Wyoming's High Desert County

Sweetwater County is the perfect place to explore American history. Petroglyphs on White Mountain preserve the pictorial language of the prehistoric people from our region. Also, still carved into the earth are the wagon wheel ruts of the pioneer trails.

Highway 28 parallels the Oregon, Mormon Pioneer, Pony Express and California National Historic Trails. There are some of the finest trail remains in the United States.

There are over 100 miles of pioneer trail ruts in Sweetwater County that remain as they were over 150 years ago.

Brown's Park and Jarvie Ranch

Along the lower Green River, in a canyon that evolved eons ago in the Uinta Range, lies a valley lush and green in the summer and protected from the harsh western winter winds. It is uncertain how Brown's Park, or Brown's Hole, got its name, but it appears to be a quiet and serene place where nothing bad could ever happen. That appearance is deceiving.
     Although evidence shows that Native Americans had used the valley for generations, the first white man to settle there was probably George Baggs. Baggs was a drover who moved several hundred head of cattle into Brown's Park in the late fall of 1871. He planned to only wait out the winter, but stayed there with his common-law wife for many years. Gradually, more and more cattlemen learned about the valley and its lush forage. Ranches began to crop up all through the area and soon a community was born.
     Because of its isolation and yet its proximity to main trails of the old days, Brown's Park became a favorite spot for outlaws and those wishing to disappear for awhile. With only two ways in and out of the park, it is easy to understand its popularity. Outlaws would frequently stop at one of the ranches for food, water, or a fresh horse. The people of the community minded their own business and weren't overly concerned about a person's background, as long as the person was honest and fair with the folks of the area.
     Two frequent visitors were Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Both men were largely accepted in the area because they were polite and helpful. As one old-timer put it, "They never stole from us, just the railroad." They had a kind of "Robin Hood" reputation in Brown's Park.
      Amelia Teters related childhood memories of the family returning to their ranch, from a trip to town, and finding that someone had been in the cabin and eaten a meal. "There would be a silver dollar lying by the dirty dishes, to pay for whatever was used," she said. It was unheard of to turn a stranger away, even if he might be an outlaw.
     One of the most famous and well-loved people in the valley was John Jarvie. Jarvie migrated from Scotland when he was in his mid-twenties. He decided on Wyoming Territory as the place to start his new life and, in 1871, opened a saloon on North Front Street in Rock Springs. He met young Nellie Barr in 1881 and they were married almost immediately. They decided to move to Brown's Park and open a store to supply the residents of the valley. The Jarvies eventually built a nice home but, at first, they lived in a cozy dugout in a hill near the riverbank. The dugout is still there and is part of the historic site.
     The folks in the valley loved John and Nell Jarvie and appreciated having a store close by. The Jarvies were good to the community and raised a large family there. But the tradition of helping out was the undoing of John Jarvie.
     On July 6, 1909, Jimmy Jarvie, the youngest of John's brood, rode up to the house, expecting his dad to meet him on the porch. Instead, he found blood pooled in drying puddles and drag marks in the dirt. He followed the trail to the river and there he spotted a clump of long white hair snagged on a bush - hair like his father's. Back at the cabin, young Jarvie found the house ransacked. On the table was evidence of an unfinished meal and an open jug of whiskey.
      A hew and cry went up throughout the community and folks searched for John Jarvie's body and the two men suspected of robbing and killing him. George Hood, who was known to dislike Jarvie, had been seen with another man going toward the Jarvie Store on the day before the disappearance. The ranchers sent to Rock Springs for the sheriff and, meanwhile, began trying to pick up the trail of the killers. It was a week before the body of the murdered man was found. Archie Jarvie found his father 20 miles downstream on the Green River he so loved. He was tied to his overturned rowboat and had been beaten and shot in the back. Although two $500 rewards were offered and posses roamed the hills and hidden canyons for months, Hood and his partner were never found.
     Visitors to Brown's Park can see the dugout that John and Nell lived in as newlyweds, and the stone house where John met his fate.

