Table of Contents  [ Hide]

Statistics
Towns
Well-known Residents of Sweetwater County
History
Creation of Sweetwater County
Gold at South Pass
Construction County Jail Proposed
Organization of Wyoming Territory
Esther Morris’ “Tea Party”
Decline of South Pass
Green River and Rock Springs
Relocating the County Seat
Another Move for the County Seat
Territorial Legislature Chooses the County Seat
Construction of County Courthouse
County Boundary Changes
Chinese Massacre
Mineral Growth
New Courthouse and Jail

Statistics

Origin of Name: Named for the Sweetwater River.

Land area: 10,495 sq. miles, the largest county in Wyoming

Population

Towns

*Unincorporated

Well-known Residents of Sweetwater County

	John Bugas	Ford Motor Company executive
	S.M. Covey	founder of Little America
	William Gottsche	rancher/philanthropist, state legislator
	Curt Gowdy	national TV and radio sportscaster
	Heather Moody	water polo Olympic medalist (silver 2000, bronze 2004)
	Frank T. Nakako	photographer
	Teno Roncalio	U.S. Representative
	Ah Say	Chinese community leader, Union Pacific Coal Mine foreman and liason
	Esther Morris	1st female Justice of the Peace, "Mother" of women's suffrage in Wyoming

History

One of the original four counties in Wyoming, it was originally named Carter County in honor of pioneer Judge William A. Carter who was post sutler at Fort Bridger. The name was changed in 1869, soon after the transcontinental railroad was built through the county. The first county seat was the mining boomtown of South Pass City, but after the boom there ended, the courthouse was moved to Green River. (South Pass City is now in Fremont County). The Union Pacific Railroad and the coal mines furnishing fuel to the company’s locomotives brought early prosperity to the county. Just as the railroad tracks were being built to the Green River, explorer John Wesley Powell began his epic voyage down the Green-Colorado River system from “Expedition Island” near the present town of Green River. Rock Springs was the site of the infamous Chinese massacre of September 1885. The population has an international background. Rock Springs was once known as having more nationalities living there than in almost any city in America.

Creation of Sweetwater County

Sweetwater County was the second county created by the Dakota Territory Legislative Assembly in its southwest region, which was to be designated Wyoming Territory by congress in 1869. Laramie County, encompassing all of the future Wyoming, except the far western section, including today's Uinta, Lincoln and Teton Counties, and Yellowstone National Park, was established by Dakota Territory on January 9, 1867.

Nearly a year later, December 27, 1867 the Dakota Legislative Assembly created Carter County out of the western one third of Laramie County. Two years later, December 13, 1869 the Wyoming Territorial Legislative Assembly changed the name of Carter County to Sweetwater County. In December 1867, there were only two population centers in what would become Wyoming Territory -- Cheyenne, because of the coming of the Union Pacific Railroad in November 1867, and the South Pass mining region. Sweetwater County is the only Wyoming County created because of minerals extraction, and it is the only county in which minerals extraction has been the dominant economic force throughout its history.

Gold at South Pass

Since 1842 and the days of the Oregon Trail, there had been rumors of gold in the South Pass region, and in 1865 a small amount of gold had been mined. The big discovery came in 1866, by recently discharged soldiers from Camp Brown. The announced discovery of gold, rapidly inflated, immediately brought a gold rush. It is impossible to know precisely how many people were living and working in the South Pass gold fields when the Dakota Legislative Assembly established Carter County, and declared South Pass City to be the county seat. Population estimates for the mining region during 1869 are as high as 5,000 people and as low as 2,000 people. Conducted during the summer months of 1869, the first census taken in Wyoming Territory shows the population of Carter County as 2,862 people, with 1,517 of them living in South Pass City. The population figures for the county need to be discounted somewhat because the total included people living in what would become Uinta County in December 1869.

