SWEETWATER COUNTY – Golfers from near and far have enjoyed the White Mountain Golf Course in Rock Springs for decades, but golf balls weren’t the first things taking flight in this area.
The Sweetwater County Historical Musuem recently discovered an aerial photograph of the old airport and runway taken in 1967, long after the site was abandoned. The staff was able to plot its precise location immediately south of the White Mountain Golf Course.
The site of first commercial airport to service Sweetwater County is now the edge of a golf course north of Rock Springs, according to the Sweetwater County Historical Museum.
Construction of what was then known as the Rock Springs Municipal Airport began in August of 1920 about 4 miles north of town. When a hangar and other facilities went up in September, the airport was officially activated and recognized as a link in the U.S. Post Office’s new cross-country air mail service.
In 1930, a new airport hangar and small terminal building were completed at a cost of $45,000 and the following year Rock Springs was host to a celebrity who flew in, the celebrated pilot Amelia Earhart.
Takeoffs from the single-runway field were often problematic due to the proximity of White Mountain to the west, and airport operations were moved to their present location, now the Sweetwater County Regional Airport, east of Rock Springs in the mid-1950s.
