SECTION 6 SOUTHEAST AREA INCLUDING CHEYENNE, LARAMIE, TORRINGTON, WHEATLAND, LUSK AND GLENROCK resulting Indian troubles had been settled in the white man’s favor, the fort became a stage stop on the Cheyenne to Deadwood Stage Route and then S became known as Hat Creek Station. The general T OUTHEAST store/roadhouse built in the 1880s, after the origi- ORRINGTON nal building burned, still stands, and the entire station is in the process of being restored. The site is located about 15 miles northeast of Lusk off US Highway 18-85. A , W REA H Fort Hat Creek HEATLAND About 14 mi N of Lusk on U.S. Hwy 18/85 I NCLUDING In 1875 soldiers went from Fort Laramie to estab- lish an outpost on Hat Creek in Nebraska. Confused, they bilt a fort of logs on Sage Creek in Wyoming. The gold rush to the Black , L C USK AND Hills started the Cheyenne-Deadwood Stage HEYENNE Route in 1876. Bullwhackers freighting salt pork and whiskey to Deadwood, armored coaches hauling gold G bricks and passengers to Cheyenne, Indians, and , L LENROCK road agents brought adventure to Hat Creek Stage ARAMIE station. A two story log structure was built near the fort for a telegraph station, post office, black- smith shop, hotel and store. This building, still standing and used as a , ranch home, is two miles east and one mile south. Source: Wyoming Recreation Commission. Food, Lodging State Capitol Building 4 Lusk Creek. The fort also known as Camp Hat Creek, Pop. 1,447, Elev. 5,015 1 No services was built by the Army in 1875, under the leader- As the county seat of the least populous county in Redbird ship of Captain James Egin on the banks of Sage Wyoming, Lusk contains over half of the people Creek. The group thought they were at Hat Section 6 The owner of the store out of which the post living in Niobrara County. Each person in the Creek, Nebraska, hence the name. First estab- office ran here was named Red Bird. county is matched by 524 acres of land. The oil lished as a sub-post of Fort Laramie, its purpose industry once created a boom and bust cycle was to secure communications to the Black Hills. around here, but the town has returned to its No services 2 The first mission was to discourage settlers and agricultural roots to thrive. The economy has also prospectors from sneaking illegally into the Black been boosted by an influx of retail, service, and Lance Creek Hills. Custer found gold there in 1874 and a rush governmental employers. Native Americans used the wood from ash trees was on, in spite of Fort Hat Creek. After the Named for Frank Lusk, an early rancher who that grew along the creek here for arrows and donated land for the town to be established, Lusk spears, or “lances”, as the early European explor- was once a stop on the Cheyenne Deadwood ers called them. Thus the name. The town of the Stage Line. It is also close to the Texas Trail, a same name grew up around the oil industry. This route commonly used by cattle ranchers moving is also one of the first places dinosaur bones stock from Texas to Wyoming, Montana, and the were unearthed in Wyoming, in the 1880s, Dakotas to take advantage of the open range. although there is nothing to commemorate the Ranching continues to be one of the area’s pri- finds at present. mary economic bases, as well as oil production and dry farming. No services 3 Node T Fort Hat Creek Stage Station Originally a post office and store named for a cat- U.S. Hwy 85, 13.5 mi N of Lusk tle brand. The Fort Hat Creek Stage Station is 15 miles Van Tassell northeast of Lusk off US Highway 18-85, near the Schuyler Van Tassell, a major rancher in the area, border from Nebraska, on the banks of Sage Fort Hat Creek Stage Station objected to having a railroad station named after Lusk Jan Feb March April May June July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual Average Max. Temperature (F) 35.4 39.6 45.9 56.5 66.4 77.3 85.9 84.6 74.8 61.7 46.3 37.6 59.3 Average Min. Temperature (F) 11.0 15.1 20.0 28.8 38.3 47.3 53.3 51.2 41.2 31.1 20.9 13.5 31.0 Average Total Precipitation (in.) 0.51 0.54 0.96 2.11 2.78 2.50 1.74 1.07 1.21 1.03 0.63 0.55 15.63 Average Total SnowFall (in.) 7.3 7.1 9.7 8.9 1.9 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.5 2.6 6.2 7.5 51.8 Average Snow Depth (in.) 