Casper Daily Tribune Newspaper, February 15, 1925, Page 43

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1525 Che Casper Daily Cribunc PAGE Five ~CANYONROAD NEW MARVEL BASIN REGION | BIVEN OUTLET Wind River Route Now Links North With The South. By CHAS. J, BANGERT. Secy-Treas. Thermopolis Chamber of Commerce) Zhe bullding of the Wind River nyon highway, five miles south of Thermopolis, Hot Springs, Wy- oming, has united two great em- | pires of the west. Until the con- struction of that highway northwestern and southern ‘parts of V reparated by natural barriers which prevented all kinds of vehicular traffic except ght passenger con- yeyances, the latter being possible during only 100 days of the year. .'The Big Horn basin in the north- western part of Wyoming {s an em pire of itself comprising approx! mately 20,000 squaro miles. It ts separated from the eastern part of the state by the Big Horn range of the Rocky mountains and on the south the Owl Creek range pokes tts peaks to heights of 8,000 feet. Until the building of the Wind Fiver canyon highway, Birdseye pass, and old stage route over Ow! Creek range, furnished « rough and precipitous way for light vehicles during the three summer months of the year. Snow made {t impassable at other times. Wind River can von highway {s serviceable all the year. The north mouth of Wind River canyon {s five miles south of Ther- mopolis. The road through this box canyon {fs 11 miles long. Nine ty-four per cent of the grading ts through black granite—diorite—so hara that specially made tools were required for drilling the three tun nels with an aggregate length of $32 feet. Cost of the road was up- wards of $750,000. It ts # federal ‘41d project. Work was commenced in June, 1922. Five steam shovels, 400 men and many teams of horses were busy during all seasons for two years to complete the work. The first cars passed through the can- yon January 22, 1924. The high- way was thrown open to traffic July 1,.1924, It was not until 1921 that the fl- nance of Wyoming permitted the building of the highway. As a re- sult there {s a road of maximum 6 per cent grade, 20 feet wide, 3-foct ditches in cuts and a maximum ‘ourvature of 200 feet radius. The tunnels are 18 feet wide and 14 feet high. ‘There is much heavy srading. two places there are 70-foot cuts through solid granite. At the southern end, two miles of the high- way cost approximately $100,000 a mile. That part of the road {ts 100 per cent diorite and red granite. One rock extends 1,000 feet high. The southern mouth of the can- is located at Boysen dam where, Te 1306, Asmus Boysen, banker and member of the Iowa state senate, became interested in Copper moun. tain, part of the Owl Creek range. Boysen and many others were pros- pecting for gold and copper. The Denver-Billings line of the Burling- ton railroad was building at the ume. There were many prospectors and it looked good that the country would be speedily developed. Many came to take advantage of the Carey act, among them Boysen, who took up 40,000 acres under the pro: visions of this act, which st!pulat- ed that irrigation should be provid- ‘ed, among other things, before title should finally pass. In 1909 Boysen built a dam across the Wind River at the southern en trance of Wind. River canyon. It was intended to supply electrical power and irrigation to the vast territory taken up and later to be sold in parcels. Prospectors were busy on Copper mountain. Tunnels were drilled into the mountain, one of the tunnels nearly a mile long. The building of the dam cost up wards of $450,000. Traces of gold and copper were found but not {n sufficient quanti es to operate successful Boy sen spent much cf his private for- ene in the prospecting. Seeing the oncoming disaster, Boysen sold his banking interests and came to a financial crash as a result of his activittes. The power plant at the lam {s still supplying light and power for thé towns of Shoshoni ind Riverton, Wyonting. There are men in the mountains who have spent lives prospecting for gold. Across Sweetwater county line to the south, at Atlantic City and South Pass, are clusters of old houses that represent a teeming settlement of 20,000 people back in the days fol lowing the Civil way. Old timers point to diggings and holes in the mountains; to the abandoned tip ples of gold mines and especially the 1e where lode was lost. These set tlers are convinced that under some fferent method of mining the lost lode will be found