Wyoming's Rip-Roaring Past
the
Oregon, California and Mormon trails were just passing through. They were
tourists, in a sense. The railroad brought permanence.As the railroad advanced west in 1868, the wild, rip-roaring end-of-track tent towns, known universally as "Hell on Wheels," evolved into real communities with real buildings. Cheyenne, Laramie, Rawlins, Green River and Evanston became major railroad towns providing shipping and supply services for surrounding ranches and industries. New communities sprang up all along the railroad.
The
vast coal fields adjacent to the railroad supplied fuel for the giant
locomotives and jobs for hundreds of miners, attracting a varied ethnic
population to the state. Homesteaders and entrepreneurs soon found their
way into southern Wyoming bringing farming, shops, newspapers, saloons,
churches, schools, houses of ill repute and all the other trappings of
the new, old west. The booming economy also attracted outlaws. Payroll, bank and train robberies, as well as cattle and sheep rustling, became fruitful activities for some of the most notable, and
notorious, characters in western history. Butch Cassidy, the Sundance
Kid and their Wild Bunch; Big Nose George, the legendary marksman and
stock detective Tom Horn, Bill Carlisle and Cattle Kate, among others,
did their evil deeds in Tracks Across Wyoming country. They followed the Outlaw Trail through the Rock Springs and Baggs country and did jail time in Cheyenne, Laramie and Rawlins. Their stories live on at the Wyoming Territorial Prison
in Laramie and the Frontier Prison in Rawlins, both of
which are now open to the public as historic sites.
1
- Destroyed rail car in robbery, 1899 -- Wyoming Division of Cultural
Resources
2 - Working steam engine -- Randy Wagner photo
3 - Historic Union Pacific Depot in Cheyenne -- Wagner photo
4.- Wyoming Terriorial Park in Laramie -- Wagner photo
5 - Frontier Prison in Rawlins -- Wagner photo
6 - Military Parade ground, Ft. D. A. Russell, Cheyenne -- Wyo Division
of Cultural Resources photo
7 - Historic engine and Wyoming station -- Wyo Division of Cultural
Resources photo
8 - Citadel Rock and bridge in Green River -- Wyo Division of Cultural
Resources photo
9 - The hanging of "Big Steve" Long at Laramie City -- Wyo Division
of Cultural Resources photo
10 - Parade at Ft. D. A. Russell, 1930s -- Wyo Division of Cultural
Resources photo
11 - "Big Nose" George -- American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming
photo
12 - Tom Horn -- American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming photo
13 - Ella "Cattle Kate" Watson -- American Heritage Center, University
of Wyoming photo
14 - Dale Creek Bridge -- Wyo Division of Cultural Resources photo
15 - "Hole in the Wall" Gang -- American Heritage Center, University
of Wyoming photo