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New article about the first “Green River” available online

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Map showing the extent of Green River County, Utah Territory and the location of Green River City, what is today the City of Green River, Wyoming.A sketch of the Green River with hand written notes indicating the claim to 640 acres at the Green River Station. Tape holds sections of it together at the seam. Text reads: 'The COC & Express Companys Claim at Green River is bounded as follows to wit. The South East Corner is Situated on the bottoms on the west side of Green River and witnessed and followed from Stone set in the earth marked with cross on top (+) West three degrees north to Telegraph Post Marked (W) on East Side Eleven chains three links (11 chains 3 links) from said stone north sixteen & half degrees to old stove chimney three chains ninety one links (3 ch 91 lks.) Said corner is situated on green River near the ferry crossing known as Martin’s Ferry and on the line of the Pacific Telegraph, Thence running west and one mile. Thence north one mile then east one mile. Thence south one mile to place of beginning containing six hundred and forty acres of land in the County of Green River and Territory of Utah. I hereby certify that the above survey and diagram was made by me on the 14th day of January A.D. 1862 by order of Isaac E. Eaton general superintendent of the aforesaid company and for their special benefit in accordance with section one act of Congress entitled an act of making appropriation for Services of Post Office department during the fiscal year ending 13th day of June A.D. 1846 and approved on the 3rd day of March A.D. 1855'A picture of rock piles in a sagebrush steppe scene. All that remains of the Green River Stage Station at the site.

Graphic #1 - Green River County, Utah Territory, was huge, extending nearly 250 miles from northern Utah to Bridger Pass, not far from present-day Rawlins.

 

Graphic #2 - A sketch from 1862 laying claim to 640 acres at Green River Station, now in the possession of the Wyoming State Archives in Cheyenne. Note that the original Transcontinental Telegraph Line also crossed the Green River at the site.

 

Photo #1 - Not much now remains of Green River Station.  (Emilio Sanchez photo)

 

(Sweetwater County, Wyo. - August 25, 2022)      The county seat of Sweetwater County was not the first community in Wyoming named “Green River,” according to a new article on WyoHistory.org.

“Crossing the River at Green River Station,” by Dick Blust of the Sweetwater County Historical Museum staff, tells the story of Green River Station, a tiny settlement that served as a stage stop, Pony Express station, ferry, and ford located dozens of miles upstream from the city of Green River.

What is now Sweetwater County was once in Green River County, Utah Territory, created in 1852, and existed until 1868, with the establishment of Wyoming Territory. Green River Station was one of a number of fords and ferry sites across the Green used by emigrants traveling the Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails, as well as stagecoaches and Pony Express riders.

The Station was home to the first Post Office in what would later become Sweetwater County, established in 1853, as well as “‘five stores and one Indian wigwam, which served as a saloon,’ as well as six cabins where people lived, including the station keeper, stagecoach drivers, riders, and stock tenders for spare horses.”

Little is now left of Green River Station, which faded away and died in the years after the railroad arrived in Sweetwater County in 1869.

WyoHistory.org, a project of the Wyoming State Historical Society, is an extensive online resource for articles and information on Wyoming history.

Located at 3 E. Flaming Gorge Way in Green River, the Sweetwater County Historical Museum is open from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Tuesday through Saturday. Admission is free.