The Cheyenne-Black Hills Stage Route Historic District encompasses the Running Water Stage Station and Rawhide Buttes Stage Station and the section of the original Cheyenne-Black Hills route between the two stations deemed to have significant historic value. The stage route was in operation from 1876 to 1887 between Cheyenne, Wyoming and Deadwood, South Dakota. Thousands of passengers, tons of freight and express, and millions of dollars in gold passed over this trail until it was superseded by a railroad. During the years the trail was in use, it became the scene of numerous Indian and outlaw depredations. East of Rawhide Buttes, the Texas Trail ran northward and intersected the Cheyenne-Black Hills road just north of Running Water Station. During the era of the great trail drives, thousands of cattle reached Wyoming, Montana and the Dakotas over this trail. Rawhide Buttes Stage Station served as an important U. S. mail distribution point north of Cheyenne. Approximately fifteen miles north of Rawhide Buttes Station, the Running Water Stage Station became the scene of a small but lively mining boom during the 1880s. It developed as a frontier community until the Chicago-Northwestern Railroad chose nearby Lusk for its terminal. On February 19, 1887, the last Black Hills stage coach pulled out from the Inter-Ocean Hotel in Cheyenne for the final regular trip north. When the wheels stopped rolling over the Cheyenne-Black Hills route, most of the stations became ranch headquarters.

Photo on file at the State Historic Preservation Office

Fort Laramie is a nationally significant historic site located in eastern Wyoming. The headwaters of the North Platte River were explored by American and French-Canadian beaver trappers who were the first men of European origin in the area. In 1834 William Sublett and Robert Campbell, traders operating out of St. Louis, built Fort William, the first structure to be located near the junction of the Laramie and North Platte Rivers. The post quickly became important as a base of operation for traders and trappers. The fort was sold to the American Fur Company in 1836. The appearance of the competitive Fort Platte, coupled with the rotting of log palisades, caused the American Fur Company to abandon Fort William and build a new adobe structure called Fort John. In 1845 Congress authorized the establishment of military posts along the Oregon Trail. By this authority the United States purchased Fort John in 1849 and built Fort Laramie.

Fort William, Fort John, and Fort Laramie were all important stopping off places for the increasing number of travelers along the trails to Oregon and California. The post became an oasis for the westward bound immigrants--the only outpost of civilization for the 800-mile span between Fort Kearney, Nebraska, and Fort Bridger, Wyoming. Historic trails and routes that passed through Fort Laramie, in addition to the Oregon and California Trails, were the Mormon Trail, Bozeman Trail, Pony Express Route, Transcontinental telegraph route, and the Deadwood and Cheyenne Stage Route. Fort Laramie also served as headquarters for military campaigns on the northern plains. Great Indian Councils that attempted to bring peace to the land occurred here in 1851 and 1866-68. Unfortunately, campaigns against the Indians of the Northern Plains during the last half of the nineteenth century testified to the ultimate failure of the treaties to maintain peace. Operating from Fort Laramie and neighboring posts, the Army eventually subdued the Sioux, Cheyenne, and other tribes in the area.

The fort witnessed the development of the open range cattle industry, the coming of homesteaders, and the settlement of the plains that marked the closing of the frontier. The Army abandoned the fort in 1890 and the buildings and land were auctioned off to the local citizens. More than 50 buildings during this time were moved elsewhere, demolished, or dismantled. The buildings that remain today at Fort Laramie are a result of several individuals homesteading the area and thus forestalling the disappearance of the buildings. In 1927, the Wyoming Historical Landmark Commission focused public attention of the fort and by 1936, the National Park Service representatives showed an interest in preserving Fort Laramie. By Presidential Proclamation of July 16, 1938, the fort became Fort Laramie National Historic Monument. It was redesignated a National Historic Site in 1960 when the monument was enlarged by Congress.

Originally the Fort Laramie Three Mile Hog Ranch encompassed between twelve and fifteen structures, all erected between 1873 and about 1885. When Fort Laramie ceased operations as a military post, it and several other hog ranches ceased operations. The Three Mile Hog Ranch buildings included a large loopholed barn, a grout swelling housing the bar, numerous cribs of two rooms each, several shops, a billiard hall and a sod corral. It earned its notorious reputation from its function as a social center for the soldiers stationed at Fort Laramie. Here soldiers spent their pay on cheap beer and hard liquor, cards, and on the ten or more prostitutes always in residence. The ranch also had an air of respectability. From 1876 to 1887 the Cheyenne and Black Hills Stage Company operated a hostelry there for its stage passengers. This function continued until the stage line was abandoned in 1887. The Fort Laramie Three Mile Hog Ranch was one of the very few military bordellos left in the western United States at the time of its nomination to the National Register of Historic Places.

Located in eastern Wyoming 30 miles north of Fort Laramie on Rawhide Creek, Jay Em is an early 20th century agricultural community typical of those which sprang up in the pre-depression era as farmers flocked to homestead previously unsettled regions of the arid west. Jay Em was developed in response to the need for contact with the outside world by Lake Harris, who had moved to southeastern Wyoming in 1905 and filed a homestead claim in 1912. Jay Em was a service community composed of simple structures providing necessities and very little else. The streets were never paved or graveled, there were never sidewalks, curbs or gutters, there was no municipal organization or community center. But there was a bank, a repair shop and gas station, a water tower, a general store, lumber yard and post office, and a few residences. Jay Em's buildings were constructed with the materials at hand. They are vernacular and demonstrate a rare consistency of architectural design. The district is a tightly knit commercial district with all buildings within a block of each other. Jay Em began its decline in the late 1930s, with the improvement of transportation in southeast Wyoming. The spread of the automobile and improvement of roads enabled area residents to travel to larger commercial centers like Lusk, Lingle, and Torrington, and one by one, the businesses of Jam Em closed their doors.

In 1925 the Union Pacific Railroad Company began surveying a line from Cottier to Torrington in preparation for construction of a railroad extension to a proposed Holly Sugar factory to be built just south of the Torrington city limits. Six acres of land opposite the factory had been purchased for the proposed new Union Pacific Depot. The South Torrington Union Pacific Depot was constructed in 1926 as a passenger and freight depot. It was designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood and Company of Los Angeles in the Spanish Mission architectural style. It is constructed of reinforced concrete with red-brick trim and a colored-slate roof. The north and south ends of the building are one story in height, while the south-central portion is two stories. The second story included a living quarters containing five rooms, two bedrooms, living room, kitchen, and a bath. The main level contained a freight and baggage room, a holdover room and record room, an agent's office, a passenger waiting room, and restrooms.

This thematic study includes twelve post offices owned and administered by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) throughout the State of Wyoming. These include the Basin, Greybull, Douglas, Lander, Torrington, Thermopolis, Buffalo, Kemmerer, Powell, Yellowstone, Evanston, and Newcastle Main Post Offices. The buildings represent a continuum of federally constructed post offices allocated to the state between the turn of the century and 1941. The buildings exhibit a variety of styles and sizes but maintain a common demeanor representative of the federal presence. All of the buildings were constructed from standardized plans developed from guidelines provided by the Office of the Supervising Architect in the Treasury Department. Variations in design styles reflect both the transition in the design philosophies of the Supervising Architect and the requirements developed in response to the Depression. These variations in design, as well as functions are also somewhat related to the communities in which they were placed and reflect the economic, political, and governmental context of those communities.