Today in Buffalo…
I've never read one of these books, but they are really enjoyed by a lot of locals.
Showing posts with label Wyoming (Buffalo). Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wyoming (Buffalo). Show all posts
Sunday, July 20, 2025
Sunday, June 30, 2024
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
Today In Wyoming's History: February 28
Today In Wyoming's History: February 28: 1918 First train to arrive in Buffalo on the Wyoming Railway.
The Wyoming Railway was a shortline, running from nearby Clearmont to Buffalo, a distance of about 28 miles. At Clearmont passengers could carry on with the Burlington Northern.
Most of the traffic on the line was actually coal. The coal mines near Buffalo went out of business in the 1940s and the railroad filed for bankruptcy in 1948. The line was abandoned in 1952.
The Wyoming Railway was a shortline, running from nearby Clearmont to Buffalo, a distance of about 28 miles. At Clearmont passengers could carry on with the Burlington Northern.
Most of the traffic on the line was actually coal. The coal mines near Buffalo went out of business in the 1940s and the railroad filed for bankruptcy in 1948. The line was abandoned in 1952.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Transportation, late 19th Century
A modern highway map shows as distance of 211 miles from Worland, in the southern half of the basin, to Rawlins, and 293 miles from Cody to Green River, but modern transportation systems are not remotely like those of 1879. In practical terms, Green River and Rawlins were further from the Big Horn Basin in 1879 than they are now from Outer Mongolia, and criminal prosecution was nearly impossible.
There were no roads leading south from the basin, only trails. At least one yearly trip to the Union Pacific had to be made, though, because in the early 1880s this was the nearest railhead, the only real opening to a market to sell cattle and get supplies. E. W. Copps declared that the cattle drive from Buffalo to Rawlins, a trip that did not require a traverse of mountains, took eighteen days. Coming from the basin, however, a cattle owner first had to get out, and any exit required going over an 8,000-foot pass, such as Birdseye Pass or Cottonwood Pass; thus, David John Wasden's estimate of six weeks for a round trip seems about right. Of course, the return trip, when cattle were not being driven, did not take as long but was still arduous. Owen Wister describes a 263 mile excursion from Medicine Bow "deep into cattle land," a trip taking several days by wagon, while "swallowed in a vast solitude." His description sounds like a journey north into the Big Horn Basin.
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