Converse County, Wyoming Early History

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Converse County, Wyoming
Early History

County History
This county was organized in 1888 and named after A. R. Converse, a pioneer cattleman, who had large interests in that section. It has a population of 4,168 and an area of 7,000 square
miles. The North Platte River, with its many tributaries, flows through the central portion of the county, affording a bountiful water supply for thousands of acres of land which have been brought under cultivation, and its wide plains are among the best pasture lands of the state. The Chicago and Northwestern branch railroad traverses its entire length from east to west, and the Colorado and Southern railroad gives an outlet to the south. The total assessed valuation of the county in 1906 was given as $3,012,732.70.

Until a very late date, the tract of country known as Converse County was given up to stock growing. To-day there are thousands of acres of land under cultivation. Most of the cultivated acreage can be classed as bottom or low land, bordering upon streams, although in the southeastern portion lands are producing good crops of corn, wheat and oats without irrigation. The principal crop in small grain is oats. With irrigation, oats have reached the enormous yield of eighty bushels to the acre, with a stool of six feet. Wheat will yield fifteen bushels on sod and twenty bushels on old ground. Rye and barley produce twenty bushels to the acre. Tame grasses—timothy, clover and millet—reach a luxuriant growth. Alfalfa does well without irrigation, but when placed under ditch, affords two and three full crops per year. Corn makes a good crop in-the eastern end of the county. Vegetables, under irrigation and in the bottom lands adjacent to streams, attain a growth equal to California's famous products. Potatoes yield several hundred bushels to the acre. Pumpkins and squashes reach a weight of 100 and even 160 pounds; cabbage, twenty-three pounds; turnips, twelve to fifteen pounds, and other vegetables in like proportion.

Converse County's chief mineral resources are coal, iron and copper. The finest coal found west of the Mississippi River is in the Shawnee Basin, fifty miles west of the Nebraska state line. Near Douglas is found a superior article of lignite, unsurpassed as a stove coal and a good steam fuel, but the vein is only two and one-half feet thick. At Inez, sixteen miles west of Douglas, the vein is seven feet thick, with a sandstone roof. At Glenrock, twenty miles further west, the vein is about six feet thick, with a sandstone roof. A new mine has just been opened at Big Muddy, near Glenrock. Coal "crops out" in greater or less veins in a hundred localities throughout the western portion of the county, and particularly in the northwestern portion. Assays of $68 in silver and gold, $240 in "horn" silver, and forty to fifty per cent. in copper have been obtained from prospect holes all along the Laramie Range in this county, and particularly from Spring Canon, some fifteen miles south of Douglas. Limestone is found in abundance, and quarries of a superior quality of sandstone have been located. Marble equal in grain and variety and beautiful color to the best has been discovered in several localities, While gypsum, from which is made the plaster of paris of commerce, exists in inexhaustible quantities. Large deposits of mica, glass sand and potters' clay have also been located.

Plenty of timber grows in the mountains and foothills, principally pine and spruce, and native lumber is supplied at reasonable prices. There is plenty of good land in the county subject to location, but it is rapidly being taken up. Lubricating oil is found in different portions of the county. Capital is at present engaged in developing this industry.

Douglas, the county seat, is located on the North Platte River and on the line of the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley railroad, and has a population of about 1,000. The town is quite prosperous, being the center of a large and growing trade. The high prices received for cattle, sheep, wool and all farm products add greatly to its present prosperity. Its numerous business places, substantial dwellings, well graded streets, sidewalks, waterworks and other improvements attest the prosperity of the place.

Twenty thousand acres of land segregated by the LaPrele Ditch and Reservoir Company, under the Arid Land Act, offer the prospective home seeker an opportunity to procure a home near this thriving town, which will offer him a market for all the products of his farm. (See article on lands.)

There are large oil fields within a short distance of Douglas, and gas was recently struck in commercial quantities within eight miles of the town. (See article, this pamphlet, on Oil.)

There are gold and copper mines south of Douglas.

Other towns of importance are Glenrock, Lusk and Manville, the former a coal mining town of about 600 population, and the two latter towns to which agricultural and Stock raising districts are tributary.

The United States land office for this county is at Douglas.

[SOURCE: The State of Wyoming, published by Dept of Wyoming Immigration, 1907. Submitted by BW]