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Evanston Railroad

EVEN MORE TO SEE

Last updated Monday, October 24, 2011 - 10:39am

If you can't get enough of Evanston's railroad history, drop by Historic Depot Square, just a few blocks away from the railyards, at 1020 Front St.

* The Uinta County Museum is there, and museum staff can show visitors around other buildings the city has restored. The museum has a room set up to look like an old mercantile store, an arrowhead collection, and a working model of an oil rig, made using Erector Set parts.

* The Historic Train Depot, built in 1900, used to be divided -- the side with the fireplace was for women, and the side that had a pot-bellied stove for men.

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MATTHEW ARDEN HATFIELD/Standard-Examiner
THis photo shows the progress of restoration at the roundhouse at the Evanston railyards.

They've been working on the railroad

Becky Wright Standard-Examiner

Last updated Monday, October 24, 2011 - 10:39am

Look at a map of southern Wyoming, and you may notice a pattern there --the bigger towns are spaced evenly apart.

It's not coincidence. It's history.

"In 1868, when Union Pacific came through Wyoming, they established a community every 100 miles," said Jim Davis, of Evanston. "About every 100 miles, they needed a place to service the locomotives."

Evanston was the railroad's last stop in Wyoming.

"They were looking to establish a community at Wahsatch," Davis said, speaking of a site in Utah west of present-day Evanston. "I think they quickly discovered there was no real good access to water, so they came back. That's how Evanston was located where it's at."

The town is proud of its history -- and it's preserving it in a big way.

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