Lex Anteinternet: Wyoming Railraod Map, 1915

Lex Anteinternet: Wyoming Railraod Map, 1915:

The Wyoming State Library has published a series of historic maps of the state, including railroad maps.  I'd been hoping to find one for 1915 (book research, which I've been turning to again, which probably makes this blog a bit more like it originally was, and a bit more dull for the few people who actually stop in here), and low and behold, they had one.

1915 Wyoming Railroad Map.

Interesting map, it shows some things that I'd wondered about.

It shows, for one thing, that Casper was served by the Burlington Northern, which I new, and the Chicago and North Western, which I sort of knew, but it was celled the Great North Western in its later years.  It served Casper up until probably about 25 years ago or so.  There's hardly any remnant of it here now, and its old rail line here was converted to a trail through the town.  The old depot is a nice looking office building, but I don't know if that building dates back to 1915.  I doubt it.  I don't think that the Burlington Northern one isn't that old either.

 

Former Chicago and North Western depot in Casper.

 Burlington Northern Depot in Casper.

A really interesting aspect of this is that it shows two parallel lines actually running from where the railroads met in Douglas.  I knew that there were two depots in Douglas, and I knew there were remnants of the North West line east of town, but I didn't realize that the two lines actually ran astride each other, more or less (within a few miles of each other), from Douglas to Powder River, where they joined. The depot at Powder River is no longer there.

 

Former depot for one of the railroads in Douglas, now used as a railroad interpretive center.

 

 The other depot in Douglas, now a restaurant called "The Depot".

After that, interestingly, the Chicago and North Western ran to Shoshoni, while the Burlington Northern did not.  Now, a local short line runs to Shoshoni and links in somewhere with the  BN, but I don't know where. 
Not in Powder River, that's for sure.  The BN still runs north through the Wind River Canyon, however, taking a turn at Shoshoni, which did not at that time, still passing through Lysite as it then did.  No rail line runs from Shoshoni to Riverton, and on to Hudson and Lander like this map shows.  And as with one of the Douglas depots, the old Riverton line is now a restaurant, although I've apparently failed to photograph that one (note to self, I suppose).  It's pretty amazing to think, really, that Fremont County's rail service has really declined pretty significantly in the past century, with Lander no longer being a terminus.  

Rail facilties in Lysite, which are probably nearly as old as the map being discussed here.

Going the other way, the results are even more surprising.  Orin Junction is still there, and is still a railroad junction, but just for the Burlington Northern.  The railroad still runs east to Lusk, but that's a Burlington Northern line today, apparently running on the old path of the Chicago and North Western.  Going south east, that line is still there up to Harville, but from the there what's indicated as a Colorado & "South 'N" line is now a Union Pacific line.

I honestly don't know, and really should, how far south that UP line runs, which shows that this is one of those areas of my state's history like this can really surprise you, and make you realize that you don't know as much as you think.  I know that the BN runs as far south as Chugwater today, and further south than that, but I don't know if it runs into Cheyenne like it once did (or rather the Colorado did).  The main line of the UP runs through southern Wyoming and there's a huge yard in Cheyenne, so presumably there's a junction there somewhere.

The former Union Pacific depot in Cheyenne, now, of course, a restaurant and a museum.

This map in fact answered a question for me which I had, which is that if you wanted to travel from Casper to Cheyenne on a timely basis, what route would the train take. Well, now I know.  In 1915, you'd take either of the railroads serving Casper east to Orin Junction, and then take the BN south to Hartville.  From there, you'd take the Colorado south to Cheyenne.  From there, the extensive UP lines opened up the path west, south and east.

It's also interesting to see some lines that I knew once existed, but which are now defunct, shown here on the map.  The Saratoga & Encampment, for example, is shown.  I didn't know it was that told, but I should have.  The Colorado & Eastern running from Laramie up to the Snowies is also shown.  I knew that some railroad had done that, and that the lines are still there (a shortline serving skiers was attempted a few years ago, but no longer runs), but I didn't know what line that was.

Very interesting stuff.

