The Road-a-holic is back

Hello, let me reintroduce myself.

My name is Gregory R.C. Hasman, aka a road-a-holic.

I came up with the name Ramblings from a Road-a-holic because it epitomizes who I am, a person who loves to travel and talk about and photograph those places. I last posted on here on Nov. 16, 2015, and while I have occasionally posted on my website, www.gregoryhasman.com, I have not posted as much as I should.

Okay, it feels good to get some of the cobwebs off, but now what?  Many things have happened since then. I have traveled to new states, Montana, Nebraska, Idaho, South Dakota and Iowa; or visited states I have not seen in years, Kansas, Missouri, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. I also helped bring a national highway event to Wyoming. (In 2019, the Lincoln Highway Association Conference will be coming to Sweetwater County...more on that in future posts.)

The immediate question is, where do I go or start from here?

How about a look at Rock Springs, Wyoming, a Lincoln Highway community, through the 1916 and 1924 Lincoln Highway road guides?

The Park Hotel opened in 1914 shortly after the Lincoln Highway was created.
Gregory R.C. Hasman Photo

A primary look

Reading primary sources has always intrigued me. It allows me to see things through the eyes of someone who was a part of an event or era, or descriptions of what life was like before I was born.

In the case of the Lincoln Highway, one source that is fun to read are its auto guides. I own the 1916 and 1924 versions.

Let's look at Rock Springs for example.

Circa 1916:

"Large coal mining industry is found at Rock Springs. The mines employ about 3,000 men, and produce many million tons of coal annually. Rock Springs was named after a saline spring of water which boils up near the foot of the bluff. An artesian well was sunk at this point, 1,145 feet deep. The Wyoming Hospital and other state buildings are located here. From this point to Green River the scenery is grand and impressive."

In 1924, things were changing.

"There is now, in addition to the extensive coal mining, great development in the oil industry to the south of Rock Springs in what is known as the Baxter Basin Oil Dome. The drilling operations are conducted by the Midwest Refining Company, Associated Oil Company and the Ohio Oil Company and still further south there will be extensive drilling in what is known as the Hiawatha Dome which also will be carried out by the companies mentioned.

"Rock Springs is a division point on the U.S. Air Mail between Cheyenne, Wyoming and Salt Lake City, Utah. Mail arrives daily from East and West about noon.

A concrete airmail arrow sits between Rock Springs and Superior. It serves as a reminder of another era.
Gregory R.C. Hasman Photo

"Rock Springs, located on the Union Pacific Railroad and the Lincoln Highway, is just 256 miles from the southern entrance of the Yellowstone National Park and the road is magnificent all the way through Hoback Canyon, Jackson Hole and the southern end of the Park.

"Rock Springs is the central shipping point for a coal mining territory whence annually about a million tons of high-grade bituminous coal are marketed. These mines have been operated since the Union Pacific opened up the district in 1868."

Mining may not be what it was, but it helped define the community as has oil and gas. Both continue to play a strong role in the community.

Gregory R.C. Hasman Photo