and millionaires pop up over night. * Wonderful ts the bite of the gold At Rocky their é Twenty years ago prospectors} were swinging into Wind River | canyon from its high stone banks, sliding down hand over hand on ropes. Traces of gold were found in the rocks and panned from the streams. The sight of it convinced many prospectors that there was more gold but continued efforts fatled to locate greater quantities. The traveler who goes through Wind River canyon on the new highway will have the privilege of seetng mn occasional prospector for gold spending his life in search and unconvinced that only traces are to be found. Wind er Wind River Highway i with Thermopolis and eliminating pass, half a million dollars. the canyon and one railroad tunnel, the canyon on the other side of the (Continued from Page Four.) per year, and this is'one reason why it 1s so necessary to look into the future and make adequate pro- vision for this phase of the work, in order that funds available for new out of the canyon. At the south- ern entrance there is room only for the river, but the highway and Denver-Billings line of the Burling- ton ra{flroad bore their ways through on each eide of the river with tun- nels, three tunnels for the high way and six for the rafiroad. For the first five miles the southern end of the canyon is so narrow that considerable engineering skill was required to locate the highway. Solia4 rock walls rise up to a dis- tance of 2,000 feet above the bed of the river, Eagles are occasionally seen in flight dcross the top. Elk and bear are numerous at -the heights. Before the building of the railroad and highway these animals made trails, desperately dangerous, to the river at the tettom of the canyon. In the canyon there are many in- teresting formations. Oblique rocks rise in sphinxlike shapes a thou sund feet above the bed of the river There are castle formations, Wace falls come turmbling out of the formed canyon sides. falli dreds of fect, joining thetr with that of the river in cherus that resounds through the canyon, and then south to the sea. It {s an inceresting automobil experience to dash out of a tunnel of solid rock > a granit shelf several hundred feet above roaring river, hanging there by the eyebrows, then aver a smooth high ways with plenty of room for pro: tection and without a spot in the whole distance. With ten thousand feet of mountain piled on top of one, in a narrow canyon that echoes back every sound like a ving thing, there ts real thrill in the trip without the risks usually attendant upon such a sensation. There are several springs fee water in the canyon. At north mouth there fs a spring of hot mineral water: In crevices are formations of perpetual ice and snow which endure with summer's sun ‘beating down upon them. The highway twists and with the river which shim s dances whitecapped mak ing a fall of 200 feet in 11 miles. It 1s possible that Jim early scout and guide over ns, made a trip through the non a raft in the There {s no authentic record that he did so but tradition has {t that Bridger accomplished the feat. Many at tempts were made before the build {ng of the raflroad and highway b3 white men to get through the can yon, most of these attempts unsu: cessful. Some resulted fatally. ‘The first successful trip of which ther November, 190: McManigal, still a res Thermopolls, and Tow ig’ in California. M 3 ) trip was made ir boats and required of the boats was wreck ordinary fliver makes the jnutes. er canyon adds anoth the trip to Yelloy ational park. Centra n the canyon is a spot a fen hundred fe squate, on Indlar lands leased by and under tho sup ervisio Thermopolis. Cham ber amerce. ‘There {s a won derful ¢pring of ice water; room to park a hundred or more’ cars, a chance to stop and contemplate th wonderful scenery surrounding, In addition to being a connecting link to two vast empires of the west Wind River canyon highway at Thermopolls hot springs furnishes the traveler with one of the most beaut/ful and thrilling scenes of the Rocky mountains. So the stamping and hunting grounds of Shoshone Indians under Chief Washakle, the Arnpahoes under Chief Black Bear, Crows un der Sitting Bull and of many other tribes and nations, has become a the two smal hecomes Big Horn river as jt flows north and passes pleasant spot for tourists of Amer. ica and the world, Tourists crossing Wyoming to the Cody entrance to Yellowstone paric now pass through the beautiful) Wind River Can This