The enactment of the Dakota Legislative Assembly creating Carter County and establishing boundaries also created county offices and appointed county residents to fill the offices. The offices included a three member board of county commissioners, county clerk, probate judge and county treasurer ex-officio, justices of the peace, county sheriff, constables, county coroner, county and prosecuting attorney, and county surveyor. The county officers appointed under the Dakota law were county commissioners W. D. Mathney, William Rose and someone whose name has been lost in antiquity; Harris W. Hubbell, probate judge and county treasurer ex-officio; John W. Staples and James W. Stillman, justices of the peace; John H. Murphy, county sheriff; John Rowe and John Kunan, constables; Nathan Daniels, county coroner; James Thurmond, county and prosecuting attorney; and E. B. Eddy, county surveyor.

A major problem the county officers faced, and one that couldn't be imagined in Yankton, the capitol of Dakota Territory, was the tremendous transiency which occurred during a typical gold rush. During the two years Carter County existed under the laws of Dakota Territory, eight different men served as a county commissioner, where normally three persons would have held the offices for the two years. There were four different county clerks, five different probate judges and ex-officio county treasurers, three different county sheriffs, five different county and prosecuting attorneys, and the precinct officers, justices of the peace and constables, turned-over even more frequently than the county officers. Nevertheless, despite this instability, the numerous individuals that served as county and precinct officers were able to bring government to the gold field and to the mining camps.

The appointed board of county commissioners for Carter County held their first meeting on April 6, 1868 in South Pass City. Only two of the appointed commissioners, W. D. Mathney, who was elected chairman, and William Rose, appeared for the meeting. The third commissioner never did show, and the remaining two assumed, or heard, that he had left the region. On April 16, the board met again to complete organization of Carter County. They reviewed and then accepted the commissions and bonds of the other appointed county officers, and appointed James S. Lowery as the third county commissioner. During April 1868, the board of county commissioners excluding Commissioner Lowery, filled by appointment five county office vacancies resulting from resignations and removal of the county sheriff from office because the commissioners' minutes state, the sheriff "was never in the county."

Construction County Jail Proposed

Early in their administration, the three county commissioners began to discuss the possible construction of county buildings. Dakota Territory law authorized county commissioners to build county jails, so the Carter County commissioners’ discussions centered on the need for a jail, which was essential in most mining camps. On April 16, 1868, they scheduled a special election for the county's citizens to decide if the county should build a jail. For some reason, which is not made clear in the minutes of the commissioners' meetings, the election was never held but the issue was not dead. The record does not reveal where the county housed its prisoners, but it is certain there was some facility because the county was paying an Ora Chapin $10.00 per day as a jailer.

Nearly a year later, April 6, 1869, the issue of a county jail for Carter County was still under consideration. On that date, responding to a petition from county citizens, the board of county commissioners adopted a resolution to construct a county jail, not to exceed $4,000 in construction costs. A special election was scheduled for April 28, 1869 for the voters to approve the issuance of county bonds to pay for the jail. The election was held as planned, and on May 11, the commissioners met to canvas the vote, not only on the proposed county jail, but on the incorporation of South Pass City. The vote for incorporation was approved by a vote of 126 to 6 against, but the commissioners postponed canvassing the vote on the county jail. Two weeks later, the Carter County Commissioners voted to indefinitely postpone canvassing the votes cast for and against the building of a county jail.

Organization of Wyoming Territory

The reason for the commissioners' decision on May 11 was the pending organization of Wyoming Territory, which would include Carter County. The commissioners were aware, when they made their decision, that President Ulysses S. Grant had appointed officers for the new territory and the organization of it would be completed soon -- in fact, the organization of Wyoming Territory was completed on May 19, 1869. The Carter County commissioners were concerned that with the changing legal status of their county, if the board of county commissioners had the legal authority to proceed with building a county jail during such a time of change.

The effects of the organization of Wyoming Territory were not long in coming to Carter County, and its county seat, South Pass City. First, in June 1869, the new territory's judges established and opened a district court for the county. Next was the territorial census, conducted by U. S. Marshal Church Howe and his assistants. The population of Wyoming Territory was 8,074, and with 2,862 residents, Carter County was the most populous county in the territory. The purpose of the census, as stated in the Wyoming Organic Act, was to provide equitable apportionment of the seats in the legislative assembly. On the basis of the census, the first territorial governor,

John A. Campbell, assigned the thirteen seats in the House of Representatives and the nine seats in the Council (called the Senate since statehood), and because of its population, Carter County was assigned three seats in both the House and the Council.

