Name: Wamsutter

 

County: Sweetwater

 

Authority Name:

 

GNIS Entry

 

Longitude:  1075845W

Latitude: 414023N

 

Legal Description:

 

Elevation: 6726/2050

(ft/m)

 

Feature Type: Populated Place

 

Origin of Name:

Formerly called Wash-a-kie but was changed to Wamsutter to avoid errors in freight routing, as there was already a Fort Washakie. Named for a Massachusetts’s Indian chief, apparently a contraction of Womosutta, meaning “Loving Heart”. Wamsutter is located on the Red Desert. 

Source: WPA

 

Formerly called Washakie Station on the Union Pacific Railway, the name was changed in 1885 to Wamsutter in honor of an old Indian chief. The change was made because of the errors arising in the delivery of freight destined for Ft. Washakie.

Source: Carbon County Journal, September 5, 1885 as cited in Annals 15(1)

 

Other Names: Washakie, Elephants Back

 

Alternative Spellings:

 

History:

Wamsutter Post Office was established on February 23, 1892 with Mrs. Anna Sanborn as postmaster.

Source: Wyoming Post Offices

 

Station on the Union Pacific Railroad and postoffice in Sweetwater County, 41 miles west from Rawlins. 

Source: Wyoming State Business Directory, 1910-11 

 

Wamsutter was a station on the Overland Route and Union Pacific Railroad between Latham and Frewen. Wamsutter, formerly called Washakie, is a division point on the railroad. It is the site of old Fort Washakie, built for the protection of railroad employees and emigrants from the Shoshone and Arapahoe Indians.

Source: Guidebook of the Western United States

 

Stories:

 

Maps:

1:24000 Quadrangle: Wamsutter

 

Newspapers:

 

More Information: 

 

Pictures: