Bryan, Wyoming
Encyclopedia
Bryan is a ghost town
in Sweetwater County in the U.S. state
of Wyoming
. Bryan is located about 12 miles (19.3 km) west of Green River
along the Blacks Fork
River, and for a short time was the local headquarters and division point of the Union Pacific Railroad
. Today, only a few concrete foundations remain.
As with other cities in Wyoming, squatters rushed to occupy land in Green River City in anticipation of the arrival of the transcontinental railroad
in 1868. Unwilling to negotiate with the squatters, the railroad instead laid out a new town to the west of Green River along the Blacks Fork River and established it as the local headquarters of the railroad. Stage service was established between Bryan and Green River and from there connecting to mines and towns throughout Wyoming.
Once passed over for the headquarters the population in Green River dropped rapidly. Several years later Blacks Fork dried up due to a drought and the railroad was concerned that there was not enough water in Bryan to service the locomotives. The railroad was able to acquire enough land to move the headquarters to Green River and completely abandoned Bryan. The population plummeted and never recovered.
Ghost town
A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...
in Sweetwater County in the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
. Bryan is located about 12 miles (19.3 km) west of Green River
Green River, Wyoming
Green River is a city in and the county seat of Sweetwater County, Wyoming, United States, in the southwestern part of the state. The population was 11,808 at the 2000 census....
along the Blacks Fork
Blacks Fork
Blacks Fork is a tributary of the Green River in Utah and Wyoming. The river rises on the northern side of the Uinta Mountains as the combination of three streams draining the area around Tokewanna Peak near the Utah-Wyoming border...
River, and for a short time was the local headquarters and division point of the Union Pacific Railroad
Union Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad , headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest railroad network in the United States. James R. Young is president, CEO and Chairman....
. Today, only a few concrete foundations remain.
History
First Transcontinental Railroad
The First Transcontinental Railroad was a railroad line built in the United States of America between 1863 and 1869 by the Central Pacific Railroad of California and the Union Pacific Railroad that connected its statutory Eastern terminus at Council Bluffs, Iowa/Omaha, Nebraska The First...
in 1868. Unwilling to negotiate with the squatters, the railroad instead laid out a new town to the west of Green River along the Blacks Fork River and established it as the local headquarters of the railroad. Stage service was established between Bryan and Green River and from there connecting to mines and towns throughout Wyoming.
Once passed over for the headquarters the population in Green River dropped rapidly. Several years later Blacks Fork dried up due to a drought and the railroad was concerned that there was not enough water in Bryan to service the locomotives. The railroad was able to acquire enough land to move the headquarters to Green River and completely abandoned Bryan. The population plummeted and never recovered.