Evanston, Wyoming

Hi there.

Jan is enjoying a rest in the town of Evanston, Wyoming. Nestled in the Bear River Valley, the city is framed to the south by the majestic Uinta Mountains. The Bear River flows through the community, meandering past Bear River State Park where elk, deer and bison roam.

Evanston was named after James E. Evans, surveyor for the Union Pacific Railroad. The town was founded during the construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad. The railroad arrived in the area in November 1868, and Harvey Booth opened a saloon/restaurant in a tent near what is now Front Street. By December the rails had reached Evanston and the first train arrived December 16. However, Orders were later handed down by the railroad managers to move the end of the line 12 miles west, to Wasatch. Within three days almost all of Evanston had moved to Wasatch, it appeared that Evanston would become another “end of the tracks” town. Luckily, in June 1869 headquarters returned back to Evanston and it continued to grow. Later in 1871, a machine shop and roundhouse were constructed, giving Evanston a longevity not shared with many other railroad towns.

Abundant timber and water along the Bear River made Evanston a refueling station for cross-country locomotives. Coal was mined a few miles north of Evanston in Almy. Similar to other railroad towns in Wyoming, early Evanston had a large population of Chinese railroad workers – in Evanston they lived on the north side of the railroad tracks in a small “China town.” Over time, the Chinese population dwindled, disappearing completely in the 1930s.

Thanks wiki 🙂

Here are the photos Jan took yesterday