Chugwater

The stone spells the owner Thorpe; he was Russell Thorp, a Cheyenne livery man and one-time freighter who bought the Cheyenne and Black Hills line from Gilmer and Salisbury in 1883 and ran it until the railroads came. The station was a ranch house built in 1876 that became headquarters of the Swan Land and Cattle Company, organized in Scotland in 1883 with $3 million, and Hi Kelly sold his ranch nearby to the Scots in 1884. The creek is already Chagwater on the map with Kearny's 1845 report, older than all of them.

What the plaque says

Chugwater Division stage station Cheyenne — Black Hills Trail Established March 18,1876 Abandoned September 1887 Russell Thorpe, owner Erected by the Historical Landmark Commission of Wyoming 1937

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Cheyenne, Ft. Laramie, Deadwood Trail — 18 mi