It was unclaimed territory, like much of the American West before the Chicago North Western began its westward trek from Casper towards Lander in 1904. The CN&W (Chicago North Western) was still benefiting from various land grant acts passed by Congress in the late 1800s.
Those grants gave the railroad 10 square miles of land for every mile of track on opposite sides.
The CN&W had a large section from Badwater Creek south to Muskrat on the eastern shore of the Wind River.
The Wind River was the eastern boundary of the Wind River Reservation in 1905. There was money to be made, and the CN&W quickly set up a sale for lots in a new town on the edge of the Reservation. Officials at the CN&W knew that the portion of the Wind River Reservation north of the Wind River would soon be opened to homesteading via the McLaughlin Agreement, and so did dozens of businessmen, mostly from Casper.
Burlington Post – August 31, 1905
New Town Is Shoshoni.
“It has been finally decided that the new town which is to be built at the end of the western extension of the Northwestern will be called Shoshoni, spelling it with a final “i” instead of the usual “e,” says the Douglas Budget.
It has been platted and the first lots will be sold this week. Already a hotel and a dozen business houses, including no less than four saloons, are projected, which will be opened up just as soon as the buildings can be erected, most of which will be built by people from Casper.”
A sale was held for the platted lots, and buyers lined up. Charles H. King, the man who pushed the CN&W west, and who had lucrative freight and passenger service between Casper, Lander and the headquarters of the Wind River Reservation at Fort Washakie, was the biggest buyer.
King purchased five prime lots on the surveyed Main and First Streets in a town that was just a vast expanse of sagebrush. He paid $2900 for the lots, almost $110,000 today.
King immediately began constructing a two-story stone building that would become the First National Bank of Shoshoni and, later, the famous Yellowstone Drug Store, which served customers well into the 21st century.
King built a lumber yard, a freight service, and a dry goods store all on the west side of Main Street.
Main Street ran north to south, just as the major streets in Casper had. The numbered streets, first, second, third etc.., all ran east to west.
King commanded the northwest corner of the rapidly growing Shoshoni business district.
On the east side of Main Street, his main financial competition, the Wind River National Bank, anchored the corner of Main and First on the southeast corner.
King built with stone; all the businesses on the east side of Main Street were one- or two-story wood-frame buildings.
Business was tremendous in the fall and early winter of 1905.
Cody Enterprise October 25, 1905
Shoshoni.
“Probably the longest team of freight wagons and horses that ever left Casper pulled out last Monday morning for Shoshoni. There were twenty-two horses and five wagons, loaded with lumber for the new town. Pete Hansen was in charge of the train and he made the turns around the corners with as much grace and ease as some people could with a single horse. The lumber is to be used for the new buildings which are now being built at Shoshoni. Casper Tribune.”
The rails were just a few miles west of Casper in October of 1905; freight wagons still delivered goods across the open prairie that separated the Platte from the Wind River.
Businesses began to spring up like mushrooms after a summer rain. First, Second, and Third Streets were mostly canvas tent businesses. The businesses lining both sides of Main Street were either wood on the east or stone on the west, permanent structures.
Saloons were big business; three sprang up on the east side of Main Street in 1905. Williams Saloon, Burkes Saloon, and Johnson’s Saloon.
Hargroves Pool Hall served alcohol, as did the Hotel Marie. There may have been a huge abstinence movement back east, but it didn’t have much traction in the wild and woolly western town of Shoshoni.
There were more traditional businesses as well on the east side of Main Street. Reamy’s Barber Shop, Ballard’s Hide House, and the Ballard and Beck Restaurant. It was a bustling, 24-hour-a-day life on Main Street in Shoshoni in the winter of 1905-1906.
When the railroad arrived, the action went up exponentially.
Shoshoni was a crossroads town in 1906 and remains one 120 years later. It was trails, stage and freight routes and finally a pair of railroads in the early 20th century; today it’s US Highway 20/26, with the little town still a crossroads community.
Thermopolis Record May 26, 1906
“J. D. Pelham and C. L. Pelham have put on a tri-weekly stage line from Thermopolis to Shoshoni, making their initial trip the first of this week. The post office at Birdseye will now be supplied with mail regularly. Although the post office department has let no contract on this route, the managers of the stage company have enough interest in the welfare of the country through which they will carry the mail that they will carry the mail without compensation until such time as a contract is let. It is hoped that we may receive mail from the east over this route, this avoiding the rotten service we have been getting over the Never Sweat line.”
People took notice of the booming little expanse of prairie across the state and throughout the Rocky Mountains.
Cody Enterprise – November 2, 1905
Shoshoni Rapidly Growing.
“Casper Tribune: Henry L. Schultz and Ed. H. Ryan arrived in Casper the latter part of last week from Shoshoni, where each of the gentlemen have erected business houses, and they were the first to be completed in the new town. They had a picture of the new town with them, which shows the many new buildings in course of construction and many tents where business is being carried on until the buildings can be completed. They say a great many people are coming in and every line of business will be well represented before the reservation is opened for settlement.
Like the boom towns of Leadville, Tombstone and Elko, Shoshoni’s businessmen saw nothing but advancement and profit in their future.
