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.
Again, many more of Mr. Galutia's fine photographs have been posted at the Arminto entry on Lex Anteinternet, so please check those out if you enjoy these. And heartfelt thanks to out to Mr. Galutia.
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.
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Pumping water to a train.
my parents lived here and dad worked as a pumper for the railroad,,in the mid to late 40s dad and mom lived in the section houses acrossed the railroad from grove of trees, the hotel was not in the grove of trees it was up a short distance up the hill there was a two storie house with fence in grove of trees,, dad work there for a couple of years from about 46 on till the steam train came in,, we have a bunch of pics from that time the hotel was on the historic register forhistoric places,, had been moved there early1900s ,, its gone now,,but it was there when mom and dad lived there there was a store (Harpers store) school and depot,warehouse ect,, near the hotel
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for your post.
ReplyDeleteI'd encourage you to publish your photos somewhere. As you can see, the town is barely there now. There is a large industrial yard with equipment from a bentonite processing plant, that's actually located closer to Casper, and a few buildings and houses, but not much else.
Did you stay in Wyoming?
we do have a lot of photos,, taken by my dad and mom and others ,,, moms dad worked for the railroad ,, was the one who rode the hand car thru the wind river and and was also a pumper at the boysen stop that is no longer there,, we too were hoping that some where there was a pic lay out for sure of the town of arminto in the 40s moms memory is not clear about some of it,, there was a school house and a store harpers store but,,the first burnt down and was moved into the old school house, after the school closed, there were section houses on both sides of the track,, moms and dads was on the side across from the grove of tree more up toward the road,, as far as can figure the depot was across the rd to the west,next to railroad,, my brother was a baby in arms,,infact he was born in thermop when dad had to got to casper for the pumpers test to get the job at arminto, when they lived in arminto,,, on the hill side above where the grove of trees are to the east above the tracks,just a shortdistance,, going toward casper,,there was a treatment plant to treat the water(there is parts of it brick ect and a round cement stuctures with holes in them on the hill side where it was) part of dads job was to keep the plant furnace running in winter, there was a pond beleive across the tracks and below it as far as i can figure that the plant got its water from,, the pipe for pumping water was pretty near mom and dads section house,, i have never lived in wyomin only my brother and folks,, there are some sites that have alot of history of the arminto area,,,,we have pic of arminto ,, and would love to see them get to some of the history of wyo sites,about that area my bro took some in2009 similar to those yu have here of arimnto,,,too
Deletehttp://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wytttp/natrona/history/chapter18.htm this is a chapter on towns and citys of natrona county if yu scroll down on that site it give info on wolton ,,which is where the some of the building s were moved to arminto and arminto arminto was incorperated in 1923 does not have much history beyond that ,,, but does give an idea whatbuildings andpeople was there in the begining,found it very intersting for sure ,,in the fortys it was mainly a sheep transfer station,, the big horn hotel was on the historic register of of historic places, before it was tore or burn down in the 80s,,, lynn cheney authored a book blue skys open spaces, about their life in casper area talks some about the arminto area,,not alot,,
DeleteMy sister and I would love to share some of the pictures we have of Arminto ..... not sure of how to up load them to this site.
DeleteI'd love to put them up, but they might actually go better on one of our companion sites, Lex Anteinternet, which explores a lot of historical topics. It is located here:
Deletehttp://lexanteinternet.blogspot.com/
This site, and that one, doesn't allow upload by outside parties and the comment section isn't programed for it. So, if you wish, and I'd like to put them up, what I can do is put them up for you, and credit them to you. I can upload them directly, in which case you'd have to email them to me, or if you have a Flickr or Photobucket account (the latter of which I'd recommend and which allows for a huge number of free photos to be posted) I can link them in from there.
Anyway you'd like to do it, I'd love to put them up. I actually tried to search for some old Arminto photos, and couldn't find find any.
I have 2 sets of pictures ---ones taken in 1947-49 and recent ones I took in 2009 ... I have them set up on my hotmail skydrive ...I can send them via e-mail ...My E-mail addy is Rlgalutia@hotmail.com
DeleteSorry for the delay in replying, my automatic settings failed to let me know you'd responded!
DeleteSent two sets of pictures .....let me know if you need more info.....
DeleteRoy L Galutia
I thought the comment by the former Arminto resident so interesting that I've cross posted it over at Lex Anteinternet here:
ReplyDeletehttp://lexanteinternet.blogspot.com/2013/01/railhead-arminto-wyoming.html
I just moved to the incorporated side of Arminto (where the blacksmith's shops were) to live in my teepee. Before this the only history which I could find were in a book of Natrona Co. history at the Casper library published around the early twentieth century. I also recommend "Reminiscences Along the
ReplyDeleteSweetwater" which has some pictures, and stories. Local residents are also very friendly and happy to visit if you ever stop by.
About 3 years ago I took a yearly trip to Wyoming looking for something, at the time I didn't know what. Maybe just some Prarie Dogs on even a Rattle Snake. I found the friendliest town on the planet, Arminto, Wyoming. Total population when me and Lucy are there is 5 people, 5 dogs, and 1 cat. The nicest neighbors you could ever ask for. I plan to move out to Arminto next month to spend the rest of my summers just checking things out, and that should take a long long long time. I'm bringing a sign to put up on the south end of town so you'll know when you get there. Just remember there are 5 dogs in Arminto so please slow down and watch for then and if you see one of the fine folks that call Arminto home now maybe wave or stop and talk a while....
