Boom and Bust

— 1889 to 1940's —

In 1901, the Fireman's Fund Insurance Company included a plat of Ft. Steel in its insurance rating of the town. The town had not grown as planned, probably due to the closeness of Rawlins and that the timber industry had started building its own town on the opposite side of the river so that its workers did not have to cross the river in order to get to work, shop, etc. In the mid 1900's the Vivion Sheep Companies moved most of their sheep operations east to the Wolcott area. The U.P.R.R. then moved the section crews out of the Ft. Steele Community a few years later. However, the Ft. Steele township got a boost in survival when the Great Lincoln Highway was constructed in the late 1920's as it followed the railroad line in from Wolcott on the north side of the tracks and crossed the North Platte just below Ft. Steele and then came up through the old Fort Area proceeding west into Greenville or Parco (present day Sinclair.
Some of the old barracks and other buildings at Ft. Steele were used as gasoline stations, cafes, motels and the like until U.S. 30 was re-routed and paved a few years later at its present location near I-80. The largest hotel at Ft. Steele burnt down in November 1923; it had been established in 1868 as a military barracks. The hotel had 22 rooms and the last known owner was E.J. Bower who had tried to sell it to J.S. Hugus in 1882 and it does not appear on either the 1886 nor the 1901 plats of Ft. Steele. With the beginning of World War II and the end of the timber industry the town was deal its final death blow and the end of the "boom." It has been mostly "bust" ever since.

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Show me all markers in:  Sinclair, WY  |  Carbon County  |  82334  |  Wyoming  |  United States of America

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Carbon Timber Company
Railroad and River
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Bridge Tender's House
Image of Fort Fred Steele
Rock Springs Massacre
Major General Philippe Regis de Trobriand
Major Thomas Tipton Thornburgh
Thornburgh's Command

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