Expedition Island

Expedition Island, near the present day town of Green River, Wyoming, was the starting point for the two expeditions down the Green and Colorado Rivers led by Major John Wesley Powell in 1869 and 1871. On these expeditions Powell completed the exploration of the last, large, unknown land area in the continental United States. Exploration of the unknown Colorado River by Powell and his crew opened up a new era for the nation. New concepts of conservation, reclamation, forestry and water management, geological and geographical surveys, and a whole new and scientific approach to the western lands ensued. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 16, 1969.

Live Ghost Town
Superior, WY
(307) 362-8173

This town, forgotten by time, was once a bustling town of more than 3,000 residents lured by underground coalmines. Today, only 275 hearty souls keep this isolated ghost town alive. Sites include all but vanished old town buildings, old dumpsites and areas for wildlife and wild horse viewing. For other ghost towns in Wyoming, click here.

Granger Stage Station

The Granger Station is a Wyoming State Historic Site located in Granger, Wyoming. The site contains one building constructed of cut native stone joined with lime-sand mortar.
The building was probably constructed around 1861-62. There has been some controversy and confusion over the date of the construction of this building. There was a stage station called the Ham’s Fork station located nearby. This station was a very crude dugout building set against a rise. It was described in less than glowing terms by an early traveler, Sir Richard Burton. “It was a disgrace; the squalor and filth were worse almost than the two—Cold Springs and Rock Creek—which had called our horrors, and which had always seemed to be the ne plus ultra of Western discomfort. The shanty was made of dry stone piled up against a dwarf cliff to save backwall, and ignored doors and windows.”

Historic Trails

Six Historic Trails sites (South Pass Overlook, False Parting-of-the-Ways, Big Sandy Crossing, Simpson's Hollow, Pilot Butte Trail Site, and Lombard Ferry) are located on Wyoming Highway 28 between the South Pass Rest Stop (east of Farson) and the Green River (west of Farson).

In Sweetwater County, Highway 28 parallels the Oregon, Mormon Pioneer, Pony Express, and California National Historic Trails. Intact trail ruts are visible at the False Parting-of-the-Ways, Simpson's Hollow, and Pilot Butte Trail sites.

Pilot Butte Trails Site is approximately 12 miles west of Farson on Wyoming Highway 28. This Bureau of Land Management Historic Interpretive Site offers signs about the Pilot Butte Trails landmark, Indian-Emigrant relations, and Transcontinental Telegraph. Signs are adjacent to trail ruts of the Oregon, Mormon Pioneer, Pony Express, and California National Historic Trails.

The Pony Express Route runs from South Pass, in Sublette County, to Pacific Springs, to Dry Sandy, to Little Sandy, to Big Sandy and Farson, to Big Timber, to Michael Morrins, to Hams Fork, to Church Buttes, to Millersville, and to Fort Bridger.

The Cherokee Trail runs north of Baggs, Wyoming, to the old Emigrant trail, east of US Highway 191, crossing Dans Creek and Little Bitter Creek south of Rock Springs, across Sage Creek (twice), crossing the Green River just above the Blacks Fork River Confluence, and to the Lone Tree Station.

The Overland Trail was the stagecoach route which ran across Bridger Pass, in Carbon County, to Sulphur Springs, Washakie, Duck Lake, Dug Spring, Fort LaClede, Black Buttes, Point of Rocks, Salt Wells, Rock Springs, Green River, Lone Tree Station, Granger, and on into Fort Bridger. Remnants of stage stations along the trail can be found with easy access at Point of Rocks (along I-80) and Granger (a short distance north of I-80).

Old Emigrant Trail runs from Bridger Pass, on the Overland Trail, to Fort LaClede, turns southwest until it meets up with the Cherokee Trail on the Little Bitter Creek, then to Lone Tree Station; it follows the Overland Trail until Fort Bridger, then turns northwest through the Bridger Antelope Trap.

A high-clearance or four-wheel-drive vehicle and dry road conditions are recommended for access to many of the trail areas.

These are some of the finest trail remains in the United States; please respect them and protect them.

For more information on the historic trails, please visit the BLM website.

