Please add profiles of those who were born, lived or died in Carbon County, Wyoming.

Official Website

History

Carbon County was organized in 1868, one of the five original counties in Dakota Territory.

Originally about 3,400 square miles in the center of Carbon County were once part of the Spanish Empire, then part of the Republic of Texas (1835-1845) and part of the State of Texas until 1852 when the northernmost part of that state was ceded to the US government. This area is defined by the 42nd parallel on the north, and straight lines south from there to the headwaters of the Arkansas river on the east and the headwaters of the Rio Grande on the west. The documents defining that area include the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819, the 1824 Constitution of Mexico, and the 1845 "Joint Resolution for the Admission of the State of Texas into the Union".

Carbon County was organized December 16, 1868, from Laramie County in Dakota Territory, which at the time had jurisdiction over part of modern-day Wyoming. It became a county in Wyoming Territory when that territory's government was formally organized on May 19, 1869.

In 1868, the Union Pacific Railroad opened the first coal mine in Carbon County, and the county was named for its extensive coal deposits. In 1875, Carbon County lost territory when Johnson County was created by the legislature of the Wyoming Territory. Natrona County was created with land ceded by Carbon County in 1888. The boundaries of the county were final at that time except for minor adjustments in 1911.

Adjacent Counties

• Sweetwater County
• Fremont County
• Natrona County
• Converse County
• Albany County
• Jackson County, Colorado
• Routt County, Colorado
• Moffat County, Colorado

Cities, Towns & Communities

• Arlington
• Baggs
• Dixon
• Elk Mountain
• Encampment
• Hanna
• Leo
• McFadden
• Medicine Bow
• Muddy Gap
• Rawlins (County Seat)
• Riverside
• Ryan Park
• Saratoga
• Savery
• Sinclair
• Walcott
• Woodedge

Links

Wikipedia

Fort Steele

Medicine Bow National Forest (part)

Pathfinder National Wildlife Refuge (part)

National Register of Historic Places

WY Gen Web

Genealogy Trails

RAOGK