Like many southern Wyoming communities, Rawlins dates back to the year 1868, when the tracks of the Union Pacific Railroad were being laid across the virgin Wyoming landscape. By 1870, Rawlins had become an important "jumping off place" for stagecoaches and wagon trains for the new gold fields around South Pass City to the northwest. Through the 1870s, it was a wild, hard town with outlaw activity a normal part of daily life. By the end of the decade, however, the town's established citizens had taken things into their own hands in vigilante action that climaxed with the lynching and skinning of the region's most notorious outlaw - "Big Nose" George Parrott.
Photo by WTT
Today, Rawlins is the center of a thriving sheep and cattle industry and still is a major "station" on the Union Pacific. Coal, uranium, oil and gas are found in the area. Rawlins is also a full-facility tourism center and is the point where US 287 branches off to the northwest to serve both Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. It roughly follows the original route of the Rawlins-Lander-Fort Washakie stagecoach road.
The first fort in Wyoming was started as a fur trade post in 1834, known as Fort John. Located near the Laramie River, it had become Fort Laramie by 1849 when the military took control. The fort's grounds just west of the town of Fort Laramie in southeast Wyoming have an open parade ground surrounded by military-era buildings. One structure, Old Bedlam, is the oldest standing building in the State of Wyoming. At or near Fort Laramie, fur traders, overland emigrants, the frontier army and Indians gathered as they came to trade, work and meet. read more
We have four separate maps for you to view. Whether you're interested in a state map, a map of Wyoming regions, a map of Wyoming's culture & heritage, a map of outdoor attractions or of Wyoming's Scenic Byways, you can choose. read more
