Rock Springs, Wyoming, and surrounding areas

[KayJay]

Anyone in or near Rock Springs, Wyoming? My husband just got a job there and I was wondering if anyone might be able to give me some info about the area. I've done lotsa research online, but thought someone in the area might have more/better info. Thanks in advance!

[Junkmanme]

Rock Springs is DEFINITELY a "western town"! Still a "little wild & crazy" the last time I was there! It's a good place to "keep your mouth shut" and your "ears wide-open"!
The people are FRIENDLY. You'll probably LOVE Wyoming! (a Great State except for the wind and snow in Winter..)

just my 2 pesos worth,
Bruce (in New Mexico)

[hillsidedigger]

Southwest Wyoming is very dry although very scenic.

[painterswife]

I am north of there but travel through it every once and a while. It is an oil and gas town on the Interstate.

It is having a few problems right now because of the gas boom and new residents. You can read the Casper Tribune online, check the archives.

It is dry and windy. The nice part about it is it is central to alot of great recreational places. South is the flaming Gorge, North is Pinedale and the Wind River Range of mountains. Salt Lake city is east on the highway.

Lots of hunting and fishing!

Jill

[BeckyW]

We're in CO, 30 miles south of Cheyenne WY. We've got friends from Rock Springs who just moved to Minnesota (job related) who both grew up there - not oil people but medical people.

One of the great blessings WY residents enjoy is nearly free education clear up to graduate school. The state is so rich in oil money and there are generous state credits that make U of WY right next to, if not free for WY residents. Princeton Review rated U of WY one of the best values in higher education in the US. Another blessing, of course, is that there are no state income taxes and the fuel prices are pretty reasonable there (not compared to OK but better than the surrounding states and tons better than CA).

Skiing isn't as good as CO although Jackson Hole is a close second. Upside is that lift tickets aren't as expensive (except Jackson Hole) nor the slopes as crowded. Snow mobiling is rated 3rd best in the nation (should probably be #2) - so do indulge yourself!

In the winter, blowing snow is a major issue in WY and white-out conditions happen in the blink of an eye. Always have winter survival kit in your vehicle.

Oh, and it's a state law, I think - every WY resident MUST own a pick-up truck, the bigger the better! :baby04: And I believe Wyoming trucks, like Texas trucks, are specially modified to run in only two speeds - fast and very fast! I'm not sure that Wyoming has ever had a traffic jam (check with the locals to verify) - the roads are straight and wide open (except up in the mountains), thus the need for modification on all trucks. (I'd better quit before they start catapulting snowballs at me from across the border! )

It's a great state to run your homestead on alternative energy - wind or solar. Lots of expertise on that up there.

People seem to either love WY or hate it. If you go there looking for the good, you will surely find it.
BW

[painterswife]

"Oh, and it's a state law, I think - every WY resident MUST own a pick-up truck, the bigger the better"

As a Wyomingite( not sure if that is correct) I will take exception to that!
I drive a Nissan Versa, small front wheel drive. But maybe the fact that I was born and raised in Vancouver Canada accounts for that.

Wyoming is the land of sagebrush, and a someone use to the green of the west coast it was a change. It grows on you! It takes a couple of seasons but seeing the aspen bud out in the spring is very special in this dry land.

[DW]

If I ever did move from CO...WY would be my next choice!!! It's the west and the good folks of WY act like it...love it!!!

[mondakkid]

HI...I have some friends that moved there because of the oil jobs. The place is booming....rent is sky high, if you could find a place. My friends had to buy a 5th wheel to live in because there is nothing...and I mean nothingt to rent. Good luck..

[goatlady]

It's dry, flat, and bare - no trees. The wind blows constantly, you bake to death in the summer and freeze to death in the winter. Right on the Interstate. Lots of dirt and blowing dust. Lots of luck finding a place to live! I like PARTS of Wy. but not in the RS area. Forget about gardening there, the plants shrivel up and blow away overnight, same with grass and the water is full of methane gas, actually bubbles and burbs coming out of the faucets and smells to high heaven. Plan on buying your water in the store already bottled although Culligan is a BIG business there.

[KayJay]

Originally Posted by mondakkid

HI...I have some friends that moved there because of the oil jobs. The place is booming....rent is sky high, if you could find a place. My friends had to buy a 5th wheel to live in because there is nothing...and I mean nothingt to rent. Good luck..

I have noticed that rents are about on par with what they are in my area of California, so yeah I guess they're high lol. Luckily for us my husband doesn't mind a commute, we absolutely cannot and will not live in town anyway. We're hoping to buy our first home with a small (for now) amount of acreage for all the animals and my garden, and I've seen some pretty promising possibilities (albeit only online so far) within an hr or so of Rock Springs. My husband lived in Casper when he was a teenager and vowed to move back someday because he loved the whole state, looks like we finally get to make that happen for him! For me, I don't care where we are, as long as I can have some land and my animals!
Thanks for all the replies, and I'll be sure to let yas know when we find a place!