Great Northwestern Depot, Casper Wyoming

This was the former Great Northwestern Depot in Casper, Wyoming.  The depot today serves as an office building, with the nearby rails having previously been featured here in the form of a rails to trails project that now runs through the center of Casper.  I don't know the vintage of the depot.

Rails to Trails, Casper Wyoming

Casper is presently served only by the  Burlington Northern Railroad, whose rail line separates North Casper from the rest of Casper. But this wasn't always the case. At one time, Casper had a second rail provider, that being the Chicago and North Western Railroad.

The North Western line was distinctly different than the BNs.  It ran right through downtown, and did so diagonally.  Additionally it's rail yard, a much smaller yard than the BN's, was more or less in downtown, near an industrial area of downtown.  The rail line was essentially a downtown feature, running right past the Sears store, right next to two banks, and right past the back of the library. And it ran through the town diagonally, bisecting city blocks at an angle, and in some cases making for some oddly shaped small city blocks, one of which became Veteran's Park.  Going west, the rail line ran through what was then the Standard Oil Refinery and out the other end (the refinery no doubt also had connecting lines to the BN.  The line ran all the way to Lander Wyoming and in its early days provided passenger service to Lander.

In Casper, people who like trains got to see them a lot.  People who do not like trains also got to see them a lot.

In the late 80s or early 90s, this rail line pulled out of Casper, and the North Western ceased to exist entirely when the company was purchased by the Union Pacific..  The rails were ultimately pulled, and the line has become a "trail", under the rails to trails program in the Casper area.  It's an extremely long trail, running all the way through downtown Casper, into Evansville, and out of town.  It's several miles in length.  Downtown, such as here near its terminus, it's quite improved, but elsewhere its basically a gravel trail.

These photographs trace the trail in the areas in Casper where it is a concrete walkway, some of which has only recently been created. This basically takes us all the way to the west past Ash Street and all the way to the east to Veteran's Park.  It is only a fraction of the trail, but it's the improved downtown portion of the trail, which makes for a very nice walkway in downtown Casper.  These photographs go from West to East, with photographs looking both directions.  In a way, the viewer sees some scenes that were only visible to those on trains before, but at the same time this section of Casper has been heavily altered since the days the last North Western train ran on the tracks.

This is the western most portion off the trail, looking West down the old railroad bed.  From here, the rail line would have gone another couple of blocks before entering the Standard Refinery, which is now a golf course.

Same location as above, looking East.  This would have been in an old industrial area, just a block or so from the old rail yard.  The rail yard had a small turntable now gone.

Looking west.

Looking towards downtown Casper.

Same location, looking west.

One block further east, looking east.  On the right is the Goodstein Building, which was there during the train days.  Its' a significant downtown office building.  The old Sears building, now a furniture store, is visible to the far left.

From the Goodstein Building, on the right, looking west.

 Looking East from Center Street.  The building on the left is a bookstore now, but was built as a hardware store and was a hardware store when trains ran here.  The tall building to the right in the distance is "the Towers", Casper's first apartment building for senior citizens.  Trains ran for the first two decades of its existence.

 

 Looking West from Center Street, Goodstein Building on right. 

 Same view as immediately above.  The building on the left was a hardware store for many years, but is now a used bookstore.  The building on the right was the train station for this line, but I was not aware of that at the time I took these photographs.

Same view, from across the street.

 One block to the east. This location was where the rail line went right behind a bank, which is still there, and crossed Wolcott Street.  The building to the right was a Safeway for decades, but is now a furniture store.  The building to the left was a large hardware store, but is now a Thai restaurant.  The large building to the rights is The Towers, the first senior citizens home in Casper.

Same location, looking west.

An example of the decorative details of the street lamps, in this case memorializing the rail line.

 Across the street, looking east.

One block to the east.  The Natrona County library is to the left, and has been for many decades.

Another example of a decorative street lamp, this one depicting a hand cart.

Looking east towards the Nicolaysen art museum, the older part of which was the a lumber store, and the foreground was a lumber yard, for much of the time that the rail line ran by here in later years.

View of park near the towers.  This was not a through street when the railroad was still in operation.

Trail near Monument Park.

Trail where railroad once crossed over to Veteran's Park.

Looking west.

View looking south from trail, St. Anthony's Catholic Church in background.