbon County, is the town of Saratoga. It is a station on the Saratoga & Encampment Railroad, and was incorporated soon after the beginning of the present century. Near the town are the Saratoga Hot Springs, sometimes called the "Old Indian Bath Tubs," because thousands of In- dians were accustomed to gather here in the early days. Analyses of the waters of these springs show them to be the equal of the waters of the famous Arkan- sas Hot Springs in their curative properties. A rich copper mining district lies east of the town. Saratoga has two banks, general stores, postoffice, telephone and telegraph connections, good public schools, churches of different denomina- tions, etc., and in 1915 reported a population of 425.
POSTOFFICE AND MASONIC TEMPLE ON THE LEFT, ROCK SPRINGS
SCHOOL AT ROCK SPRINGS
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HISTORY OF WYOMING
SHERIDAN
Sheridan, the "Queen City of Northern Wyoming," is the county seat of Sheridan County. It is situated near the center of the county, on the Lincoln & Billings division of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway system, at the point where the old Bozeman Road crossed the middle fork of the Tongue River. When the first white men came to this part of the state to settle they found on the banks of Little Goose Creek, a short distance south of the present City of Sheridan, a log house and a stable with room for twenty horses, which they afterward learned was the northern rendezvous of the notorious James brothers gang of bandits. When pressed by officers of the law in states where they had committed some offense, they sought refuge in the wilds of Northern Wyoming. Their retreat here was always kept in readiness for them by a negro named John Lewis and a white man known as "Big Nosed George." The latter was after- ward hanged by the vigilantes of Miles City, Mont., for robbery and murder.
The first cabin in Sheridan was built by O. P. Hanna, who was well known to Generals Crook, Terry and other commanders in the campaigns against the Indians as a capable and reliable scout. Henry A. Coffeen developed the plans for the town, and Edward Gillette, a civil engineer, surveyed the railroad and laid off certain mining claims near by. Sheridan was incorporated by an act of the Legislature, approved on March 6, 1884, and John D. Loucks, one of the pioneer business men, was elected the first mayor. At the time of its incorpora- tion the city was only about two years old. When Sheridan County was created in 1888 this town was made the county seat, both county and town deriving their names from Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, who conducted several successful cam- paigns against the Indians of the Northwest.
Sheridan has had a steady growth from the time it was founded. In 1890 its population was 281 ; ten years later it was 1,559; in 1910 it had grown to a city of 8,408; and the state census of 1915 reported a population of 8,906. It now claims to be the largest city in the state, having passed Cheyenne since the census of 1915 was taken, but that claim is based on estimates only.
Few cities in the West are better equipped with public utilities. Sheridan has expended almost half a million dollars upon its waterworks and $145,000 upon its sewer system. The electric light and power plant cost $250,000 and the city has ten public school buildings, four of which cost $50,000 each. The railroad station built by the Burlington Company cost $100,000; the postoffice building, $225,000 ; the city hall, $50,000; the Elks' club house, $75,000, and the Masonic fraternity has a fine temple. All the leading religious denominations are repre- sented and most of them possess fine church buildings, some of which cost thirty thousand dollars or more. The city also has a free public library, the gift of Andrew Carnegie.
Among the industrial institutions of Sheridan is a sugar factory which cost about one million dollars. The city also has a large flour mill, six banks, large mercantile interests, etc., but the most important industry is that of coal mining, some of the richest mines in Northern Wyoming lying near the city. North of the city is Fort Mackenzie, an army post upon which the United States Govern- ment has expended $1,500,000. It is connected with Sheridan by an electric railway line. The Sheridan branch of the Wyoming General Hospital was es-
211
From the Herbert Coffeen Collection
VIEW OF SHERIDAN
Mark
From the Herbert Coffeen Collection
ANOTHER VIEW OF SHERIDAN
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HISTORY OF WYOMING
tablished by an act of the Legislature and the state has expended $50,000 in erecting buildings for the institution.
SHOSHONI
The incorporated town of Shoshoni is located in the eastern part of Fremont County and takes its name from the Shoshone Indian reservation, which once extended to within a short distance of the town. It is a station on the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, about twenty-five miles northwest of the geographical center of the state. Considerable quantities of coal are mined in the vicinity and shipped from this point. Shoshoni has electric light and waterworks, a bank and opera house, a Congregational Church, lodges of some of the leading fra- ternal orders, and several general stores. This is the transfer point for pas- sengers on the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad for Bonneville, on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, five miles north, the transfer being made by automobile. The population in 1915 was 278.
