Hartville, Wyo

By Julie Francis

HARTVILLE WYOMING — Mining and mineral development form a bridge between the ancient and modern peoples of the Hartville Uplift. Just as Native Americans mined red ocher from the iron deposits and dug thousands of tons of quartzite and chert for tool-making and trade, copper and iron ores provided the major impetus for development of the region by European and American settlers during the 19th century.

The short-lived copper boom between 1880 and 1887 gave start to the founding of Hartville in 1881. With a good water supply at Indian Springs in what is now the town park and 75 miners working at the Glory Hole about one mile east, Hartville quickly became the primary rough-and-tumble mining camp of the area. Just as quickly, the boom went bust as the price of copper dropped, freighting costs (by mule train) were high, and the copper veins played out. By 1887, copper mining had mostly ceased.

However, miners began prospecting for other ores and discovered iron ore beneath the copper layer at the Glory Hole. By the late 1890s, vast iron-bearing rocks about eight miles long and three miles wide had been documented, with the most productive areas centered around Hartville and the old copper Glory Hole, now known as the Sunrise Mine.

By 1898, the Colorado Fuel and Iron Co. had leased nearly all the claims in the area and eventually purchased the property in 1904. They invested in building a railroad from the mine through Hartville and south to Guernsey for shipping the ore to the smelter outside of Pueblo, Colorado and built the company town of Sunrise next to the mine.

This proved to be a boon to Hartville, as private business was banned in Sunrise. By 1900, Hartville had nine saloons and two dance halls near completion, with a lodging house under construction. The town was run by the saloon-owners and offered alternative goods and services to the company store in the well-ordered community of Sunrise.

The saloon keepers incorporated Hartville in 1901, and it remains the oldest incorporated community in Wyoming. There were some trappings of civilization, including a school that opened in 1901, a graded main street in 1907, streetlights, public garbage collection and a privately owned telephone service in 1910 to 1912, and a new jail in 1913.

However, gambling and prostitution remained the primary sources of income for the community until about 1915. Hartville’s peak population reached 776 in 1900 and included Italian, Greek, Scandinavian, English, Middle Eastern and Japanese emigrants. Soon after, the population began to drop as the Sunrise community grew.

The Sunrise Mine eventually closed in 1980, and today only 62 residents are listed on the census. The wood frame and masonry buildings and quiet streets offer only a hint of the wild times here during the early 20th century.