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    Platte County
    Platte County
    Platte County
    Ebook182 pages54 minutes

    Platte County

    By Starley Talbott

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    About this ebook

    The North Platte River that flows through a portion of Platte County, Wyoming, lent its name to the new county carved from Laramie County in 1911. Prior to the late 1800s, with the exception of Native Americans, trappers, and some ranchers, few people chose to remain in the territory. Travelers who crossed the windswept prairies followed trails headed for the lush farmlands of Oregon or the goldfields of California and the Black Hills. In 1883, the Wyoming Development Company began an irrigation project that brought an influx of farmers to the promising new acreages around Wheatland, the town that became the county seat. The arrival of the railroad in the late 1800s brought more farmers, ranchers, and miners to the area that would become Platte County. New residents established dozens of communities with schools, churches, and businesses. The remaining viable towns are Wheatland, Glendo, Hartville, Guernsey, and Chugwater. This book covers the history of these towns, and the vanished ones, along with the rural areas of Platte County.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateSep 18, 2012
    ISBN9781439638170
    Platte County
    Author

    Starley Talbott

    A freelance author for more than forty years, Starley Talbott has authored six books and numerous columns for a variety of newspapers and magazines. Author and adjunct professor of history at Laramie County Community College Michael E. Kassel serves as the curator of collections and the co-director of the Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum.

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      Book preview

      Platte County - Starley Talbott

      encouragement.

      INTRODUCTION

      For centuries, the vast windswept prairies of the territory that would eventually be called Wyoming were known only to herds of bison, elk, deer, antelope, and other animals. The only humans to inhabit the area prior to the 1800s were Native Americans. Except for fur trappers and traders, a few ranchers, and miners, the non-native people who traveled through Wyoming territory in the 1800s did not give the area more than a passing glance. Thousands of immigrants traveling by covered wagon left their mark on the land in the form of deeply carved wagon wheel ruts. Those ruts are still visible in several places in Platte County. Immigrant names were also carved in stone at Register Cliff, near the present town of Guernsey, Wyoming.

      The arid, sagebrush-covered land did not interest those bound for the lush farmlands of Oregon and California or the goldfields of California, Nevada, Montana, and the Black Hills. Not until the late 1800s were the southeastern plains of Wyoming territory considered fit for human settlement. When Wyoming became a territory in 1869, there were five counties extending the full length from north to south. They were Uinta, Sweetwater, Carbon, Albany, and Laramie. With the coming of the railroad in 1869 and the formation of the state of Wyoming in 1890, settlers began to put down permanent roots. In 1911, Goshen and Platte Counties were carved from a portion of Laramie County.

      Before the railroad arrived, the Overland Stage Route and the Cheyenne-to-Deadwood Stage Route passed through the area that would become Platte County on a path similar to the modern-day route of Interstate 25. The U.S. government opened a road and erected a telegraph line in 1867 between Fort Laramie and Fort D. A. Russell in Cheyenne. Several roadhouses and stage stops were located along the routes, including Little Bear, Chugwater Station, Bordeaux, Eagle’s Nest, Uva, Cottonwood, and Horseshoe.

      The great cattle industry of southern Wyoming reached its peak in the 1880s. The vast Swan Land and Cattle Company was headquartered in Chugwater. The company controlled millions of acres on which they ran thousands of head of cattle and sheep.

      The formation of the Wheatland Development Company and an irrigation project to bring water from the Laramie River to the Wheatland Flats caused an upsurge of settlement in the Wheatland area. The town of Wheatland began in 1894, was incorporated in 1905, and became the seat of Platte County when the county was formed in 1911. The area that comprised the Wheatland Flats covers about 20 miles between the Laramie Mountains on the west and Chugwater Creek on the east and about 22 miles from the Laramie River on the north to the Richeau Hills to the south. According to historians, it took the imagination of a poet, Johnny Gordon, the vision of a politician, Joseph M. Carey, and the tenacity of a good businessman, Andrew Gilchrist, to transform the cactus-covered plains into a valuable irrigation district.

      Johnny Gordon moved to Wheatland from Greeley, Colorado, in 1878, after he had discussed the possibility of an irrigation project with Judge Joseph M. Carey on a visit to Carey’s ranch. Judge Carey was impressed with the idea and organized a committee in Cheyenne to finalize plans for the project during the winter of 1882. Work was begun that year on a tunnel to divert water from the Laramie River to Blue Grass and Sybille Creeks and on to the Wheatland Flats. Canals were also constructed to carry the water to the proposed farmlands. In 1883, the Wyoming Development Company was formed to oversee the project. The company had control of the land through the allocation of water rights, and settlers, under the Desert Land Law, took up the acreages. The Wyoming Development Company eventually became the Wheatland Irrigation District, a private company that still operates to this day.

      Wheatland has remained an important hub for farming and ranching into the present time. The Missouri Basin Power Project’s Laramie River Station was completed in 1980, providing electric power to two million residents in eight states and providing a major source of employment in Platte County.

      Dozens of small towns sprang up throughout the area in support of the large farming community that developed in Platte County. The remaining viable towns are Chugwater, Glendo, Guernsey, Hartville, and Wheatland. Hartville claims to be the oldest incorporated town in Wyoming. It was a rowdy frontier town that has retained its western flavor and is home to Wyoming’s oldest bar. Sunrise was a company town operated by the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company containing many large brick buildings, including the first YMCA built in Wyoming. The only remaining traces of Sunrise are on private property. Guernsey was a stopping place for Oregon Trail travelers; became a town following the completion of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad Line; and is now the location of the Wyoming National Guard training facility. Guernsey Dam and Guernsey State Park are popular areas, as are nearby historical sites, including the Oregon Trail Ruts National Landmark and Register Cliff. Glendo was a way station for Oregon and Overland Trail followers and stagecoach travelers. It later became a well-known water recreational area after the completion of Glendo Dam in 1959. Chugwater was the headquarters for the Swan Land and Cattle Company and a hub for ranchers and farmers in the southern portion of Platte County. Today Chugwater retains its historical flavor with several businesses, including the oldest continuously operated soda fountain in Wyoming.

      Though Platte County remains a quiet place and an area that travelers sometimes continue to

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