Wyoming Places Wiki / Red Desert Basin

Red Desert - a basin floor of wonderful coloring-russet, Pompeian red, vermillion, all the tones of gray and brown, and occasional splashes of green, purple and yellow, appears west of Creston. A few miles north of the Union Pacific tracks are shifting sand dunes 100 miles in length, where mirage adds mystery to the plains. It was once a favored hunting and battle ground of the Indians, now a winter range for thousands of sheep.

Source: WPA

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I lived in Thayer Junction in 1935. We lived in "half" of a RR house. The section foreman and his family lived in the north end and we lived in the south end. It was painted RR yellow. One bedroom, a kitchen, and a little sitting room. I slept in the sitting room on a cot. The foreman was Japanese (Tagutis) and had a small son my age.We were almost 5 years old. He and I played along the RR tracks.

We traded in Rock Springs. Rock springs had several Japanese store owners. Mom bought our greens and veggies at the Japanese market. The filling station at Point of Rocks had a bear pit. The men were playing baseball one Sunday afternoon and the ONLY ball ended up in the bear pit. The women whipped up some flapjacks and syrup--the threw them in one corner and while the bears were eating the flapjacks, one of the men snuck down into the pit and retrieved the baseball--the game went on.

This is part of the Red Desert--man did it get cold in the winter time.

As told by Fred Barber

January 24, 2008

Maps:

1:24000 Quadrangle: Red Lake SE

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