William Bragg, writer;
Tom Daggett, editor;
C. H. “Dad” Worland, town founder;
William A. Richards, governor and U. S. Commissioner of Public Lands;
Grant Ujifusa, magazine and book editor.

History

Created by the legislature in 1911, Washakie County was briefly named “Hanover County” for the irrigation canal company that pioneered crop agriculture in the area. The name was changed soon after the county was created to honor Shoshone Chief Washakie. While mountain men traveled through what is now the county, it was one of the last areas to be settled in Wyoming. Worland, the county seat, became a trading center for the Big Horn Basin after World War II. Major industries included sugar beet farming and refining, oil production, livestock grazing and production of sulphur. Among the early pioneers were a number of Germans from Russia. Mexican Americans have had an important presence in the county.

Washakie County is the only Wyoming County to be named for an American Indian, Chief Washakie of the Shoshone Nation; and the Washakie County Courthouse grounds are the only Wyoming courthouse grounds to be graced by a carved totem post-- an artist's conception of Chief Washakie. The name for Washakie County was suggested by State Senator George H. Cross of Converse County, and readily accepted by members of the Eleventh State Legislature, who were convinced that it was appropriate to honor the Shoshone Chief; Chief Washakie had lived out his one hundred two years in the Big Horn Basin. Washakie County was created from the southern half, approximately, of Big Horn County, with the passage of Chapter 8, Session Laws of Wyoming, 1911 by the Eleventh State Legislature on February 9, 1911.

Early Settlement and County Creation

Like the other counties in the Big Horn Basin, permanent settlement in the area that would become Washakie County had its beginning with the cattle herds that were driven into the basin in the late 1870s and the 1880s. Although there was some scattered population in the southern part of Big Horn County, organized in 1897, the impetus for population growth in the southern region didn't occur until 1903 when "Dad" Worland established a permanent camp on Fifteen Mile Creek, on the Bridger Trail. Within two years, a small community with a school had developed, and farm sites along the Big Horn River had been staked out and were being worked by residents of "Dad" Worland's camp.

During 1905, the Burlington Railroad was building track south from Montana across the Big Horn Basin. When the residents of Worland's camp learned that the railroad would be located across the Big Horn River from their camp, they determined to move across the river, from the west to the east bank. In 1905, there was no bridge over the river in the immediate area, so during the winter of 1905-1906, with the Big Horn frozen solid and the temperatures below zero, the Worland pioneers skidded the entire camp across the ice to the east bank and platted out the Town of Worland. The arrival of the railroad in the spring of 1906, ensured the survival and growth of the new town; in a few years, Worland was the center of a thriving agricultural community, with its citizens wanting their own county government.

County Organization

The newly appointed organizing commissioners held their first meeting on May 5, 1911, in Worland. They completed their oaths of office, elected Fred Bragg chairman, approved a motion to hold future meetings in the office of the Worland Town Clerk and appointed Edwin M. Conant as county clerk. Continuing their meeting, the organ1z1ng commissioners adopted a resolution to hold an election on June 12, 1911, for the qualified voters of the county to approve, or disapprove the separation from Big Horn County, and to choose a county seat for Washakie County, if the separation were approved. Going on with their work, the commissioners established election districts for the county, and voting precincts within the districts.

On June 17, 1911, following the election held on June 12, as scheduled, the organizing commisioners canvassed the vote. The voters of Washakie County approved the separation from Big Horn County by a landslide, 741 for and only 88 opposed. Worland was chosen as the county seat, receiving 582 votes to Ten Sleep's 254 votes. The next step to complete the organization of Washakie County was the election of county officers. The commissioners decided to forego the expense of a special election to choose these officers, and to elect them at the general election in November 1912.

In July 1912, the commissioners organized the primary election. Both political parties chose a full slate of candidates for county offices at the August primary election, and in November, the citizens of Washakie County selected their first elected county officers. Fred Bragg, Robert Steele, and Mark H. Warner were elected county commissioners. Other county officers favored by the voters were: Edwin M. Conant, county clerk; Alti Pendergraft, county sheriff; Mary W. Culbertson, county treasurer; W. S. Green, county assessor; Charlie H. Harkins, county attorney; Mary E. Hatfield, county superintendent of schools; W. L. Horton, county surveyor; and W. 0. Gray, county coroner. Precinct officers, including justices of the peace and constables, were also elected.

On January 7, 1913, the organizing commissioners met with the newly elected Washakie County board of County Commissioners, examined the new commissioners' bonds and oaths of office, and then declared Washakie County duly organized. The elected commissioners began conducting county business. They elected Fred Bragg chairman of the board, then considered the acquisition of facilities suitable for county offices. Following discussion, the board agreed to lease for two years, a residence in Worland owned by A. G. Rupp, which would serve as the county's courthouse; to rent the Masonic Lodge Hall for district court sessions; and to share costs with the Town of Worland to use the town jail for county prisoners. Other matters dealt with by the county commissioners on January 7 and 8, 1913, included paying bills, adopting resolutions requesting bids for coal and for transcribing, or photographing, Big Horn County records needed by Washakie County, and directing the county surveyor to conduct a survey of a proposed site for the possible construction of a bridge across the Nowood River, near Ten Sleep.

County Debt

From the time that it was organized in 1913, until August 1923, Washakie County suffered indebtedness. The financial difficulty occurred despite the population and economic growth that took place in the county during the decade. Ironically, the growth in the county was a major contributing factor to its financial problems. Throughout these ten years, the county commissioners were forced to issue Certificates of Indebtedness, authorized by Wyoming Law, to pay the county's bills, since sufficient revenue was never accumulated to pay both overdue bills and current ones at the same time.