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 1 www.ultimatewyoming.com 325 SECTION 6 NORTH All Wyoming Area Codes are 307 Section 6 326 Ultimate Wyoming Atlas and Travel Encyclopedia S T OUTHEAST ORRINGTON A , W REA HEATLAND I NCLUDING , L C USK AND HEYENNE SECTION 6 G SOUTH , L LENROCK ARAMIE of George Lathrop, pioneer stage driver. South 0 Miles 15 27 you can see Rawhide Buttes, west of which was , located the home station of the Cheyenne and One inch = approximately 10 miles Black Hills Stage Lines. One and a half miles northeast was Running Water or Silver Cliff’s stage station, forerunner of Lusk. Last straggler Legend of the great Buffalo herds in this area was killed nearby in recent years. 00 Locator number (matches numeric listing in section) Campsite (number matches f Section 6 00 number in campsite chart) T Stagecoach Museum k Fishing Site (number matches In Lusk 00 number in fishing chart) Highlighting this museum is a Cheyenne/Black Hills Stage Line stagecoach built in 1863 by Rest stop Abbott & Downing of Concord, New Hampshire. In addition to the old buggies, wagons and Indian artifacts are a some museum oddities, too: a two- Interstate head calf, a bedpan collection, and a Barbie doll dressed like Barbara Bush. U.S. Highway T Legend of Rawhide H George Lathrop Monument In Lusk Paved State or County Road W of Lusk on U.S. Hwy 18 at Rest Stop on the This is an annual celebration of the history, leg- S side of U. S. Hwy 18/20. About 1.7 mi W of end and wester heritage of Niobrara County. the Jct of U. S. Hwys 20/85 and 18/20. Gravel/unpaved road Adjacent to Cheyenne-Deadwood Trail More than 400 volunteers contribute to make this informative Sign (Niobrara County #2) production possible. Events include a dance, auc- tion, golf tournament, rodeo, barbecues, a pan- In Memory of George Lathrop cake breakfast, art show, history presentations, Pioneer of the West, Indian fighter, veteran him. He persisted in utilizing Cheyenne for ship- and a parade. The pageant festivities are held on stage driver. Born at Pottsville, Pa., December ping purposes, ignoring the much closer stop. the second weekend in July every year. This event 24, 1830. Died at Willow, Wyoming, Dec. 24, Ferdinand Branstetter, the first US soldier to die attracts a lively crowd to Lusk, so lodging reserva- 1915. Buried here. A good man whose life was in the trenches in World War I, was from Van tions are encouraged. filled with stirring events. Tassell. The American Legion opened its first post here in 1919, naming it after Branstetter. The H Cheyenne-Deadwood Trail Marking the Cheyenne W of Lusk on Hwy 18 at Rest Stop Ferdinand Branstetter Post Number One is on the and Black Hills Trail National Register of Historic Places. Here you stand on the Cheyenne-Deadwood Trail over which freight wagons and stagecoach- This marker is erected on the old Cheyenne T Niobrara es traveled between Cheyenne and the Black and Black Hills Stage Road, in memory of the Chamber of Commerce Hills gold mining area from 1876 to 1887. One operators of the line and the pioneers who trav- 119 W 3rd in Lusk. 334-2950 or of these stages may be seen in the Lusk eled it. Operators of the stage line: Luke 800-223-LUSK(5875). www.luskwyoming.com Museum. The nearby monument is at the grave Voorhees, Russell Thorp. Sr. www.ultimatewyoming.com 327 N Garden St N Maple St Elm St W Daley St OTHER EATHERLEGS E Daley St M F W Pershing St E Pershing St It’s a ten mile unpaved journey from Lusk 18 Niobrara Ave over 8-inch-deep muddy furrows and ruts to W Radium St 85 find it. Here you’ll see a pink granite slab pay- ing tribute to Wyoming’s most famous prosti- 4th Ave 5th Ave 6th Ave 7th Ave 8th Ave 9th Ave 3rd Ave E 2nd St 2nd Ave tute. The inscription is wearing down and Jewell St Cooper Ave Iron Ave Oil Ave E Railroad Ave there are no bawdy statuary or explicit images W 3rd St in relief on the stone. Main St Mother Featherlegs earned her name after W 4th St E 4th St 20 the local cowboys observed her riding through town with tiers of lace ruffles on her pantaloons S Diamond Ave S Barrett Blvd S Pine St W 5th St S Linn E 5th St fluttering in the breeze as she straddled her horse. “Them ruffled drawers make the old gal 18 E 6th St look like a feather legged chicken.” There weren’t many ruffles in Wyoming at that time! E 7th St Quigley Rd LUSK Forever after known as Mother Featherlegs, she arrived in Wyoming in 1876 and estab- E 8th St lished a bawdyhouse on the Cheyenne-Black Park Ave Hills trail.