[Explorer]

Originally Posted by KayJay

within an hr or so of Rock Springs.

You might want to check out the Mountain View area which is about 30 miles west along I80. As I recall there were several farms in that area. It is near many of the old mountain man rendezvous areas and the good grass is what drew them to that area.

[cowboyracer43]

I lived in Rock Springs for about 20 years. Its original population, coal miners all, consisted of some 57 nationalities. Slovenians, Serbians, Slavs, Italians, Tyroleans (okay they are Italians, too) Chinese, Basque, you name it. Rock Springs is the site of the Rock Springs Chinese Massacre in which a bunch of white (Scotch, Irish, Welsh) coal miners thought that because the Chinese were mining more tonnage, they were getting the best "rooms" in the coal mines. The Chinese miners were living in dugouts in the banks of the Bitter Creek and the white coal miners burned them out and shot survivors, including women and children. No one was prosecuted. Some thirty or so were murdered. (1886) The Federal Government sent a garrison of troops there to keep the peace. It was called Camp Pilot Butte. At least two of the barracks still remain. One is the Catholic School (or parish center) for Sts Cyril & Methodius Church. I was there for its worst publicity (60 Minutes, Denver Post, Argosy magazine articles, the "toughest place in America", etc.) I love that city and its people more than I can ever say. The folks were good to me, loyal to me and they were (are) the best friends I have, or will ever have. I miss it terribly.

The original coal mines were numbered (No 1, No 2 etc.) The towns streets were originally the paths and trails to each of five coal mines. They rather look like they had been laid out by a drunken sheepherder rounding up his flock. Find the plaque identifying the original spring at Rock Springs. It is just off Hgwy 191 (Elk Street) South of I-80. From there, all of the original mine sites can be identified and located. The town has been undermined and even today is subject to subsidence. There is a very fine junior college there (WWCC -- Western Wyoming Community College, or as it is known locally -- Wicky-Wacky.) One of the original "Our Gang," "Little Rascals" characters, Pinky, was raised there. The municipal golf course has one of the most beautiful dining hall clubhouses you will ever see. It is also a very good course. It has an outstanding airport and it is the alternate for Salt Lake City. For most of my years there, the Railroad depot was about 200 feet from my office. I could step out of my office at 5:30 on a Friday evening, board Amtrak for Reno and be back in my office Monday morning by 8:30. The town is well churched and that is a good starting point for knowing the people. Every church from Greek Ortohdox on is represented. The bars on N. Front, K Street, and Pilot Butte have the most color and history. Most fraternal clubs (BPOE, FOE, Moose, Odd Fellows have grand lodges. There is even a Slovenski Dom which is used for wedding receptions, galas and the like. If you give it a chance, you may never want to leave.

[KayJay]

Thanks for the tip Explorer!
Thanks for the write-up Cowboyracer, lots of info in there, I really appreciate it!

[prairie hill]

I met my DH in Green River, about 17 miles west of RS. He and my brother were both working for the WY Highway Patrol, stationed out of Rock Springs. We lived in Green River and went to Rock Springs to church. The years we lived out there, I must confess I despised the never-ceasing wind. I loved the higher altitude and the low humidity, though. I was from eastern NE and had a tough time with the wind, the bareness and the short (53 day) growing season. Arghhhhhhh.

You have to LEARN to play it safe in that climate in the cold months, as you don't sense the cold like you do in a climate of higher humidity. Still do love that about Western WY, though we live in western NE now. We lived in east/central WY (Douglas - 50 miles from Casper) for a number of years, and the climate was milder there.

By the way, if you wander a ways southwest of RS, you'll find the area written about in Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart ((c) 1914, reprinted by Houghton Mifflin, 1988) Neat story worth reading, especially as you'll be close to the area it's written about (it's a ways, but distance becomes very "relative" in WY, as things are so far apart!). Beautiful area - we used to hunt down there.

There are some beautiful places out there, and you'll appreciate them all the more, because although the RS/GR area does possess a unique beauty - you gotta go somewhere else to see green and get out of the wind!

Hope you find a place to love!

[prairie hill]

Quote from Jill: "Salt Lake city is east on the highway." She meant west. It's about 3 1/2 hours west on I80. By the time you near Evanston, WY (also on I80 and about 85 miles from RS if I remember right) it gets really gorgeous. All the western edge of WY is gorgeous as far as we ever experienced.