engineerifg feat was accomplished at a cost of more than The view above shows two highway tunnels in mammoth | on, connecting Casper the dangerous climb over Birdseye the Burlington also passing through river. Highway Extensions Add. | | Pleasures to Motoring| | construction may not be used up in maintenance. Traffic and Traffic Costs There is one situation in Wyom- ing which {ts similar to tnat of all other states, and that {s that traffic is increasing at a very rapid rate on all our state highways. This is particularly true in’ Wyoming, be- cause not only are more people buy- ing motor vehicles, but our popula. tion is also increasing, and not only that, but tourists from the outside are coming in every year in greatly increasing numbers, so -that where a few years ago we had possibly a hundred vehicles on a road per day, there gre now anywhere from five roads, much more than pays for the work of construction in improving the road. Not only is the smooth surface provided responsible for the saying, but when a road tmprove- ment is made thousands of little ups and downs, curves, etc., are ellmin- ated, and each one of these has its influence in reducing traffic costs. A splendid example of this is the Wind River canyon project recently built between Shoshoni and Ther- mopolis, on which project alone it Is estimated that a saving of $50,000 annually {s made in traffic costs, based on the present amount of traf. fic. While the saving may not be so marked on other projects throughout the state, nevertheless "when the {mprovement of the whole system has been made, the annual savings {n'traffic costs will be so much as to many times justify the expense of the work from this standpoint alon: peace Auto Tourist Not Neglected by The Towns of Wyoming! | Wyoming takés pride in tourist camp gruonds and no less than a dozen towns and cities have been told that they have “the best-in the West.” Casper“has heard'this frow many tourists, due probably to the excellent equipment of the camp including baths, tubs and electrica! appliances {n eddition to gas for | cooking. Sheridan, however. provides beautiful park setting that is second to none fn the. state; Thermopolis has also provided an {dael location and at Cheyenne hundreds stop in | | | | an attractive park adjacent to the| city. However, there ts no town} without such accommodations and hundreds of places along the high-| ways offer ideal accommodations. hunéred to a thousand, and in some cases, many. more, The whole jus- tiffcation for road improvement comes from tMis fact alone, because traffic approndches such density the above, the aggregate amount that is saved to motor vehicle oper- ators in running over improved {t {s now well resognized that when , Not all of the tourist camps are free, Wyoming having found that | ne tourist would rather pay a nomi-| al charge for the best accommoda-| tions, The pay camps are increas. ing every year and probably will | entirely eliminate the free camps| in future year | | THE WYOMING AUTOMOTIVE CO. | DISTRIBUTORS OF ‘A Complete Line of Automobile dangerous | Equipment and Standard Accessories Bridger. | these | | “A Wyoming Supply House for the People” | for the Northern Roc American Weed Chains | Boyce Motometers A. C. Spark Plugs | Hilab Fan Belts Weaver Shop Equipment Weed Bumpers Manufactured by American Chain Co, || | We know that Casper is the logical distributing point THE WYOMING AUTOMOTIVE CO. CASPER, WYO. ky Mountain Region, ARRAY Uae Par aifcacem e “She Coffee Delicious’ Butter-Nut is today one of the most universally popular coffees In the west. A coffee of highest quality, artfully blended from the choicest varieties the world produces. Famed for its rich, mellow flavor and appetizing aroma. There are more expensive brands, but none supe- rior. Makes any meal better. QUALITY FOODS Kamo Brand is the symbol of quality on canned and package foods Kamo canned vegetables and fruits come th orchards in America and foreign lands. ness is beyond compare. Ask dependable, from finest fiel Their flavor and for Kamo goods by name, If It Carries a Paxton & Gallagher Brand, [tl Good These Brands Mean Highest Quality For 45 years Paxton & Gallagher Brands have been recognized as the stamp of ex- cellence. They are your guarantee of quality and _ honest merchandise. Buy always by name and assure yourself of the values, that have brands made — these famous, PAXTON & GALLAGHER CO. CASPER THIS IS PAXTON & GALLAGHER A. G. JONES, Manager CHEYENNE