WELCOME TO BIG HORN COUNTY WYOMING
Welcome to Big Horn County Genealogy Trails (researchers, please notice this is NOT Big Horn County Montana).
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BIG HORN COUNTY
An examination of a buffalo petroglyph near Greybull, WY. indicated that 1000-1500 years ago showed that the Shosone and Crow Indian tribes lived in the Big Horn Basin before the arrival of white men. In 1823 the first group of white fur trappers led by 
Jedediah Smith passed through the Big Horn Basin and later spent their first winter with a band of Crow IndiansLegend has said that the Greybull name came from an ancient albino buffalo believed to be sacred by early area Native Americans.
Please check the WYO state site look at Fremont county map divided into
Big Horn county in the 1800’s.
Adjacent counties
Park County, Wyoming - west
Washakie County, Wyoming - south
Johnson County, Wyoming - east
Sheridan County, Wyoming - east
Big Horn County, Montana - north
Carbon County, Montana - north
Big Horn County, created March 12, 1890 was not organized until 1897. It was named for the Big Horn or Rocky Mountain sheep which are numerous in that part of the country.
Greybull is a town as unique as its namesake. Greybull is located at the intersection of Highways 14-16 and 20, a favorite route between Yellowstone National Park and the Black Hills of South Dakota.
The ” Greybull Museum” has an interesting display of Wyoming bentonite, from the rough stuff taken from the mining pit to the processed fine powdered ash sent to pharmaceutical companies Bentonite was born of volcanoes in a cataclysmic display of nature’s dynamic forces. The process began 90 million years ago. Commercial interest in this finely powdered volcanic ash did not begin until about 1910. Significant tonnage was not utilized until after the end of the Second World War. Two of Greybull’s major industries, M-I SWACO and Wyo-Ben, mine and process bentonite for use in other industries.
Basin: (county seat)
The town of Basin (pop. 1,180) was established in 1896. In 1897, when it was still known as Basin City, the town engaged in a newspaper duel with neighboring Otto and Cody over which fledgling community would become the county seat. Basin won by 38 votes. The County Courthouse was built in 1918 and remains in use today. Basin’s struggle for civilization created a rich history of tumultuous events, including the locally famous “Raid on the Jail” in 1903.
Apparently, the cases of two murderers being held in the Basin Jail were not being prosecuted to the satisfaction of a certain segment of townspeople who formed a mob, and one night in July of 1903, broke into the jail and shot the two murderers and one lawman.
Basin also was the location of the most important murder trial in BigHornCounty history. The 1909 trial marked the end of a violent range war that had festered and flared between Wyoming cattlemen and sheepmen for nearly twenty years In Basin, seven men were indicted for the murders of three sheepmen near the town of Ten Sleep.
Two Civil War cannons, mounted on caissons, adorn the front entry of the Big Horn County Library, located next to the County Courthouse on West C Street. The cannons, furnished to Battery B of the National Guard for drill and training purposes in 1903, became a source of controversy and confrontation. In 1911 the government ordered them destroyed, but an active group of area Civil War veterans successfully fought to have them preserved as a memorial to the Civil War. Several historic buildings still remain in Basin which celebrated its 100th birthday in 1996. Known as the “LilacCity,” Basin remains an agricultural hub of the Big Horn Basin and hosts the Big HornCounty Fair each August.
Burlington
A colony of Mormon settlers built the town of Burlington in 1893. Because they had little money, they had to dig the irrigation ditches by hand. They harvested their first crops in 1895. Named for the Burlington Railroad in 1893, the Mormon colony’s hopes were that the railroad would make Burlington a large town. These hopes never materialized. A thriving farming and ranching community did develop in the area. Watch for the llamas and ostriches at Wayfaring Traveler Ranch. Burlington is 24 miles southwest of Greybull. From Highway 16-20, turn south onto Highway 32.
Emblem
To serve the surrounding farming community, a post office named “Emblem” can be found about 17 miles west of Greybull on US Hwy 14-16-20. This area was first settled in the early spring of 1899, when a group of approximately 30 German Lutheran colonists, who had been living in the western parts of South Dakota and Nebraska, set out for Northern Wyoming. After a difficult journey, the men began clearing brush from new farm land and working to finish construction of the “Bench Canal.” Several months later, after their wives and children had joined them, a post office named “Germania” was opened to serve the colonists. During World War I, there was intense controversy over the name “Germania,” so to show their patriotism, the community changed its name to “Liberty Bench. The U.S. Post Office Department rejected that name, saying there were already too many communities using the name “Liberty, so the name “Emblem” was selected.
Today there are still several descendants of the original colonists farming there, and the Zion Lutheran Church celebrated its 100th birthday in 1999. Travelers will see several kinds of crops on the farmland west of Greybull, including sugar beets, Pinto beans, alfalfa seed, and malting barley.
Manderson
When the first settlers began coming into the Big Horn Basin, crossing large streams without bridges often proved treacherous. In 1890, William Shafer built a ferry to cross the Big HornRiver near where a trail forded it at the mouth of the Nowood River. He named his small settlement, located on the hill just west of the Big Horn, “Alamo.” A small post office operated at Alamo until 1901.
In 1906, when the Burlington Railroad constructed a line up the Big Horn River Valley, their real estate partners, the Lincoln Land Company, platted a townsite on the east side of the Big Horn near the mouth of the Nowood. It was named “Manderson,” in honor of the chief legal counsel for the railroad.
