The Brooks Lake Lodge complex is situated on the western edge of the Shoshone National Forest in northwestern Wyoming, only two miles east of the Continental Divide. It sits one-quarter mile south of Brooks Lake, a relatively large natural body of water named after Casper pioneer and later Wyoming Governor Bryant B. Brooks who discovered it in 1899. The Lodge, built in 1922, is unpretentious and structurally expressive in the tradition of the Western Craftsman style, crafted using local labor and native materials. Western Craftsman combined the pared-back aesthetic of the Arts and Crafts Movement of the early twentieth century with the pragmatic simplicity of the frontier log cabin, resulting in often simply massed, usually austerely decorated structures.

The style is most commonly associated with the dude ranches and tourist lodges which had sprung up throughout the Rocky Mountain West during the first decades of the twentieth century. The guest cabins, barns, bunkhouse and other outbuildings, also constructed in 1922, share certain characteristics of the Western Craftsman style as well. The historical significance of the Lodge is based upon its association with the early-day recreation industry in Wyoming. Built at a time when dude ranches were beginning to flourish and the automobile was opening many areas to working class tourist trade, it typifies a distinct form of recreational retreat - a stopover along the road to Yellowstone National Park and a rustic resort hotel placed in a spectacular Rocky Mountain setting.

The CM Ranch and Simpson Lake Cabins Historic District is a discontiguous district located in the Wind River Mountains. It consists of a 1300 acre dude ranch with associated buildings and structures, and a leased 5-acre portion of Shoshone Forest Service land which contains associated buildings and structures known as Simpson Lake Cabins. The Simpson Lake Cabins are owned by the CM Ranch. The Ranch is situated at the mouth of Jakey's Fork Canyon. The logs for the ranch buildings were cut in the Canyon in the 1920s and hauled to the ranch by teams of horses and wagons. The Simpson Lake Cabins are thirteen miles from the ranch near the Continental Divide along the eastern shore of Simpson Lake in the Fitzpatrick Wilderness.

The Simpson Lake Cabins site complex consists of three cabins, two outhouses, a meathouse, and a corral complex built in 1928. The CM Ranch and Simpson Lake Cabins played a significant role in the development of Wyoming's dude ranching industry. The Ranch was developed in 1920 and was the first dude ranch in Fremont County. It operated as a dude ranch until 1942, the beginning of World War II. Simpson Lake Cabins were built as a hunting camp. The owner of the CM Ranch, Charles Moore, bought the cabins in 1931 when he expanded the ranch's dude operations.

The Diamond A or Spring Ranch is historically significant for its association with pioneer ranching in Fremont County. It retains fourteen well-preserved and finely-crafted stone, log, and wood frame buildings, many of which were constructed by David Williamson, a stonemason known throughout the region who also constructed many stone buildings for Wyoming towns, Fort Washakie, and nearby ranches. The log homestead cabin dates possibly as early as 1891. The main ranch house was constructed in several separate building episodes, the earliest dating from 1903. The Diamond A Ranch has operated continuously as a cattle and/or horse ranch for over one hundred years.

National Register form available upon request.

T Cross Ranch is a well-preserved example of a late 19th century dude ranch. The engineering, construction techniques, and materials contribute to the historical context of the district’s architecture. As a uniquely American form of recreation, the dude or guest ranch arose late in the 19th century. The dude ranch concept reached its peak between the 1930s and the 1950s, with a brief downturn during World War II. Since then, several factors have combined to cause many historic dude ranches to close over time. In the Dubois area, however, T Cross and a few others have endured and thrived by offering a traditional, classic dude ranch experience.

The T Cross Ranch Rural Historic District is situated in a subalpine valley at 7800 feet within the Horse Creek watershed of the Absaroka Mountains. Horse Creek bisects the 160-acre homestead, which lies within the Shoshone National Forest at the edge of the largest roadless area in the lower 48 states. The District is 15 miles north of the town of Dubois and 2 miles south of the Washakie Wilderness area.

The contributing buildings, structures, sites, and objects date from 1919 to 1946, with the exception of a simple cabin built by the first but unsuccessful homesteader, Ernest O. Hadden. T Cross Ranch buildings are concentrated in the northwest quadrant of the District, placed on a north/south axis facing east toward two large pastures straddling Horse Creek. The Lodge and cabins are concentrated to the north end of this axis and the barns and corrals to the south end. Staff quarters are interspersed among other buildings from the Lodge to the Long Shed.

