Finding The Lost Town Of Hell On Wheels Wyoming

Have you ever heard of Benton, Wyoming? Probably not.

What about HELL ON WHEELS? That was also a place. The same place, in fact.

Benton was a short-lived but infamous "Hell on Wheels" town, considered Wyoming's first ghost town, located near the North Platte River, about 11 miles east of modern-day Rawlins.

It was a temporary settlement that grew to a population of about 3,000 people between July and September 1868 as the Union Pacific Railroad moved west.

The town was known for its lawlessness, with numerous saloons, brothels, and gambling houses, before being abandoned when the railroad moved on.

Those who watched the TV series HELL ON WHEELS know of the town.

It could be said that the actual town moved with the railroad as it was being built.

As the railroad moved west, the onetime Hell-on-Wheels camps matured into towns: Cheyenne, Laramie, Rawlins, Rock Springs, Green River, and Evanston. Gradually, they grew more orderly.

Supporting industries emerged, anchoring the territorial economy: track and locomotive maintenance; a steel mill for railroad rails; logging for railroad ties; and coal mines for locomotive fuel at strategic spots along the route.

As far as the town of Bedon itself, in early July 1868, General Dodge ordered the citizens of Brownsville to move three miles from the river to the edge of the Dry Desert. This was to become the town of Benton.

With the move came all the amenities of a railroad town, including the "Big Tent," which has seen service in Julesburg, Cheyenne, and Laramie. It was 100 feet long and forty feet wide, housing a bar with every variety of liquors and cigars, cut glass, mirrors, and wall pictures of eastern cities.

At the back of the tent was a bandstand and room for tables devoted to monte, faro, fortune wheels, and other gambling games. Yes, they found ways to take money from the hard-working people who could not afford to gamble but could not resist.

Water costs were hard to find out there, so it was sold for 10 cents a bucket, but whiskey cost only 25 cents a glass.

The housing prospects amounted to tents and plank shacks. The streets were ankle deep in alkali dust with no grass, brush, or trees.

Death and murder were a daily occurrence, and in its short 60-day existence, the cemetery's population rose to nearly Paid Advertisement

So would you like to find what is left of the "town?"

41° 46.703′ N, 106° 56.872′ W. Marker is near Sinclair, Wyoming, in Carbon County. It is on County Route 347 near 80, on the right when traveling west. Use this link for map. The marker is in this post office area: Sinclair, WY 82334, United States of America. Use this link for directions.