Sweetwater Station

The road the panel names carried its first freight from Rawlins toward Fort Washakie in July 1879, and stage, mail and freight used it for 27 years. By 1881 the agency's people hauled their own goods. That June the Carbon County Journal reported about sixty Shoshone men reaching Rawlins with thirty freight teams, pony teams hitched four to a wagon, and Arapaho trains made the run as well, one of them fifty-one wagons strong. The last passenger and mail stage left Rawlins for Fort Washakie on July 30, 1906, the year a railroad reached Lander.

What the plaque says

Sweetwater Station The modern burg of Sweetwater Station is at the intersection of U.S. Highway 287 and State Route 135 in central Wyoming along the Sweetwater River. It is a place of scenic beauty and historic significance. Prehistoric groups camped along the Sweetwater River for over 12,000 years. Archaeological sites with pithouses dating from 5000-7000 years ago were found near Split Rock and Jeffrey City to the east. The Oregon/Mormon Trail passed just to the south and includes what is called the sixth crossing of the Sweetwater River. At this crossing in October of 1856 the Willie Handcart Company was stranded in a blizzard until rescued by their Mormon brethren sent by Brigham Young from Salt Lake City. In the late 1800s the Rawlins to Fort Washakie Road was established as a stage and wagon freight route. It passed just to the north of Sweetwater Station. This road was designated the Chief Washakie Trail in honor of the great chief of the Wind River Reservation. Washakie was instrumental in establishing this road and the tribe under his command organized its own freight teams and wagons to move goods and people from Rawlins to the reservation. From this point north along Highway 135 you can see the spectacular escarpment of Beaver Rim, which contains 65 million years of sedimentary formations. Below Beaver Rim is the Wind River Basin in which the town of Riverton and a portion of the Wind River Reservation are located.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• The Oregon Trail — steps away
• The Sweetwater Valley — steps away
• Beaver Rim and the Wind River Range — 5.9 mi
• Ice Slough — 9.3 mi