Small Town Independence in America

Pinedale, Wyoming, 1905. The town's first 4th of July celebration was held that night. As we see here, the townsfolk hung out Old Glory, bunting, and had a grand time.


Charles A. Peterson moved his family to Pine Creek Flat on September 7, 1895. A rude cabin, probably constructed and abandoned by a hunter-trapper, became their new home. Tex Pierce and the Hoff brothers, Harry and Henry, were the nearest neighbors a few miles away. Shortly came Robert Graham and Carl Lauritsen from Council Bluffs, Iowa who made camp on the Fremont Lake shore. Later, Mr. Graham moved to his own 160 acre spread adjoining the Peterson place.

In the following years, more families arrived to make the Pine Creek area their home. There were William Shanley, J. Hill, the Hansen family, J. Sweeny, Verne Sill, and Albert Bayer. In a letter remembering those beginning days, Charlie Peterson wrote "we considered ourselves a community, and we applied for a local post office."

They got their Post Office establishing constant contact with the outside world. Mr. Bayer contracted to dig the first ditch in Pine Creek. It ran along the higher flats and brought much needed fresh water to the lower flats of Pinedale and Pole Creek.

The small, ad hoc community grew. A saw mill was brought up from Saratoga and cut the lumber used to build the homes and businesses that were popping up throughout the area. Charlie Peterson and his wife increased the population when George B. Petersen was born October 17, 1898 making him the first white child born there. Mr. Peterson bought the sawmill and lost an arm to the blade.

The town grew and prospered. Using the plans Peterson and Graham had laid out, the town of Pinedale took shape on land donated by the two, five acres each. A large general store was built and the owner donated four lots to build a schoolhouse. The town then gave two lots to a newspaper man with a printing press. Education and communication had arrived.

Peterson established the first saloon, building it next to his own house, the original cabin had already been replaced by a proper home for Mrs. Peterson. Charlie says, "a roaring success-with accent on roaring. In spite of all the shooting and drinking there never was a man hurt in the whole time I ran the saloon. So far as I know it was the same with the Falers Brothers who were my successors."

Others came and the town continued to grow. A church was built to save the souls of those in the saloon. A doctor came and so did a pharmacy. That Post Office that was built at the beginning had been moved and the frontiersman, Kit Carson served as Post Master for several years.

The Sprague Hotel was built in 1904. The hotel provided a warm place for visitors, some of whom stayed. The town was now exploding. The good folk of Pinedale got electricity in 1904, telegraph in January 1905 and telephone the following March. At year's end, a bridge straddled Pine Creek bringing the automobile which didn't actually get to town until August 14, 1907. It was a 27HP Gale that weighed 1900 pounds and had been driven in from Rock Springs in the unheard of time of seven hours, less than a work day. Town Father, Mr. Peterson, didn't see the arrival of the automobile in Pinedale; he left his town in 1905 after having lived the American Dream of creating something lasting and important to others.

"Boosterism" they called it. That practice of advertising to lure people to come and start a new life. Many came from parts unknown and they sometimes changed their names to make a clean break from the past. Pinedale incorporated in 1912 and at the end of World War I, saw a population explosion as soldiers returned from the trenches and killing fields - the Flanders Fields - of Europe.

Pinedale has had a short, but event filled history. Dreams achieved and dreams dashed. Lives created and lives lost. In the early days, saloons were frequented more than churches, and I'd suspect that's still true today. Kat's Steakhouse now stands where a man once could drink and gamble at Jack Mudd's place. Over at the Fremont saloon, the barkeep was murdered with an icepick. That's the town's cold case; still don't know the who or the why of the killing.

The problems and promise of Pinedale are the same for every community of our nation. The history is the same, too. It is all in the way we meet the challenges that has made all the difference. America gives a first chance, one must earn the second, and America will even give a third chance if one works hard enough.

Today Pinedale and America are confronted with problems, dangers, and challenges from within and without. On the whole, we are doing pretty well. We've not been attacked by terrorists since 9/11 2001, we held elections and nomination primaries without mishap. We've toppled two terrorist governments in Afghanistan and Iraq, have split North Korea and Iraq from the Axis of Evil leaving Iran to stand alone against the world.

Osama bin Laden thought he could destroy America's economy by damaging the World Trade Towers. He brought them down, but the economy recovered in two years. Another of his stated goals was $140 barrels of oil. He didn't do that either, but the rest of us sure did. In spite of the oil cost, the mortgage and stock market crises, Americans are still plugging along accepting the problems as they come, knowing the promise of America, like our flag at Ft. McHenry, is still there.

Happy Independence Day. Remember how it came to be and those men and women who forged their dream from the giving soil of America. Remember those who are, at this very moment, working, fighting, bleeding, and dying so that that promise and those dreams can live.




There is more to be found about Pinedale at "Early Pinedale History", Ann Noble, May 2, 2002. My thanks to the town and people of Pinedale for doing what American do best, and especially to Miss. Noble for telling their story.


The life of Indigo Red is full of adventure. Tune in next time for the Further Adventures of Indigo Red.

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