Guest Posts on County 10 are provided by contributors and the opinions, thoughts, and comments within are their own and may not necessarily reflect those of County 10.
In traveling around Fremont County, you notice a lot of unique names. In the course of writing a series on the history of the county over the last couple of years I’ve often encountered the meaning of the place names we take for granted.
It begets the question, “What’s in a name?”
I’ll start with the area that currently generates the most revenue in our area, Lysite. The little railroad town with the store once owned by J.B. Oakie gets its name from Jim Lysaght, a prospector killed in a battle with a Sioux war party 1876. The name was rewritten for easier pronunciation.
Prospecting, especially for gold, was once an adventure on the Badwater. Lost Cabin, the original Oakie property, takes its name from the legend of a lost gold mine that mysteriously disappeared sometime between 1868 and 1883.
Moneta, once a town on the Chicago North Western railroad, but now a private residence has multiple roots, none of them substantiated. One is the Italian word for coin, another the Shoshone word for running water, and the most likely a town in Iowa.
Some are obvious, Shoshoni is just an alternative spelling of Shoshone. Boysen Reservoir is named for the original, failed dam builder, Asmus Boysen, and Riverton, which was never named Wadsworth, was chosen since the Big and Little Wind Rivers meet here.
Many are named for people.
Hudson was originally named Alta, a native word for fast water, it changed to Hudson in 1909 when land owned by John G. Hudson was used to start the town.
Lander was originally named Push Root but renamed in honor of Gen. Francis W. Lander who led a survey expedition to the area in 1857. Lander served as aide to Gen. McClellan in Civil War. He found the “Lander Route” from Burnt Ranch to Fort Hall, Oregon. The western artist Albert Bierstadt was on expedition with him.
Ft. Washakie was originally called Camp Brown. The post of the 2nd U.S. Cavalry, the “Buffalo Soldiers.” It was renamed Ft. Washakie in 1878 in honor of the great Shoshone chief
Kinnear was the home of Napolean Bonaparte Kinner, early settler on the Wind River and just a few miles to the west, Morton was named after Joy and Paul Morton, owners of Morton Salt of Utah by a friend.
Pavillion takes its name from a nearby butte that early surveyors called Pavillion Butte because they thought it looked like one
Crowheart was named after the battle between Washakie and Crow Chief Big Robber on top of the nearby butte where Washakie won and ate Big Robber’s heart.
One of the funniest names was Never Sweat, a sarcastic name created by early settlers in the High Country. A post application as Never Sweat was denied in 1886 and reapplied in honor of US Senator Dubois of Idaho, a supporter of small homesteaders
That same spirit lives on in Dubois. They don’t call it Never Sweat today, but I have friends that live up there who frequently describe it as “Poverty with a View.”
Burris was named by first postmaster Mrs. Allen Morris after her first husband Burris
The Sweetwater River got its name in 1823 when General William Ashley’s men thought it tasted sweet after drinking alkali water previously
Sweetwater Station, on the river, was a pony express and stage stop.
Beaver Rim was named after nearby Beaver Creek, once a rich beaver trapping area.
South Pass is one of the oldest names in Fremont County, getting its title from Jedediah Smith in 1824, since it is the farthest southern pass through the Rocky Mountains.
Another early explorer was Captain Benjamin Bonneville. The mountain and the town were named in honor after he explored the area in 1832.
Arapahoe, with an alternative spelling from the more common Arapaho was named by John Burnet, first postmaster in 1880.
Ocean Lake is a bit of an exaggeration, as one of the last reservoirs created in Fremont County.
Lake Cameahwait, better known as Bass Lake, was also a late arriving reservoir. It was named in honor of Sacajawea’s brother.
Legend has it that a band of Shoshone hunters chased a white bull buffalo into the upper stretches of Bull Lake, giving the lake and the creek below it its unique name.
What was once Campbell’s Fork of the upper Wind River became Dinwoody Creek in 1911. It was named after Lt. William A. Dinwoody who was an officer stationed at Ft. Washakie.
The three most mispronounced names in Fremont County are in order, Popo Agie, Ethete and Washakie. Does anyone else get a laugh when a tourist asks about the “Poopoo Agee?” or where “Ete he tee is located?” or asks for the history of Chief “Waa Shock ee?” It’s humorous to us, but they’re just asking a question.
Episcopal missionaries were told “Ethete” means good in Arapaho, so they named the unincorporated community with the only exclusive stop light on the entire Wind River Reservation by that name. Fluent Arapaho speakers should tell me if that’s true.
The Popo Agie comes to us from the Crow tribe’s word for headwaters, Popozha. It’s a natural jump to Popo Agie in pronunciation but has no connection to French trappers which many people mistakenly assumed it came from. The Shoshone word, Wamzegara, also meaning headwaters, never caught on.
Pilot Butte, above Pilot Butte Reservoir, also known as Morton Lake, was a landmark on the trail west to Jackson Hole.
Goes in Lodge Road also brought questions from contractors when I worked at Wyoming Indian and Arapahoe. They thought it was a route to some Arapaho ceremonial ground. It’s not, it’s in named in honor of the great Arapaho War Chief, Goes in Lodge, who earned the name by sneaking silently into a Crow camp, killing two Crow warriors and sneaking out without ever being noticed.
One time a contractor trying to find the District 38 administration building at Arapahoe called me asking directions. The main road to the school from 17 Mile Road was under construction and the detour took you on C’Hair Lane.
The guy called me again, slightly panicked.
“I can’t find See Hair Lane, the only road near your directions is Chair Lane,” he said.
I said, “Take a closer look, it’s C apostrophe Hair, C’Hair.”
He found it and asked what that strange name, (in his opinion) meant. I asked a couple of Arapaho friends and they told me it was short, for Curly Hair.
Fair enough.
We don’t just live in a unique area of the planet, we name our landmarks, towns, lakes, rivers and roads in a unique manner as well.