DeleteMy family lived in Arminto from about 1959 - 1962. We went to the "one room" school and our teacher was Hazel Hall. We lived in a 2 room log cabin (still there but changed). Harper's ran the Store and Post Office, for most of the time we were there "Curly Turner" ran the Bar and Hotel. I have many fond memories of that time. I wrote a story about one of Arminto's most famous (or is that infamous) citizens -- Emma Hall, who we grew to love and called "Grandma Hall." What a character she was. I could go on and on ............. I am going to check out the site mentioned.
ReplyDeleteMy father was the depot agent at Arminto from 1951 to 1957. I also went to the one room school house with Emma Hall teacher. The bar-post office-hotel was up the hill from the depot (which is no longer there) At the time, there was a 15 population; we made up 5. We used to go to the shearing shed up the hill on the left and watch them shear the sheep.
DeleteI took "board and room" at the Hotel/Restaurant/Bar in Arminto the winter of 1959. Chevron (then The California Co.) were drilling a well between Arminto and Waltman on the east side of the road. At the same time there was some uranium activity south of Waltman and there was a crew from there at the hotel as well. Occasionally there was a sheep herder who showed up and drank himself into a stupor....As I recall he was supposed to have been a disillusioned Irish doctor.
ReplyDeleteRuby and "Buck" Bucktaw were running the hotel, along with their two daughters who were in school in Casper and only in Arminto during the weekends and holidays. I do recall that there was a small store across the road from the hotel on the west side with a single gas pump. I don't recall ever meeting those people.
A rumor persisted that the road north out of Arminto and on up through ranches was where Butch Cassidy, et al hung their hats, but I've no idea of
the veracity of that. I did wander up through the ranches that way, but never all that far.........generally on around to Lost Cabin and Lysite where Pure Oil were drill a well too.
I'm now 81 years of age, but I still remember quite a lot of "frivolity" between, Powder River, Arminto, Lost Cabin, Lysite and Monetta. In fact there was a bar/club in Monetta called "The Monetta Hills Petroleum Club." I'm glad I survived that period of my life !
Jim, that's a great recollection, thank you for sharing it.
DeleteThe rumor about the Hole in the Wall Gang was more than a rumor. Once you get north of Arminto you start getting into the Red Wall country which was outlaw country in the 1890s through the 1910s. Their headquarters was at the Hole In The Wall, which isn't really very far away as the crow flies, or even on horseback, but oddly enough is a pretty decent day long drive from there if you choose to do it that way.
When we lived in Arminto (1951-57), when my parents went on vacation one time, we stayed at Ruby and Buck Bucktaw's home. They had a ram that loved to but me. I was about 6 yrs old. I remember Emma and Hazel Hall. Both were teachers.
DeleteHi
ReplyDeleteMy Great Uncle Curly Marshall Turner owned the Hotel and then twp cabis across the road I loved Mrs Hall Great times
Well it's May of 2019 and i still call Arminto home, just not in the winter, my cabin doesn't have any heat. Still haven't found what I'm lookin for but I'm sure it will be in Wyoming, in the summer time...be well my friends.
ReplyDeleteI was a geology student-intern in the Lysite-Arminto area in the summer of 1965. Somewhere I still have my field notebook. Most of our time was spent where the Owl Creek Mts meet the Big Horn Range. But from time to time we found ourselves in Arminto.
ReplyDeleteBuck and Ruby Bucktaw were running the Big Horn Hotel. I paid to take a bath there one time, and ran the well dry trying to fill the tub. Buck told stories about working as a wrangler in his youth, rounding up wild horses in the Great Continental Divide Desert to load on trains headed to the glue factory in Chicago, and how a crew from Hollywood came through town and offered $20,000 for the hotel bar, with its large glass mirror - a real wild-west affair. Tradition was that one end of the bar was for sheep herders, to separate them from the cattlemen at the other.
The hotel, Buck said, arrived with construction of the CB&Q Railroad. It was built near the railhead and as the tracks progressed westward it was re-located. As I recollect the story, it was moved twice. The first time it was sawed in half vertically using two-man saws and loaded on two freight wagons pulled by teams of draft horses, then unloaded onto a pre-built foundation at the new location. During the final move an early blizzard interrupted the hauling, and the second half stood alone on its wagon on the prarrie all winter. Come late spring, when the ground firmed up, they hitched up the horses and completed the trip. But once on the new foundation the two halves didn't line up quite right. That's why, when you headed to the men's room after a few beers you weren't sure if it was the beer or the building that made you stumble going down the hall.
According to Ruby and Buck, the east and west railroad construction crews met not too far west of Arminto (I wish I co9uld remember where exactly they said it was). Anyhow, that's how Arminto came to be permanent home to the Big Horn Bar and Hotel.
Another character who lived in the Lysite-Moneto-Arminto area in the 1960s was Harry Gurley, who was known to visit the Big Horn Bar from time to time. Harry was a great story teller, who recounted how the locals were not fond of folks who would descend on Cody Camp for a rouddy time after an extended wild west show tour.
For the record, I am G David Foster now residing in Jackson, MI.
Thank you very much for your recollections! I appreciate your adding them.
Delete