Esther Morris’ “Tea Party”

The first Wyoming Territorial election to elect House and Council members, and all county officers, was held on September 2, 1869 and from the campaign in Carter County, preceding the election, has come Wyoming's most famous legend. Two Carter County candidates for the Council were Democrat William H. Bright and Republican H. G. Nickerson. According to the legend, Esther Hobart Morris, wife of saloon owner John Morris, invited Bright and Nickerson to a tea party, and at the party obtained a pledge from each candidate that if elected, he would introduce a bill in the legislative assembly to give women suffrage in the territory. Bright was elected, and true to his word, introduced the Female Suffrage Act which was enacted by the legislative assembly, and making Wyoming Territory the first general government in the world to give women the right to vote and to hold office.

Historians have generally discounted the "Tea Party" legend and Esther Morris' role in the adoption of woman suffrage by the fledgling Wyoming Legislative Assembly. Most historians credit William H. Bright, with some credit going to his wife, Julia A. Bright, who may have influenced Bright to introduce the suffrage bill, and Edward M. Lee, Secretary of Wyoming Territory. Regardless of who should receive credit for the passage of woman suffrage in Wyoming, Esther Morris' place in Wyoming history is assured. On February 17, 1870 Wyoming Territorial Governor John A. Campbell appointed Mrs. Morris justice of the peace for the South Pass City precinct. She qualified for the office and served as justice of the peace for eight months, making her the first woman in the world to serve in a judicial position. Mrs. Morris' court docket has been preserved in the Wyoming State Archives.

Decline of South Pass

During the time that Esther Morris served as a justice of the peace, South Pass City was on its way to becoming a ghost town. The 1870 U. S. Census showed that South Pass City had declined in population from 1,517 in 1869, to 1,115 a year later. The gold fields were beginning to play out in 1870, and in five years, gold mining in the South Pass region would be mainly an activity of the past. Also, by 1870, South Pass City was beginning to be challenged for prominence in the county by Green River City and Rock Springs, and, of course, by 1870, the county was no longer Carter County, but Sweetwater County, by legislative action of the First Wyoming Territorial Legislative Assembly on December 13, 1869.

Green River and Rock Springs

Green River City and Rock Springs were founded by the Union Pacific Railroad during its construction march across Wyoming in 1868. Previously, both town sites had been sites for Overland Stage Stations. Green River's continued existence past 1868 was precarious when the railroad by-passed it as the railroad's 1868-1869 winter terminus, but the town became a railroad tie center and eventually a division point for the Union Pacific, and by the early 1870s was beginning to flourish.

Rock Springs' future was assured almost from its founding because the vast bituminous coal deposits in the area were excellent for railroad consumption. The Union Pacific opened a mine in 1868, and as more coal mines were opened, Rock Springs grew rapidly, with emigrants from around the world coming to work the mines.

Relocating the County Seat

Sweetwater County is the only county in Wyoming to have more than one county seat with an active county government. Fort Sanders was first designated the county seat of Laramie County by the Dakota Legislative Assembly, but active county government was never organized there. To make Sweetwater County even more unique, the two county seats, South Pass City and Green River City, were each the county seat on two different occasions. By 1873, the isolation of South Pass City, particularly during winter months, was resulting in considerable agitation to relocate the county seat. Along with the residents of Green River, Rock Springs, and other settlements along the railroad line, the Wyoming Territorial government and the Union Pacific Railroad were in the forefront of the agitation.

The territorial government had continuing business with county government, and the difficult travel conditions to South Pass made it hard to keep abreast with current work in the county. It was particularly frustrating for the judicial system, since the district court judges were actually circuit judges during the territorial era. The hardship and time involved in traveling to and from South Pass City caused delays and even cancellations of district court sessions, creating havoc with the court calendar. Even the Union Pacific Railroad Company, the dominant business in Wyoming Territory, was aggravated by the expensive and time consuming trips by railroad officials to South Pass City to conduct business with the county government.

