Friday, April 5, 2013

Railhead: Arminto Wyoming

Railhead: Arminto Wyoming: This is what is left of the sidetrack at Arminto Wyoming, and of a hotel along the rail one, which was located where the grove of trees stands.

I've just linked in two threads from my companion blog, Railhead, dedicated to railroad topics, which depict some things long gone by. This is one of them. This thread depicts Arminto Wyoming.

Arminto is a very small town in Natrona County Wyoming. So small in fact that I once had the odd experience of talking to a FedEx tractor trailer driver who stopped when he saw my me and my brother in law herding cattle north of Arminto. He was trying to deliver something to Arminto, and had driven right through it, not knowing what it was. People driving through this area today probably have next to no idea that this very tiny town is a town, or that it was ever economically significant.

But it in fact once was.

Arminto was the busiest sheep shipping railhead in the world in the first half of the 20th Century. More sheep were sent to market through Arminto than any other place on the globe.

I suppose the partial lesson in that is that economic endeavors that seem so significant at one point can certainly evaporate. Arminto's economic significance certainly has. Sheep no longer are shipped from its railhead. The railhead itself lacks pens. There is no longer hotel, which there once was. The small busy little bar burned down in the 1980s. The Sheepherders Fair, a really well attended local sheep based rodeo was moved to Powder River, and last year the last Sheepherders Fair was held. Ironically, sheep prices are up.

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Updated Entry:

The post on Railhead has brought a number of interesting replies, including one viewer, Ray Galutia, who very generously provided his own photos. As these are so interesting, and historically valuable, I'm reposting the entire Railhead entry here, and posting Ray's additional photographs here.



This is what is left of the sidetrack at Arminto Wyoming, and of a hotel along the rail line, which was located where the grove of trees stands.

While now it would almost be impossible to tell, this location once shipped more sheep per year than any other spot on earth.  It was the epicenter of the local sheep industry, and the busiest sheep shipping point on earth.  It remained a significant sheep town well into the second half of the 20th Century, but  the railhead fell into disuse when trucking took over in livestock transportation, and ultimately the collapse of the sheep industry following the repeal of the Defense Wool Incentive in the 1980s completed the town's decline.  The famous local bar burned down in this period, and today the town is a mere shadow of its former self.

More on the history of this location can be found on the entry on this topic at Lex Anteinternet.

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Ray Galutia very generously provided us with photos depicting Arminto in the  1940s from his personal collection  I'm going to link these photos, which are historically valuable, in here, and also over at Lex Anteinternet, in those instances in which the topics aren't on railroads.  There will be more of those interesting linked in photos posted there.

I'm also going to repost this entry as a new current one, given that it's been updated to such an extent.







Diesel train taking siding for a steam engine at Arminto, 1947-1949.

The location of this photograph, from 1947-1949, is actually quite close to the ones posted immediately above, except it's from a different angle looking back on the town.
 Additional photographs uploaded only here:

Parents of Mr. Galutia.

Depot and Harpers Store.

Harper's Store.

Mr. Galutia and his father on the playground of the Arminto school, which no longer stands.

Snow plow in a much more active era for Arminto.

Pumping water to a train.


Mr. Galutia and his mother.


 Mr. Galutia and his father on Arminto water tower.


And from Mr. Galutia's 2009 trip back to Arminto.




 Building sets where Harper's Store was located.

 Water tower and treatment plant foundation.

 Foundation of the Big Horn Hotel.

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My car sets approximately   where one of the section houses sat ....and the clump of tree has two  old foundations and on the hill behind the trees is where the water tower sat ....my folks section house sat directly across the tracks from the trees

 Water tower foundation.

Holding tank location.

13 comments:

Roy Galutia said...

Note: building Identified as where Harpers store stood is actually up the hill 150 feet from the actual site of the store ....the Store was located directly across the street from the hotel ....Google earth street view shows a grey utility building on the spot of the store. Harpers store burnt down probably around 1948 or 49... the store location then changed to the school building....Apparently the school was closed because they couldn't get a teacher...

Roy Galutia

Pat, Marcus & Alexis said...

Thanks Roy!

Henry L. Pohl said...

I remember Arminto from visits there starting when I was just a boy (11 yrs. old), I now 74. So it's been a while. What I remember most was the Big Horn Hotel. What a relic of the early west.
You should put something on this web site about Manuel Armenti, whom the town was named after. He was a nearby rancher accused of swinging a "long rope". They say his cows sure had lots of twins and triplets. He ran with Butch Cassidy and his friends in Lander. He eventually became a big sheep man. He had a good reputation in the neighborhood, always willing to help anyone in need.
Henry L. Pohl, Weiser, Idaho

Anonymous said...

i am roys sister lourie galutia ,,later the school must have re open because there was a person on fb whose family lived in arminto in the 50s and went to school there and family live in the arminto area had some pic of inside of it said the school building was moved possibly to casper area not sure ,,,,i have never been to arminto wy but grew up listening to mom and dad talk about it an looking at the pics that roy posted mom is 91 now,, and dad passed in 93did a lot of talking with mom and tryed to peice to gether some of the info she could provide and remember ,,, there is a lot of early wyoming history about the founding of the town most of it was moved from another location to be nearer the railroad i beleive very early 1900s was rename arminto

Anonymous said...

