Name: Thayer Junction

 

County: Sweetwater

 

Authority Name:

 

GNIS Entry

 

Longitude:  1085440W

Latitude: 414113N

 

Legal Description:

 

Elevation: 6447/1965

(ft/m)

 

Feature Type: Populated Place, Post Office

 

Origin of Name: 

 

Other Names: Sycamore

 

Alternative Spellings: Thayer junction

 

History:

Thayer Junction Post Office was established as Sycamore Post Office on May 22, 1906. Its name was changed to Thayer Junction on April 15, 1909. Charles W. Forster was the first postmaster. It was discontinued on November 7, 1931 and its mail then handled by the Rock Springs Post Office.

Source: Wyoming Post Offices

 

Postoffice in Sweetwater County, formerly called Sycamore.

Source: Wyoming State Business Directory, 1910-11 

 

A new postoffice in Sweetwater County, on the Union Pacific Railroad, 30 miles northeast of Green River, the county seat and 7 1/2 miles south of south Superior the nearest banking point. Population 45. Altitude 6,492 feet.

Source: Wyoming State Business Directory, 1922

 

A station on the Overland Route and Union Pacific Railroad between Point of Rocks and Salt Wells.

Source: Guidebook of the Western United States

 

Stories:

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: Thayer Junction

 

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