Consequently, on December 9, 1873 ignoring the fact that there were still more people living in the South Pass mining region than elsewhere in Sweetwater County, the territorial legislative assembly passed an act declaring Green River City to be the county seat of Sweetwater County. The act also stated that the county seat would remain at Green River unless it was removed by a vote of the county's electorate at the next general election. During the 1873 legislative session, the general assembly enacted another bill concerning Sweetwater County. The act provided for a special term of the district court to be held in Green River, beginning on the fourth Monday of December 1873. The action of the legislators made the territorial officers, the judges, the Union Pacific, and the residents of Green River, Rock Springs, and the other communities along the railroad happy. The only citizens of Sweetwater County that were unhappy were the miners up in the mountains at South Pass.

The county commissioners of Sweetwater County, all lawful citizens, set about to comply with the enactments of the legislative assembly. They rented the schoolhouse in Green River for the special court session, and future sessions, of the district court, and office space for county officers. In 1872, for $390, the county had built a "lockup" in Green River, which would now be used as the county jail. With the coming of spring in 1874, the commissioners contracted with a freighting firm to move the county's property and records from South Pass City to Green River City. Once installed in their new county seat and offices, the county officers began making arrangements for the general election, including the vote on the county seat, to be held on September 2, 1874.

Another Move for the County Seat

The result of the election for choosing a permanent county seat for Sweetwater County was a disappointment and a shock to the officials of Wyoming Territory and the Union Pacific. Still in the majority, the South Pass miners and business people spoke out strongly with their votes, voting by a substantial margin to return the county seat to South Pass City. The county commissioners, James Kime, chairman, W. A. Johnston, and J. Hummelback, in view of the election and the requirement of the 1873 law, had no choice, but to once again move the county government. The move back to South Pass City was accomplished with only one mishap the alleged theft of the county treasurer's ledgers. Treasurer James Calhoun was suspected of converting county funds to his own use, but without the "stolen" ledgers no charges could be substantiated, so the county commissioners let the matter drop.

Territorial Legislature Chooses the County Seat

The Wyoming Territorial Legislative Assembly was not about to drop the matter of a county seat for Sweetwater County. On December 11, 1875, the legislative assembly stated its position in no uncertain terms; the only time in Wyoming's history that the legislative body dictated to a county where to build its county courthouse, and in so doing chose the location of the county seat for the county. Section 1, Chapter 10, Session Laws of Wyoming, 1875, follows.

The board of county commissioners of the county of Sweetwater, Wyoming Territory, are hereby required to purchase a site, or receive the same by donation or otherwise, Provided, the said site or sites is on the north side of the Union Pacific railroad track, and within the limits of the town of Green River City, in said county, for a courthouse and jail; and the said board are hereby authorized to issue bonds of the said county to defray the expenses incurred and to be incurred in the building and completion of said courthouse and jail, not exceeding the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars and not less than twenty thousand dollars, and said buildings shall be built of brick or stone and of good material. Amen!

Before completing the third move of Sweetwater County government in June 1876, the board of county commissioners had already begun to comply with the demand of the legislative assembly to construct a county courthouse and jail in Green River City. During March 1876, the commissioners accepted a site for the courthouse donated by the Union Pacific, and within the boundaries prescribed by the law; adopted the plan for the courthouse, jail and sheriff's residence drawn by a Solon Burgess; and then on March 28, approved Burgess's specifications for the courthouse, except for the depth of the foundation, which the commissioners increased by three feet.

Construction of County Courthouse

On May 18, 1876 the county commissioners awarded the courthouse, jail and sheriff's residence construction contract to the low bidder, James East of Cheyenne, for $18,974. East failed to post the required bonds, so three days later the commissioners revoked East's contract and awarded the construction contract to J. L. Atkinson of Evanston for $22,250, still remaining within the limit mandated by the legislative assembly. William Evans of Green River was appointed to oversee the construction of the courthouse, but was fired by the commissioners during construction. Early in August, Atkinson began construction, and during that month, the county commissioners approved a special five mills tax levy to establish a bond fund to redeem the county bonds issued to pay for the courthouse.

