History Of Basin, Wyoming

History of Basin, Wyoming brought to you by the Basin Chamber of Commerce, at www.basinchamber.org Basin, Wyoming, known as the nations Lilac Capital, was first called Basin City, deriving its name from the Big Horn Basin. This small town of 1,238 people is surrounded by mountains, forming this unique and special place on earth. The mountains that form the basin are the Big Horns to the east, the Rockies to the West, Owl Creeks to the South, and the Pryor Mountains to the north. The Big Horn Basin once consisted of parts of Fremont, Johnson, and Sheridan counties. New counties were created, and now there is also Park, Washakie, and Hot Springs counties once part of Big Horn County, which was created March 12, 1890 as one of the last acts of the Wyoming Territorial Legislature, just two months later Wyoming became a state Basin sits at 3,380 feet above sea level, with an average growing season of 157 days, and an average humidity of around 50 percent. Natural resources produced in Big Horn County are bentonite, natural gas, and oil. Agricultural production in the area includes sugar beets, malt, barley, beans, cattle, and sheep. Basin has always had a mayor-council system of town government. Winfield S. Collins founded Basin in 1896. As the story goes, Collins wanted to buy a piece of property in Otto a town 10 miles west of todays Basin which was campaigning to be named county seat of Big Horn County. Otto is on the Greybull River Road, and was a well-established village in 1896. The owner of the property Collins wanted refused to drop his price ten more dollars, so W.S. stormed out of Otto, determined to make his own county seat. He chose to make his town east of Otto, by the Big Horn River where sagebrush, anthills, and prairie dog holes were plentiful. Collins moved his house from Bonanza, about 15 miles east. It was the first house set up in the new town he called Basin City. The first building to be built in Basin was the Basin City Herald office. The Basin City Herald was a newspaper office and a lodging house. In 1896, most people living in Basin resided in dugouts or caves in the banks of the river. Little more than forty people lived in Basin City that first year, and to go in or out of the Big Horn Basin they had to cross treacherous mountain ranges by following Indian trails. A famous man in Wyoming History was Colonel W.D. Pickett. He was a rancher who lived on the upper Greybull River. Pickett knew that Big Horn needed to become a county under territorial laws before Wyoming became a state, because many members of the Union Pacific, and officers in Cheyenne didnt want to reduce their power in the state. So Pickett set to work pushing Big Horn into becoming a county, and he made it. Big Horn County was approved just two months before Wyoming became a state.