The Black Diamond of Carbon County

"Carbon- a town in the county of Carbon, Wyoming. Eight four miles by rail northwest of Laramie. Coal mining is carried on here. It has three churches, a bank, a common and high school, and a newspaper office. Population 1140."

This description was quoted from "Lippincott's Gazetteer of the World", published in 1893. A gazetteer is a geographical dictionary which describes every place on earth.

At the time of publication, Carbon had already peaked. About a decade before the gazetteer published its stats, the town approached nearly 2,000 residents.

Carbon was the first coal town established in Wyoming and the coal mines started in 1868. By 1869 the town had a post office. Many of the first living quarters for the workers of the mines were dugouts into the hills.

The residences could be identified by stove pipes coming out of the ground. The front would have a door and window. A person could stand inside but there was not a lot of room. As time went on and the town prospered, mansions eventually were built on the hills a little above the town's center. Carbon was home to seven different mines over four decades with the last one shutting down in 1902.

In 1900, the Union Pacific Railroad rerouted its major line, which went through the town of Carbon, to the company town of Hanna being built. After that, Carbon decelerated into a ghost town within 15 years.

Currently, there isn't much left of Carbon unless someone with knowledge of the place is present.

That individual can point out features on the landscape which would be hidden to the untrained eye, allowing the vision of a booming town to materialize. The site of Carbon becomes a history fan's dream.

On Saturday, the Grand Encampment Museum (GEM) offered a trek to this ghost town with local historian Nancy Anderson as the guide. Tim Nicklas, GEM director, said Anderson proposed the trek.

A couple days before the tour, Anderson fell and called on Sarah Jones, former director of Hanna Basin Museum. Jones was raised in northern Carbon County and teaches fourth grade at Hanna Elementary School. She also puts on an annual Living History Day with her class.

Although she knows Carbon's history, Jones was very aware she had big shoes to fill.

"There is no person who knows the history better of this place than Nancy Anderson, bar none," Jones said. "And there is no one who can tell a better story and it doesn't matter if it is historical or fiction. Literally nobody can replace Nancy. I am honored she asked me to do this."

The dozen plus people who came from the Valley to do the trek started at the Carbon Cemetery which is on a hill just before Carbon.

As the group went through the cemetery, Jones pointed out the graves of different Carbon notables. The group noticed many children's headstones.

"There are a lot of children buried here," Jones said. "Carbon was cramped and people lived in close quarters where diseases were easily spread. It was a bit like the Old West shows portrayed, where life was not easy. There really was a sense of taking the law into your own hands."

Jones pointed out a large white monument which was the grave of Deputy Sheriff Robert Widdowfield who was ambushed and murdered by outlaw George "Big Nose" Parrot in 1891. Also killed with Widdowfield was Detective Tip Vincent. The crime sparked a huge outcry and a $20,000 reward was offered for the capture of the murderers.

Parrot and his companion in the crime, Charles "Dutch Charley" Burris, were caught. Parrot was taken to Rawlins and lynched by an angry mob after he made an attempt to escape.

According to Jones, Burris met a similar fate in Carbon. The townsfolk knew Burris was on a train which stopped in Carbon to get water. The outlaw was pulled off the train and hung on a telegraph pole just outside a saloon.

"It is reported that he was left to hang there for several days while kids and others threw rocks and sticks at the body," Jones said. "Then, when they took the body down, the townspeople would not allow him to be buried in the town cemetery. There is one story that his body lies outside the cemetery in an unmarked grave that has a cross over it."

Jones pointed out the lonely wooden cross in a sagebrush covered area not far from the cemetery.

The Carbon Cemetery is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

"I don't believe I have ever seen a cemetery with this much percentage of high quality monuments and beautiful gravestones," Nicklas said. "This is really a large percentage of markers with high craftsmanship. It really is incredible."

Jones took the trekkers from the cemetery to a path which led over a hill to where Carbon built up. Coal and glass could be seen on the path as could parts of stone walls down the trail.

"Remember, many of the first residents lived in dugouts when the town started but you can see structures later were made of rock that they found nearby," Jones said. "The wooden structures that you can see in pictures came later."

Jones pointed to a grove of cottonwoods which stood dramatically on the high desert.

"Over by the trees is where the Scranton Hotel stood," Jones said. "The fire that happened there pretty much destroyed the town."

According to wyohistory.org "Early in the morning of June 27, 1890, a drunken boarder in the one and a half story Scranton Hotel in downtown Carbon knocked over a kerosene lamp. The fire destroyed the entire downtown business section north of the tracks-- 20 buildings or more. Few of them were insured because the town had no reliable water supply and thus no fire protection. By then only one coal mine was still in operation. The town would never recover its former prosperity."

There were buildings taken from Carbon to Hanna. The Finn Hall which was huge according to Jones was literally carried by men 15 miles with the help of logs that rolled underneath the structure.

Jones said the water that came to Carbon had to be brought in from Medicine Bow.

"That is amazing to me," Mark Dunning, GEM board president, said. "How a town of this size brought in water to supply that many people and the town's operations, seems almost impossible."

While on the hill overlooking where the town grew, Jones pointed out what once was the town's racetrack.

"If you look on Google maps, you can clearly see it and how big it was," Jones said. "It was a place of major entertainment for the miners and townsfolk. I find it amazing how large it was during its time."

The trekkers had a map of where certain building stood and Jones pointed out what evidence was left. There were some wooden signs indicating where a building once conducted business.

There were many businesses. The mines gave prosperity to the town and merchants who sold many items came to Carbon.

Carbon's large size surprised many.

Jones was happy with how the trek went. So were the trekkers.

"Sarah did a fabulous job stepping in for Nancy," Nicklas said. "I don't think she missed a thing."

Nicklas said he was very impressed with Jones' knowledge and how well she ran the trek. He had never been to Carbon before.

"There was a lot more here than I ever expected to be," Nicklas said. "I think it is magnificent and the town is huge. For a town that is completely wiped off the map, it is enormous. I'm amazed how much there is to see."

Dunning agreed with Nicklas.

"I have always wanted to come over here and this was way more than I expected," Dunning said. "I am certainly glad that I came to this because this is spectacular. If you are a history buff, this site tells a lot. I am still blown away that they had to bring in their water. This place is special and I have to thank Sarah for doing such a great job."

Dawn Bailey said she had heard about Carbon but had never been before.

"The cemetery was like nothing I imagined," Bailey said. "The size of the town is impressive when you start walking around."

Cindy Loose of VIP Marketing said it was an interesting place and the best kept secret in the Carbon County area.

John and Christie Schneider had been to Carbon before and found the tour informative.

"When we drove through before, we didn't know the significance of names in the cemetery and now it makes me want to get to the Hanna Basin Museum," John said. "I have always wanted to go there, but now this tour has cemented that future visit."

"This place is magical and I didn't expect that," Christie said. "The cemetery with all its beautiful artwork on headstones was not something I expected."

Jones said that she is aware a lot of locals know of Carbon, but not many actually come to visit this town that the county is named after.

"You can read all you want about Carbon," Jones said. "But until you walk around here and see the land that was once a main street and see the foundations of buildings, you won't really know Carbon or appreciate how incredible it was that a town was built here at all. A town that was key at one time, in opening up west."