With the weather getting warmer, my wife suggested that we take a road trip to attend an event in an old Wyoming mining. This town, named Sunrise, was located just outside of Guernsey in the eastern central part of our state, on the east side of a small town named Hartville.
Sunrise was a company town. It was literally built for the purpose of supporting the mining interest in the area. The town was built to support the company operations and to house its workers and their families.
Throughout the town, you will find a few structures that remain from the mine's heyday. This particular building was one of many that were garages that residents used to park their personal automobiles. There were many of these garage buildings on the property, but this was the only one still standing (at least that we saw). Doing a little research on this site, we found out at one time, Sunrise was home to longest garage structure!
We found that we could walk into this building. It wasn't apparent what the building's purpose was. It wasn't until later that evening, after we were home, that the building was where the mine workers showered and dressed after a long, dirty day of work.
The building's condition and the sunlight coming in made me think it would be a good black and white photo. I think I was right! I loved the way it came out after converting the photo to black and white.
This was one of the mine pits found on the property. This one was located close to the main town hub so it was easy to get to. There was a newer picnic table next to the rim of the mine, so I used it to get a better view of the rather large hole in the ground! Seriously, it was rather deep but the water hid the true depth of the mine.
When the company ceased operations in the town and closed the site, they demolished all but five of the residences on site. Two of the still standing structures were standing next to each other. I don't know if they have been restored at some point, but they looked to be well built and in remarkable condition.
As I mentioned earlier, after we got home, I did some research on the story of Sunrise. We visited the site without knowing the background. There is a lot of history in this patch of Wyoming and I am looking forward to checking it out again!
Below is a collection of web resources I've found that explains the many facets of this historical town.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunrise,_Wyoming
- http://www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com/nplatte2.html
- https://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/for-wyoming-ghost-town-eclipse-a-chance-to-share-history-of-old-mining-community-with/article_6beaf3be-3cdd-550a-8d9c-e4ef79dfeec3.html
- https://wyoshpo.wyo.gov/index.php/programs/national-register/wyoming-listings/view-full-list/761-sunrise-mine-historic-district
- https://www.pcrecordtimes.com/article/homespun-sunrise-wyoming
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ectKh-m2nG0
- https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/WY-01-031-0006
- https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00357529.1994.9925582?journalCode=vram20
- https://ahcwyo.org/2018/06/07/glimpses-into-the-iron-ore-mining-past-of-sunrise-wyoming/
- https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/post/archeologists-others-study-ancient-sunrise-mine#stream/0
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