The first Sweetwater County Courthouse was occupied by the county's officers early in 1877. Constructed of native adobe brick, baked in ovens located near Green River City, the courthouse was two stories, with a two story county jail and sheriff's residence adjoining the courthouse at the rear of the site. A cupola rose from the center of the courthouse roof, and with the· numerous chimneys, necessary because of the lack of central heating, the courthouse had the appearance of a fortress, with gun turrets rising from the roof. The offices, courtroom, and jail met the county's governmental needs, and as an added bonus, the courthouse, which would serve Sweetwater County for ninety years, became the social center of the community, with balls and other social events being held in the courthouse regularly.

During the ninety years many changes were made to the Sweetwater County Courthouse, with central heating, electric lights, and modern plumbing being installed. A number of important additions to the courthouse, including suites of offices for the county clerk and the county assessor, more vaults for the county treasurer, and a new wing to the county jail, were built to meet the expanding needs of county government, as the county grew.

County Boundary Changes

Another aspect of change was in the county's boundaries, twice during the ninety years, first in 1884 and then again in 1886. In 1884, the legislative assembly created Fremont County and established its southern boundary two townships south of the Seventh Standard Parallel North. In effect, the legislative action reduced the size of Sweetwater County by approximately two thirds, and located its present northern boundary. No longer did the county extend from Montana to Colorado. Another boundary change was made by the legislative assembly in 1886. This change was a four township move to the west of the southern two thirds of the boundary between Sweetwater and Carbon Counties. This boundary change was enacted so Baggs and the other Little Snake River Valley communities would be in Carbon County, with easier access to county government in Rawlins, than it was to county government in Green River.

Chinese Massacre

Sweetwater County in 1885 had an experience unique in Wyoming history -- a race riot. Following a miner's strike in 1875, the Union Pacific Railroad Company had brought in approximately 150 Chinese to work their mines at Rock Springs. During the ten years that ensued, more Chinese were shipped to Rock Springs by the railroad to mine the coal the railroad needed. Not only did the white miners there lose jobs to the Chinese, but they claimed the Chinese miners worked for wages on which they couldn't live. The long festering sore erupted on September 2, 1885 with the bitter white miners killing 28 Chinese, injuring 15 more, chasing hundreds of Chinese from Rock Springs, and destroying nearly $150,000 worth of property belonging to the Union Pacific.

Sweetwater County government attempted to respond to the riot. The county sheriff, Joseph Young, arrested and jailed 16 white rioters, including legislator-elect Isaiah Whitehouse and a county grand jury was called. Before the grand jury convened, at the request of Territorial Governor Francis E. Warren, federal troops had arrived in Rock Springs to quell the disturbance and to escort the Chinese that had fled back to Rock Springs. The Chinese miners were housed in box cars near the mines, and, after firing 45 white miners, the Union Pacific reopened the mines. Although the federal troops, who remained at Camp Pilot Butte, near Rock Springs, kept violence from recurring, agitation and bitterness were rampant until most of the Chinese eventually left the area.

The Sweetwater County Grand Jury failed to indict any of the white rioters arrested and jailed, blaming the massacre on the Union Pacific. No specific abuses by the railroad were cited in the grand jury's report, but a number of abuses, all denied by company officials, were reported in the local newspapers: white miners were thrown out of work because Chinese paid the mine bosses for their jobs; whites were forced to work in dangerous locations in the mines where Miners the Chinese wouldn't work; the mine bosses robbed the white by using false scale weights; whites had been discharged by the company and replaced by Chinese because the whites hadn't voted "right" in a school election; and white miners were coerced to patronize the company store, where they were overcharged. With the exodus of the Chinese from Sweetwater County, the accusations and bitterness of the Rock Springs Massacre faded into history.