Agriculture was primarily the basis of the population and economic growth which occurred in Washakie County during its first decade. Existing irrigation systems were extended and expanded, and new ones were constructed, creating many irrigated farm units and attracting farm families to the county. Increasing agricultural production was a direct cause of the Holly Sugar Corporation's decision to build a beet sugar factory in Worland in 1917. The agricultural growth in the county required continuing, and expensive, development of the county's road system, if agricultural products were to move efficiently to market. Road construction and improvement of county roads was a significant cause for Washakie County's fiscal problems between 1913 and 1923.

During these years, the county commissioners made every effort to contain county expenditures, and, consequently, did not acquire larger facilities for county offices, despite increased business and an obvious need for more work space. They did make one concession. The county treasurer was permitted to move his office from the Rupp residence, and rent his own office space. By 1920, the county was desperate for a larger headquarters, so the county commissioners leased the Pulliam Building in downtown Worland. Early in the year, all county offices were moved to the new location on Big Horn Avenue, where they remained until 1937. During these years, Washakie County continued to share the Town of Worland's jail, and to rent the Masonic Lodge Hall for district court sessions.

The county commissioners did approve two expenditures in 1919 that, perhaps, could have been avoided. The first one, $1,302 for the construction of a pest house, was unique among Wyoming's counties. Chapter 55, Session Laws of Wyoming, 1901, enacted by the state legislature, authorized counties to build pest houses upon the recommendation of the county health officer. The record doesn't reveal what infectious disease was plaguing Washakie County, but on June 14, as recommended by the county health officer, the county commissioners accepted the bid of Hans C. Hansen to build the pest house. It appears to have been the only one constructed and used in Wyoming.

The second expenditure during 1919 that might have been postponed, was one that would benefit the county substantially in the years ahead. In 1914, looking toward the future, the county commissioners had purchased a square block fronting Big Horn Avenue on the eastern edge of the Worland business district, as the future site for a county courthouse. The block became known as courthouse square, but because of the county's fiscal difficulties, no improvements were made to the site. In April 1919, however, at the urging of county citizens wanting to honor the county's World War I servicemen --Washakie County had a higher percentage of its population enter the armed forces than any other Wyoming County -- the county commissioners accepted the bid of Shaw Construction Company to grade, level and landscape courthouse square. For many years afterward, the square with its spacious lawns, numerous shade trees, and monument of honor, was the pride of Washakie County residents.

County Courthouse

Sixteen years later, 1935, with the county operating in the black despite the "Great Depression" gripping the country, the Washakie County Board of County Commissioners, Leo D. Rhodes, chairman, W. C. Hinkle, and H. H. Horel, made the decision to build a county courthouse. On June 15, 1935, the commissioners filed application with the Public Works Administration (PWA) for a loan and a grant, totaling $110,146, to finance the construction of the courthouse. A year later, having hired the architectural firm of J. D. Link and Sons Company of Billings, Montana, to plan the proposed courthouse and having gained the approval of the county's electorate to issue and sell $75,000 worth of county bonds to partially pay for the construction of the courthouse, the commissioners withdrew the application to PWA for the loan, but reiterated the request for the grant. The reason for this decision was that the rate of interest on the county's bonds was lower than the interest rate for the PWA loan.

The bond election held on May 12, 1936, was approved by Washakie County voters by a large margin, 629 in favor and 95 opposed. With the $75,000 from the bonds, and a grant of $62,018 from the PWA confirmed in June, the commissioners were ready to proceed with construction of the courthouse. The bonds were sold on July 7, 1936. The call for construction bids was issued by the commissioners a month later. On October 31, the bids were opened and the general construction contract, in the amount of $118,320, was awarded to the low bidder, Green Brothers of Hastings, Nebraska. Construction was begun early in November and completed a year later, with the Washakie County officials occupying their new headquarters in December, 1937. The total cost of the Washakie County Courthouse, including furnishings and equipment, was $137,819.

Including the basement, the new courthouse was three full stories, built in an L shape. The exterior of the building was a buff color, with both brick veneer and brick, and trimmed with gray stone. The basement held the mechanical area, an apartment for the building custodian, vaults, and a storage area. On the first floor were offices for the county commissioners, the county clerk, the county treasurer, the county assessor, and the county sheriff. On the top floor, directly above the sheriff's office, was the jail, Washakie County's first. The remainder of the second floor contained the district courtroom, judge's chamber, jury room, office of the clerk of the district court with a records vault, and offices for the county attorney.

The Washakie County Courthouse was attractive and functional, and the county's citizens were prideful, since it had taken the county twenty-four years to secure a permanent home for county government. The erection of a carved totem post of an American Indian's head, supposedly resembling Chief Washakie, increased the beauty of the courthouse grounds, and added to citizen pride. During the more than fifty years that have passed since the courthouse was constructed, it has served the county well, retaining its structural integrity, attractiveness, and functionality.

Early in the 1980s, however, to ensure the continued life and usefulness of the courthouse, the board of county commissioners initiated an expansion and modernization of the courthouse. A new law enforcement center, including sheriff's offices, work area, and new county jail, was built adjoining the courthouse; facilities for the handicapped, access ramps, elevators and restrooms, were constructed; existing offices were remodeled and a new justice of the peace court was built where the county jail had been. The entire courthouse was redecorated. The extensive project has ensured that the Washakie County Courthouse will effectively facilitate county government into the twenty-first century.

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