SUBLET
Sublet is situated about eight miles north of Kemmerer. It is a mining town, mines No. 5 and No. 6 of the Kemmerer Coal Company being located here. The Oregon Short Line spur was completed to Sublet in 1907 and the town was soon afterward incorporated. In 1915 the population was 524, an increase of 177 during the preceding five years. The town claimed a population of 1,000 at the close of the year 1917.
SUNDANCE
This town, which is the seat of justice of Crook County, is the smallest county seat town in the State of Wyoming, due mainly no doubt to the fact that it is the only one without railroad accommodations. It is situated southeast of the center of the county, on the upper waters of the Sundance Creek and near the base of Sundance Mountain. Daily stage lines connect Sundance with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad at Upton and Moorcroft, and with the Chicago & Northwestern at Aladdin and Spearfish, S. D.
Originally, the country about Sundance was a pine forest and for years saw- mills have carried on a profitable business. Seven miles from the town is the Bear Lodge mining district, in which there are several paying gold mines. Nearer the town are rich coal deposits that have been successfully worked for some time, but no coal is shipped, owing to the lack of transportation facilities. The United States land office for the district composed of Crook, Campbell and Weston counties is located at Sundance, as there is still a large quantity of the public domain in those three counties subject to entry and settlement.
Sundance was incorporated some time in the '8os. It has two banks, a creamery, several general stores, hotel and restaurants, Episcopal and Methodist churches, a public school building, telephone connections with the surrounding towns, and in 1915 reported a population of 341.
SHERIDAN SUGAR FACTORY, SHERIDAN
MAIN STREET, SHERIDAN, IN 1887
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HISTORY OF WYOMING
SUPERIOR
About twenty-five miles northeast of Rock Springs, on a spur of the Union Pacific Railroad, is the thriving mining Town of Superior, the second largest in Sweetwater County. It is the outgrowth of the developments made in the Rock Springs coal fields. The Union Pacific Coal Company opened the mines here early in the present century and now has a large store at Superior. The town has a bank, a modern public school building, churches of different denominations, etc., and in 1915 the population was 1,382.
South Superior, on the same branch of railroad, is another incorporated town with a population of 265. It has a bank, general stores, a public school, etc. The population of South Superior is composed largely of foreigners. Both Superior and South Superior were incorporated since the census of 1910 was taken.
THERMOPOLIS
Sixty-five miles northwest of the geographical center of the state, is the City of Thermopolis, the county seat of Hot Springs County. The site of Thermopolis was originally within the limits of the Shoshone Indian Reservation. A small settlement was made at the mouth of Owl Creek-the northeast corner of the reservation. Among the early settlers there were Martin McGrath, now vice president of the First National Bank, William Slane and Edward Enderly, all of whom have contributed to the development of the city. About 1898 the town was moved from the mouth of Owl Creek to the Big Horn Hot Springs, from which Thermopolis derives its name. Congress gave to the state a square mile of land, upon which are the springs, and Thermopolis is partly upon the reservation.
In April, 1908, the city authorities made a contract with the Havemeyer Con- struction Company for a system of waterworks to cost $48,475, and bonds were issued therefor. On April 15, 1918, additional bonds to the amount of $50,000 were voted with only a few dissenting votes, one-half the proceeds to be used in extending the waterworks and the other half in improving the sewer system. Electric light is furnished by the Thermopolis Light and Power Company.
Thermopolis has three banks, two weekly newspapers (the Record and the Independent), Baptist, Catholic, Episcopal and Methodist church organizations, all owning church buildings, and the Presbyterians hold services in the Masonic Temple. Fourteen teachers were employed in the public schools during the school year of 1917-18. The mercantile establishments handle all lines of goods and the trade of the Thermopolis merchants extends for miles in every direction. There are few manufacturing concerns, but the great attraction is the springs. Several good hotels have been built within the last few years, which makes Thermopolis a favorite place for holding conventions. During the year 1917 nearly half a million dollars were expended in the erection of new buildings. The population in 1915 was 1, 191, but at the close of the year 1917 the city claimed a population of 3,000.