i am roy s sister (lourie galutia) if you click on the black and white pics pic 4 thru 17 are of arminto in the 40s pic 4 is a pic taken from a frontage road near the rairoad dad took pic ,,,,pic5 is mom with roy in highchair in front of their section home south of tracks harpers store is white building on hilldirectly across from it is the big horn hotel in grove of trees it ,,,tracks go west to east there is a grove of trees closer that has two story home in it pic 6 is mom and dad( may and roy h galutia) standing south of tracks in front of their section car home the two story home is behind them was the depot master s home i beleive harry labaron and wife there were two homes in those trees one more east of it an section car home that the fergusons lived in west of it the big horn hotel and harpars store was up the hill north west of this pic pic 7 was inside the depot gene ferguson is one of the depot agents under harry lebaron that worked there at the time dad and mom was there depot was west of arminto rd next to railroad tracks pic 8 is harpers store which is located up the hill from the depot pic 9 is dad and roy on the playground north side of school cabin direct ln back ofthem probably was the one they moved into shortly before they move back to thermopolis wy the railroad and section home are in background an harpers store an the big horn hotel can be seen on hill in distance pic10 is a closeup of a snow plow ware house and harpers store with the gas pump an car port in front /pic 11 top is some of crew fill steam train with water dads car in front botten is dad and roy by the pipe used to fill trains with water fergusons secton home is behind them north of tracks / pic 12 ,same as toppic 11/ pic 13 is mom and roy in water treatment plant on hill dad had to keep furnace going to keep waterfrom freezing also had to add lime to to tank from time to time /pic 14 is pic of the water treatment plant on hill with pumphouse below north of tracks east of main part of arminto /pic 15 dad an roy on steps to watertreatment plant/water tower white building attached behind roy and dad i think may be storage not sure /pic 16 is roy sittin with the railroad depot is in distance west of arminto rd and south side of track /pic17 is roy on dads car and mom to the rescue as he is about to tumble railroad depot is in back ground and neighbors section home to the side the next color pics roy took in june of 2009 the cabins were located on the hill above the big horn hotel across the rd the grove of trees behind roys van is where the two story home of harry lebaron depot station master lived mom and dads section home would have been south of tracks

Pat, Marcus & Alexis said...

Thank you for adding the details!

Anonymous said...

this is lourie galutia roy s sister the #19 color pic my brother shared from his 2009 trip is not where the harper store was located i learnt later that this small store like building posssibly was used as a blacksmith shop in 50s? ,,,,, harpers store was down the hill south of this accross rd from the big horn hotel in the 40s

Pat, Marcus & Alexis said...

Thanks Lourie! I appreciate the additional comments.

Unknown said...

Growing up in the 60s and 70s in the Bay Area of California I was always curious about my mothers background, but for reasons I could never understand she didn't know much about her birthplace and what her father did for a living.The only name she knew was that she was born in a town called Arminto Wyomimg not far from Casper. Just vague and to my young understanding not much to go on. It would take me 45 years before I ever traveled to the state with my wife for me to see what I realized was nothing more than a ghost town with maybe 1 residence. In a mobile home who was not at home to answer the million questions that I had. I spent the good part of the day taking pictures of every location at every angle so that I could share them with my mother when I saw her . She was elderly buy now and I didn't get much response. She was born in January 1923 and left there before she had any memories.Frustated I took out a membership with Ancestors.com and started to compile a genealogy with the memories I had and within a few months I was able to turn over dozens of leaves! My mothers family imitated from Mexico in 1917 Her dad, my grandfather, who died 3 years before I was born, was a Forman on A steam locomotive. The family crossed at the Loredo Texas border with his wife,2 daughters and 2 sons, his father and his younger brother,my grandmothers mother and her sister. She gave birth in Oklahoma to another daughter, and they arrived in Arminto later that year.Inthe census of 1920 2 more children had been born. My mothers birth cirtificate on 1/25/1923 on the official Natrona County emblem + 2 more sisters made her the last before they moved on to California. I my math is right ther were about 12 of them living in Arminto. The Villalobos family on her dads side and the Valdez family on her mothers. All together they had to have spent 8 or 9 years there. I am facinated with these revelations. I am the only one to my knowledge that has researched this family history. This is going back almost 100 years but if there is anyone on this blog that might be able to shed some light on my folks I would be very grateful! Here are the names. Ricardo Villalobos, Virginia (Valdez) Villalobos, Julio,Trina,Lupe,Mary,Vi, and Isabelle my mother, trebio,Soccaro and Jovita Valdez.
Kind regards, Larry Vital, VancuoverWashington.

Anonymous said...

I think Arminto is a very nice little town, just about in the center of Wyoming. The population is 3 people and 2 dogs....Come to Arminto, but please don't stay......

Anonymous said...

I am almost 50 and I started out going to school in arminto with my aunt's.. we are from Waltman Wyoming

Anonymous said...

My grandmother and great uncle spent a few years in Arminto - apparently her dad (Eugene Prewitt) was the storekeeper for awhile. It would have been 1915 or later through about 1920 or so. His wife was Ruby Dell Carr Prewitt. Shortly after her little brother Neil Prewitt was born (1918) they moved back to Casper as Ruby said she couldn't take it. At least, this is the family story. Extended family still in and around Casper.

Unknown said...

I was always told that our house in Shoshoni Wyoming was the old School brought in from Arminto Wyoming. It had to be in the 40's sometime as my Grandparents became Citizens in Torrington Wyo in 1935. My Sister was born in 1950 and our house was there at that time. Curious if there is a picture of the school from that time period. Thanks