1918 Map of Moorcroft

About this map

The Belle Fourche River snakes through the high plains of northeastern Wyoming in this record of early 20th-century settlement. This landscape, surveyed shortly before the United States entered the Great War, is defined by an extensive network of rural schools including the Thompson School, Ely School, and Thorn Ridge School, indicating a period of peak population for these ranching and dry-farming districts. The Chicago Burlington and Quincy Railroad provides the primary economic artery, connecting the established hubs of Moorcroft and Upton via the siding at Thornton. Transport across the river and ridges is documented through historic routes like the Black and Yellow Trail and the distinctively named Shipwheel Crossing. The map captures the transition across the Crook and Weston County line, where the terrain shifts from the prominent Thorn Ridge and Dakota Ridge down toward the drainages of Miller Creek and Donkey Creek.