Centrally located on the gold-bearing vein in the area, mines literally surrounded Atlantic City by the fall of 1868. The townspeople soon fostered a thriving business community. In addition to sawmills and blacksmith shops, Atlantic City boasted of beer breweries and one of Wyoming Territory's first public schools.
Boom rapidly led to bust and the town faltered for a time. A French capitalist, Emile Granier, revived mining interests in the late 1880's and early 1890's with a short-lived hydraulic mining development centered on Rock Creek. The early 1900's saw another boom as a New York firm constructed the Dexter Mill, a large modern milling and recovery facility in the center of town. It met with failure as well. The greatest pay-out in any of the later boom was during the operation of a dredge on Rock Creek during the Great Depression. Although an exceedingly profitable operation, and a blessing to a depressed local economy, its scars are still visible.
Today, Atlantic City remains a community of resilient souls where modern homes coexist with historic log cabins in one of Wyoming's oldest cities.
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