Cambria
N 43° 55.027 W 104° 10.909
13T E 565688 N 4862992
Wyoming Historical Marker noting the history of the vanished town of Cambria, located in a roadside pullout on the west side of US 85, about 5.4 miles north of Newcastle.
Waymark Code: WMPP54
Location: Wyoming, United States
Date Posted: 09/30/2015
Views: 4
Located 7 miles north of Newcastle was the coal mining town of Cambria. In 1887, Frank Mondell, a future Congressman, found enough coal in the area to fuel the construction of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad across northeastern Wyoming.
In light of the abundance of coal, The Cambria Mining Company, later called The Cambria Fuel Company, was organized in 1891 and acquired 17,000 acres of land. By the turn of the century the company was mining 1500 to 1800 tons of coal daily.
To house its employees, the company created the town of Cambria. From 1900 to 1920 between 1000 and 1500 people of various nationalities lived here. The community supported many business and civic organizations, including three churches, an opera house, a school, a hotel, a sawmill, and a concert band.
Cambria was dependent upon the availability of coal. In the winter of 1927, no new coal seams were available. All work came to a stop at noon on March 15, 1928, and soon afterwards, people began to leave Cambria. Within a couple of years the town site was abandoned, and the equipment and buildings were moved elsewhere.
Marker Name: Cambria
Marker Type: Rural Roadside
Addtional Information:
According to Wikipedia, some of this town remains:
The Cambria Casino Park is now a resort sometimes leased to the Flying V Ranch, and still operates as a bed and breakfast known as the Flying V Cambria Inn. Several houses are still standing on the site today. The home of the superintendent, the church steeple, the mule stables, the bank and office vaults, a few garages, many mine buildings, and cold cellars are also among the ruins. The 365 steps leading up to where the school and residential area once stood are still intact. Clearings through the trees mark where the paths and roads were.
Group Responsible for Placement: State of Wyoming
Web link(s) for additional information: [Web Link]
Date Dedicated: Not listed
Marker Number: Not listed
|
Visit Instructions:
Please post a photo of you OR your GPS at the marker location. Also if you know of any additional links not already mentioned about this bit of Wyoming history please include that in your log.
Recent Visits/Logs:
| There are no logs for this waymark yet. |
|
|
|