Most of the log buildings are representative of the Rocky Mountain cabin style [Preservation Briefs No. 26. p. 4]. This is a regional adaptation of traditional log buildings suited to the heavy snowfalls of the mountains. Doorways are recessed under the eaves of extended gabled roofs and open onto wide porches, which in some cases are walled on the ends. Thus doorways, any flanking windows, and occupants are protected from falling and drifting snow and from ice sliding off the roofs. The ubiquitous use of purlins for the porch roofs reflects Scandinavian construction, perhaps due to the ethnicity of the two Swedish hands hired by Seipt. With the exception of the Lodge and Ranch Office, all cabins face east and their rear elevations are to the west — the direction from which most storms come. The east-facing porches capture the warming rays of the morning sun as it climbs above the 10,000-foot Elkhorn Ridge.

The T Cross Ranch Rural Historic District’s period of significance extends from 1918 to 1957. The District was permanently settled in 1918 when German immigrant and naturalized citizen Henry Seipt claimed it as a homestead, named it The Hermitage, and moved his family there. He began building structures to support recreational activities and operated the property as a hunting and fishing destination. In 1929 Robert and Helen Cox bought the property, renamed it T Cross Ranch, and began dude ranch operations. They built additional structures to support this form of recreation. T Cross was run as a dude ranch through the end of the period of significance, 1957, and continues to be a dude ranch up to the present day.

The District is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A, specifically under the category of Entertainment/Recreation. The District’s historical import stems from its embodiment of a quintessentially American form of recreation — the dude ranch—and the intact physical integrity of the District makes it an excellent example. Factors contributing to the District’s current state of preservation include the remoteness of its location, the protection afforded it as an inholding within the Shoshone National Forest, the dedication of its owners to preserving it, and the loyalty of several generations of guests. As a result, the District is also eligible under Criterion C. The District’s buildings, structures, sites, and objects are well-preserved examples late 19th century American West ranch architectural styles. The engineering, construction techniques and materials, their placement within the District, and the uniformity of appearance all contribute to the historical context of the District’s architecture.

The Torrey Lake Club/Ranch Historic District, built as a pleasure resort at the mouth of Torrey Lake in the 1920s, is comprised of grazing land and small groups of cabins, corrals, and bunk houses. The district consists of about 603 acres which includes thirteen contributing resources, including nine cabins, a footbridge, two privies, and a meat house. The nine contributing cabins were built by members of the Torrey Lake Club and were placed to minimize alternation of terrain and intrusion into the natural character of the site. Generally, the cabins are all distinctive one-story log buildings of a simple rectangular plan with gable roofs, and they rest on stone foundations. Dave Williamson, a stonemason from Scotland and an early settler in the Wind River Valley, built the fireplaces and did the stonework. The Torrey Lake Club/Ranch is the only known ''Club'' established with a homestead patent as a recreational resort, and formed by and for the benefit of a close association of friends led by John R. Boardman.

The Torrey Lake Petroglyph District is an extensive, discontinuous grouping of predominantly pecked rock art extending approximately 5.2 km (3.2 mi.) along the Torrey Creek Drainage. About 175 petroglyphs, 11 lithic scatters, and a probable prehistoric drive line/sheep trap have been identified within the district. Three panels within a radius of about 100 meters and containing about 35 individual figures form the largest grouping of petroglyphs. With few exceptions the Torrey Lake petroglyphs are representative of the ''Interior Line Style'' of pecked petroglyphs, consisting of surrealistic anthropomorphs and abstract designs. The best known examples of this distinctive rock art style are found about 15 km (9 mi.) to the east at the Dinwoody type site. The rock art is locally referred to as the Dinwoody style. Largely due to the surrealistic nature of much of the Dinwoody style rock art, it has been speculated that they are the product of shamanistic activity. Dinwoody style petroglyphs are found in a relatively restricted geographic area comprising the western Wind River Basin and southwestern Big Horn Basin of north-central Wyoming. The chronology and cultural association(s) of the Dinwoody style are poorly understood at present, with estimated dates ranging from the Protohistoric period to the Early Plains Archaic. Recent advances in absolute dating methods for petroglyphs promise to clarify the chronology and perhaps suggest cultural affiliation(s) for these and other petroglyph styles.

National Register form available upon request.