TORRINGTON
Torrington was incorporated in February, 1908, and when Goshen County was created in 1911 this town was made the county seat. It is located on the
ELKS' HOME, SHERIDAN
From the Herbert Coffeen Collection
HOME OF UNITED STATES SENATOR JOHN B. KENDRICK, SHERIDAN
Vol. I-39
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HISTORY OF WYOMING
north bank of the Platte River and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, in the eastern part of the county, in the midst of a fine farming country irrigated by the Interstate Canal, for which it is the shipping and supply station. The site occupied by the town was once a camping place for emigrants on the famous Oregon Trail. A monument marking the old camping grounds was erected here by the Oregon Trail Commission in 1914.
Torrington has three banks, a large grain elevator, dry goods, hardware, clothing, drug and miscellaneous stores, a modern public school building, Catholic, Episcopal, Methodist and Presbyterian churches, and claims a large number of handsome residences than any other town in the state with the same population. In 1910, the first census after the incorporation, Torrington had 155 inhabitants. In 1915, according to the state census, the population was 433. Since then a number of substantial business blocks and many new dwellings have been built, and at the close of the year 1917 the citizens claimed a population of about one thousand.
UPTON
Eighteen miles northwest of Newcastle, in the northern part of Weston County, is the incorporated Town of Upton. It grew up after the building of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad and was incorporated about 1907. Upton is the shipping and supply point for a large agricultural region in the northern part of Weston and the southern part of Crook counties, and daily mail and passenger stages run between Upton and several of the outlying towns. It has a bank, a large mercantile trade, a public school and in 1915 reported a population of 219.
WHEATLAND
Among the newer towns of Wyoming that have made almost marvelous progress from the start is Wheatland, the county seat of Platte County. It was founded in 1894 and the next year the state census found there a population of 1,315. The town takes its name from the plateau called the "Wheatland Flats," a tract of some fifty thousand acres of irrigated land in the beautiful Laramie Valley near the center of the county. Some of the early business men of Wheat- land, who were active in promoting the material welfare of the town, were H. F. Crain, I. W. Gray, F. E. Davis, T. J. and Owen Carroll, William Arnold, D. B. Rigdon and the firm of D. Miller & Son. A flour mill was established in 1896 and now has a daily capacity of 150 barrels of white flour, 40 barrels of corn meal, and 35 barrels of rye flour. In 1916 a Denver firm built an alfalfa mill which has a capacity of 5,000 tons of alfalfa meal annually. The Wheatland creamery turns out 250,000 pounds of butter every year.
In 1896 some of the women of the town organized the Wheatland Library Association. A few volumes were collected and kept at Doctor Rigdon's residence until 1899, when Governor Carey presented the association with a corner lot and a small building was erected by donations. In this little building the library was housed until 1917, when a contribution for a new building was received from Andrew Carnegie. The cornerstone was laid in May and the building was opened
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HISTORY OF WYOMING
to the public on the 28th of November. It is now known as the Platte County Public Library. The cost of the building was $13,500.
Wheatland has three banks, a hospital, two weekly newspapers (the Times, and the World), several large and well appointed mercantile establishments, modern public school buildings in which fourteen teachers were employed during the school year of 1917-18, Catholic, Congregational, Episcopal and Methodist church organizations which own buildings, and Lutherans and Christian Scientists that hold meetings in rented quarters. The commercial club is composed of wide- awake men and loses no opportunity to advertise the town. Many carloads of grain and livestock are shipped from Wheatland every year, over the Colorado & Southern Railway.
WORLAND
Worland, the county seat of the new County of Washakie, is situated on the Big Horn River and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, about half way between Thermopolis and Basin. It was incorporated just in time to get into the United States census of 1910, when it showed a population of 265. Five years later the population was 454. and recent developments in the oil fields near the town have had the effect of bringing in a number of new inhabitants.
In 1914 Prof. B. C. Buffum, then a resident of Worland, evolved or dis- covered the plant known as emmer. Professor Buffum, A. G. Rupp, C. F. Robert- son, M. G. Hamilton and J. S. Russell then organized the Emmer Products Company and built the only mill in the world for utilizing the grain in the manu- facture of breakfast food. Much of the emmer grain comes from Northern Colorado, but a considerable portion of it is grown upon the farms of Washakie and adjoining counties. The mill has a daily capacity of nearly four hundred cases of the cereals.