The Overland Trail - The Overland Stage - Tracks Across Wyoming

Names Hill

This site is part of a popular shortcut, the Lander Cutoff, between the South Pass and the Snake River valleys. Over 13,000 emigrants used this route in 1859, the first year it was open. Many of them carved their names onto the "register" of the route, Names Hill, as they rested by the river after a dry walk from the Big Sandy River. The most famous name on the register is that of trapper Jim Bridger, who passed by in 1844.

Reliance Tipple
Reliance, WY
Call: (307) 872-6435 or (307) 352-6715
Free Admission
Open daylight hours

Explore the rich mining heritage of Sweetwater County with a visit to the Reliance Tipple. One of only two such structures left in the state, the tipple was used to sort and grade coal and load it on to rail cars.

Visitors are encouraged to take the short drive to Reliance and, once at the site, take a self-guided walking tour. Interpretive signs and a handicapped accessible path are provided. The Tipple is just 5 miles north of Rock Springs, located in Reliance, WY, just off Highway 191 North.

The Trona Patch

Did you know that the desert in Sweetwater County delivered some essential ingredients for your breakfast this morning? Yes indeed, the glass in which your juice was served contains 25% soda ash, a sodium carbonate chemical that is refined from a mineral called “Trona”. The biscuit was made possible in part by the baking soda that is also produced locally. And, no doubt the tableware and napkins were cleaned with sodium phosphates and soda ash, which are also made here. And it all starts with the mining of trona ore from 1500 feet below the surface of this beautiful desert.

Approximately 25 miles west of here, the four largest producers of soda ash in the world mine and process approximately 16 million tons of trona ore annually to provide for 90% of our nation’s demand for this universal chemical, and nearly 30% of the requirement for the rest of the world! Mankind has used soda ash for at least 6000 years, with the earliest known uses being mummification and ornament making by the Egyptians. Today it is used for the manufacture of glass and detergents, and as a building block for a wide variety of other chemicals not the least of which is sodium bicarbonate. That familiar Arm and Hammer box of baking soda in your refrigerator was likely produced right here in Sweetwater County!

Some 35 million years ago, this basin was actually 6000 feet lower than today, and under water. As this vast, shallow inland sea filled with sediments, numerous horizontal beds of trona were precipitated. Over a period of about 1 million years, the basin filled with other sediments as well, and finally drained through the area we currently call “The Palisades” in Green River. These geologic formations, know locally as the “Trona Patch”, stretch from the town of Green River to Little America, and from the Uinta mountains in the south to Seedskadee in the North and contain the largest known deposits of trona in the world. Enough to provide for the world’s soda ash needs for a thousand years! But finding this valuable resource, and then bringing it to the world is almost as unique as the resource itself.

Exploring for natural gas in 1938, the Mountain Fuel Supply Company encountered the mineral in a drill hole located about 1 mile north of exit 72 on I-80. The Union Pacific Railroad Company, a major landowner as a result of the construction of the transcontinental railroad in the 1800’s, then drilled additional holes in 1940 to confirm the deposit. In 1947 Westvaco Chlorine Products Corp., the predecessor of FMC Corporation, sunk the first mineshaft and began production of trona ore. In 1953, the first refined soda ash plant was built by FMC and produced 300,000 tons of soda ash per year. From this meager beginning OCI of Wyoming (1961), General Chemical (1968), and Solvay Minerals (1982) joined FMC, and together the four companies have increased production to nearly 10 million tons of soda ash per year. Starting with heavy-duty continuous mining machines, the ore is literally cut from the earth and conveyed and hoisted to refineries located above ground. There the ore is crushed, heated, dissolved, and concentrated into high purity sodium carbonate crystals. These highly safe and productive mining and refining processes enable the industry to be a world-class competitor in the soda ash business.

The Industry is an essential part of Southwest Wyoming, providing high paying jobs to 2,800 people and approximately another 8,000 jobs in the local communities where the miners live. Annually, $50 million in royalties and taxes paid by the industry are plowed back into the State, County, and local communities to provide for schools and the many other services that make this a most hospitable and enjoyable place to live.