Mineral Growth

Although by the 1950s, coal production was still an important element of the Sweetwater County economy, other extractive industries were beginning to take hold in the county and bringing new residents to the county with them. Oil and natural gas production, and some mining of uranium, were all taking place, and the production of trona in the county was just around the corner. All of this brought significant growth to Sweetwater County, and it was obvious by the mid-point of the decade that the old 1876 Sweetwater County Courthouse was inadequate to meet the expanding needs of county government.

New Courthouse and Jail

Consequently in 1956, the county commissioners began to plan the construction of a new county courthouse and county jail. The issuance of county bonds to pay for the new facilities was necessary, and approval of the county's qualified voters was legally required. The Commissioners hardly considered the possibility that the electorate would reject the proposed bond issue because the need for a new courthouse was so apparent; but this is exactly what occurred – defeat of the bonds at the polls by a substantial margin. Although the voters were somewhat concerned with the increased taxes which would result, the vote against the proposed new courthouse was more an outcome of lingering resentment against the location of the county seat in Green River. By 1956, Rock Springs was a small city with a population of approximately twelve thousand, while Green River still remained a small town with less than half the population of Rock Springs. The county's voters were expressing their conviction that if a new county courthouse was to be built, it should be built in Rock Springs.

There was no way for the county commissioners to move the county seat to Rock Springs from Green River, so they began an effort to convince the county's citizens of the need for a new courthouse and jail. They publicized the repairs that had been made to the courthouse and would have to be made if the county was to continue to use it. To keep the original structure from falling apart, steel rods had been inserted through the building to tie the exterior walls together; the second floor had sagged, and had to be shored-up; all of the original wood flooring had worn paper thin and would have to be replaced; and termites had attacked the courthouse. By the early 1960s, the citizens of Sweetwater County were mainly convinced that it would be less costly in the long run to build a new courthouse and jail, than to continue to repair and renovate the old ones.

In the first part of 1963, the county commissioners appointed a Courthouse Planning Committee to conduct a comprehensive study of the county's facility needs. Composed of eleven prominent county citizens, with five members from Green River, five from Rock Springs, and a single member from Reliance, probably to referee, the committee studied the situation throughout 1963, surveying and determining the needs of each county officer, trying to anticipate future needs, and working with the architectural firm of Kellog and Kellog in regard to possible design of a new courthouse. The committee concluded that a new courthouse and jail should be built, and so recommended to the county commissioners. After considering and approving the committee's recommendation, the commissioners requested that the committee study possible sites for a new county courthouse and jail, and recommended a site to the commissioners.

While the committee was studying potential sites in Green River for a new courthouse and jail, the county commissioners contracted with Kellog and Kellog to develop preliminary designs and cost estimates for the proposed building. After the planning committee recommended, and the county commissioners concurred, that the old courthouse should be demolished and the new one constructed on its site, planning for the courthouse and jail was completed, and the commissioners resolved to present a bond proposal to the county's voters. On April 28, 1964, Sweetwater County voters approved the sale of county bonds in the amount of $1,450,000, though not by a wide margin (property owners: 1,995 for, and 1,538 against; non-property owners: 298 for, and 129 against). Nearly a month later the county commissioners awarded the general construction contract to the L. M. Olson Company of Rawlins, for $1,294,800, the low bid, and by mid-June, the demolition of the old courthouse and excavation for the new one was underway.

Before demolition of the 1876 courthouse began, the Sweetwater County Historical Society inventoried the contents of the courthouse. Objects judged to have historical value were saved to be included in the permanent collection of the Sweetwater County Museum, which was to be located on the first floor of the new courthouse (the museum is now located in the basement). The three-story, taupe brick courthouse was completed and occupied by the county's officers during March 1967.

Built on a hillside, the new Sweetwater County Courthouse and Jail was modern, functional and beautiful, and has since passed the test of time. In the twenty-two years that have ensued since the courthouse was occupied, Sweetwater County has grown significantly, and county government has grown correspondingly. Throughout the years of growth, the Sweetwater County Courthouse has proved itself adaptable to ever increasing county government activity, and has served the county's people well. It should continue to do so for many years to come.