Thursday, October 9, 2025
When we travel we look down the road for possible places to stay around 250 miles from our present location and on our preferred route. Our preferred route as we head towards home is Interstate 80 as it will take us to within a mile of our home. Pretty convenient eh?
We drive past Wamsutter (290 souls). This town is in the Red Desert, a basin where none of its water runs to the ocean. It’s also on the Continental Divide.
The next “community” is Point of Rocks (3, yes, 3 souls). Point of Rocks may be tiny yet it sports a museum inside the Conoco Fueling Station.
And then we come to Rock Springs (23,456 souls). The town is built in a narrow canyon and I don’t know why. This area is natural gas and petroleum rich. Rock Springs derives its name from a rock spring which flowed in the Number 6 district in the northern part of town. An account said that the spring was found by a lost Pony Express rider, but the spring station was known to Jim Bridger before 1860; the Overland Stage station was located nearby. The spring disappeared when the coal mine operations interrupted the underground flow.
Next community is Green River (11,825 souls). The city is the seat of Sweetwater County. The Union Pacific Railroad reached Green River on October 1, 1868, and was supposed to be the site of a division point for the railroad. Railroad officials were surprised to find that a town of 2000 residents and permanent adobe buildings had been established there, likely requiring costly negotiations for railroad land. They moved the division point 12 miles (19 km) west, creating the town of Bryan, on the Blacks Fork of the Green River. Just when Green River was on the verge of becoming a ghost town, Blacks Fork dried up during a drought and the railroad was forced to move the division point back to Green River to ensure adequate water for its steam locomotives. Bryan became the ghost town.
Excerpt from Wikipedia: The Green River Basin contains the world’s largest known deposit of trona ore. Soda ash mining from trona veins 900 and 1,600 feet (490 m) deep is a major industrial activity in the area, employing over 2000 persons at five mines. The mining operation is less expensive for production of soda ash in the United States than the synthetic Solvay process, which predominates in the rest of the world. The trona in Sweetwater County was created by an ancient body of water known as Lake Gosiute. Over time, the lake shrank. With the loss of outflows, highly alkaline water (salt brine) began to evaporate, depositing the beds of trona (a natural source of sodium bicarbonate).
We come to Little America. Built in 1952 along the old alignment of U.S. Route 30 which was also the Lincoln Highway, the first road across America, the property began with two fuel pumps, a 24-seat café, and 12 guest rooms. Today the location has 140 rooms and expanded gas pumps for both truck drivers and travelers. For a number of years this location had the world’s largest filling station based on the number of pumps in operation – 55 in all. Little America grew into hotels from Cheyenne Wyoming to Flagstaff Arizona. The properties are owned by Robert Earl Holding’s family who’s worth is 4.3 billion dollars.
Evanston was founded during the construction of the first transcontinental railroad. The railroad arrived in the area in November 1868, and Harvey Booth opened a saloon/restaurant in a tent near what is now Front Street. By December the rails had reached Evanston and the first train arrived December 16. However, orders were later handed down by the railroad managers to move the end of the line 12 miles west, to Wahsatch. Within three days, most all of Evanston had moved to Wasatch. It appeared that Evanston would become another “end of the tracks” town. In June 1869 headquarters returned to Evanston and it continued to grow.[10] Later in 1871, a machine shop and roundhouse were constructed, giving Evanston a longevity not shared by many other railroad towns. The town was founded during the construction of the first transcontinental railroad. The railroad arrived in the area in November 1868, and Harvey Booth opened a saloon/restaurant in a tent near what is now Front Street. By December the rails had reached Evanston and the first train arrived December 16. However, orders were later handed down by the railroad managers to move the end of the line 12 miles west, to Wahsatch. Within three days, most all of Evanston had moved to Wasatch. It appeared that Evanston would become another “end of the tracks” town. In June 1869 headquarters returned to Evanston and it continued to grow.[10] Later in 1871, a machine shop and roundhouse were constructed, giving Evanston a longevity not shared by many other railroad towns. The town was founded during the construction of the first transcontinental railroad. The railroad arrived in the area in November 1868, and Harvey Booth opened a saloon/restaurant in a tent near what is now Front Street. By December the rails had reached Evanston and the first train arrived December 16. However, orders were later handed down by the railroad managers to move the end of the line 12 miles west, to Wahsatch. Within three days, most all of Evanston had moved to Wasatch. It appeared that Evanston would become another “end of the tracks” town. In June 1869 headquarters returned to Evanston and it continued to grow.[10] Later in 1871, a machine shop and roundhouse were constructed, giving Evanston a longevity not shared by many other railroad towns. Evanston underwent massive growth and change during an oil boom in the 1980s. Recent drilling for natural gas has also revitalized the economy of the area
Travel With Jil and Mike 