Rock Springs, Wyoming, Historical Museum

Rock Springs Historical Museum

Page by Bob Leathers

[Image Courtesy of the Rock Springs Historical Museum]

2023 Visit Review:

An excellent museum. No entry fee was required, but donations were acceptable. Picture taking was not allowed. The staff was knowledgeable, curtious and helpful. A large collection of artifacts was offered that represented and explained the area’s history which centered around coal mining. The exhibits were interesting and well-presented.

The Rock Springs Historical Museum is housed in the original Rock Springs City Hall. The building was built in 1894 at an original cost of $28,200. The funds for the construction did not come from the ever-present Union Pacific Coal Company and Railroad, but from revenues collected in the issuing of liquor licenses. The building is built from native sandstone and boasts an impressive 14-foot foundation that was made necessary by the presence of "quicksand" at the site. It served as the City Hall, Police Station and Fire Station until the early 1980's, when the new City Hall on D street was completed. (Rock Springs Historical Museum)

Pictures:

Inside museum picture taking was not approved by the museum.

More at:

Rock Springs, Wyoming Museum website

Address:

201 B St., Rock Springs, Wyoming, 82901

Phone:

307-362-3138

Hours:

10:00 A.M. - 5:00 P.M.

(Image by Bob Leathers, August 2019)

The massacre of the Chinese at Rock Springs, Wyoming from the Library of Congress

The massacre of the Chinese at Rock Springs, Wyoming. (Library of Congress)

1885, September: The Rock Springs Riot also known as the Rock Springs Massacre, was a result of racial tension between Chinese immigrant miners and white miners. During the riot, at least 28 Chinese miners died, more were injured, and a temple and the homes of 75 Chinese miners were burned. (Wyoming Archives)

Union Pacific Coal Company's No. 1 mine in Rock Springs (University of Wyoming - American Heritage Center)

Coal mine no. 1, Rock Springs, Wyoming, 1908 (University of Wyoming - American Heritage Center)

[Image Courtesy of the Rock Springs Historical Museum]

Philippe Coste Collection from France

Page by Bob Leathers

Philippe Coste in France - found four photos from SWEETWATER, Wyoming. He donated the pictures to the Hanna History Website. The French man driving the motor was identified as - EMILE MONNER - working in the Rock Springs area in 1910.

"In the early [18] '90s independent operators began to open mines along the Union Pacific. P. T- Quealy and associates opened what is known as the Central Coal and Coke Company No. 2 mine, and Mark Hopkins opened a mine at Sweetwater, then known as Hopkinsville. Both of these properties were acquired by the Sweetwater Coal and Mining Company, controlled by G. W. McGeath and were afterwards turned over to the Central Coal and Coke Company, now operating the properties."

Central Coal and Coke Company No. 2 started operation in 1888 and closed in 1937.
The Sweetwater Mine was operated by the Gunn-Quealy Coal Company and operated from 1919 to 1925

When that area became known as Quealy there were 60 houses there, and one of them was Mark Hopkins the mine founder's wife's home - Ichabod S. Bartlett's History of Wyoming volume 1. (Jennifer Messer
Museum Coordinator, Rock Springs Historical Museum)

The 1912 Annual Report of the State Coal Mine Inspector of Wyoming has the Central Coal and Coke Company No. 1 Mine referred to as the "Sweetwater", so it would be reasonable that the mine camp was named as such. I am not sure when the town of Quealy was named, but it would have been later. Since it is now known as the old Quealy townsite, it makes sense that most people including myself had never heard of Sweetwater. (Ryan Reed, BRS Engineering)

Coal Camp at Sweetwater, Wyoming. (Image from Philppe Coste from France)

Sweetwater, Wyoming Coal mine. (Image from Philppe Coste from France)

An Electric Motor or Engine coming Out of the Sweetwater, Wyoming Coal mine. (Image from Philppe Coste from France)

A group of coal miners coming off shift surrounding the electric motor at the Sweetwater coal mine near Rock Springs. (Image from Philppe Coste from France)

Rock Springs Mine Map (Facebook: Wyoming - Early History of the Cowboy State)

The Reliance Tipple in Sweetwater County

(Library of Congress)

The Reliance Tipple in Sweetwater County, north of Rock Springs, one of two coal tipples, sorting stations associated with coal production at Reliance, Wyoming. The first, wooden tipple was built in 1910 and used until 1936. The perishable portions of that earlier tipple have disappeared, leaving only the sandstone foundations and some artifacts buried in the tailings pile. This second tipple was built in 1936 when Reliance Mine No. 7 was opened. The new tipple was built more durably of concrete and steel. (Library of Congress)