The fare was questionable, and modern diners wouldn’t even sit at the table. Tough beef, questionable gravy, maybe a can or two of vegetables, and maybe potatoes fried in bacon grease is what awaited most travelers across the West.
Bull Springs, the dinner stop on the way north from Rawlins to Fort Washakie, was an example of what an early restaurant had to offer in the vastness of the Wyoming Wilderness.
The primary item on the menu was beef, though on occasion, elk, deer, or antelope might be served if the station master had managed to harvest one. The beef was either roasted over an open fire in the hearth or baked in Dutch ovens set in the coals of the fireplace. A steady supply of sourdough batter was ready to make bread each morning, but with sugar being an expensive commodity, molasses was the sweetener to get the dough going. Alongside the beef and bread were canned vegetables, ordered and delivered once a month from Rawlins. Fresh vegetables were a rarity, though potatoes and carrots often appeared at the table. Sometimes there were pies to share, but usually, the dessert was canned peaches. The water from the spring was fresh, but the well at the station had a strong, alkaline taste. A not-so-subtle warning about this came from the student author describing part of this afternoon meal.
The Indian Guide, February 1897
“The plains beef, bread and canned vegetables will be served with but a little attempt at display, and a cup of strong coffee or tea will terminate the repast. Water from the well will be seen on the table, but even the seasoned aborigines pronounce it not good, and the passengers had better not drink of it.” Lunch cost 50 cents. While the passengers ate, the driver and station manager switched the horses, and in about half an hour, the coach was back on the trail.”
Aside from the oyster specials in Lander and a few more offerings at Rawlins once refrigerated freight cars arrived, this was the menu across Wyoming.
Jerry Sheehan opened a popular café in the Fremont Hotel in 1895 to joyous acclaim. Others sprang up along Lander’s Main Street over the next decade.
A trend that continues to the present began on the dusty streets of 1890s Lander. Restaurants came and went with such frequency that regular customers never materialized. Instead, “Under New Management” in the local newspaper became a common sight. Cooks and owners changed locations, went to work in different hotels, or tried their hand in a leased building somewhere along Main Street.
Examples were Merrill’s New Restaurant in the Harrison Building on Main Street. They offered meals for 25 cents and were open 24 hours a day.
The Bridge Hotel, once managed by Sheehan, offered the same quarter-dollar menu with cigars and a fully stocked liquor store as incentives.
Feeding on the sweet tooth of early Lander, the Lander Bakery and Restaurant opened at 7am, closed at 10pm, and offered pies and cakes on demand, plus seven loaves of bread for just 50 cents.
The Lander Hotel, and eventually the Noble Hotel in 1919, had large dining rooms and fully stocked kitchens available for both guests and walk-in customers.
When the railroad arrived in Shoshoni in 1906, there were already established cafes on Main Street that ran at a right angle from the Shoshoni Depot.
From 1906 to 1908 when the business district burned to the ground, restaurants abounded in Shoshoni. Beginning as simple canvas wall tents with an outside stove, they quickly transformed into wooden structures. There were dozens of cafes, diners, and restaurants in the first years of Shoshoni.
Short orders day and night was the motto of the Shoshoni Chile Parlor, which opened in February 1906. The Club was a rival on the doomed east side of Main Street. The Club was a round-the-clock restaurant specializing in short orders and dishes in season. It was a meat-and-potatoes operation for most of the year.
The Elkhorn, on the first floor of the Elkhorn Hotel, advertised first-class meals and catered to travelers with an adjacent livery stable and corrals.
City Bakery had a restaurant as a side business, with their main income coming from pies, cakes, donuts, and fresh bread.
The Pioneer was north of Main Street on the road to Birds Eye Pass. It was a boarding house first, but had a restaurant for both boarders and the public.
The fire of 1908 changed the look and layout of Shoshoni restaurants, with some rebuilt along the destroyed street, but many more opening on the road from Casper to the new town of Riverton.
Riverton had a flurry of early cafes following the town’s opening in August 1906. By January of 1908, over a dozen restaurants had come and gone.
The booming agricultural town had niche cafes trying to corner bits of the market. The Legal Tender Saloon was a popular location for ranchers and farmers, offering liberal alcohol and cigars along with a fully staffed dining room.
The Highland Café had a freezer and offered a rare luxury in the early 20th century, ice cream, along with a skilled short-order cook.
The Club Café advertised as the “Only First Class” restaurant in town and backed that claim up by offering dinners at 35 cents, a dime higher than other establishments.
One of Riverton’s first and best-known hotels, the Wind River, located where the Lapeyre is today, had a popular dining room on the first floor.
The Lobmier Café specialized in breakfast and was open 24 hours a day. The clientele varied from families at lunch to drunks wandering in during the wee hours of the morning to offset too much whiskey with an order of bacon and eggs.
The Riverton Hotel, the Lapeyre, and eventually the Teton all had dining rooms. The owners and managers had a constant battle to keep a manager, cook, and wait staff on hand. A problem that remains in Riverton today.
The Dickey Café leaned toward single working men with an offer of 21 meals a week for just six dollars. That was a savings over the usual price of 35 cents a meal and was popular among railroad workers and tie hacks during season.
The Lunch Counter and the Elkhorn Hotel each experienced a brief popularity, but the unstable Wyoming economy eventually did them in.
Modern chain restaurants have met the same fate, despite nationwide advertising and a large customer base. Once popular chains are either out of business entirely or have filed for bankruptcy and are trying to make a comeback.
Sizzler, Steak n Shake, Hooters, JBs, Red Lobster, TGI Fridays, On the Border, and the Outback Steakhouse all made meteoric rises only to fall when times became hard. Some remain, some do not.
By the 1920s, refrigeration and electricity began to change the restaurant scene. The Chicago North Western delivered fresh fish, oysters, and vegetables from the East Coast, and local producers filled the kitchen with fresh beef, pork, chicken, and lamb. Locally processed cheese, milk, and cream, and bread brought in each morning from bakeries in Casper gave the dining experience of a century ago a very familiar look to modern diners.
Finding a good place to eat remains a popular pastime in Fremont County.