Derek and I completed a self guided walking tour of Rock Springs, Wyoming one morning. The tour starts at the very impressive Historical Museum building, a Richardsonian Romanesque architecture masterpiece. The museum is free and worth checking out. We picked up a brochure for the tour after exploring the museum and off we went.
Union Pacific and Coal
The arrival of the Union Pacific Railroad, with its congressional mandate for a transcontinental line, opened the floodgates of economic development in Rock Springs. Coal was discovered in 1850 and the mining camp that followed was named after Rock Springs which no longer flows these days. So much coal flowied through the town that winter snows turned black! UP #1 mine had a daily output of 2,000 ton of coal and was in operation for 40 years. Much of Rock Springs is built over the old mine shafts and in many cases it was necessary to drill through the mine workings and anchor building foundations to solid rock.
Rock Springs Massacre
With the mines, came all the working immigrants. Immigrants representing nearly 60 different nationalities came here to work. Ripleys Believe It or Not claims that Rock Springs had more nationalities than any other place in the world. Unfortunately, one of the worst acts of anti-immigrant violence in the history of America occurred among the miners in Rock Springs on September 2, 1885. This went down in history as the Rock Springs Massacre.The riot was between the Chinese and white immigrant miners. The conflict stemmed from racial tensions and a labor dispute. The railroad paid the Chinese workers less than the white miners which caused the Chinese to be hired over the white miners. In retaliation, the white miners killed at least 28 Chinese miners, injured 15 and burned 75 Chinese homes.
Butch Cassidy
The museum building used to be the fire station, and police station, and there is all sorts of information posted in the old jail cells about famous prisoners. Robert LeRoy Parker a.k.a Butch Cassidy lived in Rock Springs and worked in a butcher shop…getting the nickname “Butch”. Butch formed his gang, the “Wild Bunch” in 1896 while still living in Sweetwater County. The gang began a series of daring bank and train robberies, including one in Tipton, Wyoming just up the highway from Rock Springs.
Bunning Park
We walked through beautiful Bunning Park and read about it’s history. Homes in the area were dug into the banks of Bitter Creek and all kinds of filth and debris accumulated in the creek bottom during the year. Runoff in the spring forced residents to temporarily abandon their dugouts all the time. After a major flood in 1924, Mayor Bunning re-channeled Bitter Creek to the outskirts of town. The city’s first park on the filled-in creek bed came to life and today it’s a lush green treed and lilac oasis.
We really wanted to check out Square State Brewery downtown, but it didn’t open until 3. Instead, we stopped by a liquor store and stocked up on some Wyoming beer. Stay tuned for that taste test!
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