In 1908, the railroad subsidized construction of a public bridge at Manderson, and the Lincoln Land Company built a large stone building to serve as a nucleus to attract businessmen. For a time the town thrived, but when better roads enabled shoppers to begin traveling to Basin and Worland and after three disastrous fires, most businesses in the town were not rebuilt.
Today, the small town of Manderson, located 12 miles south of Basin on US Highway 16-20, has only a bar downtown, and another bar/cafe along the highway where many local farmers and ranchers gather. In addition, there is a town hall, and school buses bring many students to Manderson to attend the large middle school located there.
Hyattville
Hyattville,located 22 miles east of Manderson on State Highway 31, is surrounded by ranches. It was established in 1886 at the junction of Medicine Lodge and Paintrock Creeks and has served as a gathering center for people for at least 8,000 years
Early area pioneer Samuel Hyatt started a store and the first post office and Hyattville was renamed for him.Although the store was destroyed by fire in 1900, Hyatt remained in the area and became a rancher.
MedicineLodgeState Archaeological Site
About five miles northeast of Hyattville along Hwy 31, on Medicine Lodge Creek, early inhabitants left behind a legacy of ancient petroglyphs (rock carvings) and pictographs (rock paintings). The area was first called Paintrock for Indian Pictographs found on a nearby cliff. MedicineLodgeState Archaeological Site has been a major archaeological site since 1969. It has revealed over 60 cultural levels spanning some 10,000 years of human occupation. Interpretive signs at the base of the red sandstone cliff and exhibits in a log cabin visitor center explain the archaeological discoveries and the surrounding habitat area. Visitors here can also enjoy hiking, fishing, mountain biking, picnicing, and camping.
Otto
The tiny town of Otto, located on State Hwy 30 about 11 miles southwest of Greybull, has the distinction of being the first townsite surveyed in the Big Horn Basin. Frank Woods filed the plat at Lander, then the location of the county seat, in April 1888. Hoping to appease Otto Frank, a cattle baron whose livestock ranged up and down the entire length of the GreybullRiverValley, Woods named his new town “Otto.” By 1896, Otto had almost 400 residents and was the largest town in this region. In November 1896, when an election was held to select a county seat for the newly created Big Horn County, Otto lost out by a mere 61votes to an upstart town named “Basin.” Within a few months, most of Otto’s businesses had moved 12 miles east to Basin.
Painted Desert Resort, near Otto, provides five reservoirs stocked with trout and anglers will be delighted to know that no fishing license is required
McCulloughPeaks Wild Horse Herd
The wild horse herd that moved onto BLM and visible along Highway 14,16, 20 between Greybull and Cody in the last few years is sometimes referred to as the McColloughPeak herd.
The McColloughPeaks are directly west of this area. The herd is easily recognizable by the “Paints”, horses whose coats have several colors mixed together in big blotches. Some say these horses are descendents of the performing horses turned loose from Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show after his death.
Others tell of the possibility that they are a mixture of native horses with some of the 7th Cavalry’s horses, taken and then abandoned by the fleeing tribes after the ill fated Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1875. Whichever you choose to consider, they are beautiful animals that offer a unique opportunity for viewing. Different families (one stallion with one or more mares) can often be seen grazing (on your right, if headed west to Cody) on Highway 14,16, 20 about 20 miles west of Greybull and continuing for about 15 miles.
Medicine Wheel Archaelogical Site:
American Indian spiritual leaders still conduct ceremonies here and visitors are asked not to remove offerings or disturb American Indians using the site for prayer or fasting. It has also become a site where others seeking spiritual recognition have left symbolic materials on the fence that
surrounds and protects the remnants of the wheel.
The Medicine Wheel Archaelogocial Site was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970 and sits above the forest line at 9,642 feet. A reminder: you will have to walk approximately three miles (round trip) from the parking lot to the site to view the remnants of the huge spoked wheel. This also includes an interpretive sign, restroom facilities, and an awesome birds-eye view of the surrounding forest that is in itself well worth the trip.For more information, contact the Medicine Wheel Ranger District of the Bighorn National Forest (307/548-6541).
Lovell
Called the Rose City of Wyoming, Lovell has four city rose gardens as well as roses abounding in many residential yards. Lovell has two attractive and interesting murals in a downtown park on their main street. One exhibits a historical perspective of the military and is located within the Lovell Veteran’s Memorial Park.
The second mural is a collage of the Pryor Mountain Wild Horses and Big Horn Canyon. If you go into Lovell to look at these two murals, be sure to take a look at the historic Hyatt Movie Theatre on the way. This theatre has recently been re-opened on a limited basis, has seating for 1,000, and has the largest screen in the area.
If you drive into Lovell, you will need to return on Main Street and head east out of town on Highway 310 to return to Greybull. Along the way, on Highway 310, you will have a vista view of Sheep Mountain, an interesting anticline well known to worldwide geologists. Highway 310 will meet Highway 14,16, 20 three miles west of Greybull.
CHURCHES:
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FirstBaptistChurch |
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First Presbyterian Church |
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Grace Fellowship (Seventh Day Adventist) |
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Grace Southern Baptist |
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Grace Lutheran |
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Greybull Alliance |
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Latter Day Saints, Greybull Ward |
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Sacred Heart (Catholic) Church |
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St. Andrews Episcopal |
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Seventh Day Adventist |
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ShellCommunityChurch |
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United Methodist |
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Peace Lutheran |
VOLUNTEERS
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