Name: Riverton
County: Fremont
Authority Name: Riverton (Wyo.)
GNIS Entry
Longitude: 1082248W
Latitude: 430130N
Legal Description:
Elevation: 4957/1511
(ft/m)
Feature Type: Populated Place
Origin of Name:
Named for the four rivers that converge here. In 1906, the town was given the name of Wadsworth, for H. E. Wadsworth. The citizens later selected the name of Riverton, because of the confluence of the Popoagie and WindRivers at that point. The Post Office Department accepted the latter name as official designation. Riverton is a farming town located on the Wind River.
Source: WPA
In 1905 Mr. Fenimore Chatterton found that Montana was about to secure the right to divert all the water of the Big Horn River which would leave no water for reclamation of the 300,000 acres in the ceded portion of the Shoshone Indian Reservation. He immediately went to Washington and applied to the Secretary of the Interior for a permit to construct the necessary canals and reservoirs and to lay out a town site on the one hundred sixty acres where the town of Riverton is now located, all work to be done prior to opening the lands for settlement. He met with refusal, but when the lands were opened, the one hundred sixty acres designated by Mr. Chatterton were set aside as a town site. On August 14, 1906, the land was opened and persons who had previously located at Shoshone to await the day moved in and proceeded to survey and stake the blocks and lots. A group of Lander citizens opposed to the establishment of the town tried to stop the survey; not succeeding they induced the Indian Agent at Ft. Washakie, Mr. Wadsworth to use U.S. troops to run people off the town site. After ten days, Mr Chatterton had the matter straightened out through telegrams to Wyoming Senators, and the citizens returned. Meanwhile, the Lander group asked that the town be called Central City and the Northwestern Railroad named its station Wadsworth. Authorities in Washington settled the question by naming the postoffice Riverton, as being significant of its location on the bank of the Wind River.
Source: Annals 15(1)
This town was platted under the United States Town Site Law, and was named Wadsworth in honor of H. E. Wadsworth, the local Indian agent. This name was changed to Riverton, as it was thought to be significant of the location of the place, a town on the bank of a river -- the Big Horn. The town site is really one mile from this river.
Source: Stennett
Other Names: Wadsworth
Alternative Spellings:
History:
Riverton Post Office was established on October 5, 1906 with William T. Judkins as postmaster.
Source: Wyoming Post Offices
A prosperous and growing town on the Chicago and Northwestern Railway, 125 miles west of Casper, and 23 miles east of Lander. Beautifully situated in the big bend of the Big Wind River, in a good farming section. Principal industries farming, sheep and woolgrowing. The geographical and future railroad center of Wyoming. The center of 18,000 acres of elegant farming land now under ditch. The immediate neighborhood of 350,000 acres susceptible of cultivation. Canals in course of construction. Accessible to 1,000,000 acres of the finest grazing lands in the world. Adjacent to 5,000 acres of first-class coal land. Near the Popo Agie oil fields. Wells capable of producing daily 3,500 barrels of the best oil. The nearest railroad point to the famous Switzerland of America-The Yellowstone National Park. The nearest railroad point to the Jackson Hole, elk and other game hunting grounds and trout fishing streams. It has a climate that is unsurpassed.
Source: Wyoming State Business Directory, 1910-11
Stories:
Maps:
1:24000 Quadrangle: Riverton West
Newspapers
More Information:
Pictures: