Site of Field City

The panel blames land prices; the railroad was in the land business too. The Burlington laid out its own towns through a subsidiary, the Lincoln Land Company, and its lots in Newcastle went on sale on September 10, 1889. Within forty-eight hours Tubb Town was empty, some buildings hauled the two miles and others simply left, one saloonkeeper reportedly pouring from his wagon on the way. The first issues of the Stockade Journal, forerunner of Newcastle's paper, were printed here, and Joseph Hemingway of the Cambria mines named the new town for his coal-port home, Newcastle upon Tyne.

What the plaque says

Site of Field City The deserted site of Field City or Tubb Town offers silent testimony to the boom and bust fate of many western towns. In the spring of 1889 Deloss Tubbs, a businessman from Custer, Dakota Territory, laid out Field City around his store on the east bank of Salt Creek. Tubbs, together with saloon keeper F. R. Curran, foresaw the economic advantages of locating a townsite along the anticipated route of the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad. Idled at Alliance, Nebraska, for want of suitable locomotive coal to continue its northwest course, the B & M sought a connection with the transcontinental Northern Pacific at Billings, Montana. Recently discovered coal deposits at Cambria, nine miles northwest of Tubb Town, made the railroad extension possible. Within a few months Tubb Town could boast of a milk ranch, newspaper and Chinese laundry. However, the town's saloons, dance halls, and sporting houses fostered a "hell raising" notoriety. The first ordinance passed by the new residents reportedly stated that "no one shall pass through without paying sufficient toll to set 'em up to the bunch." The eagerly awaited connection with the Burlington and Missouri upon which Tubb Town staked its future failed to materialize. Land price disagreements resulted in a reroute two miles west. In November, 1889, the railway reached the fledgling community of Newcastle. Residents of Tubb Town, accepting the inevitable, packed up their businesses and belongings and moved en masse to Newcastle. Thus, Field City died unceremoniously in the year of its birth, leaving only memories and occasional symptoms of "Tubb Town hangover" to perplex Newcastle citizens.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Camp Jenney — 1.0 mi
• The Jenney Stockade — 1.0 mi
• Cheyenne-Deadwood Trail — 1.7 mi
• Cambria — 6.9 mi