Rock Springs, Wyoming is/was the site of large coal deposits, first discovered by Americans in the 1850s. Nothing much was made of it – the pioneer routes were 40 or 50 miles north.

In the 1860s, Ben Holladay set a stage station at a site near potable water springs (“rock springs”) when he moved the Overland Stage Route south; the beginnings of a settlement.

The Union Pacific side of the transcontinental railroad passed through here in 1868, noting the extensive coal deposits as a fuel source. The UP built a coaling depot along with freight and passenger stations here in 1868. Rock Springs became a town.

The original passenger depot was replaced with the current structure in 1900 which saw its last passenger train in 1997. But this isn’t a story about railroads or coal mines.

Down on Main St in old town Rock Springs Wyoming, right across from the railroad station, sits the old Fountain Club saloon. Once a hangout of Butch Cassidy’s along with a variety of people passing through when the train stopped here – among them, Calamity Jane. She didn’t live here but, being a known drunkard with the Fountain Club directly across from the train station; a handy spot for a quick one while the train was readied for its next leg of the journey.

(Butch Cassidy picked up the name “Butch” when he worked at a butcher shop across the tracks on Front St. It’s not inconceivable the Wild Bunch gang had its beginnings at this bar in 1896 after Butch was released from prison (when Butch was 30). The gang occasionally frequented the bar when they were in the area. It’s been said by some, including his sister, that Butch did not die in South America but returned here to his home in Rock Springs.)

[As a personal note, in 1980 I had occasion to meet an elderly woman in Doyle, California when my girlfriend of the time started talking with this woman. Said woman claimed her husband had worked for Butch Cassidy as a stable hand when a boy sometime around 1910-1915 in Nevada and insisted Butch Cassidy did not die in South America.]

But Butch Cassidy is not this tale. There actually isn’t a tale …

The building left of the Fountain Club is the old National Bank building, built 1892. The larger building to the right was also a bank, the First National Bank built in 1887. It has been lost to time when the Fountain Club was built but probably a bit earlier than the banks. The 1892 National Bank building is abandoned now but the company is still in business in Rock Springs. The 1st National Bank underwent corporate and name changes; the company was shut down in 2000. the building is being renovated.

The Fountain Club building’s in sad shape now – perhaps beyond restoration. This was the core of the original town but over the years, much of modern Rock Springs has built to the east of this part of the historic district – which, other than a block or two along Main St, is mostly empty with a few modern commercial buildings. Front St on the other side of the tracks from Main St, has some historic buildings still standing but for the most part, they’ve been “modernized”.