Cambria

The panel credits Frank Mondell with the coal; the county is named for the man beside him. John B. Weston, a geologist and surveyor, located the same seams in 1887 while the two prospected a fuel supply for the Burlington's line, and when the last territorial legislature carved a new county out of Crook on March 12, 1890, it took his name. Mondell had the longer public life, first mayor of Newcastle and then twenty-six years in Congress. Cambria stayed a company town to the end, its stores run by the coal company.

What the plaque says

Cambria Located 7 miles north of Newcastle was the coal mining town of Cambria. In 1887, Frank Mondell, a future Congressman, found enough coal in the area to fuel the construction of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad across northeastern Wyoming. In light of the abundance of coal, The Cambria Mining Company, later called The Cambria Fuel Company, was organized in 1891 and acquired 17,000 acres of land. By the turn of the century the company was mining 1500 to 1800 tons of coal daily. To house its employees, the company created the town of Cambria. From 1900 and 1920 between 1000 and 1500 people of various nationalities lived here. The community supported many business and civic organizations, including three churches, an opera house, a school, a hotel, a sawmill, and a concert band. Cambria was dependent upon the availability of coal. In the winter of 1927, no new coal seams were available. All work came to a stop at noon on March 15, 1928, and soon afterward, people began to leave Cambria. Within a couple of years the town site was abandoned, and the equipment and buildings were moved elsewhere.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Cambria Salt Mine — 4.3 mi
• Site of Field City — 6.9 mi
• Camp Jenney — 7.6 mi
• The Jenney Stockade — 7.6 mi