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The Good Roads Clubs in Wyoming were like the cheerleaders of the early highway system—rallying townsfolk, wrangling funds, and literally paving the way to Yellowstone National Park, turning bumpy wagon trails into smooth rides for motorists in their new fancy cars.

As autos became all the rage even in rural Wyoming, so did the increased need for good highways.

Across the Cowboy State, Good Roads Clubs were formed and led the way to build better highways.

In 1915, it was announced that the Yellowstone National Park would allow automobiles into the park and the Good Roads Club rallied, demanding that a smooth highway be built to the park. They were prepared to do whatever necessary to get their good roads!

A thank you to our sponsor, the Wyoming Department of Transportation, who was charged with building this road to Yellowstone as one of their very first projects! Celebrating 100 years of the Yellowstone Highway through the Wind River Canyon and looking forward to many more to come along Wyoming’s scenic highway!

Please be sure to join the conversation on Facebook! We talk all things Wyoming history on our group page, Pioneers of Outlaw Country.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/237783835417157

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Your hosts are Jackie Dorothy and Dean King and you can find us at (20+) Pioneers of Outlaw Country | Facebook

This is a production of Legend Rock Media Productions.

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Blasting Through The Wind River Canyon

Blazing a railroad through Wind River Canyon in the early 1900s was essentially hand-painting a snake’s skeleton—rugged crews, dynamite, burros, and sheer drops that would make a circus tightrope look tame. Those hardworking souls carved tunnels out of granite with picks, shovels, and sweat, all while exotic voices from Swedish, Italian, and Japanese laborers echoed between canyon walls.

Join us as we celebrate these hard working men - and donkeys - that laid track in one of Wyoming’s most remote and rugged canyon!

Support the show

Be sure to subscribe to “Pioneers of Outlaw Country” so you don’t miss a single episode of this historic series.

Your hosts are Jackie Dorothy and Dean King and you can find us at (20+) Pioneers of Outlaw Country | Facebook

This is a production of Legend Rock Media Productions.

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A gold rush in the Copper Mountains of Wyoming brought 2,000 miners into the area in 1906. By 1909, nearly everyone was gone. For just a brief moment in time, hopes of a rich strike even excited Wyoming Governor Brooks who boasted of the future success of Birdseye.

But when the lead ran dry, the dreams turned to dust, and the camp faded into legend.

Join us as we explore the untold stories of the souls who worked and lost in this Wyoming frontier, where the echoes of the past still linger in every tumbleweed. Historian Jackie Dorothy uncovered stories of exploding cows, characters such as Deadwood Dick and more as businessmen and women tried to make their fortunes in this remote mining camp of Wyoming.

This episode continues the journey along the Wind River Canyon Scenic By-Way, a section of the Yellowstone Highway built in 1924. Years before the highway cut through the canyon, the route to Yellowstone National Park was to go over the canyon, through the mining camp of Birdseye.

By 1909, the businesses and homes were abandoned and the mines closed. Only a dim memory lives on of this once vibrant mining town.

Brought to you in partnership with the Wyoming Department of Transportation. This is a production of Legend Rock Media with your hosts, Jackie Dorothy and Dean King.

Support the show

Be sure to subscribe to “Pioneers of Outlaw Country” so you don’t miss a single episode of this historic series.

Your hosts are Jackie Dorothy and Dean King and you can find us at (20+) Pioneers of Outlaw Country | Facebook

This is a production of Legend Rock Media Productions.