Saloons were big business in Shoshoni – Shoshoni Capital Advertisements
The future wasn’t so kind.
RIVERTON REPUBLIC
Riverton, Wyoming, Mar. 21, 1908
SHOSHONI FIRE
Neighboring Town Loses Half of Her Main Business Section.
Postoffice, Telephone Building, Wind River Bank and Others Consumed by Flames that Broke Out Early Monday Morning.
“The entire east side of Main street of Shoshoni, between First and Second streets, was destroyed by fire Monday morning. Valiant work was done by the volunteer fire department and all was done by the citizens that it was possible to do under the circumstances.
A majority of the buildings destroyed were among the largest in town, among them being the post office, the telephone building, Marie Hotel, Wind River Bank, Davidson building, Williams Saloon, Hargrave Pool room, Ed. Burk saloon, the Famous Clothing Store, the Ryan building and many others.
The cause of the fire is unknown but it is presumed to have started in the rear of Ed. Burk’s saloon at about four o’clock that morning. With the exception of this place of business and the Marie Hotel all the merchants managed to save most of their fixtures and goods. The federal employees managed, by heroic work, to save all the mail and post office fixtures.
The total loss suffered by the Shoshoni merchants and property owners amounts to about $95,000 with about $11,000 insurance to cover the amount.
With business conditions in this section almost at a standstill, Shoshoni now comes to the front and shows the splendid faith and nerve of her citizens. Work has commenced on the Ballard building. Chas. Berger, A. O. Hyer and the Wind River Bank are all planning to build immediately in brick. The Ballard building will be of frame construction but modern applications will be used making it almost fireproof.
The attitude of the Shoshoni merchants is one to be admired, after sustaining a loss, severe in itself to any town during its most prosperous times, they are within a week afterwards erecting and planning fine and more modern structures to meet the future demands of their locality.
The Shoshoni fire brings up the old question of fire walls. These walls more than pay for themselves in the reduction of insurance rates, and in case of such a fire, as the Shoshoni blaze, are the saving of thousands of dollars.”
The east side of Main Street didn’t exist after the fire. There was time for the merchants to pull most of their inventory into the street, but the firefighting capability available in the early 20th century couldn’t compete with dry wood, whipped into a firestorm by high winds blowing in from the west.
The downtown was devastated.
In times like these, there are two types of people. Those that have had enough and move on, and those who are resilient and rebuild. Talk is cheap when it comes to starting over, but bordering on a miracle, the businessmen of Shoshoni didn’t budge. They came back and rebuilt, this time with brick and stone on the east side of Main Street. Wyoming took notice.
Sheridan Post – March 24, 1908
BETTER THAN EVER
Shoshoni to be Rebuilt, Probably with Cement Structures.
“The Shoshoni Capital-Gazette, in speaking of the rebuilding of Shoshoni, says the town will be rebuilt and better than ever. It says:
Practically all who suffered from the fire are already making arrangements to rebuild on a more extensive and substantial basis than before. Several plans have been suggested for putting in brick blocks, and either brick, cement or stone will undoubtedly be the material used for the new structures. The best plan we have heard suggested and the one which seems to be gaining most support among the business men is a proposal from C. C. F. King, roadmaster west of Casper, to put up a solid block of twelve business houses with plate glass and brick fronts, with cement walls and back walls, with concrete walks in front. These buildings would all be 25×50 feet, unless otherwise desired, and Mr. King estimates they could be constructed at a total cost of $10,000 for the entire twelve buildings. This very reasonable cost would seem to be largely due to the fact that the C. & N. W. railway has offered free transportation of material and the Boysen company has offered the free use of their crushers for the cement. This would enable each lot holder to have a first class business house at a cost of only about $850 or $900 and would certainly seem a most excellent plan. The idea is being received very favorably by all concerned.
Mr. Ballard has stopped work on his building to await the outcome. It would certainly be a repetition of the fabled Phoenix and Shoshoni would rise at once from her ashes to a great and more prosperous city of the plains that she has ever been. And she will rise, if not on this plan, then on some other. She numbers as her citizens men who are not discouraged or deterred even though the angry flames devour the greater portion of their earthly possessions, and we predict that six months from now will not only see Shoshoni back where it was before the fire, but advanced far beyond it and marching steadily forward to the place she must some time occupy, the metropolis of the great state of Wyoming.”
In the year following the disastrous fire, the Shawver Hotel took the place of the Wind River National Bank and lasted until 2018. Next door was the Heyer and Berger Building. A grocery store, movie theater, a couple of restaurants, and Nick’s Bar soon rose from the ashes as well.
Shoshoni was back.
In later years, parking meters were added along the east side of Main Street.
The west side caught fire in 1925, destroying or damaging a half-dozen businesses.
The east side remained intact.
It boomed in the late 1940s and early 50s with the construction of the new Boysen Dam but began to fall on hard times.
On a summer night in 1978, a fire started above Nick’s Bar on the south side of Main Street, and businesses closed for good.
The east side of Main Street was razed in 2018, and a park with a basketball court and children’s playground stands where the businessmen of Shoshoni dreamed of their fortunes over a century before.
The only thing that remains is the forlorn wind blowing in from the Mountains to the west.