Another large institution at Worland is the sugar mill, which was completed in 1917 at a cost of nearly one million dollars. Before the close of the year the mill had turned out 50,000 sacks of sugar, each weighing 100 pounds. Nearly thirty thousand tons of sugar beets were used, for which the mill paid the farmers $7.00 per ton.
Worland has three banks, a $30,000 school building, a number of well stocked stores, many cozy homes, Baptist, Methodist, Congregational and Christian Scientist church organizations, though only the first two denominations own church buildings. The Wyoming Industrial School is located near Worland. The Worland Grit, a weekly newspaper, has the reputation of being one of the best county papers in the state.
OTHER TOWNS
The foregoing towns and cities include all the incorporated municipalities given by the state census of 1915, with the exception of a few minor towns, the population of which was less than one hundred each. Scattered over the state are a number of towns that in 1915 were not incorporated. A few of those have been incorporated since the census was taken, and many of them are as important in a commercial and industrial sense as some of those included in the above list.
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HISTORY OF WYOMING
Following are principal towns in each county, in addition to those above described :
Albany-Buford, Foxpark, Hermosa (or Tie Siding), Lookout, Sherman, Springhill and Wilcox.
Bighorn-Bonanza, Burlington, Germania, Hyattville, Iona, Otto and Shell.
Campbell-Croton, Kier, Morse, Rozet and Wessex.
Carbon-Carbon, Fort Steele, Rambler, Riverside, Savery and Walcott.
Converse-Careyhurst, Inez, Mckinley and Ross.
Crook-Aladdin, Beulah, Colony, Farrall and Hulett.
Fremont-Atlantic City, Boulder, Kendall, Lost Cabin, Moneta, Pacific, Pine- dale and South Pass City.
Goshen-Fort Laramie, Lagrange, Whalen and Wyncote.
Hot Springs-Crosby, Embar, Gebo, Kirby and Lucerne.
Johnson-Barnum, Kearney, Mayoworth and Trabing.
Laramie-Arcola, Carpenter, Egbert, Hillsdale, Islay and Silver Crown.
Lincoln-Auburn, Beckwith, Cumberland, Elkol, Fossil, Freedom, Frontier, Marbleton, Opal and Thayne.
Natrona-Alcova, Waltman and Wolton.
Niobrara-Hatcreek, Jireh, Keeline and Van Tassell.
Park-Garland, Ishawooa and Wapita.
Platte-Chugwater, Glendo, Ironton, Sunrise and Uva.
Sheridan-Acme, Arvada, Big Horn, Clearmont, Kooi, Monarch, Parkman and Story.
Sweetwater-Bryan, Point of Rocks, Sweetwater and Wamsutter.
Uinta-Almy, Carter, Fort Bridger, Hilliard, Lonetree, Piedmont, Robertson and Springvalley.
Washakie-Bigtrails, Neiber and Ten Sleep.
Weston-Boyd, Clifton, Osage and Spencer.
CHAPTER XXXIV
MISCELLANEOUS HISTORY
CATTLEMEN'S INVASION OF 1892-WAR ON THE RUSTLERS-ORGANIZING THE RAID -CAPTURE OF THE INVADERS-EXPLORING THE GRAND CANYON-GEN. W. H. ASHLEY-MAJ. J. W. POWELL-JAMES WHITE-MISCELLANEOUS EXPEDITIONS- KOLB BROTHERS-"DOC" MIDDLETON-MELBOURNE THE RAIN MAKER-EXPLO- SION AT ROCK SPRINGS-EXECUTION OF TOM HORN-AN INDIAN'S CURSE- SOME EARLY PRICES-FRONTIER DAYS CELEBRATION.
In every community events are constantly taking place which possess certain points of interest, even though they may have no direct bearing or influence upon the history of that community. Others, apparently independent at the time of their occurrence, may have an aftermath that lingers for years upon the minds of the people and wields an influence upon the community's destiny. This is especially true of the State of Wyoming. A large volume might be filled with accounts of these miscellaneous happenings-of the achievements of the brawny, red-blooded men who "made the West" -- but in the present instance only such events have been selected for this chapter as directly affect the history of the state, show the character of the early inhabitants, or serve to recall some local occurrence that awakened general interest at the time it took place. The one incident in Wyoming history that stirred up great excitement in the state, that was commented on by the press of the entire nation, that stands out like a land- mark upon the trail of progress, and is therefore entitled to first place in this chapter, was the
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